A Priceless Gift

John Stewart Collis (1904-1984), "Introduction" to George Gissing (1857-1903), The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (Brighton: The Harvester Press, 1982), p. viii (on Gissing):

Indeed he devoured books, and was single-minded in his taste, which was literary and historical. Nature had bestowed upon him the priceless gift of indifference to theology, philosophy, science, and politics — leaving him unimpeded in his scholastic passions.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912),
A Difficult Line from Horace
(Corcoran Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)