You
remember
Charles Buller, to whom I brought
you over that night at the Barings' in Stanhope
Street?
you over that night at the Barings' in Stanhope
Street?
Thomas Carlyle
11.
13
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? 194 Emerson lo Carlyhz.
CXXXIV.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE.
2 FENNY S-r. , L/IANCHEBTEB,
2 March, Thursday [I848].
DEAR FRIEND, -- I hope to set forward to-day for
London, and to arrive there some time to-night. I
am to go first to Chapman's house, where I shall
lodge for a time. If it is too noisy, I shall move
westward. But I hope you are to be at home to-
morrow, for if I prosper, I shall come and beg a
dinner with you, -- is it not at five o'clock? I am
sorry you have no better news to tell me of your
health,-- your own and your wife's. Tell her I
shall surely report you to Alcott, who will have his
revenge. Thanks that you keep the door so wide
open for me still. I shall always come. in.
Ever yours, R. W. E.
CXXXV.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE.
MONDAY, P. M. , 19 June, 1848.
DEAR CARLYLE, -- Mrs. Crowe of Edinburgh, an
excellent lady, known to you and to many good
people, wishes me to go to you with her.
I tell her that I believe you relax the reins of
i ' . 1. )
' 2i. t;. ? ? . i
"i Ii". .
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 195
labor as early as one hourlafter noon, and I pro-
pose one o'clock on Thursday for the invasion. If
you are otherwise engaged, you must send me
word. Otherwise, we shall come.
It was sad to hear no good news last evening from
Jane Carlyle. I heartily hope the night brought
sleep, and the morning better health to her.
Yours always,
R. W. EMERSON.
CXXXVI.
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELsEA, 20 June, 1848.
DEAR EMERsON, --We shall be very glad to be-
come acquainted with Mrs. Crowe, of whom already
by report we? know many favorable things. Brown
(of Portobello, Edinburgh) had given us intimation
of her kind purposes towards Chelsea; and now on
Thursday you (please the Pigs) shall see the adven-
ture achieved. Two o'clock, not one, is the hour
when labor ceases here, -- if, alas, there be any
"labor" so much as got begun; which latter is
often enough the sad case. But at either hour we
shall be ready for you. -
I hope you penetrated the Armida Palace, and
did your devoir to the sublime Duchess and her
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? I96 Carlyle to Emerson.
Luncheon yesterday! _I cannot without a certain
internal amusement (foreign enough to my present
humor) represent to myself such a conjimction of
opposite stars! But you carry a new image off
with you, and are a gainer, you. Allons.
My Papers here are in a state of distraction,
state of despair! I see not what is to become of
them and me. Yours ever truly,
T. CARLYLE.
My Wife arose without headache on Monday
morning ; but feels still a good deal beaten;--has
not had " such a headache" for several years.
CXXXVII. _
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELSEA, Friday [23 June, 1848].
DEAR EMERSON, -- I forgot to say, last night, that
you are to dine with us on Sunday; that after our
call on the Lady Harrietl we will take a stroll
through the Park, look at the Sunday population,
and find ourselves here at five o'clock for the above
important object. Pray remember, therefore, and
no excuse! In haste. Yours ever truly,
T. CARLYLE.
1 Lady Ashburton.
'. '"'c.
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? Carlyle to Emerson. I 97
GXXXVIII.
CARLYLE T0 EMERSON.
, CHELSEA, 6 December, 1848.
DEAR EMERsoN, -- We received your Letterl
duly, some time ago, with many welcomes; and
have as you see been too remiss in answering it.
Not from forgetfulness, if you will take my word;
1 The letter is missing, but a fragment of the rough draft of it
exists, dated Concord, 2 October, 1848. Emerson had returned
home in July, and he begins: "'T is high time, no doubt, long
since, that you heard from me, and if there were good news in
America for you, you would be sure to hear. All goes at heavy
trot with us. . . . . I fell again quickly into my obscure habits,
more fit for me than the fine things I had seen. I made my best
endeavor to praise the rich country I had seen, and its excel-
lent, energetic, polished people. And it is very easy for me to
do so. England is the country of success, and success has a
great charm for me, more than for those I talk with at home.
But they were obstinate to know if the English were superior to
their possessions, and if the old religion warmed their hearts,
and lifted a little the mountain of wealth. So I enumerated the
list of brilliant persons I had seen, and the [break in MS. ]. But
the question returned. Did you find kings and priests ? Did you
find sanctities and beauties that took away your memory, and sent
you home a changed man with new aims, and with a. discontent of
your old pastures ? "
Here the fragment ends. Emerson's answer to these questions
may be found in the chapter entitled "Results," in his English
Traits.
'~~ " . '4; __; .
