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 MEMOIRS 
 
 AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 or 
 
 FRANCIS HORNER, M. P.
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by A. Spottiswoode, 
 
 New- Street- Square.
 
 

 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 FRANCIS HORNER, M.P, 
 
 EDITED BY HIS BROTHER, 
 
 LEONARD HORNER, ESQ. F.R.S. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1843. 
 
 N 

 
 TO 
 
 THE HONOURABLE 
 
 LORD MURRAY. 
 
 My dear Lord Murray, 
 
 All who read these volumes will feel, I am 
 persuaded, as I do, that I could not dedicate them to 
 any one with so much propriety as to yourself. They 
 will have seen that from early youth to the close of 
 my brother's life, you were his intimate and con- 
 fidential friend ; and that in your affection he found 
 one of the chief sources of his happiness. 
 
 Your attachment to him led you to preserve all his 
 letters, and you were thus enabled to supply me with 
 the principal materials for this work. Without the 
 extensive correspondence which you placed in my 
 hands, I must have failed in accomplishing the object 
 I had in view ; the giving, in his own words, a con- 
 tinuous narrative of my brother's life. 
 
 I beg you to accept this dedication, in testimony of 
 my grateful sense of these obligations, and as an ex- 
 pression of my own sincere regard. 
 
 I am, my dear Lord Murray, 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Leonard Horner. 
 
 Bedford Place, London, 
 20th Feb. 1843. 
 
 A 3
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Horner's death, in the spring of 
 1817, his family and more intimate friends were 
 desirous that a biographical memoir of him should be 
 published, ample materials for such a work having 
 been found. He left several papers in his own hand- 
 writing, which disclosed many interesting circum- 
 stances in his early life and education, and others 
 which threw light on the history of his later years. 
 An extensive series of letters from various correspon- 
 dents was also found, and when application was made 
 to the writers of them, a large number of my 
 brother's own letters was obtained ; his friends very 
 generally expressing a kind interest in the contem- 
 plated work. 
 
 Towards the close of that year, the papers and 
 correspondence were placed in the hands of an in- 
 timate friend of my brother, well qualified to do 
 justice to such a subject. But amidst the engage- 
 ments of official life in London, and the attractions 
 of a widely extended society, it is scarcely possible 
 to command that degree of leisure, which most men 
 would deem indispensable for the composition of such 
 a work, especially when a large collection of manu- 
 script must previously be examined : thus it was with 
 my valued friend ; and after several years had elapsed, 
 
 a 4
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 he returned the papers to me, without having had an 
 opportunity of doing more than examine those of the 
 most interest. 
 
 After a short interval, they were sent to another 
 eminent person ; who, by his early and uninterrupted 
 intimacy with my brother, his varied accomplishments, 
 and his known powers as a writer, was peculiarly 
 fitted to be his biographer ; but, after the materials 
 had been some years in his possession, he too was 
 forced, by the pressure of professional engagements 
 and the duties of office, to decline the work he had 
 been solicited to undertake, and which he at one time 
 hoped he might have been able to execute. 
 
 I now relinquished all hope of the attainment of 
 an object I so much desired : I lamented, in common 
 with many others, that a debt which was felt to be 
 due to the memory of my brother should not be paid, 
 and that materials should be lost, which might have 
 been so employed as to have extended his usefulness 
 beyond the term of his brief existence. I knew my 
 own powers to be unequal to the composition of a 
 biography of one whose studies and pursuits had 
 been so different from my own, even if there had 
 been no objection on the ground of my near relation- 
 ship. 
 
 But the publication of the Memoirs of Sir Samuel 
 Romiily suggested a new course. We are told by the 
 editors of that valuable work that " they have confined 
 themselves to the task of selection and arrangement," 
 that " they have sedulously abstained from comment 
 and remark," and that all they have given had "been
 
 PKEFACE. ix 
 
 written by their father, or by one of his correspon- 
 dents." As the materials they had employed appeared 
 to me to be, in many respects, very similar to those 
 in my own possession, I felt an assurance that, by a 
 careful selection from the papers and correspondence, 
 by the addition of a few pages at the commencement 
 and close, and by filling up occasional blanks in the 
 course of the narrative, it would be possible for me to 
 make my brother himself narrate the history of his 
 life. Such is the work I now venture to lay before 
 the' public. 
 
 The letters of my brother which I have given con- 
 stitute little more than a third of the number I possess ; 
 I have also given extracts only from a Journal he 
 kept between 1798 and 1803 ; and I have riot inserted 
 more than a small number of the letters of some of 
 his correspondents. I have been obliged to omit 
 much that I would willingly have published ; but I 
 restricted my work to two volumes, which I con- 
 sidered the utmost length to which it could with 
 any propriety be extended. In the choice of the 
 materials, I have selected those which bear most di- 
 rectly upon my brother's character, opinions, and 
 personal history ; some of the letters, If taken by 
 themselves, may be thought too unimportant for 
 publication, but they must be viewed as links in the 
 narrative. 
 
 There are, I doubt not, many highly educated 
 persons, many of our younger statesmen, even among 
 those who have risen to distinction, to whom the 
 name of Francis Horner is unknown. Twenty-six
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 eventful years have passed since his voice was heard 
 in Parliament ; and the rapid succession of eminent 
 men who appear upon the stage of public life soon 
 effaces the remembrance of those who have gone 
 before ; except the few who, gifted with health as well 
 as superior talents, lived to act the chief parts, and 
 on whom the public eye had long been fixed ; or those 
 who, by their writings, have established a lasting re- 
 putation. But if this work should fall into the hands 
 of any of the persons to whom I have now alluded, I 
 would ask them to refer to the account of what took 
 place in the House of Commons on my brother's death, 
 and to the other " tributes " to his memory, which 
 they will find in the second volume. They will then, 
 I think, be disposed to allow, that I have not been 
 misled by my affection, in believing that the history 
 of one of whom such things could be said, by such 
 men, cannot be otherwise than interesting and in- 
 struct! ve.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 1778—1795. 
 
 Page 
 
 Mr. Horner's early Lite. Is sent to the High School and 
 College of Edinburgh ; goes to England to pur- 
 sue his education - - 1 
 
 Letter 1. To his Father. Gives an account of his studies 
 
 under the Rev. John Hewlett - - 6 
 
 2. To Mr. John A. Murray. His occupations ; 
 proposes that they should carry on their Dis- 
 putationes Academicce by correspondence - 8 
 
 1796. 
 
 Letter 3. To the same. Commencement of a metaphysical 
 correspondence ; has been to the House of Com- 
 mons - - - 9 
 
 4. To the same. Qualification and objects of an 
 
 orator - - - 12 
 
 5. To his Father. Has been making a tour in the 
 
 Isle of Wight - - - - 14 
 
 6. To the same. Gives an account of his progress 
 
 in the study of the English language - 16 
 
 7. From the same - - - - 19 
 
 8. From the same. Proposes that his son should 
 
 remain another year in England - - 20 
 
 9. To the same. Acquiesces in his father's plan ; 
 
 commences his law studies - - 21 
 
 10. To his Mother, regretting the postponement of 
 
 his return home - - - 23
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Letter 1 1 . From his Mother - - - 24 
 
 12. To his Father. Has begun the study of the 
 
 Civil Law - - - - 25 
 
 13. To Mr. J. A. Murray. His Civil Law studies; 
 
 remarks on Mr. Dugald Stewart's lectures - 26 
 
 14. To the same. On the style of the letters of 
 
 Junius ; metaphysical discussion on the Will ; 
 
 on Mr. Stewart's definition of Conception - 29 
 
 1797. 
 
 Letter 15. To his Father. Statement of his political 
 
 opinions - - - - 35 
 
 16. To the same. Visit to Blenheim - - 38 
 
 17. To Mr. J. A. Murray. Prospect of returning 
 
 home ; their metaphysical correspondence - 39 
 
 18. From the Rev. John Hewlett to Mr. Horner's 
 
 Father. Gives an account of his son's progress 
 and conduct while under his care - - 41 
 
 Notice by Mr. Hewlett, on the character, habits, and studies 
 
 of his pupil - - - - 43 
 
 Plan of his Studies, drawn up by Mr. Horner on the eve of 
 
 his return to Edinburgh - - - 49 
 
 Letter 19. To the Rev. John Hewlett. Account of his 
 return to Edinburgh, and of his intended occu- 
 pations at college - - - 54 
 
 Speculative Society. Is admitted a member, on the same 
 
 evening with Mr. Henry Brougham - -56 
 
 1798. 
 
 Journal. Has commenced a Journal of his reading. 
 
 May 1st to 7th ... 57 
 
 Letter 20. To Mr. J. A. Murray, London. Memoirs of 
 
 DeRetz - - - - 59 
 
 Journal. 6th to 15th July. Has been attending the Court of 
 Session ; qualifications of a barrister ; Montes- 
 quieu ; Bailly's Astronomy ; Chesterfield's Let- 
 ters - - - - - 61 
 
 Letter 21. To the Rev. John Hewlett - - 65
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 Page 
 
 Journal. 17th Aug. to 13th Nov. Turgot's " Reflections on 
 the Formation and Distribution of Wealth ; " 
 English history ; law studies - - 68 
 
 1799. 
 
 Journal. February. Is attending lectures on Scots Law ; 
 his political opinions ; study of the Pandects ; 
 Lord Webb Seymour ; plan for their studying 
 metaphysics together - - - 69 
 
 April. Is studying Spanish ; Filangieri ; character 
 of Lord Webb Seymour ; exercises in style ; 
 " Vie de Turgot " by Condorcet ; Gibbon's 
 Posthumous Works ; reflections on the close of 
 the first year of his Journal - - 73 
 
 May. Law studies ; sketches a plan of his occu- 
 pations for the summer, in literature, science, 
 and professional objects - - - 79 
 
 June and July. Excursion to the Highlands ; 
 geological studies ; lamentations over his want 
 of steadiness in his pursuits - - 84 
 
 August and October. French composition ; Bailly's 
 History of Astronomy ; on the best plan of 
 studying history - - - 87 
 
 November. " Millar on Government ; " has com- 
 menced the study of Scots Law ; Speculative 
 Society ; metaphysical studies with Lord Webb 
 Seymour - - - - 90 
 
 1800. 
 
 Letter 22. To Mr. William Erskine. Projected translation 
 of the political and philosophical writings of 
 Turgot; Mr. Dugald Stewart's Lectures on 
 Political Economy - - - 98 
 
 Journal. February. Scheme of a work under the title of 
 " View of the Limits of Human Knowledge, 
 and a System of the Principles of Philosophical 
 Inquiry" - - - - 101 
 
 Letter 23. To the Duke of Somerset. On a plan com- 
 municated by his Grace, for the formation of 
 a Philological Society, ultimately with a view 
 to the invention of a real character - 105
 
 XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Faare 
 
 - 109 
 
 110 
 
 112 
 
 116 
 
 Journal. March and April. Paper for the Speculative 
 Society, on the Circulation of Money 
 
 May. Studying Scots Law with Mr. Henry 
 Brougham ; Chemical Society ; chemical studies 
 
 June and July. Is called to the Scotch bar ; and 
 is attending the courts ; chemical studies ; law 
 studies - 
 
 August. Miscellaneous reading ; Memoir by Talley- 
 rand on the Commercial Relations of England 
 and the United States of America ; question of 
 the corn laws - 
 Letter 24. To Mr. William Ersklne. Has been on a pe- 
 destrian tour to the Highlands ; reflections on 
 the increased habit, in recent years, of travelling 
 for pleasure, and its effects 
 Journal. November. Results of his studies and reflections 
 after a long interval ; studying Bacon's philoso- 
 phical works with Lord Webb Seymour ; his 
 first law paper for the court 
 
 December. Study of Bacon ; investigation of the 
 corn trade ; is attending Stewart's Lectures on 
 Political Economy ; law studies - - 125 
 
 118 
 
 121 
 
 1801. 
 
 Journal. January. Attendance in the Parliament House ; 
 poetical and oratorical reading ; Stewart's Lec- 
 tures; study of Bacon with Lord Webb Seymour 133 
 February. Private society of Edinburgh ; has 
 been composing a law paper for the court on 
 a trivial question ; irksomeness of the task ; 
 discussion at the Speculative Society on the 
 consequences of a free intercourse with China - 1 39 
 March. Study of a state paper of Lord Mans- 
 field; Chemical Society and studies - - 143 
 Letter 25. To Mrs. Gray. Remarks on female education - 145 
 Journal. April. Reflections on the aim of his studies - 1 48 
 Letter 26. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Handel's music ; Lord 
 
 Henry Petty ; Bell's work on the Bankrupt Law 149 
 Journal. April. Bacon's Treatise De Augmentis ; plan of 
 a Treatise on the Economy of Intellectual Labour; 
 Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds ; Edinburgh
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 Page 
 
 society ; Rev. Archibald Alison ; chemical stu- 
 dies ; sermon of the Rev. Sydney Smith - 151 
 Journal. May. Study of Bacon ; French economists ; 
 Burke ; attendance in the Parliament House ; 
 study of the " Wealth of Nations " - -158 
 
 June. Law studies. Father Paul's Council of 
 Trent ; study of Bacon's Cogitata et Visa - 165 
 
 July. Studies in literature, law, and political 
 economy - - - - 168 
 
 September. Has been " entirely immersed in law, 
 political economy, and history ; " Sir James 
 Mackintosh in Edinburgh - _,-■ - 171 
 
 November. — Scheme of removing to the English 
 bar - - - - - 173 
 
 December. Law studies ; Life of Sir Matthew 
 Hale; miscellaneous reading - - 174 
 
 1802. 
 
 Journal. February and March. Study of Bacon and of 
 Smith's " Wealth of Nations," with Lord Webb 
 Seymour - - - - 176 
 
 March. In London. Has decided upon removing 
 to the English bar in another year ; has been 
 viewing a collection of pictures - - 178 
 
 Letter 27. From the Hon. James Abercromby to Lord 
 Webb Seymour. Impression made by Mr. 
 Horner on their mutual friends in London - 179 
 
 Journal. March and April, in London. Royal Institution 
 lectures ; Davy ; Romilly ; King of Clubs, style 
 of conversation there - - - 1 8 1 
 
 Letter 28. From Francis Jeffrey, Esq. First number 
 of the Edinburgh Review ; account of the pre- 
 parations for its appearance - - 185 
 29. To his Father. Communicates his proposed 
 arrangements for removing to the English bar, 
 and the plans he had been advised to follow - 188 
 
 Journal. April. Dinner at Mr. Romilly's ; remarks on the 
 company and the style of conversation ; King 
 of Clubs - - - - 192 
 
 May. Has returned to Edinburgh ; happiness of
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Pag. 
 
 finding himself at home ; reflections on his 
 visit to London ; growth of his " ambition for 
 the English bar ;" self-improvement and intel- 
 lectual culture ; study of the French economists ; 
 rhetorical reading - - - 193 
 
 Journal. June. Professional engagements ; study of Eng- 
 lish diction in the prose works of Milton and 
 Cowley - - - - 199 
 
 Letter 30. To John Allen, Esq., Paris. Edition of Tur- 
 gors Writings; progress of the Edinburgh 
 Review - 
 
 Journal. September. Has written the critique of Thornton 
 on Paper Credit for the Edinburgh Review ; 
 origin of the Review - 202 
 
 Letter 31. To James Loch, Esq. Account of the appear- 
 ance of the first number of the Edinburgh 
 Review ; Mr. Henry Brougham - - 203 
 
 Journal. November. Reception of the Edinburgh Review in 
 Edinburgh ; Mr. Jeffrey's articles ; scheme for 
 his winter studies ; chemistry ; political eco- 
 nomy ; mathematics ; the Speculative Society ; 
 law ; Stewart's Life of Reid - - 205 
 
 Letter 32. To James Loch, Esq. Reception of the Edin- 
 burgh Review in London ; Fox's speech on the 
 peace - - - - 2 1 1 
 
 1803. 
 
 Journal. April. Has removed from Edinburgh to London ; 
 
 employed before a committee of the House of 
 
 Commons ; meets M. Dumont ; visit to Mr. 
 
 Adam; English law studies - - 215 
 
 Letter 33. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Great debate in the 
 
 House of Commons, on the renewal of the war 216 
 
 34. To Thomas Thomson, Esq. Sir James Mack- 
 intosh about to set out for Lidia ; intended 
 course of the Opposition party, on the question 
 of the war - - - - 218 
 
 35. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Account of the debate 
 in the House of Commons on the war ; speeches 
 of Pitt and Fox ; a change of ministers not
 
 CONTENTS. XVll 
 
 Page 
 
 probable ; has sent some articles for the Edin- 
 burgh Review - 220 
 Letter 36. To Jame s Reddie, Esq. Mr. Reddie's scheme 
 
 of a work on international law - - 222 
 
 37. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Has joined the volun- 
 
 teer ranks ; excitement of the country on the 
 threat of invasion - 225 
 
 38. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Advises songs to be 
 
 written to rouse the enthusiasm of the people 
 of Scotland, in defence of the country ; Mack- 
 intosh's speech for Peltier ; correspondence of 
 Louis XVI. - - - - 226 
 
 39. To Thomas Thomson, Esq. Work of Bentham ; 
 
 French economists ; the Abbe Morellet - 228 
 
 40. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Gloomy aspect of public 
 
 affairs ; importance of rousing a patriotic spirit 
 
 in the people - - - - 231 
 
 41. From Sir James Mackintosh. Correspondence 
 
 of Louis XVI. - - - 233 
 
 42. To L. Horner, Esq. Advice as to his studies - 234 
 
 43. To James Reddie, Esq. Mr. Reddie's work on 
 
 international law - ■-. - 237 
 
 1804. 
 
 Journal. January. Richard Sharp, Esq.; volunteer system; 
 
 Mr. Fox's errors in the late years of opposition ; 
 
 anecdote of Lord Wellesley ; departure of Sir 
 
 J. Mackintosh for India - - 239 
 
 Letter 44. To William Ersklne, Esq. On the departure 
 
 of Sir J. Mackintosh - 244 
 
 45. From Lord Webb Seymour. Sir J. Mackin- 
 
 tosh ; study of Bacon - 245 
 
 46. To his Father. Account of a debate in the 
 
 House of Commons on the defence of the 
 
 country - 248 
 
 Journal. May. His first appearance at the bar of the House 
 
 of Lords - - - - 250 
 
 Letter 47. To J. A. Murray, Esq. The Slave Trade - 251 
 Journal. June. Is applied to by the Chairman of the East 
 
 Lidia Company, to write an exposition of the 
 VOL. I. a
 
 XV1111 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 views of the Directors, with respect to the ex- 
 tension of their Eastern dominions - 252 
 
 Journal. June. Is invited to a political dinner at Lord 
 Fitzwilliain's ; his views on party, and as to the 
 line he means to take ... 253 
 July. Account of the dinner at Lord Fitzwil- 
 liain's - - - - 254 
 
 Letter 48. From F. Jeffrey, Esq. Regrets Mr. Horner's 
 desertion of the Edinburgh Review ; Mr. 
 Brougham's articles; his own - - 256 
 
 Journal. August. Conversation with Mr. Playfair about a 
 
 scheme at Edinburgh for a new Encyclopaedia 258 
 
 Letter 49. To J. A. Murray, Esq. On the expediency of 
 a public prosecutor ; dinner at Lord Fitzwil- 
 liain's ; his views as to taking an active part in 
 politics .... 259 
 
 50. To the same. Seizure of Rumbold ; violation 
 
 of neutral rights ... 266 
 
 51. To the same. Mr. Thomas Thomson; party 
 
 polities at Edinburgh a waste of mind ; political 
 agency of the Lord Advocate ; professional 
 distinction the only object of ambition at the 
 Scotch bar ; improvements of Scotch Jurispru- 
 dence a wide field for distinction - - 267 
 
 52. To the same. Continuation of the subject of 
 
 the preceding letter ; lectures of the Rev. 
 Sydney Smith at the Royal Institution on 
 moral philosophy - 273 
 
 53. To Thomas Thomson, Esq. The second and 
 
 third volumes of Stewart's Philosophy of the 
 Human Mind in preparation - - 276 
 
 1805. 
 
 Letter 54. To F. Jeffrey, Esq. Articles for the Edinburgh 
 
 Review ; " The Lay of the Last Minstrel " - 278 
 
 55. To Sir James Mackintosh. Pitt's return to 
 
 power ; the new administration, and opening of 
 the session of parliament - - 279 
 
 56. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Account of a great de- 
 
 bate in the House of Commons on the war ;
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 Page 
 speeches of Dr. Lawrence ; Sir "William Grant ; 
 criticism on the style of the latter - - 284 
 
 Letter 57. To the same. Case of Professor Leslie at Edin- 
 burgh ; Lish Catholics - 287 
 
 58. To the same. Case of Professor Leslie - 289 
 
 59. To Sir James Mackintosh. Charges against 
 
 Lord Melville ; suggests subjects of inquiry on 
 the political economy of Bombay ; trade of 
 bullion ; Joseph Lancaster's schools - 291 
 
 60. To Lady Mackintosh. His society in London ; 
 
 regrets the absence of Sir James ; Mr. Campbell ; 
 his latest poem ... 297 
 
 61. To Sir James Mackintosh. Lord Melville's 
 
 disgrace ; increasing reputation of Lord Henry 
 Petty - - - - 299 
 
 62. To Lord Webb Seymour. His society in Lon- 
 
 don ; Lord Holland, and characteristic features 
 
 of the Fox family - - - 301 
 
 63. To Henry Hallam, Esq. Criticism on Payne 
 
 Knight's work on Taste - - 302 
 
 64. From the same. Reply to the preceding letter 304 
 
 65. To Thomas Thomson, Esq. Progress of Stew- 
 
 art's " Philosophy of the Human Mind " - 306 
 
 66. To Lord Webb Seymour. Change in their se- 
 
 veral objects of pursuit ; contemplates a visit 
 
 to Edinburgh - - - 308 
 
 67. To Sir James Mackintosh. Prospects of the 
 
 war ; Knight's work on Taste ; Lord Selkirk's 
 
 work on Emigration ; expected work by Mr. 
 
