Chapter XVIII: Part 18

Carlyle had now to arrange the mode of life which should enable him to fulfil his aspiration. His wife had made over her income to her mother, but he had saved a small sum upon which to begin housekeeping. A passing suggestion from Mrs Carlyle that they might live with her mother was judiciously abandoned. Carlyle had thought of occupying Craigenputtock, a remote and dreary farm belonging to Mrs Welsh. His wife objected his utter incapacity as a farmer; and they finally took a small house at Comely Bank, Edinburgh, where they could live on a humble scale. The brilliant conversation of both attracted some notice in the literary society of Edinburgh. The most important connexion was with Francis, Lord Jeffrey, still editor of the _Edinburgh Review_. Though Jeffrey had no intellectual sympathy with Carlyle, he accepted some articles for the _Review_ and became warmly attached to Mrs Carlyle. Carlyle began to be known as leader of a new "mystic" school, and his earnings enabled him to send his brother John to study in Germany. The public appetite, however, for "mysticism" was not keen. In spite of support from Jeffrey and other friends, Carlyle failed in a candidature for a professorship at St Andrews. His brother, Alexander, had now taken the farm at Craigenputtock, and the Carlyles decided to settle at the separate dwelling-house there, which would bring them nearer to Mrs Welsh. They went there in 1828, and began a hard struggle. Carlyle, indomitably determined to make no concessions for immediate profit, wrote slowly and carefully, and turned out some of his most finished work. He laboured "passionately" at _Sartor Resartus_, and made articles out of fragments originally intended for the history of German literature. The money difficulty soon became more pressing. John, whom he was still helping, was trying unsuccessfully to set up as a doctor in London; and Alexander's farming failed. In spite of such drawbacks, Carlyle in later years looked back upon the life at Craigenputtock as on the whole a comparatively healthy and even happy period, as it was certainly one of most strenuous and courageous endeavour. Though often absorbed in his work and made both gloomy and irritable by his anxieties, he found relief in rides with his wife, and occasionally visiting their relations. Their letters during temporary separations are most affectionate. The bleak climate, however, the solitude, and the necessity of managing a household with a single servant, were excessively trying to a delicate woman, though Mrs Carlyle concealed from her husband the extent of her sacrifices. The position was gradually becoming untenable. In the autumn of 1831 Carlyle was forced to accept a loan of L50 from Jeffrey, and went in search of work to London, whither his wife followed him. He made some engagements with publishers, though no one would take _Sartor Resartus_, and returned to Craigenputtock in the spring of 1832. Jeffrey, stimulated perhaps by his sympathy for Mrs Carlyle, was characteristically generous. Besides pressing loans upon both Thomas and John Carlyle, he offered to settle an annuity of L100 upon Thomas, and finally enabled John to support himself by recommending him to a medical position.[1] Carlyle's proud spirit of independence made him reject Jeffrey's help as long as possible; and even his acknowledgment of the generosity (in the _Reminiscences_) is tinged with something disagreeably like resentment. In 1834 he applied to Jeffrey for a post at the Edinburgh Observatory. Jeffrey naturally declined to appoint a man who, in spite of some mathematical knowledge, had no special qualification, and administered a general lecture upon Carlyle's arrogance and eccentricity which left a permanent sense of injury.

In the beginning of 1833 the Carlyles made another trial of Edinburgh. There Carlyle found materials in the Advocates' Library for the article on the _Diamond Necklace_, one of his most perfect writings, which led him to study the history of the French Revolution. _Sartor Resartus_ was at last appearing in _Fraser's Magazine_, though the rate of payment was cut down, and the publisher reported that it was received with "unqualified dissatisfaction." Edinburgh society did not attract him, and he retreated once more to Craigenputtock. After another winter the necessity of some change became obvious. The Carlyles resolved to "burn their ships." They went to London in the summer of 1834, and took a house at 5 (now 24) Cheyne Row, Chelsea, which Carlyle inhabited till his death; the house has since been bought for the public. Irving, who had welcomed him on former occasions, was just dying,--a victim, as Carlyle thought, to fashionable cajoleries. A few young men were beginning to show appreciation. J.S. Mill had made Carlyle's acquaintance in the previous visit to London, and had corresponded with him. Mill had introduced Ralph Waldo Emerson, who visited Craigenputtock in 1833. Carlyle was charmed with Emerson, and their letters published by Professor Norton show that his regard never cooled. Emerson's interest showed that Carlyle's fame was already spreading in America. Carlyle's connexion with Charles Buller, a zealous utilitarian, introduced him to the circle of "philosophical radicals."

Carlyle called himself in some sense a radical; and J.S. Mill, though not an intellectual disciple, was a very warm admirer of his friend's genius. Carlyle had some expectation of the editorship of the _London Review_, started by Sir W. Molesworth at this time as an organ of philosophical radicalism. The combination would clearly have been explosive. Meanwhile Mill, who had collected many books upon the French Revolution, was eager to help Carlyle in the history which he was now beginning. He set to work at once and finished the first volume in five months. The manuscript, while entrusted to Mill for annotation, was burnt by an accident. Mill induced Carlyle to accept in compensation L100, which was urgently needed. Carlyle took up the task again and finished the whole on the 12th of January 1837. "I can tell the world," he said to his wife, "you have not had for a hundred years any book that comes more direct and flamingly from the heart of a living man. Do what you like with it, you--"

