Thoughts in the Cloister & the Crowd

A series of aphorisms and observations upon life, character, manners, and politics, Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd is the product of a mind both vigorous and reflective. As Cambridge Apostle, private secretary to the powerful, Clerk of the Privy Council, Sir Arthur Helps (1813 – 1875) had ample opportunity to observe men and affairs at their grandest. By Queen Victoria he was recognised as a man of great judgement and fine character. From his obituary in The Times, we read: "No one had learnt to appreciate his qualities more highly than her Majesty. In her Clerk of the Council she always could reckon upon a staunch, thoughtful, and capable adviser, whose views had not been rashly arrived at, whose information was ample, and who had neither personal nor party interests to serve." So it is that this notice of the end of his life may serve too as an introduction to it, and this book as a monument to a species of mind so rarely encountered today.