aenold's view of emekson and CARLYLE 141 



Carlyle's bias does not, in my opinion, mar his 

 histories at all, and we can always allow for it when 

 he writes upon any subject, — upon America, for in- 

 stance, or "Shooting Niagara." It does not mar 

 his "Cromwell," but lends zest to it. He was 

 himself the fiery partisan he was portraying. It 

 does not mar "Frederick," though the author's par- 

 tialities and prepossessions crop out on every page. 

 What vivid portraiture^ what rapid grouping, what 

 reality, what exhaustless wit and humor, what en- 

 tertainment for both heart and head, this book holds ! 



Most readers of "Frederick," I imagine, find the 

 work too long, and at times feel a strong inclination 

 to "skip," an inclination which the author himself 

 favors by putting his less important matter in finer 

 type. A little more rigid selection and abridgment, 

 and a little more patient fusing of the material so as 

 to have brought the work within the compass of one 

 third less space, and within the compass of the au- 

 thor's best time and strength, and literature would 

 have been the gainer. 



Carlyle's prose has its defects most assuredly. 

 His periods are often like those swelled bricks that 

 have got too much of the fire, — crabbed and perverse. 

 His earnestness, his fury of conviction, made it too 

 hot for them; his style becomes distorted. In the 

 best prose there is always a certain smoothness and 

 homogeneity. "In the very torrent, tempest, and 

 (as I may say) whirlwind of your passion," says 

 Hamlet in his address to the players, "you must 

 acquire and beget a temperance that will give it 



