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And Even Now by Sir Max Beerbohm
page 53 of 194 (27%)
Archangel who bears that name and no surname.

It was always when Watts-Dunton spoke carelessly, casually, of some to
me illustrious figure in the past, that I had the sense of being
wafted right into that past and plumped down in the very midst of it.
When he spoke with reverence of this and that great man whom he had
known, he did not thus waft and plump me; for I, too, revered those
names. But I had the magical transition whenever one of the immortals
was mentioned in the tone of those who knew him before he had put on
immortality. Browning, for example, was a name deeply honoured by me.
`Browning, yes,' said Watts-Dunton, in the course of an afternoon,
`Browning,' and he took a sip of the steaming whisky-toddy that was a
point in our day's ritual. `I was a great diner-out in the old times.
I used to dine out every night in the week. Browning was a great
diner-out, too. We were always meeting. What a pity he went on writing
all those plays! He hadn't any gift for drama--none. I never could
understand why he took to play-writing.' He wagged his head, gazing
regretfully into the fire, and added, `Such a clever fellow, too!'

Whistler, though alive and about, was already looked to as a hierarch
by the young. Not so had he been looked to by Rossetti. The thrill of
the past was always strong in me when Watts-Dunton mentioned--seldom
without a guffaw did he mention--`Jimmy Whistler.' I think he put in
the surname because `that fellow' had not behaved well to Swinburne.
But he could not omit the nickname, because it was impossible for him
to feel the right measure of resentment against `such a funny fellow.'
As heart-full of old hates as of old loves was Watts-Dunton, and I
take it as high testimony to the charm of Whistler's quaintness that
Watts-Dunton did not hate him. You may be aware that Swinburne, in
'88, wrote for one of the monthly reviews a criticism of the `Ten
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