Life of
Friedrich Schiller_ (1823-1825), which won for him the appreciation
and friendship of the German poet, Goethe.

Carlyle's first great original work, the one in which he best delivers
his message to humanity, is _Sartor Resartus_ (_The Tailor Patched_).
This first appeared serially in _Fraser's Magazine_ in 1833-1834. He
feigned that he was merely editing a treatise on _The Philosophy of
Clothes_, the work of a German professor, Diogenes Teufelsdroeckh. This
professor is really Carlyle himself; but the disguise gave him an
excuse for writing in a strange style and for beginning many of his
nouns with capitals, after the German fashion.

When _Sartor Resartus_ first appeared, Mrs. Carlyle remarked that it
was "completely understood and appreciated only by women and mad
people." This work did not for some years receive sufficient attention
in England to justify publication in book form. The case was different
in America, where the first edition with a preface by Emerson was
published in 1836, two years before the appearance of the English
edition. In the year of Carlyle's death, a cheap London edition of
30,000 copies was sold in a few weeks.

Carlyle calls _Sartor Resartus_ a "Philosophy of Clothes." He uses the
term "Clothes" symbolically to signify the outward expression of the
spiritual. He calls Nature "the Living Garment of God." He teaches us
to regard these vestments only as semblances and to look beyond them
to the inner spirit, which is the reality. The century's material
progress, which was such a cause of pride to Macaulay, was to Carlyle
only a semblance, not a sign of real spiritual growth. He says of the
utilitarian philosophy, which he hated intensely:--

"It spreads like a sort of Dog-madness; till the whole World-kennel
will be rabid."

The majority of readers cared nothing for the symbolism of _Sartor
Resartus_; but they responded to its effective presentation of the
gospel of work and faced the duties of life with increased energy.
Carlyle seemed to stand before them saying:--

"_Do the Duty which lies nearest thee_, which thou knowest to be a
Duty! Thy second Duty will already have become clearer... The
Situation that has not its Duty, its Ideal was never yet occupied by
man. Yes here, in this poor miserable, hampered, despicable Actual,
wherein thou even now standest, here or nowhere is thy Ideal: work
it out therefrom; and working, believe, live, be free. Fool! the
I