We have never had here so ugly a winter:
first violent frost, snow &c, then still nastier
times of the thawing sort; for a week past
there has been nothing but sleet, rime and
slobber, the streets half an inch deep with
slush and yet a cake of slippery ice lying
below that; so in spite of daily and hourly
sweeping and scraping, they constantly con-
tinue.
first violent frost, snow &c, then still nastier
times of the thawing sort; for a week past
there has been nothing but sleet, rime and
slobber, the streets half an inch deep with
slush and yet a cake of slippery ice lying
below that; so in spite of daily and hourly
sweeping and scraping, they constantly con-
tinue.
Thomas Carlyle
.
On the
whole I take up with my old love for the
Saints. " And from that time Carlyle held
much salutary communion with "St. Thomas,"
as Mrs. Carlyle used playfully to call him.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 102 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
XH. CARLYLE TO HIS MOTHER, SCOTSBRIG.
Chelsea, 1st August, 1840. My dear Mother, -- Before setting out
on my long-talked-of excursion I must send
you a word. I am to go to the Bullers' place
to-morrow, a place near Epsom (the great race
course) some eighteen miles of. I am to ride
out with a Macintosh before my saddle and a
small round trunk the size of a quartern loaf
fastened behind, and no clothes upon me that
bad weather will spoil. I shall be one of the
most original figures! I mean to stay a day
or two about Buller's, riding to and fro to
see the fine green country. I have written
to a clergyman, an acquaintance of mine on
the South coast some 40 miles farther off: if
he repeat the invitation he once gave me,
perhaps I shall ride to him and see the place
where William the Conqueror fought &c. and
have one dip in the sea. I mean to be out
in all about a week. The weather has grown
suddenly bright. I calculate the sight of the
green earth spotted yellow with ripe corn will
do me good. After that I am to part with
my horse: the expense of it is a thing I can-
not but continually grudge. I think it will
suit better henceforth to get rolled out on a
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO BIS MOTHER
103
railway some 20 miles, clear of all bricks and
reek, to walk then for half a day, now and
then, and so come home at night again.
The expense of a horse every day here is
nearer four than three shillings, far too heavy
for a little fellow like me, whom even it does
not make altogether healthy. I have offered
to give the beast to Mr. Marshall (son of the
original donor), who kept her for me last
winter. I hope he will accept on my return.
It will be much the handsomest way of end-
ing the concern. If he refuses I think I
shall sell. I meditated long on riding all the
way up to Carlisle and you! But in the
humor I am in, I had not heart for it. These
Southern coasts too are a still newer part of
England for me. I give up the riding North-
ward, but not the coming Northward yet, as
you shall hear.
My Fourth Lecture was finished three days
ago. On returning strong, as I hope to do a
week hence, I will attack my two remaining
lectures and dash them off speedily. The
Town will be empty -- none to disturb me.
About the end of August I may hope to have
my hands quite free, and then! Thomas
Erskine invites me to Dundee &c. There
are steamers, steam coaches, -- I shall surely
see you.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 104 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
Alick's good letter gave me welcome tid-
ings of you. I had read your own dear little
epistle before. Heaven be praised for your
welfare. I am glad to hear of "the peat-
shed" and figure to myself the cauldron
singing under your windows. I have written
to-day to Jack. There had come a letter
from Miss Elliott for him from the Isle of
Wight: he once talked of settling there. I
know not whether that is still in the wind
again. He will have to decide about the
Pellipar affair in three weeks or less.
To-day I enclose a little half sovereign.
You must accept it merely to buy gooseber-
ries: they are really very wholesome. I am
to go into the City to send off some money
for the Bank at Dumfries. I am in great
haste. I will write again directly on my
return if not sooner.
Alick's letter, tell him, was the pleasantest
he has sent for many a day. I thank him
much for it and will answer soon. I still
owe Jamie a letter too: he is very patient,
but shall be paid. Did you ever go near the
sea again? This is beautiful weather for it
now. It would do you and little Tom good,
I think.
Jane still likes the warmth and salutes you
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MBS. HANNING 105
all. Wish me a good journey! It is like to
be a very brief and smooth one. Adieu,
dear Mother.
Carlyle was disappointed in his hope of
going home. He did not visit Scotsbrig
again for another year.
So long before as January, 1839, Carlyle
had written to his brother: "I have my face
turned partly towards Oliver Cromwell and
the Covenant time in England and Scotland. "
He continued to read and think much on the
subject; and in the autumn of 1840 he wrote
to Mr. Erskine: "I have got lately, not till
very lately, to fancy that I see in Cromwell
one of the greatest tragic souls we have ever
had in this kindred of ours. " But in this
letter to his sister, as in so many another,
there is no mention save of the close family
kindred of the Carlyles : --
XIII. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, KIRTLEBRIDGE.
