Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/266

This page needs to be proofread.
*
226
*

CAKLYLE. 226 CARMAGNOLA. mance. From 1S28 to 1834 he resided at Crai>:en- puttoeh, a small estate in Duiiilriessliire. IkKhi^- iiig to his wife — the "loneliest nook in Biitain," as he says himself in a letter to tioothe. Here Carlyle revolved in his mind the great questions in philosophy, literature, social life, and polities, to the elucidation of wliieh — after his own singu- lar fasliion — he earnestly dedicated his wliole life. Here also he continued to write, for va- rious magazines, the splendid series of critical and biographical essays which he had begun two years before. For this work he was admirably equipped. Besides possessing an exact knowl- edge of the ticrnuin language, he was also in- spired by tiie conviction that the literature of Germany, in depth, truthfulness, sincerity, and earnestness of purpose, was greatly superior to what was admired and relished at home. He had, moreover, a genius for writing literary por- traits. Through him Kngland discovered Ger- many. One of liis most beautiful, eloquent, and solid essays, written at C'raigenputtoch, was that on Burns {Efliiiburj/lt Review, 1828). It has given the tone to all subsequent criticism of the Scottish poet. But his chef-d'iruvre, written on the moorhind farm, was tiiiitor licsartus ("The Tailor Done Over," the title of an old Scottish song). This work, which first appeared in Fraser's Magazine (1833-34), is, like most of Car- lyle's later productions, an indescribable mix- ture of the sublime and the grotesque. It pro- fesses to be a history or biography of a certain Herr Teufelsdriickh ('"Devil's Dirt"), professor in the I'niversity of Weissnichtwo ("Kenna- quhair"), and contains the manifold opinions, speculations, inward agonies, and trials of that strange personage — or rather of Carlyle himself. The whole book quivers with tragic pathos, sol- emn aspiration, or riotous humor. In 1834 Car- Ij-le removed to London, taking a house in Cheyne Row, Chelsea. In 1837 appeared The French Revolution. Nothing can be more gor- geous than the style of this 'prose epic' A fiery enthusiasm pervades it. now softened with ten- derness, and again darkened with grim mockery, making it throughout the most wonderful inuige of that wild epoch. Carlyle looks on the ex- plosion of national wrath as a work of the divine Nemesis, who "in the fullness of times" destroys, with sacred fury, the accumulated falsehoods of centuries. To him, therefore, the Revolution is a "truth clad in hell-fire." During the same year he delivered in London a series of lectures on German literature: in 1838 another series on The History of Literature, or the Suc- cessive Periods of European Culture; in 1839, another on The Revolutions of Modern Europe; and a fourth in 1840, on Heroes, Hero-M'orship, and the Ha-oic in Jlistori/: of these Carlyle pre- pared only the last for puldication (1841). In the meantime he had published Chartism (1839). In 1S43 followed Past and Present, which, like its predecessor, showed the deep, anxious, sorrow- ful interest Carlyle was taking in the actual condition of liis eoiuitrynien. In 1845 he ]mb- lished what is considered by many his master- piece, Oliver CromivcU's Letters and Speeches, With Elucidations and a Connecting y'arrativc. The research displayed in this book is something mar-elous, but the avitlior was nobly rewarded for his toil by the abundant admiration given to his work. In 1850 appeared the Latter-Day Pamphlets, the fiercest, most sardonic, most furious of all his writings. These veliement jjajjcrs were followed the next year by the Life of Sterling, calm and tender in tone. For many years Carlyle had been at work on the History of FrcdericI: the (Ireat. The vast undertaking, re- sulting in six volumes, was at length carried through (185805). In 1805 Carlylo was elected Lord Kect(n' of Edinburgh University. The sudden death of Mrs. Carlyle, in ISGO, overwhelmed her husband with grief. Hence- forth his life became more and more secluded. His work was now done. In 1807 Carlyle visited ilentone, where he composed part of his personal Reminiscences : then returning to London, con- tributed to Macmillan's Magazine an article entitled "Shooting Niagara," in which he gave his views of democracy. In 1875 appeared the Early Kings of orH-ay. In 1874 he received the Prussian royal Order Pour le Mirite in recogni- tion of his having written the life of Frederick the Great ; and in the same year he was offered by Disraeli the (irand Cross 'of the Bath and a liberal pension, but he declined them both. On February 4, ISSl, he died at his house in Chelsea, and was buried among his kindred at Kcclefe- chan. His wife rests beside her father at Had- dington. Carlyle aiipointed James Anthony Froude his literary executor, who, in conforming with the terms of the trust, published Carlyle's Reminiscences (1881): Thomas Carlyle: The First Forty Years of His Life (1882); Letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle, exhibiting her as an ac- complished woman and brilliant letter-writer (1883); and Thomas Carlyle: Life in London (1884). A revulsion of feeling regarding Car- l.vle's character followed, the literary world being shocked by the bitterness and spile abounding in these records, and Froude «as attacked with great violence for his indiscretion. But time has revived the former admiration for Carlyle's genius. In 1882 a statue was erected to" his memory on the Chelsea embankment, and in, 1895 his house in Cheyne Row was ])urchased and opened to the public. A centenary edition of his ^'orK■s, 30 vols., was published (London and New York, 1890-99). Consult: The Correspond- ence of Thomas Carlyle u-ith Ralph Waldo Emerson (Boston, 1883) ; Early Letters of Thomas Carlyle (New York, 1886: second series, 1888) : Correspondence lietueen Goethe and Car- lyle (New York, 1887)— all edited by Prof. C. E. Norton; also, Copelaud, Carlyle's Letters to His Youngest Sister (London, 1889). For his life and works, consult: She[)herd and Williamson, Memoirs of the Life and Writinqs of Thomas Carlyle (London, 1881) ; Wylie. Thomas Carlyle, the Man and His liooks (London, 1881) ; Masson, Carlyle Personally and in His Writings (Lon- don, 1885) ; Larkin, Carlyle and the Open Secret of His Life (London, 1886) ; Garnett. Life (Lon- don. 1887); Nichol, Life (New York. 1894); Wilson, Froude and Carlyle (New "ork. 1898) ; Mrs. Ireland, Life of Jane M'elsh Carlyle (Lon- don. 1891): and Shepherd, The Bibliography of Thomas Carliile (London, 1882). CARMAGNOLA, kar'nia-nyiVhl (from the Italian town ('(irmagnola) (c.1390-1432). An Italian condottiere, whose real name was Fr.X- CEsc'O Bi'ssoNE. For many years he was the most important commander under Filippo JIaria Vis- conti, Duke of Milan, for whom he .subdued Bergamo, Brescia, Parma, Genoa, and other cities. Having been brought by his enemies into