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? 198 Carlyle to Emerson.
no, but from many causes, too complicated to ar-
ticulate, and justly producing an indisposition to
put pen to paper at all ! Never was I more silent
than in these very months; and, with reason too,
for the world at large, and my own share of it in
small, are both getting more and more unspeakable
with any convenience ! In. health we of this house-
hold are about as well as usual ;-- and look across
to the woods of Concord with more light than we
had, realizing for ourselves a most mild and friendly
picture there. Perhaps it is quite as well that you
are left alone of foreign interference, even of a
Letter from Chelsea, till you get your huge bale of
English reminiscences assorted a little. Nobody
except me seems to have heard from you ; at least
the rest, in these parts, all plead destitution when
I ask for news. What you saw and suffered and
enjoyed here will, if you had once got it properly
warehoused, be new wealth to you for many years.
Of one impression we fail not here : admiration of
your pacific virtues, of gentle and noble tolerance,
often sorely tried in this place! Forgive me my
ferocities; you do not quite know what I suffer in
these latitudes, or perhaps it would be even easier
for you. Peace for me, in a Mother of Dead Dogs
like this, there is not, was not, will not be,--till
,. _
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? Carlyle to Emerson. I99
the battle itself end ; which, however, is a sure out-
look, and daily growing a nearer one.
Nay, there is another practical question, ----but it
is from the female side of the house to the female
side,--and in fact concerns Indian meal, upon
which Mrs. Emerson, or you, or the Miller of Con-
cord (if he have any tincture of philosophy) are
now to instruct us! The fact is, potatoes having
vanished here, we are again, with motives large
and small, trying to learn the use of Indian meal;
and indeed do eat it daily to meat at dinner, though
hitherto with considerable despair. Question first,
therefore: Is there by nature a bitter final taste,
which makes the throat smart, and disheartens
much the apprentice in Indian meal;--o1 is it
accidental, and to be avoided? We surely antici-
pate the latter answer; but do not yet see how.
At first we were taught the meal, all ground on
your side of the water, had got fusiy, raw; an
effect we are well used to in oaten and other meals:
but, last year, we had a bushel of it ground here,
and the bitter taste was there as before (with the
addition of much dirt and sand, our millstones I
suppose being too soft) ;--whereupon we incline
to surmise that there is, perhaps, as in the case of
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? 200 Carlyle to Emerson.
. ,_. _. ,_ "-1-II-1'!
oats, some pellicle or hull that ought to be rejected
in making the meal? Pray ask some philosophic
Miller, if Mrs. Emerson or you do not know;---'
and as a corollary this second question: What is
the essential difference between white (or brown-
gray-white) Indian Meal and yellow (the kind we
now have; beautiful as new Guineas, but with an
inelfaceable tastekin of soot in it) ? --And ques-
tion third, which includes all: How to cook mush
rightly, at least without bitter? Long-continued
boiling seems to help the bitterness, but does not
cure it. Let some oracle speak! I tell all people,
our staff of life is in the Mississippi Valley hence-
forth;--and one of the truest benefactors were
an American Minerva who could teach us to cook
this meal; which our people at present (I included)
are unanimous in finding nigh uneatable, and loudly
exclaimable against! Elihu Burritt had a string
of recipes that went through all newspapers three
years ago; but never sang there oracle of longer
ears than that,--totally destitute of practical sig-
nificance to any creature here! .
And now enough of questioning. Alas, alas, I
have a quite other batch of sad and saddest con-
siderations,--on which I must not so much as
enter at present! Death has been very busy in
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 201
this little circle of ours within these few days.
You remember Charles Buller, to whom I brought
you over that night at the Barings' in Stanhope
Street? He died this day week, almost quite un-
expectedly; a sore loss to all that knew him per-
sonally, and his gladdening sunny presence in
many circles here ; a sore loss to the political peo-
ple too, for he was far the cleverest of all Whig
men, and indeed the only genial soul one can re-
member in that department of things} We buried
him yesterday; and now see what new thing has
come. Lord Ashburton, who had left his mother
well in Hampshire ten hours before, is summoned
from poor Buller's funeral by telegraph; hurries
back, finds his mother, whom he loved much, al-
ready dead! She was a Miss Bingham, I think,
from Permsylvania, perhaps from Philadelphia it-
self. You saw her; but the first sight by no means
told one all or the best worth that was in that good
Lady. We are quite bewildered by our own re-
grets, and by the far painfuler sorrow of those
closely related to these sudden sorrows. Of which
let me be silent for the present ;--and indeed of
1 The reader of Carlyle's Reminiscences, and of Froude's volumes
of his biography, is familiar with the close relations that had ex-
isted between Buller and Carlyle.
~\
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? 202 Carlyle to Emerson.
all things else, for _speech, inadequate mockery of
one's poor meaning, is quite a burden to me just
now!
Neubergl comes hither sometimes; a welcome,
wise kind of man. Poor little Espinasse still toils
cheerily at the oar, and various friends of yours are
about us. Brother John did send through Chap-
man all the Dante, which we calculate you have
received long ago: he is now come to Town ; doing
a Preface, &c. , which also will be sent to you, and
just about publishing. -- Helps, who has been
alarmingly ill, and touring on the Rhine since
we were his guests, writes to me yesterday from
Hampshire about sending you a new Book of his.
