snatch still at the small
remnants
of Summer,
and a little free air and sunshine.
and a little free air and sunshine.
Thomas Carlyle
org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Carlyle to Emerson. 89
with the Philadelphia people; to all of which I
cansay nothing but "Euge! Papoe! " It seems to
me strange, in the present state of Copyright, how
my sanction or the contrary can be worth ? 50
to any American Bookseller; but so it is, to all
appearance; let it be so, therefore, with thanks
and surprise. The Messrs. Carey and Lea distin-
guish themselves by the beauty df their Editions;
a poor Author does not go abroad among his
friends in dirty paper, full of misprints, under
their guidance; this is as handsome an item of the
business as any. As to the Portrait too, I will be
as " amiable" as heart could wish ; truly it will be
worth my while to take a little pains that the kind
Philadelphia Editors do once for all get a faithful
Portrait of me, since they are about it, and so pre-
vent counterfeits from getting into circulation. I
will endeavor to do in that matter whatsoever they
require of me; to the extent even of sitting two
days for a Crayon Sketch such as may be engraved,
--though this new sacrifice of patience will not be
needed as matters are. It stands thus: there is no
Painter, of the numbers who have wasted my time
and their own with trying, that has indicated any
capability of catching a true Likeness, but one Sam-
uel Lawrence; a young Painter of real talent, not
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? 90 Carlyle to Enerson.
quite so young now, but still only struggling for
complete mastership in the management of colors.
He does crayon sketches in a way to please almost
himself; but his oil paintings, at least till within a
year or two, have indicated only a great faculty still
crude in that particular. His oil portrait of me,
which you speak of, is almost terrible to behold!
It has the look ? of a J (Stun, of a Scandinavian
Demon, grim, sad, as the angel of Death ;--and the
coloring is so brickish, the finishing so coarse, it re-
minds you withal of a flayed horse's head! " Dinna
speak o't. " But the preparatory crayon-sketch of
this, still in existence, is admired by some judges;
poor John Sterling bought it from the Painter, and
it is now here in the hands of his Brother, who will
readily allow any authorized person to take a draw-
ing of it. Laurence himself, I imagine, would be
the fittest man to employ; or your Mr. Ingham
[Inman], if he be here and a capable person: one or
both of these might superintend the Engraving of
it here, and not part with the plate till it were pro-
nounced satisfactory. In short, I am willing to do
" anything in reason " ! Only if a Portrait is to be,
I confess I should rather avoid going abroad under
the hands of bunglers, at least of bunglers sanc-
tioned by myself. There is a Portrait of me in
Q
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 91
some miserable farrago called Spirit of the Age; 1 a
farrago unknown to me, but a Portrait known, for
poor Lawrence brought it down to me with sorrow
in his face; it professes to be from his painting; is
a " Lais without the beauty" (as Charles Lamb used
to say); a flayed horse's head without the spiritu-
alism, good or bad,--and simply figures on my
mind as a detestability; which I had much rather
never have seen. These poor Spirit of the Age peo-
ple applied to me; I described myself as "busy,"
&c. ; shoved them off me; and this monster of in-
iquity, resembling Nothing in the Earth or under it,
is the result. In short, I am willing, I am willing ;
and so let us not waste another drop of ink on it
at present ! -- On the whole, are not you a strange
fellow? You apologize as if with real pain for
"trouble " I had, or indeed am falsely supposed to
have had, with Chapman here; and forthwith en-
gage again in correspondences, in speculations, and
negotiations, and I know not what, on my behalf!
For shame, for shame! Nay, you have done, one
very ingenious thing; to set Clark upon the Boston
Booksellers' accounts : it is excellent; Michael
Scott setting the Devil to twist ropes of sand,
1 " A new Spirit of the Age. Edited by R. H. Horne. " In Two
Volumes. London, 1844.
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? 92 Carlyle to Emerson.
. \-- _
" There, my brave one; see if you don't find work
there for a while! " I never think of this Clark
without love and laughter. Once more, Euge !
Chapman is fast selling your Books here; strik-
ing off a new Five Hundred from his Stereotypes.
You are wrong as to your Public in this Country;
it is a very pretty public; extends pretty much, I
believe, through all ranks, and is a growing one,-
and a truly aristocratic, being of the bravest in-
quiring minds we have. All things are breaking
up here, like Swedish Frost in the end of March;
gachis e? yoouvantable. Deep, very serious eternal
instincts are at work ; but as yet no serious word
at all that I hear, except what reaches me from
Concord at intervals. Forward, forward! And
you do not know what I mean by calling you
"unpractical," "theoretic. " 0 caeca corda! But
I have no room for such a theme at present.
The reason I tell you nothing about Cromwell is,
alas, that there is nothing to be told. I am day and
night, these long months and years, very miserable
about it, -- nigh broken-hearted _often. Such a
scandalous accumulation of Human Stupidity in
every form never lay before on such a subject. No
history of it can be written to this wretched, fieer-
ing, sneering, canting, twaddling, God-forgetting
I
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? Emerson to Carlyle. 9 3
generation. How can you explain men to Apes by
the Dead Sea/? 1 And I am very sickly too, and
my Wife is ill all this cold weather,--and I am
sunk in the bowels of Chaos, and scarce once in the
three months or so see so much as a possibility
of ever getting out! Cromwell's own Letters and
Speeches I have gathered together, and washed clean
from a thousand ordures: these I do sometimes
think of bringing out in a legible shape ;-- perhaps
soon. Adieu, dear friend, with blessings always.
r T. CARLYLE.
