1843-1845] Carlyle and Mazzini 95 



and now have nothing to do, but most heartily wish you 

 back again. My dear old wife, take care of yourself and be 



a good girl. 



C. D. 



At night Willy said to me " poor poor laying all by himself 

 and no company in the drawing-room." 



Fanny Allen to her niece Elizabeth Wedgwood. 



16, GOWER STREET, Saturday [4 May, 1845]. 



. . . Hensleigh and Fanny make their house so pleasant 

 and delightful that it always gives me, and others too, I 

 daresay, the inclination to linger. We had a very pleasant 

 breakfast at Rogers's 1 yesterday morning; Hensleigh would 

 not go, which I was sorry for, as I never saw R. kinder, 

 more interesting or more agreeable. Hensleigh and Fanny 

 had a pleasant dinner-party also yesterday of the two 

 Carlyles, Mr Wrightson, and Mazzini, who was clever and 

 just in a dispute with " Thomas " about music. It was an 

 amusing dispute. T. C. could see nothing in Beethoven's 

 Sonatas, " it told nothing." It was like a great quantity 

 of stones tumbled down for a building, and " it might have 

 been as well left in the quarry." He insisted on Ivlazzini 

 telling him what he gained by hearing music, and when 

 Mazzini said inspiration and elevation, Carlyle said some- 

 thing not respectful of Beethoven, and Mazzini ended with 

 Dieu vous pardonne. It was very amusing. Georges Sand's 

 novels entered also into this dispute, and then C. was right 

 and Mazzini on the wrong side. . . . 



Emma's second son, George, was born on July 9, 1845, 



1 Samuel Kogers, banker, art collector, connoisseur, and poet, and 

 for some half-century a leading figure in the world of letters, was at 

 this time 82 years old. Hia " breakfasts " were celebrated as gather- 

 ings of wits, poets, and other eminent persons. He died in 1855, 

 aged 92. 



