IV
IT is very difficult to give an all-round impression of an man. I
wonder how far I have succeeded with Edward Ashburnham. I
dare say I haven't succeeded at all. It is ever very difficult to see
how such things matter. Was it the important point about poor
Edward that he was very well built, carried himself well, was
moderate at the table and led a regular life--that he had, in fact, all
the virtues that are usually accounted English? Or have I in the
least succeeded in conveying that he was all those things and had
all those virtues? He certainly was them and had them up to the
last months of his life. They were the things that one would set
upon his tombstone. They will, indeed, be set upon his tombstone
by his widow.
And have I, I wonder, given the due impression of how his life was
portioned and his time laid out? Because, until the very last, the
amount of time taken up by his various passions was relatively
small. I have been forced to write very much about his passions,
but you have to consider--I should like to be able to make you
consider--that he rose every morning at seven, took a cold bath,
breakfasted at eight, was occupied with his regiment from nine
until one; played polo or cricket with the men when it was the
season for cricket, till tea-time.
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