So self-contained
was he, so impregnable to outward influences, that all his years
of Edinburgh and London life could not impair even in the slightest
degree, _that_.
"The opening sentences were lost in the applause. What need of quoting
a speech which by this time has been read by everybody? Appraise it as
you please, it was a thing _per se_. Just as, if you wish a purple dye
you must fish up the Murex; if you wish ivory you must go to the east;
so if you desire an address such as Edinburgh listened to the other
day, you must go to Chelsea for it. It may not be quite to your taste,
but, in any case, there is no other intellectual warehouse in which
that kind of article is kept in stock.
"The gratitude I owe to him is--or should be--equal to that of most.
He has been to me only a voice, sometimes sad, sometimes wrathful,
sometimes scornful; and when I saw him for the first time with the
eye of flesh stand up amongst us the other day, and heard him speak
kindly, brotherly, affectionate words--his first appearance of that
kind, I suppose, since he discoursed of Heroes and Hero Worship to the
London people--I am not ashamed to confess that I felt moved towards
him, as I do not think in any possible combination of circumstances I
could have felt moved towards any other living man.
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