He let them go, talking on in his soft, downy accents,
without a smile; occasionally for an instant looking very serious,
with his dark eyes beating like pulses, but generally looking merely
composed and kindly, and so, to speak, father-like. He concluded by
reciting his own translation of a poem of Goethe--
"'The future hides in it gladness and sorrow.'
And this he did in a style of melancholy grandeur not to be described,
but still less to be forgotten. It was then alone that the personality
of the philosopher and poet were revealed continuously in his manner
of utterance. The features of his face are familiar to all from his
portraits. But I do not think any portrait, unless, perhaps, Woolner's
medallion, gives full expression to the resolution that is visible
in his face. Besides, they all make him look sadder and older than he
appears. Although he be threescore and ten, his hair is still abundant
and tolerably black, and there is considerable colour in his cheek.
Not a man of his age on that platform to-day looked so young, and he
had done more work than any ten on it.
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