It will
be soon, but is still uncertain when.
be soon, but is still uncertain when.
Thomas Carlyle
He speaks of it being pos-
sible, or probable, that he may get back to
England in September, but it is not certain.
He will be pretty sure to come by Manchester
and you if he come Northward. The rest, as
I have already hinted, are all well and follow-
ing their usual course. Jamie and his wife
and two sons go along very briskly. His
crops look well. He had his Peat-stack up
(and mother's little one beside it) and his hay
mown, though the late rains and thunder have
retarded that a little. The country never
looked beautifuller in my remembrance, green
and leafy; the air is fresh, and all things
smiling and rejoicing and growing. Austin
is busy enough now with work. He had a
bad time of it in spring, when horse proven-
der was so dear. The children are well, --
even the eldest looks better than I expected,
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? TO MRS. HANNING
83
-- and Mary, their mother, seems hearty and
thrifty. I mentioned that we had been at
Dumfries. Alick took up our Mother and
me on Friday last in a rough " Dandy cart"
of Mrs. Scott's with a beast of Jamie's. One
of the first questions my Mother asked of
Jean was, "Hast thou had any word from
Jenny? " To which the answer was " No. "
Jean's child is running about quite brisk,
though a little thinner than it once was; from
teeth, I suppose. James Aitken has plenty
of work, three or four journeymen. In
short, they seem doing well. Finally, Jamie
(Maister Cairlill) authorizes me to report that
he this day met with a brother of thy Rob-
ert's, who said that the Peat-knowes too were
all well. The day after my arrival here I fell
in with William Hanning, the father, on Mid-
dlebie Brae, measuring some Dykes, I think,
with a son of Pottsfowns. He looked as well
as I have seen him do. The same man as
ever, though he must be much older than
he once was. The tea parcel was forwarded
to him, or sent for, by my desire, that same
night.
Our good Mother here is quite well in
health; indeed, as well every way as one
could expect, though doubtless she is a little
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? 84
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
lonelier now than when you were with her.
She complains of nothing, but does her en-
deavour to make the best of all things. She
wishes you "to write very soon and tell her
how the world is serving you. " She would
have sent a word or two to that effect in her
own hand, she says, but "having a good
clerk" (me, namely) "she does not need. " I
am to confirm her promise of coming with
me when I return southward, and staying till
you tire of her. There was word from Jane
on Sunday gone a week. She wrote in haste,
but at great length, and seemed very cheer-
ful. She will not come hither this time, I
think. Her mother is to return home about
the end of this month. Jane appears quite
prepared to stay by herself. She has some
friends yonder whom she is much with, and
she rather likes the treat. Mrs. Welsh ex-
pects Liverpool people with her to Templand,
and can stay no longer.
I have ended my paper, dear Jenny, and
given one of the meagrest outlines of our
news. You will see, however, that nothing
is going wrong with us; that we are thinking
of you and desirous to hear from you. Be a
good bairn and a good wife, and help your
Goodman faithfully in all honest things. He
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? TO MRS. HANNING
85
is a thrifty fellow with a good whole heart.
There is no danger of him. Help one an-
other. Be good to one another. God's bless-
ing with you both. All here salute you.
I am always
Your affectionate brother,
T. Carlyle.
Meantime, while Jamie was building his
peat-stack in "the beautifullest weather" that
Carlyle had ever seen, Alick was setting up a
shop in the village of Ecclefechan, and The
French Revolution was beginning to take the
English-reading world for its parish. The
French verdict was for the most part adverse.
Merimee, whether or not he agreed with the
translators in describing Carlyle as le pheno-
mene d'un protestant poUique, expressed a
sincere desire to throw the writer out of the
window. But Dickens carried the book about
with him, Southey read it six times running,
and Mill, approving his opposite, maintained
that the much berated style was of high ex-
cellence. Carlyle, wishing to "lie vacant,"
neither read nor so much as saw many of the
reviews, though he heard of most of them.
One untactful friend sent him the opinion
of a certain critical journal, with which he
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? 86
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
forthwith "boiled his teakettle. " Much more
than a pot-boiler was one enthusiastic review,
although that function of his article was sadly
important to the writer, for whom Vanity
Fair and fame were still ten years ahead.
Writes Carlyle to his brother : "I understand
there have been many reviews of a very mixed
character. I got one in the Times last week.
The writer is one Thackeray, a half-monstrous
Cornish giant, kind of painter, Cambridge
man, and Paris newspaper correspondent, who
is now writing for his life in London. I have
seen him at the Bullers' and at Sterling's.
