CARLYLE

Carlyle may have been asked by an autograph hunter to provide a signed quotation, with the autograph hunter expecting a signed quotation from one of Carlyle’s own works. What Carlyle actually provides is among the more ominous and sombre texts from the New Testament, a speech in which Jesus suggests he must work now in his ministry since death is near: “the Night cometh when no man can work” (John 9:4). Any comment or quotation from religious literature that Carlyle is interesting as his relationship with religion is among the most hotly debated aspects of his life and work.