New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-04
MR. c1RLYLrS BIRTHD1Y.

MR.. CIRLYLL7S BIRTHDAY.
The friends of Thomas Carlyle may like to be re-
minded that this is bis eigbty-fourth birthday
Since 1928 he has been engaged in literary work
a convenient phrase to use, though possibly he
might not like tohave that name given TO his labor
or, indeed to have any mention made of much OF II
at all One remembers his contomptuous estimate
Of his Life OF Schiller" and his apology for pre-
senting new ana revised edition. because the book
selling pirates would not let 1t die. What strikes
us in looking back upon this long life is the persis-
tent industry which has characterized IT, MIR. Car
lyle seems to have caught habit Of perseyering
sssiduity from his German studies His first great
historical work. I" he French Revolution" so
charms by its epic grandeur OF style. that we are
apt to overlook its minuteness OF detail and its
abundance Of small facts. which must have cost tho
author incredible LABOR in their collection. Toll,
however, IS apparent to the most careless
reader in the CROMWELL and must be
still more so in the Frederick the
Great.v a book undertaken and executed In
a gigantic spirit. For of Mr.. Carlyle IL may
be truthfully said and fairly gainsad by nobody,
that if he has, after rather queruons fashion, per-
petually proclaimed his undying hostility to shans,
and irrec0ncilabc hatred thereof he has practised
what he preached. What he printed might be- often
was erroneous, but in the writing and printing OF
1t he was earnest and honest. OF the very cynclsm
which be takes no pains to conceal, ana when he
might call merely Just wrath at imbecity and
falsehOOd another writer might DE ashamed, ana
resort to various devices to conceal IT. Moreover
Nr. Carlyle has chosen to work IN his own way.
There are readers 10 whom his style isIntensely dis
agreeable There are those who cannot possibly re-
gard it as anything but one prolonged series of al
fcctatiOns. winch limitations of 1t always or Oy any
body most certainly must be.
1t has been observed that DR.. Johnson as man,
and from the remarkability Of his personal chsrac-
ter. is freshly recollected. and ALWAYS consid-
cred geographic pheno nenon although nobody,
or almost nobody now reads his writings. No exact
parallel can be drawn in this respect between hlm
and Mr. Carlyle for the latter has still many read
ers and several of his books are OF too important
and useful kind ever to be entirely neglected At
the same umc this author has IN individuality
which makes him notable apart from his volumes.
All that We know OF INN piQues MS to know some
thing mOre-his manners. MS habits. hls ways OF
talking. the social peculiaritles Of his life. Or GER
tam things respecting him we make sure from a
study Of his books. We should expect TO find In
him, not indeed a settled melancholy. but serious
carnestness somewhat approaching sadness. and
yet never actually reaching it. 1t would
not surprise Us to find him little
dictatorIal. not averse TO bis being accorded
his full share of the conversation, with
substantial friend mess In his manner and actions,
and habit Of speaking his mind freely upon all oc
casions and In every presence. polite man we
should think him to he. though not well bred ac-
cording to conventional standards. We have often
thought that his friendship for Leigh Hunt illus
trated admirably Mr.. Carlyle's character. Merely
guessing at a conclusion. we shOuld have supposed
that thrlftless, affected and somewhat pet-aaiire
poet TO be the last man in the world for whom the
robust Carlyle would have been likely to conceive
nm affection. 80 little do sometimes know the
tenderness underlying a brusque and doglnatica
manner. For Mr.. c tryle seems really TO have re-
garied Hunt with kind OF pity not in the least
patronizing. and to have considered him entitled
fairly 10 pensions and other substantial rewards of
literature. lie did his best to befriend the strug
cling man. and did not carcature his intirmities in
a novel. As somebody else did.
Mr. Carlyle has IN the course of his life exhibited
a hundred whims and notions, and has sometimes
done rather absurd things Upon this day, of all
days, they need not be recapitulated. The Curl
ousy iTascible and altogether unfair way-at
least it would have been unfair III anybody else-in
which he has been accustomed 10 speak of American
things and men, is perhaps much relished on tins
side of the sea as il has been on the other When
he flung his little " Iha 4 in Nutshell" at Us.
during Inc N"Delllon, we Only NOnueitu now ne
could be. 50 much mistaken, and went on fighting
just the same. Perhaps no English writer to-day Is
so much loved and looked up to in America espe-
cially by yonng men aud we have n right. in some
sense, to claim HIM as our own. since il WAS here
that his peculiar genius first recognized and
acknowledged There was a time when his Amer
lean readers outnumbcred ms British ten to one
What the proportion may now be we do not know !;
nor is the matter an important one.