The publication, six months later, of the _French Revolution_ marks the turning-point of Carlyle's career. Many readers hold it to be the best, as it is certainly the most characteristic, of Carlyle's books. The failure of _Sartor Resartus_ to attract average readers is quite intelligible. It contains, indeed, some of the most impressive expositions of his philosophical position, and some of his most beautiful and perfectly written passages. But there is something forced and clumsy, in spite of the flashes of grim humour, in the machinery of the _Clothes Philosophy_. The mannerism, which has been attributed to an imitation of Jean Paul, appeared to Carlyle himself to be derived rather from the phrases current in his father's house, and in any case gave an appropriate dialect for the expression of his peculiar idiosyncrasy. But it could not be appreciated by readers who would not take the trouble to learn a new language. In the _French Revolution_ Carlyle had discovered his real strength. He was always at his best when his imagination was set to work upon a solid framework of fact. The book shows a unique combination: on the one hand is the singularly shrewd insight into character and the vivid realization of the picturesque; on the other is the "mysticism" or poetical philosophy which relieves the events against a background of mystery. The contrast is marked by the humour which seems to combine a cynical view of human folly with a deeply pathetic sense of the sadness and suffering of life. The convictions, whatever their value, came, as he said, "flamingly from the heart." It was, of course, impossible for Carlyle to satisfy modern requirements of matter-of-fact accuracy. He could not in the time have assimilated all the materials even then extant, and later accumulations would necessitate a complete revision. Considered as a "prose epic," or a vivid utterance of the thought of the period, it has a permanent and unique value.

The book was speedily successful. It was reviewed by Mill in the _Westminster_ and by Thackeray in _The Times_, and Carlyle, after a heroic struggle, was at last touching land. In each of the years 1837 to 1840 he gave a course of lectures, of which the last only (upon "Hero Worship") was published; they materially helped his finances. By Emerson's management he also received something during the same period from American publishers. At the age of forty-five he had thus become independent. He had also established a position among the chief writers of the day. Young disciples, among whom John Sterling was the most accepted, were gathering round him, and he became an object of social curiosity. Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), who won universal popularity by the most genuine kindliness of nature, became a cordial friend. Another important intimacy was with the Barings, afterwards Lord and Lady Ashburton. Carlyle's conversational powers were extraordinary; though, as he won greater recognition as a prophet, he indulged too freely in didactic monologue. In his prophetic capacity he published two remarkable books: _Chartism_ (1829), enlarged from an article which Lockhart, though personally approving, was afraid to take for the _Quarterly_; and _Past and Present_ (1843), in which the recently published _Mediaeval Chronicle_ was taken as a text for the exposure of modern evils. They may be regarded as expositions of the doctrine implicitly set forth in the _French Revolution_. Carlyle was a "radical" as sharing the sentiments of the class in which he was born. He had been profoundly moved by the widely-spread distresses in his earlier years. When the yeomanry were called out to suppress riots after the Peace, his sympathies were with the people rather than with the authorities. So far he was in harmony with Mill and the "philosophical radicals." A fundamental divergence of principle, however, existed and was soon indicated by his speedy separation from the party and alienation from Mill himself. The Revolution, according to him, meant the sweeping away of effete beliefs and institutions, but implied also the necessity of a reconstructive process. _Chartism_ begins with a fierce attack upon the _laissez faire_ theory, which showed blindness to this necessity. The prevalent political economy, in which that theory was embodied, made a principle of neglecting the very evils which it should be the great function of government to remedy. Carlyle's doctrines, entirely opposed to the ordinary opinions of Whigs and Radicals, found afterwards an expositor in his ardent disciple Ruskin, and have obvious affinities with more recent socialism. At the time he was as one crying in the wilderness to little practical purpose. Liberals were scandalized by his apparent identification of "right" with "might," implied in the demand for a strong government; and though he often declared the true interpretation to be that the right would ultimately become might, his desire for strong government seemed too often to sanction the inverse view. He came into collision with philanthropists, and was supposed to approve of despotism for its own sake.

His religious position was equally unintelligible to the average mind. While unequivocally rejecting the accepted creeds, and so scandalizing even liberal theologians, he was still more hostile to simply sceptical and materialist tendencies. He was, as he called himself, a "mystic"; and his creed was too vague to be put into any formula beyond a condemnation of atheism. One corollary was the famous doctrine of "hero worship" first expounded in his lectures. Any philosophy of history which emphasized the importance of general causes seemed to him to imply a simply mechanical doctrine and to deny the efficacy of the great spiritual forces. He met it by making biography the essence of history, or attributing all great events to the "heroes," who are the successive embodiments of divine revelations. This belief was implied in his next great work, the _Life and Letters of Oliver Cromwell_, published in 1845. The great Puritan hero was a man after his own heart, and the portrait drawn by so sympathetic a writer is not only intensely vivid, but a very effective rehabilitation of misrepresented character. The "biographical" view of history, however, implies the weakness, not only of unqualified approval of all Cromwell's actions, but of omitting any attempt to estimate the Protector's real relation to the social and political development of the time. The question, what was Cromwell's real and permanent achievement, is not answered nor distinctly considered. The effect may be partly due to the peculiar form of the book as a detached series of documents and comments. The composition introduced Carlyle to the "Dryasdust" rubbish heaps of which he here and ever afterwards bitterly complained. A conscientious desire to unearth the facts, and the effort of extracting from the dullest records the materials for graphic pictures, made the process of production excessively painful. For some years after _Cromwell_ Carlyle wrote little. His growing acceptance by publishers, and the inheritance of her property by Mrs Carlyle on her mother's death in 1842, finally removed the stimulus of money pressure. He visited Ireland in 1846 and again in 1849, when he made a long tour in company with Sir C. Gavan Duffy, then a young member of the Nationalist party (see Sir C.G. Duffy's _Conversations with Carlyle_, 1892, for an interesting narrative). Carlyle's strong convictions as to the misery and misgovernment of Ireland recommended him to men who had taken part in the rising of 1848. Although the remedies acceptable to a eulogist of Cromwell could not be to their taste, they admired his moral teaching; and he received their attentions, as Sir C.G. Duffy testifies, with conspicuous courtesy. His aversion from the ordinary radicalism led to an article upon slavery in 1849, to which Mill replied, and which caused their final alienation. It was followed in 1850 by the _Latterday Pamphlets_, containing "sulphurous" denunciations of the do-nothing principle. They gave general offence, and the disapproval, according to Froude, stopped the sale for years. The _Life_ of Sterling (d. 1844), which appeared in 1851, was intended to correct the life by Julius Hare, which had given too much prominence to theological questions. The subject roused Carlyle's tenderest mood, and the _Life_ is one of the most perfect in the language.

