“....  Emerson’s theory is that of the ‘sovereignty of the individual.’  To discover what a young man is good for, and to equip him for the path he is to strike out in life, regardless of any other consideration, is the great duty to which he calls attention.  He makes men self-reliant.  He reveals to the eyes of the idealist the magnificent results of practical activity, and unfolds before the realist the grandeur of the ideal world of thought.  No man is to allow himself, through prejudice, to make a mistake in choosing the task to which he will devote his life.  Emerson’s essays are, as it were, printed sermons—­all having this same text....  The wealth and harmony of his language overpowered and entranced me anew.  But even now I cannot say wherein the secret of his influence lies.  What he has written is like life itself—­the unbroken thread ever lengthened through the addition of the small events which make up each day’s experience.”

Froude in his famous “Life of Carlyle” gives an interesting description of Emerson’s visit to the Carlyles in Scotland: 

“The Carlyles were sitting alone at dinner on a Sunday afternoon at the end of August when a Dumfries carriage drove to the door, and there stepped out of it a young American then unknown to fame, but whose influence in his own country equals that of Carlyle in ours, and whose name stands connected with his wherever the English language is spoken.  Emerson, the younger of the two, had just broken his Unitarian fetters, and was looking out around him like a young eagle longing for light.  He had read Carlyle’s articles and had discerned with the instinct of genius that here was a voice speaking real and fiery convictions, and no longer echoes and conventionalisms.  He had come to Europe to study its social and spiritual phenomena; and to the young Emerson as to the old Goethe, the most important of them appeared to be Carlyle....  The acquaintance then begun to their mutual pleasure ripened into a deep friendship, which has remained unclouded in spite of wide divergences of opinion throughout their working lives.”

Carlyle wrote to his mother after Emerson had left: 

“Our third happiness was the arrival of a certain young unknown friend named Emerson, from Boston, in the United States, who turned aside so far from his British, French, and Italian travels to see me here!  He had an introduction from Mill and a Frenchman (Baron d’Eichthal’s nephew) whom John knew at Rome.  Of course, we could do no other than welcome him; the rather as he seemed to be one of the most lovable creatures in himself we had ever looked on.  He stayed till next day with us, and talked and heard to his heart’s content, and left us all really sad to part with him.”

In 1841 Carlyle wrote to John Sterling a few words apropos of the recent publication of Emerson’s essays in England: