The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-02-25
THOMAS CARLYLE.
Traits and PccuIiaritieS of the Great
IcOnOclaSt.

Americans were always going to see
Carlyle, and were commonly rewarded
for their curiosity and admiration by
being told in his bluff, gruff way that
their country was bent devilward. and
that it merited its doom.
Up to a very short time before his
death he used to take early morning
walks; his tall, bent, heavy-set figure,
neatly but plainly clad his clothes fit
ting loosely, and crowned by tumbled
black felt hat Che had the moral courage
to reject invariably silk cylinder even
in London), drawing the eyes of persons
wherever he passed, but moving on as if
q desert lay around him. He walked,
when in good condition, two or three
miles through the tortuous, grimy
streets, sometimes wrapped in deep
thought, unconscious of his surround
ings sometimes observing everything,
gazing into the shop windows or glanc-
ing everywhere. For the most part
alone, he was fond of the company of
one Of his intimates, and in such COM
pany he usually kept up a steady flow of
peculiar, pictorial talk, the counterpart
OF his printed sentences, showing that
his style, often called affected, had
grown to be his natural form of express
sion. He had fondness for riding on
top of the London omnibuses for long
distances, and not infrequently went
below Temple Bar, alternately commun-
ing with himself and taking in the
crowded and diversified panorama of the
city.
Carlyle's hours of composition were
generally three to four-from 10 or IL
Il. m. to 2 p. m.-unless he were spe-
cially engaged or hurried, when he add
ed an hour or two to the ordinary num-
Der. He wrote unevenly-at times
slowly, then rapidly, but always with
care, never allowing his manuscript to
go from him until it suited him exactly.
He frequently destroyed whole pages
upon which he had labored hard and
long, being extremely fastidious as to
punctuation as well as to words and ar
rangement. But the writing of his
books was much less than his prepare
ton for writing, which was most thor
ough and conscientious. No man had a
keener appetite for work, yet he worked
far faster than most authors. His read
ing was stupendous, and he did it with
surprising quickness, dispatching q vol
ume Of ordinary size while many per-
sons would be occupied with few chap
ters. For forty or fifty years of his life
he read on an average from six to eight
hours day, sitting up for that purpose
generally until l or 2 o'clock in the
morning.
1t is said that, having gone to spend
all afternoon and dine with a new ac-
quaintance, and arriving several hours
before his host, he entered the library,
upon which the gentleman prided him
self, as it contained a number of rare
and curious volumes. The host came
and dinner was eaten. After leaving
the table, he told the author that he
should be happy to show him his books.
Give read 'em," was the laconic an
swer; and it proved that Carlyle had
actually absorbed in the time before
dinner all that was valuable to him in
the wel-chosen library.
When Charles Dickens had decided to
write GA Tale of Two Cities" knowing
that Carlyle had made special studies for
his French Revolution" he asked the
latter to send him few books that
would be worth consulting. Judge of
the novelist's surprise when large van
drove up to his door and discharged its
load of volumes, in five or six languages,
to his amazement and dismay. That
was Carlyle's notion of few books
really enough for a moderate library.
A characteristic anecdote is told of the
Scotch image-breaker. A ship-owner, a
ow-countryman, went from Glasgow
to call on him, and, entering his pres
ence, said, with fervor and feeling 81
have come to see you, Mr.. Carlyle, to
tell you that [ admire and honor you !;
that I have built a ship and named it at
ter you on account of the good you have
done in the world" Then quoth the
author with his marked accent "I
don't believe you, maun ! never did
ony guide in the warld Naebody ever
did any guide in the warld There is
nae guide in the warld p
William Black, the novelist, once
called on Carlyle, and, after little con-
versation, ..the philosopher remarked /:
"You know Scotland vary well, I see.
I've read your novels with pleasure.
They're vary amusing, vary. But
when are ye goin' to do some wark-
when are yu goin' to write some real
books, maun p
Carlyle, though generally polite to
persons who brought letters of introduce
ton, could not be depended upon as to
manners. He had moods, and vary
variable ones, having been troubled for
years with dyspepsia. When suffering
with it he was often very rude, especial
~ to Americans, against whom, after
our civil war had broken out, he ap-
peared to have violent prejudice, not
lnfrequently berating them in his Ger
manized English, as though they had
done him some great wrong. The truth
is that he enjoyed scolding with his
tongue nearly as much as with his pen.