His article is rather like him, and I suppose
calculated to do the book good. "
One adds involuntarily: --
"Brigadier, repondit Pandore,
Brigadier, vous avez raison. "
Without regard to reviewers, and in spite
of the cholera, the homely idyl goes melodi-
ously on. "Jean and her two Jamies" are
Carlyle's sister, Mrs. Aitken, her husband
and little son. "Jamie of Scotsbrig" is, of
course, Carlyle's brother. Betty Smail's short
history may be found in Froude's First Forty
Years of Carlyle, vol. i. p. 119.
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? TO MRS. BANNING
87
IX. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, MANCHESTER.
SCOTSBRIG, ECCLEFECHAN,
28 Aug. 1837.
Dear Jenny, -- Your letter to Mary at
Annan got this length on Saturday night.
As you appear to be impatient for news from
this quarter, not unreasonably, having had
none for six weeks, I am appointed to write
you a few lines without any loss of time what-
ever,--a thing I can easily enough do, being
even idler to-day than common.
We were not so well pleased to hear of
your fecklessness and pain in the stomach
during the last fortnight, but we hope it is
but something derived from the season and
will not continue. There is very often a kind
of "British Cholera " in this harvest time. It
is even very frequent at present in this re-
gion, owing partly to the air (as they say),
and chiefly, perhaps, to the new potatoes and
other imperfectly ripened substances which
people eat. Jamie, here, had a cast of it for
two days just a week ago, rather sharp, but
he is free now. Our Mother too was taken
with it, -- came home rather ill from Eccle-
fechan one day, -- but by aid of Castor and
some prime Brandy has got quite round
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? 88
LETTERS OF CABLYLE
again. You do not say that the disorder has
got that length with you, but very probably
it is something related to the same business.
The only remedy is to be careful of what one
eats, to take due moderate exercise in the
open air, in case of extremity employing a
little medicine. Cold, especially cold feet
are very bad; but the great thing is to take
care of one's self, especially to take care what
one eats. New potatoes are very unwhole-
some for some people.
We are now all well here, and with the
slight exception mentioned above have been
so ever since I wrote last. Alick brought us
news of you. Alick's news are the main
ones I have now to send you. He quitted
Annan on Monday last (this day gone a
week), and has been in the Big house at Ec-
clefechan ever since. I suppose he explained
to you and Robert the plan he had of setting
up a shop there. He has gathered himself
together, and is all alive after that same en-
terprise now. We had him and little Tom
over here all yesterday. Mother, Jamie, and
I walked with them to Cleughbrae in the
evening. To-day, as we understand, he has
got masons and actually broken in upon the
house to repair it and arrange it for that
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? TO MRS. BANNING
89
object; Hale Moffet and his retinue having
been got out. It is in a sad state of wreck,
the poor house, but Alick expects to put a
new face on it with great despatch indeed;
and then, "shop drawers" and all the rest
being provided, and James Aitken's brush
having given the last touch to it, he will un-
fold his wares and try the thing in the name
of Hope. We all pray heartily that it may
prosper beyond his expectations. Ecclefe-
chan is a sad Village: only last Friday night
some blackguard broke 14 panes of the Meet-
ing House windows. Fancy such an act of
dastardly atrocity as that! But it lies in the
centre of a tolerable country, too, and certain
there is need of some good shop and honest
Trader there.
I have seen Mary pretty frequently, the
last time on Friday last. She is very well,
and all her bairns are well. James has al-
ways some work, though seldom enough, and
Mary is the brightest, thriftiest little creature
that can be. They go on there as well as
one could hope in these times. We had a
letter from the Doctor, too: still in the same
place, -- Albano, near Rome; still well; un-
certain as to his future movements or engage-
ments, though it must be settled some way
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? 90 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
before this date, if we knew how. He
seemed to think it very unlikely that he
would be here in the present autumn, the
likeliest of all that he would try to return
next spring. The Cholera was in that coun-
try, but had not got to them. We fancy
they will not fail to fly out of the road of it,
if it advance too near.
I was at Dumfries since I wrote: up to
Templand, and then again at Dumfries on
my return. Mrs. Welsh came home several
weeks ago, and had at the time I was up,
and has still, her Liverpool friends with her.
