CARLYLE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 223, 13 June 1908, Page 12

CARLYLE.

It is impossible (says the "Pall Mall Ga- | zotte") to. exaggerate -the Interest of those recollections of-Carlyfe.. which have been appearing, in "Blackwood!' for the last month or -two from the pen of the late Professor Masson. Tho writer speaks of Carlyle's habit of "reclining on. tho hoarth-riig wliilo ho smoked, so that the puffs should' ascend the phimney rather than come into the room. But Mrs. Carlyle, while as orderly as himself, and keeping e'verythjnfr tidy there, was tolerant totho utmost of wliatover might bo his whim in this matter; it wfis pretty to see him sometimes, when'me was jn a nlbased humour and there was no one there to cause' coremony, present the pipe gallantly to.her own lips, for the honour of V consecrating whifit., This lie called 'tejidop'tlg her the caluraot of peace.' " Upon the, much-discussed topic of the conjugal relations prevailing in the. Chelsea household, PrbfejSsor Maskon's testimony should ho valuable- no less than it is explicit. Their mutuil bohfiyiour, he says, "was uniformly exemplary and loving in all essential rospeots, with a'kind of stately gallantry on Carlylo s part when ho' turned to his Jane, or she interposed one of her remarks, and, on her part, the most admiring affection for him in all that ho said or did. If there was ever a sign of, ruffle it was superficial merejy, and arose'from' an occasional lapse of his into a mood of playful teasing and persistence in rhetorical mastery even against her. But §jich little teasings of his wife in the presence of . others must have been very rare, for I can remember only one or two, belonging, to the oarliest period of my acquaintance with them. Far more freouent, indeed, were her little witticisims at "his expense. She was fond of entertaining her friends with sprightly stories of any recent misbehaviours of his; and on such occasions he would listen most benigna'ntly and approvingly, with the pleased look of a lion whose own lioness was having her own turn in the performance."