I instructed him How.
Adieu, dear Emerson; do not forget us, or for-
get to think as kindly as you can of us, while we
continue in this world together !
Yours ever affectionately,
T. CARLYLE.
1 Mr. Ireland, in his Recollections, p. 62, gives an interesting
accolmt of Mr. Neuberg, -- a highly cultivated German, who as-
sisted Carlyle in some of the later literary labors of his life. Neu-
berg died in 1867, and in a letter to his sister of that year Carlyle
says : " No kinder friend had I in this world ; no man of my day,
I believe, had so faithful, loyal, and willing a helper as he gener-
ously was to me for the last twenty or more years. "
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? Emerson to Carlyle. 203
CXXXIX.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE.
BOSTON, 23 January, 1849.
MY DEAR CARLYLE,--Here in Boston for the
day, though in no fit place for writing, you shall
have, since the steamer goes to-morrow, a hasty
answer to at leastone of your questions. . . . .
You tell me heavy news of your friends, and of
those who were friendly to me for your sake.
And I have found farther particulars concerning
them in the newspapers. Buller I have known
by name ever since he was in America with Lord
Durham, and I well remember his face and figure
at Mr. Baringls. Even England cannot spare an
accomplished man.
Since I had your letter, and, I believe, by the
same steamer, your brother's Dante) complete
within and without, has come to me, most wel-
come. I heartily thank him. 'T is a most work-
manlike book, bearing every mark of honest value.
I thank him for myself, and I thank him, in
advance, for our people, who are sure to learn
1 The Inferno of Dante, a translation in prose by John Carlyle;
an excellent piece of work, still in demand.
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? 204 Emerson to Carlyle.
their debt to him, in the coming months and years.
I sent the book, after short examination, the same
day, to New York, to the Harpers, lest their edi-
tion should come out without Prolegomena. But
they answered, the next day, that they had already
received directly the same matter;--yet have not
up to this time returned my book-- For the Indian
corn,--I have been to see Dr. Charles T. Jackson
(my wife's brother, and our best chemist, inventor
of etherization), who tells me that the reason your
meal is bitter is, that all the corn sent to you from
us is kiln-dried here, usually at a heat of three
hundred degrees, which effectually kills the starch
or diastase (? ) which would otherwise become su-
gar. This drying is thought necessary to prevent
the corn from becoming musty in the contingency
of a long voyage. He says, if it should go in the
steamer, it would arrive sound without previous dry-
ing. I think I will try that experiment shortly on
a box or a barrel of our Concord maize, as Lidian
Emerson confidently engages to send you accurate
recipes for johnny-cake, mush, and hominy.
Why did you not send me word of Clough's hex-
ameter poem, which I have now received and read
with much joy} But no, you will never forgive
1 " The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich. "
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 205
him his metres. He is a stout, solid, reliable man
and friend,-- I knew well ; but this fine poem has
taken me by surprise. I cannot find that your
journals have yet discovered its existence. With
kindest remembrances to Jane Carlyle, and new
thanks to John Carlyle, your friend,
R. W. EMERSON.
iii
CXL.
CARLYLE ro EMERSON.
CHELSEA, 19 April, 1849.
MY nmn EMERSoN,--To-day is American Post-
day ; and by every rule and law,--even if all laws
but those of Cocker were abolished from this uni-
verse, -- a word from me is due to you! Twice I
have heard' since I spoke last: prompt response
about the Philadelphia Bill; exact performance of
your voluntary promise, -- Indian Corn itself is now
here for a week past. . . . .
Still more interesting is the barrel of genuine
Corn ears,--Indian Cobs of edible grain, from
the Barn of Emerson himself! It came all safe
and right, according to your charitable program;
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? 206 ' _ Carlyle to Emerson.
without cost or trouble to us of any kind; not with-
out curious interest and satisfaction ! The recipes
contained in the precedent letter, duly weighed by
the competent jury of housewives (at least by my
own Wife and Lady Ashburton), were judged to be
of decided promise, reasonable-looking every one of
them; and now that the stuff itself is come, I am
happy to assure you that it forms a new epoch
for us all in the Maize department: we find the
grain sweet, among the sweetest, with a touch even
of the taste of nuts in it, . and profess with contri-
tion that properly we have never tasted Indian Corn
before. Millers of due faculty (with millstones of
iron) being scarce in the Cockney region, and even
cooks liable to err, the Ashburtons have on their
resources undertaken the brunt of the problem:
one of their own Surrey or Hampshire millers is
to grind the stufi, and their own cook, a French-
man commander of a whole squadron, is to uuder-
take the dressing according to the rules. Yester-
day the Barrel went off to their country place in
Surrey,-- a small Bag of select ears being retained
here, for our own private experimenting ; -- and so
by and by we shall see what comes of it. --I on my
side have already drawn up a fit proclamation of
the excellences of this invaluable corn, and admo-
i
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 207
nitions as to the benighted state of English eaters
in regard to it ; -- to appear in Fraser-'s Magazine,
or I know not where, very soon. It is really a small
contribution towards World-History, this small act
of yours and ours: there is no doubt to me, now
that I taste the real grain, but all Europe will
henceforth have to rely more and more upon your
Western Valleys and this article. How beautiful
to think of lean tough Yankee settlers, tough as
gutta-percha, with-most occult unsubduable fire in
their belly, steering over the Western Mountains, to
annihilate the jungle, and bring bacon and corn out
of it for the Posterity of Adam! The Pigs in about
a year eat up all the rattlesnakes for miles round:
a most judicious function on the part of the Pigs.