The house was very crowded. I was not
very well, and stayed only four and twenty
hours or so, cutting out my way in spite of
all entreaties. Jean and her two Jamies are
very tolerably well: the elder Jamie a thrifty,
effectual, busy man; the younger as yet alto-
gether silent, staggering and tripping about,
-- one of the gleggest little elves I have
seen. There is talk of her coming down to
Annan this very week to have the benefit of
the tide for sea bathing. Jamie of Scotsbrig,
who goes up to-morrow to pay his rent, will
bring us word.
The other morning, walking out, I met
Robert's father at the "Lengland's Nett,"
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? TO MRS. HANNING
91
coming down from Dairlaw Hills with a row
of bog-hay carts he had been buying at Dair-
law Hills. He was hale and well to look at,
and reported all well. I suppose he has been
very busy of late; seldom were so many
roups seen in one season; all the farmers
selling off, none of them having money for
their rent day; Land farm, and now all the
stock, crop, and household furniture have
been sold off. Poor Clow goes off for Amer-
ica on Wednesday morning by the Liverpool
steamer. People are all sorry. The Burn-
foot Irvings, or Sandy Cowie for them, have
bought his land: ? 4000.
Betty Smail, bound for Ecclefechan, has
been waiting this half hour till I should be
done; I did not know of her when I began.
The needfullest thing, therefore, that I can
do is to tell you about our coming.
It will
be soon, but is still uncertain when. I
should say in about a fortnight, -- nay, in a
day or so less; but it depends somewhat on
a letter we look for from Jane which has not
yet come to hand. Jane, you must know,
after her mother's departure went into the
country with the Sterlings, friends of hers.
I wish her to stay there while she likes, and
would get home about the same time as she;
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? 92
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
a month was the time she first spoke of, and
that I have little doubt will suffice, -- so my
guess is as above given. A newspaper with
one stroke on it will come to you (barring
mistakes) two days before you are to look for
us. This shall be a token, and we need not
write any more. Alick has some talk of
coming with us to get his goods ready then,
but I think he will hardly be ready. The
butter and another firkin of butter has been
talked of and will be forthcoming, but it
seems dubious whether any of it will get with
us. It can come before or after, I believe
safe and with little expense. Mother will
bring "some pounds of it" in her box. I
shall perhaps be obliged to go back by Liver-
pool, and must not calculate to stay more
with you than a day. My Mother sends you
both her love (she is smoking here); she
"will tell you all her news" when we come.
Compliments and good wishes to Robert from
all of us. We are glad to hear his trade is
better. A glegg fellow like him will get
through worse troubles than this. God keep
you, my dear little Jenny.
Your affectionate Brother,
T. Carlyle.
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? MRS. CARLTLE TO MRS. HANNING 93
X. TO MRS. HIMfING, MANCHESTER, FROM HER
MOTHER.
[Scotsbrig] January 11th [1838].
Dear Children, -- I received your letter
this day about mid-day. Then Alick and his
family came here, so we talked on till bed-
time; and now they are gone to bed. I am
sorry to hear that Jenny is poorly. I intend
to see you very soon; I cannot say pointedly
which day yet. I am going down to Annan
with Alick, and will fix. It shall not be
long, God willing. I have some thoughts of
taking the steamer. Keep up your heart,
Jenny, and be well when I come. Trust in
God, casting all your cares on Him. He is a
kind father to all them that put their trust in
Him. I will say no more to-night; it is late.
Do you think the railway is passable?
I had not finished this scrawl when I re-
ceived your last letter, of which I was very
glad. It is all well, God's will be done. I
was coming by the steamer on Thursday or
Friday. Now I will let the storm blow by.
Now, Jenny, be very careful of yourself;
take care of cold, and likewise what you eat.
May God's blessing rest on us all. May He
make us thankful for all His ways of dealing
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? 94
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
with us. Write soon. You may direct to
Annan, as I will be there some time. Could
you let Tom know that I am there, also, and
that I am well? Now, bairns, write soon.
You see I cannot write, though nobody would
take greater pleasure in it.
Your own mother,
Margaret A. C.
P. S. My tooth is better, though not very
sound yet. I forgot to thank you very
kindly for the things you sent me.
In the two ensuing years Carlyle gave two
more courses of lectures, both notably suc-
cessful. Among many other new acquaint-
ances was Mr. Baring, afterward Lord Ash-
burton, who, with his two wives, was to figure
so largely in the lives of Carlyle and his wife.
Sartor Resartus was published in England,
and republished in the United States. Chart-
ism was written and printed. Other events
of the same biennium were Mrs. Carlyle's
"only Soiree," the appearance of Count d'Or-
say in Cheyne Row, and Mr. Marshall's gift
to Carlyle of a mare, --" Citoyenne "to be
called.
