Page:Works of Thomas Carlyle - Volume 12.djvu/21

Rh Still it cannot be denied that the work is guilty of a double offence against the canons of proportion. Great as was the part played by Frederick II. in the history of his country, and indirectly in that of Europe, it can hardly be contended that it deserved treatment at such portentous length. Nor, even if such a contention were tenable, can it be admitted that the various parts of this monumental structure stand in due relation to each other. The biographer unquestionably dwells at excessive length on the parentage and upbringing of his hero, and takes an unconscionable time in getting to close quarters with the real subject of his narrative. The early years and training of Frederick, and the stern experiences of his youth, had, no doubt, an important bearing on his future career, which indeed would be hardly intelligible without a somewhat full account not only of his predecessor's work of military organisation, but of the singularly though undesignedly fortifying discipline to which he subjected his son. But Carlyle lingers beyond all tolerable measure over his minute portrait of the brutal old grenadier, and his readiness in excuse or palliation of Frederick William's half-insane excesses of savagery, is not only irritating in itself, but, worse still, is apt to beget a not unnatural distrust of his advocacy when he comes to deal with the more questionable passages of his hero's life.

The general dimensions, however, of the 'Frederick,' and even the undue elaboration of its preliminaries, were determined by causes which it is not difficult to indicate. Carlyle had always been too apt to write both history and biography in the spirit of the denunciatory political prophet, and the habit had grown upon him with years. The spirit in question may almost be said to have dictated his choice of a subject. His enthusiasm for the founder of the Prussian Monarchy was partly factitious; indeed if certain reported remarks may be taken as seriously meant, he had in reality no very high opinion of Vater Fritz. But, unsatisfactory though he was as a hero in one sense of the word, he served Carlyle's turn well enough in another. When Carlyle speaks of Frederick