 Allen, on Spain; statistical inquiries in India 310 
 Journal. August and September. Remarks of Mr. Windham 
 
 on Pitt .... 315 
 
 Letter 68. From Lord Webb Seymour. Remarks on Mr. 
 
 Horner's plans and prospects in life - 316 
 
 69. To Lord Webb Seymour. Intends to go into 
 
 a lawyer's office ; his law studies - - 318 
 
 70. To the same. Joseph Lancaster's school ; work 
 
 of Mr. Alison on Taste ; defence of the Oppo- 
 sition party - - • - 320 
 
 2 a
 
 / 
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 1806. 
 
 Page 
 
 Journal. January. Remark of Mr. Fox on Burke s work 
 
 on the French Revolution - - 323 
 
 Letter 71. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Debate in the House 
 of Commons on the opening of the session ; 
 last illness of Mr. Pitt - - - 324 
 
 Journal. January. Course of the Opposition party in con- 
 sequence of the illness of Mr. Pitt ; Mi*. Fox's 
 conduct ; death of Pitt - 327 
 
 Letter 72. To Mr. Dugald Stewart. Lord Henry Petty 
 standing for the representation of Cambridge 
 University ; estimate of his character - 328 
 
 Journal. January and February. Changes of the adminis- 
 tration ; Lord Grenville's interviews with the 
 King ; review of his own original schemes and 
 future prospects ... 330 
 
 Letter 73. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Ministerial changes ; 
 impropriety of Lord Ellenborough being a ca- 
 binet minister ; foreign policy - - 340 
 
 74. To the same. On the ministerial changes - 342 
 
 75. To the same. Proposal made to him to be one 
 
 of the Commissioners for investigating the 
 claims of the Creditors of the Nabob of Arcot 344 
 
 76. To the same. Same subject - - 346 
 
 77. From J. A. Murray, Esq. In reply to the two 
 
 preceding letters ; and views as to Mr. Horner's 
 prospects .... 347 
 
 78. From Lord Webb Seymour. His views as to 
 
 Mr. Horner's acceptance of the office offered to 
 him, and his plan of life - - 350 
 
 79. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Has accepted the com- 
 
 missionership - 352 
 
 80. To the same. Mr. Murray's prospects at the 
 
 bar, and advice as to his proceedings ; his own 
 views ; determination to accept no political 
 situation ; but a seat in parliament not incom- 
 patible with his professional objects - 353 
 
 81. To the same. Lord Melville's trial; Sir S. 
 
 Romilly's speech - 358 
 
 Extract from a letter to Mrs. D. Stewart on Sir S. Romilly's 
 
 speech - 359
 
 CONTENTS. Xxi 
 
 Page 
 
 Letter 82. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Plan for their spending 
 the summer together on the south coast of Eng- 
 land ; eifect of Lord Melville's acquittal - 360 
 Journal. June. Is oifered a seat in parliament - 364 
 Letter 83. To Lord Webb Seymour. On the proposal made 
 
 to him to come into parliament - - 365 
 
 84. From the same. Answer to the preceding letter 367 
 
 85. To the same. Will reconsider the question of 
 his coming into parliament - - 372 
 
 86. To F. Jeffrey, Esq. Death of Mr. Fox, and 
 consequent extinction of the old Whig faction ; 
 question as to his successor - - 373 
 
 87. From Lord Kinnaird. Offers to bring Mr. 
 Horner into parliament - 377 
 
 88. To the same. Accepts the offer made in the 
 preceding letter - - - 377 
 
 89. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Is going to St. Ives in 
 Cornwall, to be elected - 378 
 
 90. To his Mother. His canvass at St. Ives - 379 
 
 91. To J. A.Murray, Esq. His election - 381 
 
 92. To the same. No reason why he should con- 
 ceal that he owes his seat to the friendship of 
 
 Lord Kinnaird ... 332 
 
 93. From the same. Congratulation on Mr. Hor- 
 
 ner's election - - - - 383 
 
 House of Commons. Short duration of the parliament ; dis- 
 solved in April ; Mi*. Horner speaks on some 
 occasions, and is named a member of a finance 
 committee - - 384 
 
 Letter 94. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Account of some 
 speakers in the House of Commons ; the opening 
 of the session - 386 
 
 95. To Lord Webb Seymour. Military arrange- 
 ments of the government ; state of Ireland, and 
 necessity of Catholic emancipation - 387 
 
 1807. 
 
 Letter 96. To F. Jeffrey, Esq. Edinburgh Review ; re- 
 commends him to take up two subjects himself; 
 the commerce of neutral nations, and the griev- 
 ances of Ireland - - 391
 
 XX11 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Letter 97. To Dr. Adam. Promises to take charge of a 
 bill for the relief of the widows and children 
 of schoolmasters ... 392 
 
 98. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Satisfaction at the con- 
 
 duct of the new government, in redeeming the 
 pledges they formerly gave - - 393 
 
 99. To the same. Has chosen the "Western Circuit 395 
 
 1 00. To the same. Conduct of the government on 
 the Catholic question ; their dismissal by the 
 King in consequence ... 397 
 
 101. To the same. Has been elected a member of 
 the Whig Club ; has written a pamphlet in 
 support of the late government - - 400 
 
 102. To Lady Holland. Debate in the House of 
 Commons on the change of ministry - 401 
 
 103. To F. Jeffrey, Esq. Edinburgh Eeview; 
 question of giving it up not to be entertained ; 
 suggests articles ; is called to the bar by the 
 Society of Lincoln's Inn - 402 
 
 104. To Lord Webb Seymour. Society ; party at 
 Wimbledon ; portrait of Lord W. S. ; the Rev. 
 T.R.Malthus - - - 404 
 
 105. To John Allen, Esq. From the circuit; is 
 pleased with it ; Grattan's vote on the Lish 
 Insurrection Bill ... 407 
 
 106. To his Sister, Miss Horner. He and Mr. 
 Murray are passing some days at Crickhowel 408 
 
 107. To John Allen, Esq. Mr. Grattan - 410 
 
 108. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Seizure of the Danish 
 fleet - - - - 411 
 
 109. To the same. Professional occupations - 413 
 
 110. To the same. Introduction of juries in civil 
 actions in Scotland ; advantages of trial by jury 414 
 
 1808. 
 
 House of Commons. Session from 21st January to 4th July. 
 (Mr. Horner had been elected for Wendover in 
 July: see page 385.) He did not speak on 
 any great question ; defended the memory of 
 Mr. Burke - - - - 417
 
 CONTENTS. XXlll 
 
 Page 
 Letter 111. To F. Jeffrey, Esq. Edinburgh Review ; Mr. 
 Malthus has begun to contribute ; suggests 
 books to be reviewed ; project of a Whig 
 newspaper in Edinburgh - - 419 
 
 112. To John Allen, Esq. Revolution in Spain - 422 
 
 113. To James Loch, Esq. Mr. Fox's History of 
 
 the Reign of James II. ; Spanish revolution ; 
 rejoices in it ; desires that England should send 
 assistance to the patriots - - 423 
 
 114. To F. Jeffrey, Esq. Asks him to review Mr. 
 
 Fox's History - - - 426 
 
 115. To James Loch, Esq. Spanish revolution - 427 
 
 116. To Henry Hall am, Esq. Has been reading 
 
 some Spanish authors ; pamphlet in defence of 
 the Duke of York - - - 428 
 
 117. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Mr. Jeffrey's Review 
 
 of Mr. Fox's History ; Scotch Judicature Bill - 430 
 
 118. To F.Jeffrey, Esq. Asks him to write an 
 
 article in the Edinburgh Review, upon the pro- 
 bable fate of the principles of liberty and good 
 government upon the Continent - - 432 
 
 119. To J.A.Murray, Esq. Mi-. Fox's History; 
 
 his opinion of Algernon Sydney ; rejoices in the 
 Spanish revolution ; account of a visit to Lord 
 and Lady Lansdowne ; visit to Mr. Malthus - 434 
 
 120. From F. Jeffrey, Esq. Indiscreet article in 
 
 the Edinburgh Review; injury to the work 
 from it ; asks Mr. Horner to contribute some 
 articles ; the Quarterly Review projected - 437 
 
 121. To the Rev. John Hewlett. On his edition 
 
 of the Bible - - - - 440 
 
 1809. 
 
 Letter 122. To Lord "Webb Seymour. On the death of 
 a son of Mi\ Dugald Stewart ; Memoir on the 
 Anatomy of the Brain by Cuvier and others - 441 
 
 123. To Mrs. Dugald Stewart. Mr. Stewart's re- 
 
 tirement from the University of Edinburgh - 442 
 
 124. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Reasons why he has 
 
 as yet spoken so seldom in the House of Com- 
 mons - 444
 
 / 
 
 XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 House of Commons. Mr. Horner speaks on the Scotch Judi- 
 cature Bill - - - - 446 
 Letter 125. To Lord "Webb Seymour. Mi*. Dugald Stew- 
 art's retirement ; inquiries about recent dis- 
 coveries in chemistry ; the metallic bases of 
 the earths ; geological questions which the dis- 
 covery involves - 447 
 
 126. From the Rev. John Hewlett. Asks the 
 
 opinion of Mi*. Horner on a note in his edition 
 
 of the Bible on Hebrew numerals - - 449 
 
 127. To the same. Answer to the preceding letter - 449 
 
 128. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Conduct of the Duke 
 
 of York investigated by parliament - 45 1 
 
 129. To the same. Same subject - - 453 
 
 130. From F. Jeffrey, Esq. Reproaches Mi*. Hor- 
 
 ner for not speaking in parliament ; is reviewing 
 Campbell's new poem of Gertrude of Wyo- 
 ming - - - - 455 
 
 131. To J. A. Murray, Esq. Campbell's new poem 457 
 
 132. To the same. Intends to bring in a bill to 
 
 render illegal the sale of all judicial offices - 459 
 
 133. To Charles Grant, Esq. Resigns his Carnatic 
 
 commissionership - 460 
 
 134. To the Hon. J. W. Ward. Dissatisfied with 
 
 the conduct of the Opposition party in parlia- 
 ment - 461 
 
 135. To F. Jeffrey, Esq. Question of parliamentary 
 
 reform - 462 
 
 136. To his Father. From the circuit ; account of 
 
 the success he has had, and his prospects - 465 
 
 137. To John Allen, Esq. Question of a coalition 
 
 ministry; insuperable objections to it - 467 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. Biographical Notice of Lord Webb Seymour, by Henry 
 
 Hallam, Esq. - - - - 473 
 
 B. Letter from Mr. Horner to Malcolm Laing, Esq., relative 
 
 to the trial of Aikenhead in 1697 - - - 487 
 
 C. Mr. Horner's Pampldet, entitled, " A short Account of a 
 
 late short Administration " 490
 
 MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 FRANCIS HORNER, M.P. 
 
 Francis Horner was the eldest son of Mr. John 
 Horner, a merchant of Edinburgh, and of Joanna 
 Baillie; and was born there on the 12th of August, 
 1778. His paternal grandfather was a native of 
 Yarm in Yorkshire, who married Miss Hay, a lady 
 from Edinburgh : he died very young, and his widow 
 returned with three infant children to her native 
 place. His maternal grandfather, Mr. John Baillie, 
 was a younger son of the family of Baillie of Doch- 
 four, in Inverness-shire ; he was admitted a member 
 of the Society of Writers to the Signet in Edinburgh 
 in 1721, and married Miss Anne Broughton, the 
 daughter of a gentleman who had been sent from the 
 Excise Office in London, to introduce some improve- 
 ments in that office in Edinburgh.* 
 
 Francis Horner enjoyed all those advantages which 
 are derived, in early life, from the watchful care of 
 sensible and judicious parents. His father had assi- 
 duously cultivated a naturally strong understanding ; 
 and by his general information, refined tastes, and 
 
 * Mrs. Baillie's eldest brother, the Rev. Thomas Broughton. A. M. 
 was rector of Allhallows, in Lombard Street, and of Wotton, in Surrey, 
 and from 1743 to 1777 was secretary of the Society for promoting Chris- 
 tian Knowledge ; an office afterwards filled by his son-in-law, the Rev. 
 Dr. Gaskin, referred to in the sequel. 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 HIS EARLY LIFE. 
 
 liberal sentiments, was well qualified to give a 
 right direction to the talents of which his son gave 
 an early promise. His mother's excellent qualities 
 had an influence no less beneficial in the formation of 
 her son's character, for she united to a gentle nature, 
 great good sense, activity of mind, and an earnest 
 unobtrusive piety, which shone forth in her whole 
 conduct and in all her sentiments, and which she 
 carefully impressed on the minds of her children. 
 Never had parents a richer reward for anxious care 
 and confiding liberality ; they received from this che- 
 rished object of their love and pride, proofs of warm 
 affection and respectful deference, at all times and 
 in all circumstances, from early youth to the close of 
 his life, as the following pages abundantly testify; 
 they witnessed the full developement of that character, 
 of the noblest part of which, inflexible purity of prin- 
 ciple, they had themselves laid the foundation ; they 
 saw him loved and honoured by the wise and good, 
 and acknowledged as an ornament to his country. 
 
 I have been able to collect only a few anecdotes of 
 my brother's childhood and school-boy days. His 
 mother relates* that "Frank was a delicate infant, 
 and continued long a weakly child. I taught him to 
 read, and thought him dull; but at six years of age 
 he distinguished himself at his first school, and was 
 the pride of his master : at the first annual examin- 
 ation after he went to the school, upon his reciting a 
 poem, I overheard one of the examiners, the late Dr. 
 Adam, ask ' the name of that fine boy.' His earliest 
 friend was Henry Brougham f, for before we left St. 
 
 * In a letter to myself, soon after my brother's death, I requested her 
 to note down such particulars, relating to that period, as she could then 
 call to mind. 
 
 f The present Lord Brougham.
 
 HIS EARLY LIFE. 
 
 David Street, in May, 1780, they used to run together 
 on the pavement before our house. Frank never was 
 idle, even at that age; when he came home from 
 church he used often to repeat parts of the service in 
 the nursery ; he said he should like to be a parson, 
 and my mother made him a black gown and bands. 
 One day when Mr. Blair, afterwards President of the 
 Court of Session, was dining with us, my little fellow 
 was invited into the room after dinner, dressed in his 
 gown and bands ; and the manner in which he went 
 through his part struck Mr. Blair so much, that he 
 said to me, ' you must bring up that boy to the bar.' 
 He went to the theatre for the first time the winter 
 following ; the play was Hamlet, with the afterpiece 
 of the Poor Soldier : much to our astonishment, he 
 soon after repeated the soliloquy of Hamlet, acted 
 several of the different characters, even to the ghost, 
 without confusion, did the same with some of those in 
 the Poor Soldier, and sang the songs with great hu- 
 mour. He was not unhealthy, but never robust ; I 
 often thought that his anxiety to learn his lessons 
 made him indifferent about his meals. He had a pri- 
 vate tutor in the evening, who, as all who ever super- 
 intended his education, gave him the highest praise." 
 In 1786, Francis Horner was sent to the High 
 School of Edinburgh, where, according to the routine 
 of the school, he became a pupil of William Nicol, a 
 man of a vigorous understanding, but a very indif- 
 ferent master, whose name has been saved from obli- 
 vion by the verses of Burns, having been one of the 
 poet's jovial companions. He remained four years 
 with Nicol, who taught the elements of Latin only, 
 after which he was placed under the care of a very 
 different person, the learned and amiable Dr. Alex- 
 ander Adam, then rector of the school, under whose 
 
 B 2
 
 HIS EARLY LIFE. 
 
 tuition he continued two years. He always retained 
 a warm affection for this excellent man, and on 
 the occasion of Dr. Adam's death, in 1809, he thus 
 records his obligations to his old master : — "I have 
 always felt a most agreeable debt of gratitude to him, 
 for the love he gave me in early life, for the pursuits 
 which are still my best source of happiness, as well 
 as for the most valuable impressions in all subjects of 
 political opinion." * At the annual public examin- 
 ation of the High School, on the 10th of August, 1792, 
 he was the Dux of the rector's class ; that is, he was 
 the head boy of the whole school when he left it to 
 go to college. On this occasion, as I have learned 
 from one of his schoolfellows f , who was present, he 
 delivered to Dr. Adam a book which the boys of the 
 class had subscribed for, as a testimony of their respect 
 and gratitude ; and it was on this occasion that he first 
 spoke in public; it was a Latin speech, of his own 
 composition; and Lord Cockburn adds, — "it was 
 well composed and well spoken." Although he was 
 always of a cheerful temper, he had, even when a 
 young man, a certain gravity and earnestness of cha- 
 racter, which led his more intimate friends to call him 
 jocosely — "the sage" — and "the ancient Horner;" 
 but I have been told by two of his early companions J 
 that, as a boy, he was given to fun and gaiety, and 
 that he acted comic parts and sang humorous songs 
 in some private theatricals with great spirit. 
 
 In November, 1792, he was matriculated as a stu- 
 
 * Letter to Mr. Murray, 23d Dec. 1809. 
 
 •f Henry Cockburn, now Lord Cockburn, one of the Judges of the 
 Court of Session in Scotland. 
 
 \ James Pillans, now Professor of Humanity in the University of 
 Edinburgh, and John Archibald Murray, second son of Lord Henderland, 
 one of the Judges of the Court of Session in Scotland. Mr. Murray was 
 Lord Advocate from 1834 to 1839, when he was appointed a Judge of the 
 Court of Session.
 
 HIS EAELY LIFE. 
 
 dent of the University of Edinburgh. That seminary 
 may be said to have been then at the height of its 
 reputation: Robertson, the historian, was the prin- 
 cipal ; and among its professors were some of the most 
 distinguished names in science and literature of that 
 period. The chair of moral philosophy was filled by 
 Dugald Stewart ; that of mathematics, by John Play- 
 fair; of natural philosophy, by John Robison; of 
 chemistry, by Joseph Black; of Greek, by Andrew 
 Dalzel ; and of rhetoric by the Rev. Dr. Hugh Blair ; 
 while, in the medical school, anatomy was taught by 
 the second Alexander Monro, and the practice of 
 physic by James Gregory. 
 
 He remained at college until the close of the 
 session in the summer of 1795, and during these 
 three years, that is, between the fourteenth and seven- 
 teenth years of his age, he prosecuted his Latin and 
 Greek studies, acquired the elements of mathematics 
 and natural philosophy, attended the lectures of the 
 professors of logic, moral philosophy, and rhetoric, and 
 acquired some familiarity with the French language. 
 In the last year he was a member of the " Juvenile 
 Literary Society," one of those useful institutions 
 which are established by the students of the college 
 for the discussion of literary subjects by essays and 
 debates ; and he soon became a leading member of the 
 society, as was also his friend Henry Brougham. 
 
 He had now arrived at a time of life when it was 
 necessary to think of his future profession : his own 
 predilection for the bar was encouraged by his father, 
 and the plan of his future education was regulated 
 accordingly. He had as yet lived constantly at home ; 
 but his father being anxious to give him those advan- 
 tages which a youth derives from being thrown upon 
 his own resources among strangers, and, at the same 
 
 b 3
 
 6 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 time, thinking" it desirable that he should be freed 
 from the disadvantages of a provincial dialect to a 
 public speaker, it was determined that, for the next 
 year at least, he should prosecute his studies in 
 England. Upon the recommendation of his mother's 
 relative, the Rev. Dr. Gaskin, he was placed under 
 the care of the Rev. John Hewlett *, at Shacklewell, 
 in Middlesex. 
 
 From the letters he wrote to his family and friends 
 during his stay at Shacklewell, I have selected those 
 which best indicate the nature and extent of his ac- 
 quirements at the close of his academical education, 
 the studies in which he was next engaged, and the 
 progress he made while under the guidance of his 
 accomplished and judicious tutor and friend. And 
 now, having briefly narrated such particulars of my 
 brother's early life as his own papers did not supply, 
 but which the reader will naturally expect to be 
 made acquainted with, I leave him to be his own 
 biographer. 
 
 1795. Letter I. TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 Mt. 18. 
 
 Honoured Father, Shacklewell, 23d Nov. 1795. 
 
