I got your Book by post in the Highlands; and had such a day over it as falls rarely to my lot!  Not for seven years and more have I got hold of such a Book;—­Book by a real man, with eyes in his head; nobleness, wisdom, humor, and many other things, in the heart of him.  Such Books do not turn up often in the decade, in the century.  In fact I believe it to be worth all the Books ever written by New England upon Old.  Franklin might have written such a thing (in his own way); no other since!  We do very well with it here, and the wise part of us best. That Chapter on the Church is inimitable; “the Bishop asking a troublesome gentleman to take wine,”—­you should see the kind of grin it awakens here on our best kind of faces.  Excellent the manner of that, and the matter too dreadfully true in every part.  I do not much seize your idea in regard to “Literature,” though I do details of it, and will try again.  Glad of that too, even in its half state; not “sorry” at any part of it,—­you Sceptic!  On the whole, write again, and ever again at greater length:  there lies your only fault to me.  And yet I know, that also is a right noble one, and rare in our day.

O my friend, save always for me some corner in your memory; I am very lonely in these months and years,—­sunk to the centre of the Earth, like to be throttled by the Pythons and Mudgods in my old days;—­but shall get out again, too; and be a better boy!  No “hurry” equals mine, and it is in permanence.

Yours ever,
        T. Carlyle

CLXII.  Emerson to Carlyle

Concord, 17 May, 1858

My Dear Carlyle,—­I see no way for you to avoid the Americans but to come to America.  For, first or last, we are all embarking, and all steering straight to your door.  Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Longworth of Cincinnati are going abroad on their travels.  Possibly, the name is not quite unknown to you.  Their father, Nicholas Longworth, is one of the founders of the city of Cincinnati, a bigger town than Boston, where he is a huge land lord and planter, and patron of sculptors and painters.  And his family are most favorably known to all dwellers and strangers, in the Ohio Valley, as people who have well used their great wealth.  His chief merit is to have introduced a systematic culture of the wine-grape and wine manufacture, by the importing and settlement of German planters in that region, and the trade is thriving to the general benefit.  His son Joseph is a well-bred gentleman of literary tastes, whose position and good heart make him largely hospitable.  His wife is a very attractive and excellent woman, and they are good friends of mine.  It seems I have at some former time told her that, when she went to England, she should see you.  And they are going abroad, soon, for the first time.  If you are in London, you must be seen of them.