Part 52 - Letter from Charles Eliot Norton to Thomas Carlyle, sent on by Carlyle with note to Edward FitzGerald

1 folded sheet.

Norton to Carlyle, 13 Apr. 1873, 33 Cleveland Square W. - Regrets not being able to see Carlyle, and hopes for better weather. Encloses a note written by Ruskin and addressed to 'the Translator of Omar Khayyam'. Ruskin 'took a fancy to the productions of the reprobate poet, and he left this note with an acquaintance of mine to be forwarded to the translator if ever his name should be discovered'. Norton asks Carlyle to send it on,

Note, dated 14 Apr. 1873, from Carlyle to FitzGerald added at bottom of Norton's letter. Describes Norton as 'a distinguished American... an extremely amiable, intelligent & worthy man' with whom he has recently spent time. Norton has 'brought to my knowledge, for the first time, your notable Omar Khayyam, & insisted on giving me a Copy from the third edition, which I now possess & duly prize'. Carlyle has, from talking to him 'identified, beyond dispute, the hidden 'Fitzgerald', the Translator, & indeed found that his complete silence & unique modesty in regard to said meritorious & successful performance was simply a feaure of my own Edward F! - The translation is excellent; the Book itself, a kind of jewell in its own way'.

Tipped into O.4.54.

Originally enclosing O./4.54/53.

Published in Ryals, et al. The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle. Duke-Edinburgh ed., Duke University Press, 1970-. Transcriptions available online at Carlyle Letters Online (CLO): https://carlyleletters.dukeupress.edu/