Caledonian Railway, was a notable exception. Often, after attending
Clearing House meetings or Parliamentary Committees, have I met him in
Piccadilly, Bond Street, or the Burlington Arcade, faultlessly and
fashionably attired in the best taste, airing himself, admiring and
admired. We always stopped and talked; of the topics of the day, the
weather, what a pleasant place London was, how handsome the women, how
well dressed the men. At the Clearing House we usually sat next each
other. I liked him and I think he liked me. Do not think he was a beau
and nothing more. No, he was a hard-headed Scotchman, full of ability
and work, and as a railway manager stood at the top of the ladder. Next
to him Sir Frederick Harrison, General Manager of the London and North-
Western Railway, was, I think, the best dressed railway man. Both he and
Sir James were tall, handsome fellows, and I confess to having admired
them, perhaps as much for their good looks and their taste and style, as
for their intellectual qualities; and I have often thought that men in
high positions would not do amiss to pay some attention to old Polonius'
admonition to his son that, "the apparel oft proclaims the man."

In the friends I made I was fortunate too. They included two or three
budding lawyers, a young engineer, a banker, a doctor, two embryo hotel
managers, an auctioneer, and one or two journalists; and, as I have
mentioned before, my artist friend _Cynicus_. We were, most of us,
friends of each other, met often, and the variety of our pursuits gave
zest and interest to our intercourse. First amongst these friends ranked
G. G., one of the young lawyers, or _writers_, as they are called in
Scotland. He was my closest friend. We have not met for many years, but
the friendship remains unweakened; for there are things that Time the
destroyer is powerless to injure. Like myself, G. G. comes of the middle
class. His parents, like mine, were by no means affluent, but they were
Scotch and held education in veneration, and were ambitious, as Scottish