to make shipwreck of their lives, and to bring disaster on all with whom they were connected.

'I never did a single wise thing,' are his own words, ' in the whole course of my existence, although I have written many which have been thought such.'

On the surface, Landor's character appears an odd mixture of opposing, and even mutually destructive, elements. A man of strong aristocratic sympathies, he had an unbounded hatred of tyranny and oppression in any form; a lover of peace and quiet meditation, his entire career was a series of contests; to a nature of such rare gentleness that he never plucked a flower, nor took a bird's nest, nor, after once finding a wounded bird, ever used his gun for sport, was joined an impetuosity and uncurbed vehemence that openly advocated tyrannicide, and could scarcely be restrained from challenging Lord John Russell for some fancied slight to a remote, and perhaps doubtful, ancestor. No man ever expressed greater confidence in himself, or had a profounder belief in the power and durability of his own work, yet, because a publisher refused to print Count Julian, he burned the manuscript of another tragedy he had in hand, and declared his intention to abandon poetry for ever. A professed follower of Epicurus, his whole life was destructive of happiness and peace. His temperament was too strong for his philosophy. He was removed from Rugby to save expulsion, was rusticated at Oxford, had quarrelled

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with his father, and turned his back on the paternal home 'for ever,' before he had reached the age of twenty. Yet he was capable of great tenderness of feeling and of firm friendship. The two years that elapsed between the Rugby episode and his residence at Trinity College, Oxford, were passed in the house of Dr. Langley, of Ashbourne, between whom and his hotheaded pupil there sprang up a devoted attachment. Landor referred to this in after years in the most affectionate spirit. In the conversation of Izaak Walton, Cotton, and Oldways, Walton says of the good parson of Ashbourne,' whom Landor informs the reader, in a note, is the Dr. Langley of his schooldays: 'He wants nothing, yet he keeps the grammar-school, and is ready to receive, as private tutor, any young gentleman in preparation for Oxford or Cambridge: but only one. They live like princes, converse like friends, and part like lovers.'

Some good friends attempted a reconciliation with his family, and arrangements were ultimately made by which he received an allowance of £150 a year, with freedom to do as he pleased. The next three years were passed in reading, writing poetry, and making love, among the Welsh hills. Some experiments in journalism were made in London, chiefly at the instigation of the celebrated Dr. Parr, with whom acquaintance had been made; but Landor never had any serious thought of entering any of the professions, and

this, more than any other, would have been peculiarly distasteful to him. On his father's death he succeeded to a good property. His next experiment was of a military character. Roused to enthusiasm by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon, Landor started off to Spain, and proclaimed that he would equip at his own cost, and accompany to the field, a thousand volunteers. He did so, and while on the march with men to join Blake's army, took occasion to quarrel with the English envoy, Stuart. He saw no fighting, and, after the Convention of Cintra was signed, came home as filled with disgust as he had previously been with enthusiasm. In 1809 he bought the ruined priory and estate of Llanthony, having disposed of other property to assist him in the purchase. Here he proposed to live the life of a country gentleman. The building of a new mansion was commenced; the old ruins were to be reverently restored. Gangs of men were soon at work making roads and bridle-paths through the valley. Agriculture was to be raised to a high standard, sheep were imported from Segovia, and the surrounding country was to be made lovelier with plantations of Landor's favourite tree, the cedar of Lebanon. That he ought to live within the limits of his income was a notion that never occurred to Landor. While all this was going on, it chanced that he met a young lady at a ball in Bath, and as soon as he set eyes on her, exclaimed: 'By heaven! that's the prettiest girl in the room: I'll