No More Learning

I found Varioloid in my house, . . . . and I was
not permitted to enter it for many days, and
could only talk with wife, son, and daughter
from the yard. . . . . I had crowded and closed my
Cambridge lectures in haste, and went to the land
of Flowers invited by John M. Forbes, one of my
most valued friends, father of my daughter Edith's
husband. With him and his family and one or
two chosen guests, the trip was made under the
best conditions of safety, comfort, and company,
I measuring for the first time one entire line of
the Country.
California surprises with a geography, climate,
vegetation, beasts, birds, fishes even, unlike ours;
the land immense; the Pacific sea; Steam brings
the near neighborhood of Asia; and South America
at your feet; the mountains reaching the altitude of
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ~
380 Emerson to Carlyle.
Mont Blane ; the State in its six hundred miles of
latitude producing all our Northern fruits, and also
the fig, orange, and banana. But the climate chiefly
surprised me. The. Almanac said April; but the
day said June;--and day after day for six weeks
uninterrupted sunshine. November and December
are the rainy months. The whole Country was
covered with flowers, and all of them unknown to
us except in greenhouses. Every bird that I know
at home is represented here, but in gayer plumes.
On the plains we saw multitudes of antelopes,
hares, gophers, --even elks, and one pair of wolves
on the plains; the grizzly bear only in a cage.
We crossed one region of the buffalo, but only saw
one captive. We found Indians at every railroad
station,--the squaws and papooses begging, and
the "bucks," as they wickedly call them, lounging.
On our way out, we left the Pacific Railroad for
twenty-four hours to visit Salt Lake; called on
Brigham Young--just seventy years old--who
received us with quiet uncommitting courtesy, at
first,-- a strong-built, self-possessed, sufiicient man
with plain manners. He took early occasion to
remark that "the one-man-power really meant
all-men's-power. " Our interview was peaceable
enough, and rather mended my impression of the
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Emerson to Carlyle. 381
man; and, after our visit, I read in the Deseret
newspaper his Speech to_his people on the previous
Sunday. It avoided religion, but was full of Frank-
linian good sense. In one point, he says: "Your
fear of the Indians is nonsense. The Indians like
the white men's food. Feed them well, and they
will surely die. " He is clearly a suflicient ruler,
and perhaps civilizer of his kingdom of blockheads
ad interim; but I found that the San Franciscans
believe that this exceptional power cannot survive
Brigham.
I have been surprised -- but it is months ago--
by a letter from Lacy Garbett, the Architect, whom
I do not know, but one of whose books, about
"Design in Architecture," I have always valued.
This letter, asking of me that Americans shall join
Englishmen in a Petition to Parliament against
pulling down Ancient Saxon buildings, is written
in a way so wild as to suggest insanity, and I have
not known how to answer it. At my " Saturday
Club" in Boston I sat at dinner by an English
lord,--whose name I have forgotten, -- from whom
I tried to learn what laws Parliament had passed
for the repairs of old religious Foundations, that
could make them the victims of covetous Archi-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? >>
>
.
.
;-/ L-___
1
'
'. '
<1. -
5
7 E i--I
--
.
.
-2
'
F
l
'.
382 lhnerson to Carlyle.
tects. But he assured me there were none such,
and that he himself was President of a Society in
his own County for the protection of such buildings.
So that I am left entirely in the dark in regard to
the fact and Garbett's letter. He claims to speak
both for Ruskin and himself.
I grieve to hear no better account of your health
than your last letter gives. The only contradiction
of it, namely, the power of your pen in this repro-
duction of thirty books, -- and such books, -- is
very important and very consoling to me. A great
work to be done is the best insurance, and I sleep
quietly, notwithstanding these sad bulletins,--be-
lieving that you cannot be spared.
Fare well, dear friend,
R. W. Emnnson.
-ii
CLXXXIX.
EMERSON TO CARLYLE.
CONCORD, 4 September, 1871.
MY DEAR CARLYLE,--I hope you will have re-
! turned safely from the Orkneys in time to let my
ii son Edward W. E. see your face on his way
Ml
Ii;
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Emerscm to Carlyle. , 383
through London to Germany, whither he goes to
finish his medical studies,--no, not finish, but
prosecute. Give him your blessing, and tell him
what he should look for in his few days in Lon-
don, and what in your Prussia. He is a good
youth, and we can spare him only for this neces-
sity. I should like well to accompany him as far
as to your hearthstone, if only so I could persuade
you that it is but a ten-days ride for you thence
to mine,--a little farther than the Orkneys, and
the outskirts of land as good, and bigger. I read
gladly in your letters some relentings toward
America, -- deeper ones in your dealing with Har-
vard College; and I know you could not see with-
out interest the immense and varied blossoming of
our possibilities here,--of all nationalities, too,
besides our own. I have heard from Mrs. -----
twice lately, who exults in your kindness to her.
