The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-01-16

that relating to Col. lngersolls surren-
der. Even in his day human vermin
sought to wreck with falsehood those
they feared The world-unwisely l
think-interests itself inszsthe personality
OF genius, and somewhat impudently IN
vades his privacy. A young man may
muster UP sufficient courage to lie to
his callers, and thus preserve the propri-
cites; but an aged valetudinarian who
wants to get into quiet nook and nurse
himself, may show scant courtesy-even
brush the "critic fly of the genus Gosse
out Of doors with hickory broom.
Carlyle belonged to the irritable race
of poets,' albeit he seldom initiated
Pope's bad example and tortured his
rugged ideas into oleaginous rhyme.
There is a strange wild melody in all his
work-what he would call harmony in
discord"- suggesting that super-nervous
temperament which is iUseparable from
the highest genius, and which degener-
.ates SO easily into acute neurosls-that
that madness" to which wit is popularity
supposed to be so "rear allied" Such
natures are aeolian harps, acted upon,
not by the 'viewless air. but by subtler
more irnpalpable power, which comes
none know whence, and goes none know
whither-one moment yielding soft mel
odies as of an angels lutte borne across
sapphire seas, the next wailing like some
lost soul or shrieking like Eurnenides.
The "self-poised," the well-balanced'
man, of whom you can safely predict
what he will do under certain conditions;
the man who never bitterly disappoints
you and makes you weep for very pity OF
his weakness, will never appa1l you by
exhibitions of his strength. He may pos
sess constructive talent, but never that
creative power which we call genius be-
cause it suggests the ge,rii. mo man is
hero to his valet ''says*the adage. Car
lyle assumes this to be the fault OF the
latter,-due. to sawdust Or other cheap
filling in the head OF the nlenial. Yet,
may not the valet be wiser in this mat
ter than the world? The hero, the great
est genius is not always aaan1e with ce-
lestial fire, i1npelled by that mysterious
power which comes from beyond the
clouds" s"-may be, for most part, the COM
monest kind of clay, as1>creature in no
wise to be worshipped. . Iheseagle, which
scars so proudly at the Sun, will return
to its eyric with dropping wing; the con-
dor, whose shadow falls from afar on
Chimborazo's alabaster brow, cannot live
alway in the empyrea1l, thing ethereal,
and back to earth is no better than
carton crow. TO genius more than to
aught else, distance lends enchantment.
While we see only the bold outline Of the
Titan we are content to worshlp-nay,
insist upon it; but having scrutinlzed HIM
inch by inch with a microscope, we real
ize that familiarity breeds contempt. Well
does Christ say that prophet is not
without honor save in his own country.
which is the origin of the hero and valet
adage cannot understand why the
world insists upon seeing lie Grande
Monarque in his night-cap and Carlyle in
his chimncy-corner. With the llarem Of
Byron and the drunken orgies Of Burns,
the poaching of Shakespeare and the
vanity of Voltaire it has nothing to do
should content itself with what they have
freely given it, the intellectual heritage
they have left to humanity, and not pry
into those frailties which they fain would
hide, If Goldsmith 'twrote like an angel
and talked like fool,''' it was because
when he welded the pen there was only
wise man present, and all are effected
more or less by the company they keep.
We care not whether the gold in our
Golfers was mined by a saint or sinner,
so that it be standard coin; then what
boots it what manner OF men stole from
heaven that Promethean fire which
surges in the poets song, leaps in light
ning-hash from the orators lips, or be-
comes dark with excess of bright III
Carlyle's Natural Supernaturalisn? /?
Judge ye the work, and let the workman
"growl like collie dog if it ease his
dyspepsia!
That Carlyle was "an undignifed hui
man being" can we'll believe; for he was
the wisest of his day, and dignity is the
distinguishing characteristicaof the dodo
and the donkey. If MI. Gosse deems it
so highly, he might procure a pot of glue
and adorn his vermiforn1 appendix with
a few peacock feathers, ,qsetak lessons
in posturing from the turkey gobbler or
editor OF the Housan Fost. Had Car
lyle been born long Jed ass he might
have been fully approved not alto
gether appreciated-by gosse, Froude
an other critic flies" When DR.. Sam
uel Johnson was told that Boswell pro-
posed to write his. life He threatened to
prevent by taking thatapf his would-be
bioerapher. 1t were curious to consider
what Grabbed old CaHyie'' would have
done had he suspected fha hnger Of fall
ing into the. hands Of i literary back
stairs Mrs. Grundy like.aEd Edrnund Gosse!
lnahi Heroes and IIsro Worship he
treated his colossi ar Otherwise than he
Il turn has been HeatsA by Gosse and
Froude. He first recognized that they.
were scolossi, and no ST subjects for the
k:,-,ec,,e We hear nothing from him.