After several visits in Scotland during
the summer of 1838, Carlyle went home
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? NOISY MANCHESTER
95
again to Scotsbrig. On his return thence,
he spent a few days in Manchester with Mrs.
Hanning. "He had been put to sleep in an
old bed, which he remembered in his father's
house. " "I was just closing my senses in
sweet oblivion," wrote he, "when the watch-
man, with a voice like the deepest groan of
the Highland bagpipe, or what an ostrich
corncraik might utter, groaned out Groo-o-o-o
close under me, and set me all in a gallop
again. Groo-o-o-o; for there was no articu-
late announcement at all in it, that I could
gather. Groo-o-o-o, repeated again and again
at various distances, dying out and then
growing loud again, for an hour or more. I
grew impatient, bolted out of bed, flung up
the window. Groo-o-o-o. There he was ad-
vancing, lantern in hand, a few yards off me.
'Can't you give up that noise? ' I hastily
addressed him. 'You are keeping a person
awake. What good is it to go howling and
groaning all night, and deprive people of
their sleep? ' He ceased from that time --
at least I heard no more of him. No watch-
man, I think, has been more astonished for
some time back. At five in the morning
all was as still as sleep and darkness. At
half past five all went off like an enormous
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? 96
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
mill-race or ocean-tide. The Boom-m-m, far
and wide. It was the mills that were all start-
ing then, and creishy drudges by the million
taking post there. I have heard few sounds
more impressive to me in the mood I was
in. "
The following letter belongs to the time
between the Hannings' departure from Man-
chester and Mr. Hanning's sailing for Amer-
ica. Kirtlebridge, where they were now liv-
ing, is a few miles southeast of Ecclefechan.
"The little 'trader,'" the "bit creeture,"
was probably Mrs. Hanning's first child, Mar-
garet Aitken Carlyle, who was not yet two
years old. The reference to the new penny
post marks an era.
xi. carltle to mrs. hanning, kirtlebridge.
6 Cheyne Row, Chelsea, London,
7 Feb. 1840.
Dear Jenny, -- Had I known definitely
how to address a word to you, I might surely
have done so long before this. We have
heard in general that you are stationed some-
where in the Village of Kirtlebridge or near
it, and we fancy in general that your hus-
band is struggling along with his old impetu-
osity. From yourself we have no tidings.
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? TO MRS. HANNING
97
Pray, now that the Postage is so cheap, send
us a pennyworth some day. I address this
through Alick, fancying such may be the
best way.
I enclose my last letter from the Doctor.
I wrote to him the day before yesterday to
his final destination. I calculate he may
have got my letter to-day, -- that is two days
after his arrival. By that note all seems to be
going well with him ; -- we are all well here,
as well as our wont is, and fighting along
with printers, proof sheets &c, &c. Jane
cannot regularly get out; so horribly tem-
pestuous, wet and uncertain is the weather,
which keeps her still sickly, but she never
breaks actually down. How is the little
"trader," as Jean or some of them call her?
I remember the "bit creeture" very dis-
tinctly.
This is the worst year or among the worst
for working people ever seen in man's mem-
ory. Robert must not take this as a measure
of his future success, but toil away stead-
fastly in sure hope of better times. It is
well anyway that you are out of Manchester;
nothing there but hunger, contention and de-
spair-- added to the reek and dirt! Be dili-
gent and fear nothing.
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? 98
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
Do you often run over to see our dear Mo-
ther in her Upper Room yonder? It will be a
great comfort to her that she has you so near.
Pray explain to me what part of the Village
it is that you live in. I thought I knew it
all, but I do not know Firpark Nook. Give
my best wishes to your Goodman. Accept
my thanks for your written remembrance,
from one who always silently remembers you
in his heart.
On April 23 of this year Carlyle wrote in
his journal, " Miscellanies out, and Chartism
second thousand. " A month later he re-
lieved his mother's anxiety about the last of
his lectures on Heroes and Hero-Worship:
"I contrived to tell them something about
poor Cromwell, and I think to convince them
that he was a great and true man, the valiant
soldier in England of what John Knox had
preached in Scotland. In a word, the people
seemed agreed that it was my best course of
lectures, this. " Certainly his last course of
lectures, this. He never spoke from a plat-
form again till twenty-six years later, when,
as Lord Rector, he addressed the students
of Edinburgh University. He detested the
"mixture of prophecy and play-acting. " In
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? CARLYLE IN THE GARDEN OF 5 CHEYNE ROW, CHELSEA
July 20, iSj7
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sible, or probable, that he may get back to
England in September, but it is not certain.