5 Cheyne Row, Chelsea, 7 October, 1840.
Dear Jenny, -- Will you take a word
from me to-day in place of many hundreds
which I wish I had the means of sending
you? My time is very limited indeed, but
the sight of my handwriting may be a kind
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 106 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
of enlivener to your kind thoughts about me.
My dear Mother tells me you are afraid some-
times I may have forgotten you. Believe
that never, my dear little sister, it will forever
be an error if you do! The whirl I am kept
in here is a thing you can form no notion of,
nor how natural or indeed inevitable it is for
me to give up writing letters at all except
when I am bound and obliged to do it. You
have no lack of news from me ; to my Mother
at least I send abundant details. Did I not
answer your letter too? I surely meant and
ought to have done it. If at any time you
wanted the smallest thing that I could do for
you, and wrote about, I should be busier than
I have ever yet been, if I did not answer. --
In short, dear Jenny, whatever sins I may
have, whatever more I may seem to have, try
to think handsomely of them, to forgive
them. And above all things, consider that
whether I write many letters or few, my
affection for you is a thing that will never
leave me.
My Mother tells me frequently how good
you are to her; what a satisfaction it is that
you are so near her. I thank you a hundred
times for your goodness to her; but I know
you do not need my thanks or encourage-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MRS. HANNING
107
ment -- and to me it is a real comfort to
reflect that you, with your true heart and
helpful hand, are always so near. Surely it
is a duty for us all, and a blessing in the
doing of it, to take care of our Mother, and
promote her comfort by all means possible to
us! I will love you better and better for
this.
You would see by my Mother's last letter,
where the Doctor is at present. I have heard
nothing since I had a Newspaper from Dum-
fries, the other day, no letters. I mentioned
that the box for Scotsbrig was to be sent off;
it went accordingly and is now on the way to
Liverpool, likely to be with you soon. There
is a small parcel in it for you. We rejoice
to hear that Robert prospers in his business:
it is difficult to prosper in any business at
present. A man of industry, sobriety, and
steadiness of purpose; such a man has a
chance if anybody have. Jane is certainly
in better health this year than I have seen
her for a good while. We wait to see what
she will say to the cold weather! I myself
am as well as usual; no great shakes of a
wellness at any time. I expect to be busy,
very busy this winter, which is the best con-
solation for all things. How I should like
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 108 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
to hear of Jamie's harvest being all thatched!
My love to my Mother, to Alick and all the
rest. Jane unites with me in special remem-
brances to Robert and the glegg little lassie.
Yours, dear Jenny, in great haste, in all
truth, T. Carlyle.
Late in November, Carlyle, "greatly
against wont," went out to dinner. Among
the people he met were "Pickwick " and old
Rogers, "still brisk, courteous, kindly affec-
tionate-- a good old man, pathetic to look
upon. " Carlyle's acquaintances did not al-
ways grow in his favor, and six years later he
said of Rogers :" I do not remember any old
man (he is now eighty-three) whose manner
of living gave me less satisfaction. " In this
winter of 1840-41, his dissatisfaction with
things in general made him think at times of
so desperate a move as retreating again to
Craigenputtock. Still he kept on with the
reading of "needful books. " "He has had
it in his head for a good while," said Mrs.
Carlyle to a correspondent, on the 8th of
January, 1841, "to write a 'life of Cromwell,'
and has been sitting for months back in a
mess of great dingy folios, the very look of
which is like to give me locked-jaw. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MBS. HANNING 109
Mrs. Hanning's second child, Mary, was
born December 24, 1840.
XIV. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, KIRTLEBRIDGE. Chelsea, 15th January, 1841.
Dear Jenny, -- We have heard very fre-
quently from Alick of late about you, for
which punctuality we are greatly obliged to
him. You have had a bad turn, poor little Jenny, and we were all anxious enough to
hear from day to day, as you may believe,
how it went with you. Alick reports of late,
yesterday in particular, that you are now con-
sidered out of danger, steadily getting better.
We will hope and believe it so, till we hear
otherwise. You must take good care of your-
self. This weather is good for no creature,
and must be worst of all for one in your situ-
ation. Do not venture from the fire at all,
till the horrible slush of snow be off the
ground.
And what becomes of our good Mother all
this time? She could not be at rest of course
if she were not beside you, watching over you
herself. Alick struggles to report favourably
of her, but we have our own apprehensions.
