Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1881-02-25

Americans were always going to
see him, and were commonly re-
warded for their curiosity and ad-
mirati0n by being told in his bluff,
gruf way that their country was
bent devilward, and that it merited
its doom. Many of them will re-
member his plain house in Cheyne
Row, Chelsea, and the plain draw.
ing-room In which he commonly
sat, consoling himself with his clay
pipes, surrounded by portraits Of
Hume, Frederick, Goethe, Martin,
Luther, Cromwell, and several of
himself, one, it must be confessed,
among his most houored heroes. A
singuIarly strong, striking face and
head were his, more SO in reality
than in any counterfeit present.
ment. The nose was shapely, res.
olute, aggressive. the eye lambert
and passionate, ever changing, now
tender, now stern, now hopeful,
deBpairlng, but slWay > alea ming q
with o challenge to fate; the chin
long, prominent, firm 40 adsmapt;
the hair rather coarse, abundant,
disordered, half falling, half bristl-
ing over an overhangiDg brow; the
mouth large, well formed, nervous,
shutting like a wise; the whole ex.
preston of the face supre m oily sad,
pitiably dsspoudent, though 90
hardy and defiant that 20 one durst
pity Il or him, and revealing to In.
sight that the Illuminating soul
behind it had hoped 30 much that
II had ceased hoping altogether
such in picture and In original was
Thomas Carlyle, ths Thor Of Brit
ish literature, the great iconoclast
OF the nineteenth century.
Up to . very short time before
his death he u led to take early
morning walks; his tall, bent,
hravy-set figure neatly but plainly
clad; his clothes fitting loosely,
and crowned by tumbled black
felt hat the had the moral courage
to reject Invariably a. silk cylinder
even In London), drawing the eyes
Of persons wherever he passed, but
moving on as If y desert lay around
him. He walked, when. 10 good
condition, two or three miles
through the tortuous, grimy
streets, sometimes wrapped 10
deep thought, unconscious Of his
surroundings; som etimes observ-
ing everything, gazing into the
shop.windovs, and glancinK every
where. For the most part alone,
he was fond OF the company Of one
ri his intimate aud In such compa.
ny he usually kept up q steady
flow of peculiar, pictorial talk, the
counterpart of his printed sen.
fences, showing that bis style, OF.
ten called affected, had grown to
be his natural form OF expression.
He had fondness for riding on
top of the London omnibuses for
long distances. and not infrequent-
~ went below Temple Bar, alter.
nateIy comm1ning with himself
and taking in the crowded and !
panorama Of the city.
Carlyle's hours of composition
were generally three to f0ur-from
10 or ii A. NJ. to 2 p. M.-unless he
were specially engaged or hurried,
when he added an hour or two to
the ordinary number. De wrote
ut times slowly, then
rapidly, but always with care,
never allowing his manuscript to
20 from him until it suited him ex-
actIy. He frequently destroyed
whole pages upon which he had la.
bored hsrd and long, being ex-
tremely .fastidious as to punctua-
lion ns well IS to words and ar
But the writing of his
books was much less than his prep.
for writing, which was
most thorough aud conscientious.
No man had a keener appetite for
work, and yet he worked far faster
than most authors. His reading
was stupendous, and he did it with
+ surprising quickness, dispatching
q volume OF ordinary size while
many persons would be occupied
with few chapters. For forty or
fifty years of his life he read OH an |
from six to eight hours
day, sitting up for that purpose
until one or two o'clock
in the morning.