 I received the agreeable information of your 
 safe arrival at Edinburgh by my dear mother's letter. 
 I hope she believes me grateful for the very kind in- 
 junctions it contains, and that I shall endeavour, by 
 obedience, to deserve a frequent repetition of them. 
 Beside their influence in guiding me to what is proper 
 and becoming, I shall derive from them the pleasure 
 of considering myself under her immediate direction, 
 
 * Of Magdalen College, Cambridge, afterwards Morning Preacher at 
 the Foundling Hospital, and now Rector of Hilgay, in Norfolk.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 and of sometimes forgetting that I am at a distance 1795. 
 from home. ^ 18> 
 
 I shall endeavour, my dear father, to give you an 
 idea of the manner in which I now pass my thne; 
 though that I shall be better able to do some time 
 afterwards, when I have methodised the business of 
 each day, and become accustomed to a fixed plan, 
 without which it is impossible to carry on study of 
 any kind with the least profit or despatch. I make a 
 point of reading Greek or Latin every day. The 
 Annals of Tacitus, and Iliad of Homer, are my pre- 
 sent books in that line ; whatever assistance is neces- 
 sary I receive from Mr. Hewlett, who generally sits 
 with me an hour every day. The afternoon I devote 
 sometimes to mathematics, and otherwise to the for- 
 mation of English style by translating from the French, 
 attempting original composition (both of which Mr. 
 Hewlett examines), and by perusing classical authors, 
 such as, at present, Bolingbroke and Junius. When 
 my books come up, and Dr. Gaskin (as he has been so 
 good as promise) obtains me access to one of the 
 public libraries in town, I shall be enabled to extend 
 and improve this plan. With respect to one great 
 object for which you were at the expense and trouble 
 of placing me here, I think I am beginning to pro- 
 nounce some words as Englishmen do, and just to feel 
 the difference between the rhythm of their conversa- 
 tion and mine. I find, however, that it will be a 
 much more difficult matter than it would have been 
 two or three years ago, and than it would be now, 
 were I blessed with a more acute and delicate ear. 
 
 Remember me to my mother, and her mother's 
 family, and to all my friends in Edinburgh. I shall 
 not recal the tears of affliction, by condoling with 
 Leonard on the death of his favourite rabbit. 
 
 b 4
 
 g CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1795. Allow me, my dear father, to believe myself your 
 
 2 EiT 18 dutiful and affectionate son, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter II. TO MR. JOHN ARCHIBALD MURRAY. 
 
 My dear Murray, Shacklewdi, 24th Nov. 1795. 
 
 I leave the Port Royal Grammar and Lexicon 
 of Hedericus to refresh myself in your company, to 
 inform you where I have taken up my winter quar- 
 ters, and to interrogate you rigidly with regard to 
 your plans at college, and the proceedings of that 
 most polite, learned, and scientific body, the Juvenile 
 Literary Society. 
 
 On Friday, 6th Nov., I fixed my abode at Shackle- 
 well. The rev. gentleman, under whose superintend- 
 ence I am, keeps a boarding-school for boys, on 
 which account I have my bed and study at a room 
 in a different part of the village ; by this means I am 
 at a distance from the boys, the music of whose mo- 
 tions is not always exactly the same with that which 
 Pythagoras ascribed to the celestial spheres, so har- 
 monious as not to be heard. At Mr. Hewlett's 
 house, however, I take all my meals; and he gene- 
 rally sits with me about an hour every day in my own 
 room. He is a most agreeable man ; an elegant and 
 general scholar, in the most extensive sense of the 
 words. I consider myself peculiarly happy in having 
 fallen into his hands, and believe I shall pass the 
 ensuing twelvemonth with much more pleasure and 
 much more profit than I expected when I saw you 
 last. 
 
 This detail I have given you, because I believe you 
 would be as glad to hear of my having found an
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 9 
 
 agreeable situation, as I am anxious about every thing 1795. 
 that interests you. Write me, my dear friend, as ^ T> 18> 
 soon as possible. You may believe with what plea- 
 sure I must seize every letter from Edinburgh. 
 
 Tell me how you are managing your studies, what 
 classes you attend, and what books you are devouring. 
 I see nothing to prevent us carrying on our Disputa- 
 tiones Academicce, though we are four hundred miles 
 asunder. Metaphysics can war loud enough, and I can 
 get franks every week. Come, I order you in the 
 name of Hume, and Smith, and Dugald Stewart, to 
 select a question immediately, and to begin upon it 
 in your very first letter. The controversy would be 
 much the better for our friend Brougham's assistance, 
 and I shall give him a hint. In the meantime re- 
 member me to him. 
 
 On Monday evening last, about 7 o'clock, I mut- 
 tered the bonum felix Jaustumque, and hope it had 
 some effect. May Minerva hover over your meetings, 
 and the Muses take possession of Gunter's slate.* 
 Your very affectionate friend, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter III. TO MR. J. A. MURRAY. 
 My dear Murray, London, 15th Feb. 1796. 
 
 It gives me very great satisfaction to find that 
 you have such a relish for the new branch of science 
 on which you have lately entered. All my former 
 labours in that way are of little use to me, I find, 
 in England ; ignorance of the improvement of late 
 years extends the influence of that well-founded 
 
 * The Literary Society held its meetings in the mathematical class- 
 room of the college. — Ei>.
 
 10 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 2Et. 18. 
 
 1796. opinion, which the English literati and all unlearned 
 men have formed against the absurd and trifling 
 metaphysics of the schoolmen, and the dangerous 
 refinements of modern materialists. This prejudice, 
 however, Avill of course wear gradually away, and 
 there can be but little rashness or unfounded expect- 
 ation, in believing that in the revolution of a century 
 the science of the human mind will hold the same 
 rank, be as generally cultivated, and applied to 
 practical uses equally important as the science of 
 experimental philosophy is at present. The free 
 communication of sentiments, which subsists between 
 us, my dear Murray, will, I am sure, suffer me to 
 give you, from my own experience, an advice with 
 regard to the first prosecutions of this study, viz., to 
 write on all the subjects which the professor pre- 
 scribes. The advantages, in every respect, which 
 attend this, I believe to be immensely great. With 
 regard to Reid, the arguments against the fidelity of 
 the senses must be refuted (in the logical treatise 
 which you mention), I should apprehend, in a manner 
 different from his, as it rests entirely on what is 
 thought his greatest improvement in the science, the 
 accurate distinction which he has established betwixt 
 sensation and perception. 
 
 I should be much obliged to you, if you will 
 give me an abstract of what " The Art of Thinking" 
 says on this subject. I am not at all surprised at 
 your disliking, on first perusal, " The Inquiry into 
 the Human Mind." The style in which it is written, 
 as well as many other Aberdonian productions that 
 were published about the same time, would be in- 
 decent, even in a common political pamphlet. If 
 you have not yet read Mr. Stewart's book, I can 
 assure you that you have high pleasure in store.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 11 
 
 You ask, my dear Murray, for an account of my 1796. 
 studies ; at present, I confine them to the impressing jet. 18. 
 on my mind more strongly those very few branches 
 of knowledge which I had cultivated before leaving 
 Edinburgh ; mathematics, languages, and your science 
 of nousology, occupying each a portion of my daily 
 employment. This I am obliged to do, on account 
 of the time which I must spend in considering the 
 principles of English pronunciation, and English 
 composition. In prosecution of the last of these, I 
 sometimes attempt myself, sometimes translate from 
 my favourite Rousseau — carrying on at the same 
 time, under the direction of my friend Mr. Hewlett, 
 a very rigid examination of the style of Mr. Hume 
 in his History, which I am astonished to find abound 
 so much both in inaccuracies and inelegancies. 
 
 I have not been at the House of Commons so 
 frequently as you would suppose. Added to the 
 distance, and the inconvenience of getting home after 
 midnight, when it is above five miles off, and part of 
 that, too, in the country, I must confess that I was 
 greatly disappointed in my expectations with regard 
 to the eloquence of the British Senate. The best of 
 them — and the good are very few — speak with such 
 an unaccountable tone, they have so little grace in 
 their action and delivery, and such a set of cant 
 appropriated phrases have crept into use, that he 
 who has previously formed ideas of eloquence from 
 what he has read of that of Greece and Rome, must 
 find the speeches even of Fox and Pitt miserably 
 inferior. The one, indeed, speaks with great anima- 
 tion, and, I am convinced, from the warmest sincerity 
 of heart ; and the other has a most wonderful fluency 
 and correctness, approaching almost to mechanical 
 movement. But neither of them has proceeded so far
 
 [2 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. as the observance of Shakspeare's rule; for the one 
 ^ Et# 18 saws the air with his liancls, and the other with his 
 
 whole body. The paper can contain no more. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter IV. TO MR. J. A. MURRAY. 
 My dear Murray, London, 21st June, 1796. 
 
 I am afraid it is unnecessary for me to point 
 out to you the apparent inconsistency between the 
 very high pleasure which I enjoy in writing to you, 
 and the remissness with which I answer your letters ; 
 and yet the incongruity is more than apparent, for 
 both those are really the case. You are satisfied of 
 one, and I feel the other. You are now, I dare 
 say, deeply engaged in the philosophy of the human 
 mind — favour me with a solution of the problem. 
 In the meantime I must proceed, according to your 
 desire, to oppose some of the positions of your late 
 excellent letter. 
 
 You say a speaker's object in the House of Com- 
 mons is not so much to move the passions of his 
 audience as to convince their understandings. What 
 their object t's, would, I believe, be very difficult to 
 ascertain ; in considering what it ought to be, I should 
 be apt to differ from you. When we recollect that 
 perhaps not one member comes into the chapel 
 without his opinion previously formed on the ques- 
 tions that are to be discussed, and that his opinion 
 is almost always established merely on a consideration 
 of the interest of the side to which he has attached 
 himself, without any general discussion; it would 
 seem fruitless to think of working on that man's
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 13 
 
 understanding, because he has set out from the be- 1796. 
 ginning with a defiance to all argument and reasoning. ^ T . 18 . 
 I should think it necessary to go to the original 
 foundation of his opinions, raise one set of passions 
 to destroy the effect of others; show him it is his 
 interest to adopt the conclusions which I point out; 
 and hurry away his whole thoughts by such a stream 
 of argument and passion, as will make it impossible 
 for him to decline being what I am resolved he 
 shall be, and at the same time lead him to consider 
 the change in his mind as the effect merely of his 
 own judgment. This was the object Demosthenes 
 seems to have had in view, and to this effect Lord 
 Chatham's eloquence certainly approximated. From 
 this part of your letter I must pass over your many 
 admirable observations on the action of speakers, 
 because I find it utterly impossible to raise any cavil 
 or shadow of objection, till I come to what you say 
 with regard to the taste of the multitude, of the 
 justness of which permit me to doubt. I should 
 even hesitate with regard to the fact, and that Avith- 
 out instituting a comparison between the mob that 
 issued from the purlieus of the Piraeus, and the 
 frightful group whom I t'other day saw round the 
 hustings in Covent Garden, for we were speaking of 
 the House of Commons : but admitting the fact to 
 be true, the true seat of eloquence is amid passion, 
 and ignorance, and prejudice, and fury — Ac veluti 
 inagno in populo cum scppe coorta est : I need only 
 mention one fine, though I wish to recal the whole 
 to your imagination. Nay, I think that in the House 
 of Commons the manner of the orator ought perhaps 
 to be more artful and more violent than even in 
 addressing such mobs as those already noticed : as I 
 should suppose it more easy to turn the current of
 
 ■14 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. enthusiasm, when once it flows, than to excite any 
 j Et 18> considerable degree of it in a cold, selfish, and in- 
 terested mind. 
 
 Thus, my dear Murray, if you have indeed got so 
 far, have I endeavoured to enlarge upon two objections 
 to the matter contained in your last letter. * * * * 
 
 Yours, very affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter V. TO HIS FATHER. 
 Honoured Father, Monday, 4th July, 1796. 
 
 I returned yesterday with Mr. Hewlett from 
 our tour through the Isle of Wight, and had the 
 pleasure of finding a letter from you. 
 
 There were four of us in company — the additional 
 two being Mr. Hewlett's brother, and a French 
 gentleman who lives in the house. We -had a most 
 agreeable excursion; and, beside the enjoyment at 
 the time, I hope I have derived some information 
 from it, and certainly have received additional 
 strength and health, which was become a little neces- 
 sary; as, for some time before, I had been subject to 
 rather a troublesome affection of my lungs. This I 
 thought unnecessary to mention before, and it would 
 not now have occurred, had I not thought of stating 
 the advantages that may be received from such a 
 pedestrian tour as I have lately had. 
 
 As far as I am able to judge, the Isle of Wight is, 
 of all the countries which I have seen, the best 
 calculated for laying out, as it is called, for the 
 gratification of that elegant talent, the object of 
 which is to transfer the scenes of nature from one
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. < 15 
 
 situation to another, and by happy combinations to 1796. 
 create scenes even superior to those of nature ; the ^ T 18< 
 country abounds so fully in all the materials on 
 which a mind possessed of this talent may exercise 
 itself, and the ground is so beautifully and infinitely 
 varied. 
 
 In one or two places, advantage has been taken 
 of these circumstances; but, in general, it must be 
 confessed, that nature appears in her most simple 
 and undisguised attire. Nothing forces you to be- 
 lieve any thing you see to have been done in order 
 to conceal her primitive form: no clump of trees 
 planted to remove the deformity of a flat unvaried 
 surface; no toil of art to break the uniformity of 
 lines. I frequently felt those placid and charming 
 associations which the poets of antiquity will ever 
 furnish, but which it is perhaps at any time ridiculous 
 to express, as to some it appears ludicrous in any one 
 to profess to feel. 
 
 The impression, however, which the prospects of 
 the Isle of Wight leave on the mind is by no means 
 uniform, any more than the objects of which the 
 prospects are composed. There are many oppor- 
 tunities for recalling the manners and the actions of 
 former days, among which the extensive and vener- 
 able remains of Carisbrook Castle afford the most 
 striking. Along the coast, also, the cliffs are in many 
 places very grand; on the south coast, where they 
 are most so, they seem all one uniform stratum of 
 chalk, and rise to the perpendicular height of from 
 three to six hundred feet above the sea. Here 
 Shakspeare's description was tritely appropriated; 
 even the circumstances of the choughs and samphire- 
 gatherers were not wanting. 
 
 From these cliffs we had fine prospects of the
 
 1G CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. interior part of the island and the opposite coasts of 
 2E T . 18 . Hampshire, and on the other hand the immense 
 extent of the English Channel. The noblest pro- 
 spect of the kind I ever saw, — perhaps I may say, 
 that can any where be seen, — is that of Portsmouth 
 and Spithead from the rocks of the Priory, a seat 
 of Judge Grose's ; it is situated within a mile of St. 
 Helens. With regard to the inhabitants, they have 
 all the simplicity, and hospitality, and good-breeding, 
 which are the blessings of a country devoted to agri- 
 culture; their dialect appears the same as that of 
 Hampshire, and the other western counties, except 
 on the northern coast, where they have an opportunity 
 of intercourse with Southampton and Portsmouth. 
 
 You will judge from the appearance of the last 
 sheet what I intended to be the extent of this letter. 
 But I find it not an easy matter even to stop here, 
 and I could not resist the temptation which you 
 offered me of travelling again, with the additional 
 pleasure of your company, over the grounds winch 
 had lately afforded me so much satisfaction. 
 
 Present my kindest love to my dear mother, and 
 say, that now that I have an idea of her being un- 
 well, I feel more than ever the desire of being at 
 home, and of showing, in person to her and you, my 
 dear father, that I am a very dutiful and affectionate 
 son. 
 
 Fha. Horner. 
 
 Letter VI. TO HIS FATHER. 
 Mv dear Father Sbacklewell, 3d September, 1796. 
 
 I shall now endeavour to give you the idea 
 which I myself have formed of my progress in pro-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 17 
 
 nuneiation, &c. ; whether that will be accurate I am 1796. 
 uncertain, but I hope you will not doubt its being ^ T _ 19 . 
 true, so far as it goes ; on such a subject vanity 
 would be imprudent, because my friends will be dis- 
 posed of themselves to form rather high expectations, 
 and an affectation of modesty would be equally 
 ridiculous. 
 
 I am sensible that I have by no means made myself 
 master of all the variety of the English accents : I 
 am now and then detected in a Scotch inflexion, but 
 hardly ever without previously detecting myself. This 
 circumstance will inform you of the degree of advance 
 I have made, as the first and longest step to improve- 
 ment (especially in such delicate matters as inton- 
 ations of voice and shades of sound) is the ability of 
 feeling where the fault lies. It satisfies me of what is 
 in my power, of what might be done. This is the 
 point, however, of which I am most afraid, when I 
 shall be deprived of the examples and models that 
 at present surround me, and furnish me the advan- 
 tages of habitual imitation ; and even diligence will 
 have no other guide than memory. 
 
 I must now come to the other two points, of pro- 
 nunciation and reading. The latter is evidently in- 
 dependent of my stay in England: wherever the 
 talent is made an object of ambition, it may be ac- 
 quired any where by means of regular and well- 
 directed practice. In this likewise I have the double 
 difficulty of getting rid of one set of habits, and esta- 
 blishing a new one. I have begun to advance in both. 
 I am sure that I read a great deal better than I did 
 some months ago. But a great deal remains, which, 
 amidst so many objects of attention, can only be the 
 work of time. As to pronunciation, that also can only 
 be formed in the style which I have proposed to myself, 
 
 vol. i. c
 
 18 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. by gradual practice. As to the retention of it, I have 
 Mt. 19. no fears at all : after what I have already acquired, it 
 may be pursued, I should suppose, as well at Edin- 
 burgh as in London. 
 
 In this way I have endeavoured to give you as 
 faithful a copy as I can express of my real opinion 
 of my own acquisitions and disappointments. At the 
 same time, I shall desire of Mr. Hewlett to write to 
 you upon the same subject; by a comparison of the 
 two you will probably get at the real truth. 
 
 Meanwhile, permit me to express to you how much 
 satisfaction and pride I derive from reflecting that 
 the consequences of the plan of my coining to Eng- 
 land are so strikingly coincident with the expectations 
 which you formed, even before it was begun to be put 
 in execution. I have been unable to pass the limits 
 which you foresaw would be prescribed by the nature 
 of the thing, and I have not kept very much within 
 them. 
 
 I deeply regret the very great expense which I 
 have put you to, in consequence of my residence in 
 London. But let me entreat you to believe that to 
 have arisen, in a great measure, from the necessity 
 which such a situation imposed on me ; and allow me 
 sincerity in assuring you that I can recollect no ex- 
 penditure in which I have any other circumstance to 
 regret, or accuse myself of, but that of losing the 
 money. I can recollect no circumstance of voluntary 
 extravagance, though it is evident I have been extra- 
 vagant on the whole. At the same time, as most of 
 your very liberal allowance has been laid out in 
 books, I hope you will not consider it as altogether 
 thrown away; with the same expense I might have 
 appeared less so to }^ou. But I would not suffer 
 myself to be tempted by the hopes of what my own
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 19 
 
 industry might in time refund to incur the disgrace 1796. 
 of dependence on another person, or free myself at Mt 19 
 all from that dependence in which there is no circum- 
 stance of which I am not proud, except that of being 
 subjected, by want of management or occasional 
 folly, sometimes to abuse it. I shall therefore accept 
 of the offer which you have made me, hoping I may 
 never again be in a situation to be ashamed to need 
 such an offer. 
 
 The paper will now barely allow me to send my 
 duty and love to my dear mother : tell her how much 
 I long to return home. Give my love to my aunt, my 
 sisters, &c, and all friends; and permit me to call 
 myself 
 
 Your truly affectionate son, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter VII. FROM HIS FATHER. 
 
 My dear Frank, Edinburgh, 10th Sept. 1796. 
 
 I had the pleasure to receive your letter of 
 the 3d on Tuesday. A few days before, I got a 
 letter from Dr. Webb at Alton, who gave me the 
 pleasing accounts of your health being quite esta- 
 blished. 
 
 I am highly obliged to you for the particular ac- 
 count you give me of the progress you have made 
 towards one of the principal objects for which you 
 went to London. I have no doubt but it is perfectly 
 just, and I am sure it is greater than your modesty 
 will allow. 
 
 With respect to the expense of your education, it 
 never gives me a moment's thought : the money that 
 
 c 2
 
 2Q CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796: is laid out in fitting you for your profession cannot 
 JEt be called mis-spent. I wish you not only to be as 
 well educated as others that are to follow the law, 
 but it is my ambition to have you better educated. Qf 
 all professions there is none in which enlarged views 
 are more required, than in the distribution of justice. 
 In your allowance I did not mean that books should 
 be included ; in that you have a charge against me. At 
 the same time that I wish you to be comfortable in 
 every respect, I cannot too strongly inculcate economy. 
 It is a necessary virtue to all; and however the shal- 
 low part of mankind may despise it, it leads certainly 
 to independence, which is a grand object to every 
 man of a high spirit. 
 
 Your mother sends her love to you, in which all 
 here join her. 
 
 I am ever, my dear Frank, 
 
 Your truly affectionate father, 
 
 John Horner. 
 
 Letter VIII. FROM HIS FATHER. 
 
 My dear Frank, Edinburgh, 27th Sept. 1796. 
 
 I received a letter from Mr. Hewlett on Sunday 
 morning : it gives me a very satisfactory account of 
 your progress ; such, indeed, as I had every reason to 
 expect. 
 
 I have been thinking for some time whether it 
 would not be greatly for your improvement to remain 
 a little longer ; and from every inquiry I have made, 
 I believe you could study the civil law, or rather read 
 the elementary part of it, by yourself, and with some 
 directions from your friends. I have written to Mr. 
 Hewlett on the subject, and leave the matter entirely
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 21 
 
 to him and yourself. If six months, or even twelve 1796. 
 months longer, will give you a fluent and graceful 2Et 19 
 enunciation, and at the same time will not interrupt 
 your more important objects, I am of opinion you 
 should remain ; and though it will be a great trial, 
 both to your mother and me, to be deprived of you, 
 yet we must not let our feelings stand in the way of 
 what is for your interest and advantage. I therefore 
 beg you will write to me frankly on the subject ; and 
 I desire that the expense may not enter into your 
 consideration. 
 
