English appreciation of The Nibelungen Lied began after Carlyle's introduction of it to the English reading public in his essays, while in Germany even Adolf Hitler quoted this essay of Carlyle's in Mein Kampf. Thomas Carlyle was one of Victorian Britain's great writers and an important historical figure. "How great he was! He made history a song for the first time in our language. He was our English Tacitus." - Oscar Wilde