Always affectionately, Yours,
R. W. EMERsoN.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 'l
,.
Emerson to Carlyle
EMERSON TO CARLYLE
BALTIMORE, Mn, 5 January, 1872.
MY DEAR CARLYLE, -- I received from you
through Mr. Chapman, just before Christmas, the
last rich instalment of your Library Edition; viz.
Vols. IV. -X. Life of Friedrich; Vols. I. -III.
Translations from German; one volume General
Index; eleven volumes in all,--and now my
stately collection is perfect. Perfect too is your
Victory. But I clatter my chains with joy, as I did
forty years ago, at your earliest gifts. Happy man
you should be, to whom the Heaven has allowed
such masterly completion. You shall wear your
crown at the Pan-Saxon Games with no equal or
approaching competitor in sight,--well earned by
genius and exhaustive labor, and with nations for
your pupils and praisers. I count it my eminent
happiness to have been so nearly your contem-
porary, and your friend,--permitted to detect by
its rare light the new star almost before the East-
erners had seen it, and to have found no dis-
appointment, but joyful confirmation rather, in
coming close to its orb. Rest, rest, now for a time,
Q _\
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Emerson to Carlyle. 385
I pray you, and be thankful. Meantime, I know
well all your perversities, and give them a wide
berth. They seriously annoy a great many worthy
readers, nations of readers sometimes, --but I heap
them all as style, and read them as I read Raba-
lais's gigantic humors which astonish in order to
force attention, and by and by are seen to be the
rhetoric of a highly virtuous gentleman who swears.
I have been quite too busy with fast succeeding
jobs (I may well call them), in the last year, to
have read much in these proud books ; but I begin
to see daylight coming through my fogs, and I have
not lost in the least my appetite for reading, --re-
solve, with my old Harvard professor, "to retire
and read the Authors. "
I am impatient to deserve your grand Volumes
by reading in them with all the haughty airs that
belong to seventy years which I shall count if I
live till May, 1873. Meantime I see well that you
have lost none of your power, and I wish that you
would let in some good Eckermann to dine with
you day by day, and competent to report your opin-
ions, -- for you can speak as well as you can write,
and what the world to come should know. . . . .
Affectionately,
R. W. EmERson.
voL. II. 25
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Carlyle to Emersem
GXCI.
CARLYLE TO EMERSON.
5 CHEYNE Row, CHELSEA,
2 April, 18 72.
DEAR EMERSON,--I am covered with confusion,
astonishment, and shame to think of my long
silence. You wrote me two beautiful letters;
none friendlier, brighter, wiser could come to me
from any quarter of the world; and I have not
answered even by a sign. Promptly and punctu-
ally my poor heart did answer; but to do it out-
wardly,--as if there had lain some enchantment
on me,--was beyond my power. The one thing
I can say in excuse or explanation is, that ever
since Summer last, I have been in an unusually
dyspeptic, peaking, pining, and dispirited condi-
tion; and have no right hand of my own for writ-
ing, nor, for several months, had any other that
was altogether agreeable to me. But in fine I
don't believe you lay any blame or anger on me
at all; and I will say no more about it, but only
try to repent and do better next time.
Your letter from the Far West was charmingly
vivid and free; one seemed to attend you person-
l
I
N
I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Carlgle to Enerson. 387
ally, and see with one's own eyes the notabilia,
human and other, of those huge regions, in your
swift flight through them to and from. I retain
your little etching ,of Brigham Young as a bit of
real likeness ; I have often thought of your transit
through Chicago since poor Chicago itself vanished
out of the world on wings of fire. There is some-
thing huge, painful, and almost appalling to me in
that wild Western World of yours;--and espe-
cially I wonder at the gold-nuggeting there, while
plainly every gold-nuggeter is no other than a
criminal to Human Society, and has to steal the
exact value of his gold nugget from the pockets
of all the posterity of Adam, now and for some
time to come, in this world. I conclude it is a
bait used by All-wise Providence to attract your
people out thither, there to build towns, make
roads, fell forests (or plant forests), and make
ready a Dwelling-place for new Nations, who will
find themselves called to quite other than nugget-
hunting. In the hideous stew of Anarchy, in
which all English Populations present themselves
to my dismal contemplation at this day, it is a
solid consolation that there will verily, in another
fifty years, be above a hundred million men and
women on this Planet who can all read Shake-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 388 Carlyle to Emerson.
speare and the English Bible and the (also for a
long time biblical and noble) history of their
Mother Country,--and proceed again to do, un-
less the Devil be in them, as. their Forebears did,
or better, if they have the heart! --
Except that you are a thousand times too kind
to me, your second Letter also was altogether
charming. . . . .
Do you read Ruskin's Fors Clavigera, which he
cheerily tells me gets itself reprinted in America ?