What can I do but again and again urge her
to take all possible precautions about herself
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 110 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
(which however she will not do ! ) and trust
that she may escape without serious mischief.
If you were once up again I will fancy you
taking care of her. It must be a great com-
fort to have you so near her -- within walk-
ing distance in the good season.
We have never had here so ugly a winter:
first violent frost, snow &c, then still nastier
times of the thawing sort; for a week past
there has been nothing but sleet, rime and
slobber, the streets half an inch deep with
slush and yet a cake of slippery ice lying
below that; so in spite of daily and hourly
sweeping and scraping, they constantly con-
tinue. I, with some few others, go daily out,
whatever wind blow. I am covered to the
throat in warm wool of various textures and
can get into heat in spite of fate. Jane too
holds out wonderfully, ventures forth when
there is a bright blink once in a week; sits
quiet as a mouse when the winds are piping
abroad. We understand you are far deeper
in snow than we. I believe there is now a
good thick quilt of it lying over the entire
surface of the Island.
The Doctor was here till Tuesday morning.
We saw him daily with much speech and sat-
isfaction. A letter yesterday announced that
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MBS. HANNING
111
they were fairly settled in Wight again.
He looked as well as need be.
I have sent by Alick a bit half-sovereign
to buy the poor new bairn a new pock. You
must take it without grumbling. Tell my
dear Mother that she must take care of her-
self, that I will write to her before many days
go. Better health to us all. Our kind wishes
to Robert. Good be with you every one.
Your affectionate brother,
T. Carlyle.
Here is another and a more highly elabo-
rated bit of London weather from an undated
fragment in Mrs. Hanning's possession at the
time of her death :--
"Our weather is grown decidedly good for
the last three days; very brisk, clear and dry.
Before that it was as bad as weather at any
time need be: long continued plunges of wet,
then clammy, glarry days on days of half
wet (a kind of weather peculiar to London,
and fully uglier than whole wet): -- a world
of black sunless pluister, very unpleasant to
move about in! The incessant travel makes
everything mud here, in spite of all that clats
and besoms can do; a kind of mud, too,
which is as fine as paint, and actually almost
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 112 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
sticks like a kind of paint! I took, at last,
into the country, with old clothes and trousers
folded up; there the mud was natural mud,
and far less of it, indeed, little of it in com-
parison with other country. We dry again
in a single day of brisk wind. "
Early in 1841 Carlyle arranged with Fraser
for the publication of Heroes and Hero-wor-
ship. "The Miscellanies, Sartor, and the
other books," says Froude, "were selling
well, and fresh editions were wanted. "
XV. CARLYLB TO HIS MOTHER, SCOTSBRIG.
Chelsea, Saturday [February, 1841].
My dear good Mother, -- Take half a
word from me to-day since I have no time for
more. I had forgotten that it was Saturday
till after breakfast I learnt it, and ever since
there has been business on business!
We received your good little letter one
evening and sent it on to John. Thanks to
you for it. I had a letter too from Grahame
about his Miscellanies, for which he seems
amazingly thankful, poor fellow. We will
not tell him about the Ecclefechan Library --
let well be!
John also sends word of himself -- all right
enough, the "probability" that he will be
here again before long.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO HIS MOTHER
113
Jane and I are well, rejoicing in the im-
proved weather, not the best of weather yet,
but immensely better than it was. Some
days have been sunny and bright, a pleasant
prophecy of spring.
I have bargained with Fraser for my lec-
tures. They are now at press, that kept me
so very busy. He would give me only ? 75,
the dog, but then he undertakes a new edi-
tion of Sartor, too, (the former being sold)
and gives me another ? 75 for that too. It
is not so bad, ? 150 of ready money -- at
least money without risk. I did not calculate
on getting anything at present for Teufels-
droeckh. You see we are rather rising than
falling, " mall in shaft," at any rate. That
is always a great point. Poor Teufelsdroeckh,
it seems very curious money should lie even
in him. They trampled him into the gutters
at his first appearance, but he rises up again,
-- finds money bid for him.
On the whole I expect not to be obliged to
lecture this year, which will be an immense
relief to me: I shall not be broken in pieces,
I shall have strength for perhaps some better
things than lecturing.
You spoke of going to Dumfries: I am
always afraid of your getting hurt on those
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 114 LETTEBS OF CARLYLE
expeditions, but I suppose you will not be
able to rest without going. I wish Jean and
you both were through it.
By the bye, did I ever sufficiently tell Isa-
bella that her butter continues excellent, none
better. I owe Jamie a letter too. Alick
ought to have been apprised how good his
bacon was -- was, for alas, I myself eat the
most part of it and it is done: some weeks
ago his tobacco ran out; I never told this
either -- I forgot everything!
