To Thomas Carlyle 4 December 1875
December 4th 1875
To Thomas Carlyle
Sir,
We beg leave, on this interesting and memorable anniversary, to tender you the expression of our respectful good wishes.1
Not a few of the voices which it would have been dearest to you to hear today are silent in death. There may perhaps be some compensation in the assurance of the reverent sympathy and affectionate gratitude of many thousands of living men and women, throughout the British Islands and elsewhere, who have derived delight and inspiration from the noble series of your writings, and who have noted also how powerfully the world has been influenced by your great personal example. A whole generation has elapsed since you described for us the Hero as a Man of Letters.2 We congratulate you and ourselves on the spacious fulness of years which has enabled you to sustain this rare dignity among mankind in all its possible splendour and completeness. It is a matter for general rejoicing that a teacher whose genius and achievements have lent radiance to his time still dwells amidst us; and our hope is that you may yet long continue in fair health, to feel how much you are loved and honoured, and to rest in the retrospect of a brave and illustrious life.
We request you to do us the honour to accept the accompanying copy of a medal, designed by Mr. J. E. Boehm, which has been struck in commemoration of the day.3
We remain, | Sir, | Yours with deep respect,
J. E Boehm
Robert Browning
Richard Owen
Charles Darwin
Eras. Darwin4
George Eliot
Jos D. Hooker
Thoms H Huxley
G H Lewes
John Lubbock
Harriet Martineau
F Max Müller
Godfrey Lushington
Vernon Lushington
Leslie Stephen
A Tennyson
Anne Isabella Thackeray
Anthony Trollope
Hensleigh Wedgwood
F E Hensleigh Wedgwood5
[and 99 others]
Footnotes
Bibliography
Carlyle, Thomas. 1841. On heroes, hero-worship, & the heroic in history: six lectures: reported, with emendations and additions. London: James Fraser.
Kaplan, Fred. 1983. Thomas Carlyle: a biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Summary
A letter of congratulation to Thomas Carlyle on his 80th birthday signed by CD and 118 others; to accompany the gift of a commemorative medal.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10288G
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Carlyle
- Source of text
- National Trust (Carlyle’s House)
- Physical description
- C 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10288G,” accessed on 6 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10288G.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24 (Supplement)