His  style  on  the  whole  improved.  He  wrote  a  life  of
Sir  Walter  Scott,  a  life  of  his  friend  Anderson,  at  the
very  end  a  life  of  Burns  ;  the  last  with  a  sense  of
difficulty  and  pressure  due  probably  to  the  disease
which  carried  him  off.  He  also  composed  his  poem
on  "Night."  But  the  Journal  shows  where  his  thoughts
were,  shows  that  he  could  write  no  history  of  British
poetry  from  the  heart.  It  was  not  "  Firmilian,"  nor
any  other  attack  from  the  same  quarter  that  drove
him  out  of  the  field.  He  felt  a  higher  attraction — and
yet,  yielding  to  it,  following  the  vision  of  a  great
possibility,  he  seemed  always  to  see  "  an  end  of  all
perfection."

Contrast  Carlyle  with  Gilfillan  and  it  will  be  found
that  both  were,  one  time  or  other,  at  the  same  parting
of  the  ways.  Carlyle  refused  the  Christian  ministry,
refused  the  distinctively  religious  culture,  and  went
out  into  the  open,  where  he  found  as  his  final  and
largest  task  the  Voltaire-Frederick  drama — a  thing
far  inferior  to  his  powers.  Gilfillan  clung  to  religion,
and  wrought  at  theological  problems  which  became
ever  more  engrossing  and  perplexing.  If  we  judge


PROGRESS  OF  THOUGHT.  407

between  life  and  life,  who  can  deny  that  Gilfillan's
was  the  nobler  choice  ?  It  was  made  under  the  force
of  spiritual  instincts,  and  therefore  partly  unawares.
He  thought  that  with  his  reconciliation  unreached
he  might  still  serve  literature  as  well  as  religion  ;  and
his  attempts,  especially  in  the  labour  that  went  to
"  Night "  were  eager  and  even  great.  But  from  the
way  chosen  there  was  no  turning  back  ;  he  failed  for
Christ,  and  did  well.