Behind the Pigs comes Jonathan with his all-
conquering ploughshare, -- glory to him too! Oh,
if we were not a set of Cant-ridden blockheads,
there is no Myth of Athene or Herakles equal to
this fact; -- which I suppose will find its real
" Poets " some day or other ; when once the Greek,
Semitic, and multifarious other Cobwebs are swept
away a little! Well, we must wait. --For the rest,
if this skilful Naturalist and you will make any
more experiments on Indian Corn for us, might I
not ask that you would try for a method of preserv-
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? 208 Carlyle to Emerson.
. '1-
"Q
ing the meal in a sound state for us? Oatmeal,
which would spoil directly too, is preserved all
year by kiln-drying the grain before it is ground,
--parching it till it is almost brown, sometimes:
the Scotch Highlanders, by intense parching, can
keep their oatmeal good for a series of years. N o
Miller here at present is likely to produce such
beautiful meal as some of the American specimens
I have seen:--if possible, we must learn to get
the grain over in the shape of proper durable meal.
At all events, let your Friend charitably make
some inquiry into the process of millerage, the
possibilities of it for meeting our case ;--and send
us the result some day, on a separate bit of paper.
With which let us end, for the present.
Alas, I have yet written nothing ; am yet a long
way off writing, I fear! Not for want of matter,
perhaps, but for redundance of it; I feel as if I
had the whole world to write yet, with the day
fast bending downwards on me, and did not know
where to begin,--in what manner to address the
deep-sunk populations of the Theban Land. Any
way my Life is very grim, on these terms, and is
like to be ; God only knows what farther quantity
of braying in the mortar this foolish clay of mine
may yet need ! --They are printing a third Edition
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 299
of Cromwell ; that bothered me for some weeks,
but now I am. over with that, and the Printer
wholly has it: a sorrowful, not now or ever a
joyful thing to me, that. The stupor of my fellow
blockheads, for Centuries back, presses too heavy
upon that,--as upon many things, O Heavens!
People are about setting up some Statue of Grom-
well, at St. Ives, or elsewhere: the King-Hudson
Statue is never yet set up; and the King himself
(as you may have heard) has been discovered
swindling. I advise all men not to erect a statue
for Cromwell just now. iMacaulay's History is
also out, running through the fourth edition: did
I tell you last time that I had read it,--with
wonder and amazement? Finally, it seems likely
Lord John Russell will shortly walk out (forever,
it is hoped), and Sir R. Peel come in; to make
what effort is in him towards delivering us from
the pedant method of treating Ireland. The begin-
ning, as I think, of salvation (if he can prosper a
little) to England, and to all Europe as well. For
they will all have to learn that man does need
government, and that an able-bodied starving beg-
gar is and remains (whatever Exeter Hall may say
to it) a Slave destitute of a Master ; of which facts
England, and convulsed Europe, are fallen pro-
voL. n. 14
---1----,-_' --- ' _ '-_. _ 4w . . _
'1
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? 210 Carlyle lo Emerson.
foundly ignorant in these bad ages, and will plunge
ever deeper till they rediscover the same. Alas,
alas, the Future for us is not to be made of butter,
as the Platforms prophesy; I think it will be
harderrthan steel for some ages! No noble age
was ever a soft one, nor ever will or can be. --
>-- Your beautiful curious little discourse (report
of a discourse) about the English was sent me by
Neuberg; I thought. it, in my private heart, one of
the best words (for hidden genius lodged in it) I
had ever heard; so sent it to the Examiner, from
which it went to the Times and all the other Pa-
pers 2 an excellent sly little word.
Clough has gone to Italy; I have seen him twice,
-- could not manage his hezameters, though I like
the man himself, and hope much of him. "Infi-
delity " has broken out in Oxford itself, -- immense
emotion in certain quarters in consequence, viru-
lent outcries about a certain " Sterling Club," alto-
gether a secular society!
Adieu, dear Emerson; I had much more to say,
but there is no room. O, forgive me, forgive me
all trespasses, -- and love me what you can!