He will be pretty sure to come by Manchester
and you if he come Northward. The rest, as
I have already hinted, are all well and follow-
ing their usual course. Jamie and his wife
and two sons go along very briskly. His
crops look well. He had his Peat-stack up
(and mother's little one beside it) and his hay
mown, though the late rains and thunder have
retarded that a little. The country never
looked beautifuller in my remembrance, green
and leafy; the air is fresh, and all things
smiling and rejoicing and growing. Austin
is busy enough now with work. He had a
bad time of it in spring, when horse proven-
der was so dear. The children are well, --
even the eldest looks better than I expected,
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? TO MRS. HANNING
83
-- and Mary, their mother, seems hearty and
thrifty. I mentioned that we had been at
Dumfries. Alick took up our Mother and
me on Friday last in a rough " Dandy cart"
of Mrs. Scott's with a beast of Jamie's. One
of the first questions my Mother asked of
Jean was, "Hast thou had any word from
Jenny? " To which the answer was " No. "
Jean's child is running about quite brisk,
though a little thinner than it once was; from
teeth, I suppose. James Aitken has plenty
of work, three or four journeymen. In
short, they seem doing well. Finally, Jamie
(Maister Cairlill) authorizes me to report that
he this day met with a brother of thy Rob-
ert's, who said that the Peat-knowes too were
all well. The day after my arrival here I fell
in with William Hanning, the father, on Mid-
dlebie Brae, measuring some Dykes, I think,
with a son of Pottsfowns. He looked as well
as I have seen him do. The same man as
ever, though he must be much older than
he once was. The tea parcel was forwarded
to him, or sent for, by my desire, that same
night.
Our good Mother here is quite well in
health; indeed, as well every way as one
could expect, though doubtless she is a little
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? 84
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
lonelier now than when you were with her.
She complains of nothing, but does her en-
deavour to make the best of all things. She
wishes you "to write very soon and tell her
how the world is serving you. " She would
have sent a word or two to that effect in her
own hand, she says, but "having a good
clerk" (me, namely) "she does not need. " I
am to confirm her promise of coming with
me when I return southward, and staying till
you tire of her. There was word from Jane
on Sunday gone a week. She wrote in haste,
but at great length, and seemed very cheer-
ful. She will not come hither this time, I
think. Her mother is to return home about
the end of this month. Jane appears quite
prepared to stay by herself. She has some
friends yonder whom she is much with, and
she rather likes the treat. Mrs. Welsh ex-
pects Liverpool people with her to Templand,
and can stay no longer.
I have ended my paper, dear Jenny, and
given one of the meagrest outlines of our
news. You will see, however, that nothing
is going wrong with us; that we are thinking
of you and desirous to hear from you. Be a
good bairn and a good wife, and help your
Goodman faithfully in all honest things. He
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? TO MRS. HANNING
85
is a thrifty fellow with a good whole heart.
There is no danger of him. Help one an-
other. Be good to one another. God's bless-
ing with you both. All here salute you.
I am always
Your affectionate brother,
T. Carlyle.
Meantime, while Jamie was building his
peat-stack in "the beautifullest weather" that
Carlyle had ever seen, Alick was setting up a
shop in the village of Ecclefechan, and The
French Revolution was beginning to take the
English-reading world for its parish. The
French verdict was for the most part adverse.
Merimee, whether or not he agreed with the
translators in describing Carlyle as le pheno-
mene d'un protestant poUique, expressed a
sincere desire to throw the writer out of the
window. But Dickens carried the book about
with him, Southey read it six times running,
and Mill, approving his opposite, maintained
that the much berated style was of high ex-
cellence. Carlyle, wishing to "lie vacant,"
neither read nor so much as saw many of the
reviews, though he heard of most of them.
One untactful friend sent him the opinion
of a certain critical journal, with which he
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? 86
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
forthwith "boiled his teakettle. " Much more
than a pot-boiler was one enthusiastic review,
although that function of his article was sadly
important to the writer, for whom Vanity
Fair and fame were still ten years ahead.
Writes Carlyle to his brother : "I understand
there have been many reviews of a very mixed
character. I got one in the Times last week.
The writer is one Thackeray, a half-monstrous
Cornish giant, kind of painter, Cambridge
man, and Paris newspaper correspondent, who
is now writing for his life in London. I have
seen him at the Bullers' and at Sterling's.
