Last words of Thomas Carlyle - Warburg Institute

;:!64 WOTTON EEINFEEDsceptic aspect of this youth seemed to vex his relation.*My good sir,' repHed he, we have ' all had prettyviews of it ourselves in our time. Fair and softlyThere is an age when to every man life appears thesimplest matter. How very manageable ! Everywhy has its wherefore ; this leads to that, and thewhole problem of existence is easy and certain as aquestion in the Rule of Three. Multiply the second andthird terms together, and divide the product hy the first,and the quotient will he the answer! Trust me, friend,before you come to my time of day, you will find thereis a devilish fraction always over, do what you willand if you try to reduce it, it goes into a repeatingdecimal and leads you the Lord knows whither. Lifehappy ! ' continued he :'what thinking mortal everfound it so ? Which of us might not say with SwiftI have had hours that might be tolerated, but nonewhich could be enjoyed, and my life in general hasbeen misery ? Show me a man that is happy, and Iwill show thee a man that has—an excellent nervoussystem. Williams, when you write again, it shouldbe an essay on the Comforts of Stupidity.'''1 have sometimes taken that matter into consideration,'answered Williams, but ' I fear I shouldvote rather against you.Much, much depends on thenerves; but something also on prudence and wisemanagement. On the whole, too, I think Nature iskind to us, and it is a blessing to exist : there is moreof happiness in life than of misery.'