rather than a history; full of rhapsodies, startling rhetoric,
disconnected pictures. It has been fitly called "a history in flashes of
lightning." No one could learn from it the history of that momentous
period; but one who has read the history elsewhere, will find great
interest in Carlyle's wild and vivid pictures of its stormy scenes.

In 1839 he wrote, in his dashing style, upon _Chartism_, and about the
same time read a course of lectures upon _Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the
Heroic in History_, in which he is an admirer of will and impulse, and
palliates evil when found in combination with these.

In 1845 he edited _The Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell_, and in
his extravagant eulogies worships the hero rather than the truth.

FREDERICK II.--In 1858 appeared the first two volumes of _The Life of
Frederick the Great_, and since that time he has completed the work. This
is doubtless his greatest effort. It is full of erudition, and contains
details not to be found in any other biography of the Prussian monarch;
but so singularly has he reasoned and commented upon his facts, that the
enlightened reader often draws conclusions different from those which the
author has been laboring to establish. While the history shows that, for
genius and success, Frederick deserved to be called the Great, Carlyle
cannot make us believe that he was not grasping, selfish, a dissembler,
and an immoral man.

The author's style has its admirers, and is a not unpleasing novelty and
variety to lovers of plain English; but it wearies in continuance, and one
turns to French or German with relief. The Essays upon _German
Literature_, _Richter_, and _The Niebelungen Lied_ are of great value to
the young student. Such tracts as _Past and Present_, and _The Latter-Day
Pamphlets_, have caused him to be called the "Censor of the Age." He is
too eccentric and prejudiced to deserve the name in its best meaning. If
he fights shams, he sometimes mistakes windmills and wine-skins for
monsters, and, what is worse, if he accost a shepherd or a milkmaid, they
at once become _Amadis de Gaul_ and _Dulcinea del Toboso_. In spite of
these prejudices and peculiarities, Carlyle will always be esteemed for
his arduous labors, his honest intentions, and his boldness in expressing
his opinions. His likes and dislikes find ready vent in his written
judgments, and he cares for neither friend nor foe, in setting forth his
views of men and events. On many su