irst attempt at
an experiment.
My sheet is nearly done; and I have still to complain of you for
telling me nothing of yourself except that you are in the
country. Believe that I want to know much and all. My wife too
remembers you with unmixed friendliness; bids me send you her
kindest wishes. Understand too that your old bed stands in a new
room here, and the old welcome at the door. Surely we shall see
you in London one day. Or who knows but Mahomet may go to the
mountain? It occasionally rises like a mad prophetic dream in
me, that I might end in the Western Woods!
From Germany I get letters, messages, and even visits; but now
no tidings, no influences, of moment. Goethe's Posthumous Works
are all published; and Radicalism (poor hungry, yet inevitable
Radicalism!) is the order of the day. The like, and even more,
from France. Gustave d'Eichthal (did you hear?) has gone over to
Greece, and become some kind of Manager under King Otho.*
-----------
* Gustave d'Eichthal, whose acquaintance Emerson had made at
Rome, and who had given him an introduction to Carlyle, was one
of a family of rich Jewish bankers at Paris. He was an ardent
follower of Saint-Simon, and an associate of Enfantin. After the
dispersion of the Saint-Simonians in 1832, he traveled much, and
continued to devote himself to the improvement of society.
----------
Continue to love me, you and my other friends; and as packets
sail so swiftly, let me know it frequently. All good be
with you!
Most faithfully,
T. Carlyle
Coleridge, as you doubtless hear, is gone. How great a Possibility,
how small a realized Result! They are delivering Orations about
him, and emitting other kinds of froth, _ut mos est._ What hurt
can it do?
III. Emerson to Carlyle *
Concord, Mass., 20 November, 1834
My Dear Sir,--Your letter, which I received last week, made a
bright light in a solitary and saddened place. I had quite
recently received the news of the death of a brother** in the
island of Porto Rico, whose loss to me will be a lifelong sorrow.
As he passes out of sight, come to me visible as well as
spiritual tokens of a fraternal friendliness which, by its own
law, transcends the tedious barriers of custom and nation; and
opens its way to the heart. This is a true consolation, and I
thanked my jealous [Greek] for the godsend so significantly
timed. It, for the moment, realizes the hope to which I have
clun
|