New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-06
THOMAS CARLYLE.

After a struggle with death which well
proves his original strength of constitution,
and perhaps equally the strength OF his will, Mr..
Carlyle has succumbed at last There was
time when the Intelligence of his demise would
have been received i'll this country with feel
ings somewhat different from those which now
await it. Forty years ago, and for some time
aftcrward, Mr.. Carlyle was an intellectual
power in our land. Young students were
specially attracted by his earneslneSs, by the
freshness and beauty of his early style and by
the singulallty of that which followed it, while
his German studies opened new field Of liter
ary culture before then almost unknown to
our readers. The quality of Mr.. CaIyle's
writing was then such as to touch the heart
while it reused the ambition of the student to
make the most OF the faculties which Provi-
dence had gifted him withal. Originally Mr..
CARLYLE seems TO us to have been singularly
genial writer. The essay upon Burns, for
instance is tender, charitable and consider
ate; we do not mean in respect OF the
poets faings, but toward those who might
have helped him to do better, and did
not. There Is no Outburst in it Of passionate
indignation, and nothing of that bottOmless
contempt with which Mr.. Carlyle afterward
assailed stupid and unappreciative public.
Indeed most of Mr.. Cdrlyle's earlier work
seems to us to have been particularly quiet
and gentle. There is nothing in the Essay
upon VOltaire." nor even in the " Life of Schil-
ler,' to prepare US for the literary phenomenon
which was impending The first hint which
we have of it is in the article on Character
istics - which effectually closed Mr.. Carye's
connection with The Edinburgh Reriew lmmed-
ately "SartOr Resartus" astOnishcd the readers
of Fraser'S Magazine, and greatly puzzled the Ed
itor of that periodical From that time forward,
we are compelled to say. Mr.. Carlylc's deca-
dence as a writer of the English lang uage was
precipitous. We are willing to make many
allowances. We are willing to admit that the
style Is the man. Our objection to Mr. Car
lyle's methods of writing are not met by this
aphorism. which has often been pleaded in
extenuation of eccentric rhetoric. The fault
which we find with that sly =. - . = not
a good one even for its W.It-., ~.i., "
because, after being master OF nuc4
better one, he must have consciously and
we NAV say artficially adopted It. 1t seems
superfuOus to point out It's faults, since 1t is
altogether faulty. in its endless repetition of
catchwOrds, in the raggedness and sOvenly
abandonment of all method In its constitute
tiOn in its prOfusion OF double epithets, and
in its occasional rant, bombast and spasmodic
reaching for effects. We do not believe that
the English language should be written in
this way, or that anything is lost by Il respect
full adherence to l-establIshed methods of
composition. One thing, at least, is certain.
Nobody ever attempted to initiate Mr. Car
lyle without plunging into disastrous failure.
HIS literary methods die with him; for they
have established no school of writers and will
never be cited as precedent. Mr.. Carlyle's
works have their place in English literature,
but 1t is all their own. They are unique curl
osl les now. and the next age will he likely
so 10 regard them.
If Mr.. Carlyle had been less of a great, orig
nal character and if his books had not been
ntrnsicaily valuable, the attention which
they attracted would have been short-lived,
as literary eccentricity, for excellent reasons,