On the Choice of Books | Page 2

for
him to do so.
[Footnote A: James Carlyle was born in August, 1758, and died
January 23, 1832. His second wife (whose maiden name was Margaret
Aitken), was born in September, 1771, and died on Christmas Day,
1853. There were nine children of this marriage, "whereof four sons
and three daughters," says the inscription en the tombstone in the

burial-ground at Ecclefechan, "survived, gratefully reverent of such a
father and such a mother."]
He had already written several articles and essays, and a few of them
had appeared in print; but they gave little promise or indication of the
power he was afterwards to exhibit. During the years 1820--1823, he
contributed a series of articles (biographical and topographical) to
Brewster's "Edinburgh Encyclopaedia,"[1] viz.:--
[Footnote 1: Vols. XIV. to XVI. The fourteenth volume bears at the
end the imprint, "Edinburgh, printed by Balfour and Clarke, 1820;" and
the sixteenth volume, "Printed by A. Balfour and Co., Edinburgh,
1823." Most of these articles are distinguished by the initials "T.C.";
but they are all attributed to Carlyle in the List of the Authors of the
Principal Articles, prefixed to the work on its completion.]
1. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 2. Montaigne 3. Montesquieu 4.
Montfaucon 5. Dr. Moore 6. Sir John Moore 7. Necker 8. Nelson 9.
Netherlands 10. Newfoundland 11. Norfolk 12. Northamptonshire 13.
Northumberland 14. Mungo Park 15. Lord Chatham 16. William Pitt.
The following is from the article on _Necker_:--
"As an author, Necker displays much irregular force of imagination,
united with considerable perspicuity and compass of thought; though
his speculations are deformed by an undue attachment to certain
leading ideas, which, harmonizing with his habits of mind, had
acquired an excessive preponderance in the course of his long and
uncontroverted meditations. He possessed extensive knowledge, and
his works bespeak a philosophical spirit; but their great and
characteristic excellence proceeds from that glow of fresh and youthful
admiration for everything that is amiable or august in the character of
man, which, in Necker's heart, survived all the blighting vicissitudes it
had passed through, _combining, in a singular union, the fervour of the
stripling with the experience of the sage_."[A]
[Footnote A: "In the earliest authorship of Mr. Carlyle," says Mr. James
Russell Lowell, alluding to these papers, "we find some not obscure
hints of the future man. The outward fashion of them is that of the
period; but they are distinguished by a certain security of judgment,
remarkable at any time, remarkable especially in one so young. Carlyle,
in these first essays, already shows the influence of his master Goethe,
the most widely receptive of critics. In a compact notice of Montaigne

there is not a word as to his religious scepticism. The character is
looked at purely from its human and literary sides."]
Here is a passage from the article on Newfoundland, interesting as
containing perhaps the earliest germ of the later style:--
"The ships intended for the fishery on the southeast coast, arrive early
in June. Each takes her station opposite any unoccupied part of the
beach where the fish may be most conveniently cured, and retains it till
the end of the season. Formerly the master who arrived first on any
station was constituted _fishing-admiral_, and had by law the power of
settling disputes among the other crews. But the jurisdiction of those
admirals is now happily superseded by the regular functionaries who
reside on shore. Each captain directs his whole attention to the
collection of his own cargo, without minding the concerns of his
neighbour. Having taken down what part of the rigging is removable,
they set about their laborious calling, and must pursue it zealously.
Their mode of proceeding is thus described by Mr. Anspach, _a clerical
person, who lived in the island several years, and has since written a
meagre and very confused book, which he calls a_ HISTORY of it."
To the "New Edinburgh Review" (1821-22) Carlyle also contributed
two papers--one on Joanna Baillie's "Metrical Legends," and one on
Goethe's "Faust."
In the year 1822 he made a translation of "Legendre's Geometry," to
which he prefixed an Essay on Proportion; and the book appeared a
year or two afterwards under the auspices of the late Sir David
Brewster.[A] The Essay on Proportion remains to this day the most
lucid and succinct exposition of the subject hitherto published.
[Footnote A: "Elements of Geometry and Trigonometry," with Notes.
Translated from the French of A.M. Legendre. Edited by David
Brewster, LL.D. With Notes and Additions, and an Introductory

Chapter on
Proportion. Edinburgh: published by Oliver and Boyd; and G. and W.B.
Whittaker, London. 1824, pp. xvi., 367. Sir David Brewster's Preface,
in which he speaks of "an Introduction on Proportion, by the
Translator," is dated _Edinburgh, August_ 1, 1822.]
"I was already," says Carlyle in his