New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-11-28
MORE OF CARLiLE
a CORRECTIVE FOR Mr.. FRoUDE; ,,,,,

fx IL.
" - ~. wonder that Mr.. Froude is sick Oh inc
-. business. His Life OF Carlyle will long oe
$1,000 a,oug the curiosties of literature LOT 'ho
,.ov,mnations to which it has given r'se' the a"eo,
.itb W bich IT has oiled those whom IL waseApeo'"
20 n,oase and the wretched effect 1t has had uPo"
the fame of the hero whom 1t was the D'oeIsPnois
especia purpose to honor. Protests ana rec
continue TO crowd the press, ami prooaoy ua"-
lind will, not hear the last OF them untii some ihoie
sorupulous and judicious historian writes 'he re'
life of Carlyle for future generation Az presen.
suob n work is impossible, and Carlyles irendsanu
survvinp relatives must content themselves with
fraementary publications bearing upon particular
poipts. The selection of letters edited by Mr. Nor
to, n, tho reouest of Mrs Alexander Carlyle the
philosophers niece. comes under this category
The letters are presented as an answer 10
Mr.. Froude. Some of them. If not
all were IN Mr.. Froude's hands. aud
few extracts from them appear in
the Life Almost every letter in the Life which
have collated with tho original" says Mr.. Norton
sis incorrectly printed. some of them grossly 80.
and of the letters to and from Miss Welsh IN par
tcular, he remarks that they abound In errors
and in unmarked omissions OF words clauses ana
sentences. by which their tone is sometimes greatly
altered" To correct all these blunders wouid oe
little less labor than writing new biography anu
Mr. Norton only offers a few specimens. IL cannot
be said that the infdelitles thus exposed Involve
my gross distortion of the sense oil the Ie'-
tiers; but they are enough to sho" Mr.
Froudes reckless manner of working, and to
confirm the general he lief Of his inability TO quote
correctly OF TO tell story straight.
The chief object however, in printing these early
let,ers-most of winch are new to the publc-is
not to purity Mr.. Froude's text, but 10 give pct
ure of young Carlyles character very different
from that which is sketched In the biography, ana
even moro truthful than that of the kemi-
piscences" The correspondence, extending from
his nineteenth to his thirty-irst year. IS p'in-
crpaly with his parents, his brothers. nus
friends tombstone. Mitchell and Murray, aud MISS
Jane Welsh 1t covers the period OF his early
struggles as poor peiagoguc in Edinburgh,
his first ESSAYS In authorship and the beginning OF
his career as a recognized and not unhonored man
of letter and it closes the eve OF his marriage
He was already beginning to suffer from dyspepsia,
and in his times OF torment he showed some traces
of that black and respondent humor which IN after
life so profoundly affected not only his tempera-
nent but his philosophy. The letters, however,
from first TO last. those of a man whose habit
ual mood was cheerful. hopeful, and even amlaole
One cannot help thinking that when he looked
back upon these days he uncoDsciously trans
ferred to them sOrne of the misery which
allied stomach. We are apt to remember our youth
as something brighter t0an 1T was. Carlyle re-
viewed bis through the cloud of an unhappy old
age The impression made by these letters. allow
ing for nomentary outbreaks of dissatisfaction Is
that of o buoyant aud healthy nature sometimes
rebellious under uncon GENIAL labor, bnt upon the
whole patient of drudger confident OF Its own
strength, and by no means persuaded as yet or the
wretchedness of life and the Imbecility of
mankind. He writes to Robert Mitchell at a
moment when his affairs are going Ill The
source of that considerable quantity of comfort
which eujoy IN these circumstances Is twofoid.
First. there is the hope of better davs. which am
net vet old and worn enough to have quite land
ASIDE This cheerful feeling is combined with a
portion of the universal quality which ourselves
name frmness Others obstnacy; the quality which
i suppose to be the fulcrum of all stOcal phil
osopny and which,, when the cGarmer Hope has
utterly forsaken us. may afford a grim support in
the extreme of wretchedness" At later date he
exposes some Of the hardships of his life to James
tombstone; but he adds: 1t must be
owned however, that have no great reason to
complain. On looking at the condition OF many
others there seems rather cause for graduation
After describing TO his brother Alexander the rou
tine Of his daily duties as a private tutor and a
booksellers hack, he writes: This is a labOrlous
inpin, It. Nothing in the world gives snch scope 10
dscon cat rs idleness no matter whether forced OF
voluntary; man had better be darnng
stockings than dong nothing" Still
later he exclaims to John Carlyle:
"GO on, my brave Jack! and fear no
weather. We have both sore fight TO wage, but
we shall conquer at the last. There are Uany men
now loing upon the pillow of VICTORIOUS sloth and
pitying such adventures as we: but TINS pity
shall not always endure-the law hdggSes; they
must aink when shall soar" The following ex-
tract from letter to Miss Welsh is in the same
vein:
wish had not sent yOu this great blub-
bering numskull DlsraelI his "Calamlties" have
sunk upon your spirits, and lnged he whole world
OF intellect with the hue of mourning and despair.
The paths of learning seem, IN your present mood
of mind, 10 lead but through regions of noe and
1amcntation and darkness and dead meus bones.
Hang tho lit Is all false, II YOU take u up N
TINS light DO you not see that his observations
can apply only TO men IN whom genius was more
the want of 90 nmon qualities than the possession
of uncommon ones whose life was embittered not
80 much because they had IMAGINATION and sensi-
bility. "a because they had not prudence aud true
moral pI1ucIplesf If one chose 10 Investigate the
history of tho first twenty battered blackguaris to
DO found lying on the bonch's OF the watch-house,
or stewing in drunkenness and squaior IN the
Jerusalem tap-rJom. it would not be difficult to
write much more moving book on the "caamitIcs
OF shoemakers" street-porters or any other class
OF handictaftsmen; than this OF D,sraers o.. o.
mnlueudc OF il-behaved, that are miserable, IN all
ranks-and among writer's just as elsewhere.
Literature. / do believe, has keener pans con-
neoted with II than almost any other pursuits but
then nc has also far Iveier and nobier pleasures.
and if you shqdder at engaging In 1t on those
terms, you ought also to envy the stupidity Of
other people, their insensibiIity the meanness OF
their ciTcumsi ances whatever narrows their sphere
OF action and adds more stagnation TO the current
of their feelings.
These are not the utterances of an incipient mis-
enthrope but of an honest high-spirted. reso-
Lutte and aspiring youth. whose portrait
has not been truthfully drawn either by himself
or his Oh sen frend Still more alluring are the traits
disclosed the letters OF affection to his relatives
at home, letters full Of sympathy, consideration.
natural forvor unselishness. hundred little evil
dences of attachment which cannot he feigned in