A WORD AT PARTING. 97 



arising from that kind of reserve peculiar to the English cha- 

 racter, does, I think, greatly tend to prevent that mingling of 

 class with class, that reciprocation of kind words and gentle 

 affections, gracious admonitions and kind inquiries, which, often 

 more than any book education, tend to the culture of the affec- 

 tions of the heart, the refinement and elevation of the character 

 of those to whom they are addressed. And if I were to be 

 asked what is the great want of English society to mingle 

 class with class I would say, in one word, the want is the 

 want of Sympathy. . . . .' While uttering these noble 

 sentiments his head fell on one side. 



' The latest breath of one whose whole life was kindness,* was 

 thus spent in a solemn enforcement of the duty of kindness to 

 others. He was urging upon his countrymen, on behalf of the 

 fallen and falling, the need in which we all stand of " a reci- 

 procation of kind words and gentle affections," when his voice 

 was hushed for ever. 



'Noble indeed would such a doctrine have been, and most 

 fit to be delivered, if it had been no more than it was meant to 

 be, a voice of mercy from the judgment-seat : a voice of justice 

 perhaps more true than speaks in many a judicial sentence. 

 He was discharging his official duty, but he was urging not less 

 the lesson of his own generous life, when he attributed the fre- 



* Examiner, March 18, 1854. 

 II 



