Indeed the only line upon which improvement is possible seems to me
to be this--that a man shall definitely commit himself to a course
of life in which he shall be compelled to exercise virtues which
are foreign to his character, and any lapses of which will be
penalised in a straightforward, professional way. If a man, for
instance, is irritable, impatient, unpunctual, let him take up some
line where he is bound to be professionally bland, patient,
methodical. That would be the act of a philosopher; but, alas, how
few of us choose our profession from philosophical motives!

And even so I should fear that the tendencies of temperament are
only temporarily imprisoned, and not radically cured; after all, it
fits in with the Darwinian theory. The bird of paradise, condemned
to live in a country of marshes, cannot hope to become a heron. The
most he can hope is that, by meditating on the advantages which a
heron would enjoy, and by pressing the same consideration on his
offspring, the time may come in the dim procession of years when
the beaks of his descendants will grow long and sharp, their necks
pliant, their legs attenuated.

And anyhow, one is bound in honour to have a try; and the
hopefulness of my creed (you may be puzzled to detect it) lies in
the fact that one HAS a sense of honour about it all; that one's
faults are repugnant, and that missing virtues are desirable--
possunt quia posse videntur!

Thank you for the photographs. I begin to realise your house; but I
want some interiors as well; and let me have the view from your
terrace, though I daresay it is only sea and sky.--Ever yours,