Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. There are days when we are under the spell of the past, when lovely times, lovely things, and delightful people that have lapsed into "have beens" are again with us, in a mist of memories and dreams, but memories and dreams that have been true and real - to be treasured always.
In my memory there are silhouetted against the horizon of the past a few figures (amongst the many kind friends who have journeyed with me) who stand alone, whose greatness of character singled them from their fellows, others whose splendid works for state or humanity have marked them, but I pause before a figure that would have told us he was nothing in particular, yet few men have been so loved, so universally popular as the late Lord William Beresford, V.C., one of the most charming characters and greatest personalities of the age, a brave and gallant soldier, a loyal and faithful friend, possessing an extraordinarily generous nature. A man has not lived for nothing, and must be something in particular, when his friends can truly say that of him.