Well, dear Mother, this is all I can say in
my hurry. I will write again soon, but with
two Books at the printer's with &c, &c,
what can a poor man do? Be good bairns,
one and all of you.
Your ever affectionate
T. Carlyle.
When the proofs of Hero-Worship were
finished, visits to Richard Monckton Milnes
(afterward Lord Houghton), and to the James
Marshalls at Headingly, gave Carlyle what
seem to have been his first glimpses of life in
great country houses. On the 17th of April,
1841, he communicated his impressions to his
wife: "I never lived before in such an
element of 'much ado about almost No-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MRS. HANNING
115
thing;' life occupied altogether in getting
itself lived; . . . and such champagning,
claretting, and witty conversationing. Ach
Gott! I would sooner be a ditcher than
spend all my days so. However, we got
rather tolerably through it for these ten
days. " Visits to his mother, Miss Martineau,
the Speddings, and a month in lodgings at
Newby -- where he probably did not think
of Redgauntlet -- disposed of most of the
remaining holiday, and brought Carlyle back
to Cheyne Row in September. The book
would not yet begin itself. "Ought I to
write now of Oliver Cromwell? Gott weiss;
I cannot yet see clearly. " Toward the close
of this year, Carlyle was asked to let himself
be nominated to the new History Chair in
Edinburgh University. He declined, with
noble thanks.
"Our brother," whom Carlyle writes of to
Mrs. Hanning, was their half-brother, already
referred to, who had emigrated to Canada in
1837, and died there in 1872.
XVI. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, DUMFRIES.
Chelsea, 24 Nov'r, 1841.
Dear Jenny, -- Here is the American let-
ter you spoke of. It arrived yesterday, and
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 116 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
to-day, after showing it to John, I send it to
you. I do not exactly know what part of
Canada it is dated from, but the place lies
some hundreds of miles northwest of where
your husband is likely to be. Our brother
seems to be going on in a very prosperous
way there.
On Sunday last the Doctor showed me a
letter he had written for you. It appeared
to be full of rational advice, in all of which I
agree. You must pluck up a spirit, my good
little Jenny, and see clearly how many things
you yourself, independent of all other per-
sons, can still do. You, then, can either act
like a wise, courageous person or like a fool,
between which two ways of it there lies still
all the difference in the world for you. . . .
I assert, and believe always, that no person
whatever can be ruined except by his own
consent, by his own act, in this world.
Your little bairn will get to walk, then you
will have more time to sit to some kind of
employment. This will be your first consola-
tion.
I know not whether our Mother is still
with you, but suppose yes. I wrote to her a
very hurried scrawl last week. Pray take
good care of her from the damp and cold. I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MRS. HANNING 117
will write to her again before long. By
Alick's letter of yesterday I learn that the
Doctor's Book for her is safely come to Ec-
clefechan. You can tell her farther that I
have now settled finally about her Luther
and it is hers. The cost was only some 26
shillings instead of 28.
Jane has again over-hauled the drawers
which you had such work with; the best
plan was found to be to clip the leg off alto-
gether and put in four new inches above the
knee! Good be with you, dear Jenny, with
you, and them all.
It is evident from one letter and another
that, after the removal to Dumfries and Mr.
Hanning's departure for Canada, Mrs. Plan-
ning spent more time at the Gill than in
Dumfries. "Poor Helen" was Helen Mitch-
ell from Kirkcaldy, an entertaining as well
as a faithful servant. She came to Cheyne
Row toward the end of 1837, was reclaimed
from drink by Mrs. Carlyle, but fell hope-
lessly into it again after eleven years of ser-
vice. "Her end was sad, and like a thing
of fate. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 118 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
XVII. CARLYLE TO HIS MOTHER, SCOTSBRIG.
Chelsea, 8th January, 1842.
My dear Mother, -- You have been wan-
dering so about of late times, and there has
been such confused trouble going on, that I
have not got you regularly written to. It
seems to me a long while since we had any
right communication together. To-day I will
scribble you a word before going out. Alick
says you are for moving over to Gill again to
bear Jenny company till the day lengthens.
If you be already gone they will send this
after you.