Yours ever,
T. CARLYLE.
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?
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? 194 Emerson lo Carlyhz.
CXXXIV.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE.
2 FENNY S-r. , L/IANCHEBTEB,
2 March, Thursday [I848].
DEAR FRIEND, -- I hope to set forward to-day for
London, and to arrive there some time to-night. I
am to go first to Chapman's house, where I shall
lodge for a time. If it is too noisy, I shall move
westward. But I hope you are to be at home to-
morrow, for if I prosper, I shall come and beg a
dinner with you, -- is it not at five o'clock? I am
sorry you have no better news to tell me of your
health,-- your own and your wife's. Tell her I
shall surely report you to Alcott, who will have his
revenge. Thanks that you keep the door so wide
open for me still. I shall always come. in.
Ever yours, R. W. E.
CXXXV.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE.
MONDAY, P. M. , 19 June, 1848.
DEAR CARLYLE, -- Mrs. Crowe of Edinburgh, an
excellent lady, known to you and to many good
people, wishes me to go to you with her.
I tell her that I believe you relax the reins of
i ' . 1. )
' 2i. t;. ? ? . i
"i Ii". .
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 195
labor as early as one hourlafter noon, and I pro-
pose one o'clock on Thursday for the invasion. If
you are otherwise engaged, you must send me
word. Otherwise, we shall come.
It was sad to hear no good news last evening from
Jane Carlyle. I heartily hope the night brought
sleep, and the morning better health to her.
Yours always,
R. W. EMERSON.
CXXXVI.
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELsEA, 20 June, 1848.
DEAR EMERsON, --We shall be very glad to be-
come acquainted with Mrs. Crowe, of whom already
by report we? know many favorable things. Brown
(of Portobello, Edinburgh) had given us intimation
of her kind purposes towards Chelsea; and now on
Thursday you (please the Pigs) shall see the adven-
ture achieved. Two o'clock, not one, is the hour
when labor ceases here, -- if, alas, there be any
"labor" so much as got begun; which latter is
often enough the sad case. But at either hour we
shall be ready for you. -
I hope you penetrated the Armida Palace, and
did your devoir to the sublime Duchess and her
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? I96 Carlyle to Emerson.
Luncheon yesterday! _I cannot without a certain
internal amusement (foreign enough to my present
humor) represent to myself such a conjimction of
opposite stars! But you carry a new image off
with you, and are a gainer, you. Allons.
My Papers here are in a state of distraction,
state of despair! I see not what is to become of
them and me. Yours ever truly,
T. CARLYLE.
My Wife arose without headache on Monday
morning ; but feels still a good deal beaten;--has
not had " such a headache" for several years.
CXXXVII. _
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
CHELSEA, Friday [23 June, 1848].
DEAR EMERSON, -- I forgot to say, last night, that
you are to dine with us on Sunday; that after our
call on the Lady Harrietl we will take a stroll
through the Park, look at the Sunday population,
and find ourselves here at five o'clock for the above
important object. Pray remember, therefore, and
no excuse! In haste. Yours ever truly,
T. CARLYLE.
1 Lady Ashburton.
'. '"'c.
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? Carlyle to Emerson. I 97
GXXXVIII.
CARLYLE T0 EMERSON.
, CHELSEA, 6 December, 1848.
DEAR EMERsoN, -- We received your Letterl
duly, some time ago, with many welcomes; and
have as you see been too remiss in answering it.
Not from forgetfulness, if you will take my word;
1 The letter is missing, but a fragment of the rough draft of it
exists, dated Concord, 2 October, 1848. Emerson had returned
home in July, and he begins: "'T is high time, no doubt, long
since, that you heard from me, and if there were good news in
America for you, you would be sure to hear. All goes at heavy
trot with us. . . . . I fell again quickly into my obscure habits,
more fit for me than the fine things I had seen. I made my best
endeavor to praise the rich country I had seen, and its excel-
lent, energetic, polished people. And it is very easy for me to
do so. England is the country of success, and success has a
great charm for me, more than for those I talk with at home.
But they were obstinate to know if the English were superior to
their possessions, and if the old religion warmed their hearts,
and lifted a little the mountain of wealth. So I enumerated the
list of brilliant persons I had seen, and the [break in MS. ]. But
the question returned. Did you find kings and priests ? Did you
find sanctities and beauties that took away your memory, and sent
you home a changed man with new aims, and with a. discontent of
your old pastures ? "
Here the fragment ends. Emerson's answer to these questions
may be found in the chapter entitled "Results," in his English
Traits.
'~~ " . '4; __; .
