Edward Cracroft Lefroy Author:Edward Cracroft Lefroy Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III LITERARY WORK Nature never did betray The heart that loved her.—Wordsworth. Homo sum : humanum nihil a me alienum puto. Terence. The ... more »year which immediately followed the warning of the London physician was more fruitful in literary production than any other period of Lefroy's life. Possibly the consciousness of numbered days repressed a certain fastidiousness in composition—or at least in the publication of it—which was noticeable in his immature years. Except during intervals of great physical prostration, we find him as energetic as ever in literary and tutorial work, and lively correspondence with his friends. We have before noted the sudden growth of his social sympathies at Oxford. This sentiment was never stronger than during the long years of his failing health. It was the simple truth that he wrote to me when the gloom was finally gathering round him: " I think the story of my life is the story of its friendships. Let it be written on my tombstone—Dilexit multum." It was not in Lefroy's nature to rest and rust. Being strictly forbidden the excitement and strain of preaching —no slight trial to a man of his gifts in the pulpit—he took lodgings in Blackheath, and received private pupils.The work was often elementary and exhausting, without being lucrative. But not a few of those who came under his care have expressed the deep debt they owe to their contact with so pure and cultivated a mind. During this period Lefroy was a loyal and active supporter of his old school. He was a constant attendant in all weathers at their football and cricket matches, and he thus formed many friendships which largely added to the happiness of his later years. He continued to review for the Guardian. The particular section assigned him was hardly that which he woul...« less