Carlyle meanwhile was suffering domestic troubles, unfortunately not exceptional in their nature, though the exceptional intellect and characters of the persons concerned have given them unusual prominence. Carlyle's constitutional irritability made him intensely sensitive to petty annoyances. He suffered the torments of dyspepsia; he was often sleepless, and the crowing of "demon-fowls" in neighbours' yards drove him wild. Composition meant for him intense absorption in his work; solitude and quiet were essential; and he resented interruptions by grotesque explosions of humorously exaggerated wrath. Mrs Carlyle had to pass many hours alone, and the management of the household and of devices intended to shield him from annoyances was left entirely to her. House-cleanings and struggles with builders during the construction of a "sound-proof room" taxed her energy, while Carlyle was hiding himself with his family in Scotland or staying at English country houses. Nothing could be more affectionate than his behaviour to his wife on serious occasions, such as the death of her mother, and he could be considerate when his attention was called to the facts. But he was often oblivious to the strain upon her energies, and had little command of his temper. An unfortunate aggravation of the difficulty arose from his intimacy with the Ashburtons. Lady Ashburton, a woman of singular social charm and great ability, appreciated the author, but apparently accepted the company of the author's wife rather as a necessity than as an additional charm. Mrs Carlyle was hurt by the fine lady's condescension and her husband's accessibility to aristocratic blandishments. Carlyle, as a wise man, should have yielded to his wife's wishes; unluckily, he was content to point out that her jealousy was unreasonable, and, upon that very insufficient ground, to disregard it and to continue his intimacy with the Ashburtons on the old terms. Mrs Carlyle bitterly resented his conduct. She had been willing to renounce any aspirations of her own and to sink herself in his glory, but she naturally expected him to recognize her devotion and to value her society beyond all others. She had just cause of complaint, and a remarkable power, as her letters prove, of seeing things plainly and despising sentimental consolations. She was childless, and had time to brood over her wrongs. She formed a little circle of friends, attached to her rather than to her husband; and to one of them, Giuseppe Mazzini, she confided her troubles in 1846. He gave her admirable advice; and the alienation from her husband, though it continued still to smoulder, led to no further results. A journal written at the same time gives a painful record of her sufferings, and after her death made Carlyle conscious for the first time of their full extent. The death of Lady Ashburton in 1857 removed this cause of jealousy; and Lord Ashburton married a second wife in 1858, who became a warm friend of both Carlyles. The cloud which had separated them was thus at last dispersed. Meanwhile Carlyle had become absorbed in his best and most laborious work. Soon after the completion of the _Cromwell_ he had thought of Frederick for his next hero, and had in 1845 contemplated a visit to Germany to collect materials. He did not, however, settle down finally to the work till 1851. He shut himself up in his study to wrestle with the Prussian Dryasdusts, whom he discovered to be as wearisome as their Puritan predecessors and more voluminous. He went to Scotland to see his mother, to whom he had always shown the tenderest affection, on her deathbed at the end of 1853. He returned to shut himself up in the "sound-proof room." He twice visited Germany (1852 and 1858) to see Frederick's battlefields and obtain materials; and he occasionally went to the Ashburtons and his relations in Scotland. The first two volumes of _Frederick the Great_ appeared in 1858, and succeeding volumes in 1862, 1864 and 1865. The success was great from the first, though it did little to clear up Carlyle's gloom. The book is in some respects his masterpiece, and its merits are beyond question. Carlyle had spared no pains in research. The descriptions of the campaigns are admirably vivid, and show his singular eye for scenery. These narratives are said to be used by military students in Germany, and at least convince the non-military student that he can understand the story. The book was declared by Emerson to be the wittiest ever written. Many episodes, describing the society at the Prussian court and the relations of Frederick to Voltaire, are unsurpassable as humorous portraiture. The effort to fuse the masses of raw material into a well-proportioned whole is perhaps not quite successful; and Carlyle had not the full sympathy with Frederick which had given interest to the _Cromwell._ A hero-worshipper with half-concealed doubts as to his hero is in an awkward position. Carlyle's general conception of history made him comparatively blind to aspects of the subject which would, to writers of other schools, have a great importance. The extraordinary power of the book is undeniable, though it does not show the fire which animated the _French Revolution._ A certain depression and weariness of spirit darken the general tone.

