We have said that Lockhart was, at bottom, a religious man. In company with an Oxford friend (G. R. Gleig probably) Lockhart used to walk on Sunday afternoons in Regent's Park. 'With whatever topic their colloquy began, it invariably fell off, so to speak, of its own accord into discussions upon the character and teaching of the Saviour; upon the influence exercised by both over the opinions and habits of mankind; upon the light thrown by them on man's future state and present destiny. Lockhart was never so charming as in these discussions. It was evident that the subject filled his whole mind.' His verses on Immortality, first published in full in the _Scotsman_ for 1863, have often been quoted. No poem probably, not even by Wordsworth or Tennyson, has done more to inspire and console the bereaved. Lockhart sent the poem (in part) to Carlyle, and 'the lines,' says Froude, 'were often on his lips to the end of his life, and will not be easily forgotten by anyone who reads them.'
'When youthful faith has fled, Of loving take thy leave; Be constant to the dead, The dead cannot deceive.
'Sweet, modest flowers of spring. How fleet your balmy day! And man's brief year can bring No secondary May.
'No earthly burst again Of gladness out of gloom; Fond hope and vision vain, Ungrateful to the tomb!
'But 'tis an old belief, That on some solemn shore, Beyond the sphere of grief Dear friends will meet once more.
'Beyond the sphere of time, And sin, and fate's control, Serene in changeless prime Of body and of soul.
'That creed I fain would keep, That hope I'll not forego: Eternal be the sleep, Unless to waken so!'