Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-02-16
THOMAS CARLYLE.
THE SAGE OF CHELSEA DEAD AT
THE RIPE AGE OF EIGHTY
SIX YEARS.
HIS LIFE, WORKS AND INFLUENCE.
THE CAREER OF A PHILOSOPHER VINO
LEAVES A DEEP IMPRESSION ON
MOpERN THOUGHT.

Thomas Carlyle was contributor
to the London Magazine as long ago as
1924 He was born ut Ecclefechan,
Dumtrieshire, Scotland, on the 4th of
December, 1895, and died February
9th, 1881. He was fcllow.student
with Edward Irving who was three
years older than himself, at Edinburgh.
When Is years old be became an as.
sistant teacher at Kirkcaldy, where,
he used to say, he and Irving "strove
by virtue Of birch and book to initiate
the urchins into what is called the
rudiments Of learning" Although des
tined by his parents for the ministry
and studying for time with that de
sign, he found that reading and study
had led him away from the faith Of his
fathers, and be abandoned the notion
OF becoming a preacher He was an
ardent student always, and while act
ing as tutor in o private family made
himselfmaste of the German language
and literature. He wrote an Essay
on Proportion" which was prefxed to
a translation of Legendre's geometry.
His "Liie of Schiller" was published in
the London Mdgdsine. He translated
Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" in 1924,
Specimens Of German Romance" in
1927, and furnished many biographies
from time to time to the Edinburgh
| Cyciopedia. His mscelanies were col.
lected by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and
published in this country in 1915.
In 1881 Carlyle took with him to
London his book "Sartor Resartus,"
and vainly endeavored to sell it. He
at length got it published in Fro.er'S
Magazine, but 1t was not until years
afterward that it was ful iy appreciated
Carlyle's work, "The French Revolu.
tion, was published in 1887, and be.
came noted for its novel method of
presenting history. His essay on
characteristics" was issued in 1881.
He published a work on "Chartism' in
1889, on "Hero Worship in 1910, and
"Past and Present" in 1S43.
Mr. Carlyle's complete works com.
prise nearly forty volumes. He wrote
voluminously for the Edinburgh ReUiew
and the Foreign Quarterly His "Count
Cagllostro" and diamond Necklace"
were notable. He published "Letters
and Speeches Of Oliver Cromwell" in
1Si5, a series Of "Latter Day Fam.
phlets" in 1850, a "Life Of John Ster.
ling" in 1851, and a History OF Fred.
enck the Great" the last volume of
which was published in 1864. His in.
augural address in 1860, when be was
elected in his 65th year to the Pres.
dency to his beloved Edinburgh Univer.
sity, was reprinted almost all over the
world.
Carlyle was married in 1926 to Jane
WEIGH, OF Craigenputtoch, where she
owned small estate, on which he
lived for time There for six years
among granite hills and black morass.
es, fifteen miles from a town, he read
and wrote in peace, His wife claimed
to be lineal descendant of John Knox.
He lived many happy years with her
and TO the last Of his life never ceased
his frequent pilgrimages 10 her grave.
cHAs. A. DANA's EULoGY.
New York Sun.
What Carlyle would have been had
bis life been contemporary with that
storm and stress period of which he
made himself the euloglst, we can
guess by recalling what Richter was.
There was, indeed, a surprising like.
ness in the gifts, requirements, ethical
convictions, and artistic methods of
the two men, and an equally curious
coincidence was disclosed in their fort.
unes and careers. Both were the sons
Of poor men, and both won for them.
selves, at the cost of not little harsh |
toll and privation, University educa.
tion. Both were omnivorous rather
than sympathetic readers, and of both |
II might be said that, to the last, they |
had never fashioned for themselves a
definite, coherent system Of philosophy. |
Both were constrained, for long time,
to exc out q subsistence by the trade
of school MASTER and both gained but
a tardy recognition from publishers or
readers, owing to their intensely en-.
pbasizcd and grotesque originality
Both wrote prose, but both were poets
in the loitiest and deepest meaning of
the word. So far as each bore a mes.
sage to his time he spoke as bard
rather than philosopher, as q prophet
and not ns n law river Each eyhih
tied a contempt Of conventiona! forms
and accepted canons Of art which had
never been paralelled in literature save
by Rebellias, and each combined with
a boundless humor not unworthy of
the creator of "Gargantua' an exquis.
tive sensitiveness TO sorrow, and
heartpiercing pathos of which their
ovial French iorerunncr had exhibited
no sign. That Carlyle was a student
and disciple Of Jean Paul, that he
'trove to supplement and dovelope a
lpiritual affinity by conscious assimila.
lion, is sufficiently obvious TO the
most casual reader That there was,
however, no question here OF servile
imitation, but that the younger mans
relation TO Richter suggests rather the
ntercommunications OF equal souls, ia
plain from the free play which Carlyle
gave TO his own temperament, and
rom his fundamentally distinct atti.
.ude and point Of view The German
was by nature genial and gleesome
/. 4. al. Crotok =. -. ....... - ...... |