The great trouble there has been at Scots-
brig must have been distressing to every per-
son there, from the poor father and mother
downwards. You, in particular, could not
escape. The weather also is sorely inclement
and not wholesome for those that cannot take
violent exercise; yet Alick assures me you
are "as well as usual. " Nay, he adds that
you mean soon to write to me. I pray you
take care, dear Mother, in your shifting to
the Gill and during your stay there in the
stranger house j it is bitter weather and looks
as if it would continue long frosty. Tell me
especially how you are, what clothes you
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO HIS MOTHER
119
wear, whether you get good fires. A warm
bottle is indispensable in the bed at night.
whole I take up with my old love for the
Saints. " And from that time Carlyle held
much salutary communion with "St. Thomas,"
as Mrs. Carlyle used playfully to call him.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 102 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
XH. CARLYLE TO HIS MOTHER, SCOTSBRIG.
Chelsea, 1st August, 1840. My dear Mother, -- Before setting out
on my long-talked-of excursion I must send
you a word. I am to go to the Bullers' place
to-morrow, a place near Epsom (the great race
course) some eighteen miles of. I am to ride
out with a Macintosh before my saddle and a
small round trunk the size of a quartern loaf
fastened behind, and no clothes upon me that
bad weather will spoil. I shall be one of the
most original figures! I mean to stay a day
or two about Buller's, riding to and fro to
see the fine green country. I have written
to a clergyman, an acquaintance of mine on
the South coast some 40 miles farther off: if
he repeat the invitation he once gave me,
perhaps I shall ride to him and see the place
where William the Conqueror fought &c. and
have one dip in the sea. I mean to be out
in all about a week. The weather has grown
suddenly bright. I calculate the sight of the
green earth spotted yellow with ripe corn will
do me good. After that I am to part with
my horse: the expense of it is a thing I can-
not but continually grudge. I think it will
suit better henceforth to get rolled out on a
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO BIS MOTHER
103
railway some 20 miles, clear of all bricks and
reek, to walk then for half a day, now and
then, and so come home at night again.
The expense of a horse every day here is
nearer four than three shillings, far too heavy
for a little fellow like me, whom even it does
not make altogether healthy. I have offered
to give the beast to Mr. Marshall (son of the
original donor), who kept her for me last
winter. I hope he will accept on my return.
It will be much the handsomest way of end-
ing the concern. If he refuses I think I
shall sell. I meditated long on riding all the
way up to Carlisle and you! But in the
humor I am in, I had not heart for it. These
Southern coasts too are a still newer part of
England for me. I give up the riding North-
ward, but not the coming Northward yet, as
you shall hear.
My Fourth Lecture was finished three days
ago. On returning strong, as I hope to do a
week hence, I will attack my two remaining
lectures and dash them off speedily. The
Town will be empty -- none to disturb me.
About the end of August I may hope to have
my hands quite free, and then! Thomas
Erskine invites me to Dundee &c. There
are steamers, steam coaches, -- I shall surely
see you.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 104 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
Alick's good letter gave me welcome tid-
ings of you. I had read your own dear little
epistle before. Heaven be praised for your
welfare. I am glad to hear of "the peat-
shed" and figure to myself the cauldron
singing under your windows. I have written
to-day to Jack. There had come a letter
from Miss Elliott for him from the Isle of
Wight: he once talked of settling there. I
know not whether that is still in the wind
again. He will have to decide about the
Pellipar affair in three weeks or less.
To-day I enclose a little half sovereign.
You must accept it merely to buy gooseber-
ries: they are really very wholesome. I am
to go into the City to send off some money
for the Bank at Dumfries. I am in great
haste. I will write again directly on my
return if not sooner.
Alick's letter, tell him, was the pleasantest
he has sent for many a day. I thank him
much for it and will answer soon. I still
owe Jamie a letter too: he is very patient,
but shall be paid. Did you ever go near the
sea again? This is beautiful weather for it
now. It would do you and little Tom good,
I think.
Jane still likes the warmth and salutes you
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MBS. HANNING 105
all. Wish me a good journey! It is like to
be a very brief and smooth one. Adieu,
dear Mother.
Carlyle was disappointed in his hope of
going home. He did not visit Scotsbrig
again for another year.
So long before as January, 1839, Carlyle
had written to his brother: "I have my face
turned partly towards Oliver Cromwell and
the Covenant time in England and Scotland. "
He continued to read and think much on the
subject; and in the autumn of 1840 he wrote
to Mr. Erskine: "I have got lately, not till
very lately, to fancy that I see in Cromwell
one of the greatest tragic souls we have ever
had in this kindred of ours. " But in this
letter to his sister, as in so many another,
there is no mention save of the close family
kindred of the Carlyles : --
XIII. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, KIRTLEBRIDGE.
