CARLYLE'S INFLUENCE

Otago Witness, Issue 1343, 25 August 1877, Page 21

CARLYLE'S INFLUENCE

However 1 much or little" he may yet dp, he certainly ought to be' recognia'e'd as one 1 of ' the- ctiief' influences (Sf'tiis time.,,] Bad as is .our -' political morality, and" grievous r aa .are our social we are at least awakened, to a sense of our" sins; and , I, f cannot, bUjfc . ascribe tbjis v a wakenih : g ; inainly ' 'to' ) 'Carlyle. Whil?'' Words worth ""did" for 'poetry, in bringing: us out jp£ a. , conventional idea and method to" a true aiid simple one, CarMe has done fbr^piiir.&lity^ He; maVP>e hii|i-« self the moW curious ''opposition to him-* self^-Jie/, may ■be the>greatesfc. jpannerikt! of his age while denouncing conyentional- ■ ism—the 1 'greatest talker wdiiFa c euf6gi§ii]g silencer^the '^most" complaiii|r while glorifying, foi'tititdoi—.the^m'oSt-dih-certain in ,m;opd,.!while, ! .hold,ing, ( f|orlii serenity as the greatetsX gopd withh^iie feWc^ of 'man! ;"but -h^^has^nSver^eleka infused- in^o -'the- 'mind ! "of 'theC- ! -iErigli|hi ■nation a siiic9rity,:"earnestness,-he'althful- = rie3s, v and'courage which cai&be appreiated only by tho^etwho are bldsenough«toct4liwhat was our naorbid state when Byron was the representative of our temper, the ' GJiapha*n r ehurch > '6f 'dor "rlligitfn/tfdd. the'} '■ p'otten'^orough- 'By'aikta' 'of .our politic if i morality in <H$ I am- -warranted- imbelie'vir g^, tthat the society I am bidding farewell' lo - is-a- vasfr-improvement-upon-thaWhich. I was born into,^l it am' / -conndent that the blessed change is_attributable to Carlyte more than to any single influence beside^. '•^HccriHet Mttrtinean's &tiMiography>y j