The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1875-03-26
Carlyle and TennysOn.

- H
Some Interesting Personal Facts Abou
the Philosopher and Poet. u
Carlyle goes on the even and rather
morose tenor of his way in the very
common place and unpicturesqu sub
urb of Chelsea. He has lived for many
years in a very plain house, on a small
side street, called Cheyne Walk, the
interior of his home being plain to al
most dreariness. Since his Wife's death
his accomplished niece, Mrs. Mary Car
lyle Aiken, has looked after the grim
old philosophers creature comforts
which are few, for he lives with a Put
Mike, not to say Spartan simplicity.
[ have often seen him taking his regular
afternoon walk through the Chelsea
streets, sometimes with a friend like
Froude, .Ruskin, or our own country
man, Moncure Conway, but usually
alone, with a very old felt hat askew on
his thick, stubby gray head; and a
more gloomy, uns0eial, cynical old man
is seldom to be seen. No one could
pass him without taking note of him
bis face would attract the attention of
o street urehin, SO singularly expressive
OF a wholly unusual character Ia it. He
Is very sallow and holloW-cheeked his
eyes, dull and CLASSY, are deep sunk in
their sockets; he wears a rough, short.
tangled beard and mustache, white, all
but here and there a stray streak of
brown, his form is bent, and he stalks
on IN the gloomiest apparent indiffer-
! ence to b eSworld about him. At home
he occu pies a h~arumscarum study at
Che top of the house most of the day
OF this, sometimes, when closeted with
afrlend, he makes a beer garden. with
his hurried pacing of the floor and his
bitter and evoluble homilies about the
llttlenessn of mankind. 95s CARLYLE was
right to decline to be gazetted as q
grand commander of the bath it would
be a very homogeneous ornament for
such as he,< despising society as he
does, and knowing well that he needs
no superficial gliding to his golden
fame. asfDea a.
The poet laureate is by no means SO
indifferent to the comforts and elegan-
cues of this life as the hermit of Cheyne
Walk. he lives In great LUXURY In q |
POLITICALLY picturesque country mansion, |
rich in its architecture, and lavish and |
tasteful in its adornments and knick- |
knacks. Il There are about it terraces |
and fountains, greeneries and foyer
parterres, avenues and lawns; it ID the
mansion OF a rich man of high taste
ana culture. Here for the most part,
both summer and winter, the most emil
Of England's poets passes his time.
1t is rarely that he appears 10 the Lon
don streets, and more rarely that his
presence is obtained In the hospitsble
houses of the West End. But Il have
caught occasional glimpses of himin
the "c1ty" and the bookstore quarter
OF P~aternoster Bow. He lis tall Uaunt.
shaggy-haired, with q ragged-looking
beard and long. struggling locks. of d
light brown, very much tinged With
gray. He wore big SLOUGH hat and
CLOAK when I last saw him, and were it
not for a pair Of deep, large, dreamy
eyes, there would be- nothing in. the
east poetic IN his appearance. Indeed.
is Enthusiastically to the outward eye:o
ans manner shy, and his apparent en-
teavor is to pass hither and thithe
quite nnnoticed. I hear tha5 he ID
greatly bored by people, in large degree
Americans, i am sorry to say, who 90
own TO the country houss and insist
seeing him, much as they would
lom Thumb or the crown Jewels. He
sefs bushels Of letters begging for an.
ographs. which he never by any chance q
sasWers and ia said to have remarked (
bat enough stamps were inclosodP ii 4
ihese to give him 3. practical frankinr
privilege. Those who, few In number
ire received at the poets freside az his
rlends, speak in glowing terms of his
urndly and genial hospitality, and his
Iometlnies almost childlike plRyfulness.
1e is-full of anecdote, aud likes to taIk
u his own literary experiences, ais
library is said TO be a model of cozinees
md elegant taste, and his gardens.
inch he loves, are described as beau
iful and we'll kept. London Letter.