New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-08-26

THE CARLYLE MUSEUM.
A Trust HAS BOUGHT THE OLD CHELSEA
HOUSE AND is FILLING IT WITH RELICS.
From The London Standard
The old house at No. "a Cheyne Row. Chelsea, when
WAS the London home of Carlyle for foriy-seVeh
wears has passed into the possession Oh trust
and been converted into museum for the pIeser'a-
ton of relics and memorials or the great winter ~
is now nearly centuries DID, and Is soiidy puii'
All its front rooms large and tommodious' bu'
the back ones which the Carlyes used as bedrooms.
are very small one Of them, it Is true. was MADE
smaller by the Carlyes themselves as Mrs. Car
lyle's bedroom, which was behind the drawing
room was shorn of three feet OF its space that the
fairly ample drawing room might be Increased In
size The staircase is narrow and the walls look
old. but the stairs which painted brown where
the carpet did n ot lie do respond with single
creak TO the heaviest foot. When Carlyle entered
upon its in 1884, at rent OF t3o he looked
out upon green fields and an open country; but no,
long before his death the house had been Duit
round and in his later years ne beheid no longer
the pollarded elns OF half century ago. when.
stood before his dwelling but huge red brick build
ings within a few yards OF his front windows, with
a few dwarf sumacs struggling for life in the cioSe
air Of the narrow street. The WINDOWS through
which he first surveyed the green fields by the river
were all filed with old-faShiOned pdncs OF inc S'~e
he was familiar with in his fathers cottage at
Ecclefechan and the same kind Of panes may stiii
be seen in the back windows Of his house which
look out on the green foliage Of It's little shady gar
den. The massveness OF the Inouldings when scpa-
rate the panes will strike any who is familiar
with the carving of the opening years of the egh-
teenth century Even the glass of the rear win
dows must have stood from the building Of the
house as an old window cleaner has scratched up
side down ana on the outside of one OF the panes-
showing that he had written the inscription by
leaning over the top of the window from within-a
record Of the number Of years during which he had
cleaned them. In the front Of the house all this
old eighteenth century work has disappeared, and
Carlyle. advancing with age, submitted 10 the
introduction OF plate glass.
The hall is very narrow and the dininE-room
door is the left hand 4 large folding door
separates the front room from the room behind
and in the of these is a small. well-lgh;ed
room. which Carlyle In describing the house 10
his wife, probably included among its cup6oards.
The recesses at the side of the hropaces were filled
with bookcases in Carlyles time. but at present
the room contains nothing but two tables. Grim
son covered couch and an empty bookcase over
head stair up il the drawing room where Car
lyle spent the last few weeks Of his lfe and where
he died. 1t is we'll lighted. has three windows. and
Is covered with a new green-iowered paper as
nearly as possible the pattern OF that which was
upon the walls in MIR. and Mrs. Carlyle's lifetime.
The most conspicuous object here is large book
case filed with books Of special interest except
that they extensively annotated by Carlyle.
1t contains seventy volumes of the Annual Regis
ter" number OF French. German and English die
tionares, some miscellaneous English books of no
great value but very few literary works In Geman.
In the cupboard part OF the bookcase is complete
copy Of Voltaires works. on the walls is a por
trait of Carlyle, by Mrs. dillingham; and an etching
OF him after another portrait also taken by her.
In .rla lima WIT
of Frederick the Great, Luther. Cromwell and
others of his heroes. and IL WAS In this room that
Leigh Hunt Irving, Sterling and other privileged
persons generally received. Behind this IS
Mrs. Carlyles bedroom, which is separated from 1t
BY two doors almost in contact. one opening into
the drawing-room and the other into the bedroom
the latter door being idea of the Carlyes them
selves. In the bedroom is a portal, Of John Ster
ling's sister and a small bracket OF Mrs. Carlyles
making.
Proceeding still further upstairs, We come to an
other large front room, in which The French Rcvo-
luton. The Life OF Sterling. "Tne Life OF Crom-
WELL" and The Latter-Day Pamphlets" were chief
~ written. II came afterYard to b. known as Or.
SdrIyics bedroom, anu II was IN inns room that
to his ch sf T friend ne Be 4 this WAS
own bedroom. which he occupied from 1884 TO 1880
When d short time before his death, the drawing
room was converted into bedroom for him. \
very old-fashioncd four-poster bed. hung with
damask curtains, stands in the little room he mad
so long occupied. and 1t is believed mat he brought
1t with him from his Craigenputtock home In 1884
This is not the bed In which he died and which
Is not in possession OF the Trust on this room
Is the dressing room. with "A small and unassuming
narDe-tOppeo Washstand. basin very common
looking towel-screcn, small bath, ms natDoN ana
silk hat. and his curved-headed walking cane
The top room Of the house is the one where Fred
ef4ck the Great was written 1t was Originally en-
attic. and Carlyle. at cost of t2W had 1t built
soundproof. as he imagined, 10 shut out the noise
OF the "demon-cocks' which worried him and the
miscellaneous disturbances OF London life. This
Both In front and back II has narrow passage IN
tehdtu 10 deaden the external sound. so that IL was
actually a room within room II lighted from
ABOVE Dy ample sloping roof windows, which couli
De opened ana SMUT and night sliding ceiling
cOuIi De drawn across so TO make the room re-
sembe an ordinary apartment. The upper part OF
me walls OF TINS room was filled with portraits. OF
which a few are stu remaining, notably those Of
fredcr1ch. NoltaiTe. Goethe and schiller and the
mothers OF the TWO German poets There are half
dozen ventliators IN the skirtns round the bottom
OF the walls, which Carlyle could open shut by
pulling "A string. There ceiling ventilators IN
every room o. the house put IN by the carlyles
cess. but Carlyle continued to II during all the
time he was writing "Frederlck." The armchair In
which he sat SIN stands by tao fireplace. in the
spot where IL stood when he engaged upon that
work. The lower part OF the walls surrounded
with bookcases, which all gone The Trus.
OF about 1850 to insure the permanence OF the
scheme. Ii appeals TO the public for assistance.
and also for any relies OF Carlyle and his wife which
possessing them may be disposed 20 part with.
Everything In the house present is the gift OF the
late Mrs. Alexander Carlyle.
7HF HlTIWtY AHMI