Editing Thomas Carlyle (section)

=== "Conversion": Leith Walk and Hoddam Hill (1821–1826) ===
During this time, Carlyle struggled with what he described as "the dismallest [[Lernaean Hydra|Lernean Hydra]] of problems, spiritual, temporal, eternal".{{Sfn|''TR''||pp=50–51}} Spiritual doubt, lack of success in his endeavours, and dyspepsia were all damaging his physical and mental health, for which he found relief only in "sea-bathing". In early July 1821,{{Sfn|Vijn|2017|p=28}} "during those 3 weeks of total sleeplessness, in which almost" his "one solace was that of a daily bathe on the sands between [<nowiki/>[[Leith]]] and [[Portobello, Edinburgh|Portobello]]", an "incident" occurred in [[Leith Walk]] as he "went ''down''" into the water.{{Sfn|''TR''||p=49}} This was the beginning of Carlyle's "Conversion", the process by which he "authentically took the Devil by the nose"{{Sfn|Froude||loc=1:101}} and flung "''him'' behind me".{{Sfn|''TR''||p=51}} It gave him courage in his battle against the "Hydra"; to his brother John, he wrote, "What is there to fear, indeed?"{{Sfn|''Letters''||loc=1:371–372}}
[[File:Repentance Tower.jpg|thumb|[[Repentance Tower]] near the farm in Hoddam Hill, which Carlyle called "a fit memorial for reflecting sinners."{{Sfn|''CLO''||loc=TC to Janie Baillie Welsh; 23 March 1825}}|left]]
Carlyle wrote several articles in July, August and September, and in November began a translation of [[Adrien-Marie Legendre|Adrien Marie Legendre]]'s ''Elements of Geometry''. In January 1822, Carlyle wrote "Goethe's Faust" for the ''[[New Edinburgh Review]]'', and shortly afterwards began a tutorship for the distinguished Buller family, tutoring [[Charles Buller]] and his brother [[Arthur William Buller]] until July; he would work for the family until July 1824. Carlyle completed the Legendre translation in July 1822, having prefixed his own essay "On [[Proportionality (mathematics)|Proportion]]", which [[Augustus De Morgan]] later called "as good a substitute for the fifth [[Euclid's Elements|Book of Euclid]] as could have been given in that space".{{Sfn|Fielding|Tarr|1976|p=62|loc=}} 

Carlyle's translation of Goethe's ''[[Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship]]'' (1824) and ''[[Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years|Travels]]'' (1825) and his biography of [[Schiller]] (1825) brought him a decent income, which had before then eluded him, and he garnered a modest reputation. He began corresponding with Goethe and made his first trip to London in 1824, meeting with prominent writers such as [[Thomas Campbell (poet)|Thomas Campbell]], [[Charles Lamb]], and [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], and gaining friendships with Anna Montagu, [[Bryan Procter|Bryan Waller Proctor]], and [[Henry Crabb Robinson]]. He also travelled to Paris in October–November with [[Sir Edward Strachey, 3rd Baronet|Edward Strachey]] and [[Kitty Kirkpatrick]], where he attended [[Georges Cuvier]]'s introductory lecture on [[comparative anatomy]], gathered information on the study of [[medicine]], introduced himself to Legendre, was introduced by Legendre to [[Charles Dupin]], observed Laplace and several other notables while declining offers of introduction by Dupin, and heard [[François Magendie]] read a paper on the "[[Trigeminal nerve|fifth pair of nerves]]".{{Sfn|''Letters''||p=3:187–188}}

In May 1825, Carlyle moved into a cottage farmhouse in Hoddam Hill near Ecclefechan, which his father had leased for him. Carlyle lived with his brother Alexander, who, "with a cheap little man-servant", worked on the farm, his mother with her one maid-servant, and his two youngest sisters, Jean and Jenny.{{Sfn|''CLO''||loc=JBW to Thomas Carlyle; 2 September 1825}} He had constant contact with the rest of his family, most of whom lived close by at Mainhill, a farm owned by his father.{{Sfn|Cumming|2004|p=303}} Jane made a successful visit in September 1825. Whilst there, Carlyle wrote ''German Romance'' (1827), a translation of German novellas by [[Johann Karl August Musäus]], [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]], [[Ludwig Tieck]], [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]], and [[Jean Paul]]. In Hoddam Hill, Carlyle found respite from the "intolerable fret, noise and confusion" that he had experienced in Edinburgh, and observed what he described as "the finest and vastest prospect all round it I ever saw from any house", with "all [[Cumberland]] as in amphitheatre unmatchable".{{Sfn|''CLO''||loc=JBW to Thomas Carlyle; 2 September 1825}} Here, he completed his "Conversion" which began with the Leith Walk incident. He achieved "a grand and ''ever''-joyful victory", in the "final chaining down, and trampling home, 'for good,' home into their caves forever, of all" his "''Spiritual Dragons''".{{Sfn|''CLO''||loc=JBW to Mrs. George Welsh; 1 October 1826}} By May 1826, problems with the landlord and the agreement forced the family's relocation to [[Scotsbrig]], a farm near Ecclefechan. Later in life, he remembered the year at Hoddam Hill as "perhaps the most triumphantly important of my life."{{Sfn|Cumming|2004|pp=223–224}}