Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Diary of Arthur Christopher Benson
It has to be remembered always that Arthur Benson talking to himself and Arthur Benson talking to another were two very different people, so different in many ways that the link between them might often be difficult to discern. What do we think of first, if we think ofa walk and talk with him, or of a dinner-table where he was present. Or of an evening session in his crowded little red-lit study at Magdalene? We think of his geniality, his brimming interest and enjoyment, his rich humour and his irresistible laughter. The hour returns with a sense of liberal ease, in which we all talked and laughed and argued at our best; for he made us all feel better pleased with ourselves, readier and livelier with our jests and anecdotes and ideas than at any other time; and though it was he who controlled the hour and directed it as he liked, there was no air or tone of dictation, we were all equal and companionable together. Nothing went wrong, he never arrived cross or moody or fretful; he brought life into the circle, he freshened it into convivi ality. He created enjoyment in the hour, but first he enjoyed it himself - and so obviously, so expansively, that the very sight of him was inspiriting. Those walks or rides in the Cambridgeshire lanes, those evenings of relaxation round the fire, they were always to be counted on; provocative argument, insatiable curiosity, fantastic illustration never failed; and laughter was perpetually in the air, keeping the occasion in a lively stir, in a swing and glow of festivity.
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