This kind of light skirmishing suited him exactly; it kept alive public interest in the Anti-Opium delusion, and no doubt brought grist to the mill, without committing him to anything in particular, or calling for any extraordinary draft upon his imagination or resources. He had only to reiterate loud enough the cuckoo cry that his deluded followers had so long recognised as the pæan of victory. But when my lectures were delivered, and it was announced that they would be published, "a change came o'er the spirit of his dream." Having for so many years had practically all the field to himself, it had never occurred to him that another and more competent witness from China, where all these imaginary evils from opium smoking were alleged to be taking place,--who had had better opportunities of learning the truth about opium than he could possibly have had, and who had turned those opportunities to good account,--should appear and refute his fallacies. This was a _dénouement_ that neither he nor his Society was prepared for, and dismay and silence prevailed in consequence in the enemy's camp. And the tents were all silent,--the banners unflown,-- The lances unlifted,--the trumpet unblown. My lectures were delivered in February, 1882. The Rev. Mr. Storrs Turner attended them and corresponded with me upon the subject. In those lectures I criticized his book and pointed out its misleading features and inaccuracies; but, recognizing the force of Sir John Falstaff's maxim, that "the better part of valour is discretion," he never attempted to controvert my case, nor justify himself or the Anti-Opium Society, who for so many years had made such noise in the world. It was only in October, 1882,--eight months after my lectures had been delivered,--after an article appeared in the _London and China Telegraph_, commenting on the collapse of the Anti-Opium Society,--that Mr. Storrs Turner, like Munchausen's remarkable hunting-horn, gave utterance to a few feeble notes, to the effect that his Society was still alive; for he well knew that all that I had stated in those lectures I could prove to the hilt,--aye, ten times over.