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Carlyle's Handling of the CARLYLE'S HANDLING OF THE "LAWS OF NATURE" CONCEPT A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of G~duate Studies and Research of McGill University by William R. Taggart In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts May - 1952 TABLE OF CONTENTS Pa~e I. Introduction ------------- References ---------- 10 II. Background; Early Influences ------- 11 References ---------------- 1? III. The Influence of German Philosophy and Literature 18 References ------------ 28 IV. Development and Growth of the "Nature" Concept~ Early essays; Sartor Resartu'8; The French Revolution; Chartism --- 29 References ------ 51 v. The "Laws of Nature" in.the Hero lectures 54 References ---- - ---- ?0 VI. Past and Present ?2 References --------- 92 VII. Oliver Cromwell; Exodus from Houndsditch; The N1gger Question --- , -- ----- 95 References -------------- 106 VIII.Latter-Day Pamphlets ------- 10? References ---------------- 134 IX. Spiritual Optics; Frederick the Great; Carlyle's Consistent Reference to the "Laws of Nature" 13? References ----------- 148 x. Recapitu~ation and Conclusion ------ 149 References ---------------- 156 Bibliography -------- 15? I. INTRODUCTION "his strange mystic, almost magic Diagram of the Universe, and how it was gradually drawn, is nothenceforth altogether dark to us. Those mysterious ideas on TIME, which merit consideration, and are not wholly unintelligible with such, may by and by prove significant. Still more may his somewhat peculiar view of Nature, the decis~ve oneness he ascribes to Nature. How all Nature and Life are but one Garment, a 'Living Garment', woven and ever aweaving in the 'Loom of Time'." - Sartor Resartus I. INTRODUCTION.:~ Most considerations of Thomas Carlyle centre around one aspect of his thou~li~,or writing. Carlyle's comprehensive method of writing - selecting a portion of a philosophical or practical syst~ here which suits his purpose, rejecting a component of another system there - would seem to defy complete analysis and explanation under any single heading. To those seeking an under­ standing of Carlyle's personal religion and philosophy, Sartor Resartus forms the central document. To other men who could not fathom this transcendantal, mystical think­ ing Carlyle left his praotioal gospel of "Work" and "Duty" for their edification. The men who were to lead their fellows in society to the beat possible way of life were the "Heroes", the intuitive seers of Carlyle's ideal government. But behind and beyond all these conceptions the question remains - what was the fundamental core of Carlyle's philosophical system, which he applied in a most practical way to everyday social life? What sanctions - - 3 - divine, intuitive or logical - did he have for taking his most pronounced, absolutist view of life and govern­ ment? How did this beliet begin, and can its development and consistent application be traced in Carlyle's writings? The object of this study will be to establish that Carlyle's ultimate authority in all his pronouncements is what is usually referred to in his writings as the "Laws of Nature". This conception is not a simple one; consequently, part of its exposition must always depend upon an inspired interpretation of the Carlylean dialectic. However, it will be the attempt here to demonstrate and trace as far as possible the importance of this pivotal element in Carlyle's thinking. To trace or explain the use of the term "Nature" in philosophy and literature in general would be an imposs­ ibility in this place. Indeed, because of the various uses and meanings attached to it, it is difficult to establish with certainty even the basic sources of Carlyle's use of the concept. However, as the main purpose here is to indicate Carlyle's use of the expression "Laws of Nature" and how what he meant by it conditions significantly his philosophical writings and social polemics, a detailed consideration of the varied concepts of "Nature" in European thought does not fall within the compass of this s:tudy. At the same time, the immense importance of the subject of "Nature" in itself is noted and appreciated. - 4 - Basil Willey, in his book The Eighteenth Century Background, whose sub-title is Studies on the !dea of Nature in the Thought of the Period, quotes Sir Leslie Stephen's apt summation of "Nature's" influence. "Nature is a word contrived in order to introduce as many equivocations as possible into all the theories, political, legal, artistic or literary, into which it enters." 1 In the same place Willey goes on to cite a source which 2 has isolated sixty distinct uses of the term "Nature". "Nature's" importance can be traced back to classical thought. From at least the time when the "Great Chain of Being" became the predominant cosmology in Western thought, the concept has been in active use under one meaning or another. Joseph Warren Beach's book on the subject - The Concept of Nature in Nineteenth Century English Poetry - leaves a similar impression to that made by Willey. That is, the concept has been of tremendous importance and has been used by a bewildering number of authors with endless ramifications of meaning. To Lord Shaftesbury "Nature" was the "Wise Substitute of Providence! impower'd Creatress!" 