Most of her men may have been overpraised by her blatant and loose-tongued outriders or pursuivants in the world of letters; and some also of her women may have been praised at least up to the mark of their deserts; not one of her little children ever can be. They are good enough to play with the little people of the greatest among poets, from Astyanax down to Mamillius, and onwards again even to that poor 'Petit Paul' but now baptized as in the tears—'tears such as angels weep'—of our mighty and most loving Master. None among the many and truly great qualities of their illustrious mother seems to me so precious as this one; so wholly worthy of the more tender tribute paid by men's loving thanks to something other if not lovelier, and sweeter if less rare, than genius.
