186 THE GOLDSMITHS. 



so eloquent and well merited a tribute paid to the 

 animal kingdom and so cutting a satire upon man? 



The shadows and shams of life had then. all de- 

 parted, and the great man, just about to take his leave 

 of this world, desired to hold communion with those 

 honest faces once more and then depart. 



My wife joins with me in a cordial invitation for 

 you to spend a day with us at the farm before you re- 

 turn. With high regard, I am yours, etc., 



Alden Goldsmith. 



It is to be regretted that Alden Goldsmith did not 

 look with favor on the advances made by R. S. Veech, 

 as Volunteer never sired a horse of note after the date 

 of this correspondence, while the success of George 

 Wilkes, Dictator, Happy Medium, Harold, Strath- 

 more, Aberdeen, Victor Bismarck and Egbert would 

 have come in all probability to Volunteer in the "blue 

 grass." The allusion to Webster in Alden Gold- 

 smith's letter also recalls an incident in the last hours 

 of J. B. McFerran, who, on the day he died, ordered 

 Nutwood led on the lawn, so that he could once more 

 feast his eyes upon him before passing into the 

 shadow. Not even in Cobham did Pope find an apter 

 illustration of the "ruling passion strong in death," 

 and to which he again refers in his Moral Essays in the 

 familiar lines : 



Manners with fortunes, humors turn with climes, 

 Tenets with books, and principles with times 

 Search then the ruling passion: there alone 

 The wild are constant, and the cunning known. 



The ruling passion, be it what it will, 

 The ruling passion conquers reason still. 