 T have inclosed two letters from Brougham and 
 Reddie.* You will give my compliments to Mr. Hew- 
 lett and all friends. Your mother and all the family 
 are in good health, and join me in love to you. 
 I am ever, my dear Frank, 
 
 Your truly affectionate father, 
 
 John Horner. 
 
 Letter IX. TO HIS FATHER. 
 My dear Father, Shacklewell, 10th October, 1796. 
 
 I should have answered your last before this 
 date, had I not been led on from day to day in con- 
 sidering the plan which you have proposed ; while 
 my inclination and wishes towards home continually 
 opposed my belief in its utility and advantage. For 
 I must own, indeed, that I have long thought of it 
 myself, and have frequently been on the point of 
 writing to you on the subject. Mr. Hewlett also 
 mentioned it to me some time ago, as affording a 
 
 * James Reddie, Esq., an advocate at the Scotch bar, who some years 
 afterwards was appointed Legal Assessor to the city of Glasgow. He 
 is the author of " Inquiries, elementary and historical, in the Science of 
 Laic" published in 1840. — Ei>. 
 
 c 3
 
 22 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. prospect not only of confirming and correcting what 
 JEt 19 I had already acquired of the English accent, but 
 even of acquiring what was likely to remain with me 
 after returning to Scotland. You will judge what 
 satisfaction it gives me, that the proposal has first 
 come from yourself. It is, however, with the greatest 
 regret and disappointment that I relinquish my hopes 
 of soon finding myself under your roof, and among 
 those who are dear to me ; and it will, I think, be 
 more than ever incumbent on them to keep up a con- 
 stant correspondence with me, the only means of 
 filling up any part of the want which I feel. I am 
 afraid my mother has forgotten me, so long is it since 
 I had any letter from her. 
 
 Another objection, that of expense, which I con- 
 sidered greater than any arising from the gratification 
 of my own feelings, you have removed, by desiring 
 me not to consider it. I had an idea, also, that three 
 years' attendance on the Law Classes were required 
 at passing the trials ; but Mr. Reddie informs me 
 that two years are the number necessary ; even those 
 not being rigorously exacted, if application is known 
 to have been given. He has written me a very full 
 account of the books proper for me to read during the 
 ensuing winter, as well as a plan for reading them. 
 Independent of this, I am extremely happy at the 
 opportunity you have given me of beginning a cor- 
 respondence with him : I make no doubt that, even 
 through his singular modesty, you have already per- 
 ceived the talents and science which he possesses above 
 all I have ever known. 
 
 With love to my dear mother, my aunt, and all 
 friends, believe me, my dear father, 
 
 Your truly affectionate and dutiful son, 
 
 Fra. Hornee.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 23 
 
 Letter X. TO HIS MOTHER. 
 My dearest Mother, Shacklewell, 13th October, 1796. 
 
 Though my letter must before this have reached 
 my father, yet I am too glad of the opportunity 
 which you have given me of writing to you to let it 
 pass. Indeed, when I look at the date of your last, 
 I am grieved that you should have suffered such an 
 interval in our correspondence. 
 
 You have the goodness to regret the delay of my 
 return. Believe me, it has been to me a very great 
 disappointment. I had long been looking forward to 
 our meeting, and enjoyed beforehand the gladness 
 which I should give as well as receive; and formed a 
 thousand expectations, a thousand plans. It is true 
 I am as comfortable in my present situation as, in 
 such, I could either expect or wish ; but I have known 
 the happiness of living with my parents and my own 
 family, among those whom I love above all the world, 
 and who, I am sure, are fondest of me. Yet, my dear 
 mother, it would be a criminal want of gratitude to 
 my father, — it would be real insensibility to the won- 
 derful bounty with which he promotes my welfare in 
 every point, did I not labour as far as it is possible 
 for me to render his plans successful, and take as 
 much of the advantage he intends me as I can reach. 
 I considered it as my duty, therefore, to accept of his 
 generous proposal ; and endeavour to overcome my 
 regret by still anticipating, though from so great a 
 distance, the period of returning to my home. 
 
 Let me hear from you soon, and give me a parti- 
 cular account of all friends. 
 
 I remain, my dear mother, 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 c 4 
 
 1796. 
 Mt. 19.
 
 24 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. 
 SJtTi9. Letter XI. FROxM HIS MOTHER. 
 
 My dear Frank, Edinburgh, 19th October, 1796. 
 
 I need not tell you that your affectionate 
 letter gave me pleasure, though at the same time it 
 hurts me to hear you say that I had so long neglected 
 writing to you, which I really did not intend; but I 
 had once and again proposed writing at the very time 
 your father meant to do it, and as I thought you 
 would consider him and me the same person, it made 
 me yield, as I knew he had something to say to you 
 in regard to your future plans, which he understands 
 better than I do. After all, you rogue, I have a notion 
 you are in my debt; but I do not dispute it with you, 
 and shall in future be more punctual. It is no small 
 disappointment to us all your remaining in London, 
 but we hope it is for your good. 
 
 You, and all of you, are most particularly fortunate 
 in a most indulgent father, who, instead of having 
 occasion to be prompted, is willing to deny himself, 
 in many instances, that his wife and children may 
 enjoy the more; and I hope and trust that all of 
 you will amply repay his goodness, by being grateful 
 and attentive, should it please God to spare you and 
 him together. I bless God we have no reason to com- 
 plain. May the example of our eldest descend to our 
 younger branches. I shall ever use my endeavour to 
 promote their imitation. 
 
 And don't consider it, my dear, as the cant of an 
 old woman, when I admonish you, above all things, 
 not to neglect your religious duties. I would much 
 rather see you a good than a great man, and it is no 
 uncommon thing for learned men to forget what is 
 the most material part of their duty; but remember,
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 25 
 
 if you do not remember your Creator in the days of 1796. 
 your youth, you need never look for comfort in your ^ T> 19> 
 old age. I say no more ; you know your duty, and I 
 hope will not reject the advice of one who has no 
 other motive but your good. We are all in good 
 health. I intended to send you a long letter about 
 family concerns, but my paper will not admit of it. 
 
 Farewell, my dear! May health and happiness 
 attend you, wherever you are. 
 
 I remain 
 Your ever affectionate mother, 
 
 Joanna Horner. 
 
 Letter XII. TO HIS FATHER. 
 My dear Father, Shacklewell, 15th November, 1796. 
 
 I write to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter to Mr. Hewlett yesterday, and to return my 
 thanks for the fresh marks of your kindness. I owe 
 the same to my mother's last letter; trusting that I 
 shall ever keep in mind the excellent advices and in- 
 junctions she has given me. 
 
 I have now entered on the study of the civil law, 
 having begun it with a view of the History of Roman 
 Jurisprudence : as yet I can give little credit to the 
 opinion of those who call it a dry and uninteresting 
 study ; on the contrary, I find it very interesting, and 
 am inclined to attribute those notions to the defect 
 of connecting it with, or rather founding it on, the 
 principles of general knowledge. You already know 
 the advantages I supposed myself to have derived 
 from the literary societies at Edinburgh, merely from 
 the opportunity they give of practice in speaking ; in- 
 dependent of the emulation and ardour they produce
 
 2G CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. with regard to the acquisition of knowledge. The 
 .ZEt. 19. loss of the first of these is the only reason of the kind 
 that makes me regret my absence ; but I have formed 
 a plan of remedying in some small degree this incon- 
 venience, to which I propose strictly persevering 
 through the winter, and that is by composition on 
 supposed cases of law, much after the manner of 
 Quinctilian's declamations. This may accustom me to 
 the forms of rhetorical composition, may give me an 
 habitual readiness, and will, at all events, exercise me 
 in English style. How far I find this plan to be at- 
 tended with success, I will take care to inform you. 
 
 With duty and love to my dear mother, my aunt, 
 and all friends, I remain, 
 
 My honoured father, 
 
 Your truly affectionate son, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XIII. TO MR. J. A. MURRAY. 
 
 Shacklewell, 26th November, 1796. 
 
 In truth, my dear Murray, you are either very 
 indolent or very malicious. After a repose of two 
 whole months, to put me off with half a letter, when 
 the direction had flattered me with the expectation of 
 a long one, is what I am unable to excuse, and you, 
 I hope, unwilling to justify. I begin therefore at the 
 very top of the sheet, that I may either return you 
 evil or good for having left one half unsullied; I can- 
 not use Voltaire's foul word, unfouled. 
 
 The first object which I have proposed to myself, 
 in the study of civil law, is the History of Roman 
 Jurisprudence : not to pursue the subject through all 
 its branches, nor into the disputed or obscure points
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 27 
 
 of it; but to form such a general idea as may facili- 1796. 
 tate and enliven the study of the elements. For je Ti 19> 
 which purpose I have been reading the History of 
 Heineccius. I wish to accompany this with the study 
 of the Institutes, but have not yet been able to meet 
 with the text book of Heineccius. My copy of the 
 Corpus Juris is the octavo of Amsterdam ; I bought 
 it, and paid well for it, before I heard of the other 
 with notes ; nor do I regret it. The less one reads, 
 the more time Ave have to read it well, though this 
 will not apply with much propriety even to the copy 
 without notes. As often as I see the book, I almost 
 tremble; and whenever I open into the Pandects, I 
 think of the descent of JEneas into hell. 
 
 Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque infaucibus Orci. 
 
 You know the rest. I have no doubt, however, by 
 help of a little arrangement, generalising, and con- 
 necting it with other subjects, particularly politics 
 and the philosophy of the human mind, to make it an 
 interesting study. 
 
 I am happy that you are attending Stewart ; and 
 have no doubt of the pleasure you receive. With 
 regard to what you mention, I think I recollect 
 having been sensible of something of the same kind, 
 but am not at present satisfied that it is really a fault. 
 The business of all philosophy is to explain effects or 
 events which take place before us ; and to us it is not 
 more important to know the motions of a planet, 
 perhaps not so important, as to see the mutual de- 
 pendence and conjunction of things that are familiar 
 to us. This, has still greater truth in the science of 
 mind ; for it is only conversant with objects that are 
 about us, and in us, and continually with us, and we 
 must lay aside the familiarity with which Ave treat
 
 28 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. them iii common, when we come to explain their 
 j Et 19 circumstances in a philosophical view, — when we attri- 
 bute them to their causes, or their general laws. I 
 dare say you have by this time read Mr. Stewart's 
 book. It contains some admirable morsels : the pre- 
 liminary view of science ; the digressions on habit ; 
 those on the fine arts, under the article Imagination ; 
 to which I will add the section on Dreaming, though 
 I by no means agree with his conclusions ; on the con- 
 trary, think them founded on hypothesis : yet it is an 
 excellent specimen of the manner of analysing any 
 subject in metaphysics, and, notwithstanding the 
 objections of his having had hints of it elsewhere, 
 truly original. But what I liked most in the lectures 
 of Stewart was the view he gives, and constantly 
 impresses, of the laws and manner of philosophical 
 inquiry. To a person attending Stewart, I think 
 only one caution would be at all necessary ; and that 
 is, to remember that the investigation of truth must 
 be uninfluenced by the ipse dixit of any man, or any 
 set of men whatever. Be so good as to inform me 
 whether he continues to give out subjects of essays, 
 and whether he has opened his class for political 
 philosophy. I intended to enter on the subject of the 
 disputation ; but as that is now impracticable, I shall 
 only require you to write to me on that or any other 
 subject which occurs before a week elapses. 
 
 Yours, with the warmest affection, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 29 
 
 Letter XP7. TO MR. J. A. MURRAY. 
 
 Shacklewell, 18th Dec. 1796. 
 
 I shall begin, my dear Murray, with what you 
 say of Junius; on which subject I think there has 
 been some mistake; as I do not remember having 
 ever said, or having ever been told, that the letter to 
 the Duke of Bedford, or any other of his letters, was 
 faultless. On the contrary, I have just looked over 
 that letter, and think it by no means a finished com- 
 position ; and as I should wish to compare my ideas 
 on it with yours, be so good as specify in your next 
 the criticisms which occurred to you and my friend 
 Brougham. 
 
 Junius was one of the authors which Mr. Hewlett 
 pointed out to me as a model of English writing ; but 
 one of the chief rules which Mr. Hewlett pointed out to 
 me was, to imitate no particular style whatever. We 
 never have examined the style of Junius together 
 with much attention, as it was rather my object to be 
 made acquainted with the faults which writers, par- 
 ticularly those of Scotland, are apt to fall into; a 
 person's own taste must direct him to the beauties of 
 composition. In attempting to appreciate the style 
 of an author, we must ever, I think, keep in view the 
 particular subject on which it is employed; as none 
 can be called masters of style who cannot accommo- 
 date their style to their subject, and vary the character 
 of the one as soon as the other is changed. Keeping 
 this in mind, I conceive that were I to write political 
 invective and satire, I should aspire to the style of 
 Junius. His great excellence seems to consist in 
 pointing whatever he says ; nor is this by any 
 
 1796. 
 ^Et. 19.
 
 30 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. means confined to the expression, as is the case with 
 iET. 19. Seneca and Montaigne, but breaks out frequently in 
 the sentiment. Hence the different effect which 
 these styles produce. In reading the Philosophers, 
 their smart, pointed sentences, generally puzzle for a 
 few seconds, and when understood bring the author 
 into our memory : those of Junius strike like light- 
 ning — <p\o% spavin. ; and nothing is before us but the 
 illuminated object. Such at least is the case with 
 myself; and the statement of one's feelings may be a 
 good criterion of the effect, though it gives but little 
 assistance to an analysis of the circumstances by 
 which that effect has been produced. Another ex- 
 cellence of Junius, though nearly connected with the 
 preceding, is the distinct, or rather (if you will allow 
 me to use the word) the glaring manner, in which he 
 exhibits any striking idea that comes into the course 
 of his reflections; — one of the first qualifications of 
 style, as I am inclined to believe. It certainly must 
 result, in a great measure, from an original strength 
 of imagination ; but may be much cultivated by at- 
 tending to the selection and combination of impressive 
 circumstances. 
 
 These are the remarks which occur to me at present 
 on the subject of Junius; more, I sujmose, might be 
 found if I had time to wait for it. As the most 
 favourable specimens, I should select the first letter; 
 the seventh letter, to Sir W. Draper ; the thirty -fifth 
 letter, to the King ; and the concluding paragraph of 
 the twenty-third letter, to the Duke of Bedford, will 
 illustrate the two excellences which I have endea- 
 voured to point out. I hinted that were I to choose 
 subjects such as those of Junius, Junius should be 
 my model for style: let me add, that I would en- 
 deavour to graft those two excellences on the rapid
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 31 
 
 and impetuous fluency of Bolingbroke : in this quality 1796. 
 Junius appears deficient. ^ 19 
 
 From the style of Junius, it is neither an abrupt 
 nor an unnecessary transition to add something with 
 respect to his subject. I shall not enter upon the 
 question with regard to the supposed author ; though 
 I have lately heard them ascribed to one different 
 from those whose names had been before emblazoned 
 with the dead ; I mean the late Lord Chatham. The 
 conjecture receives much more support from internal 
 evidence than from any direct proof that I have heard. 
 Whoever the author was, he is to be detested, both 
 from the motives and the manner of his publication ; 
 for however strongly I lean to the general spirit of 
 freedom which runs through them, I am convinced 
 that those principles are often, as well as in the present 
 case, assumed only to serve the purposes of faction : 
 the matter of concealment puts him in no better cha- 
 racter than that of a nocturnal assassin. His attack 
 upon some illustrious men of that day, — his attack upon 
 the most illustrious man of that clay, perhaps of any 
 day, your great relation, Lord Mansfield, will never 
 be forgiven by posterity ; and will only be forgotten 
 amidst that reverence which has already begun to 
 accumulate. 
 
 There is no subject in the Philosophy of the Human 
 Mind more perplexing, at least I have found none 
 more so, than that of the will. This does not, per- 
 haps, arise from any peculiarity in the subject itself; 
 but from the language which has been employed about 
 it, and the hypotheses which the metaphysicians have 
 framed to explain it. As popular language was con- 
 structed for purposes very different from science, 
 our inquiries into the human mind have to struggle
 
 32 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. against difficulties which are not experienced in other 
 jet. 19. branches of philosophy. And this part of them the 
 most : in consequence of the jargon which has been 
 heaped up from age to age by the disputants about 
 Liberty and Necessity. — You ask me to define will : 
 it cannot be done : nor can you define memory, con- 
 ception, or any one operation of the mind. You can 
 only describe them by their effects. I am conscious 
 of possessing a power over the train of my thoughts, 
 I can detain a particular idea before my mind — farther, 
 I find, that I possess a power of moving in a variety 
 of attitudes the limbs of my body : these powers we 
 call the will. Reflect on any one instance of the kind, 
 and your consciousness will in one moment tell you 
 all that you can ever know about the nature of the 
 will. Observe, however, that there is a grammatical 
 distinction betwixt the words will and volition ; accord* 
 ing to the analogy of language, volition expresses an 
 
 act of the will To speak of controuling the will, 
 
 is to speak ambiguously. One volition may counteract 
 another : we may will to acquire certain habits of vo- 
 lition : to direct our will to certain objects. But to say 
 that the will can controul the will would evidently be 
 absurd. To relieve myself from this dry discussion, 
 I cannot resist calling to mind a story, which produced 
 a smile when it was first told me. A certain sys- 
 tematic glutton, which is no uncommon character 
 among the citizens of London, had for years regularly 
 regaled at a pastry-cook's shop, which, in the course 
 of his business, he passed every day of his life. Once, 
 however, he bethought himself that there was some- 
 thing in this practice not altogether commendable, 
 and his reflections concluded in a resolution to get the 
 better of his bad habit. The time for experiment 
 was not far distant, and next day, assuredly, he did get
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 33 
 
 beyond the door of the cook's shop. But immediately, ] "9G. 
 like a dear mother to her darling, " Now" says he ^ T . 19. 
 (addressing his stomach), " Now 1 have disappointed 
 you, and now Til indulge you" He turned, and had 
 his usual allowance. — On the laws of volition, I shall 
 not attempt to say any thing, but beg of you to enter 
 upon it as a subject of investigation : it opens a wide 
 field, in which little or nothing has been done. You 
 will then be able to bring the difficulty, of the case 
 which you adduce, to an issue betwixt Stewart and 
 common lano-ua^e. There must be some connection 
 between the will and the act of shutting the eyelids, 
 as, after a few trials, I can prevent the winking, what- 
 ever objects be made to move before them : here the 
 laws of habit come into consideration. Some physio- 
 logists, at the head of whom is Stahl, assert, that the 
 act of twinkling the eye was at first effected by an 
 act of the will; and they even extend this to all the 
 internal motions of the animal frame, such as the 
 circulation, the secretions, and the motions of the 
 stomach. Others, particularly the ingenious Darwin, 
 contend, that these vital motions are produced entirely 
 and originally by the stimulus of objects external to 
 the organ of motion ; and he, reciprocally, extends his 
 theory to the muscular motions first mentioned, 
 allowing, however, that the will may in time acquire 
 a power of repeating them. Hitherto, these matters 
 have been wholly hypothetical ; but they appear to be 
 perfectly capable of rigorous investigation. 
 
 I am not aware of the extent of your objection to 
 Stewart's definition of Conception : that, however, 
 you will enlarge on in your next. At present, I shall 
 barely state some objections which I have had to it. 
 In the first place, I think, he ought to have included 
 not only past perceptions and sensations, but likewise 
 
 vol. 1. D
 
 »» CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1796. those combinations of our past perceptions and sensa- 
 ^T - ^ tions which are formed by the power of imagination. 
 You may understand me by an example — 
 
 " And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud, 
 While music wakes around, veil'd in a shower 
 Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend." 
 
 No doubt, the three or four different perceptions, which 
 compose this delightful image, separately arose to the 
 memory of the poet, and separately exercised his 
 power of conception ; but after he combined them to- 
 gether, they must again have exercised his conception, 
 again presented themselves before his mind's eye, not 
 successively as before, but in one glowing picture. 
 
 I might likewise object to Stewart's account of 
 
 conception, that in his philosophy we hear nothing of 
 the faculty by which the mind apprehends, or (as the 
 English idiom warrants us to say) conceives general 
 truths ; nor do we hear any thing of the conceptions 
 which the mind forms of moral and intellectual ob- 
 jects, particularly character, for I cannot but think 
 there is something analogous between the power which 
 enables me to follow Thomson through the enchant- 
 
 ments of his imagination, and that by which I form 
 a distinct and permanent conception of the characters 
 of Hector, of King Lear, of Falstaff, of Madame Ro- 
 land. I bring this last into the company of fictitious 
 beings, because even the great powers of fiction have 
 produced nothing superior to the exalted, or rather 
 sublime, character of this illustrious woman. 
 
 And now, my dear Murray, let me bestow my 
 thanks for the opportunity you have given me of 
 reviving these matters in my memory, and of calling 
 on you for remarks on the different subjects. Let me 
 express my willingness, my eagerness to enter upon
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 35 
 
 the plan of correspondence which you have sketched, 1797. 
 and which I foresee, if carried into execution with j EiT 19> 
 ardour, will contribute to our improvement as well as 
 pleasure. 
 
