through all this social parade as though it had been a necessary portion
of the exterior etiquette of life. Why he fatigued himself by these
formal exercises, in which he seems to have found no pleasure, it is
impossible to conceive, but a sense of the necessity of parade was
strangely native to him.

He had, however, one close and constant friend. John Forster was by far
the most intimate of all his associates throughout his career.
Bulwer-Lytton seems to have met him first about 1834, when he was
twenty-eight and Forster only twenty-two. In spite of this disparity in
age, the younger man almost at once took a tone of authority such as the
elder seldom permitted in an acquaintance. Forster had all the gifts
which make a friend valuable. He was rich in sympathy and resource, his
temper was reasonable, he comprehended a situation, he knew how to hold
his own in argument and yet yield with grace. Lord Lytton prints a very
interesting character-sketch of Forster, which he has found among his
grandfather's MSS. It is a tribute which does equal credit to him who
makes it and to him of whom it is made:--

"John Forster.... A most sterling man, with an intellect at once
massive and delicate. Few, indeed, have his strong practical sense
and sound judgment; fewer still unite with such qualities his
exquisite appreciation of latent beauties in literary art. Hence,
in ordinary life, there is no safer adviser about literary work,
especially poetry; no more refined critic. A large heart naturally
accompanies so masculine an understanding. He has the rare capacity
for affection which embraces many friendships without loss of depth
or warmth in one. Most of my literary contemporaries are his
intimate companions, and their jealousies of each other do not
diminish their trust in him. More than any living critic, he has