King_, and shows how history has been molded
by men like Mohammed, Shakespeare, Luther, and Napoleon. It is such
men as these whom Carlyle calls "kings," beside whom "emperors,"
"popes," and "potentates" are as nothing. He believed that there was
always living some man worthy to be the "real king" over men, and such
a kingship was Carlyle's ideal of government.

Oliver Cromwell was one of these "real kings." In the work entitled
_Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, with Elucidations_, Carlyle was the
first to present the character of the Protector in its full strength
and greatness and to demonstrate once for all that he was a hero whose
memory all Englishmen should honor.

The _Life of John Sterling_ (1851) is a fair, true, and touching
biography of Carlyle's most intimate friend, the man who had
introduced him to Jane Welsh. After reading this book, George Eliot
said she wished that more men of genius would write biographies.

Carlyle's next attempt at biography grew into the massive _History of
Friedrich II_. (1858-1865), which includes a survey of European
history in that dreary century which preceded the French Revolution.
"Friedrich is by no means one of the perfect demigods." He is "to the
last a questionable hero." However, "in his way he is a Reality," one
feels "that he always means what he speaks; grounds his actions, too,
on what he recognizes for the truth; and, in short, has nothing of the
Hypocrite or Phantasm." Despite his tyranny and his bloody career, he,
therefore, is another of Carlyle's "real kings." While this work is a
history of modern Europe, Friedrich is always the central figure. He
gives to these six volumes a human note, a glowing interest of
personal adventure, and a oneness that are remarkable in so vast a
work.

General Characteristics.--Carlyle's writings must be classed among
the great social and democratic influences of the nineteenth century,
in spite of the fact that he did not believe in pure democracy. It was
his favorite theory that a great man, like Oliver Cromwell, could
govern better than the unintelligent multitude. However much he
rebelled against democracy in government, his sympathies were with the
toiling masses. His work entitled _Past and Present_ (1843) suggests
the organization of labor and introduces such modern expressions as "a
fair day's wages for a fair day's work." In _Sartor Resartus_, he
specially honors "the toilworn Craftsman, that with earthmade
implement