study to consume my own
smoke. I wish you would build me, among your buildings, some small
Prophet Chamber, fifteen feet square, with a flue for smoking, sacred
from all noises of dogs, cocks, and piano-fortes, engaging some dumb old
woman to light a fire for me daily, and boil some kind of a kettle."

Thus quaintly he expressed his desire for uninterrupted solitude, where
he could work to advantage.

He was then engaged on Cromwell, and the few persons with whom he
exchanged letters show how retired was his life. His friends were also
few, although he could have met as many persons as pleased him. He was
too much absorbed with work to be what is called a society man; but
what society he did see was of the best.

At last Carlyle's task on the "Life of Oliver Cromwell" was finished in
August, 1845, when he was fifty years of age. It was the greatest
contribution to English history; Mr. Froude thinks, which has been made
in the present century. "Carlyle was the first to make Cromwell and his
age intelligible to mankind." Indeed, he reversed the opinions of
mankind respecting that remarkable man, which was a great
accomplishment. No one doubts the genuineness of the portrait. Cromwell
was almost universally supposed, fifty years ago, to be a hypocrite as
well as a usurper. In Carlyle's hands he stands out visionary, perhaps,
but yet practical, sincere, earnest, God-fearing,--a patriot devoted to
the good of his country. Carlyle rescued a great historical personage
from the accumulated slanders of two centuries, and did his work so well
that no hostile criticisms have modified his verdict. He has painted a
picture which is immortal. The insight, the sagacity, the ability, and
the statesmanship of Cromwell are impressed upon the minds of all
readers. That England never had a greater or more enlightened ruler,
everybody is now forced to admit,--and not merely a patriotic but a
Christian ruler, who regarded himself simply as the instrument of
Providence.

People still differ as to the cause in which Cromwell embarked, and few
defend the means he used to accomplish his ends. He does not stand out
as a perfect man; he made mistakes, and committed political crimes which
can be defended only on grounds of expediency. But his private life was
above reproach, and he died in the triumph of Christian faith, after
having raised his country to a higher pitch of glory than had been seen
since the days of Queen Elizabeth.

The fault