The Irish standard., 1895-12-07


81 81
s. to John J: fright, by whom he was
Y courteOusIy receiy we'd and lcomed.
But the visit to Carlyle was d dead fail
ssSSi1re, n9twith stand ing the letter of intro
duction from Emerson. Carlyle did hard
tx nything but scream at him denunci-
il ations IF the Amer ican Republic, Of the
\ conduct, sof the north during the recent,
civil war, and, indeed, of everything il
America and Its institutions. Agafavand
\ again he assured Ripley that America
was rushing down, down into Tophet--I
. believe he said Unto very hell" Ripley
was sweet, high-bred gentleman. with a
Il delightful flavor Of old-worid courtesy.
He Was utterly oveT-Whelmed.sz@C Carlyle,
no doubt, had no deliberate intention to.
I be rude or to hurt the feelings OF his Wis
q itor.a But the effect was much the same
on my friend Ripley, who, I presume,
: had never been thus roughly treated il
y all his life before:I do not suppose he ev-
E en- went ia Sc .eCarlyle again. and the sto-:
i ry OF his experience effectually cured me.
Of any desire to- put myself in the-Way OF
the man for whose genius then had
and still have SO profound a yeneration.
I knew friend Of Cariyle's--a poet Of
some gift and promise, long since dead,
who devoted himself to Carlyle and was
readily appreciated and admired by Car
lyle. I think that poet was one OF the
very mildest and gentlest men ever
came to knoW. One could hardly imagine
him contradicting anybody. and OF all
men he probably most adored Carlyle.
One evening he was at Carlyles house,
with other people, when the philosopher
was holding forth with much energy or
denunciation against some English states.
man or other My friend the poet, who
had not up to- this time opened his mouth
on the subject, ventured to plead, during
q pause in the defamation, that perhaps
there was something to be said on the side
Of the statesman Carlyle blaZed at him.
"Eh, man. he exclaimed, '''you are the
most dlsputatious person in all the world
Man, you would dispute with anybody
about anything" The poor poet col
lapsed--for the moment. But, OF course,
soon was perfectly good humored about
the rebuke. r., .'e7s'
AS to the chickering's. In the Carlyle
household I, of course, had no opportunl-
ty whatever Of forming any personal
opinion. But I have heard people who
krew that household Immediately de-
clare that they had never seen. any EVIL
dence of Domestic wrangling or incom-
patibility of temper. The late Mr.. w. e.
Forster was undoubtedly an intimate
friend of the Carlyles. I have heard him
say more than once that he never heard
any quarrelilg going on, and that Mrs
Carlyle always seemed to him to under
stand her husband thoroughly and to be
most patient forbearing and sympa-
thetic I have heard much the same
thing said by a lady we'll known IN Lon
don society, to one of whose children Car
lyle had acted as godfather or course
the letters remain, but there is fatal GIT
of letter writing--does not Nordau Call
it OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the spell OF
which people pour out their whole souls
and a great deal more. Anyhow, feel
bound to say that. among the many
friends of the Carlyles I have known all
without exception spoke we'll OF Mrs.
CARLYLE, and declared that they had seen
no evidence of her feeling her life to be
a mere endurance BY the way, do not
know whether or not the fact has been
mentioned in amy OF the various writings
published about Mrs. Carlyle that Goethe
wrote one or two lictle poems to her. 1t
ought to be known-it stars a~life.
once saw Mrs Wordsworth. then a widow,
years and years ago at Grasmere am
glad also to have seen woman to whom
Goethe addressed some of his verse.
I had many al talk with Emerson about
Carlyle knew Emerson i'm America
and had received many kindnesses from
him. He had, as every one knows, an al
most boundless admiration for Carlyle.
think the friendship does honor to the
two mentor so far as opinions on pub
lie subjects were concerned they had alb
solutely nothing in common. Almost any
other two men in the world with such
conflicting opinions must have Quarreled
over the American civil War--and Car
lyle, uf course, could never keep his opin-
ions to himself The friendship is all the
more wonderful, seeing that Carlyle gen.
orally spoke with ia sort OF plying con-
tempt for even the most i1lustrlous OF MS
English contemporaries. Nothing could
be in more striking contrast than the
manners and demeanor Of Carlyle and
Emerson. Emerson was all courtesy.
moderation, sympathetic reception for
the opinions of others, sincere endeavor
to understand what was best in the prin-
eiples and beliefs of othsrs, and Carlyle
was what all, even Of Ills most devoted
friends, admit him to be. think the fact
ought to raise our estimation of Carlyle
even more than that of Emerson, for we
know that Emerson had a sweet and
quietly contemplative nature. which
could see q mans greatness and make
little account of his faults of manner,
and how Carlyle ever put up with any
one who was on the side of the North in
the American civil war I am not able to
understand on the ordinary and popular
leaylingof Carlyles nature;
/ saw Carlyle. several times after my
return from my second visit to the Unit
ed States. That is to say,sI encountered
him often in the Chelsea quarter. We
lad numbers OF friends in common, but
] iorebore from any attempt to renew my
slight acquaintance with him. This COM
mendable abstinence of mine was not by
any means altogether due to the fact that
did not share his opinions on the Amer
lean civil war or the Irish national quest
ion, or that was afraid of being lectured
or denounced ON either subject; but in
great measure because l honestly felt
that I. had nothing to- give him, II L may