Last words of Thomas Carlyle - Warburg Institute

;-102 WOTTON EEINFEEDthese he unites, omitting what was trivial or repulsivein them, and thus is formed by degrees an idealwhole in his mind. Wlien the painter would createhis Venus, does he not borrow the eyes from this fairwoman, the nose from that, the lips from anotherand uniting so many separate beauties, form theminto one beauty, which is indeed all taken from nature,yet to which nature has and can have no parallel ? ''When the mantua-maker would create a kettlequilt/ cried Williams gaily, ' does she not borrow thepatch of taffeta from this bright remnant, the lustringfrom that, the sarcenet from another, and so producea kettle-quilt, which is indeed all taken from Spitalfields,yet to which all Spitalfields can show noparallel ? I declare to you, my friend, I could neverfor an hour believe in this theory, though Akensidehimself took it under his wing, nay, for aught I know,first hatched it.'*Why do we not in good earnest set up Gulliver'spoetical turning-loom,' said Wotton, and produce our*poetry in Birmmgham by steam ? '*It is surely a false theory,' said Dalbrook, but * ofa piece with our other false mechanical philosophy.All things must be rendered visible or they are notconceivable : poetry is an internal joiner-work, butwhat of that ? Virtue itself is an association orperhaps a fluid in the nerves ; thought is some vibration,or at best some camera-obscura picturing in thebrain ; volition is the mounting of a scale or the