New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-08
REMINIscENcEs

new. ~ -. ,ntarest a offered to the public
a.. 1870 hv Charles Scribners Sons, who' ny
.s,.s.;a, arrangement with Mr. Froude are 'ho su
xh.v,ved American publishers OF Inc ne,nin-o
s.s. 20 Tbomas Carlyle" tt o curious volume,
s.s - autobiography, Astounding in anecdote' anu
Sull of tho qusintness. Tenderness H,u,S;s
frankpess and caustic quality OF Saio
mapy-sided genius. Many Oh nls Iuus ..i.b
npon noted men will DO accop'oo -
grains of allowance, and ascriDea 70 m0 - 80
"a ,snacons Gift of prejudice. The lovaoie sue Oh
Caraye,s nature lin distinction from his honest ais
s,,.t With sbams of all kinds and wholly interest
;ng temper) is finely shown in the chapters on n'S
sa,hcr and wife, His father was a mason Va
Ecclefechan who wisely Quilted " the traeA wnon
10 foncied that poverty and vanity had made sho"
and cheauness preferred TO honest work. anc oecane
farmer. Carlyle says in many respects his 1athsr
was the most interesting man he ever knew. he
was n man of rather cholenc temper, unanecteu
manners. and had for converse :" a bold Rio"lng
stvlep :" flowing free from his untutored SOUL Iuii
nf metaphors Though he knew not what u
yoetanbor vasl. with all manner of potent words
which he appropriated and applied with surprising
accuracy you would often guess whence Inc 1ault
was that he exaggerated (which tendency also IN
berityet only in description and for the sake cheny
nj humorous effect" His fathers second whe'
Margaret Aitken, {" woman of, to me, the 1arest
descent-that of the pious the just and wise WIS
T6nmas Carlyle,s mother. The profile portraits OF
his parents, which accompany the text snow that
his mother had firm, upright and kindly lace, ana
that his father who lent his son his forehead anu
nose. had a mouth and chin OF almost Drulai
aspect. if so slight an outline view may pe
trnsted Bnt Carlyle speaks of his having "a noble
head: very large, the upper part OF it strklngly
like that of the poet Goethe; the mouth again bear
ING marks of unrefnement shut indeed and signlh-
cant vet loosely compressed las have seen IN the
rest nm, if used to hard manual labor, betoken-
ing depth passionateness, force-all In an clement
not OF languor yet of toll and patient perennial en-
durance. A face full of meaning and earnestness,
man of strength and man of toll. He was short Oh
stature. vet shorter than usual only IN the
limbs; of great muscular strength; lar more
than even his strong-built frame gave prom
isa Of In all things he emphati-
cay temperate; through life guilty more than can
be said of almost any mani of no excess No onethat
cones after him will ever say, Here was the finger
of ahollow eye-servant.' They are little texts for
ma of the gospel of naus free will. Nor will his
deeds md savings in any case be found unworthy
not false and barren, but genuine and tit Nay, am
not also the humble James Carlyles work. owe
him much more than existence, owe him noble
inspiring example tnow that can read it in that
rustic oharacter 1t was he exclusively that deter
mined Oh educating me; that from his SMALL hard
earned funds sent me to school and college, and
made me whatever am or may become. Let me
not mourn for my father. let me do worthily Of him.
So shall he still live even here in me. and his worth
plant itself bonorably forth into new generations"
JANE WELSH CARLYLE.
third of the volume is devoted to "reminiscences
of his wife and their married life Jane Baltic
Welsh was born in HsddingtoD, July H. 1901, and
was ak years younger than Carlyle His great love
and admiration of her beams from nearly every
mage. Miss Geraldine Jewsbury, the novelist, who
died recently, was his wifes most intimate 1nend'
and at Carlyles request wrote out in 1866 as many
biographical anecdotes of her friend as she could re-
member They include the following:
were In separate rooms, except for arithmetic ana
algebra JEANNE was the best OF the girls at aIge-
bra of course she had many devoted slaves Ss AMONG
helned her all he knew; but he was quite poor 10y
whilst Jeanne was one OF the gentry Oh tue
but she felt difficulty, and tney were groat
friends. She was fond OF doing everything dlincuIS
0Ds Gay in the boys schoolroom Of the boys
said Something 10 dspease her. She lifted her hand
donbled it, and hit him hard his nose began to bleed,
and in the midst of the scufie the master came IN
Nobody spoke and the master grew angry ana
threatened tawse all round unless tho culprt were
piyen up, OF course no boy would tell OF glrl, SO
there was in the midst ,S Of bse T6e
master tried to look grave and pursed up ms moutn
bat the boy was big and JEANNE was little 50. IN
her She was little deevil' and had no business
there and to 60 her ways back TO the girls.
As child she was remarkable for her large black
ewes with their long curved lashes. As girl she
was extremely pretty,-a graceful ana peautlIuiIy
formed figure upright and SUPPLE delicate com
nlexion of creamy white with pale rose tint In the
cheeks lovely eyes full of fire and softness and with
great depths Of meaning She danced with mucn
grace and she was Ss SG tSst reSuired deXery of
hand; she could draw aud paint, and she
was good carpenter. She could do any any
thing we'll to which she chose to give herself.
She was fond of logc-too much so
and size had keen clear incisve faculty OF seeing
through thing and haHg al that a6oS Tas that
amounted 20 genius She loved 20 learn, ana she
cultivated all her faculties to the utmost OIL ner
ration I'm word sEewas fascinating ana eVero0oy
fell in love with her, relative OF hers told me That
every man who spoke 10 her Tor i've minutes IeII ln-
nelied TO make her all offer OF marriage! From
winch it resulted that great many men were 9 made
unhappy. think i: highly probable tnst IL hlruns
were capital erIme, size womb nave oee III "dhkoI
of beiug hanged many tilnes over. -,
OF course people Thought she was making dTeao
the outsde of the thing. but she had faith in her
own insight. Long afterward, when the world be;
ran 10 admire her husband at the time lie denvered
The Lectures on II .ro Worship" she gave little
haf-scornful laugh and said They tell me things
ms if they were new that I 1onnd OUT years ago.
in her, and she knew she had strength 10 stand
the struggle and pause before ne was
should never write for money only when he wished
ST. when he had message in his heart to deliver,
and sbe determined that she would make whatever
money he gave her answer for all needfu purposes !;
and she was ever faithful to this resolve. She bent
her faculties 10 economical problems, and she man
sped 40 we'll that comfort absent from her
house. and no one looking could have guessed
whether they were rich or poor.
Though Carlyle describes Miss Jewsbury's reminis-
cences as "GeraIdlns's Mythic Jottings," and uses
them as peg to hang his own recollections on, be
.,oh Qral N
wife The stories Of her flirting he thinks are much
exaggerated:
III "fiirtn means one who tries to inspire love
without feeling il, do not think she ever was O