Last words of Thomas Carlyle - Warburg Institute

;60 WOTTON REINFREDconception. It is not always that originality, evenwhen true and estimable, pleases us at first ; if it gobeyond our sphere it is much more likely to unsettleand provoke us. Of much that he heard, Wottonknew not what to determine; it was a strain of thoughtwhich suited not with any of his categories, either oftruth or error ; in which, therefore, he could onlymingle stintedly and timidly, for he felt as if hoveringin the vortex of some strange element, in which as yethe had not learned to move.What, for instance, could he make of such tenetsas this, in which, however, several sober-mindedpersons, their host among the number, seemed partiallyto acquiesce ?'Demonstrabihty is not the test of truth ; logic isfor what the understanding sees ;what is truest we donot see, for it has no form, being infinite ; the highesttruth cannot be expressed in words.'*How is it expressed, then ? ' cried the brisk voiceof Henry Williams ; a speaker whom, alone of themall, Wotton had from the first understood.*How is it expressed, then ? ' cried Wotton andseveral more, in tones partly of inquiry, partly ofcavil.*It is expressed oftener than it is listened to orcomprehended,' said the other in reply ;'for our earsare heavy, and the divine harmony of the spheres isdrowned in the gross, harsh dissonance of earthlythings. Expressed? In the expiring smile of martyrs