The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-04-24

H., them. and their interest in them j.
80 profound that they suffer eFen when
caIamities overtake them. It is well
known That Charles Dickens - On
tered into the very life Of his won
derful creations Of the brain that he
laughed and cried over them. OF
Charles Lamb, the inimitabIe and
gentle, II is reported that he greatly
Iited Hazlitt, ana he desired 70 pit
his own intellect with his in its nat
ufal and healthy state. \ very inter-
esting writer in the literary depart
uent Of the London Times says that
Lamb referring to Haziett's ability,
said that II get no conversation in
london That is absolutely worth at
tending To with the one exception Of
the eminent essayist. william Hazlitt-'
JHcrc are certain critics now who al
frct 10 dislike him and L" underrat-
his well known powers. They cannot
make great literature Of their own.
aud hence are prone 10 despoiI the
real men Of genius Of their fine offer
ings. The same able writer in the
Times mentions the great Ietter-"It-
as Of England as follows. Walpole,
GoWpcr, Byron, Fitzgerald. The Ilst
might be extended without detriment.
Shelley.
fhe most powerful and richly en-
bowed satiriSt since Dean swift was
beyond fair doubt the very able Scots
nam, Thomas Carlyle. 1t IS said thaJ
with advancing years MS Edllit ~
came terrific, and he was much OF
q common scold-caused no doubt
by physical dyspepsia. What a pity
for him and his readers that he dld
not ave q good supply Of some pres
cnt-day Wcll known remedies. An
American writer said of him nearly n
quarter Of q century since.
Ills vision Of the world was a dys-
.pcptic dream, as truly as De Quincey's
was for many years an opium dream.
As Thackeray said Of Swift, He saw
bl~oodshot.' Against this dark humor,
with which he maintained an heroic
lifelong struggle, his sole remedy was
work. Work then became his pana-
cea; work and endurance the last
word of his philosophy as of GoetheS
III Faust Against the human long
ing for happiless-by him unattaln-
able-he vented his fiercest scorn; no
happiness here; work then TO keep off
the blue devils-Work till you find rest
IN the grave, Ubi saeva indignatio cor
uterus lacerare nequit. Carlyle's
Saeya indignation indeed was not the
Stecl-cold misanthropy Of Swift; it had
q burning core Of love ana reverence.
But Of faith in humanity or of hope
for its future he mad almost as tlttl"
as his great fo~rerunntr.'
Blu how hard he could hit. How he
despised much of the worlds unWiS-
dom, Madness and vices. How bitter
us VI EiitN - 14'''N
cred tyranny and vice and IriVolity
and sinful in~dulgences. How he loved
to lash the vain philosophers and TOM
fooieries and medaCity and general
and particular ScOundreiism. How he
would have fumed and cursed the
hald-faced populations, graft ana
protligacy Of this age and country. lie
saw the shams and outrages and fun
keyishm, and the crude pretense,
and "giggery' of his time. and he
Iaan bpap II oil bfc can1chinC inn-
Stunning satire. Rejoicing in a change
of some kline in himself he would loose
the arrows of his denunciation in this
wise, which was written not long after
the tremendous, outrageous war which
the North Waged so destructfVcly and
saVagely against the little power that
confronted its three millions of sol
diers and sailors:
This year l found that | had con-
quered all my skepticisms, agoniZing
doubtings, fearful Wrestlings with the
foul and vile and communicating Mud
gods Of my epoch; had escaped as
from a worse than Tartarus, with all
It's Ihl~egethons and Stygian quagmires.
and was emerging free in spirit intO
the eternal blu of ether. where
blessed be heaven!-I have, for the
spiritual part. ever since lived, look
ing down upon the Wclterings of my
poor felloW-creatures in such multi
tudes and millions still tuck in that
fatal element. and have no concern
whatever in their PuSeyisms. ritual
ismS, metaphysical controversies and
cobwebberies and no feeling of my
own except honest silent pity for the
serious or religious part of them. and.
occasional Indignation. for the poor
worlds sake, at the frivolous secular
1mpiouS part, with their universal
suffragcs, their nigger e1n~ancipationS.
Sluggard and ScOundrel protection so
%cieties. and 'uneXampied prosperities'
for the time being"
He, and Charles Lamb were friends.
but alas! how poor his estimate of
that most popular humorist and critic.
His opinion is positively harsh and Sc
we're. l make a citation from his
longer view:
Charles Lamb and his sister came
daily once, or ofteuer; 4 Very sorry
pair Of phenomena. Insuperable pro-
clivitN 20 sin in poor old Lamb. His
talk contemptibly small. indicating
wondrouS ignorance and ~ShalloWneSS.
even whcn il was serious and good
hammered, which il seldom was. us
ualIy ill-mannered 0o a degree).
screwed into frosty artificialities,
CHASTITY make-believe of wit. in fact,
more like diluted insanity (as | de-
fined ito than anything of real j0cOsity.
humOr. or genlaHty. y most slender
fiber of actual worth in that poor
Charles, ~abundanUy recognizable to
me as to others. in his better times
and moods: bat he was cockney to the
marrow. . = He was the leaneSt
of mankind; tiny black breaches but
toned to the knee-cap and no further.
surrounding spindle-legs also in black.
face and head fiendish. black. bony.
lean. n Of 4 Jew type rather: in the
eyes a kind of smoky brightness or
confused sharpness; spoke with 4
Stutter.'
Carlyle greatly admired Charles
Dickens books and praised them With
out stint. but he disliked heartily. Geo.
Eliot's great productions. He even
hough John Keats a rather poor
writer of verse, but granted him a
certain "-tunefuineSS.' He never prop
erly appreciated Scott. Ind had a
poor opinion of Thomas De Quincy,
who was a writer of remarkable quail
tiles and Interest. He liked Leigh
Hunt and derided that rich creative