"I knew that the publisher to whom you referred could only be Mr. Kegan Paul, who met me some few years back at luncheon in the house of my friends the Miss Swanwicks: that until _you told_ me his name, I thought it better not to write to him. But thereupon I wrote and explained to him that my friend Miss Anna Swanwick knew perfectly that I could not accept their hospitality (as I have habitually done for a week or more at a time) if they expected me to partake of any food inconsistent with the rules of our Society. I long ago furnished her with some of our recipes, and she _showed her cook_ always to make a _special_ dish for me. At one of their dinner parties I remember the amazement of guests at my passing _all_ the dishes, as at first it seemed, until my own little dish came. I told Mr. Kegan Paul that _he must have mistaken_ what was in my plate (perhaps crumb omelette _browned over_--which I remember the cook was apt to give me) for some fish of which he and others were partaking. I have no doubt that this was the whole matter.... "I am sincerely yours, "F. W. Newman." The closing letter in this series is evidently an answer to some questions from Mr. Doremus as regards Newman's portrait, and as regards the incidents of his life. "My life has been eminently uneventful." When one remembers in how many questions of social reform, of theology, of written matter, Newman had been concerned, this short sentence strikes one's eyes strangely enough. For what is an "event"? Surely it does not mean only something which is a carnal happening: a material outbreak in some form or other which occurs before our eyes? Surely there are far greater spiritual "events" than physical ones? And of _this_ kind of event Newman's life had been full. Originality of thought, of conception, of aim, is the Event which takes precedence of all other. And these events were strewn like Millet's "Sower" from side to side of his path: to take the true Latin significance of the word, they _came out_ from him. "_31st July_, 1884. "Dear Sir, "Your letter has been forwarded to me from home to this place [Keswick].... Messrs. Elliot and Fry (Baker Street, Portman Square), recently by pressure induced me to let them take my photograph. In fact they took four, in different positions, all judged excellent, all of cabinet size. Each, I believe, costs 2/-. I have none at my disposal. With or without my leave, anyone can publish them in any magazine. Now, as to my biography--my life has been eminently uneventful. There is nothing to tell but my studies, my successive posts as a teacher, and the list of books, etc., from my pen, _unless one add_ the effects of study on my CREED, which more than one among you might desire _not_ to make prominent in the _Food Reformer_. * * * * *