New-York tribune., 1888-04-15
CARLYLE TO LITERARY ASPIRANTS.


A letter Of Thomas Carlyle that has been
hidden from the light for some forty-sX years.
and has recently been published is as pertinent
now as il was then to the case OF literary
aspirants One of this large and interesting
class sent him a considerable instalment, both
Of prose and poetry, as the way of literary
aspirants is, and the sage of Chelsea, who was
not always the most amiable of seers. showed
himself so complaisant on this occasion as not
only to read the whole of the prose and parts
of the poetry but to write the author very
long and kind letter the mere committing Of
which TO paper must have been a considerable
task In this he resisted, probably without
great difficulty, the temptation to Syoid telling
the truth which must pain but may benefit, 10
soften the verdict, to pad out the reply with
polite cquivocations. We say, without great
difficulty, because Carlyle had a good deal of
that quality which, Emerson said made it
good deal easier for Thoreau to say no than
yes But it is so much pleasanter for tho
average man or woman TO say things that are
agreeable rather than things that are disagree
able, and persons in authority in literature arc
so liable to err on that side that it is refreshing
to hear one strong voice speaking the truth
Stcrnly to the young writer. who so sadly needs
il. The letter spoke in part rs follows:
It appears to me clearly ogcthcr improbable that
bookseller I'm those times OF the book trade, would
so much as consent TO publish your Ms. a, his own
cost far less pay down any OF money for 1t. Nay
not at all sure harsh this may seem, that it
were for your own real good to have It published 10
have II what is even called succeed" There is
doubtedly sign Of talent In IT. but talent in far too
loose, crude and Uniformed condition. To have such
accounted real finished talent, and praised and
preached abroad, is precisely the faaest future for
youth Of any mert-the sweetness in the mouth which
In the belly becomes bitter as gall You VIII under
stand all that better, hope, some ten years hence
and twenty years hence better still This ls
my sincere verdict. A much potter and softer to the
might easily have been written but my words
10 do you good If they can and deeper feeling Of
regard orders me 10 avoid all hatterng unctlons In
your
You seem to me young man TO whom nature has
given a superior endowment, which you consid-
cradle risk Of failing TO unfold. Alas, It is easy to
fal. You have in you that generous warmth Of
heart which is usually If It be well guided, the mother
soil of all sorts OF talent but which also, If guded
up into miserablest waste and weeds. Your
mind Is opening In many directions, great ideas or
prophecies of ideas announcing themselves TO You all
this is wel and the best. But as can discern
vithal all this must yet be kept ln held down with
iron rlgor, til 1t fashion and articulate itself; the
cruelest waste for 1t were dig It all out at present
terminating seed, o,lct It all rush up as worthless
spurTy and chlckv eed. Ny dear young friend you
must learn the ndisp able significance Of hard,
stern, long continued labor Grudge not labor
grudge not paln disappointment, d distress Of
any knd-au this IS for your good, If you can en-
dcayOr and endure. If you cannot, why then II IS
all hopeless. No man ever grew to anything who
burst not look death itself in the face, aud say to all
kinds of ma1yrdom, d" Yc shall not subdue mel' Be
Of courage; man lies in you-but man IS not born
the second time, any more than the hIst without
travail.
There is admirable counsel in this for the
whole guild Of young writer's. Nothing can
well be more fatal, as the letter says than
success under certain conditions. The be-
einner who might learn by failure, or what
is still better by holding himself to repeated
efforts to reach a high standard, is
IN danger Of being ruined by success,
or that half-success which it is so easy to
mistake for the genuine article His manner
isms are confirmed. He mistakes his vicious
tendencies for the merits that have won him
success. Probably the uninformed and un-
thinking praise him for the very qualities
which the judicious critic would condemn
IL loses his standards of comparison. and sets
out on the sea of letters without n rudder. In
this way there may often be more dangers in
failure than in success. and in fact the dangers
Of failure are apt to be exaggerated. We ali
know now that the critics did not kill Keats.
Certainly it would only be under exceptional
conditions that man having the divine fire
within him would allow himself TO be beaten
into silence even by the harshest of adverse
judgments. The writer is sadly lacking who
cannot learn something even from a critic who
Is his enemy, because there will probably be
some truth in what he says.
There is a good deal of virtue in the silence
CARLYLE was always talking about. as he ad
mits with some humor in this very letter.
Most young writer's would gain by not being
IN so great a hurry to write, or, having written.
in so great hurry to publish. There is un-
limited virtue in hard work. Robert Louis
Stevenson. the most brilliantly successful Of
English writer's of the younger generation, says
that It was by "slogging away" that he ac-
complished what he has "with smaller gifts
than anv other literary man of the time We
NAV not accept his modest estimate of himself
but we recognize the sincerity of his tribute to
patient industry.