His article is rather like him, and I suppose
calculated to do the book good. "
One adds involuntarily: --
"Brigadier, repondit Pandore,
Brigadier, vous avez raison. "
Without regard to reviewers, and in spite
of the cholera, the homely idyl goes melodi-
ously on. "Jean and her two Jamies" are
Carlyle's sister, Mrs. Aitken, her husband
and little son. "Jamie of Scotsbrig" is, of
course, Carlyle's brother. Betty Smail's short
history may be found in Froude's First Forty
Years of Carlyle, vol. i. p. 119.
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? TO MRS. BANNING
87
IX. CARLYLE TO MRS. HANNING, MANCHESTER.
SCOTSBRIG, ECCLEFECHAN,
28 Aug. 1837.
Dear Jenny, -- Your letter to Mary at
Annan got this length on Saturday night.
As you appear to be impatient for news from
this quarter, not unreasonably, having had
none for six weeks, I am appointed to write
you a few lines without any loss of time what-
ever,--a thing I can easily enough do, being
even idler to-day than common.
We were not so well pleased to hear of
your fecklessness and pain in the stomach
during the last fortnight, but we hope it is
but something derived from the season and
will not continue. There is very often a kind
of "British Cholera " in this harvest time. It
is even very frequent at present in this re-
gion, owing partly to the air (as they say),
and chiefly, perhaps, to the new potatoes and
other imperfectly ripened substances which
people eat. Jamie, here, had a cast of it for
two days just a week ago, rather sharp, but
he is free now. Our Mother too was taken
with it, -- came home rather ill from Eccle-
fechan one day, -- but by aid of Castor and
some prime Brandy has got quite round
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? 88
LETTERS OF CABLYLE
again. You do not say that the disorder has
got that length with you, but very probably
it is something related to the same business.
The only remedy is to be careful of what one
eats, to take due moderate exercise in the
open air, in case of extremity employing a
little medicine. Cold, especially cold feet
are very bad; but the great thing is to take
care of one's self, especially to take care what
one eats. New potatoes are very unwhole-
some for some people.
We are now all well here, and with the
slight exception mentioned above have been
so ever since I wrote last. Alick brought us
news of you. Alick's news are the main
ones I have now to send you. He quitted
Annan on Monday last (this day gone a
week), and has been in the Big house at Ec-
clefechan ever since. I suppose he explained
to you and Robert the plan he had of setting
up a shop there. He has gathered himself
together, and is all alive after that same en-
terprise now. We had him and little Tom
over here all yesterday. Mother, Jamie, and
I walked with them to Cleughbrae in the
evening. To-day, as we understand, he has
got masons and actually broken in upon the
house to repair it and arrange it for that
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? TO MRS. BANNING
89
object; Hale Moffet and his retinue having
been got out. It is in a sad state of wreck,
the poor house, but Alick expects to put a
new face on it with great despatch indeed;
and then, "shop drawers" and all the rest
being provided, and James Aitken's brush
having given the last touch to it, he will un-
fold his wares and try the thing in the name
of Hope. We all pray heartily that it may
prosper beyond his expectations. Ecclefe-
chan is a sad Village: only last Friday night
some blackguard broke 14 panes of the Meet-
ing House windows. Fancy such an act of
dastardly atrocity as that! But it lies in the
centre of a tolerable country, too, and certain
there is need of some good shop and honest
Trader there.
I have seen Mary pretty frequently, the
last time on Friday last. She is very well,
and all her bairns are well. James has al-
ways some work, though seldom enough, and
Mary is the brightest, thriftiest little creature
that can be. They go on there as well as
one could hope in these times. We had a
letter from the Doctor, too: still in the same
place, -- Albano, near Rome; still well; un-
certain as to his future movements or engage-
ments, though it must be settled some way
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? 90 LETTERS OF CARLYLE
before this date, if we knew how. He
seemed to think it very unlikely that he
would be here in the present autumn, the
likeliest of all that he would try to return
next spring. The Cholera was in that coun-
try, but had not got to them. We fancy
they will not fail to fly out of the road of it,
if it advance too near.
I was at Dumfries since I wrote: up to
Templand, and then again at Dumfries on
my return. Mrs. Welsh came home several
weeks ago, and had at the time I was up,
and has still, her Liverpool friends with her.
The house was very crowded. I was not
very well, and stayed only four and twenty
hours or so, cutting out my way in spite of
all entreaties. Jean and her two Jamies are
very tolerably well: the elder Jamie a thrifty,
effectual, busy man; the younger as yet alto-
gether silent, staggering and tripping about,
-- one of the gleggest little elves I have
seen. There is talk of her coming down to
Annan this very week to have the benefit of
the tide for sea bathing. Jamie of Scotsbrig,
who goes up to-morrow to pay his rent, will
bring us word.
