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2.

Haig. In my incursions into journalism I bad the good fortune to
act as assistant-editor of "The Spectator" with St. Loe Strachey,
who was one of the greatest British journalists of his day. Among
men of letters I spent two Sundays with George Meredith, and I knew
Thomas Hardy intimately; while Sir James Barrie and Rudyard Kipling
were friends from my youth. I had the good fortune also to know
Lord Cromer, the maker of modern Egypt, and received from him many
lessons in public administration which I have never forgotten.

Then during my years in business and in politics I knew
fairly intimately the leaders of every political party at home, since
I was always rather loose in my party attachments, and I had the uncommon
good fortune to see something of great Imperial statesmen,
like Sir Wilfrid Laurier and General Botha and General Smuts. I do
not think there can be any better luck for a man than to have seen a
good deal of people who were enormously his superior in intellect
and character. It keeps him humble; he is not apt to rate his own
modest capacities too high.

On looking back it seems to me that among these friends of
mine there was a recurrent contrast in types. There was the man of
great ability who had the power of expressing himself with complete
accuracy and fulness whenever he so desired, and joined with this
gift was the capacity also to make people realise his personality,
to get himself, so to speak, across the footlights and become known
to millions who never saw him in the flesh. And there was the other
type, who were fully as able and as wise, but who were not explicit,
who required a great deal of knowing before their qualities could be