Poor Sydney Smith is understood to be dying;
water on the chest; past hope of Doctors. Alas ! ---
0.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE. '
Corvconn, June 29, 1845.
MY DEAR FRIEND,--I grieve to think of my
slackness in writing, which suffers steamer after
1 The dwellers by the Dead Sea who were changed to apes are
referred to in various places by Carlyle. He tells the story of the
metamorphosis, which he got from the Introduction to Sale's Koran,
in Past and Present, Book III. Ch. 3.
2 From the rough draft.
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? 94 Emerson to Carlyle.
steamer to go without a letter. But I have still
hoped, before each of the late packets sailed, that
I should have a message to send that would en-
force a letter. I wrote you some time ago of
Mr. Carey's liberal proposition in relation to your
Miscellanies. I wrote, of course, to Furness,
through whom it was made to me, accepting the
proposition; and I forwarded to Mr. Carey a letter
from me to be printed at the beginning of the
book, signifying your good-will to the edition, and
acknowledging the justice and liberality of the
publishers. I have heard no more from them, and
now, a fortnight since, the newspaper announces
the death of Mr. Carey. He died very suddenly,
though always an invalid and extremely crippled.
His death is very much regretted in the Philadel-
phia papers, where he bore the reputation of a most
liberal patron of good and fine arts. I have not
heard from Mr. Furness, and have thought I should
still expect a letter from him. I hope our corre-
spondence will stand as a contract which Mr. Carey's
representatives will feel bound to execute. They
had sent me a little earlier a copy of Mr. Sartain's
engraving from their water-color copy of Lau-
rence's head of you. They were eager to have the
engraving pronounced a good likeness. l showed
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? Emerson to Carlyle. 95
it to Sumner, and Russell, and Theodore Parker,
who have seen you long since I had, and they shook
their heads unanimously and declared that D'Or-
say's profile was much more like.
I creep along the roads and fields of this town
as I have done from year to year. When my gar-
den is shamefully overgrown with weeds, I pull up
some of them. I prune my apples and pears. I
have a few friends who gild many hours of the
year. I sometimes write verses. I tell you with
some unwillingness, as knowing your distaste for
such things, that I have received so many applica-
tions from readers and printers for a volume of
poems that I have seriously taken in hand the
collection, transcription, or scription of such a vol-
ume, and may do the enormity before New Year's
day. Fear not, dear friend, you shall not have to
read one line. Perhaps I shall send you an oflicial
copy, but I shall appeal to' the tenderness of Jane
Carlyle, and excuse your formidable self, for the
benefit of us both. Where all writing is such a
caricature of the subject, what signifies whether
the form is a little more or less ornate and luxuri-
ous? Meantime, I think to set a few heads before
me, as good texts for winter evening entertain-
ments. I wrote a deal about Napoleon a few
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? 96 Carlyle lo Emerson.
months ago, after reading a library of memoirs.
Now I have Plato, Montaigne, and Swedenborg, and
more in the clouds behind. What news of N aseby
and Worcester?
OI.
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELSEA, 29 August, 1845.
DEAR EMERsoN,--Y0l1I' Letter, which had been
very long expected, has been in my hand above a
month now; and still no answer sent to it. I
thought of answering straightway; but the day
went by, days went by ;--and at length I decided
to wait till my insupportable Burden (the " Stu-
pidity of Two Centuries" as I call it, which is
a heavy load for one man! ) were rolled off my
shoulders, and I couldresume the habit of writ-
ing Letters, which has almost left me for many
months. By the unspeakable blessing of Heaven
that consummation has now arrived, about four
days ago I wrote my last word on Cromwell's
Letters and Speeches ; and one of the earliest uses
I make of my recovered freedom is to salute you
again. The Book is nearly printed: two big vol-
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 97
umes; about a half of it, I think, my own; the
real utterances of the man Oliver Cromwell once
more legible to earnest men. Legible really to an
unexpected extent: for the Book took quite an un-
expected figure in my hands; and is now a kind
of Life of Oliver, the best that circumstances
would permit me to do : --whether either I or
England shall be, in my time, fit for a better, re-
mains submitted to the Destinies at present. I
have tied up the whole Puritan Paper-Litter (con-
siderable masses of it still unburnt) with tight
strings, and hidden it at the bottom of my deepest
repositories: there shall it, if Heaven please, lie
dormant for a time and times. Such an element
as I have been in, no human tongue can give ac-
count of. The disgust of my Soul has been great;
a really pious labor : worth very little when I have
done it ; but the best I could do; and that is quite
enough. I feel the liveliest gratitude to the gods
that I have got out of it alive. The Book is very
dull, but it is actually legible: all the ingenious fac-
ulty I had, and ten times as much would have been
useful there, has been employed in elucidation; in
saying, and chiefly in forbearing to say, --in anni-
hilating continents of brutal wreck and dung: Ach
Gott ! -- But in fact you will see it by and by ; and
voL. 11. 7
O
ip , _ ,.
