CLOSING TEAES. 453 



affection the happiness of years, and seems to have left to it no 

 other lot upon Earth than to bleed and mourn, then, in that deso- 

 lation of the spirit, are discovered what are the secret powers which 

 it bears within itself, out of which it can derive consolation and 

 peace. The Mind, torn by such a stroke from all those inferior 

 human sympathies which, weak And powerless when compared to 

 its own sorrow, can afford it no relief, turns itself to that Sympa- 

 thy which is without bounds. Ask of the forlorn and widowed 

 heart what is the calm which it finds in those hours of secret 

 thought, which are withdrawn from all eyes ? Ask what is that 

 hidden process of Nature by which Grief has led it on to devo- 

 tion ? That attraction of the Soul in its uttermost earthly distress 

 to a source of consolation remote from Earth, is not to be ascribed 

 to a Disposition to substitute one emotion for another, as if it hoped 

 to find relief in dispelling and blotting out the vain passion with 

 which it labored before ; but, in the very constitution of the Soul, 

 the capacities of human and divine affection are linked together, 

 and it is the very depth of its passion that leads it over from the 

 one to the other. Nor is its consolation fororetfulness. But that 

 affection which was wounded becomes even more deep and tender 

 in the midst of the calm which it attains."* 



All earthly things now wore for him a solemn aspect. His mind 

 was evidently inclined to meditate upon those truths by which re- 

 ligion exalts moral perceptions, and to bring all his force to test 

 how he could elevate the soul's aspirations before he retired from 

 the field in which he had so long labored. He humbly looked in 

 the coming days of darkness for the light that rises to the upright, 

 and hopefully awaited the summons that should call him to rest 

 from his labors, and enter into the joy of his Lord. 



He remained at Woodburn until the end of the autumn of 1852. 

 Before he left it he had received visits from various old friends. 

 Among the last was his old partner in literature and all the wild 

 audacities of its then unlicensed liberty, John Gibson Lockhart. 

 Much changed he was ; more so even than his friend. It was a 

 kind and pleasant meeting. I had prepared Mr. Lockhart to find 

 my father greatly altered, as we drove out together. He after- 

 wards told me he saw no change mentally, but considered him as 

 bright and great as ever. Yet time had done much to destroy the 



* ]>ies Boreales, August, 1852. 



