he was incorrigibly strenuous to obliterate or harmonize the
irreconcilable points between him and others; and since these points
remained irreconcilable, he remained in a constant state of storm and
stress on the subject.
It was impossible to help liking such a man at first sight; and I
believe that no man in London society was more generally liked than
Anthony Trollope. There was something pathetic in his attitude as above
indicated; and a fresh and boyish quality always invested him. His
artlessness was boyish, and so were his acuteness and his transparent
but somewhat belated good-sense. He was one of those rare persons who
not only have no reserves, but who can afford to dispense with them.
After he had shown you all he had in him, you would have seen nothing
that was not gentlemanly, honest, and clean. He was a quick-tempered
man, and the ardor and hurry of his temperament made him seem more so
than he really was; but he was never more angry than he was forgiving
and generous. He was hurt by little things, and little things pleased
him; he was suspicious and perverse, but in a manner that rather
endeared him to you than otherwise. Altogether, to a casual
acquaintance, who knew nothing of his personal history, he was
something of a paradox--an entertaining contradiction. The publication
of his autobiography explained many things in his character that were
open to speculation; and, indeed, the book is not only the most
interesting and amusing that its author has ever written, but it places
its subject before the reader more completely and comprehensively than
most autobiographies do. This, however, is due much less to any direct
effort or intention on the writer's part, than to the unconscious
self-revelation which meets the reader on every page. No narrative
could be simpler, less artificial; and yet, everywhere, we read between
the lines, and, so to speak, discover Anthony Trollope in spite of his
efforts to discover himself to us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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