314 TA0 Philosophy of Thomas Carlyle. [June, 
laws, and are practically the same for all mankind, afford a 
far surer field for observation and experiment than those in- 
tricate, fluctuating, and apparently capricious states of con- 
sciousness, differing widely in each individual, which we 
denominate thought and emotion. To arrive at a sound 
conclusion we must eliminate, as far as possible, all mutable 
elements, and fix our attention upon the constant and stable 
residue. Having attained some comprehension of the simple 
and regular, we may hope in time to understand the complex 
and variable order of things. This is the only rational 
method of all true science in every age, and must be adopted 
by the moralist and historian, not less than by the chemist, 
physician, and astronomer. Only the poet may still delight 
us with revelations of that purely subjective truth 
whose evanescent glory — not visible to all, not constantly 
realised even by its creator — depends less upon value of sub- 
stance than upon perfection of form. Poetry may be per- 
sonal ; philosophy (world wisdom*) must be universal. He 
who, in these days, forgets or wilfully ignores this distinction 
has failed to master the characteristic lesson of his epoch. 
His very earnestness will exercise a reactionary influence 
upon contemporary speculation and progress, by fettering 
living emotion to dying or dead thought. 
The noblest recent representative of this reactionary ob- 
scurantism is faithfully pictured in the volumes before us.- 
Mr. Froude has executed his tragic task in so sympathetic, 
yet so impartial, a manner, that we become more intimate 
with Carlyle than with the hero of perhaps any other 
biography of our century. No detail of temperament, of 
constitution, and of habit is unimportant, since all were 
factors in the growth of his mind ; but our attention must 
here be confined rather to the completed philosophy than to 
its process of development. What we learn of his belief is 
briefly thisf : — He held that all religions have been evolved 
from human experience, shaped by intellect, and coloured by 
feeling and imagination. No special revelation has ever 
been delivered ; no special miracle ever performed. The 
natural and the supernatural are one, and their course is 
immutable. Man has in all ages created and uncreated his 
deities ; but if gods are illusions, God is “ the faCt of faCts.” 
The constant forces of Nature are manifestations of the 
Divine will, and are distinguished as not “ mechanic,” but 
“ dynamic” energies. It is not difficult to discover the 
* Weltwcissheit of the Germans. 
f See especially Mr. Froude’s masterly Synopsis of the Carlylean Dodrine 
at the commencement of Vol. ii. 
