Last words of Thomas Carlyle - Warburg Institute

WOTTON KEINFKED 15full of loftiest religion, and truly regarded the gloriesof this earth as light chaff; nay, we may say shedaily and almost hourly felt as ifthe whole materialworld were but a vision and a show, a shadowy barkbound together only by the Almighty's word, andtransporting us as if through a sea of dreams to thesolemn shore of Eternity, in whose unutterable lightthe bark would melt like vapour, and we ourselvesawake to endless weal or woe.In her secluded life— for like her husband she wasvisitedby few except the needy and distressed—suchfeelings gathered strength ;were reduced to principlesof action, and came at last to pervade her wholeconduct, most of all her conduct to her sole survivingchild. She never said to him :'Be great, bejearnedj^be rich ; ' but, ' Be good and holy, seek God and thoushalt find Him.''What is wealth ? ' she would say ;'What are crowns and sceptres ? The fashion ofthem passeth away. Heed not the world, thou hasta better inheritance ; fear it not, sufficient food andraiment our Father will provide thee ; has He notclothed the sparrow against whiter, and given it afenced house to dwell in ? ' She wished to have herboy instructed in learning, for though little acquaintedwith it herself, she reverenced it deeply ; but, judginghis religious and moral habitudes offar more consequence,she would not part with him from her sight,still less trust him among the contaminations of aboarding-school.