It is no part of my plan to narrate my own extremely humble performances in the way of authorship. The heading of the chapter speaks not of Book-making, but of Literature; and for a man to say that he has contributed to Literature would indeed be to invite rebuff. I am thinking now, not of what I have done, but of what I have received; and my debt to Literature is great indeed. I do not know the sensation of dulness, but, like most human beings, I know the sensation of sorrow; and with a grateful heart I record the fact that the darkest hours of my life have been made endurable by the Companionship of Books. FOOTNOTES: [49] To Mr. Watson I owed my introduction to Matthew Arnold's _Essays in Criticism_--a real event in one's mental life. [50] By Sir Walter Strickland; whose poem on William Tyndale was justly admired. [51] Richard Monckton Milnes was created Lord Houghton, August 20, 1863. [52] It is only fair to observe that those "Letters" were written in the strictest confidence. [53] Ionica. [54] Mr. Stuart J. Reid. XIV SERVICE May He "in knowledge of Whom standeth our eternal life, Whose service is perfect freedom"--_Quem nosse vivere, Cui servire regnare est_--teach us the rules and laws of that eternal service, which is now beginning on the scene of time. R. W. CHURCH, _Human Life and its Conditions_. It was my happiness to be born and brought up in a home where Religion habitually expressed itself in Social Service. I cannot remember a time when those nearest to me were not actively engaged in ministering to the poor, the sick, the underfed, and the miserable. The motive of all this incessant ministration was the Christian Faith, and its motto was _Charitas Christi urget nos_. The religion in which the children of an Evangelical home were reared was an intensely vivid and energetic principle, passionate on its emotional side, definite in its theory, imperious in its demands, practical, visible, and tangible in its effects. If a boy's heart-- "Were less insensible than sodden clay In a sea-river's bed at ebb of tide," it could scarcely fail to carry with it into the world outside the impressions stamped by such a training. I can remember quite clearly that, even in my Harrow days, the idea of Life as Service was always present to my mind: and it was constantly enforced by the preaching of such men as Butler, Westcott, and Farrar. "Here you are being educated either for life or for fashion. Which is it? What is your ambition? Is it to continue, with fewer restrictions, the amusements which have engrossed you here? Is it to be favourite or brilliant members of a society which keeps want and misery at a distance? Would this content you? Is this your idea of life? Or may we not hope that you will have a nobler conception of what a Christian manhood may be made in a country so rich in opportunities as our own now presents?"[55]