ABSTRACT
Published 1885. Written 1882–4, judging from MSS in H. Nbks 52 and 68 and from its probably being occasioned by J. A. Froude’s frank revelations about Carlyle’s private life (1882–4). In a letter to Watts, 10 Dec. 1885, H. T. said that it was one of ‘the old ones’ that he had made T. touch up, and that it was ‘written ten or twelve years ago’ (Letters iii); but this is unlikely and may be protective. T. said it was ‘about no particular prophet’, but H. T.’s note goes on: ‘At this time he said of Mr and Mrs Carlyle: “I am sure that Froude is wrong. I saw a great deal of them. They were always ‘chaffing’ one another, and they could not have done that if they had got on so ‘badly together’ as Froude thinks.”’ Froude’s Preface (1882) had spoken of Carlyle as a ‘teacher and a prophet in the Jewish sense of the word’, and in 1884 his introductory note described Carlyle as ‘a man who could thus take on himself the character of a prophet’. Cp. the beldam’s argument in ll. 44–56 with Froude:
‘When a man has exercised a large influence on the minds of his contemporaries, the world requires to know whether his own actions have corresponded with his teaching, and whether his moral and personal character entitles him to confidence. This is not idle curiosity; it is a legitimate demand. In proportion to a man’s greatness is the scrutiny to which his conduct is submitted.’