 I am happy to hear your mother continues in 
 health, and thank her for inquiring after me. I often 
 think, I assure you, of the pleasant days I used to 
 pass at Murrayfield; and often reflect, with lively, 
 though indeed inadequate gratitude, of the kindness I 
 have received from your family. Tell Mrs. Murray 
 that this is the case ; I am anxious she should know 
 it: as she once treated me with kindness, which I 
 construed into regard, I should anxiously wish to 
 preserve the esteem of so respectable a parent of the 
 friend whom I love most. Be so good as also to remem- 
 ber me to your sister. Every time I come to the end 
 of one of our letters, I feel just as if I were leaving 
 your company. With the hopes, therefore, of soon 
 meeting you again, let me for the present bid you 
 farewell. * 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fka. Horner. 
 
 Letter XV. TO HIS FATHER. 
 My dear Father, Shacklewell, 17th March, 1797. 
 
 This week I have had the pleasure of two letters 
 from you. 
 
 I am happy that you think the late apprehensions, 
 with respect to public affairs, exceed what the occa- 
 sion could justify ; indeed, the panic is now in a great 
 measure worn off, I hope from no other cause than 
 its being discovered to have been unfounded. Paper 
 money still circulates without depreciation, and must 
 
 d 2
 
 30 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 !797. be found, in the mean time, a great relief to the mar- 
 JEr. 19. ket; for many reasons, especially the enlargement of 
 the Bank discounts. All political reasonings point 
 out the increase of paper currency as a most pernicious 
 evil ; but it is to be hoped, that matters may yet go 
 on well, provided it be used only as a temporary 
 expedient. 
 
 I am entirely of your opinion as to the propriety of 
 supporting the Government of the country. Un- 
 doubtedly, within the few last years, violent attacks 
 have been made upon the rights of the subject; but 
 no one finds his comforts impaired, nor his property 
 less secure : a circumstance which should make the 
 constitution more estimable to us, showing that its 
 spirit is such as to continue to be beneficial, even after 
 its forms have been suspended. There are good 
 grounds to expect that that suspension will be re- 
 moved by parliament, when the necessity, real or 
 imaginary, disappears. But surely no doubt, with 
 respect to the existence of such necessity can make 
 one hesitate a moment in declaring resistance to 
 those who would subvert our Government : whether 
 that be attempted in the way of hostile invasion, or 
 proceed from the temerity of wrong-headed, if not 
 criminal innovators, among ourselves. I know your 
 anxiety, my dear father, with regard to the formation 
 of my political notions. I am aware that it is of great 
 consequence in the profession I am to follow ; the daily 
 business of which has a reference to politics, and one 
 may even be called upon to take an active concern. 
 When thinking upon this, I often look forward to a 
 rule of conduct, which I hope no circumstances may 
 ever induce me to abandon ; and it is this, to connect 
 myself with the exclusive interests of no political 
 party whatever. A man's independence must be best
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 37 
 
 preserved, and his duty to the public best performed, J 797. 
 by attaching himself, not to any set of political cha- j&r. 19. 
 racters, but to that system of measures which he 
 believes most conducive to the public welfare. It 
 seems a reasonable duty, at all times, rather to lean 
 towards the ruling ministers; for no administration 
 can act with the energy that it ought, unless it can 
 trust to the countenance of respectable people. But 
 I have long since imbibed an opinion (which, when- 
 ever it occurs, I find more strongly impressed upon 
 me), that every form of government is to be valued in 
 the proportion of its affinity to those principles of 
 rational freedom, which impose no further restraints 
 than the common security makes necessary, and esta- 
 blish nothing that can operate as a check upon the 
 exertions of worth and talents. 
 
 I have thus, my dear father, given you a sort of 
 confession of faith, which the anxiety of your last letter 
 seemed to call for ; and because, independently of that 
 consideration, I feel that my happiness in life will 
 depend much on possessing such a confidence with 
 you as is incompatible with any reserve. I have laid 
 open my sentiments, that you may know them, and 
 that I may have the advantage of correcting them by 
 your experience. To a person less entitled than you 
 to be acquainted with them, all this would have been 
 an useless parade. 
 
 I am glad to hear my mother has got the better of 
 her cold ; the weather here has for some time past 
 made people very subject to them. Give my love to 
 her, my aunt, and all friends. Believe me, my dear 
 father, 
 
 Your very affectionate and dutiful son, 
 
 Fra. Hoexer. 
 
 d 3
 
 38 
 
 1797. 
 j£x. 20. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Letter XVI. TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 My dear Father, Shacklewell, 2d Sept. 1797. 
 
 In my last letter to you, I did not intend to have 
 omitted to inform you that I visited Blenheim when 
 in Oxfordshire. I was wonderfully pleased with it, 
 though the badness of the weather, beside ladies being in 
 company, prevented us from walking over the grounds. 
 The view from the gate at Woodstock is uncommonly 
 fine; I was not much struck with the house itself, 
 but it contains a noble library, and such a collection 
 of paintings, particularly the works of Rubens, that, 
 for the first time perhaps, I felt mortified at my want 
 of knowledge to appreciate their excellence, and want 
 of taste to enjoy their beauties. In the apartments 
 of the house we were shown some tapestry, that is 
 remarkable both for the strength of colours and accu- 
 racy of the figures ; it represents a series of Marlbo- 
 rough's victories, and, what seems odd, was all manu- 
 factured in France, soon after those victories were 
 gained ; no great proof of the extent of amor patriot 
 and jealousy of national honour among the people of 
 modern times. On the whole, Blenheim is certainly 
 a noble monument of gratitude raised by the country 
 to one who gave splendour to its reputation ; and 
 though we should feel more inclined to go along with 
 that gratitude, had its object been some illustrious 
 improvement in the arts of peace, yet we cannot help 
 falling in with the common sentiments of men in 
 attributing a sort of superior lustre to military glory, 
 which dazzles us in spite of ourselves, and induces us 
 to forget (in defiance of reflection to the contrary) 
 that it has been the scourge of the earth. 
 
 Nothing has given me more pleasure than to hear,
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 39 
 
 by your account, that the application of my brother 1797. 
 John to business so fully answers my hopes and ex- ^ T O0 _ 
 pectations. I expected it from his good understand- 
 ing and dispositions ; and it is the hope on which I 
 am most accustomed to dwell, that we may all grow 
 up round you and my mother with sentiments of 
 active probity, and a spirit of industry, so as never to 
 give you cause to regret your care and your indul- 
 gence. I feel most sensibly how much our success 
 will depend on having your example long before us, 
 and long enjoying the benefits of your counsel and 
 direction. I feel most sensibly how much my imme- 
 diate comfort and enjoyment depend on these, in the 
 impatience with Avhich I look forward to my return 
 home, and to the prospect of coming again to domestic 
 society and its duties, after having been absent so 
 long, and felt by experience what a blank they leave 
 in life. 
 
 Your dutiful and affectionate son, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XVII. TO MR. J. A. MURRAY. 
 
 Shacklewell, 24th October, 1797. 
 
 A few more lines, my dearest friend, to make 
 my peace for unpardonable transgression, and then 
 we shall have done with correspondence, — this imper- 
 fect substitute for personal intercourse and conver- 
 sation. Had Ave been living within a few streets of 
 each other, as once Ave did, and shall again in a Icav 
 days, you (I suppose) in George Street, I in Park 
 Place, I10AV many days in the Aveek should Ave have 
 let pass Avithout seeing one another? Yet, if any 
 thing, a letter may be written, folded, sealed, and 
 
 d 4
 
 40 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 1797. even sent to the post, in much less time than a visit 
 ^E T> 20. could be made; and I have seen whole months die 
 away in melancholy silence, and dreary solitude, not 
 a sentence exchanged with my dear Murray, not a 
 moment's intercourse with him, — were it not for those 
 kind thoughts that are ever bringing you to my 
 mind, associating you with my best and fondest re- 
 collections of former scenes, and joining you with 
 every future prospect that my hopes are permitted to 
 indulge. 
 
 Your description , of those sensations, which con- 
 stitute the uneasiness of metaphysical perplexity, is 
 excellent ; but will not apply, I hope, to our situation. 
 Do you remember a comparison which Voltaire draws 
 between a metaphysician and a minuet-dancer? All 
 such sneers, however, could only have proceeded 
 from persons acquainted with nothing but the abuses 
 of the science, and cannot affect the prosecution of 
 rational inquiries. While the world had no other 
 system than the solid concentric spheres of the an- 
 cients, or the vortices of Des Cartes, it was common, 
 and not unnatural, to deride the science of physical 
 astronomy in itself. But all such general anathemas 
 are best refuted, and that might be done even prior 
 to the cultivation of a particular science, by remount- 
 ing to what may be called the vantage ground of all 
 knowledge, the primary consideration of the natural 
 objects of study and inquiry, the limits within which 
 investigation is to be prosecuted, and the powers by 
 which it may be accomplished. How our metaphy- 
 sical correspondence proved so abortive, at least failed 
 of the perfect delivery which we looked for, we need 
 the less trouble ourselves either to explain or regret, 
 as we shall soon be situated much more favourably 
 ,for the management of our inquiries. By conver-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 41 
 
 sation, I think we could do more in an hour than by 1797. 
 letter-writing for a month. You must have heard of ^.20. 
 the Edinburgh Academy of Physics*, and I hope be- 
 long to it. I think, in the course of the winter, we 
 might prepare a few papers on the philosophy of the 
 human mind for that institution. Let us be the 
 Beaumont and Fletcher of metaphysics. 
 
 I have written in great haste, which must at once 
 be my fault and my excuse: if you cannot pardon 
 the carelessness, force me to eat the paper's contents 
 on Monday next, when, God willing, I shall see you. 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XVIII. FROM THE REV. JOHN HEWLETT TO 
 MR. HORNER, SENIOR. 
 
 Dear Sir, Shaeklewell, 1 6th October, 1797. 
 
 I have the pleasure to inform you, in answer 
 to the inquiries of your last letter, that the principal 
 object for which your son came to England has been 
 fully accomplished. He has certainly got rid of the 
 Scottish accent and pronunciation, and acquired the 
 English so completely as not to be distinguished 
 from a native. I have not trusted to my own ear 
 entirely on this subject, but have occasionally re- 
 quested the opinion of some judicious friends, who 
 have, without exception, concurred with me. The 
 only requisites in which he appears deficient are a 
 
 * This society was instituted by Mr. Henry Brougham, in 1796, for 
 the promotion of physical science. At the time of the formation of the 
 Academy of Physics, an active correspondence appears to have taken 
 place between Mr. Brougham and Mr. Horner as to its objects and plan, 
 and the persons who were to be associated as members ; and Mr. Horner, 
 after his return to Edinburgh, took a prominent share in its proceed- 
 ings. — Ed.
 
 42 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1797. clear and distinct enunciation, and a modulation of 
 ^g T 20 voice that should be easy, varied, and impressive, 
 without stiffness or effort. These excellences in 
 speaking depend a good deal on early habits and the 
 organs of speech. Your son has made considerable 
 progress in this respect since I had the pleasure of 
 seeing you last; and, by habitual attention, I make 
 no doubt but he will render his elocution as perfect 
 as could be wished. 
 
 As to his general knowledge, it is more varied and 
 extensive than I ever knew a young man possess of 
 the same age. The talents necessary to acquire this 
 must consequently be of the first kind ; and though I 
 have no doubt but that your son would make a dis- 
 tinguished figure in any profession, and in almost 
 every department of literature, yet I think him par- 
 ticularly adapted to the study of the law. The basis of 
 all excellence, strong natural good sense, he possesses 
 in an eminent degree. To this he has added readiness, 
 acuteness, and that degree of energy which, without 
 being overbearing or presumptuous, is likely to give 
 him consequence and superiority at the bar. Possess- 
 ing such endowments, it must give you pleasure to 
 know, that he evinced all the patience, perseverance, 
 and fortitude that are necessary for surmounting the 
 greatest difficulties. Were I to suggest a hint with 
 respect to his future studies, it should be to guard 
 him against desultory pursuits, and disquisitions in 
 science not immediately connected with his profes- 
 sion. The avenues of nearly all the sciences are 
 open to him; and he is acquainted with the nature 
 and the relative importance of the different kinds of 
 truth. This is the grand object; and when a young 
 man has accomplished it, his powers ought to be 
 concentrated, and directed to the particular profession
 
 CHARACTER WHEN A YOUTH. 43 
 
 which he has adopted. I have just room to add, 1797. 
 that I cannot but regret his absence from Shackle- j Et 20> 
 well, because I shall lose an agreeable companion, 
 and a confidential, affectionate friend. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your much obliged 
 
 John Hewlett. 
 
 Soon after my brother's death, when a biographi- 
 cal memoir of him was in contemplation, I requested 
 Mr. Hewlett to furnish me with such details as he 
 could then call to mind relating to the character, 
 habits, and studies of his pupil, while under his 
 charge. He kindly complied with this request, and 
 communicated to me the following particulars : — 
 
 " When Mr. F. Horner first came from Edinburgh, 
 he had much of a Scotch accent ; and to correct this 
 was a principal motive of his coming to Shackle- 
 well. As he soon discovered uncommon diligence 
 and attention, as well as very superior abilities, I 
 thought the shortest and most effectual way of suc- 
 ceeding was to analyse the Scottish pronunciation, 
 and to point out, rather broadly, the difference be- 
 tween that and the English. It soon appeared that 
 the whole consisted in the sound of the vowels, if 
 we except the peculiar rhythm, or drawling accent, at 
 the close of sentences; and as a vowel must occur 
 in every word, and indeed in every syllable that is 
 uttered, by teaching him the correct sound of the 
 vowels in all their varieties, he so effectually corrected 
 his Scottish accent, in six months, that no one would 
 have supposed he was a native of North Britain. 
 
 " His habits were very diligent, and those of a 
 severe student ; but he joined with great ardour in such 
 diversions as amused his fellow-students. He was
 
 44 CHARACTER WHEN xV YOUTH. 
 
 1797. particularly fond of the game of fives, or balls; and 
 ji^ 20. this I encouraged by sometimes playing with him in 
 a party myself, because I thought it would serve to 
 distend his chest (which was rather narrow), and 
 give him strength. He was delighted also to accom- 
 pany me (which he often did) to the river Lea, 
 where Ave frequently took a boat and rowed ourselves 
 about for an hour or two, having for a constant 
 attendant a fine large Newfoundland dog, called 
 Caliban, who by his gambols, docility, and exploits in 
 the water, greatly contributed to our amusement. 
 
 " As there was no occasion to doubt his diligence, or 
 the correctness of his conduct, and as my house was 
 rather crowded with pupils, Mr. Horner's father, 
 rather than not put him under my care, consented to 
 take rooms for him in a small house adjoining; and as 
 there was not any pupil whom I could class with him, 
 he pursued his studies alone, though under my par- 
 ticular directions in every thing essential ; and I used 
 sometimes to go to him in the middle of the day, or 
 in the afternoon, and sometimes he came to me. In 
 reading the classics, his judgment was so sound, that 
 there was little danger of his mistaking a passage; 
 and therefore my advice to him was, to read as much 
 as he could ; but to read it critically, and to under- 
 stand it thoroughly. As I had not time to read with 
 him one tenth part of what he could prepare in the 
 course of the day, I desired him to mark all such 
 passages as were attended with any difficulty, and 
 then, when we met, our whole attention was directed 
 to them. By this economical management of time, 
 he read a vast deal more than would have been prac- 
 ticable on any other plan. 
 
 " He was a great, and at first an indiscriminate ad- 
 mirer, of Hume's style, and was rather surprised to
 
 CHARACTER WHEN A YOUTH. 45 
 
 hear me say, that, with all its excellences, it abounded 1797. 
 with Scotticisms and Gallicisms ; but as I never met ^ T 2 o. 
 with a young man, who showed more docility, or a 
 greater degree of deference and affection for his pre- 
 ceptor, he was desirous of sitting down with me, for 
 the purpose of examining critically Hume's style. Ac- 
 cordingly we read a large portion of one volume ; and 
 he was so struck with the propriety and novelty of 
 my observations, that he took notes of almost every 
 thing that passed on that occasion ; and perhaps they 
 are still to be found among his papers, with many 
 other remains of his studies while at Shackle well. 
 Indeed, it was his practice to make memoranda of 
 every thing new or important that was communicated 
 to him. The characters of his mind were a retentive 
 memory, a clear and sound judgment, not confined 
 to narrow tracts of literature and science, but em- 
 bracing large and extensive views of both ; bringing 
 also to its just decision the events of history, the 
 characters of nations and individuals, and, above all, 
 the passing occurrences of the day, which, it should 
 be remembered, were at that period awful, mo- 
 mentous, and alarming. He showed great sagacity 
 in detecting fallacy and discovering truth, and had, 
 in an eminent degree, the power of arranging his 
 ideas with logical precision. 
 
 " [Perceiving that the natural tendency of his mind 
 led to the exercise of reason, rather than to the in- 
 dulgence of fancy, — that he was particularly interested 
 in discussing the merits of some specious theory, in 
 exposing fallacies, and in forming legitimate induc- 
 tions from any premises that were supposed to rest 
 on the basis of truth, — but finding also that, from 
 imitation and habit, he had been led to think too 
 highly of those metaphysical speculations, which
 
 46 CHARACTER WHEN A YOUTH. 
 
 1797 - abound in terms to which we annex no distinct 
 tEt.20. ideas, and which often require the admission of prin- 
 ciples, that are either unintelligible or incapable of 
 proof, I recommended to his notice Euler's Algebra, 
 as affording an admirable exercise of his reasoning 
 powers, and as the best means of cultivating that talent 
 for analysis, close investigation, and logical inference, 
 which he possessed at an early period, and which he 
 afterwards displayed in so eminent a degree. At the 
 same time, I was of opinion that to translate a part 
 of that excellent work from the French into English, 
 when he wished to vary his studies, would improve 
 his knowledge of both languages, and be the best in- 
 troduction for him to the mathematics. 
 
 " He was soon delighted with this occasional employ- 
 ment, which seemed to supply his mind with food 
 that was both solid and nutritious ; and he generally 
 produced, two or three times a week, as much as I 
 could find time to revise and correct. In the course 
 of the first twelvemonth, he had translated so large a 
 portion of the two volumes, that it was determined to 
 complete the whole, and to publish it for the benefit 
 of English students ; but he returned to Scotland 
 before the translation was ready for the press, and 
 therefore the labour of finishing and editing it neces- 
 sarily devolved on me. 
 
 " I wished to give this short history of the transla- 
 tion at first; but he modestly, though at the same 
 time resolutely opposed it, saying that whatever merit 
 or emolument might be attached to the work, it be- 
 longed to me. The same proposal was made to him 
 on publishing the second edition, but he still persisted 
 in his former determination. 
 
 " From the pleasure and instruction which he re- 
 ceived from Euler's Algebra, it was natural for him to
 
 CHARACTER WHEN A YOUTH. 47 
 
 wish to know something more of the life and character 1797. 
 of that profound mathematician. Having therefore j EiT 20 
 in some measure satisfied his curiosity, and collected 
 the necessary materials by consulting the ordinary 
 sources of information, I advised him, by way of 
 literary exercise, to draw up a biographical memoir 
 on the subject. He readily complied with my wishes; 
 and this may be considered as one of his earliest pro- 
 ductions. Its merits would, in my opinion, do credit 
 to any writer; and therefore, in appreciating them, 
 the reader will not deem any apology necessary on 
 account of the author's youth.]* 
 
 " To have had some share in directing the studies, 
 forming the judgment, and cultivating the taste of 
 such a man as Francis Horner, at a very critical and 
 interesting period, I shall always consider as one of 
 the most gratifying circumstances of my life ; and I 
 may add, with great truth, that the pleasure of his 
 society, and the cordiality of his friendship, were 
 alone an ample compensation for all the time and 
 labour I bestowed in superintending his studies and 
 promoting his future welfare. He was never back- 
 ward in showing his superior talents; but I never 
 knew him on any occasion forward, presumptuous, 
 or obtrusive. He gratified no contemptible vanity 
 by making others feel their inferiority, nor indulged 
 any triumph in argument for the sake of victory. 
 
 " His sweetness of temper, and the engaging affabi- 
 lity of his manners, not only prevented him from 
 having any quarrel, or serious difference with his 
 fellow-pupils, but secured him the affection and good 
 offices of all. In company he was cheerful, convivial, 
 
 * The paragraphs between brackets have been taken from the preface 
 by Mr. Hewlett to a new edition of the Algebra, published some years 
 after my brother's death. — Ed.
 
 48 CHARACTER WHEN A YOUTH. 
 
 and entertaining; and on one occasion and one only, 
 that of the breaking-up supper, he used to sing a 
 song, which, as his voice and ear were good, he exe- 
 cuted in a very pleasing manner. 
 
 " I never had occasion to enter into any serious 
 remonstrance with him respecting his conduct but 
 twice, and the result was a most ready, sincere, and 
 affectionate compliance Avith my wishes and advice; 
 though I am well assured that, on one of those occa- 
 sions, his fortitude and sense of duty must have been 
 put to the severest test." 
 
