i 



Autobiographical Notes. 171 



integrity and perseverance, is independent of all patronage, and 

 is the most secure foundation of respectability and happiness. 



But though I did not approach the Laird of Broughton, I 

 knew a man whose kindness was as warm as it was unostenta- 

 tious, and from whom I had received on former occasions words 

 of encouragement. I refer to Mr Alexander Craig, factor on the 

 Broughton estates, and son of the then deceased Rev. Mr Craig, 

 minister of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire. To Mr Craig I made 

 application for a loan to assist me, along with my own small 

 funds, to enter the University of Edinburgh. A hint was suffi- 

 cient for this worthy man. He gave me hand.somely what I 

 wanted without a written receipt and without security, and when 

 I afterwards repaid him he refused to accept anything in the 

 shape of interest, though it was strongly pressed on him. Mr 

 Craig has been ever since my most intimate and affectionate friend 

 and companion. 



On my way to Edinburgh on my first visit, my companion 

 and myself met at Moffat with three young men who, like our- 

 selves, were going to College, with one of whom, indeed with all 

 more or less, I formed an acquaintance which became very inti- 

 mate and confidential. I refer to Thomas Carlyle, then on his 

 way to the University for the second time, having attended the 

 Latin and Greek classes in 1809. His father was a master 

 ma.son at Ecclefechan, parish of Hoddam, but afterwards, having 

 been an industrious, judicious, and saving man, he rented the 

 farm of Mainhill, in the same neighbourhood. He is now long 

 dead: his widow still sur^'ives. Young Carlyle was distinguished 

 at that time by the same peculiarities that still mark his character 

 — sarcasm, irony, extravagance of sentiment, and a strong ten- 

 dency to undervalue others, combined, however, with great kind- 

 ness of heart and great simplicity of manner. His external figure, 

 though then only about fifteen years of age, was similar to what 

 it now is — tall, slender, awkward, not apparently very vigorous. 

 His provincial intonation was then very remarkable, and it still 

 remains so; his speech was copious and bizarre. With this 

 gifted and ingenious person I lived on terms of affection so long 

 as he remained in Scotland; since he left Edinburgh and settled 

 first in Dumfriesshire and latterly in London, though our feelings 

 remain the same, our intercourse, even that of an epistolary kind, 

 has been much interrupted. 



