Last words of Thomas Carlyle - Warburg Institute

i with28 WOTTON REINFREDspeculation, as in conduct, be was a perfect opposite.The former never believed, tbe latter scarcely everdoubted ; hence, the one acted and concluded, wrong,even absurdly, it might be, but still acted and concluded,while the other painfully hesitated and inquired.Both truly loved goodness ; of the two,Wotton more fervently, yet Bernard with more trustfulnessand effect. In active courage, the latter wassuperior ; in passive, the former ; who, indeed, hadlong lived with pain, and for the better purpose of hismind had always fronted and defied it. Not so withBernard : he had in secret a deep horror of passive\ suffering, so deep that scarcely even conscience could\drive him to brave it ; and many times, as it seemedto Wotton, he would practise cunning subterfuges,iand underhand, nay, unconsciously, play Jesuitic trickshis own convictions to escape such dilemmas.1 That he wished a thing to be true was ever with him\ a strong persuasion of its truth. He sympathised in\ Wotton's scepticism ; often he seemed, with a deepsigh, to admit that his objections were unanswerable,yet himself continued to believe. Wotton loved him,for, in spite of drawbacks, he felt all his singularworth ; and Bernard was the only human soul thatknew him, in whose neighbourhood his own exiled,marred, and exasperated spirit still felt any touchof peace, still saw afar off, though but for a fewmoments, some glimpses of kind sunshiny life. Toproduce such effects, to attract such a spirit, and be