THE CARLYLES

Press, Volume L, Issue 14901, 14 February 1914, Page 9

THE CARLYLES

SOME EARLY CORRESPONDENCE.

(FROM OUR OWK CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON. January 2.

Eight new letters written by Jano Welsh to Thomas Carlylo three years before their marriage have just been published. They are all deeoly interesting, but of the series none is so intimate as the following letter which) Jano Welsh addressed to Carlyle, when he was staying at Kinnaird Houso, Dunkeld, in the autumn of 1823* She had told him she would not be his wife. He had written to her threet weeks before, after she had, as ha said, put their mutual concerns on the very footing where he wished them to stand. It is her reply: Haddington. Friday, Oct. 6, 1823.

"My dearest Friend, —Just a furious pain in my hoad that laid mc up for aj week, and then incessant and unavoidable occupation, of no pleasant nature, | have kept mo from writing to you all ■ this timo, I "beseech you never sus-t pect mc of being unmindful of you,i lrever, \inless you know ior certain that 1 am either deranged or dead.i Though you may sometimes bo at a loss to conjecture the cause of my' silence, you may always be assured it is not want of will. Your idea is inseparable from my thoughts whatever they think on ; ( wore it torn away from' my. mnid my whole existen&o would bo laid waste. But lam not my own. mistress and am often constrained to devoto my time to employments from which my heart is far away. Oh, Ido love you, my own brother 1 I even wish that Fate had designed mc for your wife", for I feel that such a dcsXiny would have been happier than "mine is like to be. But Fate is ever*,' whit as capricious as Fortune, if it is not the self-same Deity, and rarely unites those whom Nature meant to bo united. And so you will cease to correspond with mewiien I marry I Do you think I shall ever marry at such a cost? '"Where is the lover on thd face of this earth that could console mc I for the loss of my friend? We shalx not cease to correspond!' Never, I never as far as it depends on mc. If 'Airs ' is to be estranged from your affections, 1 am Jane Welsh for, lire.'.

"Are you better? Do tell _c particularly how you are. What can Providence mean in bestowing health on so many millions that waste it in idleness or worse than idleness; and yet withholding it from you*-who would turn the blessing to such glorious account? Perhaps to display your character in tho most dignified point of view it could nossibjv be placed'; for, when does a nooks mind appear more/ noble than when fighting with and gaining victory over Fate? Oh, be careful of yourself! for the world's sake and mine Were 1 again to.lose the frieud of my soul, again to be left alone in' tho midst of society—loving no one., and yet possessing the faculty of love, perceiving nothing but the blackness of death fn the universe around mo; in the bustle and glitter aud grandeur of the earth, nothing but tho parade of a funeral —great God, how wretched, how ruined 1 should be! But you shall live to be my guardian angel —it cannot be the will of the merciful God that I should return to.the dreary existence which I endured before -we mct —it cannot be His wiil that a soul born to ehhghtcn tho earth, to bo tho davstar* of-ages, should bo obscured by the shadows of death ero a world has perceived its splendour. You shall live and love while 1 live, and io»mourn for mc when I die; and the thought that I shall-be mourned by a heart so warmand true will overcome tho terror of death. 1 wish you wero settled in your hermitage and ! with-yon; you would be well in a month's time;' and then such books should we write!"

There is more, and ending with "God bless you, my beloved friend," she signs herself "Yours and hereafter, .lane B. Welsh."

When CarJylo had thoughts of settling in Annandale,'Miss Welsh wrote: "What fellowship is there iv - Annandale for you? Never think of establishing yourself iv Annandale! All your faults are the effects of your isolated way.of life; if you seclude yourself altogether from your fellows, as sure as fate; you will sink in a year or two into the most surly, misanthropic, selfopinionated, dreadfully disagreeable person alive!"

The letter which Carlyle received from Goethe' was sent with others to Miss Welsh, ar.d her reply was: — "Thank you, dearest, for all the contents ot the packet, and in an especial manner for your own delightful long letter. The apographs you have sent mc have all of them a valm. in my curiosity-loving ' eyes, but Byron's handwriting—my own Byron—l esteem not as a curiosity merely, but rather as a relic of an honoured and beloved friend. Will you believe it? It is more precious to mc than even Goethe's letter : flattering though it is for yon to have received, and for mc to bo made the deiK»sitory of such a letter from so illustrious a personage. I expect to find you grown monstrous vain when wo meet. And pray, when will thatbe!'" " . *

H another letter sent to ("arlyle from Haddington ou January 3rd, lbiJy, Miss Welsh wrott-: — .

i;Thfi.Dugald-creat.«i»-h«v»lj*«n self-invited, for a week, i do not think he will repeat the experiment. Do you ktiow he is tc ribly addicted to lying, and that iv a gentieman is so* odd! 1 like to tell people my mind,, *md so J mentioned to him ono day that I. was of opinion he very seldom spoke the truth. What do-you think he did? He kissed my band! Impertinent, meanspirited wretch. I have regarded him immeasurably de bant en has ever since. Aud now when will you write? Immediately? I am dying to know what decision you will come to in your own affairs—cosa fatta ha capo!—think of that. Tell mc what plan you have de-

terminod on, and then,l will tell yo»t how .Hike it. God bless you, dear! and may "this New, Year be kinder to us than the la«t has been!— Ever, ever your - Jane Baillie Wolsh.".

Another extract which cannot fail to interest is from a letter written in December. 182-3:--"Let mc -tclLyou, darling, .that; instead of .frowning at the. mention of tlv's affair again, you.could not have thought of' anything thar> would have ploa-ed mc so much: for it; showed the ieelmgs which you entertain towards mc in tho very strongest light. Of whom in nil tho world but mc woiiid Thomas Carlyle have asked a favour twice? Thus you perceive it is best you disregarded the suggestions of that gentleman called Pride (who. I would have you know, is an emissary of the TDevil), even although my interference iv the .natter should go for nothing. And yon are coming. to Edinburgh; t am so clad at this arrangement! 1 see not. indeed, any prospect of our meetint* for mmiio time, but it will be a comfort io know that you are only sixteen miles off. and then you will send mo your manuscripts to read, and a groat many little noie<;, besides tbe letter oncei a fortnight Oh. T think 1 could exist a "ons; while without seeing you. if T got one of those living, breathing tetters every--hour! A*-it is, however, 1 do wish my mother would give over sulking, md ic?olv« to mr.ke the bestr of what c-uinot be helped."