HENRY THOURON
To live in amity among the libres penseurs and the libertines who composed the classes of the atelier Bonnat proved the American student to be not only a man of the most virile character, but one who followed the Lord in the prayer, "Father forgive them; they know not what they do." I have had occasion myself to rebuke one of his classmates for ridiculing him at table on account of his faithful observance of a religious ceremony that has now almost entirely fallen into desuetude among all sects.
From Paris Thouron passed on through Italy to Rome, and there continued his studies for a number of years. It was here that he met with young Alfred Gilbert, that English genius whom England had not the patience to conquer, or the wit to understand. Gilbert was then casting, by the cire perdu process, his bronze figure of Icarus which now stands in the hall of Leighton House, a tribute to the discerning patronage of Lord Leighton, who was President of the Royal Academy when the modern Cellini arrived from Rome to astound the people of London by the fertility of his imagination and the dexterity of his execution. To such a man the presence of a kindly counsellor like Thouron might have meant salvation.
It is almost impossible to describe Henry Thouron. I knew him as intimately as he permitted anyone to know him, save his mother and his sister, to whom he was passionately devoted, and always closely associated. His nature was both simple and complex. His supersensitive and over-scrupulous temperament dictated actions that were frequently misunderstood. Men who pride themselves upon being men of the world live often in conventional and narrow limits beyond which, or above which, their savoir faire does not permit them to see. To such men Henry
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