Evening star., 1934-09-30
In the World of Books
VIEWS AND REVIEWS.

CARLYLE IN OLD AGE (18e5-1ssl).
By David Alec Wilson and David
Wilson Macarthur. New York: Z.
P. Dutton & Co.
ARLYLE's rapidly declining
life, from shortly before the
I death Of his wife In 1866 to
~ his own death at the age of
SO, Is covered by this last vol
ume of the great biography, begun by
David Alec Wilson in 1923, with the
publication Of the first volume, Car
lyle Till Marriage" Succeeding vol
umes are Carlyle to the French Revo-
lution." Carlyle on Cromwell and
Others" Carlyle at His Zenith" and
Carlyle to Three score and Ten"
David Alec Wilson, who died last
April, left the completion of what had
been almost the work Of lifetime to
his nephew, David Wilson Macarthur.
That nephew tells us in brief memoir
that his uncle, when a student Of ID
at the Glasgow University. first con-
ceived the plan of collecting, while
there was yet time, all that could be
known about the life and character Of
Thomas Carlyle" Comparisons with
Boswell are hackneyed, but the de-
votion Of. David Alec Wilson to the
rugged philosopher Of his choice was
more long continued, more scrupulous
as to accuracy, more thoroughgoing
than Boswell's erratic and ,egotistic
devotion to DR.. johnson. After col
lecting Carlyle material as a hobby
during the years of his official work in
the Indian Civil Service, David Wilson
retired at the earliest possible moment
and went to live in Ayr, where he gave
his entire time to his chosen task.
His indignation had been aroused, as
had that of many others, by the in
justice done to Carlyle by Froude, in
his representation of Carlyle as entire
ly selfish in his domestic life and over
whelmed with remorse after his wife's
death. Two small volumes by David
Wilson, before publication Of the big
biography began. dealt with this
question, "Mr. Froude and Carlyle"
and THE Truth About Carlyle" An
other small volume, The Faith Of All
Sensible People" gave a simple ex-
position of Carlyle's religious creed.
A number of critics have COM
meated in connection with previous
volumes of the Wilson biography that
it furnishes the material for biography,
voluminously, but is not really biog-
raphy; that some later writer, using 1t
as a treasury, will probably write the
really definite biography. The sound
ness Of this opinion depends on ones
conception of the nature of an excel
lent biography. If it is an opportu-
nifty for a writer to display his own
literary prowess and exploit his own
theories while narrating the life and
explaining the character Of his sub
ject, then David Alec Wilson missed
an opportunity. Without obtruding
himself into the picture. he has faith
fully given the record of Carlyle's
many years, drawn from divers
sources-Carlyle's own writings, let
tiers and sayings, the letters of Mrs.
Carlyle and numerous friends, the
published writings of many who knew
Carlyle. and oral information given to
Mr.. Wilson by reliable witnesses. One
of the best of these witnesses was Mrs.
Carlyle's trusted servant at the time of
her death, Jessie Hiddlestone, after
ward Mrs. Broadfoot. There is more
in Mr.. Wilson's biography also than
accuracy and exhaustiveness of fact.
No one who reads the six volumes
(and their reading is pure pleasure to
a Carlyle lover) can doubt that the
real Carlyle Is there.
In the first volume the record shows
the young Scottish peasant struggling
for an education, gloomily and tur-
bulently conscious of the iniquities
and shams Of life, already dyspeptic,
subject to insomnia and something of
a hypochrondriac, always returning
from his wanderings to his native An
nandale as a refuge, meeting the love-
ly and brilliant Jane Welsh and, after
many posings and postponements on
her part, marrying her. The four
volumes which follow show the his
torian and philosopher hard at work,
excoriating the world, interpreting
history according to his philosophy.