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? 98 Carlyle to lhnerson.
:-
then form your own conclusions about it. They
are going to publish it in October, I find: I tried
hard to get you a complete copy of the sheets by
this Steamer ; but it proves to be flatly impossible ;
--perhaps luckily; for I think you would have
been bothering yourself with some new Bookseller
negotiation about it; and that, as copyright and
other matters now stand, is a thing I cannot rec-
ommend. --Enough of it now: only let all my
silences and other shortcomings be explained
thereby. I am now off for the North Country, for
a.
snatch still at the small remnants of Summer,
and a little free air and sunshine. I am really
far from well, though I have been riding diligently
for three months back, and doing what I could to
help myself.
Very glad shall I be, my Friend, to have some
new utterances from you either in verse or in
prose! What you say about the vast imperfection
of all modes of utterance is most true indeed. Let
a man speak and sing, and do, and sputter and ges-
ticulate as he may,--the meaning of him is most
ineffectually shown forth, poor fellow; rather ineli-
cated as if by straggling symbols, than spoken or
visually expressed! Poor fellow! So the great
rule is, That he have a good manful meaning, and
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 99
then that he take what " mode of utterance " is
honestly the readiest for him. --I wish you would
take an American Hero, one whom you really love;
and give us a History of him,--make an artistic
bronze statue (in good words) of his Life and him!
I do indeed. -- But speak of what you will, you are
welcome to me. Once more I say, No other voice
in this wide waste world seems to my sad ear to be
speaking at all at present. The more is the pity
for us.
I forbid you to plague yourself any farther with
those Philadelphia or other Booksellers. lf you
could hinder them to promulgate any copy of that
frightful picture by Lawrence,or indeed any picture
at all, I had rather stand as a shadow than as a
falsity in the minds of my American friends: but
this too we are prepared to encounter. And as for
the money of these men, -- if they will pay it, good
and welcome; if they will not pay it, let them keep
it with what blessing there may be in it! I have
your noble offices in that and in other such matters
already unforgetably sure to me ; and, in real fact,
that is almost exactly the whole of valuable that
could exist for me in the affair. Adieu, dear
Friend. Write to me again; I will write again at
more leisure. Yours always,
T. CARLYLE.
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? I00 Emerson to Carlyle.
CII.
EMERSON T0 CARLYLE.
Corrconn, 15 September, 1845.
MY DEAR Fmnnn, -- I have seen Furness of Phil-
adelphia, who was, last week, in Boston, and in-
quired of him what account I should send you of
the new Philadelphia edition. " Has not Mr. Carey
paid you? " he said. --No. "Then has he not
paid Carlyle directly? " No, as I believe, or I
should have heard of it. --Furness replied, that
the promised fifty pounds were sure, and that the
debt would have been settled before this time, if
Mr. Carey had lived. So as this is no longer a
Three Blind Callenders' business of Arabian Nights,
I shall rest secure. I have doubted whether the
bad name which Philadelphia has gotten in these
times would not have disquieted you in this long
delay. If you have ever heard directly from Carey
and Hart, you will inform me.
-I am to read to a society in Boston presently
some lectures,--on Plato, or the Philosopher;
Swedenborg, or the Mystic; Montaigne, or the
Sceptic; Shakespeare, or the Poet; Napoleon, or
the Man of the World;+if I dare, and much lec-
uiniin-1---~---. -
. -
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? . Emerson to Carlyle. 101
- ---- -- ~-w? h. ~ ~
turing makes us incorrigibly rash. Perhaps, before
I end it, my list will be longer, and the measure of
presumption overflowed. I may take names less
reverend than some of these,--but six lectures I
have promised. I find this obligation usually a
good spur to the sides of that dull horse I have
charge of. But many of its advantages must be
regarded at a long distance.
I have heard nothing from you for a long time,
--so may your writing prosper the more. I wish
to hear, however, concerning you, and your house,
and your studies, when there is little to tell. The
steamers come so fast--to exchange cards would
not be nothing. My wife and children and my
mother are well. Peace and love to your house-
hold.
R. W. Eunnson.
CIII.
EMERSON T0 CARLYLE.
Conconn, 30 September, 1845.
MY DEAR FRmNn,--I had hardly sent away my
letter by the last steamer, when yours full of good
news arrived. I greet you heartily on the achieve-
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? I02 Enerson to Carlyle. '
ment of your task, and the new days of freedom
obtained and deserved. Happiest, first, that you
can work, which seems the privilege of the great,
and then, also, that thereby you can come at the
sweetness of victory and rest. Yes, flee to the coun-
try, ride, run, leap, sit, spread yourself at large;
and in all ways celebrate the immense benevolence
of the Universe towards you; and never complain
again of dyspepsia, crosses, or the folly of men;
for in giving you this potent concentration, what
has been withholden ? I am glad with all men that
a new book is made, that the gentle creation as
well as the grosser goes ever on. Another month
will bring it to me, and I shall know the secrets of
these late silent years. Welcome the child of my
friend! Why should I regret that I see you not,
when you are forced thus intimately to discover
yourself beyond the intimacy of conversation?
