Thomas Carlyle
In 1859, Charles Dickens wrote the best-selling novel of all times, A Tale of Two Cities, with the familiar opening line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Without the influence of Thomas Carlyle and his near-disastrous experience, it might never have been written.
Dickens lines seem almost prophetic today: “It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”
A Tale of Two Cities is set in London and Paris in the 1790s, shortly after the French Revolution and during the Reign of Terror. Dickens was not exaggerating about the worst times. In September of 1793, Maximilien de Robespierre, a noble statesman and one of the founders of the Revolution declared the Reign of Terror was about to begin:
“It is time to horrify the conspirators. So legislators, place Terror on the order of the day! The blade of the law should hover over all the guilty.”
In the name of liberty, equality, and fraternity, Robespierre sentenced over 40,000 people to death by guillotine. Although he was a nationally known lawyer who led the revolution to obtain freedoms like women’s voting rights and the abolition of slavery in the French colonies, he feared insurrection more than he loved freedom.
The public tired of Robespierre after a year. He went to trial and in a moment of inspired justice, was himself sent to the guillotine. One year later, as chaos resumed, a rescuer appeared in the form of a Parisian soldier named Napoleon Bonaparte. He restored order, which is how the world was introduced to one of history’s most iconic leaders.
There is an irony in how we know all of this. It was why Dickens was moved to write the novel although he was born in 1812 and had no direct experience of the French Revolution. Instead, he turned to Thomas Carlyle’s three-volume history.
If fate had its way, Carlyle’s book would never have been written.
Carlyle was the first serious thinker to write about the phenomenon of what he called “the great man theory,” in his treatise, On Heroes, Hero-Worship (available for free on Amazon).
Carlyle’s theory was based in part on Napoleon in the French Revolution. The French emperor was not an imperfect human being, but he rescued people from lawlessness. Carlyle recognized great leaders were complicated and believed they should be judged less on minor mistakes than major outcomes.
Carlyle worried that later generations would focus on the small failings. “Atlas the titan may have held the world on his shoulders, but he said some derogatory things,” that sort of thing.
That is how history gets rewritten today, by focusing on sensational anecdotes. Carlyle’s term for this was “valetism” from the expression “no man is a hero to his valet.” We call them “micro transgressions” the kind we should not repeat, but not use as a standard by which to judge a leader. Nowhere were Carlyle’s ideas more relevant than in a politically charged Europe.
He was encouraged to write about the French Revolution by the well-known economist and close friend, John Stuart Mill. Mill had been offered the chance by his publisher, but he thought Carlyle would do a better job. He believed in his friend and gave him the opportunity of a lifetime.
Then, in 1834, on a wet and gray London afternoon, an act of random fate turned into the existential crisis. Carlyle had been slaving for months working from copious notes and writing in longhand (typewriters were for the very rich until 1874). He sent the first volume to Mill to review.
Mill brought the manuscript with him to the house of his girlfriend and left it there. The servant in the home was illiterate. She thought the heap of papers was scrap and promptly used it to light a fire to warm her bed-chamber.
Mill arrived the next day at Carlyle’s house looking forlorn. He carried a satchel under his arm which held the charred remains taken from the hearth. He tried to explain but could barely speak.
The Scottish historian took Mill aside and said not to worry. Mill offered to pay Carlyle. Carlyle refused. When Mill left, Carlyle’s only words were “Mill, poor fellow, is terribly cut up.” Then he added,” We must endeavor to hide from him how very serious this is.”
It was more than serious, Carlyle’s notes were destroyed. How could he complete the book without them? He gave up any hope of writing The French Revolution. He was also broke, with no money to provide for his family and no way to support himself.
That night Carlyle had a dream. Not an imaginary thing, but a real one. His father and brother came to him from their graves and begged him not to abandon the work. In life, they had great faith in their brother and son, and the next morning Carlyle set off for Mill’s home to say he would accept his generosity.
He began working on volume two and then finished volume three before painstakingly re-creating the first volume from memory. By 1847, about the time he originally planned to complete the entire work, the three-volume history was published. It became the best-selling history of the century.
Ten years later, Dickens was inspired by Carlyle’s book while thinking of his next novel after Hard Times. He was so taken with Carlyle’s description of the Reign of Terror he wrote A Tale of Two Cities.
Carlyle’s history, The French Revolution, is still being published 200 years later. By the way, Carlyle took the charred leaves of the burned manuscript that Mill brought with him and placed them on the fireplace mantel where they remained for the rest of his life.
