. Lives of great English writers from Chaucer to Browning. spel he preached inwords of fire. Many no doubt have held such a philo-sophy, but no man in the nineteenth century has broughtto this philosophy the genius of Carlyle; hence of nomodern man can it so justly be said that he spoke with tongues. It has become a commonplace to callhim the prophet of the century. Yet this is by no means the whole or commonly ac-cepted view of Carlyle. It is still customary to hearhim spoken of as a dyspeptic cynic, a hard-heartedmisanthrope, and, worse yet, a hypocrite who, preach-ing fine practices, was in
. Lives of great English writers from Chaucer to Browning. spel he preached inwords of fire. Many no doubt have held such a philo-sophy, but no man in the nineteenth century has broughtto this philosophy the genius of Carlyle; hence of nomodern man can it so justly be said that he spoke with tongues. It has become a commonplace to callhim the prophet of the century. Yet this is by no means the whole or commonly ac-cepted view of Carlyle. It is still customary to hearhim spoken of as a dyspeptic cynic, a hard-heartedmisanthrope, and, worse yet, a hypocrite who, preach-ing fine practices, was in his private life a bully and atyrant. This view is the result of Frondes treatmentof his master. In the nine volumes, including PersonalReminiscences, Biography, and Letters of Carlyle, writ-ten or edited by Froude shortly after Carlyles death, anunfair impression was given ; for Froude, feebly assert-ing that his master was white, painted him black. Sogreat, moreover, was the volume of Froudes work, andso overwhelming the authority with which he spoke,. THOMAS CARLYLE From the portrait by J. A. McNeill Whistler THOMAS CARLYLE 429 that, in spite of careful and adequate corrections by suchscholars as Professor Masson and Professor Norton, thepopular prejudice has largely lived on ; and now, invet-erate after twenty years, it is in some minds almost anincurable disease. The only fair estimate, after all, isbased on a consideration of the whole correspondence,in the authentic editions, of Carlyle, his wife, and hisfriends. Carlyles cruelty and insincerity, after such a con-sideration, cannot stand. Even his cynicism, often bit-ter and towards the end violent, is not the most funda-mental thing about him. I have called my task, hewrote to Miss Welsh in June, 1826, an Egyptianbondage, but that was a splenetic word, and came notfrom the heart, but from the sore throat. Almost allthrough his life Carlyle suffered also from sleepless-ness and dyspepsia, a rat gnawing at his stomach. S
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