Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-13
PERSONAL "Reminiscences of Carlyle.

s. Venables, in the Fortn1gnt'y lSeVlsW
I had known Carlyle for some years before
L first met him at the Grange, but it is, per-
haps, because knew him there best that the
recently published descriptions of his charac-
ter as harsh and gloomy have surprised me,
as they have shocked his admirers, and crea-
ted general prejudice against his character.
Nv recollections are of almost uniform gen
iaIity and of unfailing courtesy, though his
cheerfulness might not be always undisturbed
Even his satirical epigrams were generally
free from bitterness, and they often con-
densed some tenable view of a character into
a few words A laudatory conversation
among some of the remaining guests after
the visit of an eminent mechanical engineer
to the Grange was summed up by Carlyle In
the remark that ''he seemed to be clean.
veracious smith, Many years before, as L
walked away with him from house where
friend whom he then loved above all others
had discussed various topics in rapid success
sion, he said by way of comment. "He has
the mind of a Kangaroo He hked
and respected Golden, and think the repeal
of the corn laws was the only legislative
measure in which he at any time took gen
uine interest, but becoming tired OF the prals-
es bestowed on the hero of the day after his
great success he once described him as ''an
inspired bapman who believed in a calico
millennium Cobden's biographer has
proved with superduous cogency that the i'm
putation was undeserved The first Athenlan
who proposed to ostracise Arlstides may per-
haps have indulged in some similar eplgram
It was in q conversation with Golden him
self, and under similar provocation, that
CARLYLE enunciated the well-known PROPOSE
ton that the Americans had done nothing ex-
cept that they had produced, with unexam-
pied rapidity. $4,000, 600 of the greatest
bores on the surface of this earth In one of
his letters to Emerson, who had gently re-
Inonstrated against his outrageous assertion,
he araciously admits that there may perhaps
be Is, 900 Americans to whom the charge can
not fairly be applied. In all these cases he
induIged his humorous propensity without
thinking it necessary to cultivate either liter
al accuracy or dispassionate justice. The
peevish harshness of the personal judgments
which are unfortunately preserved in his
"Reminiscences" were evidently products of
sorrow and disease. No humorist or eloquent
taIker could be more inadequately represented
by the quotation of few sayings, accident
aiIy and perhaps imperfectly remembered;
for the most remarkable characteristic of
CARLYLE in conversation was spontaneous
abundance of thought and language. He was
not at his best in his occasional declamatlons
against the vices of the age. 1t mattered lit
tie for social purposes that his denunciatlons
were frequently unjust or exaggerated. 1t
was q more serious drawback that he some
times lashed himself into anger as he spoke,
and that the patience of his hearers was trleo
as well as his own temper. Lady AshDurton
tact and her well deserved influence over the
orator often averted the mischief. Her skill
in turning the conversation usually sutfleed
to divert Carlyle's attention from the degen,
eracy of the age; and sometimes she recalled
him in moment to eheerfulness by a re"
1vords of extravaeant parody delivered in his
own accent and tone. remember at least
one instance in which Mrs. Carlyle lnterfered
with equal success While he was expatiating
at unusual length on the paramount duty of
silence, his wife, perhaps noticing or anaci-
,,ot;,,o a smile on the face of some listener,
toucIaed him lightly on the arm. "Why," he
said with momentary impatience. ''do you
touch me? But, a" he went on without pause.
relaxing into pleasant laugh, IT know very
well why you touched me. and you were
ouite right. had much better practice 81
ience than preach it, There was, happily,
no danger Of his conforming too strictly to
bis own precept.