CARLYLE RECITES FROM BURNS. 75 Barnum told Carlyle) of a Yankee newspaper at a low ebb, bribing Everett, a man much respected in the States, with a fabulous sum of dollars, first offering Ico, then 200, at last 2,000; he in an evil moment consenting; and then their advertising throughout the length and breadth of the Union that the great Everett had been paid 2,000 dollars to write an article in it; and the newspaper went up to a great circulation . . "Carlyle took his seat on the footstool by the fire as usual to smoke. Talk fell on the dog Nero, now very ailing. Mrs. Carlyle has had it ten and a half years; six months old when Nero was brought to her. Carlyle said, 'Never dog had given trouble more disproportionate to its use and worth than Nero had to him.' (Mrs. Carlyle) It had been worth it all.' He denied it, and reiterated the absurdity of its existence. It would be a kindness to kill it. (Mrs. Carlyle) If he is to be believed, he shouldn't make affectionate speeches to Nero in the garden when he thought no one heard.' "Carlyle regretted not to have been taught music or at least singing. "When a boy at school, the class was singing once, the master remarked on the beautiful voice of that boy (Carlyle), which boy was destined never to turn his voice to any account. Liked Scotch tunes much : 'Robin Adair,'' Gilderoy' very plaintive and melodious. Carlyle was also fond of Irish airs. Gilderoy showed a soul bathed in melancholy. 'Rude music, probably first performed, as Burns said, on cow-horns, these old Scottish airs; but came from the heart. That old tune to which Bruce led his men at Bannockburn, for instance. Carlyle recited 'Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled'; the whole poem, with measured emphasis, the right stress on each word. Recited it with great fervour, repeated some passages, in par ticular the and 'Lay the proud usurpers low! 'Liberty's in every blow! "Remarked on the practical character of the song. Burns hit the nail on the head at each blow; not a blow lost. Rude, but not a word too much or little, or to be altered. "Burns sat down and strummed the air for an hour, and then, possessed of the spirit of it, wrote, 'Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled.' No such song-writer as Burns. Some of the songs in Shakespeare alone equal to them. Beranger not to be compared. Whatever theme Burns took, the same qualities shown.' Carlyle recited'Had we never lov'd sae kindly, Had we never lov'd sae blindly, Oh, had we never met, Oh, had we never met and never parted, Never parted, We had ne'er been broken-hearted.' No "This Jessie, a very nice girl, the daughter of a neighbouring exciseman: Burns married at the time. princess had ever had such a song written of her. Some of the Jacobite songs fine, about a dozen genuine. ! JACOBITE SONGS. 77 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' the finest, breathing devotion and love.' Carlyle recited this also:-Quite carries you along with it into readiness for the time to join the cause'; expatiated on the swing and lilt and picturesqueness of it. Another humorous one, There was a German laddie,' breathing entire contempt of the German laddie, but hoping the world would have justice on him yet, 'through the sow's tail he had caught hold of,' meaning fat Kilmansegge (?), his mistress. . . One of the coarsest of songs.' "At parting Carlyle again kindly asked about the book, and wished me a happy deliverance of it. Manner kind throughout, and his face looked kind." CHAPTER VIII. LETTER FROM JANE WELSH CARLYLE. "M 1860-1861. AGE, 32-33. "13th June, 1860, 5, Cheyne Row. Y DEAR! Behold a cap! Fresh from India— a delicate attention to Mr. Carlyle on the part of a Lady! But the cap fits Mr. C.'s large head like an inverted tumbler! so I laid it aside to give you when you came as a delicate attention to Percy on the part of me! "Now you have come so seldom short a time, that I have never got lately and staid so subsided into recollection of the cap-so I transmit it by Charlotte-who is much obliged to you for sending her tea all in a heap instead of in quarters, as it insures her better weight, measured out by me! Affectionately yours, JANE CARLYLE" "DEAR MRS. GILCHRIST: Here is a letter I have had to-day from that dear little Mrs. Hawkins, so amusing that it seems a shame to keep it all to myself when there is another intelligent reader otherside the wall. Let me have it back to-morrow. Yours affectionately, JANE W. CARLYLE." |