fuse the masses of
raw material into a well-proportioned whole is perhaps not quite
successful; and Carlyle had not the full sympathy with Frederick which
had given interest to the _Cromwell._ A hero-worshipper with
half-concealed doubts as to his hero is in an awkward position.
Carlyle's general conception of history made him comparatively blind to
aspects of the subject which would, to writers of other schools, have a
great importance. The extraordinary power of the book is undeniable,
though it does not show the fire which animated the _French Revolution._
A certain depression and weariness of spirit darken the general tone.

During the later labours Mrs Carlyle's health had been breaking.
Carlyle, now that happier relations had been restored, did his best to
give her the needed comforts; and in spite of his immersion in
_Frederick_, showed her all possible attention in later years. She had
apparently recovered from an almost hopeless illness, when at the end of
1865 he was elected to the rectorship of the university of Edinburgh. He
delivered an address there on the 2nd of April 1866, unusually mild in
tone, and received with general applause. He was still detained in
Scotland when Mrs Carlyle died suddenly while driving in her carriage.
The immediate cause was the shock of an accident to her dog. She had
once hurt her mother's feelings by refusing to use some wax candles. She
had preserved them ever since, and by her direction they were now
lighted in the chamber of death. Carlyle was overpowered by her loss.
His life thenceforward became more and more secluded, and he gradually
became incapable of work. He went to Mentone in the winter of 1866 and
began the _Reminiscences._ He afterwards annotated the letters from his
wife, published (1883) as _Letters and Memorials._ He was, as Froude
says, impressed by the story of Johnson's "penance" at Uttoxeter, and
desired to make a posthumous confession of his shortcomings in his
relations to his wife. A few later utterances made known his opinions of
current affairs. He joined the committee for the defence of Governor
Eyre in 1867; he also wrote in 1867 an article upon "shooting Niagara,"
that is, upon the tendency of the Reform Bill of that year; and in 1870
he wrote a letter defending the German case against France. The worth of
his _Frederick_ was acknowledged by the Prussian Order of Merit in 1874.
In the same year Disraeli offered him the Grand Cross of the Bath and a