During the later labours Mrs Carlyle's health had been breaking. Carlyle, now that happier relations had been restored, did his best to give her the needed comforts; and in spite of his immersion in _Frederick_, showed her all possible attention in later years. She had apparently recovered from an almost hopeless illness, when at the end of 1865 he was elected to the rectorship of the university of Edinburgh. He delivered an address there on the 2nd of April 1866, unusually mild in tone, and received with general applause. He was still detained in Scotland when Mrs Carlyle died suddenly while driving in her carriage. The immediate cause was the shock of an accident to her dog. She had once hurt her mother's feelings by refusing to use some wax candles. She had preserved them ever since, and by her direction they were now lighted in the chamber of death. Carlyle was overpowered by her loss. His life thenceforward became more and more secluded, and he gradually became incapable of work. He went to Mentone in the winter of 1866 and began the _Reminiscences._ He afterwards annotated the letters from his wife, published (1883) as _Letters and Memorials._ He was, as Froude says, impressed by the story of Johnson's "penance" at Uttoxeter, and desired to make a posthumous confession of his shortcomings in his relations to his wife. A few later utterances made known his opinions of current affairs. He joined the committee for the defence of Governor Eyre in 1867; he also wrote in 1867 an article upon "shooting Niagara," that is, upon the tendency of the Reform Bill of that year; and in 1870 he wrote a letter defending the German case against France. The worth of his _Frederick_ was acknowledged by the Prussian Order of Merit in 1874. In the same year Disraeli offered him the Grand Cross of the Bath and a pension. He declined very courteously, and felt some regret for previous remarks upon the minister. The length of his literary career was now softening old antipathies, and he was the object of general respect. His infirmities enforced a very retired life, but he was constantly visited by Froude, and occasionally by his disciple Ruskin. A small number of other friends paid him constant attention. His conversation was still interesting, especially when it turned upon his recollections, and though his judgments were sometimes severe enough, he never condescended to the scandalous. His views of the future were gloomy. The world seemed to be going from bad to worse, with little heed to his warnings. He would sometimes regret that it was no longer permissible to leave it in the old Roman fashion. He sank gradually, and died on the 4th of February 1881. A place in Westminster Abbey was offered, but he was buried, according to his own desire, by the side of his parents at Ecclefechan. He left Craigenputtock, which had become his own property, to found bursaries at the university of Edinburgh. He gave his books to Harvard College.

Carlyle's appearance has been made familiar by many portraits, none of them, according to Froude, satisfactory. The statue by Boehm on the Chelsea Embankment, however, is characteristic; and there is a fine painting by Watts in the National Portrait Gallery. J. McNeill Whistler's portrait of him is in the possession of the Glasgow corporation.

During Carlyle's later years the antagonism roused by his attacks upon popular opinions had subsided; and upon his death general expression was given to the emotions natural upon the loss of a remarkable man of genius. The rapid publication of the _Reminiscences_ by Froude produced a sudden revulsion of feeling. Carlyle became the object of general condemnation. Froude's biography, and the _Memorials_ of Mrs Carlyle, published soon afterwards, strengthened the hostile feeling. Carlyle had appended to the _Reminiscences_ an injunction to his friends not to publish them as they stood, and added that no part could ever be published without the strictest editing. Afterwards, when he had almost forgotten what he had written, he verbally empowered Froude to use his own judgment: Froude accordingly published the book at once, without any editing, and with many inaccuracies. Omissions of a few passages written from memory at a time of profound nervous depression would have altered the whole character of the book. Froude in this and the later publications held that he was giving effect to Carlyle's wish to imitate Johnson's "penance." No one, said Boswell, should persuade him to make his lion into a cat. Froude intended, in the same spirit, to give the shades as well as the lights in the portrait of his hero. His admiration for Carlyle probably led him to assume too early that his readers would approach the story from the same point of view, that is, with an admiration too warm to be repelled by the admissions. Moreover, Froude's characteristic desire for picturesque effect, unchecked by any painstaking accuracy, led to his reading preconceived impressions into his documents. The result was that Carlyle was too often judged by his defects, and regarded as a selfish and eccentric misanthrope with flashes of genius, rather than as a man with many of the highest qualities of mind and character clouded by constitutional infirmities. Yet it would be difficult to speak too strongly of the great qualities which underlay the superficial defects. Through long years of poverty and obscurity Carlyle showed unsurpassed fidelity to his vocation and superiority to the lower temptations which have ruined so many literary careers, His ambition might be interpreted as selfishness, but certainly showed no coldness of heart. His unstinted generosity to his brothers during his worst times is only one proof of the singular strength of his family affections. No one was more devoted to such congenial friends as Irving and Sterling. He is not the only man whom absorption in work and infirmity of temper have made into a provoking husband, though few wives have had Mrs Carlyle's capacity for expressing the sense of injustice. The knowledge that the deepest devotion underlies misunderstandings is often a very imperfect consolation; but such devotion clearly existed all through, and proves the defect to have been relatively superficial.

The harsh judgments of individuals in the _Reminiscences_ had no parallel in his own writings. He scarcely ever mentions a contemporary, and was never involved in a personal controversy. But the harshness certainly reflects a characteristic attitude of mind. Carlyle was throughout a pessimist or a prophet denouncing a backsliding world. His most popular contemporaries seemed to him to be false guides, and charlatans had ousted the heroes. The general condemnation of "shams" and cant had, of course, particular applications, though he left them to be inferred by his readers. Carlyle was the exponent of many of the deepest convictions of his time. Nobody could be more in sympathy with aspirations for a spiritual religion and for a lofty idealism in political and social life. To most minds, however, which cherish such aspirations the gentler optimism of men like Emerson was more congenial. They believed in the progress of the race and the triumph of the nobler elements. Though Carlyle, especially in his earlier years, could deliver an invigorating and encouraging, if not a sanguine doctrine, his utterances were more generally couched in the key of denunciation, and betrayed a growing despondency. Materialism and low moral principles seemed to him to be gaining the upper hand; and the hope that religion might survive the "old clothes" in which it had been draped seemed to grow fainter. The ordinary mind complained that he had no specific remedy to propose for the growing evils of the time; and the more cultivated idealist was alienated by the gloom and the tendency to despair. To a later generation it will probably appear that, whatever the exaggerations and the misconceptions to which he was led, his vehement attacks at least called attention to rather grave limitations and defects in the current beliefs and social tendencies of the time. The mannerisms and grotesque exaggerations of his writings annoyed persons of refinement, and suggest Matthew Arnold's advice to flee "Carlylese" as you would flee the devil. Yet the shrewd common-sense, the biting humour, the power of graphic description and the imaginative "mysticism" give them a unique attraction for many even who do not fully sympathize with the implied philosophy or with the Puritanical code of ethics. The letters and autobiographical writings, whether they attract or repel sympathy, are at least a series of documents of profound interest for any one who cares to study character, and display an almost unique idiosyncrasy. (L. S.)

