And when he had done _Antony and Cleopatra_ she would have told him that her favourite plays were the three parts of _King Henry VI_. Compensation If I die prematurely, at any rate I shall be saved from being bored by my own success. Hudibras and Erewhon I was completing the purchase of some small houses at Lewisham and had to sign my name. The vendor, merely seeing the name and knowing none of my books, said to me, rather rudely, but without meaning any mischief: “Have you written any books like _Hudibras_?” I said promptly: “Certainly; _Erewhon_ is quite as good a book as _Hudibras_.” This was coming it too strong for him, so he thought I had not heard and repeated his question. I said again as before, and he shut up. I sent him a copy of _Erewhon_ immediately after we had completed. It was rather tall talk on my part, I admit, but he should not have challenged me unprovoked. Life and Habit and Myself At the Century Club I was talking with a man who asked me why I did not publish the substance of what I had been saying. I believed he knew me and said: “Well, you know, there’s _Life and Habit_.” He did not seem to rise at all, so I asked him if he had seen the book. “Seen it?” he answered. “Why, I should think every one has seen _Life and Habit_: but what’s that got to do with it?” I said it had taken me so much time lately that I had had none to spare for anything else. Again he did not seem to see the force of the remark and a friend, who was close by, said: “You know, Butler wrote _Life and Habit_.” He would not believe it, and it was only after repeated assurance that he accepted it. It was plain he thought a great deal of _Life and Habit_ and had idealised its author, whom he was disappointed to find so very commonplace a person. Exactly the same thing happened to me with _Erewhon_. I was glad to find that _Life and Habit_ had made so deep an impression at any rate upon one person. A Disappointing Person