If you don't, olo, I advise you. Also his Munera
Pulveris, Oxford-Lectures on Art, and whatever
else he is now writing,--if you can manage to
get them (which is difficult here, owing to the
ways he has towards the bibliopolic world ! ). There
is nothing going on among us as notable to me as
those fierce lightning-bolts Ruskin is copiously and
desperately pouring into the black world of Anar-
chy all around him. No other man in England
that I meet has in him the divine rage against in-
iquity, falsity, and baseness that Ruskin has, and
that every man ought to have.
Unhappily he is
not a strong man; one might say a weak man
rather ; and has not the least prudence of manage-
ment; though if he can hold out for another fifteen
years or so, he may produce, even in this way, a
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Carlyle to Emerson. 389
great effect. God grant it, say I. Froude is com-
ing to you in October. You will find him a most
clear, friendly, ingenious, solid, and excellent man ;
and I am very glad to find you among those who
are to take care of him when he comes to your new
Country. Do your best and wisest towards him,
for my sake, withal. He is the valuablest Friend
I now have in England, nearly though not quite
altogether the one man in talking with whom I can
get any real profit or comfort. Alas, alas, here is
the end of the paper, dear Emerson; and I had still
a whole wilderness of things to say. Write to me,
or even do not write, and I will surely write again.
I remain as ever Your Affectionate Friend,
T. CARLYLE.
IN November, 1872, Emerson went to England,
and the two friends met again. After a short stay
he proceeded to the Continent and Egypt, return-
ing to London in the spring of 1873. For the last
time Carlyle and he saw each other. In May,
Emerson returned home. After this time no let-
ters passed between him and Carlyle. They were
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? '
.
i
-i
[I
I
.
l
.
.
'
l
ill
'
A
390 Carlyle to Emerson.
both old men. Writing had become diflicult to
them; and little was left to say.
Carlyle died, eighty-five years old, on the 5th of
February, 1881. Emerson died, seventy-nine years
old, on the 27th of April, 1882.
/
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? INDEX TO CARLYLE'S LETTERS.
Aooouzrrs, booksellers', of French Revolution, 273,317; of Miscellaniec,
300; to be trusted, 337, 372; insupportabilities of, ii. 47.
Accounts, Emerson's, a. memento of affection, 258; made out in beautiful
manner, 318.
Aitken, Miss Mary Carlyle, Carlyle's niece, bears him company, ii. 350.
Alcott, A. Bronson, (1842,) visit from, ii. 7; character of, 8; remarks
upon, 17; his English Tail, 24.
America, scheme of going to, 44, 253, 275; a new commercial England,
44; door of hope to Europe, 71; scheme of visit to, fading, 115, 280;
report from, 231; visit almost decided on, 320; visit given up, 327;
debt of, to Emerson, ii. 289; visit to, pure Moonshine, 369; anti-
anarchy discernible in, 377; aspect of, 387.
America and England, not two countries, 19; ties getting closer knit,
260.
American funds, inquiry concerning, 386.
American history, reading, ii. 138.
Annan, summer residence (1841) at, 362; shipwreck, 374. ,
Annandale, part of the kingdom of Time, 91; one of the obscurest re-
gions, 127; as the Cave of 'I'rophonius, 351.
Apes, Dead Sea, ii. 93 note.
Aristocracy, ii. 111.
Art, all at sea as to, ii. 152.
Ashburton, Dowager Lady, visit to her at Mentone, ii. 340; at Melchet
Court, 350, 351.
Ashburton, Lord, family, ii. 107; death of his mother, 201.
Austin, Mrs. , half mined by celebrity, 47.
BABYIDN, maternal, 232.
Bacon, Miss Delia, a real acquisition, ii. 260; her Shakespeare enter-
prise, 261; at St. Alba. n's, 272; solicitude concerning, 287.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 5vv '>>"'*'<' V
Index to Carlyle s Letters
Balaklava, what it expresses as a substantive, 11 279
Bancroft, George, of the hot-house partly, 169; visit from, remarks on,
ii. 184.
Barings, visit to the, in Hampshire, ii. 151, 189.
Barnard, Dr. Henry, visit from, 63: mention of, 78, 90.
Bartram's Travels referred to, ii. 228.
Beggary, spectre of, despised, 152; driven out of sight, 355.
Bentham, formulas, 277.
Bequest of books to Harvard College, 348--359.
Blackie, J . S. , mention of, 191.
Bliss, J . Lee, inquiry concerning, ii. 377.
Booksellers and Publishers, English and American. James Fraser;
Chapman; O. Rich; Saunders & Otley; Chapman & Hall; Kennet;
Hilliard, Gray, & Co. ; James Munroe & Co. ; George Nichols;
Little & Brown; Wiley & Putnam; Appleton; Phillips & Sampson;
passim.
