FRANCE, ITALY, AND SWITZERLAND-1886-1887 427 



and on my referring to Earl Russell, he spoke of him 

 as wonderful in getting at the center of an argument. 

 Of Carlyle he said that he knew him in his last days in 

 timately, often walking with him ; but that his mind failed 

 him sadly; that the last thing Lecky read him was a se 

 lection from Burns s letters ; and that Carlyle, when left 

 to himself, often toned down his harsh judgments of men. 

 At his funeral, in Scotland, Lecky was present, and, 

 judging from his account, it was one of the most dismal 

 things ever known. Speaking of America, Lecky said 

 that Carlyle was really deeply attached to Emerson ; and 

 he added that Dean Stanley, on his return from America, 

 told him that the best things he found there were the 

 private libraries, and the worst the newspapers. Lecky 

 thought Americans more prone to give themselves up 

 to a purely literary life than are the English, and cited 

 Prescott, Irving, and others. He spoke of &quot;The Club,&quot; 

 of which he is a member. It is that to which Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Burke, and Goldsmith belonged; 

 its members dine together every fortnight; one black 

 ball excludes. Speaking of Gladstone, he thought that 

 he had greatly declined as a speaker of late years, and 

 that no one had had such power in clouding truth and ob 

 scuring a fact. 



Returning to America, I again settled in my old quar 

 ters at Cornell University, hoping to devote myself quietly 

 to the work I had in hand. My old home on the campus 

 had an especial charm for me, and I had begun to take 

 up the occupations to which I purposed to devote the rest 

 of my life, when there came upon me the greatest of all 

 calamities the loss of her who had been for thirty years 

 my main inspiration and support in all difficulties, cares, 

 and trials. For the time all was lost. In all calamities 

 hitherto I had taken refuge in work ; but now there seemed 

 no motive for work, and at last, for a complete change 

 of scene, I returned to Europe, determined to give my 

 self to the preparation of my &quot; History of the Warfare 

 of Science with Theology. &quot; 



