ble
to outward influences, that all his years of Edinburgh and London life
could not impair, even in the slightest degree, _that_. The opening
sentences were lost in the applause, and when it subsided, the low,
plaintive, quavering voice was heard going on: "Your enthusiasm towards
me is very beautiful in itself, however undeserved it may be in regard
to the object of it. It is a feeling honourable to all men, and one well
known to myself when in a position analogous to your own." And then came
the Carlylean utterance, with its far-reaching reminiscence and sigh
over old graves--Father's and Mother's, Edward Irving's, John
Sterling's, Charles Buller's, and all the noble known in past time--and
with its flash of melancholy scorn. "There are now fifty-six years gone,
last November, since I first entered your city, a boy of not quite
fourteen--fifty-six years ago--to attend classes here, and gain
knowledge of all kinds, I knew not what--with feelings of wonder and
awe-struck expectation; and now, after a long, long course, this is what
we have come to.... There is something touching and tragic, and yet at
the same time beautiful, to see the third generation, as it were, of my
dear old native land, rising up, and saying: Well, you are not
altogether an unworthy labourer in the vineyard. You have toiled through
a great variety of fortunes, and have had many judges." And thereafter,
without aid of notes, or paper preparation of any kind, in the same
wistful, earnest, hesitating voice, and with many a touch of quaint
humour by the way, which came in upon his subject like glimpses of
pleasant sunshine, the old man talked to his vast audience about the
origin and function of Universities, the Old Greeks and Romans, Oliver
Cromwell, John Knox, the excellence of silence as compared with speech,
the value of courage and truthfulness, and the supreme importance of
taking care of one's health. "There is no kind of achievement you could
make in the world that is equal to perfect health. What to it are
nuggets and millions? The French financier said, 'Alas! why is there no
sleep to be sold?' Sleep was not in the market at any quotation." But
what need of quoting a speech which by this time has been read by
everybody? Appraise it as you please, it was a thing _per se_. Just as,
if you wish a purple dye, you must fish up the Murex; if you wish ivory,
you must go to the East; so if you desire an address such as Edinburgh
listened to the ot