Page:Men of Letters, Scott, 1916.djvu/239

213 SIR W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 213 subjects only — but in the friendliness with which it treats the reader. There is no assumption of autho- rity ; whatever special knowledge Claudius Clear pos- sesses is instantly placed freely at his correspondents' disposal in the form of a general fund of open facts. He is never oracular ; he establishes, instantly, a human relationship with his reader, taking for granted a common fellowship of aim and power. He never patronizes nor plays down ; there is no attempt at ingratiation ; with all this humility there goes the strictest sort of dignity. Such a writer, as I have said, always working within the bounds of his own temperament, betrays his sincerity in a certain con- sistency of epithet. He will eschew words that seem strange to him, withstanding their temptations, for he feels that only those which come familiarly will be sincere. Well, in this private vocabulary of Sir W. Robertson Nicoll's the words repeated most often are those which stand for certain simple human virtues : courtesy, graciousness, nobility, gentleness — these recur again and again. But, of them all, none is so hardworked as nobility. This word, with its derivatives, occurs, I have calculated, close on half a hundred times. We may call it a mot propre in the sense that we speak of " proper " names ; it is a mark of personality. This bookman is a Bibliographer in the elder meaning of the word : he sees all books as Bibles. And from their perusal he would gather, and through their criticism confer, lessons on the nobler conduct of the day's affairs. " Greatest of living Scotsmen " he may or may not be — but we may be glad that so many think of him as that. For of the value of his power there can be no question. And if I recommend A Bookman s Letters without compromise to your attention it is simply in the hope of adding still further to his empire. '