Modern English Books of Power | Page 8

novels it is difficult to make a choice, but it seems to me
The Heart of Midlothian has the widest appeal, although many would
cast their votes for Old Mortality, The Antiquary or Rob Roy because of
the rich humor of those romances. Scott's dialect, although true to
nature, is not difficult, as he did not consider it necessary to give all the
colloquial terms, like the modern "kailyard" writers.
If you read three or four of Scott's novels you are pretty apt to read
more. It is an easy matter to skip the prolix passages and the
unnecessary introductions. This done, you have a body of romance that
is far richer than any present-day fiction. And their great merit is that,
though written in a coarse age, the Waverley novels are sweet and
wholesome. One misses a great source of enjoyment and culture who
fails to read the best of Scott's novels. Take them all in all, they are the

finest fiction that has ever been written, and their continued popularity,
despite their many faults, is the best proof of their sterling merit.

CARLYLE AS AN INSPIRER OF YOUTH
THE FINEST ENGLISH PROSE WRITER OF THE LAST
CENTURY--HIS BEST BOOKS, "PAST AND PRESENT,"
"SARTOR RESARTUS" AND THE "FRENCH REVOLUTION."
As an influence in stimulating school and college students, Macaulay
must be given a foremost place, but greater than Macaulay, because of
his spiritual fervor and his moral force, stands Thomas Carlyle, the
great prophet and preacher of the nineteenth century, whose influence
will outlast that of all other writers of his time. And this spiritual
potency, which resides in his best work, is not weakened by his love of
the Strong Man in History or his fear of the rising tide of popular
democracy, in which he saw a dreadful repetition of the horrors of the
French Revolution. It was the Puritan element in his granite character
which gave most of the flaming spiritual ardor to Carlyle's work. It was
this which made him the greatest preacher of his day, although he had
left behind him all the old articles of faith for which his forefathers
went cheerfully to death on many a bloody field.
[Illustration: THOMAS CARLYLE FROM THE WORLD-FAMED
MASTERPIECE OF PORTRAITURE BY JAMES MCNEILL
WHISTLER]
Carlyle believed a strong religious faith was vital to any real and lasting
work in this world, and from the day he gave out Sartor Resartus he
preached this doctrine in all his books. He was born into a generation
that was content to accept the forms of religion, so long as it could
enjoy the good things of this world, and much of Carlyle's speech
sounded to the people of his day like the warnings of the prophet Isaiah
to the Israelites of old. But Carlyle was never daunted by lack of
appreciation or by any ridicule or abuse. These only made him more
confident in his belief that the spiritual life is the greatest thing in this

world. And he actually lived the life that he preached.
For years Carlyle failed to make enough to support himself and his wife,
yet he refused a large income, offered by the LONDON TIMES for
editorial work, on the ground that he could not write to order nor bend
his opinions to those of others. He put behind him the temptation to
take advantage of great fame when it suddenly came to him. When
publishers were eager for his work he spent the same time in preparing
his books as when he was poor and unsought. He labored at the
smallest task to give the best that was in him; he wrote much of his
work in his heart's blood. Hence it is that through all of his books, but
especially through Past and Present and Heroes and Hero Worship,
one feels the strong beat of the heart of this great man, who yearned to
make others follow the spiritual life that he had found so full of
strength and comfort.
Carlyle's life was largely one of work and self-denial. He was born of
poor parents at the little village of Ecclefechan, in Dumfriesshire,
Scotland. His father, though an uneducated stone-mason, was a man of
great mental force and originality, while his mother was a woman of
fine imagination, with a large gift of story telling. The boy received the
groundwork of a good education and then walked eighty miles to
Edinburgh University. Born in 1795, Carlyle went to Edinburgh in
1809. His painful economy at college laid the foundation of the
dyspepsia which troubled him all his days, hampered his work and
made him take a gloomy view of life. At Edinburgh he made a
specialty of mathematics and German. He remained at the university
five years.
The next fifteen years were