de both gloomy and irritable by his anxieties, he found
relief in rides with his wife, and occasionally visiting their
relations. Their letters during temporary separations are most
affectionate. The bleak climate, however, the solitude, and the
necessity of managing a household with a single servant, were
excessively trying to a delicate woman, though Mrs Carlyle concealed
from her husband the extent of her sacrifices. The position was
gradually becoming untenable. In the autumn of 1831 Carlyle was forced
to accept a loan of L50 from Jeffrey, and went in search of work to
London, whither his wife followed him. He made some engagements with
publishers, though no one would take _Sartor Resartus_, and returned to
Craigenputtock in the spring of 1832. Jeffrey, stimulated perhaps by his
sympathy for Mrs Carlyle, was characteristically generous. Besides
pressing loans upon both Thomas and John Carlyle, he offered to settle
an annuity of L100 upon Thomas, and finally enabled John to support
himself by recommending him to a medical position.[1] Carlyle's proud
spirit of independence made him reject Jeffrey's help as long as
possible; and even his acknowledgment of the generosity (in the
_Reminiscences_) is tinged with something disagreeably like resentment.
In 1834 he applied to Jeffrey for a post at the Edinburgh Observatory.
Jeffrey naturally declined to appoint a man who, in spite of some
mathematical knowledge, had no special qualification, and administered a
general lecture upon Carlyle's arrogance and eccentricity which left a
permanent sense of injury.

In the beginning of 1833 the Carlyles made another trial of Edinburgh.
There Carlyle found materials in the Advocates' Library for the article
on the _Diamond Necklace_, one of his most perfect writings, which led
him to study the history of the French Revolution. _Sartor Resartus_ was
at last appearing in _Fraser's Magazine_, though the rate of payment was
cut down, and the publisher reported that it was received with
"unqualified dissatisfaction." Edinburgh society did not attract him,
and he retreated once more to Craigenputtock. After another winter the
necessity of some change became obvious. The Carlyles resolved to "burn
their ships." They went to London in the summer of 1834, and took a
house at 5 (now 24) Cheyne Row, Chelsea, which Carlyle inhabited till
his death; the house has since been bought for the public. Irving, who
had welcomed him on former occasions,