But those who had the happiness of knowing Arnold in the flesh will feel
that they never so clearly recognize his natural voice as when, by his
criticism of life, he is inculcating the great law of Love. Even in the
swirl of Revolution he clings to his fixed idea of love as duty. After
discussing the rise and fall of dynasties, the crimes of diplomacy, the
characteristic defects of rival nations, and all the stirring topics of
the time, he abruptly concludes his criticism with an appeal to Love.
"Be kind to the neighbours--'this is all we can.'"

And as in his prose, so in his poetry. Love, even in arrest of formal
justice, is the motive of _The Sick King in Bokhara_; love, that wipes
out sin, of _Saint Brandan_--

That germ of kindness, in the womb
Of mercy caught, did not expire;
Outlives my guilt, outlives my doom,
And friends me in the pit of fire.

_The Neckan_ and _The Forsaken Merman_ tell the tale of contemptuous
unkindness and its enduring poison. _A Picture at Newstead_ depicts the
inexpiable evils wrought by violent wrong. _Poor Matthias_ tells in a
parable the cruelty, not less real because unconscious, of imperfect
sympathy--

Human longings, human fears,
Miss our eyes and miss our ears.
Little helping, wounding much,
Dull of heart, and hard of touch,
Brother man's despairing sign
Who may trust us to divine?