The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-10-25

there an air of ease, as of a household
living within its means Mrs, Carlyle was
always well dressed. Her admirable taste
would make the most of inexpensive mate
rials, but the materials themselVe were of
the very best Carlyle himself generally kept a
horse. They Travelled. they visited, and were al
ways generous and open-handed They had
their house on easy terms. The rent, which
when they came first. was $50 year was never
raised, out of respect for Carlyles literary char
acter. The house had many rooms in it, which,
because they could not bear to haveit otherwise
were maintained in the best condition. There
was much curiosity among their friends to know
how their establishment was supported. Mrs
Carlyle had 9l50 a year from Craiginputtock
He himself in a late calculation has set down his
average income from his books at another e LOO
Even as long ago as 1854, there was fixed an
nual demand for his works but not a large one
The Cromwell" had gone through three edi-
tons, and he had received from it perhaps,
81 800. The Latter Day Pamphlets" had pro
duced little beyond paying their expenses The
Life of Sterling was popular, but only in a
limited circle. Carlyle was thrifty, but never
penurious. He gave away profusely in
h ms own family and was liberal
saved about e2 600 in all, which was lying at in
terest in the Dumfries Bank. Thus his entire
income in S54could not hav exceeded f4OO if it
was that much. His German tour had been ex-
pensive. The cost of living was increasing
through the rise in prices, which no economy
could guard against, and though they mad but
one servant the household books amounted dis
agreeably. Mrs. Carlyle, not wishing to add to
her husbands troubles, as far as possible kept
her anXieties to herself According to Mr..
Froude Carlyle was like most husbands in
this matter and was inclined to be irritable
when spoken to about it When Mrs Carlyle
got in straits. and it was necessary for Carlyle
TO do something towards relieving the household
necessities, she would write out more or less
humorous budget, as she could, aud leave it on
his desk, After reading this, which generally
amused him, he made the necessary increase in
her allowance. Mrs. Carlyle, Froude admits,
knew how to give a ''shrewing, and her poor
husband, he also admits, knew how to bear
one" He perhaps bore it too well. Mr. Froude
thinks, for there We're parts of what she said
which he might with advantage have laid to
heart seriously
1t was while Carlyle was preparing for his
Irish tour that FrouGe became personally ac-
quainted with him. He had heard of him from
Arthur Clough, who left Oxford when he did
Before Carlyle met Froude he had read some
Of his articles in which heterodoxy was fla
vored with sentinentaism, and he had said of
their author that he ought to burn his smoke
and not trouble other peoples nostris with it"
Nevertheless he expressed willingness to see
him Mr. Speeding took Froude down to
Cheyne row one evening in the middle of June.
They found Carlyle sitting after dinner. with
his pipe, in the small tagged court, between
the house and the garden. He was studying,
without much satisfaction, the Life of st. Pat
rick" by Joslyn of Ferns, in the Acta Cancto-
rum He was trying to form notion of what
lrishmen had been like before Danes Or SaXons
had meddled with Ireland and when il was said
to have been the chosen home of learning and
piety, and had sent out missionaries to con
vert northern Europe When they arrived
Carlyle had just been reading how an Irish
man had stolen a goat and eaten it
and the Saint had convicted him by
making the goat bleat in his stomach He spoke
of it with much rough disgust, and they talked
of Ireland of which Froude had some local
knowledge. Carlyle was then fifty four years
old, tall about five feet eleven( thin. but at
that time upright but with mo signs of the
later stoop- His body was angular his face
beardless' such as it is represented in Wooner's
medallion, which Mr.. Froude thinks is "by far
the best likeness of him in the days of his
strength" His head was extremely long, with
the chin thrust forward The neck was thin,
the mouth firmly closed, the under lip slightly
projecting, the hair grizzled, and thick. and
bushy." His eyes, which grew lighter with age
We're then of a deep violet, with fire burning at
the bottom of them, which flashed out at the
least excitement" The face was altogether
most fascinating most impressive every way"
He treated Froude not unkindlv "but rather
what | saw ever after-that no one need look for
conventional politeness from Carlyle. He would
hear the truth from him and nothing else"
They went into the dining-room where Mrs
CARLYLE gave them tea. Her features "were not
regular, but Mr.. Froude thought he had never
more interesting looking woman Her
hair raven black, her eyes dark, soft sad,
with dangerous light in them. Carlyles talk
was rich, full and scornful; hers delicate aud
hooking She was fond of speaking, and kent
up quick, sparkling conversation with him,
telling stories at her husbands expense at
which he laughed as heartily as we did
They told Mr.. Froude that he might come
again-an invitation that he was not SLOW to ac-
cept-and after Mrs. Carlyles death, when he
felt that Carlyle was very lonely man, he was
with him almost daily. Carlyle was very fond
of talking of his dead wife to Mr. Froude, and
one day in June, of 1871, he brought to Froude's
house a large parcel of papers. These he put in
his hands and told hun to take them absolutely
as his own, without reference to any other
person or persons, and to do with them as he
pleased after he (Carlylel was gone. He eX-
planned that the manuscript was an account of
his wifes history; that it was Incomplete that
he could himself form opinion whether
it could be published or not: that he could do no
more to it. and that he must pass it over to his
friend who must publish it, the whole or part,
or else erase it all, if he thought this was the
wiser thing to do. He said nothing of any limit
of time, only to wait till he was dead, and he
was then in constant expectation of his end. On
be transcript of the "reminiscences of Mrs. Car
lyle, which Carlyle had written Immediately
after her death. with collection of her letters,
almost twice as voluminous, which has since
been printed, with notes, commentaries and in
troductOry explanations of his own After read
ing these manuscripts Mr.. Froude saw at once
the meaning of Carlyle's passionate expressions
of remorse, and his illusions to Johnson's
penance, and of mis- repeated declaration that
Something like it was due from himself. He had
never understood until after her death how
much his wife had suffered, and how much he
himself had to answer for it.
In this account of Cariyle's life in London,
Mr. Froude has followed as far as possible the
course pursued in the previous volumes of
making the extracts from the letters and diaries
of Carlyle tell the story, so that we get his ideas
of things and his opinions of people at first hand,
honest, for Carlyle's honesty is not question of
dispute but many of them seem to be unueces
sarily truthful, and one cannot but be surprised
that a man of Caryles character should have
thought enough of the peculiarties of those with
whom he came in contact to mention them in his
letters and diaries.
He never met person that he did not have