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? 198 Carlyle to Emerson.
no, but from many causes, too complicated to ar-
ticulate, and justly producing an indisposition to
put pen to paper at all ! Never was I more silent
than in these very months; and, with reason too,
for the world at large, and my own share of it in
small, are both getting more and more unspeakable
with any convenience ! In. health we of this house-
hold are about as well as usual ;-- and look across
to the woods of Concord with more light than we
had, realizing for ourselves a most mild and friendly
picture there. Perhaps it is quite as well that you
are left alone of foreign interference, even of a
Letter from Chelsea, till you get your huge bale of
English reminiscences assorted a little. Nobody
except me seems to have heard from you ; at least
the rest, in these parts, all plead destitution when
I ask for news. What you saw and suffered and
enjoyed here will, if you had once got it properly
warehoused, be new wealth to you for many years.
Of one impression we fail not here : admiration of
your pacific virtues, of gentle and noble tolerance,
often sorely tried in this place! Forgive me my
ferocities; you do not quite know what I suffer in
these latitudes, or perhaps it would be even easier
for you. Peace for me, in a Mother of Dead Dogs
like this, there is not, was not, will not be,--till
,. _
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? Carlyle to Emerson. I99
the battle itself end ; which, however, is a sure out-
look, and daily growing a nearer one.
Nay, there is another practical question, ----but it
is from the female side of the house to the female
side,--and in fact concerns Indian meal, upon
which Mrs. Emerson, or you, or the Miller of Con-
cord (if he have any tincture of philosophy) are
now to instruct us! The fact is, potatoes having
vanished here, we are again, with motives large
and small, trying to learn the use of Indian meal;
and indeed do eat it daily to meat at dinner, though
hitherto with considerable despair. Question first,
therefore: Is there by nature a bitter final taste,
which makes the throat smart, and disheartens
much the apprentice in Indian meal;--o1 is it
accidental, and to be avoided? We surely antici-
pate the latter answer; but do not yet see how.
At first we were taught the meal, all ground on
your side of the water, had got fusiy, raw; an
effect we are well used to in oaten and other meals:
but, last year, we had a bushel of it ground here,
and the bitter taste was there as before (with the
addition of much dirt and sand, our millstones I
suppose being too soft) ;--whereupon we incline
to surmise that there is, perhaps, as in the case of
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? 200 Carlyle to Emerson.
. ,_. _. ,_ "-1-II-1'!
oats, some pellicle or hull that ought to be rejected
in making the meal? Pray ask some philosophic
Miller, if Mrs. Emerson or you do not know;---'
and as a corollary this second question: What is
the essential difference between white (or brown-
gray-white) Indian Meal and yellow (the kind we
now have; beautiful as new Guineas, but with an
inelfaceable tastekin of soot in it) ? --And ques-
tion third, which includes all: How to cook mush
rightly, at least without bitter? Long-continued
boiling seems to help the bitterness, but does not
cure it. Let some oracle speak! I tell all people,
our staff of life is in the Mississippi Valley hence-
forth;--and one of the truest benefactors were
an American Minerva who could teach us to cook
this meal; which our people at present (I included)
are unanimous in finding nigh uneatable, and loudly
exclaimable against! Elihu Burritt had a string
of recipes that went through all newspapers three
years ago; but never sang there oracle of longer
ears than that,--totally destitute of practical sig-
nificance to any creature here! .
And now enough of questioning. Alas, alas, I
have a quite other batch of sad and saddest con-
siderations,--on which I must not so much as
enter at present! Death has been very busy in
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 201
this little circle of ours within these few days.
You remember Charles Buller, to whom I brought
you over that night at the Barings' in Stanhope
Street? He died this day week, almost quite un-
expectedly; a sore loss to all that knew him per-
sonally, and his gladdening sunny presence in
many circles here ; a sore loss to the political peo-
ple too, for he was far the cleverest of all Whig
men, and indeed the only genial soul one can re-
member in that department of things} We buried
him yesterday; and now see what new thing has
come. Lord Ashburton, who had left his mother
well in Hampshire ten hours before, is summoned
from poor Buller's funeral by telegraph; hurries
back, finds his mother, whom he loved much, al-
ready dead! She was a Miss Bingham, I think,
from Permsylvania, perhaps from Philadelphia it-
self. You saw her; but the first sight by no means
told one all or the best worth that was in that good
Lady. We are quite bewildered by our own re-
grets, and by the far painfuler sorrow of those
closely related to these sudden sorrows. Of which
let me be silent for the present ;--and indeed of
1 The reader of Carlyle's Reminiscences, and of Froude's volumes
of his biography, is familiar with the close relations that had ex-
isted between Buller and Carlyle.
~\
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? 202 Carlyle to Emerson.
all things else, for _speech, inadequate mockery of
one's poor meaning, is quite a burden to me just
now!
Neubergl comes hither sometimes; a welcome,
wise kind of man. Poor little Espinasse still toils
cheerily at the oar, and various friends of yours are
about us. Brother John did send through Chap-
man all the Dante, which we calculate you have
received long ago: he is now come to Town ; doing
a Preface, &c. , which also will be sent to you, and
just about publishing. -- Helps, who has been
alarmingly ill, and touring on the Rhine since
we were his guests, writes to me yesterday from
Hampshire about sending you a new Book of his.
