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CARLYLE'S LOVES AND LETTERS 85
terested in her Sunday-school class. As we
have seen, her sympathies were more with
the Presbyterian Church, but probably because
of her husband's official position, she always
chose in the Colonies to connect herself with
the Church of England."
If this be a fair account of Lady Bannerman,
we may be pardoned for wondering why any
one thought her biography worth writing.
What it all has to do with Carlyle is to us
far from clear. The eyes of publishers, how-
ever, are in these matters notoriously sharper
than those of reviewers.
II
HAVING disposed of Carlyle's first love, we can
attend to his second if that is where Miss
Welsh comes in order of seniority ; for our
text mercifully obliges us to say nothing of
Miss Aurora Kirkpatrick, another claimant to
the honour of having sat for Blumine, while
on the glories of Lady Ashburton, who, to be
frank, interests us no more than the simplest
of these extremely simple " misses," the title
of our essay precludes us from expatiating.
But can we ? Does not the great man, who