58 FRESH FIELDS 



in summer and stand, with uncovered head, beside 

 the graves of his father and mother. "And long 

 and reverently did he remain there, too," said the 

 young gardener. I learned this was Carlyle's inva- 

 riable custom : every summer did he make a pilgrim- 

 age to this spot, and with bared head linger beside 

 these graves. The last time he came, which was 

 a couple of years before he died, he was so feeble 

 that two persons sustained him while he walked 

 into the cemetery. This observance recalls a pas- 

 sage from his "Past and Present." Speaking of 

 the religious custom of the Emperor of China, he 

 says, "He and his three hundred millions (it is 

 their chief punctuality) visit yearly the Tombs of 

 their Fathers; each man the Tomb of his Father 

 and his Mother; alone there in silence Avith what 

 of ' worship ' or of other thought there may be, 

 pauses solemnly each man; the divine Skies all 

 silent over him ; the divine Graves, and this divin- 

 est Grave, all silent under him ; the pulsings of his 

 own soul, if he have any soul, alone audible. Truly 

 it may be a kind of worship ! Truly, if a man can- 

 not get some glimpse into the Eternities, looking 

 through this portal, through what other need he 

 try it?" 



Carlyle's reverence and affection for his kindred 

 were among his most beautiful traits, and make up 

 in some measure for the contempt he felt toward 

 the rest of mankind. The family stamp was never 

 more strongly set upon a man, and no family ever 

 had a more original, deeply cut pattern than that of 