But you should have sent me out the sheets by
the last steamer, or a manuscript copy of the book.
I do not know but Munroe would have printed it
at once, and defied the penny press. And slow
Time might have brought in his hands a most
modest reward.
I wrote you the other day the little I had to say
on affairs. Clark, the financial Conscience, has
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? Carlyle to Emerson. IQ5
never yet made any report, though often he prom-
ised. Half the year he lives out of Boston, and
unless I go to his Bank I never see his face. I
think he will not die till he have disburdened him-
self of this piece of arithmetic. I pray you to send
me my copy of this book at the earliest hour, and
to offer my glad congratulations to Jane Carlyle,
on an occasion, I am sure, of great peace and relief
to her spirit. And so farewell.
R. W. EMERsoN.
CIV.
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELSEA, 11 November, 1845.
MY DEAR EMERSON,--I have had two Letters
from you since I wrote any; the latest of them was
lying here for me when I returned, about three
weeks ago; the other I had received in Scotland:
it was only the last that demanded a special an-
swer ;--which, alas, I meant faithfully to give it,
but did not succeed! With meet despatch I made
the Bookseller get ready for you a Copy of the un-
published Cromwell Book; hardly complete as yet,
it was nevertheless put together, and even some
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? r04 Carlyle to Emerson.
_xz'. -=_~@-s? s,V--- . -r,'. ':'-:4;--',. =i::;'. =;,'. -, ' K-7- ' |
kind of odious rudiments of a Portrait were bound
up with it; and the Packet inscribed with your
address was put into Wiley and Putnam's hands in
time for the Mail Steamer ;-- and I hope has duly
arrived? If it have not, pray set the Booksellers
a-hunting. Wiley and Putnam was the Carrier's
name; this is all the indication I can give, but
this, I hope, if indeed any prove needful, will be
enough. One may hope you have the Book already
in your hands, a fortnight before this reaches you,
a month before any other Copy can reach America.
In which case the Parcel, without any Letter, must
have seemed a little enigmatic to you! The reason
was this: I miscounted the day of the month, un-
lucky that I was. Sitting down one morning with
full purpose to write at large, and all my tools
round me, I discover that it is no longer the third
of November ; that it is already the fourth, and the
American Mail-Packet has already lifted anchor!
Irrevocable, irremediable! Nothing remained but
to wait for the 18th; -- and now, as you see, to
take Time by the forelock, -- queue, as we all
know, he has none.
My visit to Scotland was wholesome for me, tho'
full of sadness, as the like always is. Thirty years
mow away a Generation of Men. The old Hills,
_
_
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 105
the -old Brooks and Houses, are still there ; but the
Population has marched away, almost all ; it is not
there any more. I cannot enter into light talk
with the survivors and successors; I withdraw
into silence, and converse with the old dumb crags
rather, in a melancholy and abstruse manner. --
Thank God, my good old Mother is still there ; old
and frail, but still young of heart; as young and
strong there, I think, as ever. It is beautiful to
see affection survive where all else is submitting
to decay; the altar with its sacred fire still burn-
ing when the outer walls are all slowly crumbling ;
material Fate saying, "They are mine! " -- I read
some insignificant Books; smoked a great deal of
tobacco; and went moping about among the hills
and hollow water-courses, somewhat like a shade
in Hades. The Gospel which this World of Fact
does preach to one differs considerably from the
sugary twaddle one gets the offer of in Exeter-Hall
and other Spouting-places! Of which, in fact, I am
getting more and more weary; sometimes really
impatient. It seems to me the reign of Cant and
Spoonyism has about lasted long enough. Alas, in
many respects, in this England I too often feel
myself sorrowfully in a "minority of one" ;--if
in the whole world, it amount to a minority of two,
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? 106 Carlyle to Emerson.
that is something! These words of Goethe often
come into my mind, " Verachtung ja lVicht-achtung. "
Lancashire, with its Titanic Industries, with its
smoke and dirt, and brutal stupor to all but money
and the five mechanical Powers, did not excite
much admiration in me ; considerably less, I think,
than ever! Patience, and shuflle the cards!
The Book on Cromwell is not to come out till
the 22d of this month. For many weeks it has
been a real weariness to me; my hope, always dis-
appointed, that now is the last time I shall have
any trade with it. Even since I began writing,
there has been an Engraver here, requiring new
indoctrination,--poor fellow! Nay, in about ten
days it must be over: let us not complain. I feel
it well to be worth nothing, except for the little
fractions or intermittent fits of pious industry there
really were in it; and my one wish is that the hu-
man species would be pleased to take it off my
hands, and honestly let me hear no more about
it! If it please Heaven, I will rest awhile still,
and then try something better.
In three days hence, my Wife and I are off to the
Hampshire coast for a winter visit to kind friends
there, if in such a place it will prosper long with
us. The climate there is greatly better than ours ;
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 107
they are excellent people, well affected to us ; and
can be lived with, though of high temper and ways !
They are the Lord Ashburtons, in fact ; more prop-
erly the younger stratum of that house; partly a
kind of American people, --who know Waldo Em-
erson, among other fine things, very well! I think
we are to stay some three weeks 2 the bustle of
moving is already begun.
