"A good deal of uncertainty exists as to Mr. Carlyle's religious
opinions. I have heard him represented as a firm and entire believer
in revelation, and I have heard it affirmed with equal confidence that
he is a decided Deist. My own impression is," &c.[A]
[Footnote A: "Portraits of Public Characters," by the author of
"Random Recollections of the Lords and Commons." Vol. ii. pp.
152-158.]
In 1841 Carlyle superintended the publication of the English
edition of his friend Emerson's Essays,[B] to which he prefixed a
characteristic Preface of some length.
[Footnote B: Essays: by R.W. Emerson, of Concord, Massachusetts. With
Preface by Thomas Carlyle. London: James Fraser, 1841.]
"The name of Ralph Waldo Emerson," he writes, "is not entirely new
in England: distinguished travellers bring us tidings of such a man;
fractions of his writings have found their way into the hands of
the curious here; fitful hints that there is, in New England, some
spiritual notability called Emerson, glide through Reviews and
Magazines. Whether these hints were true or not true, readers are now
to judge for themselves a little better.
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