The applause became less frequent;
the silence became that of a woven spell; and the recitation of
the beautiful lines from Goethe, at the end, was so masterly--so
marvellous--that one felt in it that Carlyle's real anathemas against
rhetoric were but the expression of his knowledge that there is a
rhetoric beyond all other arts."
In the _Times_ the following leader appeared upon Mr. Carlyle's
address:--
"There is something in the return of a man to the haunts of his youth,
after he has acquired fame and a recognised position in the world,
which is of itself sufficient to arrest attention. We are interested
in the retrospect and the contrast, the juxtaposition of the old and
the new, the hopes of early years, the memory of the struggles and
contests of manhood, the repose of victory. A man may differ as much
as he pleases from the doctrines of Mr. Carlyle, he may reject his
historical teachings, and may distrust his politics, but he must be
of a very unkindly disposition not to be touched by his reception
at Edinburgh. It is fifty-four years, he told the students of the
University, since he, a boy of fourteen, came as a student, 'full of
wonder and expectation,' to the old capital of his native country, and
now he returns, having accomplished the days of man spoken of by the
Psalmist, that he may be honoured by students of this generation,
and may give them a few words of advice on the life which lies before
them.
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