n up the notion of hawking my little manuscript book about
any further. For a long time it has lain quiet in its drawer, waiting
for a better day. The bookselling trade seems on the edge of
dissolution; the force of puffing can go no further; yet bankruptcy
clamours at every door: sad fate! to serve the Devil, and get no wages
even from him! The poor bookseller Guild, I often predict to myself,
will ere long be found unfit for the strange part it now plays in our
European World; and give place to new and higher arrangements, of which
the coming shadows are already becoming visible."
The "Sartor Resartus" was not, however, lost. Two years after Carlyle's
visit to London, it came out, bit by bit, in _Fraser's Magazine_.
Through the influence of Emerson, it was issued, as a book, at Boston,
in the United States, and Carlyle got some money for his production. It
was eventually published in England, and, strange to say, has had the
largest sale in the "People's Edition of Carlyle's Works." Carlyle,
himself, created the taste to appreciate "Sartor Resartus."
CHAPTER XXX
MR. GLADSTONE AND OTHERS
In July 1838 Mr. W.E. Gladstone, then Tory member of Parliament for
Newark-upon-Trent, wrote to Mr. Murray from 6 Carlton Gardens, informing
him that he has written and thinks of publishing some papers on the
subject of the relationship of the "Church and the State," which would
probably fill a moderate octavo volume, and that he would be glad to
know if Mr. Murray would be inclined to see them. Mr. Murray saw the
papers, and on August 9 he agreed with Mr. Gladstone to publish 750 or
1,000 copies of the work on "Church and State," on half profits, the
copyright to remain with the author after the first edition was sold.
The work was immediately sent to press, and proofs were sent to Mr.
Gladstone, about to embark for Holland. A note was received by Mr.
Murray from the author (August 17, 1838):
"I write a line from Rotterdam to say that sea-sickness prevented my
correcting the proofs on the passage."
This was Mr. Gladstone's first appearance in the character of an author,
and the work proved remarkably successful, four editions being called
for in the course of three years. It was reviewed by Macaulay in the
_Edinburgh_ for April 1839, and in the _Quarterly_ by the Rev. W. Sewell
in December. "Church Principles," published in 1840, did not meet with
equal success. Two years later we find a reference to the same subje
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