The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-02-16

"A terrible. beetle-broWe mastiff-
mouthed, yellow-skinned, broad-bot-
toned, grlm-taciturn individual; with
d PAIR OF d~ull-loOking black eyes, and
as much Parliamentary intellect and
silent rage in him, / think, as / have
ever seen in any man. Some fun too:
ana readiness to speak in drawing.
dldactlc, handfast style about our Re
publican institutions.'"
He did not fancy Benjamin Diracle.
afterwards Earl Beaconsf1eld, and in
1907, he wrote of him in his usual
pointed, brusque, virile style, upon his
prospect OF becoming Home Secretary:
Il must say. Here is a Stump
orator who has not one to the wrong
market with his ~beggarly Old Clio
dyed new And again. somewhat
more than a twelvemonth later:
: DO you read The Edinburgh
Review? In the last No. is q scourg-
ing Article {of which I read three
today in the Library on Dis
laeli-by Hayward. Diamond cut
diamond; Jew pull the dirty ragged
pate or a Jew! | agree with
however, there is hardly any uglier
phenomenon in these times thar the
political history of that uncircumcised
Cor ~circumcised) Adyenturer."
yet attained to his high position as a
He admired Robert Browning most
cordially, a~ffectionately. On o1st
June. 1S41. when Browning had not
poet Of real originality and omis
n letter is very interesting, full of
candor, sympathy and advice. / can
only copy a small part, but it is high
~ characteristic of the Scotch writer.
He writes, for instance:
Unless I very greatly mistake,
Judging from these two works, you
seem to possess a rare spiritual gift,
poetical, pictorial, intellectual, by
Whatever name We nay prefer calling
it; to unfold which into articulate
problems for YOU This noble endow-
ment, it seems to me farther, you are
not at present On the best way for
unfolding"
He tells hi mthat he thinks he has
q long battle before him, full Of toll
and pain, and all sorts Of real fight
ing And this was indeed prophetic,
tor Browning came very shortly into
recognition and it was almost the old
age before he came to his own. The
time came when there was a Browning
cult. Rea the following acute and
frank utterance of h great Scotch
man and see how plain and candid
and vet svmpathetic he is:
The light we ourselves gain. by
our very errors, if not otherwise. is
the only precious light. Victory, what
I call victory, if Well fought for, is
sure to YOU.
If Your " choice happened to
point that way. | for one should hail
it as q good omel that your next work
We're written in prose. Not that l
deny your poetic faculty: far, very
far from that. But unless poetic
faculty means a higher owe of COM
mon understanding, / know not what
it means. One must first make a true
intellectual representation Of a thing,
before any poetic interest that is true
Will S~upervene."
Carly was Very fond of Light
Hunt, a writer of superior gifts who
is but little read in 1908, save by real
lovers of good literature. Writing to
Hunt of his then ust published "Au-
photography Gin 1850. work of very
genuine merit and interest, he called
it IAN excellent good book" the best
of it's kind in the English language
then. How much like Carlyle is the
following. so original and yet full Of
sympathy and appropriations:
a pious, ingenious, altogether hui
man and worthy book; imaging, with
graceful honesty and free felicity,
many interesting objects ard persons
on your life-path,-and imaging
throughout. what is best CT all, a gift
ed, gentle, patient and valint human
soul, as it buffets it's way through the
pillows Of time. and will not down.
though often in danger; can not be
drowned, but conquers. and caves q
track of radiance behind it: that,
think, comes out more clearly to me
than any other of your books; and
that j can venture to assure you is
the best of all results to realize in
a book or written record. In fact this
book has been like an exercise of de-
VOtiOn to me-"
Carlyle was q man of most marked
Individuality and independence. He
said that he thought and asked fo1
no diminution of censure. He had
read his brothers book on Plato. He
tells him just What he thinks of the
iltustriOus Greek philosopher, and who
can gainsay the judgment pronounced
He wrote to DIR. Carlyle that he
found "nearlX bile. with de-