As a prophet and preacher, Carlyle was an important and controversial figure in nineteenth-century thought. Carlyle is best known for his impressionistic history of the French Revolution and for his essays proclaiming the virtues of strong, heroic leadership. But for his contemporaries Carlyle's was also a prophetic voice. John Stuart Mill, a formidable political adversary, acknowledged that Carlyle 'saw things long before me', while for Charles Dickens he was simply 'the man who knows everything'.
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era. He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.
Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was expected by his parents to become a preacher, but while at the University of Edinburgh, he lost his Christian faith. Calvinist values, however, remained with him throughout his life. This combination of a religious temperament with loss of faith in traditional Christianity made Carlyle's work appealing to many Victorians who were grappling with scientific and political changes that threatened the traditional social order.
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