Field Meetings. 549 



late heathery hills, where the lonely scholar nourished his 

 mighty heart. Carlyle was a man from his youth, an author 

 who did not need to hide -from his readers, and as absolute 

 a man of the world, unknown and exiled on that hill farm, 

 as if holding on his own terms what is best in London. 

 He was tall and gaunt, with a cliff-like brow, self-possessed, 

 and holding his extraordinary powers of conversation in easy 

 command ; clinging to his northern accent with evident 

 relish ; full of lively anecdote, and wilh a streaming humour, 

 which floated everything he-looked upon." He stayed over- 

 night in the house, and he tells of a walk which they 

 had " over long liills," ha\ ing high converse together. 

 " There we sat down, and talked of the immortality of the 

 soul. It was not Carlyle's fault that we talked on that 

 topic, for he had the natural disinclination of every nimble 

 spirit to bruise itself against walls, and did not like to place 

 himself where no step can be taken. But he was honest and 

 true, and cognisant of the subtile links that bind ages 

 together, and saw how every event affects all the future. 

 ' Christ died on the tree : that built Dunscore kirk yonder : 

 that brought you and me together. Time has only a relative 

 existence.' " 



What was Mrs Carlyle's drawing-room, a pleasant room 

 still used in this way, and the small room opening off it 

 which Carlyle used as his study, were open to the visitors of 

 Thursday. Both rooms contain many portraits of Carlyle 

 and his wife, of various members of the Carlyle family, 

 besides engravings of Cromwell and others about whom he 

 wrote. In the bookcase in the study are first editions of 

 many of the philosopher's works, including a copy in full 

 calf of the third edition of the " French Revolution," with 

 an inscription on the fly-leaf in his handwriting presenting 

 it to his mother, and with a slip of paper pasted into the 

 beginning of the book containing for his mother's benefit a 

 translation of the motto from Goethe which is printed on 

 one of the early pages. 



On returning to the motors to begin the homeward 

 journey, a short meeting of the Society was held. Provost 

 Turner, Maxwelltown, presided, and made a fitting reference 



