A few memories

242 A FEW MEMORIES
and ask, " What does this figure say to you ? What do you think the artist wished to show in this or that one ?" Of the wonderful creations of Angelico, Perugino, Boticelli, Raphael, he had always something stimulating to say. He did not look at their work from the painter's point of view. The drawing, the way those mystic colors glorify the canvases, meant less to him than what the old masters said to the highest and best in his soul and mind. Aubrey de Vere's friends call him "The Orb," and are wont to say that his feet alone touch the earth, the rest of him being already in heaven. His loving loyalty to his friends is not the least beautiful trait in an exceptionally beautiful nature. Every year he comes from Ireland to visit the friends he loves best, nor does he forget those who are gone, nor fail to make a journey to the Lake district to pay a tribute of affection to the grave of his boyhood's friend, Wordsworth. Though old in years, the peace of his spiritual life has left his face unfurrowed. His color is fresh, red and white; his eyes young, clear, and blue; and his smile that of a child. All this youthfulness contrasts curiously with his gray hair and tall, thin, stooping body. One of his great charms to me is his carelessness of ex-