The other morning, walking out, I met
Robert's father at the "Lengland's Nett,"
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? TO MRS. HANNING
91
coming down from Dairlaw Hills with a row
of bog-hay carts he had been buying at Dair-
law Hills. He was hale and well to look at,
and reported all well. I suppose he has been
very busy of late; seldom were so many
roups seen in one season; all the farmers
selling off, none of them having money for
their rent day; Land farm, and now all the
stock, crop, and household furniture have
been sold off. Poor Clow goes off for Amer-
ica on Wednesday morning by the Liverpool
steamer. People are all sorry. The Burn-
foot Irvings, or Sandy Cowie for them, have
bought his land: ? 4000.
Betty Smail, bound for Ecclefechan, has
been waiting this half hour till I should be
done; I did not know of her when I began.
The needfullest thing, therefore, that I can
do is to tell you about our coming.
It will
be soon, but is still uncertain when. I
should say in about a fortnight, -- nay, in a
day or so less; but it depends somewhat on
a letter we look for from Jane which has not
yet come to hand. Jane, you must know,
after her mother's departure went into the
country with the Sterlings, friends of hers.
I wish her to stay there while she likes, and
would get home about the same time as she;
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? 92
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
a month was the time she first spoke of, and
that I have little doubt will suffice, -- so my
guess is as above given. A newspaper with
one stroke on it will come to you (barring
mistakes) two days before you are to look for
us. This shall be a token, and we need not
write any more. Alick has some talk of
coming with us to get his goods ready then,
but I think he will hardly be ready. The
butter and another firkin of butter has been
talked of and will be forthcoming, but it
seems dubious whether any of it will get with
us. It can come before or after, I believe
safe and with little expense. Mother will
bring "some pounds of it" in her box. I
shall perhaps be obliged to go back by Liver-
pool, and must not calculate to stay more
with you than a day. My Mother sends you
both her love (she is smoking here); she
"will tell you all her news" when we come.
Compliments and good wishes to Robert from
all of us. We are glad to hear his trade is
better. A glegg fellow like him will get
through worse troubles than this. God keep
you, my dear little Jenny.
Your affectionate Brother,
T. Carlyle.
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? MRS. CARLTLE TO MRS. HANNING 93
X. TO MRS. HIMfING, MANCHESTER, FROM HER
MOTHER.
[Scotsbrig] January 11th [1838].
Dear Children, -- I received your letter
this day about mid-day. Then Alick and his
family came here, so we talked on till bed-
time; and now they are gone to bed. I am
sorry to hear that Jenny is poorly. I intend
to see you very soon; I cannot say pointedly
which day yet. I am going down to Annan
with Alick, and will fix. It shall not be
long, God willing. I have some thoughts of
taking the steamer. Keep up your heart,
Jenny, and be well when I come. Trust in
God, casting all your cares on Him. He is a
kind father to all them that put their trust in
Him. I will say no more to-night; it is late.
Do you think the railway is passable?
I had not finished this scrawl when I re-
ceived your last letter, of which I was very
glad. It is all well, God's will be done. I
was coming by the steamer on Thursday or
Friday. Now I will let the storm blow by.
Now, Jenny, be very careful of yourself;
take care of cold, and likewise what you eat.
May God's blessing rest on us all. May He
make us thankful for all His ways of dealing
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? 94
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
with us. Write soon. You may direct to
Annan, as I will be there some time. Could
you let Tom know that I am there, also, and
that I am well? Now, bairns, write soon.
You see I cannot write, though nobody would
take greater pleasure in it.
Your own mother,
Margaret A. C.
P. S. My tooth is better, though not very
sound yet. I forgot to thank you very
kindly for the things you sent me.
In the two ensuing years Carlyle gave two
more courses of lectures, both notably suc-
cessful. Among many other new acquaint-
ances was Mr. Baring, afterward Lord Ash-
burton, who, with his two wives, was to figure
so largely in the lives of Carlyle and his wife.
Sartor Resartus was published in England,
and republished in the United States. Chart-
ism was written and printed. Other events
of the same biennium were Mrs. Carlyle's
"only Soiree," the appearance of Count d'Or-
say in Cheyne Row, and Mr. Marshall's gift
to Carlyle of a mare, --" Citoyenne "to be
called.
