Clayton

[tr ed p 114], pen & wash, Nicholson, 181 x 124 mm

'Clayton' typeset brc of border. Artist's signature, 'Nicholson', brc of picture. Illustration printed in brown and black on a pale beige background, with border line drawn in brown, and paler pastel beige border.

General Gilbert Clayton, Director of military intelligence in Egypt and Head of the Arab Bureau.

p 32 [tr ed p 57] - 'We were not many; and nearly all of us rallied round Clayton, the chief of Intelligence, civil and military, in Egypt. Clayton made the perfect leader for such a band of wild men as we were. He was calm, detached, clear-sighted, of unconscious courage in assuming responsibility. He gave an open run to his subordinates. His own views were general, like his knowledge; and he worked by influence rather than by loud direction. It was not easy to descry his influence. He was like water, or permeating oil, creeping silently and insistently through everything. It was not possible to say where Clayton was and was not, and how much really belonged to him. He never visibly led; but his ideas were abreast of those who did: he impressed men by his sobriety, and by a certain quiet and stately moderation of hope. In practical matters he was loose, irregular, untidy, a man with whom independent men could bear.'

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