The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I, by Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Title: The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I

Author: Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson

Release Date: October 3, 2004 [EBook #13583]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CARLYLE AND EMERSON, VOL. I ***

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THOMAS CARLYLE AND RALPH WALDO EMERSON

1834-1872

VOLUME I.

"To my friend I write a letter, and from him I receive a letter. It is a spiritual gift, worthy of him to give, and of me to receive."—Emerson

"What the writer did actually mean, the thing he then thought of, the thing he then was."—Carlyle

EDITORIAL NOTE

The trust of editing the following Correspondence, committed to me several years since by the writers, has been of easy fulfilment. The whole Correspondence, so far as it is known to exist, is here printed, with the exception of a few notes of introduction, and one or two essentially duplicate letters. I cannot but hope that some of the letters now missing may hereafter come to light.

In printing, a dash has been substituted here and there for a proper name, and some passages, mostly relating to details of business transactions, have been omitted. These omissions are distinctly designated. The punctuation and orthography of the original letters have been in the main exactly followed. I have thought best to print much concerning dealings with publishers, as illustrative of the material conditions of literature during the middle of the century, as well as of the relations of the two friends. The notes in the two volumes are mine.

My best thanks and those of the readers of this Correspondence are due to Mr. Moncure D. Conway, for his energetic and successful effort to recover some of Emerson's early letters which had fallen into strange hands. —Charles Eliot Norton

Cambridge, Massachusetts
January 29, 1883

————-

NOTE TO REVISED EDITION

The hope that some of the letters missing from it when this correspondence was first published might come to light, has been fulfilled by the recovery of thirteen letters of Carlyle, and of four of Emerson. Besides these, the rough drafts of one or two of Emerson's letters, of which the copies sent have gone astray, have been found. Comparatively few gaps in the Correspondence remain to be filled.

The letters and drafts of letters now first printed are those numbered as follows:—

Vol. I.
   XXXVI. Carlyle
   XLI. Emerson
   XLII. Carlyle
   XLVI. "
   XLVII. "
   LXVIII. "

Vol. II.
   C. Emerson
   CIV. Carlyle
   CV. "
   CVI. "
   CVII. "
   CVIII. "
   CIX. "
   CXII. "
   CXVI. "
   CXLIX. Emerson
   CLII. "
   CLXV. "
   CLXXXVI. "

Emerson's letter of 1 May, 1859 (CLXIV.), of which only fragments were printed in the former edition, is now printed complete, and the extract from his Diary accompanying it appears in the form in which it seems to have been sent to Carlyle.

—C.E.N.

December 31, 1884

—————-

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

Introduction. Emerson's early recognition of Carlyle's genius.
—His visit at Craigenputtock, in 1833.—Extracts concerning it
from letter of Carlyle, from letter of Emerson, and from English
Traits.

I. Emerson. Boston, 14 May, 1834. First acquaintance with
Carlyle's writings.—Visit to Craigenputtock.—Sartor Resartus,
its contents, its diction.—Gift of Webster's Speeches and
Sampson Reed's Growth of the Mind.

II. Carlyle. Chelsea, 12 August, 1834. Significance of
Emerson's gift and visit.—Sampson Reed.—Webster.—
Teufelsdrockh, its sorry reception.—Removal to London.—Article
on the Diamond Necklace.—Preparation for book on the French
Revolution.—Death of Coleridge.

III. Emerson. Concord, 20 November, 1834. Death of his brother
Edward.—Consolation in Carlyle's friendship.—Pleasure in
receiving stitched copy of Teufelsdrockh.—Goethe.—
Swedenborgianism.—Of himself.—Hope of Carlyle's coming to
America.—Gift of various publications.

IV. Carlyle. Chelsea, 3 February, 1835. Acknowledgments and
inquiries.—Sympathy for death of Edward Emerson.—Unitarianism.
—Emerson's position and pursuits.—Goethe.-Volume of French
Revolution finished.—Condition of literature.—Lecturing in
America.—Mrs. Austin.

V. Emerson. Concord, 12 March, 1835. Appreciation of Sartor.
—Dr. Channing.—Prospect of Carlyle's visit to America.—His
own approaching marriage.—Plan of a journal of Philosophy in
Boston.—Encouragement of Carlyle.

VI. Emerson. Concord, 30 April, 1835. Apathy of English public toward Carlyle.—Hope of his visit to America.—Lectures and lecturers in Boston.—Estimate of receipts and expenses.—Esteem of Carlyle in America.

VII. Carlyle. Chelsea, 13 May, 1835. Emerson's marriage. —Astonishing reception of Teufelsdrockh in New England. —Boston Transcendentalism.—Destruction of manuscript of first volume of French Revolution.—Result of a year's life in London.—Wordsworth.—Southey.

VIII. Carlyle. Chelsea, 27 June, 1835. Visit to America questionable.—John Carlyle.—Tired out with rewriting French Revolution.—A London rout.—O'Connell.—Longfellow.—Emerson and Unitarianism.

IX. Emerson. Concord, 7 October, 1835. Mrs. Child.—Public
addresses.—Marriage.—Destruction of manuscript of French
Revolution.—Notice of Sartor in North American Review.
—Politics.—Charles Emerson.

X. Emerson. Concord, 8 April, 1836. Concern at Carlyle's silence.—American reprint of Sartor.—Carlyle's projected visit.—Lecturing in New England.

XI. Carlyle. Chelsea, 29 April, 1836. Weariness over French
Revolution.—Visit to Scotland.—Charm of London.—Letter from
James Freeman Clarke.—Article on Sartor in North American
Review.—Quatrain from Voss.

XII. Emerson. Concord, 17 September,1836. Death of Charles Emerson.—Solicitude concerning Carlyle.—Urgency to him to come to Concord.—Sends Nature to him.—Reflections.

XIII. Carlyle. Chelsea, 5 November, 1836. Charles Emerson's death.—Concord.—His own condition.—French Revolution almost ended.—Character of the book.—Weariness.—London and its