Thereupon Mr. Carlyle rose at
once, shook himself out of his gold-laced rectorial gown, left it on
his chair, and stepped quietly to the table, and drawing his tall,
bony frame into a position of straight perpendicularity not possible
to one man in five hundred at seventy years of age, he began to speak
quietly and distinctly, but nervously. There was a slight flush on
his face, but he bore himself with composure and dignity, and in the
course of half an hour he was obviously beginning to feel at his ease,
so far at least as to have adequate command over the current of his
thought.
"He spoke on quite freely and easily, hardly ever repeated a word,
never looked at a note, and only once returned to finish up a topic
from which he had deviated. He apologised for not having come with
a written discourse. It was usual, and 'it would have been more
comfortable for me just at present,' but he had tried it, and could
not satisfy himself, and 'as the spoken word comes from the heart,' he
had resolved to try that method. What he said in words will be learned
otherwise than from me.
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