KECENT PHASES OF LITEEAET CEITICISM 123 



Shelley, but he will do more than justice to Donne 

 and Herbert ; he finds in them what he sets out to 

 find ; it is a partial view, but it is penetrating and 

 valuable; it is not criticism, and does not set out 

 to be ; it is a suggestive study of kindred souls. 

 Emerson's work is kindling and inspiring ; it un- 

 settles rather than settles ; it is not a lamp to guide 

 your feet, it is a star to give you your bearings. 

 Carlyle and Euskin fall into the same category. 

 They sin against the classic virtues of repose, pro- 

 portion, serenity, but this makes their penetrating 

 power all the greater. Carlyle cannot rank with the 

 great impartial historians, yet as a painter of histori- 

 cal characters and scenes the vividness and reality 

 of his pictures are almost unequaled. Carlyle 

 lacked the disinterestedness of the true artist. He 

 had great power of description and characterization, 

 but he could not as an historian stand apart from his 

 subject as the great Greek and Koman historians do. 

 He is a portion of all that he sees and describes. 

 He is bent upon persuasion quite as much as upon 

 portrayal. He could not succeed as a novelist or a 

 poet, because of his vehement, intolerant nature. He 

 succeeds as an historian only in portraying men in 

 whom he sees the lineaments of his own character, 

 as in Cromwell. He did not or could not live in the 

 whole, as did his master, Goethe. His mind was 

 a steep incline. His opinions were like mountain 

 torrents. Arnold, in one of his letters, complained 

 that in his criticism of Goethe there was too much 

 of engouement, — too much, I suppose, of the fond- 



