"Latterly since the supernatural and the Future Life, and its conditions 'such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive,' have occupied and absorbed my whole soul to the exclusion of almost every subject which the Gorillas of this world most delight in, whether scientific, political, or literary--I have been led to see what men in general consider a proper use of their stewardship, _i.e._ ruin of body and soul by inordinate superhuman struggles for supremacy--Samson-like heavings to upset the neighbour, or supplant him--carbonic acid-breathing creepings along the dark floors of stifling caverns such as may enable them to scrape together a preponderance of a certain mineral, etc. etc.--as the most lamentable examples of Phrenitis--arising simply from the ineradicable instinct--of Immortality it is true, but misplaced Immortality--Immortality in this life." The death of his wife in 1880 was a severe blow to him. "In answer to your kind letters of sympathy," he wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Brotherton, "I can say but little. Sorrow such as mine when it falls upon the aged is virtual paralysis, mental and bodily. I know not what I may do for the brief period remaining to me in this world. At present my daughter-in-law attends to household matters, and I still have the presence of children and grandchildren to remind me that I am not left entirely desolate. But my chief consolation is that the beloved of my youth and the friend of my age is already risen, and has cast off the burthen of her mortal cares and pains, and my only hope that, God willing, I may follow quickly." A great but less tremendous shock to him was the death in 1887 of his sister Emily, once the betrothed of Arthur Hallam. On this occasion he sent the following lines to his friend: Farewell, dear sister, thou and I Will meet no more beneath the sky: But in the high world where thou art Mind speaks to Mind, and Heart to Heart, Not in faint wavering tones, but heard As twin sweet notes that sound accord. Thy dwelling in the Angel sphere Looks forth on a sublimer whole, Where all that thou dost see and hear Is in true concord with thy soul-- A great harp of unnumbered strings Answering to one voice that sings: Where thousand blisses spring and fade Swiftly, as in diviner dream, And inward motions are portrayed In outward shows that move with them: After the midnight and dark river No more to be o'erpast for ever. Behold the lover of thy youth, That spirit strong as Love and Truth, Many a long year gone before, Awaits thee on the sunny shore: In that high world of endless wonder Nor Space, nor Time can hold asunder Twin souls--as Space and Time have done-- Whom kindest instincts orb in One.