5 Cheyne Row, Chelsea, 7 October, 1840.
Dear Jenny, -- Will you take a word
from me to-day in place of many hundreds
which I wish I had the means of sending
you? My time is very limited indeed, but
the sight of my handwriting may be a kind
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 106 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
of enlivener to your kind thoughts about me.
My dear Mother tells me you are afraid some-
times I may have forgotten you. Believe
that never, my dear little sister, it will forever
be an error if you do! The whirl I am kept
in here is a thing you can form no notion of,
nor how natural or indeed inevitable it is for
me to give up writing letters at all except
when I am bound and obliged to do it. You
have no lack of news from me ; to my Mother
at least I send abundant details. Did I not
answer your letter too? I surely meant and
ought to have done it. If at any time you
wanted the smallest thing that I could do for
you, and wrote about, I should be busier than
I have ever yet been, if I did not answer. --
In short, dear Jenny, whatever sins I may
have, whatever more I may seem to have, try
to think handsomely of them, to forgive
them. And above all things, consider that
whether I write many letters or few, my
affection for you is a thing that will never
leave me.
My Mother tells me frequently how good
you are to her; what a satisfaction it is that
you are so near her. I thank you a hundred
times for your goodness to her; but I know
you do not need my thanks or encourage-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MRS. HANNING
107
ment -- and to me it is a real comfort to
reflect that you, with your true heart and
helpful hand, are always so near. Surely it
is a duty for us all, and a blessing in the
doing of it, to take care of our Mother, and
promote her comfort by all means possible to
us! I will love you better and better for
this.
You would see by my Mother's last letter,
where the Doctor is at present. I have heard
nothing since I had a Newspaper from Dum-
fries, the other day, no letters. I mentioned
that the box for Scotsbrig was to be sent off;
it went accordingly and is now on the way to
Liverpool, likely to be with you soon. There
is a small parcel in it for you. We rejoice
to hear that Robert prospers in his business:
it is difficult to prosper in any business at
present. A man of industry, sobriety, and
steadiness of purpose; such a man has a
chance if anybody have. Jane is certainly
in better health this year than I have seen
her for a good while. We wait to see what
she will say to the cold weather! I myself
am as well as usual; no great shakes of a
wellness at any time. I expect to be busy,
very busy this winter, which is the best con-
solation for all things. How I should like
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 108 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
to hear of Jamie's harvest being all thatched!
My love to my Mother, to Alick and all the
rest. Jane unites with me in special remem-
brances to Robert and the glegg little lassie.
Yours, dear Jenny, in great haste, in all
truth, T. Carlyle.
Late in November, Carlyle, "greatly
against wont," went out to dinner. Among
the people he met were "Pickwick " and old
Rogers, "still brisk, courteous, kindly affec-
tionate-- a good old man, pathetic to look
upon. " Carlyle's acquaintances did not al-
ways grow in his favor, and six years later he
said of Rogers :" I do not remember any old
man (he is now eighty-three) whose manner
of living gave me less satisfaction. " In this
winter of 1840-41, his dissatisfaction with
things in general made him think at times of
so desperate a move as retreating again to
Craigenputtock. Still he kept on with the
reading of "needful books. " "He has had
it in his head for a good while," said Mrs.
Carlyle to a correspondent, on the 8th of
January, 1841, "to write a 'life of Cromwell,'
and has been sitting for months back in a
mess of great dingy folios, the very look of
which is like to give me locked-jaw. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MBS. HANNING 109
Mrs. Hanning's second child, Mary, was
born December 24, 1840.
XIV. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, KIRTLEBRIDGE. Chelsea, 15th January, 1841.
Dear Jenny, -- We have heard very fre-
quently from Alick of late about you, for
which punctuality we are greatly obliged to
him. You have had a bad turn, poor little Jenny, and we were all anxious enough to
hear from day to day, as you may believe,
how it went with you. Alick reports of late,
yesterday in particular, that you are now con-
sidered out of danger, steadily getting better.
We will hope and believe it so, till we hear
otherwise. You must take good care of your-
self. This weather is good for no creature,
and must be worst of all for one in your situ-
ation. Do not venture from the fire at all,
till the horrible slush of snow be off the
ground.
And what becomes of our good Mother all
this time? She could not be at rest of course
if she were not beside you, watching over you
herself. Alick struggles to report favourably
of her, but we have our own apprehensions.
What can I do but again and again urge her
to take all possible precautions about herself
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 110 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
(which however she will not do ! ) and trust
that she may escape without serious mischief.
If you were once up again I will fancy you
taking care of her. It must be a great com-
fort to have you so near her -- within walk-
ing distance in the good season.
