Famous Affinities of History: The Romance of Devotion. Volume 4 — John Shaqi
Famous Affinities of History: The Romance of Devotion. Volume 4Orr, Lyndon
History
Famous Affinities of History: The Romance of Devotion. Volume 4
Orr, Lyndon
Biography; Love; Women -- Biography
There were strange manifestations on the part of Miss Jewsbury toward
Mrs. Carlyle. At one time, when Mrs. Carlyle had shown some preference
for another woman, it led to a wild outburst of what Miss Jewsbury
herself called "tiger jealousy." There are many other instances of
violent emotions in her letters to Mrs. Carlyle. They are often highly
charged and erotic. It is unusual for a woman of thirty-two to write to
a woman friend, who is forty-three years of age, in these words, which
Miss Jewsbury used in writing to Mrs. Carlyle:
You are never out of my thoughts one hour together. I think of you much
more than if you were my lover. I cannot express my feelings, even to
you--vague, undefined yearnings to be yours in some way.
Mrs. Carlyle was accustomed, in private, to speak of Miss Jewsbury as
"Miss Gooseberry," while Carlyle himself said that she was simply "a
flimsy tatter of a creature." But it is on the testimony of this one
woman, who was so morbid and excitable, that the most serious
accusations against Carlyle rest. She knew that Froude was writing a
volume about Mrs. Carlyle, and she rushed to him, eager to furnish any
narratives, however strange, improbable, or salacious they might be.
Thus she is the sponsor of the Ashburton story, in which there is
nothing whatsoever. Some of the letters which Lady Ashburton wrote
Carlyle have been destroyed, but not before her husband had perused
them. Another set of letters had never been read by Lord Ashburton at
all, and they are still preserved--friendly, harmless, usual letters.
Lord Ashburton always invited Carlyle to his house, and there is no
reason to think that the Scottish philosopher wronged him.
There is much more to be said about the charge that Mrs. Carlyle
suffered from personal abuse; yet when we examine the facts, the
evidence resolves itself into practically nothing. That, in his
self-absorption, he allowed her to Sending Completed Page, Please Wait
... overflowed toward a man who must have been a manly, loving lover.
She calls him by the name by which he called her--a homely Scottish
name.
GOODY, GOODY, DEAR GOODY:
You said you would weary, and I do hope in my heart you are wearying.
It will be so sweet to make it all up to you in kisses when I return.
You will take me and hear all my bits of experiences, and your heart
will beat when you find how I have longed to return to you. Darling,
dearest, loveliest, the Lord bless you! I think of you every hour,
every moment. I love you and admire you, like--like anything. Oh, if I
was there, I could put my arms so close about your neck, and hush you
into the softest sleep you have had since I went away. Good night.
Dream of me. I am ever YOUR OWN GOODY.
It seems most fitting to remember Thomas Carlyle as a man of strength,
of honor, and of intellect; and his wife as one who was sorely tried,
but who came out of her suffering into the arms of death, purified and
calm and worthy to be remembered by her husband's side.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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