[I make a remark on the different colors which the same person gives to one
story, according to the bias under which he tells it. My friend Galloway
told me how he had quizzed the Council of the Royal Society, to my great
amusement. Whenever I am struck by the words of any one, I carry away a
vivid recollection of position, gestures, tones, etc. I do not know whether
this be common or uncommon. I never recall this joke without seeing before
me my friend, leaning against his bookcase, with Bungus open in his hand,
and a certain half-depreciatory tone which he often used {58} when speaking
of himself. Long after his death, an F.R.S. who was present at the
discussion, told me the story. I did not say I had heard it, but I watched
him, with Galloway at the bookcase before me. I wanted to see whether the
two would agree as to the fact of an enormous budget of fifteens having
been fired at the Council, and they did agree perfectly. But when the
paragraph of the Budget appeared in the _Athenaeum_, my friend, who seemed
rather to object to the _showing-up_, assured me that the thing was grossly
exaggerated; there was indeed a fifteen or two, but nothing like the number
I had given. I had, however, taken sharp note of the previous narration.