35 
close in horror! No novelist or dramatist could make the persons 
of his own creation more real ; and under no circumstances has 
the author engrafted a false attribute to any one of these actual 
people of history. He pounces on a fresh character, pierces it 
with that extraordinary insight with which he was gifted, and in 
a score of incisive, biting, and sometimes even ferocious terms, 
the victim’s weaknesses and misdeeds are laid bare, he is tried, 
“juggulated,” and “consigned to limbo.” Whatever came in 
his way—abstract or concrete—had to undergo the most search- 
ing analysis, and though, possibly, his natural irritability and 
well-known dyspepsia affected his temper, it is quite certain he 
believed every word he wrote; while for the poor misguided, yet 
genuine seekers after Truth, he has a deep sympathy, sometimes 
bordering on tenderness. Even the ‘incorruptible, sea-green, 
Robespierre " is forgiven and pitied when his turn comes for a 
ride in the fatal tumbril. 
The Author yields ungrudging admiration only to men of 
adamantine will and force of character, and who could “see 
facts.” One imagines that he saw much of his own self in such 
natures. No wonder Carlyle loved such men. Whether, there- 
fore, his style be literary or otherwise, it is graphic and_convinc- 
ing : the reader catches the author's spirit, and is carried along 
in spite of himself, conscious the while of a voice from every 
page teaching, as was intended,— 
‘« This, also, was a sham: therefore it perished! ”’ 
The book is full of poetic reflections, and there are numerous 
passages of great beauty: his metaphors are rich and prolific, 
apparently a reflex of his habitual mode of thought and 
expression. 
The faithful consideration of any work of Carlyle’s must 
necessarily be of a serious nature, but it would be the greatest 
mistake to suppose that this book is one long, unrelieved sermon : 
its author had the keenest sense of humour ; deep, satirical and 
erim, perhaps, but nevertheless all the keener. With what relish 
does he relate the following story :— 
«« There were certain runaways whom Fritz, the Great, bullied back into 
Peis thus—* Unprintable offspring of scoundrels! Would ye live for 
ever?’”? 
The Essayist regretted that the necessarily limited time for 
his paper prevented his giving adequate examples of the most 
remarkable pages of English literature. One example, however, 
was given from the chapter headed ‘‘ The Muster,” as typical of 
the author’s style ; 