? Carlyle to Emerson. 89
with the Philadelphia people; to all of which I
cansay nothing but "Euge! Papoe! " It seems to
me strange, in the present state of Copyright, how
my sanction or the contrary can be worth ? 50
to any American Bookseller; but so it is, to all
appearance; let it be so, therefore, with thanks
and surprise. The Messrs. Carey and Lea distin-
guish themselves by the beauty df their Editions;
a poor Author does not go abroad among his
friends in dirty paper, full of misprints, under
their guidance; this is as handsome an item of the
business as any. As to the Portrait too, I will be
as " amiable" as heart could wish ; truly it will be
worth my while to take a little pains that the kind
Philadelphia Editors do once for all get a faithful
Portrait of me, since they are about it, and so pre-
vent counterfeits from getting into circulation. I
will endeavor to do in that matter whatsoever they
require of me; to the extent even of sitting two
days for a Crayon Sketch such as may be engraved,
--though this new sacrifice of patience will not be
needed as matters are. It stands thus: there is no
Painter, of the numbers who have wasted my time
and their own with trying, that has indicated any
capability of catching a true Likeness, but one Sam-
uel Lawrence; a young Painter of real talent, not
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? 90 Carlyle to Enerson.
quite so young now, but still only struggling for
complete mastership in the management of colors.
He does crayon sketches in a way to please almost
himself; but his oil paintings, at least till within a
year or two, have indicated only a great faculty still
crude in that particular. His oil portrait of me,
which you speak of, is almost terrible to behold!
It has the look ? of a J (Stun, of a Scandinavian
Demon, grim, sad, as the angel of Death ;--and the
coloring is so brickish, the finishing so coarse, it re-
minds you withal of a flayed horse's head! " Dinna
speak o't. " But the preparatory crayon-sketch of
this, still in existence, is admired by some judges;
poor John Sterling bought it from the Painter, and
it is now here in the hands of his Brother, who will
readily allow any authorized person to take a draw-
ing of it. Laurence himself, I imagine, would be
the fittest man to employ; or your Mr. Ingham
[Inman], if he be here and a capable person: one or
both of these might superintend the Engraving of
it here, and not part with the plate till it were pro-
nounced satisfactory. In short, I am willing to do
" anything in reason " ! Only if a Portrait is to be,
I confess I should rather avoid going abroad under
the hands of bunglers, at least of bunglers sanc-
tioned by myself. There is a Portrait of me in
Q
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 91
some miserable farrago called Spirit of the Age; 1 a
farrago unknown to me, but a Portrait known, for
poor Lawrence brought it down to me with sorrow
in his face; it professes to be from his painting; is
a " Lais without the beauty" (as Charles Lamb used
to say); a flayed horse's head without the spiritu-
alism, good or bad,--and simply figures on my
mind as a detestability; which I had much rather
never have seen. These poor Spirit of the Age peo-
ple applied to me; I described myself as "busy,"
&c. ; shoved them off me; and this monster of in-
iquity, resembling Nothing in the Earth or under it,
is the result. In short, I am willing, I am willing ;
and so let us not waste another drop of ink on it
at present ! -- On the whole, are not you a strange
fellow? You apologize as if with real pain for
"trouble " I had, or indeed am falsely supposed to
have had, with Chapman here; and forthwith en-
gage again in correspondences, in speculations, and
negotiations, and I know not what, on my behalf!
For shame, for shame! Nay, you have done, one
very ingenious thing; to set Clark upon the Boston
Booksellers' accounts : it is excellent; Michael
Scott setting the Devil to twist ropes of sand,
1 " A new Spirit of the Age. Edited by R. H. Horne. " In Two
Volumes. London, 1844.
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? 92 Carlyle to Emerson.
. \-- _
" There, my brave one; see if you don't find work
there for a while! " I never think of this Clark
without love and laughter. Once more, Euge !
Chapman is fast selling your Books here; strik-
ing off a new Five Hundred from his Stereotypes.
You are wrong as to your Public in this Country;
it is a very pretty public; extends pretty much, I
believe, through all ranks, and is a growing one,-
and a truly aristocratic, being of the bravest in-
quiring minds we have. All things are breaking
up here, like Swedish Frost in the end of March;
gachis e? yoouvantable. Deep, very serious eternal
instincts are at work ; but as yet no serious word
at all that I hear, except what reaches me from
Concord at intervals. Forward, forward! And
you do not know what I mean by calling you
"unpractical," "theoretic. " 0 caeca corda! But
I have no room for such a theme at present.
The reason I tell you nothing about Cromwell is,
alas, that there is nothing to be told. I am day and
night, these long months and years, very miserable
about it, -- nigh broken-hearted _often. Such a
scandalous accumulation of Human Stupidity in
every form never lay before on such a subject. No
history of it can be written to this wretched, fieer-
ing, sneering, canting, twaddling, God-forgetting
I
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? Emerson to Carlyle. 9 3
generation. How can you explain men to Apes by
the Dead Sea/? 1 And I am very sickly too, and
my Wife is ill all this cold weather,--and I am
sunk in the bowels of Chaos, and scarce once in the
three months or so see so much as a possibility
of ever getting out! Cromwell's own Letters and
Speeches I have gathered together, and washed clean
from a thousand ordures: these I do sometimes
think of bringing out in a legible shape ;-- perhaps
soon. Adieu, dear friend, with blessings always.
r T. CARLYLE.
