Your early years will sell the book.
Bless you.
ST. JOHN.
St. John Midleton was one of the rare people who tell the truth.
Some people do not lie, but have no truth to tell; others are too
agreeable--or too frightened--and lie; but the majority are
indifferent: they are the spectators of life and feel no
responsibility either towards themselves or their neighbour.
He was fundamentally humble, truthful and one of the few people I
know who are truly loyal and who would risk telling me, or any one
he loved, before confiding to an inner circle faults which both he
and I think might be corrected. I have had a long experience of
inner circles and am constantly reminded of the Spanish proverb,
"Remember your friend has a friend." I think you should either
leave the room when those you love are abused or be prepared to
warn them of what people are thinking. This is, as I know to my
cost, an unpopular view of friendship, but neither St. John nor I
would think it loyal to join in the laughter or censure of a
friend's folly.
Arthur Balfour himself--the most persistent of friends--remarked
laughingly:
"St. John pursues us with his malignant fidelity." [Footnote: The
word malignity was obviously used in the sense of the French
malin.]
This was only a coloured way of saying that Midleton had none of
the detachment commonly found among friends; but, as long as we
are not merely responsible for our actions to the police, so long
must I believe in trying to help those we love.
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