at alleviations of his exile at Madeira he has already
celebrated to us: the pleasant circle of society he fell into there.
Great luck, thinks Sterling in this voyage; as indeed there was: but
he himself, moreover, was readier than most men to fall into pleasant
circles everywhere, being singularly prompt to make the most of any
circle. Some of his Madeira acquaintanceships were really good; and one
of them, if not more, ripened into comradeship and friendship for him.
He says, as we saw, "The chances are, Calvert and I will come home
together."

Among the English in pursuit of health, or in flight from fatal disease,
that winter, was this Dr. Calvert; an excellent ingenious cheery
Cumberland gentleman, about Sterling's age, and in a deeper stage of
ailment, this not being his first visit to Madeira: he, warmly joining
himself to Sterling, as we have seen, was warmly received by him; so
that there soon grew a close and free intimacy between them; which for
the next three years, till poor Calvert ended his course, was a leading
element in the history of both. Companionship in incurable malady,
a touching bond of union, was by no means purely or chiefly a
companionship in misery in their case. The sunniest inextinguishable
cheerfulness shone, through all manner of clouds, in both. Calvert had
been travelling physician in some family of rank, who had rewarded him
with a pension, shielding his own ill-health from one sad evil. Being
hopelessly gone in pulmonary disorder, he now moved about among friendly
climates and places, seeking what alleviation there might be; often
spending his summers in the house of a sister in the environs of London;
an insatiable rider on his little brown pony; always, wherever you might
meet him, one of the cheeriest of men. He had plenty of speculation too,
clear glances of all kinds into religious, social, moral concerns; and
pleasantly incited Sterling's outpourings on such subjects. He could
report of fashionable persons and manners, in a fine human Cumberland
manner; loved art, a great collector of drawings; he had endless help
and ingenuity; and was in short every way a very human, lovable, good
and nimble man,--the laughing blue eyes of him, the clear cheery soul
of him, still redolent of the fresh Northern breezes and transparent
Mountain streams. With this Calvert, Sterling formed a natural intimacy;
and they were to each other a great possession, mutually enlivening many
a dark day duri