Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-01
Carlyle's Bouse for Sale


Wearing an indescribable air Of misery
and decay dreary, dismantled, 'signih-
\ cant Of much;" deserted by all save
ghosts in curleG wigs and laced coats, IN
/ hoops and patches; in DOrsaY dress ana
/ leg-Of mutton sleeves; in flowing crino-
! lines and striped gaTibadles, stands the
/ house in Great Cneyne row which, Tor
| fOrty-cight years, was the home OF lhomas
/ Carlyle. Sic transit 0l0ri1 ntaHdi! Par
rots may shrek, cocks crow, dogs bark,
young ladies' strum their pieces" unmO-
Tested and unreprOyed. for now, no more
between the four walls Of No. 3 labOrs the
sage of Chelsea, with laCerated nerves
and miserable dyspepsia, at his unconge-
NAL task. The smithV fire is out and the
sound of the hammer is still forever.
Through the window in the back dining
room one sees that the cherry tree ire
ported bloss0ming 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. AL
bingham; creepers stretch their long arms
over the red brick walls; ivy, luXuriant
and green, trails unchecked on the pain;
primrose roots, no doubt brought piOusly
from Haddington, gild the fiower-beds.
q What a paradise for wOlshlpers
TO revel in! There would not be a blade
OF grass left in the little woe-begone in
/
In the front room Carlyle wrote and re-
ceived his friends visions OF Leigh, Hunt,
Darwin, John Stuart Mill, a remembrance
of a visit paid by Miss Martineau-a
scene not wholly unconnected with BRAN
dY and water-and an inimitable sketch
of an intrusive American, come TO ones
mind) till the sOund-proof study was
planned and built, which structure prov
ed a failure after all, and was ultimately
given up to servants. The drawing-rOOm
above, with its empty bOok-shelVes, it's
stained walls, and marks Of loOking-glass
and pictures, is sacred, for here the Car
lyles were sitting when Mill, in agitation
and anguish, came to announce the terri
bic tragedy OF the burnt manuscript; and
again il is CarlYle's death-Chamber, his
bed having been moved in here few
days before the iateful Feb. 4.
Through double doors one goes into Mrs.
Carlyle's room, in which she lay awake
so many nights. and where she endured
more physical suffering than falls to the
lot Of most women. The paper is gray
and yellOw-a dree combination. Was it
the new one chosen to cheer the spirits Of
the invalid lady on her return after the
/ terrible illness? Above, again, up the
pretty old staircase with its charley SUI
gar" twisted balustrades( go like the altar
rails in many Of Wren's city churches J,
are two more good bedrooms, one rejoic-
ing in a.charming Queen Anne mantle
piece, the other pathetic, with its empty
row of hooks, and scrap of a Cdrlyie Pat
riot of - pasted on the walls; and, still
ascending, one comes to the new room,
which runs the length OF the house, quiet
enough now, Heaven knows, and a para
disc, one would imagine, for literary
person, who would care for an airy, capa-
cious apartment with good cupbosrds and
presses and which is full TO overlooking
with all sorts Of associations.
| That G2.500 is large sum to
/ ask for this small house, even
/ with its advantages, is shown by the fact
/ that, since CaTlyle's death in 1881, no one
has thought it worth his while to buy It,
viii not some enterprising millionaire
failing Barnum) turn it into a museum
for Carlyle relics, and have a decent
tablet affixed to the walls instead of al
auctioneer's bOard), telling the passer-by
that it was here that our great country
man lived and died?