Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-05-07
Thomas Carly Ie's Old Home.

AbHuOH W Hlbolttll htNitWs
Wearing au Understandable air of misery
and decay; dreary, dismantled, "signif-
cant of much; deserted by all save
ghosts in curled wigs and laced coats, i'll
hoops and patches; in D'Orsay dress, and
leg-of-mutton sleeves; in flowing crino-
lines and striped garibaldis, stands the
house in Great Cheyne row which for Az
years was the house of Thomas Carlyle.
Sic transit gloria mundi Parrots mny
shrek, cocks crow, dogs bark, young
ladies strum their 'pieces" unmolested
and unreproved, for now no more
between the four walls of No. 8
lnbors the sage of Chelsea with lncerated
nerves and miserable dyspepsia, at his
uncongenial task. The smithy fire is ont,
and the sound of the hammer is still
forever. Through the window in the
back dining room one sees that the cherry
tree reported blossoming in '33) is again
putting forth fresh leaves; black buds dot
the branches of the ash under which
Carlyle sat for the portrait painted by
Mrs. Allingham; creepers stretch their
long arms over the red brick walls: ivy,
luxuriant and green, trails unchecked ON
the path; primrose roots, no doubt
brought piously from Haddington, gild
the flower beds What n paradise for
worshippers TO revel in There would
not be n blade of grass left in the little
e-begone Enclosure if once they were
left loose there. In the front room
Carlyle wrote and received his friends
visions of Leigh Hunt, Darwin, John
Stuart Mill, u remembrance of visit paid
by Miss Martineau-a scene not wholly
unconnected with brandy and water
ond an inimitable sketch of nm intrusive
American, come to ones mind) till the
sOund-proof study was planned and built,
which structure proved failure after all,
and was ultimately given up to servants.
The drawing room above, with its empty
book shelves, its stained walls, and marks
of looking glass and pictures, is sacred,
for here the Carlyles were sitting when
Mill, in agitation and anguish, came to
announce the terrible tragedy of the
burnt manuscripts and again its Carlyles
death chamber, his bed having been
moved in here few days before the
Hateful February 4th. Through double
doors, one goes into Mrs. Cnrlyle's room,
in which She lay awake 80 many nights,
and where she endured more physical
suffering than falls to the lot of most
women. The paper is gray ind yellow
II dree combination. Was il the new one
chosen 10 cheer the spirits of the invalid
lady on her return after her terrible
illness Above, again, up the pretty old
staircase with its "burley sugar. twisted
balustrades ESQ like the altar rails in many
of Wren's city churches), are two more
bed rooms, one rejoicing in charming
Queen Anne mantelpieoe, the other
pathetic, with its empty row of hooks,
and scrap of n Carlisle Patriot of rs
pasted ON the WALL and still ascending
one comes to the new room which runs
the length of the house, quiet enough
now, heaven knows, and paradise, one
would imagine, for literary person who
would care for an airy, capaeious apart
ment with good cupboards and presses,
and which is full to overlooking with ali
sorts of associations. That f2,500 is n
large sum to ask for this small house,
even with its advantages, is shown by the
fact that since Carlyle's death in 1881 no
one has thought it worth his while to
buy il,