resolved to attain an object, never rests until that object is achieved. Thomson, the student, the idealist and poet, or say the dreamer, who shrank with almost morbid dislike from the noise and tumult of publicity, and who, like Hamlet, was fitted rather for contemplation than for action. What points of contact had they to bring them together and unite them in the bonds of friendship? It is probable, indeed, that each liked and respected the other for the very qualities which he himself lacked; certain it is that they remained for many years on terms of intimate friendship.
Bradlaugh, even at this early period of his life, had made himself known as an advocate of extreme political and theological views. Thomson had been pretty well grounded in Presbyterian theology,[1] and although his views at this time may not have been strictly orthodox, yet he still believed in Christianity. Many and animated were the discussions that took place between them at this period—discussions that left each of them (as is usually the case) still of his own opinion. It would be a mistake to suppose that Thomson's opinions were modified in any way, owing to his intimacy with Bradlaugh. Whatever views he adopted were the result of careful inquiry and long meditation, and few persons were less likely to be swayed by the opinions of others. If he was any man's disciple, he was the disciple of Shelley, in whom
- ↑ He once gave me an amusing account of the sufferings he underwent in committing to memory what is known as the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, and of how he used to lie awake in bed shivering at the thought that he would have to learn another, longer and harder even than that.
