AN ICONOCLAST URGENTLY WANTED

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 429, 1 July 1881, Page 16

AN ICONOCLAST URGENTLY WANTED

The following was originally meant for the New Zealand Herald ; but as I suspect he is a bit "of a Puritan himself, it might not be relished by him, I therefore send it to you for publication :—: — The services of your correspondent " Iconoclast," or some other image breaker, are much wanted to smash the Carlyle idol which has long been worshiped aid is still divinely adored by so large a crowd. The Edinburgh Review has lately indeed done that work pretty effectually, but still the. work of demolition is hardly complete. The Edinburgh Revieiv justly describes Carlyle as a Puiitan who had lost his creed. His faith as a Christian was very small, his hopes faint, and his charity — gone, completely gone. " Chalmer's Journal," many years ago, I saw described Carlyle as a literary " prig," a puppy in his style, and some of his moral principles as very unsound and pernicious. The Edinburgh Review describes his style as bad grammar translated into worse Enghlish. How a writer of that character should have attained such a wide popularity and made so large a fortune by his books is to me a puzzle, and says but little for the age we live in. I think his grotesque, repulsive, and obscure style, if nothing else, was enough to condemn him. Happily not many are likely to imitate it, though we have seen one gentleman in Auckland try his hand in that line. Those who imitate his style are likely enough to admire his principles, which were arbitrary in the extreme, and in fact Puritanism in its worst form — Puritanism, without religion, as the Edinburgh Review said. I have had one of his works, '• Past and Present," and it was quite enough for my digestion. I had no stomach for more. It is clever, of course, and contains some just reflections, but mixed up with much that is extravagant, absurd, and pernicious. In a word, Carlyle was a clever Scotch barbarian. Who but a Scotch barbarian would have described Yorkminster as '• a heap o' stanes" and its builder as " puir bodies." This man Carlyle did so. I have no patience with such Scotchmen and their admirers. What a contrast between such Scotchmen as Robert Burns and this Thomas Carlyle. Burns was an honour to Scotland and the republic of letters ; Carlyle was a credit to neither. Both were born in a Scotch cottage. But Burns was a born gentlemen — or rather a born nobleman — who held the patent of his honours unmistakably from God himself ; and a greater enemy of bigotry, tyranny, and intolerance than the sage of Chelsea by far. Burns was a far greater enemy to sham and cant than Carlyle. My belief is that Carlyle himself was one of the greatest shams and humbugs of the present age. Burns was a man of taste and refinement. The celebrated Scotch professor Dugald Stewart said Burns' prose writings were more remarkable for ability, taste and elegance, than even his poetry. Yet Burns, poor man, never made a fortune by his writings ; hardly salt to his porridge even. Did you ever read Lord Macaulay's essay on the modern art of literary puffing ? Carlyle seems to have reaped the full benefit of that art. " The evil that men do lives after them." Much more does the evil that clever men write live after them. Carlyle will prove no benefactor to posterity by his writings if the Edinburgh Revieiv has described them correctly, and I believe it has. On the contrary, these writings will tend to corrupt the literary ta«te of our posterity, and to imbue them with principles hostile to public liberty, and to Christian Charity. I have a suspicion that Car lye owes no small part of his popularity to his coarse, insolent, and unjust remarks on things and persons Catholic. Had he lived in Knox's day he would have proved a fit coadjutor to that sanguinary fanatic, and helped to pull down those " heaps o' stanes " — those splendid ecclesiastical buildings which our generous, pious, and patriotic Catholic ancestors, " puir bodies," built for the honour and glory of God, and the benefit of the people. When shall we see such " heaps o' stanes " and such puir bodies in Scotland again ? Not soon I fear. Devastation and ruin followed Knox's path. As if he had been a second Attila the scourge of God. Poor Scotland. But do not despair, your people are becoming Catholic again. Carlyle was not.