Poor Sydney Smith is understood to be dying;
water on the chest; past hope of Doctors. Alas ! ---
0.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE. '
Corvconn, June 29, 1845.
MY DEAR FRIEND,--I grieve to think of my
slackness in writing, which suffers steamer after
1 The dwellers by the Dead Sea who were changed to apes are
referred to in various places by Carlyle. He tells the story of the
metamorphosis, which he got from the Introduction to Sale's Koran,
in Past and Present, Book III. Ch. 3.
2 From the rough draft.
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? 94 Emerson to Carlyle.
steamer to go without a letter. But I have still
hoped, before each of the late packets sailed, that
I should have a message to send that would en-
force a letter. I wrote you some time ago of
Mr. Carey's liberal proposition in relation to your
Miscellanies. I wrote, of course, to Furness,
through whom it was made to me, accepting the
proposition; and I forwarded to Mr. Carey a letter
from me to be printed at the beginning of the
book, signifying your good-will to the edition, and
acknowledging the justice and liberality of the
publishers. I have heard no more from them, and
now, a fortnight since, the newspaper announces
the death of Mr. Carey. He died very suddenly,
though always an invalid and extremely crippled.
His death is very much regretted in the Philadel-
phia papers, where he bore the reputation of a most
liberal patron of good and fine arts. I have not
heard from Mr. Furness, and have thought I should
still expect a letter from him. I hope our corre-
spondence will stand as a contract which Mr. Carey's
representatives will feel bound to execute. They
had sent me a little earlier a copy of Mr. Sartain's
engraving from their water-color copy of Lau-
rence's head of you. They were eager to have the
engraving pronounced a good likeness. l showed
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? Emerson to Carlyle. 95
it to Sumner, and Russell, and Theodore Parker,
who have seen you long since I had, and they shook
their heads unanimously and declared that D'Or-
say's profile was much more like.
I creep along the roads and fields of this town
as I have done from year to year. When my gar-
den is shamefully overgrown with weeds, I pull up
some of them. I prune my apples and pears. I
have a few friends who gild many hours of the
year. I sometimes write verses. I tell you with
some unwillingness, as knowing your distaste for
such things, that I have received so many applica-
tions from readers and printers for a volume of
poems that I have seriously taken in hand the
collection, transcription, or scription of such a vol-
ume, and may do the enormity before New Year's
day. Fear not, dear friend, you shall not have to
read one line. Perhaps I shall send you an oflicial
copy, but I shall appeal to' the tenderness of Jane
Carlyle, and excuse your formidable self, for the
benefit of us both. Where all writing is such a
caricature of the subject, what signifies whether
the form is a little more or less ornate and luxuri-
ous? Meantime, I think to set a few heads before
me, as good texts for winter evening entertain-
ments. I wrote a deal about Napoleon a few
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? 96 Carlyle lo Emerson.
months ago, after reading a library of memoirs.
Now I have Plato, Montaigne, and Swedenborg, and
more in the clouds behind. What news of N aseby
and Worcester?
OI.
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELSEA, 29 August, 1845.
DEAR EMERsoN,--Y0l1I' Letter, which had been
very long expected, has been in my hand above a
month now; and still no answer sent to it. I
thought of answering straightway; but the day
went by, days went by ;--and at length I decided
to wait till my insupportable Burden (the " Stu-
pidity of Two Centuries" as I call it, which is
a heavy load for one man! ) were rolled off my
shoulders, and I couldresume the habit of writ-
ing Letters, which has almost left me for many
months. By the unspeakable blessing of Heaven
that consummation has now arrived, about four
days ago I wrote my last word on Cromwell's
Letters and Speeches ; and one of the earliest uses
I make of my recovered freedom is to salute you
again. The Book is nearly printed: two big vol-
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 97
umes; about a half of it, I think, my own; the
real utterances of the man Oliver Cromwell once
more legible to earnest men. Legible really to an
unexpected extent: for the Book took quite an un-
expected figure in my hands; and is now a kind
of Life of Oliver, the best that circumstances
would permit me to do : --whether either I or
England shall be, in my time, fit for a better, re-
mains submitted to the Destinies at present. I
have tied up the whole Puritan Paper-Litter (con-
siderable masses of it still unburnt) with tight
strings, and hidden it at the bottom of my deepest
repositories: there shall it, if Heaven please, lie
dormant for a time and times. Such an element
as I have been in, no human tongue can give ac-
count of. The disgust of my Soul has been great;
a really pious labor : worth very little when I have
done it ; but the best I could do; and that is quite
enough. I feel the liveliest gratitude to the gods
that I have got out of it alive. The Book is very
dull, but it is actually legible: all the ingenious fac-
ulty I had, and ten times as much would have been
useful there, has been employed in elucidation; in
saying, and chiefly in forbearing to say, --in anni-
hilating continents of brutal wreck and dung: Ach
Gott ! -- But in fact you will see it by and by ; and
voL. 11. 7
O
ip , _ ,.
