T HE house in Palace Court was built in a style unusual
then. Its red brick, its tall gable, its small-paned
windows made a surprising contrast with prevalent
greyness and squareness. My father and mother chose the
kind of house they liked when they chose their architect.
Occasionally there could be seen from the window in after
years a party of young men who must have been architec-
tural students standing opposite the house while their lec-
turer demonstrated to them its points. It was one of the
first houses to be built in Palace Court, and was then called
Palace Court House; later it became merely No. 47. Here
Olivia was born and Francis, the last of the children.

My mother had by this time, in 1889, shown that the
masculine art of essay-writing was hers by virtue of her
mastery of it. Her imagination had taken essay-shape;
her terseness and her pedantry made good essay-manner.
In the early part of the year of the move to Palace Court
she was writing the essay called "The Rhythm of Life,"
and following it quickly again and again, as she realised
that the power was hers.

The editor to whom these essays were sent as they were
written was W. E. Henley. "Henley was the Viking Chief
of letters," wrote Francis Thompson of him. ". . . By

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