3 Shaftesbury believed natural phen- omena in themselves could inspire a knowledge of God. Hume developed a metaphysical idea, defending "Nature" against "reason" in human affairs.4 "Nature" was the dominant concept, and at times the authority of the revol­ utionary and romantic literature of the late eighteenth - 5 - and early nineteenth centuries.5 William Godwin, Rousseau and Wordsworth were important in this group. Beach lists some of the main schools of "Nature" as those of "romantic nature, metaphysical nature, naturallsm, Platonism and Transcendentalism". (Carlyle is included in the last group nam.ed.) 6 Scarcely an important philosopher or writer is omitted from consideration in the work, which includes Ralph Cudworth, Henry More, Berkeley, Newton, Shaftesbury, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, Goethe, Coleridge, Emerson, Whitman, Tennyson, Swinburne and Meredith. A.O. Lovejoy, in an article entitled "Nature" as Aesthetic Norm, which appeared in Modern Language Notes for November, 192?, has tried to reduce some order out of all this chaos. From the outset he is aware of the extrema difficulty and comprehensiveness of the problem. He says the much abused term "Nature" has become the "verbal jack-of-all-trades; ••• To read eighteenth century books (in particular) without having in mind the meanings of "nature" is to move about in the midst of ambiguities unrealized; ••• for "nature" has, of course, been the chief and the most pregnant word in the terminology of all the normative provinces of thought in the West." ? Having stated his difficulty in advance, Lovejoy goes on to catalogue some of the aesthetic uses of the term. For example, "Nature" has been put forward as the object to be imitated in Art by D'Alembert, Goldsmith, Granville and Reynolds.a Human nature has been depicted as the "natural" expression of passions by Shakespeare, Dryden, - 6 - Chaucer, Moliere,' Boileau, Fenelon,~ Diderot, dohnson and Horace Walpole.9 Another group has represented "'Nature' as the essence or Platonic !dea of a kind, imperfectly r~alized in empirical reality"; (for example, the "idealized type form., la belle nature"). In this group are included DuFresnoy, Molière, Dryden, Diderot and Hurd.10 To summarize briefly, still ether schools have pictured "Nature" as representing the "generic type" of man, ethers the "average type"; again, seme have de­ picted "nature as antithetic to man and his works". "Nature" has been used to convey a system of truth ooncerning the essential qualities and relations of "being". Finally, "Nature" has been used more generally as the exemplar of human art to represent the cosmic order as a whole.ll The foregoing comments are included, not so much as a background to Carlyle's concept of "Nature", but rather to indicate the difficulty of tracing fully the concept's usage before Carlyle adopted his partioular connotation for it. For this reason, it is intended to trace how a concept which Carlyle calls the "Laws of Nature" appears as a oonditioning factor throughout his works rather than to explain the concept basically in itself. As the kernel of Carlyle's thought is based on inspired intuitive conviction, no amount of logical analysis will divulge its ultimate value. Therefore, - 7 - although Carlyle's "Laws of Nature" will be explained as far as possible here, the main purpose will be to show their conditioning, indeed,determining position in his grand view of life and society. Beforejthis is done, by way of opening, some introductory matters will be considered as a prelude to the main study. First of all, some aspects of Carlyle's personal characteristics, family life and education must be considered. Secondly, the importance of the_ influences of maturity, inoluding the great spirituel crisis in Carlyle's mental life. It will be seen that Carlyle's devotion to the German transoendentalists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is an important factor. The contemporary situation, or "Condition-of­ England question" is also a noteworthy issue. However, in the last consideration, it will be held that Carlyle bases his thinking primarily on external factors. It is with universal, cosmic penetration that he makes his final judgments. In this study it will be neoessary to show where the "Laws of Nature" concept first arises in Carlyle~' s wri tings, how i_t rea&hed speedy orystallization and henceforth became the conditioning factor in all his higher thinking. It will be noticed that aspects of the schema of "Nature" appear in some of Carlyle's early essays, such as Signs of the Time@, Characteristics and - 8 - Chartism. Previous to this, Carlyle had considered the "Nature" concept,as used by certain German philosophera, in his essays The State of German Literature (1827) and Novalis (1829).
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