the strength of the blows he gives. Of course there was offence,--and a breaking off of intercourse between loving friends,--and a sense of wrong received, and I must own, too, of wrong done. It certainly was not open to me to whitewash with honesty him whom I did not find to be white; but there was no duty incumbent on me to declare what was his colour in my eyes,--no duty even to ascertain. But I had been ruffled by the persistency of the gentleman's request,--which should not have been made,--and I punished him for his wrong-doing by doing a wrong myself. I must add, that before he died his wife succeeded in bringing us together. In the early days of the paper, the proprietor, who at that time acted also as chief editor, asked me to undertake a duty,--of which the agony would indeed at no one moment have been so sharp as that endured in the casual ward, but might have been prolonged until human nature sank under it. He suggested to me that I should during an entire season attend the May meetings in Exeter Hall, and give a graphic and, if possible, amusing description of the proceedings. I did attend one,--which lasted three hours,--and wrote a paper which I think was called _A Zulu in Search of a Religion_. But when the meeting was over I went to that spirited proprietor, and begged him to impose upon me some task more equal to my strength. Not even on behalf of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, which was very dear to me, could I go through a second May meeting,--much less endure a season of such martyrdom. I have to acknowledge that I found myself unfit for work on a newspaper. I had not taken to it early enough in life to learn its ways and bear its trammels. I was fidgety when any word was altered in accordance with the judgment of the editor, who, of course, was responsible for what appeared. I wanted to select my own subjects,--not to have them selected for me; to write when I pleased,--and not when it suited others. As a permanent member of a staff I was no use, and after two or three years I dropped out of the work.