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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1880)
,c 8 A ItEVTEW OP THOMAS CARLYLE'S "FBENCH KEVOLUTION.' VOL. IX, Among liis first articles were those con trlbutcd lo Brewster's Endinburgh Ency clopaedia. A few years, after he com nienced his Life of Schiller; which work also met with much favor. Several years after appeared his Sartor Jtesartus, which is generally acknowledged to be his ablest work. Perhaps we cannot give a better idea of Mr. Carlyie's manner of life, than byquot ing the following extract from his letters to Goethe, the great German bard : "Two ponies which carry us everywhere, and the mountain nir. arc the beet medicine forwenk ncives. This daily exorcise, to which I am much devoted, Is my ouly dissipation; for this nook of ours (Craigcnputtoch) is thelonlicstin Britain, six milco removed from everyone who. In any case might visit me.1' Mr Carlyle opens his Ilistory with a discussion of the character of Louis XV, and, unlike most historical writers, in stead ol begining with the causes that produced a certain effect, aud gradually unfolding their progress; or of giving a connected scries of facts, he takes up some of the characters or principles that led to the results, discusses their nature, shows what part they bore in iuiluenciug and shaping what was to follow; so that it can hardly be called a history accord ing to the common acceptation of the word; but rather a collection of observa tions and speculations, or moral izutions upon the various themes which bear close ly upon the subject. In this respect Mr. Carlyle is thoroughly original, differing widely, in his method of treatment, from all other writers of his age; the most prominent among whom are, Macaulay, Motley, Froude, aud Bancroft of this country; most of these being easy, enter taining writers, while Carlyle is just the opposite; his writings being very difficult to read with any degree of ease and rapid ity. Each sentence has to be carefully analyzed, in order to bring out the mean ing; aud sometimes even then it is almost impossible to determine the thought One tault with Mr. Carlyle is his con stant employment of words of his own coining; sometimes implying consider able knowledge of philology on the part of the reader to understand. As examples of some we give the following: "eleuther omaniac," c,simulucrum," 'unveraclty," "philosophcdom;" iu some the meaning is evident from the parts of which tho word is composed; in others, it is not. To the ordinary mind he seems to have lost uli idea of perspicuity, or of making himself intelligible to his reader; but rather to have written for his own gratifi cation than to benefit his fcllowmen. As to the value and importance of this book and Carlyie's works in general, perhaps' we cannot better express our ideas than in the words of a writer in the London Quarterly Review for 1840: "Mr Carlyle an astute and trenchant critic might, with show of justice, remark assumes to be tho rclormcr, and castlgator of his age a re former In philosophy, in politics, and in religion, denouncing Its mechanical method of thinking deploring its utter want of faith, and threatening political society, obstinately deaf to the voice of wisdom, with the retributive horrors of repeated revolution, and yet neither in philosophy, in re ligion, nor In politics has Mr. Carlyle any distinct dogma, creed, or constitution to promulgate, He is anything but a man of practical utility, Set ting aside hid style for tho present, let us see whether he has ever in the course of his life thrown out a single hint which could be useful tn his own generation, or profitable to those w'u ,' may come after. If he could originate any such hint, he docs not possess the power of embodying it in distinct language. He has written a history of the French Revolution, a pamphlet on Char tism, a work on Heroes and Hero-worship, and a sort of political treatise entitled, "Paat and Present." Can any living man point to a single practical passage, In any of these volumes? If not, what is tho real value of Mr. Carlyie's writ ings I What Is Mr. Carlyle, himself, but a phan tasm of the species he is pleased to denounce." Gale.
