I read a story very many years ago about Thomas Carlyle in childhood. 
I don't recall anything about the context, but the point of the story
was that Carlyle, one of the most notable authors of the Victorian
period, was a very late bloomer when it came to speech.  This is the
way I remember the story, read originally in a real book and retold in
my own words, except that the quotation from Thomas is close to
verbatim:

Thomas Carlyle was a silent child.  At the age of four, he had never
spoken.  One day, attending a social function with, or perhaps hosted
by, his parents, young Thomas had the misfortune to be in the way of a
lady who happened to spill some of her hot beverage on him.  She was
all aflutter with apologies and mopping with handkerchiefs, until
finally Master Thomas waved off the fuss with the utterance of his
first words:  "Thank you, madame, I believe the agony is sufficiently
abated."

Now, I can't turn up any reference to this in a quick search, not even
using key words from the quote as I remember it.

Here's my question:  is there anything at all to this story?  Is it
fanciful, apocryphal, misreported?

I am certain of my recollection of the story, at least in its general
outlines, and fairly sure of my memory of the quote, but I have no
certainty that it's true.

Is there information to the effect that Carlyle was indeed a late
talker and that something even remotely similar to this incident ever
occurred?

Curiosity again.  I don't really, really need to know.

Thank you,
Archae0pteryx

Hi, Tryx,

It seems that the anecdote belongs not to Carlyle but rather to
another Thomas, namely Lord Thomas Babington MacCaulay.

"In 1804, when Thomas Babington Macaulay was 4 years old and at a
neighbor's house, a servant spilled hot coffee on his legs. A little
later, when asked by the hostess how he was feeling, he is said to
have replied "Thank you, madam, the agony is abated.''"
source: Jewish World Review, From the Editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary, Tenth Edition:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1004/dictionary_men101204.asp

"Uninterested in toys, he was reading avidly by the age of three, and
he already talked like a book. When hot coffee was accidentally
spilled on his legs and a kindly woman asked if he was all right, he
replied, 'Thank you, madam, the agony is abated.' "
see: History Today
http://www.historybookshop.com/articles/people/writers/macaulay-birth-of-ht.asp

"Macaulay, who is noted by Stevenson as an exception, was precocious
enough to arouse the fears rather than the hopes of his friends. When
he was four years old, he hurt his finger, and a lady inquiring
politely as to whether the injured member was better, the infant
replied gravely, "Thank you, Madam, the agony is abated.""
source: Note 9, Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson
http://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/essays-of-robert-louis-stevenson/ebook-page-18.asp

Also see: Anecdotage
http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=3361

---------------
search strategy:
thomas "is * abated"
thomas "is abated"

I hope this helps.

Thank you, Juggler, that certainly seems to be the story I had in
mind, even if I mixed the Toms after an unspecified number of decades.
 Too bad it doesn't illustrate the point I thought it did, but there
seems to be a little stretching room for veracity in it all the same.

Tryx