"حياة ومراسلات اللواء السير جون مالكوم، قائد فرسان وسام الطُهر، المبعوث السابق إلى بلاد فارس وحاكم بومباي؛ من رسائل ومذكرات غير منشورة. في مجلّدين. المجلد II." [‎٤‎٢‎٠] (٦٥٤/٤٣٧)

420
HYDE HALL.
back* refreshed and strengtliened to their work, and,
what was more, with an enlarged humanity, a deeper
love for the fellow-men for whom they weie lahoiing
with such grand results. It was no mere compliment,
but a truth felt in his inmost heart, which Julius Hare
wrote to Lady Malcolm, when he said, "It is impossible
to leave Hyde Hall without being, not indeed, like the
wedding guest, 'a sadder and a wiser man,' but cer
tainly a wiser one, and, if one were not going away, a
gladder." If a man could not be merry and wise at
Hyde Hall, we may be sure'that there was no mirth and
no wisdom in him.
But men of all kinds congregated beneath Malcolm's
roof, and there were some by whom this playful wisdom
was but imperfectly, if at all, understood. One old and
esteemed friend of the family, who had heard much of
the very clever Cambridge men whom he was to meet at
Hyde Hall, said confidentially, after a day or two of dis
appointment and surprise, that he could see nothing in
..them. If that was called good conversation, he could
answer for it that there was better to be had in the City
• on any day of the week. I do not know anything that
v. could more pleasantly illustrate the charming abandon of
.Malcolm and his guests at this time, than the worthy citi
zen's remarks on the ineptitude of their conversation.
Perhaps, not altogether unmindful of his astonishment,
they endeavoured to mystify him more and more by as
sumptions of simplicity beyond the natural carelessness
of their holiday manners. For although they went to
Hyde Hall emphatically to make high holiday, there
Were times when they would break out into interesting
and profitable discourse, to which no one could listen
without being wiser for what he heard. Philosophers, or
historians, or statesmen, or divines might Malcolm and
his guests be in the estimation of the world; but they