f the writers and thinkers whom he derided, his
_French Revolution_ would have taken its place in historical literature
as an epoch-making book. As it stands, the reader who desires to have an
intelligible knowledge of the subject, is compelled to shake himself
free of the Carlylean mesmerism, and have recourse to those writers whom
Carlyle, under the opprobrious names of 'logic-choppers' and
'dry-as-dusts,' held up to public ridicule.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] _Reminiscences_, vol. ii. pp. 178-79.

[16] Froude's 'Life in London,' vol. i. p. 20.

[17] Froude's 'Life in London,' vol. i. p. 24.

CHAPTER V

HOLIDAY JOURNEYINGS--LITERARY WORK

Carlyle was so broken down with his efforts upon the _French Revolution_
that a trip to Annandale became necessary. He stayed at Scotsbrig two
months, 'wholly idle, reading novels, smoking pipes in the garden with
his mother, hearing notices of his book from a distance, but not looking
for them or caring about them.' Autumn brought Carlyle back to Cheyne
Row, when he found his wife in better health, delighted to have him
again at her side. She knew, as Froude points out, though Carlyle, so
little vain was he, had failed as yet to understand it, that he had
returned to a changed position, that he was no longer lonely and
neglected, but had taken his natural place among the great writers of
his day. He sent bright accounts of himself to Scotsbrig. 'I find John
Sterling here, and many friends, all kinder each than the other to me.
With talk and locomotion the days pass cheerfully till I rest and gird
myself together again. They make a great talk about the book, which
seems to have succeeded in a far higher degree than I looked for.
Everybody is astonished at every other body's being pleased with this
wonderful performance.'[18]

Carlyle did nothing all the winter except to write his essay on Sir
Walter Scott. His next task was to prepare for a second course of
lectures in the spring on 'Heroes.' The course ended with 'a blaze of
fire-works--people weeping at the passionately earnest tone in which for
once they heard themselves addressed.' The effort brought Carlyle L300
after all expenses had been paid. 'A great blessing,' he remarked, 'to a
man that had been haunted by the squalid spectre of beggary.'

Carlyle had no intention of visiting Scotland that autumn, but having
received a pressing invitation from old friends at Kirkcaldy, he took
steamer to Leith in August. While at