BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Every author should be studied, as far as possible, from his own writings. Carlyle's voluminous correspondence furnishes rich materials for the history of his life and thought. The best editions of his letters are those edited by Professor Charles Eliot Norton: Early Letters of Thomas Carlyle (1814-1826), Letters of Thomas Carlyle (1826-1836), Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson. These may be supplemented by Froude's edition of the Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle. Next to these first-hand documents, Froude's Thomas Carlyle, in spite of its inaccuracy and its prejudiced point of view, will remain the great storehouse of information for students of the subject. There are good short lives of Carlyle by John Nichol (English Men of Letters Series) and Richard Garnett (Great Writers Series). The former deals more fully in criticism on his literary work. There are excellent critical appreciations of Carlyle by James Russell Lowell, Augustine Birrell (in Obiter Dicta), and Matthew Arnold (in Essay on Emerson).

The best way to study Burns is to learn the outline of the external events of his life from any short sketch, and then to read his poems and letters in chronological order. Besides the life by Lockhart, there are good accounts of him by Principal Shairp (English Men of Letters Series) and John Stuart Blackie (Great Writers Series). Carlyle mentions by name Currie and Walker among the biographers of Burns previous to Lockhart. Dr. James Currie (1756-1805), a famous Scotch physician, published in 1800 an edition of Burns's works, with an account of his life, in aid of the poet's family. The Life of Burns, written by Josiah Walker, later Professor of Humanity in Glasgow University, to accompany an edition of Burns's works published in 1811, has no permanent value.

Unlike the other two men, Lockhart does not appeal to us as much by his personal character as by his writings. The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart, by Andrew Lang, is the best book with regard to him.