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? 98 Carlyle to lhnerson.
:-
then form your own conclusions about it. They
are going to publish it in October, I find: I tried
hard to get you a complete copy of the sheets by
this Steamer ; but it proves to be flatly impossible ;
--perhaps luckily; for I think you would have
been bothering yourself with some new Bookseller
negotiation about it; and that, as copyright and
other matters now stand, is a thing I cannot rec-
ommend. --Enough of it now: only let all my
silences and other shortcomings be explained
thereby. I am now off for the North Country, for
a.
snatch still at the small remnants of Summer,
and a little free air and sunshine. I am really
far from well, though I have been riding diligently
for three months back, and doing what I could to
help myself.
Very glad shall I be, my Friend, to have some
new utterances from you either in verse or in
prose! What you say about the vast imperfection
of all modes of utterance is most true indeed. Let
a man speak and sing, and do, and sputter and ges-
ticulate as he may,--the meaning of him is most
ineffectually shown forth, poor fellow; rather ineli-
cated as if by straggling symbols, than spoken or
visually expressed! Poor fellow! So the great
rule is, That he have a good manful meaning, and
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 99
then that he take what " mode of utterance " is
honestly the readiest for him. --I wish you would
take an American Hero, one whom you really love;
and give us a History of him,--make an artistic
bronze statue (in good words) of his Life and him!
I do indeed. -- But speak of what you will, you are
welcome to me. Once more I say, No other voice
in this wide waste world seems to my sad ear to be
speaking at all at present. The more is the pity
for us.
I forbid you to plague yourself any farther with
those Philadelphia or other Booksellers. lf you
could hinder them to promulgate any copy of that
frightful picture by Lawrence,or indeed any picture
at all, I had rather stand as a shadow than as a
falsity in the minds of my American friends: but
this too we are prepared to encounter. And as for
the money of these men, -- if they will pay it, good
and welcome; if they will not pay it, let them keep
it with what blessing there may be in it! I have
your noble offices in that and in other such matters
already unforgetably sure to me ; and, in real fact,
that is almost exactly the whole of valuable that
could exist for me in the affair. Adieu, dear
Friend. Write to me again; I will write again at
more leisure. Yours always,
T. CARLYLE.
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? I00 Emerson to Carlyle.
CII.
EMERSON T0 CARLYLE.
Corrconn, 15 September, 1845.
MY DEAR Fmnnn, -- I have seen Furness of Phil-
adelphia, who was, last week, in Boston, and in-
quired of him what account I should send you of
the new Philadelphia edition. " Has not Mr. Carey
paid you? " he said. --No. "Then has he not
paid Carlyle directly? " No, as I believe, or I
should have heard of it. --Furness replied, that
the promised fifty pounds were sure, and that the
debt would have been settled before this time, if
Mr. Carey had lived. So as this is no longer a
Three Blind Callenders' business of Arabian Nights,
I shall rest secure. I have doubted whether the
bad name which Philadelphia has gotten in these
times would not have disquieted you in this long
delay. If you have ever heard directly from Carey
and Hart, you will inform me.
-I am to read to a society in Boston presently
some lectures,--on Plato, or the Philosopher;
Swedenborg, or the Mystic; Montaigne, or the
Sceptic; Shakespeare, or the Poet; Napoleon, or
the Man of the World;+if I dare, and much lec-
uiniin-1---~---. -
. -
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? . Emerson to Carlyle. 101
- ---- -- ~-w? h. ~ ~
turing makes us incorrigibly rash. Perhaps, before
I end it, my list will be longer, and the measure of
presumption overflowed. I may take names less
reverend than some of these,--but six lectures I
have promised. I find this obligation usually a
good spur to the sides of that dull horse I have
charge of. But many of its advantages must be
regarded at a long distance.
I have heard nothing from you for a long time,
--so may your writing prosper the more. I wish
to hear, however, concerning you, and your house,
and your studies, when there is little to tell. The
steamers come so fast--to exchange cards would
not be nothing. My wife and children and my
mother are well. Peace and love to your house-
hold.
R. W. Eunnson.
CIII.
EMERSON T0 CARLYLE.
Conconn, 30 September, 1845.
MY DEAR FRmNn,--I had hardly sent away my
letter by the last steamer, when yours full of good
news arrived. I greet you heartily on the achieve-
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? I02 Enerson to Carlyle. '
ment of your task, and the new days of freedom
obtained and deserved. Happiest, first, that you
can work, which seems the privilege of the great,
and then, also, that thereby you can come at the
sweetness of victory and rest. Yes, flee to the coun-
try, ride, run, leap, sit, spread yourself at large;
and in all ways celebrate the immense benevolence
of the Universe towards you; and never complain
again of dyspepsia, crosses, or the folly of men;
for in giving you this potent concentration, what
has been withholden ? I am glad with all men that
a new book is made, that the gentle creation as
well as the grosser goes ever on. Another month
will bring it to me, and I shall know the secrets of
these late silent years. Welcome the child of my
friend! Why should I regret that I see you not,
when you are forced thus intimately to discover
yourself beyond the intimacy of conversation?
