Life of John Sterling

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Томас Карлейль. Life of John Sterling

PART I

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER II. BIRTH AND PARENTAGE

CHAPTER III. SCHOOLS: LLANBLETHIAN; PARIS; LONDON

CHAPTER IV. UNIVERSITIES: GLASGOW; CAMBRIDGE

CHAPTER V. A PROFESSION

CHAPTER VI. LITERATURE: THE ATHENAEUM

CHAPTER VII. REGENT STREET

CHAPTER VIII. COLERIDGE

CHAPTER IX. SPANISH EXILES

CHAPTER X. TORRIJOS

CHAPTER XI. MARRIAGE: ILL-HEALTH; WEST-INDIES

CHAPTER XII. ISLAND OF ST. VINCENT

CHAPTER XIII. A CATASTROPHE

CHAPTER XIV. PAUSE

CHAPTER XV. BONN; HERSTMONCEUX

PART II

CHAPTER I. CURATE

CHAPTER II. NOT CURATE

CHAPTER III. BAYSWATER

CHAPTER V. TO MADEIRA

CHAPTER VI. LITERATURE: THE STERLING CLUB

CHAPTER VII. ITALY

PART III

CHAPTER I. CLIFTON

CHAPTER II. TWO WINTERS

CHAPTER III. FALMOUTH: POEMS

CHAPTER IV. NAPLES: POEMS

CHAPTER V. DISASTER ON DISASTER

CHAPTER VI. VENTNOR: DEATH

CHAPTER VII. CONCLUSION

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Near seven years ago, a short while before his death in 1844, John Sterling committed the care of his literary Character and printed Writings to two friends, Archdeacon Hare and myself. His estimate of the bequest was far from overweening; to few men could the small sum-total of his activities in this world seem more inconsiderable than, in those last solemn days, it did to him. He had burnt much; found much unworthy; looking steadfastly into the silent continents of Death and Eternity, a brave man's judgments about his own sorry work in the field of Time are not apt to be too lenient. But, in fine, here was some portion of his work which the world had already got hold of, and which he could not burn. This too, since it was not to be abolished and annihilated, but must still for some time live and act, he wished to be wisely settled, as the rest had been. And so it was left in charge to us, the survivors, to do for it what we judged fittest, if indeed doing nothing did not seem the fittest to us. This message, communicated after his decease, was naturally a sacred one to Mr. Hare and me.

After some consultation on it, and survey of the difficulties and delicate considerations involved in it, Archdeacon Hare and I agreed that the whole task, of selecting what Writings were to be reprinted, and of drawing up a Biography to introduce them, should be left to him alone; and done without interference of mine:—as accordingly it was,1 in a manner surely far superior to the common, in every good quality of editing; and visibly everywhere bearing testimony to the friendliness, the piety, perspicacity and other gifts and virtues of that eminent and amiable man.

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"I remember the house where I first grew familiar with peacocks; and the mill-stream into which I once fell; and the religious awe wherewith I heard, in the warm twilight, the psalm-singing around the house of the Methodist miller; and the door-post against which I discharged my brazen artillery; I remember the window by which I sat while my mother taught me French; and the patch of garden which I dug for— But her name is best left blank; it was indeed writ in water. These recollections are to me like the wealth of a departed friend, a mournful treasure. But the public has heard enough of them; to it they are worthless: they are a coin which only circulates at its true value between the different periods of an individual's existence, and good for nothing but to keep up a commerce between boyhood and manhood. I have for years looked forward to the possibility of visiting L–; but I am told that it is a changed village; and not only has man been at work, but the old yew on the hill has fallen, and scarcely a low stump remains of the tree which I delighted in childhood to think might have furnished bows for the Norman archers."3

In Cowbridge is some kind of free school, or grammar-school, of a certain distinction; and this to Captain Sterling was probably a motive for settling in the neighborhood of it with his children. Of this however, as it turned out, there was no use made: the Sterling family, during its continuance in those parts, did not need more than a primary school. The worthy master who presided over these Christmas galas, and had the honor to teach John Sterling his reading and writing, was an elderly Mr. Reece of Cowbridge, who still (in 1851) survives, or lately did; and is still remembered by his old pupils as a worthy, ingenious and kindly man, "who wore drab breeches and white stockings." Beyond the Reece sphere of tuition John Sterling did not go in this locality.

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