We have never had here so ugly a winter:
first violent frost, snow &c, then still nastier
times of the thawing sort; for a week past
there has been nothing but sleet, rime and
slobber, the streets half an inch deep with
slush and yet a cake of slippery ice lying
below that; so in spite of daily and hourly
sweeping and scraping, they constantly con-
tinue. I, with some few others, go daily out,
whatever wind blow. I am covered to the
throat in warm wool of various textures and
can get into heat in spite of fate. Jane too
holds out wonderfully, ventures forth when
there is a bright blink once in a week; sits
quiet as a mouse when the winds are piping
abroad. We understand you are far deeper
in snow than we. I believe there is now a
good thick quilt of it lying over the entire
surface of the Island.
The Doctor was here till Tuesday morning.
We saw him daily with much speech and sat-
isfaction. A letter yesterday announced that
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MBS. HANNING
111
they were fairly settled in Wight again.
He looked as well as need be.
I have sent by Alick a bit half-sovereign
to buy the poor new bairn a new pock. You
must take it without grumbling. Tell my
dear Mother that she must take care of her-
self, that I will write to her before many days
go. Better health to us all. Our kind wishes
to Robert. Good be with you every one.
Your affectionate brother,
T. Carlyle.
Here is another and a more highly elabo-
rated bit of London weather from an undated
fragment in Mrs. Hanning's possession at the
time of her death :--
"Our weather is grown decidedly good for
the last three days; very brisk, clear and dry.
Before that it was as bad as weather at any
time need be: long continued plunges of wet,
then clammy, glarry days on days of half
wet (a kind of weather peculiar to London,
and fully uglier than whole wet): -- a world
of black sunless pluister, very unpleasant to
move about in! The incessant travel makes
everything mud here, in spite of all that clats
and besoms can do; a kind of mud, too,
which is as fine as paint, and actually almost
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 112 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
sticks like a kind of paint! I took, at last,
into the country, with old clothes and trousers
folded up; there the mud was natural mud,
and far less of it, indeed, little of it in com-
parison with other country. We dry again
in a single day of brisk wind. "
Early in 1841 Carlyle arranged with Fraser
for the publication of Heroes and Hero-wor-
ship. "The Miscellanies, Sartor, and the
other books," says Froude, "were selling
well, and fresh editions were wanted. "
XV. CARLYLB TO HIS MOTHER, SCOTSBRIG.
Chelsea, Saturday [February, 1841].
My dear good Mother, -- Take half a
word from me to-day since I have no time for
more. I had forgotten that it was Saturday
till after breakfast I learnt it, and ever since
there has been business on business!
We received your good little letter one
evening and sent it on to John. Thanks to
you for it. I had a letter too from Grahame
about his Miscellanies, for which he seems
amazingly thankful, poor fellow. We will
not tell him about the Ecclefechan Library --
let well be!
John also sends word of himself -- all right
enough, the "probability" that he will be
here again before long.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO HIS MOTHER
113
Jane and I are well, rejoicing in the im-
proved weather, not the best of weather yet,
but immensely better than it was. Some
days have been sunny and bright, a pleasant
prophecy of spring.
I have bargained with Fraser for my lec-
tures. They are now at press, that kept me
so very busy. He would give me only ? 75,
the dog, but then he undertakes a new edi-
tion of Sartor, too, (the former being sold)
and gives me another ? 75 for that too. It
is not so bad, ? 150 of ready money -- at
least money without risk. I did not calculate
on getting anything at present for Teufels-
droeckh. You see we are rather rising than
falling, " mall in shaft," at any rate. That
is always a great point. Poor Teufelsdroeckh,
it seems very curious money should lie even
in him. They trampled him into the gutters
at his first appearance, but he rises up again,
-- finds money bid for him.
On the whole I expect not to be obliged to
lecture this year, which will be an immense
relief to me: I shall not be broken in pieces,
I shall have strength for perhaps some better
things than lecturing.
You spoke of going to Dumfries: I am
always afraid of your getting hurt on those
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 114 LETTEBS OF CARLYLE
expeditions, but I suppose you will not be
able to rest without going. I wish Jean and
you both were through it.
By the bye, did I ever sufficiently tell Isa-
bella that her butter continues excellent, none
better. I owe Jamie a letter too. Alick
ought to have been apprised how good his
bacon was -- was, for alas, I myself eat the
most part of it and it is done: some weeks
ago his tobacco ran out; I never told this
either -- I forgot everything!
Well, dear Mother, this is all I can say in
my hurry. I will write again soon, but with
two Books at the printer's with &c, &c,
what can a poor man do? Be good bairns,
one and all of you.