Bores, eighteen million, defence of saying concerning, ii. 222.
Bossu, Capitaine, his book sent to Emerson; interest of it, ii. 227.
Bowdoin, James, his mistake about Commons Journal in Collections of
Massachusetts Historical Society, ii. 45.
Bristol, steamers, 370.
Bromley, Miss Davenport, visit to, ii. 339.
Brothers, the friends whom Nature chose for us, 37; Carlyle's, ii. 327.
Brown, a Boston man, 280.
Browning returned from Florence with his wife, ii. 238; his reminis-
cences of Margaret Fuller, 238, 243; abstruse, but worth knowing,
288.
Buccleuch, Duke of, Dr. John Carlyle his travelling doctor, 199.
Buller, Arthur, flattery, 231.
Buller, Charles, death of, ii. 201.
Bulwer, Lady, novel by, mentioned, 239.
Bulwer-Lytton, Sir E. , s. wretched phantasm, 239.
Burritt, Elihu, antagonistic gospel, ii. 145.
Butler, Mrs. Fanny Kemble, mention of, 127.
CALIBAN, the naked, 309.
Canst and Shalt the same thing, 108.
Cant, reign of, ii. 105; lies piled on us, 137; in the province of poetry
and art, 152 ; the Lord deliver us from, 161.
Carlyle, position in 1833, 2; Emerson's visit to Craigenputtock, 4, 18,
75; (1834) mental attitude, 22; in London to seek bread and work,
94; gloomiest future before him, 24; busy on French Revolution, 25;
I
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? Index to Carlyle's Lellers. 393
(1835) a Puritan, 40; hiding tryst, 41; work on F. R. , 42; must
seek another craft than literature, 42; suffers from solitary exist>>
ence, 43; possibilities, lecturing in America, 44; destruction of MS.
of F. R. , 68; dubious as to going to America, 73; idle, tired out,
efiect of burning of MS. , 77; (1836) F. R. near ended, one pull
more, 90; weary and ill, 91; visit to Scotland for rest, 91; always
sick, 102; F. R. to be finished in two mouths, 102; the poorest man
in London, 103; an unpromotable man, 103; impatient with fellow-
creatures, 105; intends to see London out, 105; no money earned for
four years, 107; means to be well some day, 109; (1837) last word
of F. R . , 114; no man with less empire in the world, 115; scheme
for lecturing at the Royal Institution, 115; to rest through the sum-
mer, 116; lectures in London, 123; retreat into Scotland, worn out,
127,138; had he means, would leave London, 139; (1838) spectre
of Beggary vanishing, 152; assists at ending of Bibliopoly, 154;
plans, lecturing, 156; money result of lectures, 167; in Scotland,
176; ? 50 received from New England, 176; dyspepsia, 186; pro-
poses to buy a nag, 187, 253; feels old, desires rest, 195, 196; death
seems beautiful, so also life, 205; (1839) feeling in regard to money
from America, 211; wear and tear in London, 214; life dyspeptic,
solitary, himself much of a fool, 215; urged to write on Cromwell,
215; a print sent, 227; a new bargain, 228, 229; lectures on Revo-
lutions, 230, 252; forced to lecture by want of money, 238; for
the present no longer poor, 259; visit to Scotland, 261; bent on writ-
ing, 262; rusticating, 2'0; multiplex binding, 271; errors in print,
272; profits, 273; eagerness for Emerson's utterances, 274; in Scots-
brig, 275; defalcation in letters, 276; Chartism projected, 277; pub-
lished, 278; Wilhelm Meister published, 279; people from America,
280 (1840) Chartism, 287; accused of being a Tory, 292; thinking
of work on Cromwell, 254, 292; no appetite for lecturing, 293;
D'Orsay portrait, 299; lectures on Heroes and Hero-worship, 305,
319; thought of lecturing in America, 320: desire of peace, 321; not
to go to America, 327; printing lectures, 328; horseback ride over
Surrey, 329; deep in Cromwellian books, 330; money not now in-
dispensable, 337; (1841) visit to Milnes, 350; correcting Essays, 373;
a shipwreck, 374; to his mother, 351: does nothing, 353; longing
for solitude, 356; going to Scotland, 255, 362, 370; a pacific alien,
366; not so poor now, 282, 385; (1842) death of Mrs. Carlyle's mother,
393; in Scotland on business, 394; book on Cromwell begun, 395;
more money from America, ii. 4; change of publishers, 5; studies on
Cromwell, 6, 10; no longer in vital need of money, 17; (1843) Past
and Present finished, 22; reprint of P. and P. in America, 23, 25;
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/pst. 000028736530 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? -_-__ '|-. _>--v. . . -2-_-. . . . -W _ __ __
. . . . -. . _-. . _. . ,~. we-. =u* ' -
FT
I
394 "Index to Carlyle's Letters.