ジェーン・ウェルシュ・カーライル

ジェーンの家庭教師エドワード・アーヴィングは1821年に彼女をカーライルに紹介し、二人は互いに惹かれ合うようになった。二人は1826年に結婚し、エディンバラのコメリー・バンク21番地に引っ越した。1828年にはクレイゲンパットックに引っ越した。トーマスは執筆に没頭することが多かったが、ジェーンは家事を忠実にこなした。1834年、カーライル夫妻はロンドンのチェルシー、チェイン・ロウ5番地に引っ越した。ジェーンは夫が邪魔されずに執筆できるよう、近所の静けさを保つという新たな役割を担った。フィリス・ローズは「結婚生活におけるジェーンの役割を最もよく表しているのは、夫を鶏の鳴き声から守ろうとする彼女の絶え間ない闘いである」と書いている。^{[ 4 ]}

1844年に夫に宛てた手紙の中で、ジェーンはこの取り決めについて次のように書いています。「昨晩は、あらゆる種類の雄鶏、犬、そしてかなりの荷車の轟音にもかかわらず、ずっとよく眠れました！でも、あなたがそれらのせいで眠れずにいると思うと、これらのことの悪さが私にとっては2倍にも3倍にもはなりませんでした。」^{[ 5 ]}このような発言にもかかわらず、結婚生活は最終的には愛情に満ちたものでした。1週間後の別の手紙がそれを物語っています。「ここに来てからずっと不思議に思っていますが、私はどんなに腹を立てていても、あなたを完全に捨てて去るなんて話はできません。もし今日、その理由であなたのもとを去るとしたら、明日必ず戻って、あなたがどう感じているかを見なければならないでしょう！」^{[ 6 ]}

Their voluminous correspondence has been published, and the letters show that the couple's affection for each other was marred by frequent quarrels. Samuel Butler once wrote: "It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs. Carlyle marry one another and so make only two people miserable instead of four."^[7]

Margaret Oliphant, a personal friend of the Carlyles, opined that the marriage's "canker" came chiefly from Jane.^[8] Carlyle's biographer James Anthony Froude posthumously published his opinion, based on "gossip and rumor" circulated by Geraldine Jewsbury,^[9] that the marriage remained unconsummated.^[10][11] This notion was disputed by members of the Carlyle family, Oliphant, James Crichton-Browne and others.

Historian Paul Johnson notes in Creators that she not only irked her husband but made prickly comments about others. One target was fellow female writer George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), whose decision to live openly with her married lover George Henry Lewes had scandalised London society. Seeing the pair at the theatre one evening, Jane remarked of Eliot, "Poor soul! There never was a more absurd miscalculation than her constituting herself an improper woman. She looks Propriety personified. Oh, so slow!"^[12]

The Poetry Foundation's biography of Leigh Hunt says that his famous poem "Jenny Kiss'd Me" was inspired by Carlyle's wife.^{[13][note 1]}

Jane was jealous of a friendship her husband had with the socialite and hostess Lady Harriet Mary Montagu (later Lady Ashburton).^[15] Despite the platonic nature of the friendship, Jane expressed her jealousy and anger in a letter dated in 1856.

Jane had a long friendship and correspondence with the writer Geraldine Jewsbury. The two women first met in 1841, when Jewsbury's letters to Carlyle expressing admiration for his work^[16] and her religious doubts prompted him to extend an invitation to 5 Cheyne Row. Jewsbury was going through a depressive time, but she also contacted Thomas in the hopes of entering the literary realm in England. When Carlyle floated the idea of a second visit in 1843, Jane hesitated, finally admitting to Carlyle: "'Why I am afraid that having her beside me from morning till night would be dreadfully wearing'!" She complained of how Jewsbury was "always in a state of emotion! dropping hot tears on my hands, and watching me and fussing me".^[17] While Jane's letters were destroyed by Jewsbury in keeping with their agreement to destroy their correspondence before their deaths, Jane's sudden death prevented her from destroying Jewsbury's half.^[18] Jewsbury's letters evince her passionate feelings for Jane: "I feel towards you much more like a lover than a female friend".^[19]

They often had disagreements about common social issues of the era such as the place of men in women's lives and the purpose of women in general. Jewsbury was not opposed to marriage, but she thought man and woman should be equal in marriage; she did not witness that with the Carlyles, and criticised him for it.^[20] Jane often tried to set up Jewsbury with suitable bachelors in London. However, none of them stuck (Jewsbury never married).

When they were on good terms, Jane helped Jewsbury with many of her literary works, including two of Jewsbury's most popular novels, Zoe: the History of Two Lives,^[21] and The Half Sisters, which Jewsbury wanted to dedicate to her.^[22]

In 1857, Jewsbury became romantically involved with Walter Mantell, and the two women became distant. But near the end of her life, when Jane was very ill, the two reconnected. When Jane died, Jewsbury spoke of her as "the friend of my heart".^[23]

Virginia Woolf based a 1929 article in the Times Literary Supplement on Jewsbury's letters to Jane Carlyle,^[24] later published in The Second Common Reader.^[16] Their relationship was recognized among their literary peers despite the ups and downs of their friendship.^[11][25][26]