The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-05-06


we. have seen something in the papers on
Emerson. 1t may be worth while. however. to
glance also at what IL said OF Carlyle as q
man and q prophet In an article on Froudes
Life" Every one rememb ers tho confession
made by Mrs. Carlyle In tho late evening Of
her laborious life: Il married for am biton.
Carlyle has exceeded all my widest hopes
and expectations. and am miserable" Our
authors com ment on this confession is that
nothing but misery was to be looked for in the
case OF n married pair whom neither mutual
love nor evon common love for som ething
above themselves. but rather sco-n for every
thing mean,was tbs only deep ground OF their
mutual sympathy. The wonder really is that
this scorn for what was moan should have re-
NAMED. on the whole. SO sound as It did. and
should never have degenerated into nissan
thropy at once selfish and malignant It 10
pronounced In the highest degree creditable
both to Carlyle and his wife that, with all the
hardness OF their natures and all tho severe
trials which, partly from Ill health and partly
from the deficiency In that tenderness which
does so much to smooth the path OF ordinary
life. they had to undergo. they kept their
UNREASONABLE cynicism to the last free from
all the moro ignoble elements and perfectly
consistent with the stoical mag animity with
which It began. As to Carly els attitude Of
more he studies him the less he believes that
the word prophet" and tho language con-
corning message" which he had 10 deliver,
In any proper sense describe Carlyle and his
work. 1t seems rather that he know very
vaguely what he believed to be true though
he knew very wildly indeed what IL was that
he held TO be utterly false aud from his heart
repudiated. Yet. even as to that negative
part OF his creed. even as to his hatred
OF what he persisted In calling gig
manity"-the morality. namely. OF the
class which regards keeping a gig as q
sign OF respectability-the author OF these
essays docs not believe that Carlylo's denun.
citation OF woes represented q gospel at all.
No doubt he detssted the conventional concep-
ton OF 'respectability" as the characteristic OF
people Who could make . show In the world.
But was his denunclation OF II truly religious
Did no dsnounce It mainly because he wished
to substitute In every human breast higher
and truer ideas respecting moral worth? No
doubt such q wish was present but 1t was
scarcely active In his heart What occupied
Carlyle. what possessed his i'm agination. what
fired his pen. was not after all love OF the true
idea but hatred OF the false. He shows not half
so much Of the desire to redeem men By plant
ing the true belief. as OF passionate possession
with the miserableness. and contemp ibleness
W shooo ~ A0'auoo W iaioo oeioh
What Is the proof OF ths1 The proof Is that
nowhere in all his letters and journals does
one find CARLYLE fastening with delight on
traces OF the nobler and truer standard OF
thought. while one constantly finds him fas-
teninG with sort OF fever OF excitement on
traces OF the ignoblo and false standard. He
never seems to have felt tho slightest affinity
for those contem poraries who really held with
hlm-tor Scott and Wordsworth. for example
but only profound scorn for those contem-
poraries who lived In the midst of the illusions
which he condemned.