necat. 2.9.45 PAG PREFATORY NOTE. THE death of Mr Carlyle has been the occasion of a renewal of those controversies respecting his merits as a philosopher and a writer, which his works, as they appeared, always excited. The tone of many of the obituary memoirs in the public journals has called forth grave objection as too entirely laudatory. As in the present Essay an endeavour was made to trace his philosophy through his most important works, and to estimate them without prejudice, it has been thought that, though it appeared many years ago, its republication at the present moment may be not inopportune. |