The best advice I can remember was once given by my wife, in a single sentence, to a public speaker who consulted her on the subject; she said simply: "Don't be afraid of opening your mouth, and don't forget that the roof of it is Nature's sounding-board."
Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, as some may still recollect, was honoured with the personal friendship of the late Empress Frederick of Germany. In connection with that unhappy lady, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, and our Princess Royal, he told me an interesting story, the point of which was to be proved tragically true in later years.
The Bishop was summoned to Germany to give the Empress the consolations of religion in a grave illness. The Prince of Wales, who had hastened to the bedside of his favourite sister, in the kindness of his peace-loving heart was attempting to smooth over the notorious differences between the suffering lady and her son, the ex-Kaiser, who, as is well-known, had treated her with unfilial harshness. But the Empress knew Wilhelm too well to hope for reconciliation. She laid her hand on her brother's arm, saying sadly and earnestly: "Bertie, your country has no greater enemy than my son."
A Mohammedan legend
Among my papers I find a letter from Boyd-Carpenter, redeeming a promise which he had made over the dinner-table to look up for me a Mohammedan legend upon which he had preached a remarkable sermon:
"When God made the earth it shook to and fro till He put the mountains on it to keep it firm.
"Then the angels asked: 'O God, is there anything in Thy creation stronger than those mountains?'
"And God replied: 'Iron is stronger than the mountains, for it breaks them.'
"'And is there anything in Thy creation stronger than iron?'
"'Yes, fire is stronger than iron, because it melts it.'