gifted genius
also, but yet a wreck and a failure; a man broken down by the force of
that degrading habit which unfortunately and peculiarly and even
mysteriously robs a man of all dignity, all honor, and all sense of
shame. Amid the misfortunes, the mistakes, and the degradations of the
born poet, whom he alike admires and pities and mildly blames, he sees
also the noble elements of the poet's gifted soul, and loves him,
especially for his sincerity, which next to labor he uniformly praises.
It was the truthfulness he saw in Burns which constrained Carlyle's
affection,--the poet's sympathy and humanity, speaking out of his heart
in unconscious earnestness and plaintive melody; sad and sorrowful, of
course, since his life was an unsuccessful battle with himself, but free
from egotism, and full of a love which no misery could crush,--so unlike
that other greatest poet of our century, "whose exemplar was Satan, the
hero of his poetry and the model of his life." In this most beautiful
and finished essay Carlyle paints the man in his true colors,--sinning
and sinned against, courageous while yielding, poor but proud, scornful
yet affectionate; singing in matchless lyrics the sentiments of the
people from whom he sprung and among whom he died, which lyrics, though
but fragments indeed, are precious and imperishable.

In the same year appeared the Life of Heyne,--the great German scholar,
pushing his way from the depths of poverty and obscurity, by force of
patient industry and genius, to a proud position and a national fame.
"Let no unfriended son of genius despair," exclaims Carlyle. "If he have
the will, the power will not be denied him. Like the acorn, carelessly
cast abroad in the wilderness, yet it rises to be an oak; on the wild
soil it nourishes itself; it defies the tempest, and lives for a
thousand years." The whole outward life of Carlyle himself, like that of
Heyne, was an example of heroism amid difficulties, and hope amid
the storms.

The next noticeable article which Carlyle published was on Voltaire, and
appeared in the Quarterly Review in 1829. It would appear that he hoped
to find in this great oracle and guide of the eighteenth century
something to admire and praise commensurate with his great fame. But
vainly. Voltaire, though fortunate beyond example in literary history,
versatile, laborious, brilliant in style,--poet, satirist, historian,
and essayist,--seemed to Carlyle to be superficial, irreligious,