The chief authorities for Carlyle's life are his own _Reminiscences_,
the _Letters of Jane Welsh Carlyle_, the _Love Letters of Thomas
Carlyle and Jane Welsh_ (ed. A. Carlyle), and the four volumes of J.A.
Froude's biography; Froude was Carlyle's literary executor. Prof. C.E.
Norton's edition of the _Reminiscences_ and his collection of
Carlyle's _Early Letters_ correct some of Froude's inaccuracies. A
list of many articles upon Carlyle is given by Mr Ireland in _Notes
and Queries_, sixth series, vol. iv. Among other authors may be
noticed Henry James, sen., in _Literary Remains_; Prof. Masson,
_Carlyle, Personally and in his Writings_; Conway, _Thomas Carlyle_;
Larkin, _The Open Secret of Carlyle's Life_; Mrs Oliphant in
_Macmillan's Magazine_ for April 1881; G.S. Venables in _Fortnightly
Review_ for May 1883 and November 1884. A good deal of controversy has
arisen relating to Froude's treatment of the relations between Carlyle
and his wife, and during 1903-1904 this was pushed to a somewhat
unsavoury extent. Those who are curious to pry into the question of
Carlyle's marital capacity, and the issues between Froude's assailants
and his defenders, may consult _New Letters and Memorials of Jane
Welsh Carlyle_, with introduction by Sir James Crichton-Browne; _My
Relations with Carlyle_, by J.A. Froude; _The Nemesis of Froude_, by
Sir J. Crichton-Browne and Alexander Carlyle; and articles in the
_Contemporary Review_ (June, July, August, 1903), and _Nineteenth
Century and After_ (May, July, 1903). See also Herbert Paul's _Life of
Froude_ (1905). The precise truth in these matters is hardly
recoverable, even if it concerns posterity: and though Froude was
often inaccurate, he was given full authority by Carlyle, he had all
the unpublished material before him, and he was dead and unable to
reply to criticism when the later attacks were made.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] John Aitken Carlyle (1801-1879) finally settled near the Carlyles
in Chelsea. He began an English prose version of Dante's _Divine
Comedy_--which has earned him the name of "Dante Carlyle"--but only
completed the translation of the _Inferno_ (1849). The work included
a critical edition of the text and a valuable introduction and notes.

CARMAGNOLA, FRANCESCO BUSSONE, COUNT OF (1390-1432), Italian soldier of fortune, was born at Carmagnola near Turin, and began his military career when twelve years old under Facino Cane, a _condottiere_ then in the service of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan. On the death of the latter his duchy was divided among his captains, but his son and heir, Filippo Maria, determined to reconquer it by force of arms. Facino Cane being dead, Visconti applied to Carmagnola, then in his thirtieth year, and gave him command of the army. That general's success was astonishingly rapid, and soon the whole duchy was brought once more under Visconti's sway. But Filippo Maria, although he rewarded Carmagnola generously, feared that he might become a danger to himself, and instead of giving him further military commands made him governor of Genoa. Carmagnola felt greatly aggrieved, and failing to obtain a personal interview with the duke, threw up his commission and offered his services to the Venetians (1425). He was well received in Venice, for the republic was beginning to fear the ambitions of the Visconti, and the new doge, Francesco Foscari, was anxious to join the Florentines and go to war with Milan. Carmagnola himself represented the duke's forces as much less numerous than they were supposed to be, and said that the moment was an opportune one to attack him. These arguments, combined with the doge's warlike temper, prevailed; Carmagnola was made captain-general of St Mark in 1426, and war was declared. But while the republic was desirous of rapid and conclusive operations, it was to the interest of Carmagnola, as indeed to all other soldiers of fortune, to make the operations last as long as possible, to avoid decisive operations, and to liberate all prisoners quickly. Consequently the campaign dragged on interminably, some battles were won and others lost, truces and peace treaties were made only to be broken, and no definite result was achieved. Carmagnola's most important success was the battle of Maclodio (1427), but he did not follow it up. The republic, impatient of his dilatoriness, raised his emoluments and promised him immense fiefs including the lordship of Milan, so as to increase his ardour, but in vain. At the same time Carmagnola was perpetually receiving messengers from Visconti, who offered him great rewards if he would abandon the Venetians. The general trifled with his past as with his present employers, believing in his foolish vanity that he held the fate of both in his hand. But the Venetians were dangerous masters to trifle with, and when they at last lost all patience, the Council of Ten determined to bring him to justice. Summoned to Venice to discuss future operations on the 29th of March 1432, he came without suspicion. On his arrival at the ducal palace he was seized, imprisoned and brought to trial for treason against the republic. Although the doge befriended him he was condemned to death and beheaded on the 5th of May. A man of third-rate ability, his great mistake was that he failed to see that he could not do with a solvent and strong government what he could with bankrupt tyrants without military resources, and that the astute Visconti meant to ruin him for his abandonment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The best account of Carmagnola is Horatio Brown's essay
in his _Studies in Venetian History_ (London, 1907); see also A.
Battistella, _Il Conte di Carmagnola_ (Genoa, 1889); E. Ricotti,
_Storia delle Compagnie di Ventura_ (Turin, 1845). Alessandro Manzoni
(q.v.) made this episode the subject of a poetical drama, _Il Conte di
Carmagnola_ (1826). (L. V.*)

CARMAGNOLA, a town of Italy, in the province of Turin, 18 m. by rail S. of Turin. Pop. (1901) 2447 (town), 11,721 (commune). It is the junction where the lines for Savona and Cuneo diverge; it is also connected with Turin by a steam tramway via Carignano. Carmagnola is a place of medieval origin. The town was captured by the French in 1796.

