New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-11

fasc.nate anybody whom he chose l doubt II
ne chose or often chose The spell he laid on
those who came in contact with him. sprung
from no effort of will, any more than the
perfume OF flower. The eyes had much 10
do with 1t. not all The soul of the man looked
out through the eyes as II spoke from his lips
the true man. simple. genuine convinced. and
in nothing without touch OF genius
To resist analysis is one test Of style. Glib
bon Macaulay and many another writer 1ameu
for his way OF writing may be taken TO pieces
Nv little study and with some chemical skill.
also. YOU may see how they got their enects.
how their sentences were constructed. now
the movement OF their prose Is ordered.
There is something mechanical and something
wilful in their art. Not so. Froude NO process
of chemistry and no anatomical research Will
arrive at the elements Of his style or reveal
his method One reason is that he had 80 many
methods. He had no tricks and no stereotyped
phrases He did not run in grooves. HIS style
adanted itself TO his subject. and was simple or
splendid familiar heroic. colloqniai OF scho'-
ar,v as the case required This fecitous va
rety explains in part the magic or MS WIFI
ing. but only in part. Age brought with 1t not
,oss hut greater Hexibilitv His Erasmus" the
last work of his life. is equal to anything ne
wrote.
Necessarily. I suppose. much has been SAID
since Froude's death OF his conduct as Carlyle's
bjographer Nothing new has been said ana the
whole subject was in fact long since thrashed
out. A torrent Of obloquy burst upon him when
Carlvle's friends ana perhaps still more 'hose
who In life had never been his friends perce'Veu
that Froude had resolved that the real ma"
should be made known TO the world. Ireache'y
to his master was imputed to him. frouue was
incapable of treachery. whether TO Carlyle OF
another and least Of all to Carlyle. III ne erreu-
7 ao not think he did-it was from a devotion to
. CARLYLE and a belief in him which others ana not
fully share Possibly he did not make allowance
enough for the natural tendency OF men 10 'h'hK
the worst of each other and TO mistrust motives
He himself had such an opoinion of Carlyle as
TO think that his memory would be best served
by telling the whole truth. Ii Is not al all Ger
tain that he did not Judge rightly. the imneu'-
ate effect of the disclosures was to send Carlyle
stock down in the market. what the u'''''"'e
effect will be is another matter.
Exactly the same thing happened when Dos
wei, published his life Of Johnson. The idolaters
of Johnson were furious. They said bos"eh hao
made him ridiculous and left permanent biem-
jsh on his fame. Who saws so now? VINO uoes
not admit that Boswelrs book has made the old
roorarst and dustv photographer immortal? Who
uould blot n page OF boswell? II IL easy 10
Imagine a similar revulsion OF feeling about
CARLYLE as he Is seen in the pages or Froude :
h,oeranbv in the Jane Welsh Carlyle letters ana
the rest
Froude has nothing of Boswell in him except
Boswelrs power Of reproducing the FEATURES vi
his hero in the clearest light and making IN"
man visible and conceivable. But ne mas
wrouyht on the same lines in this sense. mat
each believed that the man he loved couih Deal
the full light Of day on his life ana ac's anu
motives Much OF Carlyle's written WORK VIII
perish as much OF Johnsons has perisheu' Ea'"
toiled for his own time chiefly; ana niue io'
all time TO come. But when the Latter baS
Pamphlets and Past and Present ana mu'h eiSe
have ceased TO be read. the grim figure or the
s,arn old Scotch peasant will live in Froude's
pages in his own letera. In his wiies letters
and stand out as a figure which. whether you Ike
him or not you cannot forget and cannot resist
His very faults and defects have fascination
those very faults and defects and rugged traits
which Froude was most blamed for revealing
will end though there Is a great deal more to
he said than can be said in a newspaper-w''h
story OF Froude's which | heard the day after
his death from an admirable lady In whose mousse
IN the country we had nat often-one OF the two
where he was most at homt She asked MIN 10
define cleverness Froude thought an instant anu
answered: Perfect truthfulness. | commehu
the answer to those who think he sometimes
sacrificed truth to effect In his historical pictures
I am certain he never consciously did ana hardiy
less certain that he never did at all " the whoie
picture is looked al. For what Froude aimed AT
in history was first to form to himself true I'M
pression Of the times and the men he had 10 ue-
scribe and then to transfer that impression 10
the mind OF his reader. 1t was the truth OF the
picture as "A who.e that he sought lie might
make az many mistakes as Shakespeare u!d III
his historical plays. yet the HISTORICAL pays o'
Shakespeare and the historical writings I'll
Froude vii. none the less remain among the "os'
vivid and among the most truthfui OF all eN'ah'
narratives. '" w. -