After several visits in Scotland during
the summer of 1838, Carlyle went home
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? NOISY MANCHESTER
95
again to Scotsbrig. On his return thence,
he spent a few days in Manchester with Mrs.
Hanning. "He had been put to sleep in an
old bed, which he remembered in his father's
house. " "I was just closing my senses in
sweet oblivion," wrote he, "when the watch-
man, with a voice like the deepest groan of
the Highland bagpipe, or what an ostrich
corncraik might utter, groaned out Groo-o-o-o
close under me, and set me all in a gallop
again. Groo-o-o-o; for there was no articu-
late announcement at all in it, that I could
gather. Groo-o-o-o, repeated again and again
at various distances, dying out and then
growing loud again, for an hour or more. I
grew impatient, bolted out of bed, flung up
the window. Groo-o-o-o. There he was ad-
vancing, lantern in hand, a few yards off me.
'Can't you give up that noise? ' I hastily
addressed him. 'You are keeping a person
awake. What good is it to go howling and
groaning all night, and deprive people of
their sleep? ' He ceased from that time --
at least I heard no more of him. No watch-
man, I think, has been more astonished for
some time back. At five in the morning
all was as still as sleep and darkness. At
half past five all went off like an enormous
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? 96
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
mill-race or ocean-tide. The Boom-m-m, far
and wide. It was the mills that were all start-
ing then, and creishy drudges by the million
taking post there. I have heard few sounds
more impressive to me in the mood I was
in. "
The following letter belongs to the time
between the Hannings' departure from Man-
chester and Mr. Hanning's sailing for Amer-
ica. Kirtlebridge, where they were now liv-
ing, is a few miles southeast of Ecclefechan.
"The little 'trader,'" the "bit creeture,"
was probably Mrs. Hanning's first child, Mar-
garet Aitken Carlyle, who was not yet two
years old. The reference to the new penny
post marks an era.
xi. carltle to mrs. hanning, kirtlebridge.
6 Cheyne Row, Chelsea, London,
7 Feb. 1840.
Dear Jenny, -- Had I known definitely
how to address a word to you, I might surely
have done so long before this. We have
heard in general that you are stationed some-
where in the Village of Kirtlebridge or near
it, and we fancy in general that your hus-
band is struggling along with his old impetu-
osity. From yourself we have no tidings.
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? TO MRS. HANNING
97
Pray, now that the Postage is so cheap, send
us a pennyworth some day. I address this
through Alick, fancying such may be the
best way.
I enclose my last letter from the Doctor.
I wrote to him the day before yesterday to
his final destination. I calculate he may
have got my letter to-day, -- that is two days
after his arrival. By that note all seems to be
going well with him ; -- we are all well here,
as well as our wont is, and fighting along
with printers, proof sheets &c, &c. Jane
cannot regularly get out; so horribly tem-
pestuous, wet and uncertain is the weather,
which keeps her still sickly, but she never
breaks actually down. How is the little
"trader," as Jean or some of them call her?
I remember the "bit creeture" very dis-
tinctly.
This is the worst year or among the worst
for working people ever seen in man's mem-
ory. Robert must not take this as a measure
of his future success, but toil away stead-
fastly in sure hope of better times. It is
well anyway that you are out of Manchester;
nothing there but hunger, contention and de-
spair-- added to the reek and dirt! Be dili-
gent and fear nothing.
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? 98
LETTERS OF CARLYLE
Do you often run over to see our dear Mo-
ther in her Upper Room yonder? It will be a
great comfort to her that she has you so near.
Pray explain to me what part of the Village
it is that you live in. I thought I knew it
all, but I do not know Firpark Nook. Give
my best wishes to your Goodman. Accept
my thanks for your written remembrance,
from one who always silently remembers you
in his heart.
On April 23 of this year Carlyle wrote in
his journal, " Miscellanies out, and Chartism
second thousand. " A month later he re-
lieved his mother's anxiety about the last of
his lectures on Heroes and Hero-Worship:
"I contrived to tell them something about
poor Cromwell, and I think to convince them
that he was a great and true man, the valiant
soldier in England of what John Knox had
preached in Scotland. In a word, the people
seemed agreed that it was my best course of
lectures, this. " Certainly his last course of
lectures, this. He never spoke from a plat-
form again till twenty-six years later, when,
as Lord Rector, he addressed the students
of Edinburgh University. He detested the
"mixture of prophecy and play-acting. " In
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? CARLYLE IN THE GARDEN OF 5 CHEYNE ROW, CHELSEA
July 20, iSj7
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? ? ? 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.