CARMAGNOLE (from Carmagnola, the town in Italy), a word first applied to a Piedmontese peasant costume, well known in the south of France, and brought to Paris by the revolutionaries of Marseilles in 1798. It consisted of a short skirted coat with rows of metal buttons, a tricoloured waistcoat and red cap, and became the popular dress of the Jacobins. The name was then given to the famous revolutionary song, composed in 1792, the tune of which, and the wild dance which accompanied it, may have also been brought into France by the Piedmontese. The original first verse began:--

"Monsieur Veto (i.e. Louis XVI.) avait promis
D'etre fidele a sa patrie."

and each verse ends with the refrain:--

"Vive le son, vive le son,
Dansons la Carmagnole,
Vive le son
Du Canon."

The words were constantly altered and added to during the Terror and later; thus the well-known lines,

"Madame Veto avait promis
De faire egorger tout Paris
...
On lui coupa la tete," &c.,

were added after the execution of Marie Antoinette. Played in double time the tune was a favourite march in the Revolutionary armies, until it was forbidden by Napoleon, on becoming First Consul.

CARMARTHEN (_Caerfyrddin_), a municipal borough, contributory parliamentary borough (united with Llanelly since 1832), and county town of Carmarthenshire, and a county of itself, finely situated on the right bank of the Towy, which is here tidal and navigable for small craft. Pop. (1901) 10,025. It is the terminal station of a branch of the London & North-Western railway coming southward from Shrewsbury, and is a station on the main line of the Great Western running to Fishguard; it is also the terminus of a branch-line of the Great Western running to Newcastle-Emlyn. The station buildings lie on the left bank of the river, which is here spanned by a fine old stone bridge. There are works for the manufacture of woollens and ropes, also tanneries, but it is as the central market of a large and fertile district that Carmarthen is most important. The weekly Saturday market is well attended, and affords interesting scenes of modern Welsh agricultural life. From the convenient and accessible position of the town, the gaol and lunatic asylum serving for the three south-western counties of Wales--Cardigan, Pembroke and Carmarthen--have been fixed here. Although historically one of the most important towns in South Wales, Carmarthen can boast of very few ancient buildings, and the general aspect of the town is modern. A well-preserved gateway of red sandstone and portions of two towers of the castle are included in the buildings of the present gaol, and the old parish church of St Peter contains some interesting monuments, amongst them being the altar tomb (of the 16th century) of Sir Rhys ap Thomas, K.G., and his wife, which was removed hither for safety at the Reformation from the desecrated church of the neighbouring Priory of St John. Some vestiges of this celebrated monastic house, which formerly owned the famous Welsh MS. known as the "Black Book of Carmarthen," are visible between the present Priory Street and the river. Of the more recent erections in the town, mention may be made of the granite obelisk in memory of General Sir Thomas Picton (1758-1815) and the bronze statue of General Sir William Nott (1784-1846).

Carmarthen is commonly reputed to occupy the site of the Roman station of Maridunum, and its present name is popularly associated with the wizard-statesman Merlin, or Merddyn, whose memory and prophecies are well remembered in these parts of Wales and whose home is popularly believed to have been the conspicuous hill above Abergwili, known as Merlin's Hill. Another derivation of the name is to be found in _Caer-mor-din_, signifying "a fortified place near the sea." In any case, the antiquity of the town is undisputed, and it served as the seat of government for Ystrad Tywi until the year 877, when Prince Cadell of South Wales abandoned Carmarthen for Dinefawr, near Llandilo, probably on account of the maritime raids of the Danes and Saxons. Towards the close of the 11th century a castle was built here by the Normans, and for the next two hundred years town and castle were frequently taken and retaken by Welsh or English. On the annexation of Wales, Edward I. established here his courts of chancery and exchequer and the great sessions for South Wales. Edward III., by the Statute Staple of 1353, declared Carmarthen the sole staple for Wales, ordering that every bale of Welsh wool should be sealed or "cocketed" here before it left the Principality. The earliest charter recorded was granted in 1201 under King John; a charter of James I. in 1604 constituted Carmarthen a county of itself; and under a charter by George III. in 1764, which had been specially petitioned for by the citizens, the two separate jurisdictions of Old and New Carmarthen were fused and henceforth "called by the name of Our Borough of Carmarthen." In 1555 Bishop Farrar of St David's was publicly burned for heresy under Queen Mary at the Market Cross, which was ruthlessly destroyed in 1846 to provide a site for General Nott's statue. In 1646 General Laugharne took and demolished the castle in the name of the parliament, and in 1649 Oliver Cromwell resided at Carmarthen on his way to Ireland. In 1684 the duke of Beaufort with a numerous train made his state entry into Carmarthen as lord-president of Wales and the Marches. With the rise of Llanelly the industrial importance of Carmarthen has tended to decline; but owing to its central position, its close connexion with the bishops of St David's and its historic past the town is still the chief focus of all social, political and ecclesiastical movements in the three counties of Cardigan, Pembroke and Carmarthen. Carmarthen was created a parliamentary borough in 1536.

