" Carlyle's letters during this period are of minor interest: many
refer to visits paid to distinguished friends and humble relatives, with
the usual complaints about health, servants, and noises. At Farlingay,
where he spent some time with Edward FitzGerald, translator of _Omar
Khayyam_, the lowing of cows took the place of cocks crowing. Here and
there occurs a, criticism or a speculation. That on his dreams is, in the
days of "insomnia," perhaps worth noting (F. iv. 154, 155); _inter alia_
he says:--"I have an impression that one always dreams, but that only in
cases where the nerves are disturbed by bad health, which produces light
imperfect sleep, do they start into such relief as to force themselves on
our waking consciousness." Among posthumously printed documents of Cheyne
Row, to this date belongs the humorous appeal of Mrs. Carlyle for a
larger allowance of house money, entitled "Budget of a Femme Incomprise."
The arguments and statement of accounts, worthy of a bank auditor, were
so irresistible that Carlyle had no resource but to grant the request,
_i.e._ practically to raise the amount to L230, instead of L200 per
annum. It has been calculated that his reliable income even at this time
did not exceed L400, but the rent of the house was kept very low, L30:
he and his wife lived frugally, so that despite the expenses of the
noise-proof room and his German tour he could afford in 1857 to put a
stop to her travelling in second-class railway carriages; in 1860, when
the success of the first instalment of his great work made an end of
financial fears, to keep two servants; and in 1863 to give Mrs.
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