 My brother was now to enter upon the special 
 course of study required for the profession he had 
 chosen; and as, according to the usual custom, he 
 would be called to the bar in little more than two 
 years from this time, he appears to have felt the full 
 importance of allowing no part of the interval to be 
 passed unprofitably. The following fragment of a 
 plan of study, drawn up in anticipation of his return 
 home, shows the deliberation with which he had been 
 accustomed to regulate his occupations ; and although 
 we afterwards find many confessions of frailty, and 
 many self-reproaches for having wandered from the 
 great road he had marked out for himself, the by- 
 paths he deviated into were seldom those of idleness : 
 he was generally led away from his professional stu- 
 dies by the pursuit of some object of literature or 
 science, the attractions of which he had not firmness 
 to resist. If this scheme partakes of the sanguine 
 eagerness of youth, and is so vast as to be beyond 
 the limits of that probability of accomplishment, within 
 which it would have been restricted in more mature
 
 PLAN OF HIS STUDIES. 49 
 
 years, it shows at least the ardour of his mind, the 1797. 
 generous ambition with which he was inspired, and yET 20 
 how early he had formed enlightened views respect- 
 ing the profession of the law. 
 
 "PLAN OF MY FUTURE STUDIES. 
 
 " Shacklewell, October 19. 1797. — Being now on 
 the eve of my return to Edinburgh, in order to enter 
 seriously on the study of the Scotch law, at the same 
 time that I have very much to do in the branches of 
 general science as well as in those of polite literature 
 and erudition, it is proper for me, from this distance, 
 to take a view of the prospect before me, that in the 
 course of the journey which I am about to take, I 
 may not find myself entirely ignorant of the best 
 route, or at a loss with respect to the relative position 
 of the different places. 
 
 " It ought to be the main object of my ambition, and 
 the point of tendency for all the thoughts, exertions, 
 and labours of my life, to become a consummate 
 lawyer, both in practice and in science. The former 
 is to be acquired only in actual employment, and by 
 the exercise of sensible and well-directed observation, 
 when I myself shall be engaged in business. The 
 latter, the knowledge of the theory of law, may surely 
 be acquired to a very considerable degree in the time 
 that I have ; though indeed that is now so short, that 
 none of it must be lost. It was a noble spirit in 
 Cicero to wish and to resolve to advance to the 
 forum at first with the sure possession of surpassing 
 learning and eloquence. In the two years that remain 
 to me, I must perfect myself in the Latin and Greek 
 classics, acquire an elegance and facility of English 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 PLAN OF HIS STUDIES. 
 
 1797. style, both in writing and in speaking, make myself a 
 " 1 7~~ proficient in the general principles of philosophy, and 
 a complete master, if possible, of law as a science. 
 This is the ground I have to go over, this is the 
 height I must climb up to ; without which I cannot 
 pretend to be fit for my profession. Let me remem- 
 ber, however, that this, though a possible, is a great 
 undertaking, and will require, on my part, that unre- 
 mitted industry and attention, without which no 
 honour can ever be deserved, and no true honour 
 ever acquired. Joined to regular and continued 
 habits of industry, my studies must be prosecuted 
 likewise in a systematic manner, on a plan previously 
 laid down, at least sketched, in its general outline. 
 I have my own experience now to tell me, what I 
 ought to have learnt from the precepts of others, that 
 it is of the utmost importance to a student to limit 
 the number of his books, and to resist with firmness 
 every approach towards a habit of desultory reading. 
 It will be well for me to bear this in mind in the course 
 of the ensuing winter. I ought to confine myself to a 
 selection of the best authors : read others certainly, 
 but not till the best have been thoroughly perused 
 and resolutely investigated. In Greek, for the pre- 
 sent, I need only fix my thoughts on Homer, Demos- 
 thenes, Xenophon, and Euripides; Euripides, as a 
 master in describing and imitating the human pas- 
 sions ; Xenophon, for the sake of the philosophy and 
 facts, as well as the composition ; Demosthenes, as 
 the greatest and most perfect model of eloquence for 
 a British lawyer to study; and Homer as the fountain 
 and original, so far as the world can ever know, of all 
 that is divine in invention, or eloquent in composi- 
 tion ; and to be farther studied, both as the historian 
 of civil society at a particular stage of its progress,
 
 PLAN OF HIS STUDIES. 51 
 
 and as an admirable delineator of general manners, 1797. 
 and of the varieties of human character. In Latin, I ^Et. 20. 
 may and must indulge myself in a greater range of 
 authors ; but still let those be only the best : the best 
 historians, Liny, Tacitus, Ccesar, and Sallust — the 
 best poets, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Lucretius, and 
 Tibullus — should be regularly read and intensely 
 studied over and over again ; but the works of Cicero, 
 one and all of them, I should have continually in my 
 hand, and almost learn by heart. In the ensuing 
 winter, as my study of languages must necessarily be 
 abridged, let me at least read daily, without failure on 
 any pretence, one hundred lines in the Odyssey of 
 Homer ; and apply one hour at least to the orations 
 and rhetorical works of Cicero. If this be accom* 
 plished properly and in good earnest, I should be 
 ready at the close of the college term in April next, 
 to go through all the authors, Greek and Latin, above 
 enumerated. 
 
 " In mathematical philosophy I have nothing to do 
 with any attempts of my own at original investigation : 
 I should be thoroughly acquainted with the history of 
 pure mathematics, and comprehend, with scientific 
 distinctness of arrangement, the metaphysic-rationale, 
 or logic of analysis, both geometrical and algebraic. 
 In the mixed mathematics, and the other branches of 
 physics, including chemistry, botany, and natural 
 history, I am to read the book of nature, and should 
 be familiarly acquainted with all the laws of the ma- 
 terial world hitherto discovered, and likewise with 
 the most striking experiments and simplest reason- 
 ings by which they have been ascertained, illustrated, 
 or explained. 
 
 " As for metaphysics ; it is only on a complete and 
 scientific knowledge of the principles of human nature 
 
 e 2
 
 52 
 
 PLAN OF HIS STUDIES. 
 
 iE-r.20 
 
 1797. and the theory of morals, that the path is laid towards 
 the elements of legislative science : and it is from the 
 stores of practical morality, accumulated as they have 
 been by the sages of ancient and modern times, that 
 the practical lawyer, who aims at eloquence in his 
 pleadings, should seek those simple and direct appeals 
 to the understanding and to the heart, which are at 
 once the most commendable and the most effectual 
 persuasives. 
 
 " But next to the immediate study of the civil, mu- 
 nicipal, and statute laws themselves, my great object 
 of acquisition must be the general science of politics, 
 legislation, and jurisprudence, as systematised by 
 reasonings and illustrated by history. I shall not 
 enter at present into a discussion of the plan on which 
 this study should be prosecuted, but concluding for 
 the present these general observations, shall apply 
 them to the particular course of six months' study 
 which I am just about to commence. 
 
 " Law being now my great and ultimate object of 
 application, that to which all other studies must have a 
 subservient reference, I begin with considering it first. 
 In this ensuing winter I am to attend the class for the 
 institutes; those institutes, therefore, I must make 
 myself complete master of before the end of the ses- 
 sion. For this purpose I must study both Heineccius 
 and Vinnius ; and it seems to me that it would be better 
 to go on with both at the same time, thereby prose- 
 cuting my reading in the order of the titles or subjects. 
 My progress in the institutes, and in the commentaries, 
 will depend on the progress of the lecture, but it will 
 be absolutely necessary to comprehend fully and tho- 
 roughly every thing as I go on ; nor need I do other- 
 wise, when my friends Murray, Brougham, &c, have 
 gone over the course before me, and will be able to
 
 PLAN OF HIS STUDIES. 53 
 
 afford me every assistance. It will be proper to have 1797. 
 a law common-place book, divided according to the j^t. 2 o. 
 titles of the institutes, for the purpose of preserving 
 whatever remarks or criticisms, queries, quEerenda, &c. 
 may occur to me in the course of study ; and it would 
 be an excellent, as it is a necessary exercise, to get 
 into the habit of throwing out such notes in Latin. 
 Besides what I read of the institutes and the commen- 
 taries, I must daily make some progress in the know- 
 ledge of Roman antiquities, as compiled by Heinec- 
 cius and Adam ; and of Roman law history, as com- 
 posed by Gravina. I must likewise endeavour, in the 
 course of the winter, to get through Montesquieu and 
 Smith. If I can procure a good translation, either 
 in Latin or in French, of the antiquities of Rome, by 
 Dionysius Halic, it would be an excellent companion 
 to the rest ; but let it be carefully and faithfully 
 remembered by me, that these books are not to be 
 read merely, but studied, and that in regular succes- 
 sion ; my progress in law, as well as my general 
 criticisms on manners, &c, being duly registered every 
 day in my journal of reading. 
 
 " It will be proper to compose all my essays and 
 disquisitions for literary societies on subjects of 
 general law and politics. In the composition of each, 
 I should aim at an accuracy and extent of research, a 
 plain, neat, elegant, flowing, didactic style as to the 
 language, and pay particular attention to the beauties 
 of method and arrangement. 
 
 " Let me here attempt a sketch of what ought to be 
 the professional knowledge of a lawyer. His main 
 object is to be acquainted thoroughly with the insti- 
 tutions and laws of his country, as his business is to 
 interpret them for the use of others, and to be the 
 organ of that right, which law confers on individuals, 
 
 e 3
 
 54 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1797. of directing the executive power in matters of private 
 j£ Tp 20. concern. This being the case, he ought to beware of 
 being misled by a philosophical turn of mind into too 
 great a fondness for theoretical discussion. This I do 
 not say, however, as if I supposed it at all necessary 
 to limit or confine the study of law as a science, but 
 only that study may be put under proper regulations. 
 A lawyer ought undoubtedly to be acquainted, and 
 thoroughly acquainted, with what law ought to be, 
 according to the natural principles of equity and free- 
 dom, but his practical business is to know what law is 
 in his own particular country. It is from a confused 
 notion, or a total ignorance, of this just distinction, 
 that some lawyers have wasted their talents and their 
 time on mere theory and general speculation, while 
 others drudge on, the mechanical creatures of mere 
 erudition and memory, without entering farther into 
 the spirit of legislative history than the chronology of 
 dates, and unable to give any other reason for the 
 
 existence " 
 
 (The rest of this paper was not found.) 
 
 Letter XIX. TO THE REV. JOHN HEWLETT. 
 My dear Sir, Edinburgh, 2d November, 1797. 
 
 I should have given you intelligence of my 
 arrival sooner than this, but was not able to procure 
 a frank. I got home sound and safe on Monday 
 morning, after a journey that was tolerably agreeable, 
 notwithstanding a sharp frost on the two last nights, 
 and companions who were rather stupid during the 
 day, and more than drowsy through the night. I 
 spent one day at York, where though on the whole 
 a dull town, I was much gratified with the minster, a
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 55 
 
 very beautiful and noble pile; and with the castle, 1797. 
 the county jail, which is so airy and well situated, ^Et. 20. 
 and the prisoners so comfortably accommodated that 
 should I ever be laid in limbo, I should long to be 
 quartered there. — " Nescia mens liominisfati sortisque 
 futurce." After having mentioned York Castle with 
 such a comment, I was not at liberty to conclude it 
 without tritical authority. 
 
 Remember me kindly to Mrs. Hewlett, for whom I 
 shall ever feel a sincere and high regard. I do not 
 pretend to offer her any professed acknowledgments, 
 because I am sensible, that no return on my part 
 can ever repay the attention and kindness which I so 
 long experienced from her. 
 
 The business at college is not seriously entered 
 upon; beside the civil law lectures, which have not 
 yet opened, I propose to go through a course of 
 chemistry and natural philosophy; on the former 
 subject I have just begun the elementary treatise of 
 your friend Nicholson, which is recommended by 
 Dr. Black. Unfortunately for me, that great man 
 has finally resigned his academical chair ; and the 
 university has sustained a loss which cannot soon be 
 replaced. In about a fortnight, I shall be completely 
 engaged, and have a prospect of passing the winter in 
 full employment. I shall from time to time do myself 
 the pleasure of troubling you with letters, and I 
 please myself with the expectation of having my 
 labours in Justinian, Newton, and Lavoisier, agree- 
 ably relieved by your communications. Remember 
 me to all round the fireside at Shackle well; 
 And believe me, dear Sir, 
 
 Yours with sincerest affection, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 e 4
 
 56 SPECULATIVE SOCIETY. 
 
 1797. Soon after his return to Edinburgh, Mr. Horner 
 
 je,t.20. became a member of the Speculative Society, an 
 association formed in 1764, by students of the Uni- 
 versity, for the discussion, by written essays and 
 debates, of questions on history, politics, legislation, 
 and general literature. It meets, under the sanction 
 of the Senatus Academicus, in a hall appropriated to 
 it in the University buildings, and holds its sittings 
 once a week, in the evening, during the winter session, 
 that is, from November to May. Many of the most 
 distinguished men who have been educated at Edin- 
 burgh have belonged to it ; and many of the members 
 who reside there continue to attend the meetings, and 
 to take an interest in the proceedings of the society, 
 long after they have ceased to be students. 
 
 On the 14th of November 1797, at an ordinary 
 meeting, petitions for admission as members were 
 presented from Francis Horner and Henry Brougham ; 
 and on the 21st of the same month they were 
 admitted. Mr. Horner took a great interest in the 
 society, and soon became a leading member in all the 
 literary business. He was so regular in his attendance, 
 that for three years, as appears by the minute book, 
 he was only absent from three meetings, and during 
 the two last of these years he was one of the presi- 
 dents.* 
 
 Being noAV settled at home, and living in the 
 
 * " The society is not to be viewed as a temporary club, but an aca- 
 demical institution of permanent establishment ; an institution not only 
 felt, by those who now address you, as affording means of imjjrovement 
 that we cannot elsewhere command, but acknowledged by those of our 
 predecessors, whom we most aspire to emulate, as having contributed 
 much to their own attainments in literature and in eloquence." — Extract 
 from an Address to the Members of the Society, dated 26th February, 1799, 
 
 and signed ■ 
 
 William Fullarton 
 Henry Brougham 
 Francis Horner 
 Charles Kinnaird 
 
 Presidents.
 
 JOURNAL. 57 
 
 society of his most intimate friends, he had seldom 1798. 
 occasion to correspond with them, for a consider- ^ T 20 . 
 able time. The absence of letters is in some 
 degree made up by a journal of his reading, which he 
 began to keep in the spring of 1798 ; and although it 
 is not carried on very regularly, it is sufficiently so 
 to enable us, with the help of occasional correspond- 
 ence, to trace his course of life, and the developement 
 of his character and opinions during a period of 
 nearly five years. 
 
 Journal. "Mayl. — This morning I began a course 
 of French with M. Deville. I have already ac- 
 quired considerable facility in reading that language, 
 but it is the mechanical facility of habit; I have never 
 studied it grammatically, and I can neither speak nor 
 write French. These I propose to attain, in the course 
 of the present summer. Among other exercises, I 
 intend to make all my notes on French books in that 
 language, as well as all the abstracts I may draw up 
 of such. 
 
 "I began the 44th chapter of Gibbon's history, 
 which contains an abstract of Roman jurisprudence, 
 and may therefore serve as an introduction to that 
 course of civil law which I have laid out as the prin- 
 cipal business for this summer. This chapter I hope 
 to finish in three or four days, after I have critically 
 examined it, consulted the leading authorities, and 
 made a short abstract. I next propose to study the 
 small historical treatise of Arthur Duck, which, with 
 Montesquieu's philosophical treatise on the Roman 
 History, will qualify me sufficiently for proceeding to 
 the study of the Institutes of Justinian. 
 
 " May 3. — Continued the perusal of Gibbon's 44th
 
 58 JOURNAL. 
 
 1798 - chapter, but read only three pages ; for the plausi- 
 zEt.20. bility of his conjecture, with respect to the origin of 
 the expression res mancipi, led me into a minute ex- 
 amination of it, and the whole morning stole away 
 in ransacking Heineccius and Brissonius, and then 
 writing out the result of my inquiries. I feel ideas 
 accumulating for the composition of a history of 
 Roman law and government, on the plan of Bailly's 
 ' History of Astronomy.' 
 
 " Examined, with critical attention, a paragraph in 
 Chesterfield's 142d letter, and practised the exercise, 
 recommended by Blair, of transcribing from memory. 
 The main purpose of this is to make myself intimately 
 acquainted with the pure idioms of English, and, if 
 possible, to acquire a habit of that easy polite turn of 
 expression which throws such a charm over conver- 
 sation as well as composition. But it will likewise, 
 I hope, be attended with the subordinate effects of 
 strengthening both my memory and attention. I 
 have hitherto been in the practice of noting down 
 such expressions and idioms as pleased me ; but this, 
 I am now persuaded, overloads, perplexes, and en- 
 feebles the powers of remembrance. 
 
 " Translated four maxims out of Rochefoucault. 
 
 " May 4.— Read to the end of Gibbon's 44th chap- 
 ter. To-morrow I propose to begin a second perusal, 
 and draw up an abstract. Read over, but in a hasty 
 manner, and rather as an exercise in French, the first 
 book of the Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz ; to-morrow 
 I must revise it with minute care. 
 
 " May 5. — Reviewed the first, or historical, part of 
 Gibbon's 44th chapter. It contains a very tolerable 
 deduction of the progress of Roman legislation, inter- 
 spersed with some excellent remarks. The account 
 of the succession of civilians is handled in a very
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 59 
 
 finished and interesting manner. But the whole is 1798 - 
 corrupted by the dulcia vitia of his style ; and for jet.20. 
 the sake of telling his story in a round-about way, he 
 leaves it a perplexing problem to his readers, to dis- 
 cover from his text alone (p. 354.) that the Sabinians 
 were the followers of Capito, and the Proculians of 
 Labeo.* 
 
 "May 7. — After a day spent in agreeable idleness 
 with my friend Murray, who is about to set off for 
 London, I returned to my studies, and began Duck, 
 ' De Usu et Auctoritate, &c.' A miracle indeed ! that 
 this small 12mo. should be the offspring of forty years' 
 study of civil law, and of all the commentators dili- 
 gently perused. Read only the two first chapters of 
 the first book ; got no information from them what- 
 ever, and exhausted my disgust in a criticism upon 
 both ; — See my Notes." 
 
 Letter XX. TO MR. MURRAY. 
 Dear Murray, Edinburgh, 25th June, 1798. 
 
 Your last letter pleased me very much, because 
 not having deserved it, I did not look for a second so 
 soon. It is much better for yourself to take as much 
 of England as you can ; there are several of your 
 friends here, and I one of them, who have thought it 
 from the first a much better plan that you should 
 delay your trials till next session. Besides, I shall 
 have the pleasure of passing them about the same 
 time, if I can keep fagging at Justinian as I have 
 done for some little time past : as we have travelled 
 so long together, even from old Stalker f and the 
 
 * Quarto edition of 1788. 
 
 f Master of an elementary school.
 
 GO CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1798. redoubted Nicol, passibus cpquis, I should feel mor- 
 Mt. 20. tafied, and fancy a sort of separation if you were to 
 put on the robe of office much before me. 
 
 As you are not to be down immediately, I wish 
 you would write to me some particulars of the obser- 
 vations that have fallen in your way with regard to 
 the subject for which you chiefly went up. You have 
 read de Retz, I am sure, with pleasure ; and I make no 
 doubt with advantage also. It is one of those few 
 precious books which I find the most difficult to read ; 
 for a few pages supply materials on which hours may 
 be employed. I will instance the passage I was 
 reading last, towards the beginning of the second 
 book, containing a rapid but admirable view of the 
 French Monarchy from Louis IX. to the regency, 
 concluding with portraits of Richelieu and Mazarin. 
 What I want you to share with me especially, are 
 the applications you find in real life, illustrative of 
 De Retz's maxims. They should only be used as a 
 commentary on what passes under our own obser- 
 vation. 
 
 Since you went away, I have not done much in 
 the way of study — a little civil law, a little chemistry, 
 and a little of something else for which I have not a 
 distinct name, being a mixture of belles lettres and 
 connoissance du monde, extracted from Chesterfield, 
 De Retz, and Condillac. The weather has for a long 
 time been uncommonly fine, not at all favourable to 
 poring or prosing at home. I am at last in the 
 ranks*, and am kept now to close attendance, as our 
 noble and valiant major has even threatened his 
 resignation, unless the corps improves in that par- 
 ticular. 
 
 * The first regiment of Edinburgh Volunteer Infantry.
 
 JOURNAL. 61 
 
 I hope you heard the debate on the Militia busi- 1798. 
 ness, the only thing like a debate which has occurred ^ T# 20. 
 during your stay. Fox, I understand, is to be in the 
 House on Friday next ; and for your sake I wish the 
 gout may permit attendance to the gentleman on the 
 other side of the red box — par nobile fratrum ! as a 
 certain biographer would opine, and which you may 
 travestie as you were wont. By the bye, you may 
 see that same botcher of Lord Mansfield's life any 
 Sunday at the Foundling. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. "JulyQ. — I have lately been attending 
 some important pleadings before our Court of Session, 
 on what is called the Bargeny cause ; not so much 
 from any interest in the legal discussion, to which I 
 cannot as yet pretend, as with a view to learn what 
 style of oratory it ought to be my ambition to 
 acquire. In order to be a barrister of any eminence, 
 I can perceive that two requisites are indispensable ; 
 in the first place, an accurate and comprehensive 
 acquaintance with all the points of law which, in the 
 discussion of any cause, may be brought into the 
 argument ; and secondly, the talent of detailing the 
 narrative and arguments of a speech in that distinct 
 order which most properly belongs to them, so that 
 every hearer may not only be enabled to follow them 
 as the speaker goes along, but likewise to preserve a 
 clear recollection of the arrangement of all that has 
 preceded. These two points, I apprehend, are abso- 
 lutely essential to success in pleading at the bar. 
 With respect to the former, I conceive that a know- 
 ledge of the doctrines and decisions of law from
 
 62 JOURNAL. 
 
 1798. memory alone, however copious and ready, will not 
 2Er 20 be enough. They must be systematised in the head ; 
 the forcible and recognised principles of each doc- 
 trine, and the scientific history of each decision, so 
 accurately and so clearly known that each may be 
 produced in proper perspicuous language, as soon as 
 wanted. And what is more, whenever these reasons 
 and principles are introduced into the argument of 
 any pleading, they should be made all to bear upon 
 the point at issue, and contribute to render the whole 
 arrangement more finished and more luminous. As 
 for the second article, method, by far the most im- 
 portant as well as most difficult among the branches 
 of rhetorical study, I shall not stop on it at present. 
 I have often reflected on it ; I have read many satis- 
 factory observations in Cicero, Quinctilian, and Con- 
 dillac. But it still remains a desideratum in my 
 education, and I am afraid it will be long ere I shall 
 acquire the habit of realising, in the practice either of 
 writing or speaking, the views I have got, and have 
 still to get on this subject. 
 
