The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-01-16
A Cheap Critic of the Great Man
Thoroughly Roasted
by Brann.
Lame Endeavor to flake Peep
show of the Great
Essayist.
The Snarling Scotchman Prince
Among the Best of
Literary rlen.

OF recent edition of Carlyle's "He-
ro's and Hero Worship" it is said that
100000 copies are already sold. The
work has been on the market many
years, and this continued popularity is
indeed encouraging. 1t argues that the
taste for the legitimate, the sane in liter
ature, has not yet been drowned in the
septic sea of fin de steele slop-that, de-
spite the enervating influence OF an all
pervasive sensationalism, or sybaritism,
there be still minds capable of relishing
the rugged, strong enough to digest the
mental pabulum furnished by really
masculine writer, says Brann's Icono-
clast. Carlyle ranges like an archangel
thro' the universe Of intellect, overturn-
ing mountains to see how they are made;
now cleaving the empyrean with
strong and steady wing, now shearlng
clear down to the profoundest depths OF
Ymir's Well at the foundations of the
world That his followers continue to
increase argues we'll for the age, for he
is a man whom weaklings should avoid
if they would not be sawed in twain By
mountain chains, forever lost il, painless
1imboes or drowned in the unlneasuered
deep. Even the strongest must, per-
force, part company with him at times,
else follow with the eye of faith, for his
path oft leads up into that far region
where mortals can scarce breathe, ovei
Walpurgis' peaks, through bottomles:
.hasms and along the 6lmy edge oi
clouds.
The admirers Of Carlyle--1nay thei1
tribe increase!-are indignant because
one Edmund Gosse: in his introduction
% the late edition of "Heroes and Hero
Worship" alludes to the lion of modern
literature as IAN undigni6ed human be
Gng, growing like an ill-bred collie dog
They take Mr.. Gosse too seriously--dig
iify him with their displeasure. James
| Anthony Froude--a literary gun of much
heavier calibre than Mr.. Gosse appears
% us from this passing gllmpse-once
! wrote, if remember Alright, i'll slmila,
,ein of the grizzled sage; but the unklnd
| critic has been forgotten, and its autfol
IS fast. following it into oblivion, whilt
rne shade of Carlyle looms ever Target.
covering already above the Titans OF his
time, reaching even to the shoulder OF
Shakespeare! Gosse? Who is this pre-
sunptous fellow who would take Carlylt
in tutleage, foist himself upon the atten-
ton OF the public by making peep-show
of the great essayist's faults. There is
or was, pugilist name Gosse, or Goss;
! but as he did not deal foul blows to the
| dead, this must be a different breed of
dogs. Sometime since there lived little
Englishman named William Edmund, or
Edmund William Gosse, or Goss; but
ha hitherto supposed that, becoming
disgusted with himself, he crawled off
and died. AS remember him he was a
kind of half-baked poetaster or ~he-bul-
| bul, Johannes Factotum in the province
| OF dilettanteism, universal Smart Alec
who knew less about more things than
anv other animal in England. He was
one of those persistently pestiferous in
sects tersely called by Carlyle critic
flies descendant of that placed by
Aesop in St. Paul's cupola. They pre-
sumo to judge all things, great and small,
bv their ''half inch vision'-take the
measure of catl1edrals and interpret to
the world the meaning of brainy men!
i Unfortunately the ''1critie fly" is confined
to no one nation-is what might be
called, in vigorous Texanese, an all-per-
yading dam-nuisance. Mounted upon a
mole, pimple or other cutaneous lmper-
fection of an intellectual colossus, it COM
placent1y smooths its wings and explains,
with a patronizing air, that the big 'un
isn't half bad, but sagely adds that had it
been consulted, his too visible imperfec>
tions would have been eradicated. We
dislike to see an insect leave its periods
and se111i-colons on the immortal marble;
but it were idle to grow angry with
Gossc. This must be the English liter
arv exquisite OF whom Americans have
hitherto incidentally heard believing be-
fore the tent of this or the other great
giant and taking the tickets-I mean the
nrie. not the pug. He is comparatively
youthful yet, and can, on occasion, digest
a good dinner. Perchance when he is
we'll past four score, worn with long
years Of labor compared with which the
slavery of the bagne were blessing, and.
hali-dead with dyspepsia, he too will
::growl like collie dog;" but never q
copper will the great world care whether
lie gru1nbles or grins. Should he even
get hydrophobia, that fact would scarce
ibecomc historic. The public marks and
n,agnifes the great man foibies but
sorgets both the little fellow and his.
Ifaults Jearj mar hide from bat.
tles IL hollow
Isut lsts liI 4 NJ l 4 81