I always used to steer him onto the subject of FitzGerald sooner or later, and it was interesting to hear him tell how many princes of the literary world had come to his shop or had corresponded with him owing to his knowledge of E.F.G.  Arme Thackeray gave him a beautiful portrait of herself in return for some courtesy he showed her.  Robert H. Groome, the archdeacon of Suffolk, and his brilliant son, Francis Hindes Groome, the “Tarno Rye” (who wrote “Two Suffolk Friends” and was said by Watts Dunton to have known far more about the gipsies than Borrow) were among his correspondents.[D] John Hay, Elihu Vedder, Aldis Wright, Canon Ainger, Thomas B. Mosher, Clement Shorter, Dewitt Miller, Edward Clodd, Leon Vincent—­such men as these wrote or came to John Loder when they wanted special news about FitzGerald.  FitzGerald had given him a great many curios and personal treasures:  Mr. Loder never offered these for sale at any price (anything connected with FitzGerald was sacred to him) but if any one happened along who seemed able to appreciate them he would give them away with delight.  He gave to me FitzGerald’s old musical scrapbook, which he had treasured for over thirty years.  This scrapbook, in perfect condition, contains very beautiful engravings, prints, and drawings of the famous composers, musicians, and operatic stars of whom Fitz was enivre as a young man.  Among them are a great many drawings of Handel; FitzGerald, like Samuel Butler, was an enthusiastic Handelian.  The pictures are annotated by E.F.G. and there are also two drawings of Beethoven traced by Thackeray.  This scrapbook was compiled by FitzGerald when he and Thackeray were living together in London, visiting the Cave of Harmony and revelling in the dear delights of young intellectual companionship.  Under a drawing of the famous Braham, dated 1831, Fitz has written:  “As I saw and heard him many nights in the Pit of Covent Garden, in company with W.M.  Thackeray, whom I was staying with at the Bedford Coffee House.”

[Footnote D:  No lover of FitzGerald can afford not to own that exquisite tributary volume “Edward FitzGerald:  An Aftermath,” by Francis Hindes Groome, which Mr. Mosher published in 1902.  It tells a great deal about Woodbridge, and is annotated by John Loder.  Mr. Mosher was eager to include Loder’s portrait in it, but the old man’s modesty was always as great as his generosity:  he would not consent.]

When I tried, haltingly, to express my thanks for such a gift, the old man said “That’s nothing!  That’s nothing!  It’ll help to keep you out of mischief.  Much better to give ’em away before it’s too late!” And he followed it with Canon Ainger’s two volumes of Lamb’s letters, which Ainger had given him.