Carlyle

Carlyle, ALEXANDER, of Inveresk, was born 26th January 1722 in Dumfriesshire, but brought up at Prestonpans, where his father was appointed minister. Educated at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Leyden, he was ordained in 1748 minister of Inveresk, and here he remained till his death, 25th August 1805. With Robertson, the historian, he helped to lead the moderate party in the Church of Scotland; and he enjoyed in succession the highest honours of his profession, being occasionally sent to London as the accredited agent of his church, appointed Moderator of the General Assembly in 1770, and Dean of the Chapel-royal in 1789. His imposing presence earned him the popular name of 'Jupiter Carlyle:' 'he was,' says Sir Walter Scott, 'the grandest demigod I ever saw.' Throughout his long lifetime he enjoyed the intimate friendship of some of the most notable men of his time, as Hume, Adam Smith, Smollett, John Home, and many others on both sides of the Tweed; while he had seen and even shared in events as striking as the Porteous Mob and the Royalist rout at Prestonpans. Hence the unique interest of his Autobiography, which was not begun till he had reached his seventy-ninth year, and comes down only to 1770, when he was but forty-eight. It was not published till 1860, when it was edited, and completed with a supplementary chapter, by the Scotch historian, John Hill Burton. Keen observation, perfect sincerity, and a not unkindly sarcasm combine to give the book a charm of a quite singular character, and indeed there are few books that can be compared with it as an intimate picture of the social habits of a bygone age. Its author unconsciously reveals himself a man of singularly genial, sagacious, and liberal nature, none the less a sincere Christian that he had a sound relish for claret, whist, play-going, and all the honest good things of life.