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LIFE OF COBDEN. [os xxxVIL

1865. reserved for Mr. Disraeli to strike a deeper note. “There
Xr.60. ig this consolation,” he said, “remaining to us when We
remember our unequalled snd irreparable losses, that these
great men are not altogether lost to us, that their words will
be often quoted in this House, that their examples will ofte?
be referred to and appealed to, and that even their expressions
may form a part of our discussions, There are, indeed, 1
may say, some members of Parliament, who though they
may not be present, are still members of this House, are independent
 of dissolutions, of the caprices of constituencies,
and even of the course of time. I think that Mr. Cobden
was one of these men.”
While the House was still under an impression from
these words which was almost religious, Mr. Bright, yielding
bo a marked and silent expectation, rose and tried to S&Y
how every expression of sympathy that he had heard had
been most grateful to his heart. “But the time,” he wen
on in broken accents, “which has elapsed since in MJ
presence the manliest and gentlest spirit that ever quitted
or tenanted a human form took its flight is so short, that I
iare not even attempt to give utterance to the feelings by
which I am oppressed. I shall leave to some calmer mo”
ment when I may have an opportunity of speaking before
some portion of my countrymen the lesson which I think
may be learned from the life and character of my friend:
I have only to say that after twenty years of most intimate
and almost brotherly friendship, I little knew how much I
loved him until I had lost him.” As Homer says of Nestor
and Ulysses, so of these two it may be said that they never
spoke diversely either in the assembly or in the council, but
were always of one mind, and together advised the English
with understanding and with counsel how all ight be for
the best.