" Last Words of Thomas Carlyle. (Longmans, Green, and Co.)—
This volume coutains ", Wotton Reinfred," "An Excursion (futile enough) to Paris," and " Letters " from Carlyle and his wife. It is one of those books which have some points of great interest whilst they sin against the unwritten law of publication. " Wotton Reinfred" may show even young geniuses that publishers' readers are sometimes right in not recommending 'prentice-works, even though the manuscripts are "clever." But why publish this now ? The " Excursion " and the " Letters " have interest, as our friends' excursions and letters have interest if we happen to be in the mood to hear about them; and such utterancei of
• Carlyle's are listened to by those either interested in his per- sonality, or in seeing how things were started or failed, or in picking up mere scraps of information once written for a tempo- rary-purpose only. Mrs. Carlik uses a phrase-which is convenient
enough :—" I, you see, am one of the helpable, so you had better stick to helping me in my various needs." In such colloquial fashion the two Carlyles express bits of common experience which, like the distinction between the helpless and the helpable, rather amuse one as embodying ever-present truisms. But again one asks,—Why publish everything? Is any purpose really served by this volume ?
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