This is a topic upon which I touch timidly; not only because Joe has talked of it himself in _Some Eminent Victorians_, but also because I had, perhaps less than most of his friends, the opportunity to appreciate his gifts as a public, or even a social, entertainer. In the long list of his after-dinner speeches there were not more than half a dozen that I was lucky enough to hear; and the little corner in the Garrick Club where I know he was wont to sit, quickly attracting thither the most appreciative spirits and keeping them all the evening in a ripple of laughter, was obviously a forbidden spot to me. I think his celebrity in this matter needs no mention of mine; but I should like to quote one or two appreciations by distinguished literary men. The first is in a letter to myself, where Anthony Hope draws a remarkable portrait of him: “He was a great arguer,” he writes; “for while his temper was always serene, his good humour did not blunt the edge of his tongue. Quite recently I have reread his last book with the keenest appreciation; it shows a broad, appreciative mind, and yet one quite clear for values and criterions. “We have lost a man of rare gifts, a splendid companion, a generous, kindly, gracious friend. One is happy in having known him, happy too in feeling that life was to him a fine thing--a thing he loved, appreciated and used to the utmost. And his name will live--I think that will be proved true--in the memories of men and in their written records of these times. “He was a figure and a presence amongst us.” Another appreciation is by W. J. Locke and appeared in one of the leading papers: