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CARLYLE, THOMAS. 



relations with the review were pleasanter. 

 Jeffrey in a letter to his successor warns him 

 that Carlyle would not be a proper contributor 

 "that is," lie explained, "if you do not take 

 the liberties and pains with him that I did, by 

 striking out freely, uud writing in occasionally. 

 The misfortune is that he is very obstinate and, 

 I am afraid, very conceited." Carlyle com- 

 posed "Sartor Resartus" in 1831. This re- 

 markable work of philosophical satire and pro- 

 found reflection went beggiug for a publisher, 

 and first appeared in a magazine, seven years 

 after it was written. In order to be near 

 libraries and obtain the advantages of social 

 intercourse necessary to an author of his rank, 

 he left his rustic home for London in 1834, set- 

 tling in the house in Cheyne Row which he 

 inhabited till the day of his death. The pro- 

 ductivity of his genius in the first few years of 

 his metropolitan residence was extraordinary. 

 He labored incessantly and with intense appli- 

 cation. He worked with the pen from ten to 

 three every day, and, after an intermission for 

 exercise, visiting, and letter-writing, studied 

 all the evening. He had to wait long for rec- 

 ognition in London. The reviewers ridiculed 

 the eccentricities, the roughness, the strange 

 choice and collocations of words, the incompre- 

 hensible Germanicisms, and all the peculiarities 

 of his style. The publishers were not eager 

 to print his productions. Even the " French 

 Revolution," the most brilliant and impressive, 

 and the most characteristic product of his 

 genius, did not immediately find a publisher. 

 The occasion of the removal of Thomas Car- 

 lyle and his wife to Chelsea was the publication 

 of " Sartor Resartus." Only in America did 

 this work meet with unhesitating admiration. 

 Thomas and Mrs. Carlyle found cordial and ap- 

 preciative friends among the literary profes- 

 sion, and a knot of eminent writers delighted to 

 gather in their small house in the suburb. Be- 

 tween 1837 and 1840 Carlyle read some courses 

 of lectures in London on " General Literature," 

 "The History of Literature," "The Revolu- 

 tions of Modern Europe," and "Heroes and 

 Hero- Worship," which wrought a profound im- 

 pression in intellectual society. "The French 

 Revolution," the first work which bore Car- 

 lyle's name on the title-page, was published in 

 1837. The first volume he had been obliged 

 to rewrite. He had lent the manuscript to 

 John Stuart Mill, who had confided it to Mrs. 

 Taylor, whose servant, it is supposed, took it 

 to kindle the fire. 



In 1839 Carlyle commenced to turn his nt- 

 tention to the wants and hardships of the 

 lower classes. Between that year and 1850 

 he published " Chartism," " Past and Present," 

 and " Latter-Day Pamphlets," diatribes filled 

 with bitter scorn, directed indiscriminately 

 against the indifferentism of the political econ- 

 omists, and against the doctrine that remedial 

 legislation or the extension of popular rights 

 can be of use in the work of social reformation. 

 In 1845 was issued "Oliver Cromwell's Let- 



ters and Speeches," a successful book. The 

 Great Protector was only known to the Eng- 

 lish people before the publication of Carlyle's 

 memoir in the image of the mingled hypocrite 

 and fanatic, lunatic, scoundrel, and buffoon, 

 pictured by his detractors. In 1851 Carlyle 

 published a biography of his friend John Ster- 

 ling. Between 1858 and 1865 came out Car- 

 lyle's " Frederick the Great," the product of 

 long labor and critical research. In its prepa- 

 ration he resided some time in Germany, and 

 visited the scenes of Frederick's battles. This 

 was Carlyle's last great work. During the 

 American civil war he gave out, in " Ilias in 

 Nuce," his morose reflections on the destiny of 

 the republic and the value of the institution of 

 slavery. In 1865 Carlyle was elected rector of 

 Edinburgh University. In the following year, 

 while he was absent, delivering to the students 

 a lecture on the choice of books, his wife died. 

 The loss of his companion was to him a source 

 of poignant grief; be wrote that "the light 

 of his life had quite gone out." In 1867 the dis- 

 cussion of the extension of the suffrage brought 

 out "Shooting Niagara, and After," a dismal 

 vaticination of the terrible consequences of 

 democratic freedom. In 1870 he published, in 

 the London " Times," reflections on the Franco- 

 German War, expressing approbation of the 

 prospective annexation to Germany of Alsace 

 and Lorraine. 



Carlyle exerted as far-reaching an influence 

 upon the men of his time through his conver- 

 sation as through his published writings. In 

 speaking, he was less apt to fall into the gro- 

 tesque involutions of phrase and idiosyncrasies 

 of language which mar his writings. These 

 faults of style grew upon him, and render his 

 later works difficult and disagreeable to read. 

 His letters were free from these vices. In early 

 life, he wrote rapidly, and spent little pains on 

 revision; but in later years he corrected, re- 

 wrote, erased, and interpolated with excessive 

 care. 



Carlyle was ailing several years before his 

 death. He left some autobiographical mate- 

 rials, which were committed to James Anthony 

 Froude, as his literary executor, and were pub- 

 lished by him without excision. The pungent 

 and sometimes unkind reflections on friends 

 and associates of Carlyle caused much indig- 

 nation against the editor and no little sorrow 

 among the friends of the dead philosopher. 



Thomas Carlyle propounded a social phi- 

 losophy, which did not fall in with the spirit of 

 the age, but which acted as a corrective to the 

 current doctrines. As a critic, he disclosed real 

 flaws in the habit of thinking that has grown 

 up, which regards the collective opinion of the 

 commonalty, which is only derivative, and 

 must often be outstripped by the authors and 

 actors of history, as the prime impulse in social 

 progress. He exalted the value of the indi- 

 vidual will, and delighted in the exhibitions of 

 energy and power by the rulers of modern 

 times, with too little discrimination of their 