I instructed him How.
Adieu, dear Emerson; do not forget us, or for-
get to think as kindly as you can of us, while we
continue in this world together !
Yours ever affectionately,
T. CARLYLE.
1 Mr. Ireland, in his Recollections, p. 62, gives an interesting
accolmt of Mr. Neuberg, -- a highly cultivated German, who as-
sisted Carlyle in some of the later literary labors of his life. Neu-
berg died in 1867, and in a letter to his sister of that year Carlyle
says : " No kinder friend had I in this world ; no man of my day,
I believe, had so faithful, loyal, and willing a helper as he gener-
ously was to me for the last twenty or more years. "
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? Emerson to Carlyle. 203
CXXXIX.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE.
BOSTON, 23 January, 1849.
MY DEAR CARLYLE,--Here in Boston for the
day, though in no fit place for writing, you shall
have, since the steamer goes to-morrow, a hasty
answer to at leastone of your questions. . . . .
You tell me heavy news of your friends, and of
those who were friendly to me for your sake.
And I have found farther particulars concerning
them in the newspapers. Buller I have known
by name ever since he was in America with Lord
Durham, and I well remember his face and figure
at Mr. Baringls. Even England cannot spare an
accomplished man.
Since I had your letter, and, I believe, by the
same steamer, your brother's Dante) complete
within and without, has come to me, most wel-
come. I heartily thank him. 'T is a most work-
manlike book, bearing every mark of honest value.
I thank him for myself, and I thank him, in
advance, for our people, who are sure to learn
1 The Inferno of Dante, a translation in prose by John Carlyle;
an excellent piece of work, still in demand.
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? 204 Emerson to Carlyle.
their debt to him, in the coming months and years.
I sent the book, after short examination, the same
day, to New York, to the Harpers, lest their edi-
tion should come out without Prolegomena. But
they answered, the next day, that they had already
received directly the same matter;--yet have not
up to this time returned my book-- For the Indian
corn,--I have been to see Dr. Charles T. Jackson
(my wife's brother, and our best chemist, inventor
of etherization), who tells me that the reason your
meal is bitter is, that all the corn sent to you from
us is kiln-dried here, usually at a heat of three
hundred degrees, which effectually kills the starch
or diastase (? ) which would otherwise become su-
gar. This drying is thought necessary to prevent
the corn from becoming musty in the contingency
of a long voyage. He says, if it should go in the
steamer, it would arrive sound without previous dry-
ing. I think I will try that experiment shortly on
a box or a barrel of our Concord maize, as Lidian
Emerson confidently engages to send you accurate
recipes for johnny-cake, mush, and hominy.
Why did you not send me word of Clough's hex-
ameter poem, which I have now received and read
with much joy} But no, you will never forgive
1 " The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich. "
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 205
him his metres. He is a stout, solid, reliable man
and friend,-- I knew well ; but this fine poem has
taken me by surprise. I cannot find that your
journals have yet discovered its existence. With
kindest remembrances to Jane Carlyle, and new
thanks to John Carlyle, your friend,
R. W. EMERSON.
iii
CXL.
CARLYLE ro EMERSON.
CHELSEA, 19 April, 1849.
MY nmn EMERSoN,--To-day is American Post-
day ; and by every rule and law,--even if all laws
but those of Cocker were abolished from this uni-
verse, -- a word from me is due to you! Twice I
have heard' since I spoke last: prompt response
about the Philadelphia Bill; exact performance of
your voluntary promise, -- Indian Corn itself is now
here for a week past. . . . .
Still more interesting is the barrel of genuine
Corn ears,--Indian Cobs of edible grain, from
the Barn of Emerson himself! It came all safe
and right, according to your charitable program;
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? 206 ' _ Carlyle to Emerson.
without cost or trouble to us of any kind; not with-
out curious interest and satisfaction ! The recipes
contained in the precedent letter, duly weighed by
the competent jury of housewives (at least by my
own Wife and Lady Ashburton), were judged to be
of decided promise, reasonable-looking every one of
them; and now that the stuff itself is come, I am
happy to assure you that it forms a new epoch
for us all in the Maize department: we find the
grain sweet, among the sweetest, with a touch even
of the taste of nuts in it, . and profess with contri-
tion that properly we have never tasted Indian Corn
before. Millers of due faculty (with millstones of
iron) being scarce in the Cockney region, and even
cooks liable to err, the Ashburtons have on their
resources undertaken the brunt of the problem:
one of their own Surrey or Hampshire millers is
to grind the stufi, and their own cook, a French-
man commander of a whole squadron, is to uuder-
take the dressing according to the rules. Yester-
day the Barrel went off to their country place in
Surrey,-- a small Bag of select ears being retained
here, for our own private experimenting ; -- and so
by and by we shall see what comes of it. --I on my
side have already drawn up a fit proclamation of
the excellences of this invaluable corn, and admo-
i
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 207
nitions as to the benighted state of English eaters
in regard to it ; -- to appear in Fraser-'s Magazine,
or I know not where, very soon. It is really a small
contribution towards World-History, this small act
of yours and ours: there is no doubt to me, now
that I taste the real grain, but all Europe will
henceforth have to rely more and more upon your
Western Valleys and this article. How beautiful
to think of lean tough Yankee settlers, tough as
gutta-percha, with-most occult unsubduable fire in
their belly, steering over the Western Mountains, to
annihilate the jungle, and bring bacon and corn out
of it for the Posterity of Adam! The Pigs in about
a year eat up all the rattlesnakes for miles round:
a most judicious function on the part of the Pigs.
