The argument will not be felt by those who disbelieve in his greatness, and the idolaters--those who pretend to worship without believing- will be savagest of all.

Idols must be draped in fine clothes, and are reduced to nothing by mere human garments." Perhaps the fullest, and certainly the least reserved, account of Froude's own feelings about the book is contained in a letter to Mrs.Charles Kingsley: "I tell Longmans to-day to send you the book.

If you can find time, I shall like to hear the independent impression it makes upon you.
Only remember this: that it was Carlyle's own determination (or at least desire) to do justice to his wife, and to do public penance himself--a desire which I think so noble as to obliterate in my own mind the occasion there was for it.

I have long known the worst, and Charles knew it generally.

We all knew it, and yet the more intimately I knew Carlyle, the more I loved and admired him; and some people, Lord Derby, for instance, after reading the Life, can tell me that their opinion of him is rather raised than diminished.
There is something demonic both in him and her which will never be adequately understood; but the hearts of both of them were sound and true to the last fibre.