Let me not mourn for my father, let me do worthily of
him. So shall he still live even here in me, and his worth plant itself
honourably forth into new generations.'[14] One of the wise men about
Ecclefechan told James Carlyle: 'Educate a boy, and he grows up to
despise his ignorant parents.' His father once told Carlyle this, and
added: 'Thou hast not done so; God be thanked for it.' When James
Carlyle first entered his son's house at Craigenputtock, Mrs Carlyle was
greatly struck with him, 'and still farther,' says her husband, 'opened
my eyes to the treasure I possessed in a father.'

The last time Carlyle saw his father was a few days before leaving for
London. 'He was very kind,' wrote Carlyle, 'seemed prouder of me than
ever. What he had never done the like of before, he said, on hearing me
express something which he admired, "Man, it's surely a pity that thou
should sit yonder with nothing but the eye of Omniscience to see thee,
and thou with such a gift to speak."' In closing his affectionate
tribute, Carlyle exclaims: 'Thank Heaven, I know and have known what it
is to be a _son_; to _love_ a father, as spirit can love spirit.'

The last days of March 1832 found the Carlyles back at Craigenputtock. A
new tenant occupied the farm, and their days were lonelier than ever.
Meanwhile 'Sartor Resartus' was appearing in _Fraser's Magazine_. The
Editor reported that it 'excited the most unqualified disapprobation.'
Nothing daunted, Carlyle pursued the 'noiseless tenor of his way,'
throwing off articles on various subjects. Finding that Mrs Carlyle's
health suffered from the gloom and solitude of Craigenputtock, they
removed to Edinburgh in January 1833. Jeffrey was absent in 'official
regions,' and Carlyle notes that they found a 'most dreary contemptible
kind of element' in Edinburgh. But their stay there was not without its
uses, for in the Advocates' Library Carlyle found books which had a
great effect upon his line of study. He collected materials for his
articles upon 'Cagliostro' and the 'Diamond Necklace.' At the end of
four months, the Carlyles were back again at Craigenputtock.

August was a bright month for Thomas Carlyle, for it was then that Ralph
Waldo Emerson visited him at his rural retreat. The Carlyles thought him
'one of the most lovable creatures' they had ever seen, and an unbroken
friendship of nearly fifty years was begun. As winter approached,
Carlyle's prospects were not very bright, and he onc