But you should have sent me out the sheets by
the last steamer, or a manuscript copy of the book.
I do not know but Munroe would have printed it
at once, and defied the penny press. And slow
Time might have brought in his hands a most
modest reward.
I wrote you the other day the little I had to say
on affairs. Clark, the financial Conscience, has
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? Carlyle to Emerson. IQ5
never yet made any report, though often he prom-
ised. Half the year he lives out of Boston, and
unless I go to his Bank I never see his face. I
think he will not die till he have disburdened him-
self of this piece of arithmetic. I pray you to send
me my copy of this book at the earliest hour, and
to offer my glad congratulations to Jane Carlyle,
on an occasion, I am sure, of great peace and relief
to her spirit. And so farewell.
R. W. EMERsoN.
CIV.
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELSEA, 11 November, 1845.
MY DEAR EMERSON,--I have had two Letters
from you since I wrote any; the latest of them was
lying here for me when I returned, about three
weeks ago; the other I had received in Scotland:
it was only the last that demanded a special an-
swer ;--which, alas, I meant faithfully to give it,
but did not succeed! With meet despatch I made
the Bookseller get ready for you a Copy of the un-
published Cromwell Book; hardly complete as yet,
it was nevertheless put together, and even some
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? r04 Carlyle to Emerson.
_xz'. -=_~@-s? s,V--- . -r,'. ':'-:4;--',. =i::;'. =;,'. -, ' K-7- ' |
kind of odious rudiments of a Portrait were bound
up with it; and the Packet inscribed with your
address was put into Wiley and Putnam's hands in
time for the Mail Steamer ;-- and I hope has duly
arrived? If it have not, pray set the Booksellers
a-hunting. Wiley and Putnam was the Carrier's
name; this is all the indication I can give, but
this, I hope, if indeed any prove needful, will be
enough. One may hope you have the Book already
in your hands, a fortnight before this reaches you,
a month before any other Copy can reach America.
In which case the Parcel, without any Letter, must
have seemed a little enigmatic to you! The reason
was this: I miscounted the day of the month, un-
lucky that I was. Sitting down one morning with
full purpose to write at large, and all my tools
round me, I discover that it is no longer the third
of November ; that it is already the fourth, and the
American Mail-Packet has already lifted anchor!
Irrevocable, irremediable! Nothing remained but
to wait for the 18th; -- and now, as you see, to
take Time by the forelock, -- queue, as we all
know, he has none.
My visit to Scotland was wholesome for me, tho'
full of sadness, as the like always is. Thirty years
mow away a Generation of Men. The old Hills,
_
_
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 105
the -old Brooks and Houses, are still there ; but the
Population has marched away, almost all ; it is not
there any more. I cannot enter into light talk
with the survivors and successors; I withdraw
into silence, and converse with the old dumb crags
rather, in a melancholy and abstruse manner. --
Thank God, my good old Mother is still there ; old
and frail, but still young of heart; as young and
strong there, I think, as ever. It is beautiful to
see affection survive where all else is submitting
to decay; the altar with its sacred fire still burn-
ing when the outer walls are all slowly crumbling ;
material Fate saying, "They are mine! " -- I read
some insignificant Books; smoked a great deal of
tobacco; and went moping about among the hills
and hollow water-courses, somewhat like a shade
in Hades. The Gospel which this World of Fact
does preach to one differs considerably from the
sugary twaddle one gets the offer of in Exeter-Hall
and other Spouting-places! Of which, in fact, I am
getting more and more weary; sometimes really
impatient. It seems to me the reign of Cant and
Spoonyism has about lasted long enough. Alas, in
many respects, in this England I too often feel
myself sorrowfully in a "minority of one" ;--if
in the whole world, it amount to a minority of two,
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? 106 Carlyle to Emerson.
that is something! These words of Goethe often
come into my mind, " Verachtung ja lVicht-achtung. "
Lancashire, with its Titanic Industries, with its
smoke and dirt, and brutal stupor to all but money
and the five mechanical Powers, did not excite
much admiration in me ; considerably less, I think,
than ever! Patience, and shuflle the cards!
The Book on Cromwell is not to come out till
the 22d of this month. For many weeks it has
been a real weariness to me; my hope, always dis-
appointed, that now is the last time I shall have
any trade with it. Even since I began writing,
there has been an Engraver here, requiring new
indoctrination,--poor fellow! Nay, in about ten
days it must be over: let us not complain. I feel
it well to be worth nothing, except for the little
fractions or intermittent fits of pious industry there
really were in it; and my one wish is that the hu-
man species would be pleased to take it off my
hands, and honestly let me hear no more about
it! If it please Heaven, I will rest awhile still,
and then try something better.
In three days hence, my Wife and I are off to the
Hampshire coast for a winter visit to kind friends
there, if in such a place it will prosper long with
us. The climate there is greatly better than ours ;
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 107
they are excellent people, well affected to us ; and
can be lived with, though of high temper and ways !
They are the Lord Ashburtons, in fact ; more prop-
erly the younger stratum of that house; partly a
kind of American people, --who know Waldo Em-
erson, among other fine things, very well! I think
we are to stay some three weeks 2 the bustle of
moving is already begun.
