The native American., 1837-12-02
From the Boston Patriot.
CARLYLE's FRENCH REVOLUTION.

| From the Boston Patriot.
CARLYLE'S FRENCH REVOLUTION.
This work, lately published in England, is
now in the press in this city, under the care Of
gentleman of this city, by whom an arrange
ment is made with the publishers for securing
the profits of it to the author. For the informa-
ton of the reader, we copy the following notice
of the work from the London Examiner Of
September II.
"This is one of the few books of our time that
| is likely to live for some generations beyond it,
and we are, for that reason. not at all surprised
at the equivocal reception it has had. Mr.. Wal
ter Savage Lander observes, in one of those mas
terly productions which we class in the same
rank, that he has been amused in his earlier
days, at watching the first appearance of such
| few books as he believed to be the production of
some powerful intellect. He has seen people
slowly rise up to them, like carp in pond
when food is thrown among them; some of
which carp snatch suddenly at morse and
swallow it; others touch it gently with their
barbs, pass deliberately by, and leave it; others
wriggle and rub against it more disdainfully;
Others in sober truth, know not what to make
of it, swim round and round it, eye it on the
sunny side, eye it on the shady; approach it,
question it, shoulder it, flap it with the TAIL turn
| it over, look askance at it, take pea shell or
worm instead Of it. and plunge again their con-
tented heads into the comfortable mud; after
some seasons the same food will suit their sto-
machs better Among such carp as these, the
present volumes appear to have been thrown,
and some years will pass before they begin to be
generally relished-but relished they viii be-
and that thoroughly, sooner or later.
+ uMr Carlvla has in thesa VOlnmpS written a
book of unquestionable originality and genius.
| 1t is book conceived in the Epic spirit, and
written from the innermost heart of the writer.
Every thing in it is fresh and real, and it has all
the fervor, exaltations, and impressiveness OF
poetry. Beyond comparison, it is the finest
book that has yet been published on that world
prodigy, the first French Revolution. 1t is the
distinguishing property of great mind to iden-
tify itself with great objects only, with the lar
ger masses, and the more powerful impulses of
things; and in this book, though Mr.. Carlyle
writes with as much intensity and minuteness,
as if he had himself been present in the scenes
it commentaries, and had suffered or hoped with
the actors in them: it is the philosophy Of that
terrible revolution and not the terror of its de-
tails, that impresses itself every where on the
! reader Mr.. Carlyle thinks it high time we
should cease shrieking about the matter, and be-
! to do We do not pursue in his pages 'phan-
tasma, or hideous dream. We are placed by
him in the minds and situations of the actors and
sufferers in the revolution; are in some sort,
| identified with each separate person; we are
made TO relish all things sharply, passioned as
thew we see every where the internal charac-
ter, and not merely the external aspect of things
not the dry facts Of history, but the living hopes
and fears, the feelings of elevation or of sorrow,
which are its inner soul.
Such is the spirit in which this history is
written and because the spirit is such, we could
wish that the style had not been In erery place
as it is. With little labor, it is true we soon be-
come reconciled to it, and we can tell every read
er that it is worth some labor 1t is not to be
forgotten that this is history of very different
order from any that has as yet been attempted in
our language, and in which the usually approved
style of historical narrative, the nervous simpl-
city of Hume, or the gorgeous march of Gibbon,
would have been, not to say misplaced but ac-
tualIy impossible of application. Every orig ginal
thing must speak its own language. Consider
the work as much poem as history, and the
singular groupings and inversions of words will
no longer seem gular-consder it as the in
tense outpouring of the heart of great thinker,
made in the manner of solioquy, as OF one
thinking aloud--do any thing that will reconcile
YOU to a style which is at first very strange and
unusual--reckon it worth some labor and be
content to make some sacrifice of leisure and Of
taste-rather than throw down one of the most
remarkable books of the age, in an ignorant,
short-sighted and despicable disgust. We re-
peat that we wish the style altered in many
places as in matters of quiet and level consider
alton; but in the major portion Of the book, we
would not have the alteration Of a word. 1t is
the very language of the season and the men
rivetting breathless attention, and in the midst
Of scenes of the sorest inflictions on humanity,
stirring the deepest yearnings Of the affections"
The PREss-Not only the safety-valve OF
the passions of every party, but the great
notebook Of the experiments of every hour
the homely, the invaluable leger of losses
and gains.
THE VERY LAsT-The Nantucket Inqui-
rer gives the last case of absence of mindism.
A lodger in hotel, after washing himself
in the morning, wiped his face with news
paper, and sat down to peruse the napkin; he
did not discover his error until he attempted
| to tear off n corner WhereWith to light his