"Carlyle had all the _kleinstadtlich_ traits of an islander
and a Scotsman, and reprimanded with severity the rebellious
instincts of the native of a vast continent which made light of
the British Islands."
"Carlyle has a hairy strength which makes his literary vocation a
mere chance, and what seems very contemptible to him. I could
think only of an enormous trip-hammer with an 'Aeolian attachment."'
"In Carlyle as in Byron, one is more struck with the rhetoric
than with the matter. He has manly superiority rather than
intellectuality, and so makes good hard hits all the time. There
is more character than intellect in every sentence, herein
strongly resembling Samuel Johnson."
"England makes what a step from Dr. Johnson to Carlyle! what
wealth of thought and science, what expansion of views and
profounder resources does the genius and performance of this
last imply! If she can make another step as large, what new
ages open!"