TC-JWP, 21 Nov. Pbd: Shepherd, Carlyle 2:149.

1. Delia Bacon's. On 12 Nov. Bacon wrote to Emerson that TC had called on Parker about a week before, but found him “still undecided.” Impatient at this delay, she immediately wrote asking to withdraw the essay, but TC refused to let her send the letter, saying that Parker had just been thinking it over. “After all the trouble Carlyle has taken about it,” she thought that she would have to accept “any thing like a decent offer.” She realized that TC was “violently opposed” to her view: “You know how hard it is to take him out of any track which his mind has once taken. He clings to the idea of the old ‘booth-keeper’ [Shakespeare] and his spontaneity. … But the last time I talked with him I thought he did seem to yield a little. At any rate … he is constantly giving me ‘aid and comfort,’ and doing all he possibly can in every way. … I cannot thank you enough for concluding to give me a letter to him. … I have experienced nothing but the most extraordinary courtesy and friendliness from him. I like him I cannot tell you how much. There is such a reality in him. And Mrs. Carlyle and I have become great friends. I think she is perfectly charming. … Carlyle walks home with me. … I assure you that it is for your sake that he is so kind to me” (Massachusetts Hist. Soc.).