CARMARTHENSHIRE. (_Sir Gaerfyrddin_, colloquially known as _Sir Gar_), a county of South Wales bounded N. by Cardigan, E. by Brecon and Glamorgan, W. by Pembroke and S. by Carmarthen Bay of the Bristol Channel. The modern county has an area of 918 sq. m., and is therefore the largest in size of the South Welsh counties. Almost the whole of its surface is hilly and irregular, though the coast-line is fringed with extensive stretches of marsh or sandy burrows. Much of the scenery in the county, particularly in the upper valley of the Towy, is exceedingly beautiful and varied. On its eastern borders adjoining Breconshire rises the imposing range of the Black Mountains (_Mynydd Du_), sometimes called the Carmarthenshire Beacons, where the Carmarthen Van attains an elevation of 2632 ft. Mynydd Mallaen in the wild districts of the north-east corner of the county is 1430 ft. in height, but otherwise few of the numberless rounded hills with which Carmarthenshire is thickly studded exceed 1000 ft. The principal river is the Towy (_Tywi_), which, with its chief tributaries, the Gwili, the Cothi and the Sawdde, drains the central part of the county and enters the Bay at Llanstephan, 9 m. below Carmarthen. Coracles are frequently to be observed on this river, as well as on the Teifi, which separates Carmarthenshire from Cardiganshire on the north. Other streams are the Taf, which flows through the south-western portion of the county and reaches the sea at Laugharne; the Gwendraeth, with its mouth at Kidwelly; and the Loughor, or Llwchwr, which rises in the Black Mountains and forms for several miles the boundary between the counties of Carmarthen and Glamorgan until it falls into Carmarthen Bay at Loughor. All these rivers contain salmon, sewin (_gleisiad_) and trout in fair numbers, and are consequently frequented by anglers. With the exception of the Van Pool in the Black Mountains the lakes of the county are inconsiderable in size.

_Geology._--The oldest rocks in Carmarthenshire come to the surface in
the Vale of Towy at Llanarthney and near Carmarthen; they consist of
black shales of Tremadoc (Cambrian) age, and are succeeded by
conglomerates, sandstones and shales, with beds of volcanic ash and
lava, of Arenig (Ordovician) age, which have been brought up along a
belt of intense folding and faulting which follows the Towy from
Llangadock to Carmarthen and extends westwards to the edge of the
county at Whitland. The Llandeilo shales, flags and limestones and
occasional volcanic ashes, which follow, are well developed at
Llangadock and Llandeilo and near Carmarthen, and are famed for their
trilobites, _Asaphus tyrannus_ and _Ogygia Buchi._ Shales and
mudstones and impersistent limestones of Bala age come next in order,
and, bounding the Vale of Towy on the north, extend as a narrow belt
north-westwards towards the Presley hills. Except for the foregoing
deposits the great area between the Teifi and the Towy, of which
little is known, is made up of a monotonous succession of greatly
folded slates and shales with interbedded conglomerates and sandstones
which give rise to scarps, ridges and moorlands; they appear to be of
Llandovery age.

South of the Towy a narrow belt of steeply dipping and even inverted
Silurian sandstones and mudstones (Upper Llandovery, Wenlock and
Ludlow) extends south-westwards from Llandovery to Llanarthney, where
they disappear under the Old Red Sandstone. This formation, which
consists of red marls and sandstones with occasional thin impure
limestones (cornstones), extends from near Llandovery to beyond
Carmarthen Bay; its upper conglomeratic beds cap the escarpment of the
Black Mountains (2460 ft.) on the south-eastern borders of the county.
To the south the scarps and moorlands of the Carboniferous Limestone
and Millstone Grit form the north-western rim of the South Wales
coalfield. The rest of the county is occupied by the rich
Coal-Measures of the Gwendraeth Valley and Llanelly districts. All the
rocks in the county are affected by powerful folds and faults. Glacial
deposits are plentiful in the valleys south of the Towy, striae abound
on the Millstone Grit and show that the ice-sheet rose far up the
slopes of the Black Mountains. Coal is the chief mineral, the iron-ore
is no longer worked; the Carboniferous Limestone is burnt at
Llandybie; fire-bricks are manufactured from the Millstone Grit, and a
few lead-veins are found in the Ordovician rocks.

_Industries._--The climate is mild, except in the upland regions, but the annual rainfall is very heavy. With the exception of its south-eastern portion, which forms part of the great South Welsh coalfield, Carmarthenshire may be considered wholly as an agricultural county. The attention of the farmers is devoted to stock-raising and dairy-farming rather than to the growth of cereals, whilst the large tracts of unenclosed hill-country form good pastures for sheep and ponies. The soil varies much, but in the lower valleys of the Towy and Taf it is exceedingly fertile. Outside agriculture the gathering of cockles at the estuaries of the Towy and Taf gives employment to a large number of persons, principally women; Ferryside and Laugharne being the chief centres of the cockling industry. The local textile factories at Pencader, Penboyr, Llangeler, and in the valley of the Loughor are of some importance. Gold has been found near Caio in the Cothi valley, but the yield is trifling. There are lead-mines in various places, but none of great value. The really important industries are restricted to the populous south-eastern district, where coal-mining, iron-founding and the smelting of tin and copper are carried on extensively at Llanelly, Pembrey, Tirydail, Garnant, Pontardulais, Ammanford and other centres.

_Communications._--The Great Western railway traverses the lower part of the county, whilst a branch of the London & North-Western enters it at its extreme north-eastern point by a tunnel under the Sugar Loaf Mountain, and has its terminal station at Carmarthen. A branch line of the Great Western connects Llanelly with Llandilo by way of Ammanford, and another branch of the same railway runs northward from Carmarthen to Newcastle-Emlyn on the Teifi, joining the Aberystwyth branch, formerly the Manchester & Milford line, at Pencader.

