Walter seemed to have leapt directly into the twentieth century from his Augustan circle of Swift, Pope and Gay. He was on my hiring committee in 1986, which was chaired by Hugh Maclean. Although I am a Miltonist, my MA thesis on Swift's many personae gave me a happy sense of affinity with Walter. I will always regret that I could not count myself among his admiring students, but I felt honored to be among his colleagues. I remember a faculty meeting when we were hotly debating whether, why and how to build a greater component of theory into the PhD curriculum. As literature for its own sake was coming to seem more and more marginalized by the theory enthusiasts, Walter slammed his hand down on the conference table and thundered: "We will graduate a bunch of people who are full of attitudes and who don't know a thing!" I had never until that moment seen him angry, but his passionate outburst spoke volumes about the elegance of his mind. One of my fondest memories was of his greeting me at a department party with the line "Oh dear Lana, I had memorized half a dozen witticisms for when you arrive, and now I have forgotten every last one of them!" He cast a sparkle on every gathering, making an art of the simplest occasion, setting an example for the pure beauty of it. Hard indeed it is to think of such brilliance, talent and grace as only mortal. - Lana Cable