Part 56 - Letter from Thomas Carlyle to Edward FitzGerald

1 folded sheet and 1 single sheet.

Keston Lodge, Beckenham. - Pleased to get FitzGerald's letter; regrets that FitzGerald has not visited him in Chelsea for 'these many years'. Has been here for the last five weeks 'in the daintiest of little hermitages... alone with my niece and the pure breezes and charming woodlands, green knolls and hollows of lovely Kent'; the house has been provided by Lady Derby. Description of how he spends his time; recently drove over to Eltham to see the palace there, having been once many years ago with Godefroi Cavaignac 'to see poor Edgeworth, whom you will remember, who had nestled himself snugly enough in some corner of that huge ruin & whom we found duly with his little Spanish wife by unluckily no "Pupils". Looked for 'some trace... of poor Edgeworth and his nest, but, alas, could find nothing: that side of the palace had all been cobbled up and plastered over....' for some City businessman.

Carlyle and his niece intend to stay in Beckenham a little longer and will return to Chelsea when the weather breaks, Is very glad to hear of FitzGerald's 'sympathy with "Tooley" [Olaf Haraldsson]'; he and his cousin Olaf Tryggvason are a pair of 'chosen heroes' to Carlyle.

[Probably in the hand of Carlyle's niece Mary, but signed by him].

Tipped into O.4.54.

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/