By no means did Thomas awake and ‘find himself famous’ after the publication of The French Revolution in May 1837, as Byron had after the publication of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812. But as that year went on he became established in the literary landscape—in Britain but also in the United States (aged forty-three, though; not Byron’s twenty-four). Sartor Resartus would finally be published in book form in London in July 1838, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays would follow a year later, and though the money took time to catch up it eventually did in 1839 and released the Carlyles from financial anxiety, especially when added to the income from his four annual lecture series of 1837–1840.

Never one to rest on his laurels—or anything else, come to that—Thomas threw his energies into any number of campaigns, each (one might say) concerned with taxation on knowledge: the penny post, the founding of the London Library, and author’s copyright. In the end, they would all be successful: in 1840, 1841 and 1842, respectively. He also (on the one hand) started serious preparatory work for something on Oliver Cromwell and (on the other) deepened his interest in contemporary working-class unrest among the Chartists, seeking electoral reform. In March 1839 he first met a prodigious socialite and lion-hunter, Lady Harriet Baring, of whom we shall hear more in Chapter 5.