He conceived himself to be under a pledge.

He had given his word to a dead man, who could not release him.

It seems, however, clear that he should have taken the course least injurious to Carlyle's memory, and in such a very delicate matter he might well have asked advice.

From the purely literary point of view there could be no doubt at all.

Not even Frederick the Great, that storehouse of "jewels five words long," contains more sparkling gems than these two precious little volumes.