[118] Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (1763-1825) is one of Carlyle's favorite authors, and one of those who influenced him most. He is the subject of Carlyle's first essay in theEdinburgh Review(1827), and is treated again in another and a greater essay in theForeign Review(1830). These two papers by Carlyle remain among the best accounts of Richter accessible in English.
[119] "I have bought a pocket Milton, which I carry perpetually about me, in order to study the sentiments, the dauntless magnanimity, the intrepid unyielding independence, the desperate daring, and noble defiance of hardship in that great personage—Satan."—Letter of Burns, quoted in Lockhart, chap. vi.
Bitter epigrams like this on Byron become a characteristic of Carlyle's style in his later writings.
[120] Milton's real words are: "I was confirmed in this opinion, that he who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things, ought himself to be a true poem; that is, a composition and pattern of the best and honourablest things; not presuming to sing high praises of heroic men, or famous cities, unless he has in himself the experience and the practice of all that which is praiseworthy."—Apology for Smectymnuus.
[121] Shipping ports in southern England. Carlyle is writing from the point of view of a Scotchman.
[122]Vaucluse(Valclusain Italian) is a town in southeast France where the great Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374) lived for some time, and where he did much of his best work. Its fountain is celebrated in his poems.