And,—when I am forgotten, as I shall be ;
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of,—say, I taught thee;
Say, Wolsey,—that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,—
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in ;
A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition :
By that sin fell the angels; how can man then,

The image of his Maker, hope to win by 't?

Love thyself last cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty.

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,

To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not :
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king;

And, prithee,* lead me in :

There take an inventory of all I have,

To the last penny; 'tis the king's my robe,

And my integrity to heaven, is all

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell!
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

THOMAS CARLYLE: 1795—

The Most Honourable. From "Sartor Resartus."

Thomas Carlyle was born in Dumfriesshire, in the year 1795. One of the most remarkable writers and thinkers of the present day, with a large, healthy, noble influence over his generation, and that which is succeeding it. His vigorous call to unflagging earnestness and truth, his genuine appreciation of a man, his largeheartedness, and the rugged picturesqueness of his style-rising occasionally to the barbaric grandeur of the old Jewish prophets-combine to give him a hold on the

* Prithee, a corruption of (1) pray thee.

mind of his readers that few have ever equalled. "The Tailor Re-tailored" is professedly a review of the papers "on dress" of a German professor of "things in general," but in reality is a dissertation on life, its appearances or garments, its shams, its hardships, and its victories; the hero being made to illustrate the transcendentalism of Fichte.

Two men I honour, and no third. First, the toilworn craftsman that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the earth, and makes her man's. Venerable to me is the hard hand, crooked, coarse, wherein, notwithstanding, lies a cunning virtue,* indefeasibly royal, as of the sceptre of this planet. Venerable too is the rugged face, all weathertanned, besoiled, with its rude intelligence; for it is the face of a man living manlike. Oh, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even because we must pity as well as love thee! Hardly entreated brother! For us was thy back so bent, for us were thy straight limbs and fingers so deformed: thou wert our conscript, on whom the lot fell, and fighting our battles were so marred. . . . Yet toil on, toil on; thou art in thy duty, be out of it who may; thou toilest for the altogether indispensable, for daily bread.

A second man I honour, and still more highly: him who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispensable; not daily bread, but the bread of life. Is not he too in his duty; endeavouring ‡ towards harmony; revealing this by act or by word, through all his outward endeavours, be they high or low? Highest of all, when his outward and his inward endeavour are one: when we can name him artist; not earthly craftsman only, but inspired thinker, who with heaven-made implements conquers heaven for us! If the poor and humble toil that we have food, must not the high and glorious toil for him in return, that he have light, have guidance, freedom, immortality? These two, in all their degrees, I honour; all else is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth.§ Unspeakably touching is it, however, when I find both dignities united; and he that must toil outwardly for the lowest of man's wants is also toiling inwardly for the highest. Sublimer in this world know I nothing than a peasant saint, could such now anywhere be met with. Such a one will take thee back to Nazareth itself; thou wilt see the splendour of heaven spring forth from the humblest depths of earth, like a light shining in great darkness.

* Power.

+ Only.

Striving.

Pleases; A.S. lystan, to desire.

FRANCIS BACON: 1561-1626.

Of Studies. From the "Essays."

Bacon, Lord High Chancellor of England, and Baron Verulam and Viscount St. Albans, is one of the greatest of English prose writers, and the most famous of England's philosophers. In no other writer is so much splendid thought compressed into such admirable language; in none is there more constant dignity and lofty-mindedness. The work he did in the world of thought, by setting men's minds free from the chains of prejudice and superstition, by teaching them above all things to seek out knowledge, and to found their reverence upon it alone, is beyond all praise. He not only exhorted men to seek knowledge by experiment, but he also showed them how to seek it out.

STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.* Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business; for expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies, is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour † of a scholar; they perfect nature, and are perfected by experience-for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them,§ and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would ¶ be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a

* Expertness.

+ Whim.

Do grow in certain directions.
§ Outside them.
With attention to minute particulars.
"Should be, ought to be"-the regular meaning of would at that time.

not.

full man, conference* a ready man, and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; † and if he read little, he had need of much cunning, to seem to know that he doth Histories make men wise, poets witty, the mathematics subtle, natural philosophy deep, meral grave, logic and rhetoric able to contend; "studies influence the manners;" nay, there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be brought out ‡ by fit studies, like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises-bowling is good for the stone and reins, shooting for the lungs and breast, gentle walking for the stomach, riding for the head, and the like; so, if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics, for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again; if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen, for they are hair-splitters; if he be not apt to beat over § matters, and to call upon one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases-so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. ||

* Conversation; society.

=

mind; A.S. witan, to know.

Present =

ready.

+ Wit + Got rid of. § Skilful in searching through-a phrase borrowed from shooting. Recipe for curing.

Caxton Printing Works, Beccles.