248 FRESH FIELDS 



the buffalo of the plains or the wild horse of the 

 pampas; but in our time, at least among English- 

 speaking races, he must be more or less called by 

 the suffrage of the people. It is quite certain that, 

 had there been a seventeenth or eighteenth century 

 Carlyle he would not have seen the hero in Crom- 

 well, or in Frederick, that the nineteenth century 

 Carlyle saw in each. In any case, in any event, 

 the dead rule us more than the living; we cannot 

 escape the past. It is not merely by virtue of the 

 sunlight that falls now, and the rain and dew that 

 it brings, that we continue here; but by virtue of 

 the sunlight of aeons of past ages. 



"This land of England has its conquerors, pos- 

 sessors, which change from epoch to epoch, from 

 day to day; but its real conquerors, creators, and 

 eternal proprietors are these following and their 

 representatives, if you can find them : all the Heroic 

 Souls that ever were in England, each in their 

 degree ; all the men that ever cut a thistle, drained 

 a puddle out of England, contrived a wise scheme 

 in England, did or said a true and valiant thing in 

 England." "Work? The quantity of done and 

 forgotten work that lies silent under my feet in this 

 world, and escorts and attends me and supports and 

 keeps me alive, wheresoever I walk or stand, what- 

 soever I think or do, gives rise to reflections ! " In 

 our own politics, has our first President ever ceased 

 to be President ? Does he not still sit there, the 

 stern and blameless patriot, uttering counsel 1 



Carlyle had no faith in the inherent tendency of 