 " A barrister ought to have all his knowledge and 
 all his talents so ready, that he may at a moment's 
 warning call them into service. This must prove of 
 the first consequence. He should likewise form the 
 habit of complete self-possession, a quality very dif- 
 ferent from that impudence which is the joke against 
 all the profession, and justly reproached to too many : 
 but I mean that command of temper, in every respect, 
 which is necessary to keep command of the under- 
 standing. There are several embellishments which 
 wonderfully set off pleadings at the bar : such as a 
 happy introduction of hypothetical cases, bearing an 
 analogy to that at issue; a successful reference to 
 polite anecdotes and histories; a powerful appeal (in
 
 JOURNAL. 63 
 
 the midst of a legal argument, and in support of it) 1798. 
 to the passions of humanity, indignation, generosity, ^ T 2 o. 
 and honour, or to the emotions of ridicule and satire, 
 according as circumstances demand. Such are the 
 notions I have at present with respect to bar elo- 
 quence. I suspect they may be inaccurate, I know 
 they are incomplete. But I cannot so well advance 
 to others more complete and more accurate, as by 
 stating, what I have, distinctly to myself ; and it will 
 be amusing at least, perhaps profitable, should I carry 
 on this journal of my mind, to trace through a series 
 of years the gradual developement of new ideas and 
 successive correction of old. 
 
 " I have lately been perusing the ' Lettres Per- 
 sanes' of Montesquieu, and am arrived this day at 
 Letter CXII. I read this chiefly as one of those books 
 from which I am to derive some knowledge of the man- 
 ners of the world. As to composition, Montesquieu is 
 not a favourite with me. He indulges too much in 
 epigram and conceit. He is indeed a very profound 
 thinker, and his writings abound with comprehensive 
 views. But, in consequence, perhaps, of this very 
 genius for deep thought, all his writings appear to me 
 like a string of maxims. There is no skill in compo- 
 sition and arrangement. But though he might prove 
 a very pernicious model of writing, he is one of the 
 first masters in the great art of reflection; and his 
 works, if studied with the proper temper of criticism, 
 would teach the true spirit of observing on the man- 
 ners and characters of the world, at once with subtlety 
 and sensibility ; as indeed they would teach the true 
 style of expressing such detached observations at 
 once with precision and with beauty. 
 
 " To the journal of my studies, I propose to add 
 the history of my character and mind, an enterprise of
 
 64 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 1798. some danger and much difficulty. Of all the danger 
 into which I may fall, and of the difficulty which I 
 shall have to encounter, the source is vanity and self- 
 love. But it will be a trial of courage, and may 
 prove an exercise of skill. It is said to be more diffi- 
 cult to dissect one's own character, than to sift those 
 of other people ; should I therefore even be worsted 
 in my present attempt, I may hope at least to be in 
 the end less unqualified for the other. But I see no 
 reason to fear any failure, if I can only have the for- 
 titude to speak the truth to myself." 
 
 "Judy 15— Read the fifth book of Bailly's ' Modern 
 Astronomy,' but did not study completely the mathe- 
 matical details. It contains a very clear, and, I sup- 
 pose, a very full account of Ptolemy's merits as an 
 astronomer. He seems to have been in mathematics 
 what Aristotle was in moral science and general lite- 
 rature. They equalled each other in the toil of 
 research and in extent of knowledge. They were 
 both, in their respective walks, men of very powerful 
 imagination for the inventions of hypothesis. But not 
 satisfied with this claim, they both undertook the 
 great plan of systematising all the knowledge of their 
 age; and by that means secured a. similar fate, of 
 establishing their own reputation on the oblivion of 
 the many discoverers who had preceded them, and of 
 teaching the rudiments of science to one generation 
 after another. I wish M. Bailly had accounted for 
 the total decay of astronomical genius from the time 
 of Ptolemy; five hundred years elapsed before the 
 invasion of the Arabs — five hundred years, it would 
 appear, of political quiet; as there was no want of 
 commentators on the works of Hipparchus and Pto- 
 lemy. In the few notes I have made on this chapter, 
 I have taken notice of some faults and some beauties
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. £5 
 
 in the composition, as well as of some remarks which 17981 
 will furnish future reflections to myself. ^ T 20 
 
 " After Bailly I read just before going to bed the 
 295th letter of Chesterfield.* It is finished off in 
 his best style of sarcastic and malicious irony ; but I 
 cannot yet believe, till I have seen this same 185th 
 letter, that Fenelon deserves the satire of his lord- 
 ship : I feel a sort of violence done to my feelings, 
 when I see the amiable and enlightened author of 
 Telemachus exhibited in such a ridiculous and con- 
 temptible point of view. It is true, however, that 
 this high idea of his character has formed itself in 
 my mind on no better proof that I can remember 
 than the sentimental purity of his literary professions. 
 This letter has suggested several idioms to me." 
 
 Letter XXL TO THE REV. JOHN HEWLETT. 
 Dear Sir, Edinburgh, 17th July, 1798. 
 
 The last letter that passed between us, if I 
 remember right, went from me ; but it must now be 
 of so old a date, that I think it incumbent on me to 
 write again, lest our correspondence should die away 
 altogether. Your time, I am sensible, may at all 
 times be much more valuably employed; but I find 
 that mine can never be so agreeably filled up, in the 
 intervals of business, as in addressing myself to you. 
 After having enjoyed the pleasure and benefit of your 
 society for two years, I should have been better re- 
 conciled to the loss of it, had a few letters rendered it 
 gradual. 
 
 I understand from my friend Mr. Murray, who is 
 at present in London, that he and Mr. Brougham 
 
 * Tenth edition, 4 vols. 12mo. London, Dodsley, 1792. — Ed. 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1798. had the pleasure of meeting with you at the Founcl- 
 ^t 20. ling. They were much gratified by your politeness 
 to them, for which you will permit me to thank you, 
 as a kindness done to myself. Had you any conver- 
 sation with Brougham? He is an uncommon genius, 
 of a composite order, if you allow me to use the ex- 
 pression; he unites the greatest ardour for general 
 information in every branch of knowledge, and, what 
 is more remarkable, activity in the business, and 
 interest in the pleasures of the world, with all the 
 powers of a mathematical intellect. Did you notice 
 his physiognomy? I am curious to know your ob- 
 servations on it. 
 
 Holiday time being now nearly over, I believe — 
 you are just returned from some pedestrian expe- 
 dition. Where did you direct your course this year? 
 Wherever it was, I wish I had been of the party. 
 You will remember your engagement to see Wales 
 with me, though we cannot indeed positively fix the 
 time yet. But tell Timothy, that at all events I am 
 resolved to get my heel galled by the way, purely 
 that he may have the felicity of seeing the stripling 
 come down hill on a gray charger. I hope your 
 worthy brother has me still in remembrance; and I 
 know too well his talent at recollecting old friends, 
 with all their calamities and misventures on their 
 back, to doubt that Arreton Downs still make a most 
 excellent joke. Ask Timmy, whether he and I could 
 not, the first time we meet at Shacklewell, beat 
 " brother John and Dumas at fives — and give 'em 
 three f " 
 
 I am impatient, my dear sir, to hear of your being 
 in the press, either with your work on the Demo- 
 niacs, or on some subject of a higher cast. I wish 
 the public had some monument of your talents, wor-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 67 
 
 thy of them. With people of true taste and judg- 1798. 
 ment, your sermons will maintain your reputation in j£ T 2 o. 
 the highest rank of that line ; yet you. have confessed 
 to me yourself, more than once, that sermons are not 
 the literary object to which your mind would have 
 most naturally turned, and I am convinced that they 
 never can rouse it to the efforts of which it is capable. 
 May I flatter myself with one day reading some work, 
 by you, in philosophy or history? the philosophy, I 
 mean, of manners, character, and morals — or the 
 history of science and civilisation. I am sure there 
 are many such subjects still uncultivated, many in 
 which you already possess original and striking 
 views, and none on which you could bestow pains 
 without turning it to valuable instruction, and adorn- 
 ing it with all the charms of fine writing. 
 
 I have not remitted my application to the study of 
 composition. Not having the opportunity of oral 
 precepts, such as I once enjoyed, I am obliged to have 
 recourse to didactic writers expressly on the subject. 
 The best I have yet found is Condillac, in his Traite 
 sur V Art deer ire. Being also deprived of the advan- 
 tages of idiomatic conversation, for in this part of the 
 world not a mouth opens but some barbarism or other 
 finds its way out, I apply to the perusal of your best 
 writers. The letters of Chesterfield are what I use 
 at present for idioms, and the political works of 
 Bolingbroke for the artifices of composition. Will 
 you add your instructions? I should find them of 
 essential service. I make no doubt, you already de- 
 tect, in the twang of my letters, the old leaven of 
 Scottish corruption. 
 
 Having now exhausted my paper, and perhaps your 
 patience long ago, I beg you to remember me 
 kindly to Mrs. Hewlett. I fear she won't permit me 
 
 f 2
 
 G8 JOURNAL. 
 
 1798. to address her but at second hand. I wish her long 
 
 jEt.21. health and happiness. 
 
 I am ever, 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " August 11th. — Read, but can scarcely 
 say I studied, Bailly, from p. 30. to p. 64. In the 
 course of this day, I have enjoyed a good deal of pro- 
 fitable conversation with my friend Brougham, whose 
 studies are at present political, and whose conversa- 
 tion always affords me improvement. 
 
 " Read, in the afternoon, some of Turgot's ' Reflec- 
 tions on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth,' a 
 work which appears to have been truly denominated, 
 by Condorcet, the germ of Adam Smith's Inquiry. 
 It is a series of propositions, enunciated and proved. 
 What a difficult matter it is to treasure up processes 
 of reasoning in the memory ! I should think geome- 
 trical studies the best calculated to form this habit in 
 the mind. I find my memory much better adapted 
 for the remembrance of facts, but not insulated facts, 
 than for the possession of systematic arrangements 
 and argumentative deductions ; I must labour to im- 
 prove it. Perhaps one of the best exercises, is to get 
 into the practice of frequently running over the detail 
 of such arguments or experiments as I have been read- 
 ing of. 
 
 " November 13th. — I have omitted keeping any 
 journal through this long period*, which, though 
 not remarkably busy, has not been by any means 
 idle. My only study has been English history, 
 
 * Since the 6th of October.
 
 JOURNAL. 69 
 
 particularly the history of law, government, and 1799. 
 manners. I have studied Hume as far as the ^ T#2 i. 
 reign of Henry VII., and Millar to the end of his 
 History of Parliament. This day the winter session 
 commences ; and, except an hour at Stewart's Class of 
 Moral Philosophy, I shall devote my whole time to law 
 and the business of the Speculative Society. In the 
 morning, till twelve o'clock, I shall read civil law, and 
 prepare for my trials ; from twelve till two I shall be at 
 college ; from two, I write out my notes from Hume's 
 lectures, and study Scots law ; and then give the rest 
 of the day to history, politics, and the business of the 
 Speculative. 
 
 " February 5th. — This evening I finished a paper, 
 the composition of which has occupied me nearly a 
 week, ' On the Opposition Party in Parliament.'* 
 
 " I have so long omitted my Journal, in a great 
 measure from indolence ; in fact, I have gone on this 
 winter in my old silly way, setting out with most 
 magnificent resolutions, and scarcely doing any thing 
 at all. The greatest labour I have been at this winter 
 has been the writing of notes from Hume's j Lectures, 
 of which I have got above 200 folio pages; but have 
 lately done nothing, even in that way. I have studied 
 nothing of civil law ; and I have now had the books 
 two years, without taking any usufruct of them; I 
 ought to have passed my first trials long since. I 
 mean to set seriously about it now, proposing to pass 
 them in May. 
 
 * What became of this and other essays will be seen by the follow- 
 ing entry in the Journal on the 16th of March, 1800. "This morning a 
 bundle of my own works fell into my hands, essays on imagination, the 
 dramatic unities, the marvellous, imitation, national character, the op- 
 position party in parliament, &c, the offspring of former labours, the 
 nurselings of former self-applause : but I was so mortified with them, thatf 
 I committed them without mercy to the flames." — Ed. 
 
 f Professor of Scots Law in the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 F 3
 
 70 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. " February llth. — I daily find it more necessary to 
 
 ^Et.21. be anxious about the formation and expression of my 
 political opinions. In such times as the present, 
 there is some merit in setting about it in a manly and 
 open manner. On the one hand, the majority of the 
 country runs strongly and implicitly in favour of a 
 minister who has made the greatest inroads on the 
 constitution; on the other, there is a set of people 
 who, undoubtedly, some from wicked and ambitious, 
 others from honest views, pant after a new and repub- 
 lican order of things. Between these two fires, there 
 is some courage in pleading the cause of our neglected 
 constitution ; it must of course be a most unpopular 
 enffaffement ; but there is so much the more satisfac- 
 tion to one's self in maintaining a firm post against 
 such variety of assailants. 
 
 " February 19th. — Have been doing a little in the 
 way of civil law, reading the twentieth book of the 
 Pandects on the subject of Pledge and Hypotheque. 
 I find the most advantageous mode of studying law is 
 to have an eye to the reasons, historical or philoso- 
 phical, of every positive enactment ; to analyse what 
 Montesquieu properly called Vesprit des loix; to keep 
 in mind the maxim of Celsus the civilian — ' Scire 
 leges non est, verba earum tenere, sed vim ac potes- 
 tatem : ' independent of the interest which this mode 
 of investigation imparts to a subject, which is often 
 represented, by those, I imagine, who had not tried 
 such a plan, as meagre and dry ; independent also of 
 the scientific dress with which it clothes what would 
 otherwise be a mass of unrelated particulars, to be 
 comprehended only by the mechanical drudgery of 
 memory ; independent of all this, I find that the phi- 
 losophical manner of studying the subject puts me in 
 possession of a sort of instrument of artificial memory
 
 JOURNAL. 72 
 
 without which I could not so easily make myself 1799. 
 master of the details of law. As the regular pursuit jEt.2i 
 of every point up to its original in history or in phi- 
 losophical reasons would lead me too far from my im- 
 mediate object, I shall take such notes as may supply 
 me with topics of future research. 
 
 " I have entered on a plan, with Lord Webb Sey- 
 mour *, of discussing with him, after Stewart's lecture, 
 the different arguments or topics which it compre- 
 hended. We have done so for three or four days; 
 his regularity will perhaps insure mine. This scheme 
 prevents me from attending the Scots law ; but the 
 truth is, I have in a great measure given that up for 
 this winter, the civil law is quite enough. By the 
 plan of conversation with Lord Webb, I shall perhaps 
 acquire some new views, and at least familiarise old 
 notions, on the interesting topics of moral philosophy ; 
 I shall have a daily lesson and exercise in what I 
 have so long found my deficiency, the practice of ar- 
 gumentative discussion. I have hardly yet ascertained 
 his character ; but he seems possessed in a consider- 
 able degree of that acuteness which arises, not from 
 constitutional ingenuity and liveliness of fancy, but 
 from habits of persevering attention. 
 
 * Brother of the present Duke of Somerset. Soon after leaving 
 Oxford, he came to Edinburgh ; and his attention being particularly 
 directed to mathematics and physical science, especially geology, he 
 lived much with Mr. Playfair and Sir James Hall. He was also intimate 
 with Mr. Dugald Stewart and Mr. Henry Mackenzie, as well as with 
 many of the younger men of distinguished talent in Edinburgh at that 
 time. As Lord Webb Seymour is so little known in proportion to his 
 deserts, I am happy to be able to refer the reader to a biographical 
 notice of him, drawn up by one of his early and intimate friends. (See 
 Appendix A.) In a letter from his Lordship to Mr. Hallam, dated 
 from Edinburgh, Nov. 10. 1799, the following passage occurs: — "Since 
 my arrival, I have rather been dabbling in different branches of 
 science, than attending seriously to any. I have been engaged in some 
 stout metaphysical discussions on Time and Space, Cause and Effect, 
 and such light topics, with a friend whose name is Horner. From these 
 we have derived no great advantage, except that we may suppose our 
 faculties to have been strengthened by the exercise." j 
 
 F 4
 
 72 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. w February 21st. — I am going on in the plan of con- 
 
 iEi.21. versation with Lord Webb, and am willing to believe 
 that I have already acquired a little more habilete in 
 argument. It is not an argumentative mania that I 
 wish to form, but to avoid that unfortunate habit, 
 at the same time that I acquire some practical 
 skill in the exercise of the reasoning faculty. I find 
 that undivided attention, and a skill in stating propo- 
 sitions to myself in clear and precise language, form 
 the great constituents of that faculty. 
 
 " I have also dabbled a little in the Pandects, and 
 finished this morning the subject of ' Pledge.' 
 
 " Lord Webb Seymour entered into his twenty-sixth 
 year yesterday. I am not sure that his genius is of a 
 high order, but he possesses several of the most essential 
 constituents to the character of a true philosopher : an 
 ardent passion for knowledge and improvement, with 
 apparently as few preconceived prejudices as most 
 people can have. A habit of study intense almost to 
 plodding — a mild, timid, reserved disposition with 
 respect to the communication of such sentiments as 
 he feels to be contrary to public prejudices. On this last 
 head, in giving me a hint that he requested and ex- 
 pected confidential secresy, he made an observation, 
 the truth of which struck me forcibly, from what I am 
 conscious of with regard to my oavu character, viz., 
 that those who are most forward and bold in pro- 
 claiming their own paradoxes, are least to be trusted 
 in the deposit of such of our opinions as we are in- 
 clined to make known only to private friends. 
 
 " There is a style of behaviour with which I am not 
 at all acquainted, but which I should aim at, as an 
 invaluable possession, by which it is possible to keep 
 certain sentiments within one's own breast, or at least 
 within the circle of a few friends, and at the same
 
 JOURNAL. 73 
 
 time fall into no corrupt hypocrisy or unmanly ac- 1799. 
 quiescence in the opinions of whatever company we j£ T .2i. 
 may happen to meet. 
 
 " April 10th. — Read a little Spanish, the novel of 
 ' Impertinent Curiosity,' in the second volume of Don 
 Quixote. In learning this language, I follow a plan 
 recommended (I think) by Gibbon, endeavouring to 
 acquire a readiness of translation before taking up the 
 grammar. I was tempted a few days ago to undertake 
 this language, from the simple motive of wishing to 
 read Campomanes. 
 
 " Read half the first canto of Delille's ' Jardins.' 
 This, as an exercise of taste in composition ; the pre- 
 cepts of Delille to the gardener, admit of an easy 
 application to the subject of style; and his own man- 
 ner furnishes a continual commentary of examples 
 and illustration. 
 
 " On the subject of population, which I am consider- 
 ing at present with a view to a paper for the Academy*, 
 I read Filangieri, and one of Karnes's sketches. Hi- 
 therto I have learnt nothing, but to doubt of the ge- 
 neral principles which are laid down as certain. I 
 doubt that number is in itself a direct object of legis- 
 lative solicitude ; I suspect the proposition, that a 
 people will always people up to its resources, to be 
 contrary to fact ; and even the fundamental idea, the 
 connexion between population and subsistence, though 
 I can hardly entertain a question of its truth, is in 
 neither of these authors explained in that clear, simple, 
 or direct manner which ensures conviction. I have 
 not for a long time met with a more eloquent passage 
 than the description in Filangieri, pp. 69 and 70., of the 
 exaction of taxes. The conclusion shows true genius 
 
 * The Academy of Physics; see note, p. 41.
 
 74 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799 - in the selection of circumstances : — ' il letto sul quale 
 
 JEt.21. essa aveva pochi giorni dietro dato un cittadino alio 
 
 stato, quella ruvida veste colla quale essa cercava di 
 
 nascondere la sua miseria nel giorno destinato ad 
 
 assistere alia mensa del Signore,' &c. 
 
 " April 21st. — Began a course of civil law, with the 
 serious purpose of passing my trials in the course of 
 two months. I may well be ashamed, when I recollect 
 how long I have had the books upon civil law, and 
 therefore professed to study it, without having ever 
 set about it except by fits now and then, such as can- 
 not possibly leave any impression. In these two 
 months I can expect to do nothing more than get 
 such a general and superficial knowledge as will 
 qualify me for passing the very light examination to 
 which we are here subjected; even this, however, will 
 demand pretty hard, at least regular, work. 
 
