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"The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol II."


I tried hard to write you by the December steamer, to tell you
how forward was my book of Poems; but a little affair makes me
much writing. I chanced to have three or four items of business
to despatch, when the steamer was ready to go, and you escaped
hearing of them. I am the trustee of Charles Lane, who came out
here with Alcott and bought land, which, though sold, is not
paid for.
Somebody or somebodies in Liverpool and Manchester* have proposed
once or twice, with more or less specification, that I should
come to those cities to lecture. And who knows but I may come
one day? Steam is strong, and Liverpool is near. I should
find my account in the strong inducement of a new audience to
finish pieces which have lain waiting with little hope for months
or years.
----------
* Mr. Alexander Ireland, who had made the acquaintance of Emerson
at Edinburgh, in 1833, was his Manchester correspondent. His
memorial volume on Emerson contains an interesting record of
their relations.
----------
Ah then, if I dared, I should be well content to add some golden
hours to my life in seeing you, now all full-grown and
acknowledged amidst your own people,--to hear and to speak is so
little yet so much.


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