Church of England -- Clergy -- Correspondence; Clergy -- England -- Correspondence; Robinson, Forbes, 1867-1904 -- Correspondence
One who knew him well, soon after the time of his ordination, writes:
'I cannot remember how we first became acquainted, beyond the fact that
I used to meet him in the rooms of some prominent members of the
College Football XV. All I know is that several of our year got to
know him quite well, and the friendship grew with time. The fact that
he had distinguished himself in the Moral Science Tripos at {22} first
rather awed me, a freshman. But I soon got over that feeling, for he
was the last person in the world to trouble any one with a sense of
intellectual inferiority.
'I am sure the private business hours of the Debating Society were some
of his happiest moments. His magnificent assumption of wrath on the
most absurd grounds; his vast intensity over trivialities; his love for
the heat and play of debate, would have made a stranger believe he
lived for nothing else.
'Physical strength and virtue seemed to have a strange attraction for
him. His assortment of athlete friends was peculiarly wide, and his
frank admiration of their qualities gave them a pleasant feeling that
in some way he looked up to them--a feeling which I am sure
strengthened the hold he had over them.
'He was a tireless walker, and could go far on very little. A party of
us used to take long walks, often on a Sunday, to various places in the
country. There was generally a volume of Burke or Emerson in his
pocket, whose sonorous periods filled the interval when we lunched
frugally or rested. I have never known him anything but good-humoured
under any conditions. His enthusiasm for our most commonplace jests
was unfailing--perhaps one of the surest ways of getting to a man's
heart and staying there--and he had a wide tolerance for the minor
offences of undergraduate thought and deed. Yet, as for the tone of
conversation when he was near, I need scarcely say that one simply did
not think of anything unpleasant or vulgar, much less say it.
'I used to admire his immense power of putting {23} his thoughts into
words, but he could be silent too. Sometimes he would come to my rooms
when I was working, throw himself into an arm-chair, and absolutely
refuse to speak. After a considerable interval perhaps he would
consider I had worked long enough, and cocoa and conversation would
follow. But it was when I visited him in his own rooms that I remember
things most vividly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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