CARLYLE, THOMAS, an English
author, born in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, Dec. 4, 1795. He was the eldest son of James Carlyle, a mason, afterward a farmer, and was intended for the Church, with which object he was carefully educated at the parish school and afterward at the burgh school of Annan. In his 15th year he was sent to the University of Edinburgh, where he developed a strong taste for mathematics. Having renounced the idea of becoming a minister, after finishing his curriculum (in 1814) he became a teacher for about four years, first at Annan, afterward at Kirkcaldy. In 1818 he removed to Edinburgh, where he supported himself by literary work, devoted much time to the study of German, and
went through a varied and extensive
course of reading in history, poetry, romance, and other fields.
His first literary productions were
short biographies and other articles for
the “Edinburgh Encyclopædia.” His
career as an author may be said to have
begun with the issue in monthly
portions of his “Life of Schiller” in the
London Magazine, in 1823, this work
being enlarged and published separately in
1825. In 1824 he published a translation
of Legendre's “Geometry,” with an
essay on proportion by himself prefixed. The same year appeared his translation
of Goethe's “Wilhelm Meister's
Apprenticeship.” He was next engaged in
translating specimens of the German
romance writers, published in four volumes
in 1827. In 1827 he married Miss Jane
Bailie Welsh, daughter of a doctor at
Haddington, and a lineal descendant of
John Knox. After his marriage he
resided for a time in Edinburgh, and then
withdrew to Craigenputtock, a farm in
Dumfriesshire belonging to his wife. Here he wrote a number of critical and biographical articles for various periodicals, and here was written “Sartor Resartus,” the most original of his works. The writing of “Sartor Resartus” seems to have been finished in 1831, but the publishers were shy of it, and it was not given to the public till 1833-1834, through the medium of “Fraser's Magazine.”
The publication of “Sartor” soon made
Carlyle famous, and on his removal to
London early in 1834 he became a prominent
member of a brilliant literary circle
embracing John Stuart Mill, Leigh Hunt, John Sterling, Julius Charles and Augustus William Hare, F. D. Maurice, etc. He fixed his abode at Cheyne Row, Chelsea, where his life henceforth was mainly spent. His next work of importance was on the “French Revolution,” published in 1837. About this time and in one or two subsequent years, he delivered several series of lectures, the most important of these, “On Heroes and Hero-worship,” being published in 1840. “Chartism,” published in 1839, and “Past and Present,” in 1843, were small works bearing more or less on the affairs of the time. In 1845 appeared his “Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, with Elucidations,” a work of great research, and brilliantly successful in vindicating the character of the great Protector. In 1850 came out his “Latter-day Pamphlets.” This work was very repulsive to many from the exaggeration of its language, and its advocacy of harsh and coercive measures. He next wrote a life of his friend, John Sterling, published in 1851, and regarded as a finished and artistic performance.
The largest and most laborious work
of his life, “The History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, called Frederick the Great,” next appeared, the first two volumes in 1858, the second two in 1862, and the last two in 1865, and after this time little came from his pen. In 1866, having been elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University, he delivered an installation address to the students “On the Choice of Books.” While still in Scotland the sad news reached him that his wife had died suddenly in London. This was a severe
blow to Carlyle. Mrs. Carlyle, besides
being a woman of exceptional intellect, was a most devoted and affectionate wife. From this time his productions were mostly articles or letters on topics of the day. Toward the end of his life he was offered a government pension and a baronetcy, but declined both.