Historical Sketches Of Notable Persons And Events In The Reigns Of James I And Charles I

Excerpt from Historical Sketches of Notable Persons and Events in the Reigns of James I: And Charles I To write a Book on the Civil Wars and the Commonwealth of England, was one of Carlyle's earliest literary aspirations. His 'First Note-book, ' beginning on the 22nd of March 1822, opens with comments and observations on Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, which he had then just begun to read. There follow many pages of criticisms on that Work and quotations from it, showing how deeply Carlyle was interested in the subject. Before a month had gone by he had read the most of Clarendon, the whole of Ludlow's Memoirs, a great part of Milton's Prose Writings, and other Works which throw light upon that period. Under date 15th April of the same year, there is this entry in the Note-book: 'Must it, ' his contemplated Book, 'be sketches of English character generally, during the Commonwealth; containing portraits of Milton, Cromwell, Fox, Hyde, etc., in the manner of De Stael's Allemagne? The spirit is willing - but ah! the flesh!' In a few days more he had come nearer to a decision: 'Within the last month, ' he writes on the 27th of April, to his brother Alexander, 'I have well-nigh fixed upon a topic. My purpose... is to come out with a kind of Essay on the Civil Wars and the Commonwealth of England - not to write a History of them - but to exhibit, if I can, some features of the national character as it was then displayed, supporting my remarks by mental portraits drawn with my best ability, of Cromwell, Laud, George Fox, Milton, Hyde, etc., the most distinguished of the actors in that great scene.' The scheme thus described had to be relinquished for a time; other engagements of a more promising or practical nature, intervened, which need not be recounted here. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

"The Carlyle Encyclopedia focuses primarily on Thomas Carlyle. It reflects the range of his interests and resists stereotyped impression of who he was and what he believed. It covers Carlyle's entire life, without privileging any particular work or period, and locates Carlyle in his time and place, in the context of a rich and challenging age. The Carlyle Encyclopedia also gives a balanced assessment of Jane Welsh Carlyle, which avoids either belittling her or overestimating her achievement. It avoids the reductive and contradictory stereotypes of her which were offered by early biographers of Thomas Carlyle and offers instead a study of her varied friendships and her trenchant observations on contemporary life." "The Carlyle Encyclopedia will interest a variety of readers who concern themselves with literature, social history, the history of ideas, Victorian culture, and Scottish studies."--BOOK JACKET.

The seeds of the Civil Wars were sown in the reign of James I. Carlyle thought; working on this manuscript that his opinion of Cromwell rose, to the point where he felt evidence of his true character could only be shown by the unquestionable evidence of his Letters and Speeches and set this aside in order to collect and edit them. The work was edited by Alexander Carlyle from the manuscripts left by Thomas Carlyle. Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish peasant who became one of the great names of English literature, was the most important social and political thinker of the Victorian era.