from the civil code, nor the civil code from the combinations which
the safety of Egypt required. Never did a man more wholly devote
himself to the work in hand, nor better devote his time to what he had
to do. Never did a mind more inflexibly set aside the occupation or
thought which did not come at the right day or hour, never was one
more ardent in seeking it, more alert in its pursuit, more capable of
fixing it when the time came to take it up."


He himself said later on:[46]

"Various subjects and affairs are stowed away in my brain as in a
chest of drawers. When I want to take up any special business I shut
one drawer and open another. None of them ever get mixed, and never
does this incommode me or fatigue me. If I feel sleepy I shut all the
drawers and go to sleep."

Never has brain so disciplined and under such control been seen, one
so ready at all times for any task, so capable of immediate and
absolute concentration. Its flexibility[47] is wonderful, "in the
instant application of every faculty and energy, and bringing them all
to bear at once on any object that concerns him, on a mite as well as
on an elephant, on any given individual as well as on an enemy's army.
. . . When specially occupied, other things do not exist for him;
it is a sort of chase from which nothing diverts him." And this hot
pursuit, which nothing arrests save capture, this tenacious hunt, this
headlong course by one to whom the goal is never other than a fresh
starting-point, is the spontaneous gait, the natural, even pace which
his mind prefers.