Carlyle, and I have read so much in his letters, about your exertions,
and about your entertainment of him at various times, that I can
hardly persuade myself that I never saw you.
'The letters you speak of must be very interesting, and I would ask
you to let me see them if I thought that they were likely to be of use
to me; but the subject with which I have to deal is so vast that I am
obliged to limit myself, and so intricate that I am glad to be able to
limit myself. I shall do what Carlyle desired me to do, _i.e._ edit
the collection of his wife's letters, which he himself prepared for
publication.
'This gift or bequest of his governs the rest of my work. What I have
already done is an introduction to these letters. When they are
published I shall add a volume of personal recollections of his later
life; and this will be all. Had I been left unencumbered by special
directions I should have been tempted to leave his domestic history
untouched except on the outside, and have attempted to make a complete
biography out of the general materials. This I am unable to do, and
all that I can give the world will be materials for some other person
to use hereafter. I can explain no further the conditions of the
problem. But for my own share of it I have materials in abundance,
and I must avoid being tempted off into other matters however
important in themselves.
'I may add for myself that I did not seek this duty, nor was it
welcome to me. C. asked me to undertake it. When I looked through
the papers I saw how difficult, how, in some aspects of it, painful,
the task would be.
'Believe me,
'faithfully yours,
'J. A. FROUDE.'
{245a} Printed in 'Letters,' ii. 332.
{245b} July 30th.
{247} Printed in 'Letters,' ii. 333.
{248} Here begins second half-sheet, dated 'Monday, Sept. 5.'
{249} Partly printed in 'Letters,' ii. 335.
{250a} See letter of June 23rd, 1880.
{250b} Reprinted in 'A Book of Sibyls,' 1883.
{251a} _The Promise of May_ was acted at the Globe Theatre, November
11th, 1882.
{251b} See letter of November 13th, 1879.
{252a} Mrs. Wister's son.
{252b} See letter of March 28th, 1880.
{253a} 'John Leech and other Papers,' 1882.
{253b} November 18th, 1882.
{257} See 'Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle,' ii. 249.
{259} For May 1883: 'Mrs. Carlyle.'
{260} Tennyson's 'Brook.'
{261} In a letter to Sir Frederick Pollock, March 16th, 1879, he says:--
"I have had Sir Walter read to me first of a Night, by way of Drama;
then ten minutes for Refreshment, and then Dickens for Farce. Just
finished the Pirate--as wearisome for Nornas, Minnas, Brendas, etc.,
as any of the Scotch Set; but when the Common People have to talk, the
Pirates to quarrel and swear, then Author and Reader are at home; and
at the end I 'fare' to like this one the best of the Series. The Sea
scenery has much to do with this preference I dare say."
{263} See 'Letters,' ii. 344.