My Dear Carlyle,--Can booksellers break the seal which the gods
do not, and put me in communication again with the loyalest of
men? On the ground of Mr. Wight's honest proposal to give you a
benefit from his edition,* I, though unwilling, allowed him to
copy the Daguerre of your head. The publishers ask also some
expression of your good will to their work....
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* Mr. O.W. Wight of New York, an upright "able editor," who, had
just made arrangements for the publication of a very satisfactory
edition of Carlyle's _Miscellaneous Essays._
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I commend you to the gods who love and uphold you, and who do not
like to make their great gifts vain, but teach us that the best
life-insurance is a great task. I hold you to be one of those to
whom all is permitted, and who carry the laws in their hand.
Continue to be good to your old friends. 'T is no matter whether
they write to you or not. If not, they save your time. When
_Friedrich_ is once despatched to gods and men, there was once
some talk that you should come to America! You shall have an
ovation such, and on such sincerity, as none have had.
Ever affectionately yours,
R.W. Emerson
I do not know Mr. Wight, but he sends his open letter, which I
fear is already old, for me to write in: and I will not keep it,
lest it lose another steamer.