_Population and Administration._--The area of the county is 587,816 acres, and the population in 1891 was 130,566 and in 1901 it was 135,325. The municipal boroughs are Carmarthen (pop. 9935), Kidwelly (2285) and Llandovery (1809). Urban districts are Ammanford, Llanelly, Burry Port, Llandilo and Newcastle-Emlyn. The principal towns are Carmarthen, Llanelly (25,617), Llandilo or Llandeilo Fawr (1934), Llangadock (1578), Llandovery, Kidwelly, Pembrey (7513) and Laugharne (1439). The county is in the South Wales circuit, and assizes are held at Carmarthen. The borough of Carmarthen has a commission of the peace and separate quarter sessions. The county is divided into two parliamentary divisions, the eastern and western, and it also includes the united boroughs of Carmarthen and Llanelly, thus returning three members in all to parliament. The ancient county, which contains 75 parishes and part of another, is wholly in the diocese of St David's.

_History._--Carmarthenshire originally formed part of the lands of the Dimetae conquered by the Romans, who constructed military roads and built on the Via Julia the important station of Maridunum upon or near the site of the present county town. After the retirement of the Roman forces this fortified town became known in course of time as Caerfyrddin, anglicized into Carmarthen, which subsequently gave its name to the county. During the 5th and 6th centuries Carmarthenshire, or Ystrad Tywi, was the scene of the labours of many Celtic missionaries, notably of St David and St Teilo, who brought the arts of civilization as well as the doctrines of Christianity to its rude inhabitants. In the 9th century the whole of Ystrad Tywi was annexed to the kingdom of Roderick the Great (_Rhodri Mawr_), who at his death in 877 bequeathed the principality of South Wales to his son, Cadell. The royal residence of the South Welsh princes was now fixed at Dynevor (_Dinefawr_) on the Towy near Llandilo. Cadell's son, Howell the Good (_Hywel Dda_), was the first to codify the ancient laws of Wales at his palace of Ty Gwyn Ar Daf, the White Lodge on the banks of the Taf, near the modern Whitland. In 1080, during the troubled reign of Rhys ap Tudor, the Normans first appeared on the shores of Carmarthen Bay, and before the end of King Henry I.'s reign had constructed the great castles of Kidwelly, Carmarthen, Laugharne and Llanstephan near the coast. From this period until the death of Prince Llewelyn (1282) the history of Carmarthenshire is national rather than local. By the Statutes of Rhuddlan (1284) Edward I. formed the counties of Cardigan and Carmarthen out of the districts of Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi, the ancient possessions of the house of Dinefawr, which were now formally annexed to the English crown. Nearly a third of the present county, however, still remained under the jurisdiction of the Lords Marchers, and it was not until the Act 27 Henry VIII. that these districts, including the commots of Kidwelly, Iscennen and Carnwillion, were added to Edward I.'s original shire. The prosperity of the new county increased considerably under Edward III., who named Carmarthen the chief staple-town in Wales for the wool trade. The revolt of Owen Glendower had the effect of disturbing the peace of the county for a time, and the French army, landed at Milford on his behalf, was warmly received by the people of Carmarthenshire. In the summer of 1485 Sir Rhys ap Thomas, of Abermarlais and Dinefawr, marched through the county collecting recruits for Henry of Richmond, for which service he was created a knight of the Garter and made governor of all Wales. At the Reformation the removal of the episcopal residence from distant St David's to Abergwili, a village barely two miles from Carmarthen, brought the county into close touch with the chief Welsh diocese, and the new palace at Abergwili will always be associated with the first Welsh translations of the New Testament and the Prayer Book, made by Bishop Richard Davies (1500-1581) and his friend William Salesbury, of Llanrwst (16th century). In the early part of the 17th century the county witnessed the first religious revival recorded in Welsh annals, that led by Rhys Prichard (d. 1644), the Puritan vicar of Llandovery, whose poetical works, the _Canwyll y Cymry_ ("the Welshman's Candle") are still studied in the principality. At the time of the Civil Wars, Richard Vaughan, earl of Carbery, the patron of Jeremy Taylor, was in command of the royal fortresses and troops, but made a very feeble and half-hearted resistance against the parliamentarian forces. During the following century the great Welsh spiritual and educational movement, which later spread over all Wales, had its origin in the quiet and remote parish of Llanddowror, near Laugharne, where the vicar, the celebrated and pious Griffith Jones (1684-1761), had become the founder of the Welsh circulating charity schools. Other prominent members of this important Methodist revival, likewise natives of Carmarthenshire, were William Williams of Pantycelyn, the well-known hymn-writer (1716-1791), and Peter Williams, the Welsh Bible commentator (1722-1796). The county was deeply implicated in the Rebecca Riots of 1842-1843.

Foremost amongst the county families of Carmarthenshire is Rhys, or Rice, of Dynevor Castle, near Llandilo, a modern castellated house standing in a beautiful park which contains the historic ruin of the old Dinefawr fortress. The present Lord Dynevor, the direct lineal descendant of the princes of South Wales, is the head of this family. Almost opposite Dynevor Castle (formerly known as Newtown), on the left bank of the Towy, stands Golden Grove (_Gelli Aur_), once the seat of the Vaughans, earls of Carbery, whose senior line and titles became extinct early in the 18th century. The famous old mansion has been replaced by a modern Gothic structure, and is now the property of Earl Cawdor. Golden Grove contains the "Hirlas Horn," the gift of King Henry VII. to Dafydd ap Evan of Llwyndafydd, Cardiganshire, perhaps the most celebrated of Welsh historical relics. Other families of importance, extinct or existing, are Johnes, formerly of Abermarlais and now of Dolaucothi; Williams (now Drummond) of Edwinsford; Lloyd of Forest; Lloyd of Glansevin; Stepney of Llanelly and Gwynne of Taliaris.