Your ever affectionate
T. Carlyle.
When the proofs of Hero-Worship were
finished, visits to Richard Monckton Milnes
(afterward Lord Houghton), and to the James
Marshalls at Headingly, gave Carlyle what
seem to have been his first glimpses of life in
great country houses. On the 17th of April,
1841, he communicated his impressions to his
wife: "I never lived before in such an
element of 'much ado about almost No-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MRS. HANNING
115
thing;' life occupied altogether in getting
itself lived; . . . and such champagning,
claretting, and witty conversationing. Ach
Gott! I would sooner be a ditcher than
spend all my days so. However, we got
rather tolerably through it for these ten
days. " Visits to his mother, Miss Martineau,
the Speddings, and a month in lodgings at
Newby -- where he probably did not think
of Redgauntlet -- disposed of most of the
remaining holiday, and brought Carlyle back
to Cheyne Row in September. The book
would not yet begin itself. "Ought I to
write now of Oliver Cromwell? Gott weiss;
I cannot yet see clearly. " Toward the close
of this year, Carlyle was asked to let himself
be nominated to the new History Chair in
Edinburgh University. He declined, with
noble thanks.
"Our brother," whom Carlyle writes of to
Mrs. Hanning, was their half-brother, already
referred to, who had emigrated to Canada in
1837, and died there in 1872.
XVI. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, DUMFRIES.
Chelsea, 24 Nov'r, 1841.
Dear Jenny, -- Here is the American let-
ter you spoke of. It arrived yesterday, and
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 116 LETTERS OF CABLYLE
to-day, after showing it to John, I send it to
you. I do not exactly know what part of
Canada it is dated from, but the place lies
some hundreds of miles northwest of where
your husband is likely to be. Our brother
seems to be going on in a very prosperous
way there.
On Sunday last the Doctor showed me a
letter he had written for you. It appeared
to be full of rational advice, in all of which I
agree. You must pluck up a spirit, my good
little Jenny, and see clearly how many things
you yourself, independent of all other per-
sons, can still do. You, then, can either act
like a wise, courageous person or like a fool,
between which two ways of it there lies still
all the difference in the world for you. . . .
I assert, and believe always, that no person
whatever can be ruined except by his own
consent, by his own act, in this world.
Your little bairn will get to walk, then you
will have more time to sit to some kind of
employment. This will be your first consola-
tion.
I know not whether our Mother is still
with you, but suppose yes. I wrote to her a
very hurried scrawl last week. Pray take
good care of her from the damp and cold. I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO MRS. HANNING 117
will write to her again before long. By
Alick's letter of yesterday I learn that the
Doctor's Book for her is safely come to Ec-
clefechan. You can tell her farther that I
have now settled finally about her Luther
and it is hers. The cost was only some 26
shillings instead of 28.
Jane has again over-hauled the drawers
which you had such work with; the best
plan was found to be to clip the leg off alto-
gether and put in four new inches above the
knee! Good be with you, dear Jenny, with
you, and them all.
It is evident from one letter and another
that, after the removal to Dumfries and Mr.
Hanning's departure for Canada, Mrs. Plan-
ning spent more time at the Gill than in
Dumfries. "Poor Helen" was Helen Mitch-
ell from Kirkcaldy, an entertaining as well
as a faithful servant. She came to Cheyne
Row toward the end of 1837, was reclaimed
from drink by Mrs. Carlyle, but fell hope-
lessly into it again after eleven years of ser-
vice. "Her end was sad, and like a thing
of fate. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 118 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
XVII. CARLYLE TO HIS MOTHER, SCOTSBRIG.
Chelsea, 8th January, 1842.
My dear Mother, -- You have been wan-
dering so about of late times, and there has
been such confused trouble going on, that I
have not got you regularly written to. It
seems to me a long while since we had any
right communication together. To-day I will
scribble you a word before going out. Alick
says you are for moving over to Gill again to
bear Jenny company till the day lengthens.
If you be already gone they will send this
after you.
The great trouble there has been at Scots-
brig must have been distressing to every per-
son there, from the poor father and mother
downwards. You, in particular, could not
escape. The weather also is sorely inclement
and not wholesome for those that cannot take
violent exercise; yet Alick assures me you
are "as well as usual. " Nay, he adds that
you mean soon to write to me. I pray you
take care, dear Mother, in your shifting to
the Gill and during your stay there in the
stranger house j it is bitter weather and looks
as if it would continue long frosty. Tell me
especially how you are, what clothes you
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:17 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044090311788 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TO HIS MOTHER
119
wear, whether you get good fires. A warm
bottle is indispensable in the bed at night.
