He had associated in his later years with a class above these--not indeed with the "upper ten," save when he dined at Belvoir Castle, but with classes lying between these two extremes.

He had come to feel more and more the fascination of analysing human character and motives among his equals.

He had a singularly retentive memory, and the habit of noting and brooding over incidents--specially of "life's little ironies"-- wherever he encountered them.

He does not seem to have possessed much originating power.

When, a few years later, his friend Mrs.Leadbeater inquired of him whether the characters in his various poems were drawn from life, he replied:--"Yes, I will tell you readily about my ventures, whom I endeavour to paint as nearly as I could, and _dare_--for in some cases I dared not....