Behind the Pigs comes Jonathan with his all-
conquering ploughshare, -- glory to him too! Oh,
if we were not a set of Cant-ridden blockheads,
there is no Myth of Athene or Herakles equal to
this fact; -- which I suppose will find its real
" Poets " some day or other ; when once the Greek,
Semitic, and multifarious other Cobwebs are swept
away a little! Well, we must wait. --For the rest,
if this skilful Naturalist and you will make any
more experiments on Indian Corn for us, might I
not ask that you would try for a method of preserv-
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? 208 Carlyle to Emerson.
. '1-
"Q
ing the meal in a sound state for us? Oatmeal,
which would spoil directly too, is preserved all
year by kiln-drying the grain before it is ground,
--parching it till it is almost brown, sometimes:
the Scotch Highlanders, by intense parching, can
keep their oatmeal good for a series of years. N o
Miller here at present is likely to produce such
beautiful meal as some of the American specimens
I have seen:--if possible, we must learn to get
the grain over in the shape of proper durable meal.
At all events, let your Friend charitably make
some inquiry into the process of millerage, the
possibilities of it for meeting our case ;--and send
us the result some day, on a separate bit of paper.
With which let us end, for the present.
Alas, I have yet written nothing ; am yet a long
way off writing, I fear! Not for want of matter,
perhaps, but for redundance of it; I feel as if I
had the whole world to write yet, with the day
fast bending downwards on me, and did not know
where to begin,--in what manner to address the
deep-sunk populations of the Theban Land. Any
way my Life is very grim, on these terms, and is
like to be ; God only knows what farther quantity
of braying in the mortar this foolish clay of mine
may yet need ! --They are printing a third Edition
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? Carlyle to Emerson. 299
of Cromwell ; that bothered me for some weeks,
but now I am. over with that, and the Printer
wholly has it: a sorrowful, not now or ever a
joyful thing to me, that. The stupor of my fellow
blockheads, for Centuries back, presses too heavy
upon that,--as upon many things, O Heavens!
People are about setting up some Statue of Grom-
well, at St. Ives, or elsewhere: the King-Hudson
Statue is never yet set up; and the King himself
(as you may have heard) has been discovered
swindling. I advise all men not to erect a statue
for Cromwell just now. iMacaulay's History is
also out, running through the fourth edition: did
I tell you last time that I had read it,--with
wonder and amazement? Finally, it seems likely
Lord John Russell will shortly walk out (forever,
it is hoped), and Sir R. Peel come in; to make
what effort is in him towards delivering us from
the pedant method of treating Ireland. The begin-
ning, as I think, of salvation (if he can prosper a
little) to England, and to all Europe as well. For
they will all have to learn that man does need
government, and that an able-bodied starving beg-
gar is and remains (whatever Exeter Hall may say
to it) a Slave destitute of a Master ; of which facts
England, and convulsed Europe, are fallen pro-
voL. n. 14
---1----,-_' --- ' _ '-_. _ 4w . . _
'1
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? 210 Carlyle lo Emerson.
foundly ignorant in these bad ages, and will plunge
ever deeper till they rediscover the same. Alas,
alas, the Future for us is not to be made of butter,
as the Platforms prophesy; I think it will be
harderrthan steel for some ages! No noble age
was ever a soft one, nor ever will or can be. --
>-- Your beautiful curious little discourse (report
of a discourse) about the English was sent me by
Neuberg; I thought. it, in my private heart, one of
the best words (for hidden genius lodged in it) I
had ever heard; so sent it to the Examiner, from
which it went to the Times and all the other Pa-
pers 2 an excellent sly little word.
Clough has gone to Italy; I have seen him twice,
-- could not manage his hezameters, though I like
the man himself, and hope much of him. "Infi-
delity " has broken out in Oxford itself, -- immense
emotion in certain quarters in consequence, viru-
lent outcries about a certain " Sterling Club," alto-
gether a secular society!
Adieu, dear Emerson; I had much more to say,
but there is no room. O, forgive me, forgive me
all trespasses, -- and love me what you can!
Yours ever,
T. CARLYLE.
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?
