Perhaps  even  thro'  the  Trivial,  you  with  your  clear
eyes  will  get  here  and  there  a  glimpse  into  our  English
Existence :  the  great  advantage  is,  that  you  can  and
ought  to  burn  some  nine-tenths  of  the  bundle  so  soon
as  you  have  looked  it  over.  As  occasion  offers  I  will
not  forget  to  gather  you  a  few  more  autographs  :
Byron,  Fox,  Pitt  I  do  not  yet  give  up ;  indeed  the
first  of  those,  with  some  others,  are  already  promised
me.
Your  reading  of  the  Austins  is  altogether  correct.
Mrs.  Austin  came  first  into  vogue  among  us  by  trans-
lating Puckler  Muskau  (if  that  is  the  right  spelling)
and  has  risen  ever  since  by  her  sunny  hopeful
vivacious  character,  and  a  good  share  of  female  tact
and  the  like.  Her  husband,  as  you  say,  is  truly
painful, — a  kind  of  Prometheus  Vinctus,  bound  not
by  any  Jupiter !  The  man  is  faithful,  veracious,
energetically  almost  spasmodically  laborious ;  but  of
an  egoism  which  has,  alas,  proved  too  strong, — ^which
has  made  him  unhealthy,  unhappy ;  which,  as  I  say,
*  has  eaten  holes  in  the  case  of  it.'  Poor  Austm, —
a  brave  man  too :  but  able  to  bring  it  no  farther  than
hard  isolated  Pedanthood !  Nay,  as  Sir  Toby  in
Shakespeare  has  it,  'because  thou  art  virtuous,  shall
there  be  no  more  cakes  and  ale  ? '

F  F


218     LETTERS   WRITTEN  BY  THOMAS   CAELYLE   TO

I  am  very  busy ;  and  hoiDe  to  tell  you  about  what  (it

is  a  poor  Volume,  perhaps  preparatory  to  something

farther)  in  a  month  or  two.     Adieu,  my  good  Friend :

better  health  to  both  of  us ;  unabated  heart  to  both

of  us.
Yours  ever  truly,

T.  Caelyle.