 " April 22d I can now speak of the character of 
 
 Lord Webb Seymour with greater certainty. Bating 
 the article of inventive genius, he is formed in every 
 respect to be a true philosopher. Passionate in the 
 pursuit of knowledge, he has the inestimable art of 
 keeping a rein over his curiosity ; by limiting his in- 
 vestigations to one object at a time, and by proceed- 
 ing in all his inquiries with the utmost caution and 
 patience. I never knew a person read so slowly, and 
 with such circumspection : perhaps he may even carry 
 this to an extreme, so diffident is he of his having 
 got possession of a subject till he has turned it about 
 in every point of view. He can subject himself to ge- 
 neral rules, which, perhaps, he carries too far in mat- 
 ters of diet, &c. He Avill be an active student all his 
 life, if his whole character and habits do not alter; 
 and he studies with such judgment, that I question 
 whether a day passes in which he has not made some
 
 JOURNAL. 75 
 
 intellectual improvement. His actual acquisitions are 1799. 
 considerable : he is an accurate scholar, and has read j Et 21 
 most of the Greek classics; he is minutely skilled in 
 chemistry, particularly mineralogy, and also in bo- 
 tany. He is at present engaged, and that zealously, 
 in the study of mathematics. But the knowledge 
 which I most admire in him, as that indeed in which 
 I am myself most miserably deficient, is the know- 
 ledge of character, in which he quite astonishes me 
 sometimes ; his skill in this way is heightened by a 
 considerable proficiency in the science of physiog- 
 nomy. I have made several experiments, of proposing 
 faces to him, the characters belonging to which I had 
 been long intimately acquainted with, but of which 
 he had no knowledge whatever ; and his answers have 
 at once given me a satisfactory proof that physi- 
 ognomy has a foundation in scientific principles, and 
 that his habilete in the application of those principles 
 is very considerable. 
 
 " April 23d. — With a view to style, studied about 
 thirty lines in Goldsmith's ' Deserted Village,' and 
 read Gibbon's account of the abdication and retreat of 
 Diocletian. This sort of exercise, I hope, will give 
 me a store of elegant turns of expression so necessary 
 to extempore speaking : there is nothing deserving 
 the name of eloquence which is not always at com- 
 mand; I do not aim at the talent of making fine 
 holiday speeches upon occasion. The most difficult 
 part of style is the structure of sentences; and the 
 structure of plain sentences, in which a proposition is 
 enunciated or a narrative carried on, is much more 
 difficult than that of periods. In this point, I am per- 
 fectly untaught ; nor do I well know how to set about 
 learning it. As another exercise in style, I translated 
 into English out of a French Spectator ; I have taken
 
 76 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. the papers which are written from Sir Roger's house 
 ^ T 21 in the country, and do not mean to turn to the original 
 till I have got through them. 
 
 "April 25th. — Began ' Vie de M. Turgot,' by Con- 
 dorcet *, and read to p. 60. Interesting in the highest 
 degree, though somewhat too much of a panegyric ; a 
 little of the cant of philanthropy, and the style, though 
 extremely elegant, rather laboured and heavy. But 
 it is a book from which I may depend on deriving 
 much advantage if read well ; the developement of the 
 views of such a man as Turgot not only tend to en- 
 large our own views, but cherish that emulation and 
 that admiration of genius, which are the great springs 
 of intellectual improvement. I was much struck with 
 the following observation : — 
 
 ' Se comparer aux autres hommes pour s'enor- 
 gueillir de sa superiorite, lui paroissoit une foiblesse; 
 comparer ses connoissances a l'etendue immense de 
 la nature, lui sembloit une philosophie fausse et 
 propre a produire une inaction dangereuse. C'etoit 
 entre ses connoissances personelles et celles qu'on 
 peut avoir dans le siecle ou Ton se trouve, qu'il 
 croyoit qu'un homme raisonable clevoit etablir cette 
 comparaison, pour bien juger de l'etendue de ses 
 propres lumieres : et il n'est personne que cette 
 comparaison ne doive encore renclre tres modeste.' 
 
 " April 27th. — Proceeded with Condorcet, p. 135 
 to 193. I have now got to his sketch of Turgot's 
 Philosophical Opinions. Here the author seems more 
 at his ease, at least I have felt more at mine. The 
 former part I read very cursorily, though with con- 
 siderable interest, because I did not find that the 
 author entered sufficiently into detail, either of facts 
 
 * Berne, 1787. 8vo.
 
 JOURNAL. 77 
 
 or reasonings, to excite me to investigation. But I 1799. 
 have now found materials for reflection ; and a single Mt.21. 
 page in this part of the work occupies me as much as 
 ten in the preceding. At the same time, I must re- 
 mark an instance of the effect of habit, and the bad 
 effect of giving way to the practice of reading with- 
 out V attention suivie: the discussion into which the 
 author enters (before coming to the sketch I have 
 spoken of), with respect to the conversion of indirect 
 taxes into one direct territorial tax, gave me some 
 difficulties, and I passed it over as a reserve for the 
 second perusal. So much for pretending to read 
 well! 
 
 " April 2dth Turned over the second volume of 
 
 Gibbon's posthumous works,* which are extremely 
 amusing ; his journal of studies, while it raises our 
 idea of his powers of application and stores of learning, 
 communicates to the reader a sort of emulation, in 
 which the ingredient of admiration far exceeds that 
 of hope. I met with a remark at p. 320., in his criti- 
 cism on Silius Italicus, which expresses what (in 
 moments of self-examination and despondency) has 
 frequently occurred to myself with respect to my own 
 character : ' La plupart de ceux qui ont echoue dans 
 la haute poesie avoient I 'esprit dur et l'imagination 
 dereglee. Comme malheureusement ils avoient aussi 
 peu de gout que de talent, il leur etoit facile de 
 prendre ces qualites pour la force, l'elevation et un 
 genie createur. Ces defauts y avoient du moins 
 quelques rapports.' I am not vain enough ever to 
 say to myself that I want either gout or talent ; 
 but I suspect that the chief particulars in this well 
 written remark are applicable to the character of my 
 
 * Quarto edition, 1796.
 
 78 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. genius for invention. In composition, for example, 
 ^t. 21. energy and force is what I have always aimed at, and 
 (while I was composing) thought I excelled in. On 
 subsequent examination of these productions, I have 
 often thought of the lion lashing himself into energy 
 with his tail. Perhaps a plain, correct, perspicuous 
 style, moderately ornamented, is all I am entitled 
 to aim at if I consult my powers ; and yet at present 
 the want of these is the most glaring defect of my 
 style. 
 
 " April 30th. — I read none of Condorcet this day, 
 as I went to the Society* in the evening, where I was 
 much entertained with a discussion between Brougham 
 and Jeffrey on colonial establishments. 
 
 " I have now closed the first year of my journal, 
 and should like to take a review of it. But I have no 
 leisure at present. I shall therefore only remark in 
 general, that but a small proportion of this twelve- 
 month has been employed in study, and that small 
 portion by no means so well employed as it might 
 have been. Instead of a regular plan, my reading 
 has been extremely desultory ; the consequence of 
 which is, that instead of having got a firm footing on 
 any part of the field of science, I have only a recol- 
 lection of its form and appearance, from having once 
 been there; instead of having made any approaches 
 towards a systematic possession of the knowledge that 
 I have, it lies scattered through my memory in a mass 
 of un arranged particulars. 
 
 " When I look through this period, I cannot perceive 
 that, except unsuccessful, because unprosecuted, at- 
 tempts at a superficial knowledge of chemistry and 
 mineralogy, I have made any new acquisitions even 
 
 * The Speculative Society.
 
 JOURNAL. 79 
 
 of undigested knowledge : but this I should have re- 1799. 
 gretted less, had the time been laid out in confirming, ^exT^l 
 correcting, and systematising the ideas I had before. 
 One particular, however, I ought to notice here, be- 
 cause no traces of it that I recollect are to be found 
 in the preceding journal; during this period, I have 
 reflected more than I ever did on the necessity of 
 arranging my knowledge, on the limits within which 
 I should confine myself in the pursuit of science, and 
 on the advantage of having certain definite objects in 
 view. Shall I have more to say at the end of the 
 next twelvemonth than what I have said now? How 
 much might be done by persevering and well-directed 
 application ! How little do I possess the courage, the 
 resolution, the intellectual energy on which that ap- 
 plication depends ! 
 
 " May 1st. — Read in Heineccius, lib. xix. tit. 2., on 
 the consensual contracts of location and emphyteusis, 
 tit. 3, 4, and 5., on innominate contracts and the ac- 
 tions arising from them. Then read the whole of 
 lib. xxi. For me this may be reckoned good work, 
 as it amounts to 24 pages ; the titles of lib. xix. I 
 analysed minutely. 
 
 " Read the speech of Mr. Addington, the Speaker, 
 on the Irish Union ; a sensible and manly detail of the 
 most obvious arguments in favour of that measure, 
 without any specimen of very enlightened or exten- 
 sive views. I like, throughout this speech, that fami- 
 liar acquaintance with the principles and language of 
 the constitution, which perhaps betrays the wig and 
 the mace of St. Stephen's Chapel, but which at the 
 same time awakens all my veneration (some of which 
 may be prejudice) for the ancient Whig politics of 
 England, which are at present so much out of fashion, 
 being hated by both parties.
 
 80 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. " Read Condorcet, p. 205 to 231., and wrote a good 
 
 ^ 21 many notes. For some time past I have found read- 
 ing become daily more difficult, which I take to be a 
 proof that I shall become in time a good reader, that 
 is, able to read, with all the powers of recollection, 
 reflection, and judgment, at command. 
 
 " As my summer course of study commences this 
 day, I shall here sketch the plan I should wish to 
 pursue, and enumerate the objects I am solicitous to 
 attain. I have already more than once experienced 
 my inability to keep to such plans ; but I am not the 
 less satisfied of the great benefit that is to be derived 
 from them, if resolutely followed out. Have I not 
 firmness to bind myself by a few rigid rules, to allow 
 no prospect of a new speculation, however inviting, to 
 draw me aside from the route I had chalked out ? I 
 fear not — I shall try. 
 
 " My different objects may be arranged under four 
 heads; viz. Law, Physical Science, Political Philo- 
 sophy, and English Composition. 
 
 " 1. I propose to give at least three hours every day 
 to Law, viz. from breakfast to one o'clock; after the 
 month of August, for a reason that will immediately 
 appear, I may add a fourth hour to this allowance. 
 Till the end of June, I shall be occupied with civil 
 law. The four succeeding months will be free for 
 Scots law, in the study of which my best plan will be 
 to write out as much of Hume's lectures as I shall 
 find convenient, to study the principles in those notes 
 and in Erskine, confining myself for decisions to Kil- 
 kerran and Kames' first collection, which afford the 
 best models (though models of a different kind) for 
 Scots law ratiocination ; and, if I can accomplish all 
 this, to read Craig ' De Feudis.' 
 
 "2. In Physical Science I must restrict myself. I
 
 JOURNAL. 81 
 
 shall attend Allen's * lectures on the Animal Economy, 1 799. 
 in order to acquire some general notion of a subject, ^ 
 on which I have at present no knowledge whatever. 
 But that this may not encroach on my more necessary 
 occupations, I vow never to meddle with the subject, 
 either in the way of completing my notes from his 
 lectures, or reading books connected with the subject, 
 except before breakfast. I have never been in the 
 regular practice of rising early in the morning ; so I 
 hope that this new and interesting science may stimu- 
 late me to that healthy and valuable habit. The 
 lectures are from one to two o'clock ; and as regular 
 exercise ought to accompany regular study, I shall 
 have, for this purpose, the interval between two o'clock 
 and dinner time. 
 
 " The course will be over in three months. I wish 
 I could bring within these three months a perusal of 
 Euclid's Elements, and of the first volume of Euler's 
 Algebra, but they must not, by breaking in irregu- 
 larly on my physiological studies, spoil my progress 
 in both. 
 
 "3. Next to law, Political Philosophy, History, and 
 Natural Jurisprudence, are to be my principal objects 
 of pursuit. To these I shall give most of my even- 
 ings for six months to come. Two evenings in the 
 week, indeed, must be subtracted, one for the meeting 
 of the Academy ; the other I mean to reserve for exer- 
 cises in style : and I shall put them together, that the 
 train of inquiry may be broken in upon as little as 
 possible. 
 
 " With respect to these studies, I am engaged in the 
 first place by an essay on Population for the Academy ; 
 this I wish to finish as soon as possible, in order that 
 
 * The present Master of Dulwich College, then a surgeon at Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. I moy proceed to a regular and systematic study of 
 jEt.21. Political Philosophy. I shall begin with reading most 
 accurately and analysing Montesquieu's Spirit of 
 Laws; this will probably suggest a variety of subjects 
 for investigation, one or two of the most general of 
 which I shall prosecute and write on. Nothing con- 
 tributes so much as original composition, to fix the 
 principles of a science familiarly in one's mind. I 
 shall study and analyse, in the same manner, the 
 Wealth of Nations ; to complete the study of which, 
 it will be necessary to examine, in the best of their 
 own writings, the system of the French Economists. 
 After so much general inquiry, it would be right, in 
 order to correct the habit of mind that may thereby 
 be formed, to give a little time to the perusal of books 
 of fact, such as a few of the most classical histories, 
 and one or two of the most judicious travellers. 
 Returning to the science, the last general branch is 
 that of natural jurisprudence, where I shall have 
 rather to think for myself, than derive much light 
 from books. I understand from Recldie, that the best 
 he has met with is a treatise by Cocceius, published 
 in his edition of Grotius. This I shall read; and 
 just as I have time, the work of Grotius himself. 
 If I get through these three standard books with their 
 proper accompaniments, I ought to proceed to En- 
 glish history, and prosecute that study of the govern- 
 ment and constitution, in which I made some little 
 progress towards the end of last summer. — 4. With 
 respect to composition, I wish I could allot more 
 time to it than I have reserved. The single evening 
 in the week will be laid out to best advantage in 
 translation, or the studious and critical perusal of a 
 few of the best English authors. When Allen's 
 course expires, I shall have the hours before breakfast
 
 JOURNAL. 83 
 
 of the remaining three months to give to Cicero's 1799. 
 Orations, and perhaps I may add those of Demosthenes. Mt.2\. 
 I shall take an opportunity, also, in such intervals as 
 will sometimes occur, in the prosecution of my poli- 
 tical studies, to give an evening or two at a time to 
 the composition of essays on popular topics of morals 
 and criticism. 
 
 " A vast plan this, exceeding, I suspect, my powers 
 of execution. But I have never known yet what 
 study is ; I have never made a real effort of persever- 
 ing resolution. How many blockheads of the com- 
 mentator tribe have gone through ten times the 
 labour in the space that I propose. Perhaps brains 
 of such texture are the best fitted for toil. But it 
 is not the fact ; read the accounts that are handed 
 down to us of the diligence of Demosthenes, Cicero, 
 Hale, Boyle, Turgot, Jones, Gibbon, &c, not to men- 
 tion the long series of illustrious mathematicians. 
 The most probable inference I can draw (it is a de- 
 sponding one for me, and therefore I shall not consider 
 it as certain) is, that the middle order of talents is 
 the least allied to that power of pertinacious appli- 
 cation, which, when it consists in mere industry, loads 
 our shelves with the lumber of learning, but, by being 
 joined to inventive genius, has unlocked the treasures 
 of nature, ameliorated the constitution of society, and 
 illuminated the prospects of the human race. This, I 
 say, is the most probable conclusion. But, by way of 
 self-encouragement, I will keep a more pleasing con- 
 jecture in view; that it is only for want of such 
 application as might really be exerted, that we are 
 confined to the middle or the lower orders of intellect ; 
 and that by the assiduous employment of the means 
 of which we are possessed, it is possible to raise our- 
 selves above the rank into which Nature seems to 
 
 g 2
 
 84 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. have thrown us, and, though still remaining at an 
 JEt. 21. immense distance, to approximate those happier 
 spirits on whom she has, from the first, bestowed the 
 energies and inspiration of genius. 
 
 " May 2d. — Got up two hours before breakfast, and 
 read some of ' Bell's Anatomy,' on the Mechanism of 
 the Heart : this opened a scene of wonders to me. I 
 consulted Allen what books I should previously read 
 to get a general knowledge of as much physiology as 
 I shall need in order to follow his lectures. 
 
 " Read Condorcet, ' Vie de Turgot ' from p. 231 to 258, 
 the end : upon the whole I have derived much pleasure 
 from this book, and I think some instruction — that, 
 however, not so much on the subject of political philo- 
 sophy (for I met with little else than the assertion of 
 opinions) as with respect to some more enlarged 
 notions that it has given me on the subject of intel- 
 lectual improvement and discipline, especially as to 
 systematising one's knowledge in the memory. The 
 latter part of the volume I have read with great care, 
 but I ran over the first half in so hasty a manner, 
 that I am not entitled to think I have read the book, 
 till after another perusal : I found it in that part too 
 long and too short ; too short in each article of the 
 detail, and too long from the number that are brought 
 together. The second perusal I must defer till I 
 come to study the system of the Economists. 
 
 "June 25th. — I have been for twelve days past on an 
 excursion with Seymour to the Western Highlands, 
 of which, in a separate book, I have kept a short 
 journal. 
 
 " June 26th. — I resumed my attendance on Allen. 
 This afternoon I went over Salisbury Crags with Sey- 
 mour and Mr. Playfair, who explained to me the geo- 
 logical arrangement of the rock. Am I in the fulness
 
 JOURNAL. g5 
 
 of time to become a convert to the Huttonian heresy? 1799. 
 — at present, perhaps, exitiabilis supei'stitio, as Taci- j Et 2I 
 tus calls Christianity. 
 
 " July 1st. — The present month I mean to give up 
 strictly to mineralogy, and Allen's lectures. This 
 morning I went over part of Davy's book with Sey- 
 mour ; I must finish the analysis of it myself, as he 
 leaves town immediately. In the evening, I was pre- 
 sent at the Royal Society, and heard Playfair read the 
 first part of his analysis of Hutton's Theory ; a very 
 distinct and luminous deduction of a powerful train 
 of arguments, as ever was given in favour of a mere 
 hypothesis. 
 
 " July 2d Except the hour employed at Allen's, 
 
 on the interesting subject of animal temperature, the 
 studies of this day were confined to mineralogy. As 
 yet I can only enjoy the drudgery of learning names, 
 the vocables of a nomenclature in which there seems 
 to be little arrangement and no philosophy. Not 
 having the advantage of a cabinet, I must drudge 
 through books, and add the little I can do for myself 
 in the way of fossilising. The book I chiefly make 
 use of is Saussure, as by far the most interesting I 
 have met with ; but as mineralogy has made great ad- 
 vances since the publication of the first volumes, and 
 changes have especially taken place in the nomencla- 
 ture, I compare his descriptions with those of Kirwan. 
 As my object is geology, I am not sure but external 
 characters (in the first place at any rate) ought to be 
 more attended to than the results of chemical analysis. 
 I strolled for two hours this forenoon about the ba- 
 saltic columns at Arthur Seat, armed, as if already an 
 adept, with a hammer. 
 
 " If I ever accomplish any scientific work, it will 
 probably be in that line to which I have looked for- 
 
 g 3
 
 86 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. ward for several years; viz. general views of philoso- 
 ^Et.21. phical logic. Previous to any attempt at execution, I 
 must go through the circle of physical, mathematical, 
 and metaphysical sciences. Do I natter myself with 
 the least approximation to success ? This I fear, 
 that, presumptuous as I may be in thinking to get a 
 prospect of the whole land of science, I shall most 
 likely be nothing but a superficial fellow, as to my 
 knowledge of any part of it ; I may see the land of 
 self-promise, but most likely shall die like Moses, at a 
 distance. At any rate, let but one science be studied at 
 a time ; and always, in each investigation, let me have 
 general principles in view. What would I give for 
 the systematising head, which Condorcet ascribes to 
 Turgot, and which every one acquainted with the 
 history of j)hilosophy ascribes to Bacon ! Why have 
 I discernment to perceive that the ' Opus Magnum ' 
 should be written anew every century perhaps, and 
 yet want genius to execute the undertaking myself! 
 
 " July Wi. — I can say very little for myself during 
 the last week — much dissipation of time, and, of course, 
 no study to any good purpose. When shall I learn, 
 that without regular habits I can never make any 
 substantial acquirements, nor advance in that scheme 
 of forming a system of general principles, which is so 
 much an object of my ambition? — To unite the busi- 
 ness of a Scotch lawyer with an ardent and steady 
 pursuit of science, as well as the cultivation of taste, 
 especially in composition — a formidable problem! 
 1 Magnis tamen excidam ausis." 1 
 
 " My chief defect, in the article of study, is the want 
 of what the French call ' V attention suivie; ' and this 
 want proceeds (I am convinced) from my habits of 
 irregularity with respect to time. When I am con- 
 fined to the house (as I was from the 2 1st of April to the
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 87 
 
 14th of May), I can prosecute a regular course of in- 1799. 
 quiry without deviation ; but when I study one day, ^ 22 
 and gad about the next, as is my common practice, 
 there is no chance for any subject exciting a com- 
 manding interest ; and the warm resolutions of one 
 hour, having taken no firm root in the mind, are easily 
 given up for the novelties of the next, which, in their 
 turn, are soon sacrificed to the first " light gay me- 
 teor" that appears on the ever-varying horizon of my 
 rambles. It is not thus that excellence is ever at- 
 tained, but it is thus that one infallibly gets that 
 flimsy superficies of apparent knowledge, which con- 
 ceals from the ignorant alone the real deficiencies. I 
 am conscious of being superficial; I can hardly sup- 
 pose that I am not quite seen through, but I am con- 
 scious of powers to become something better than I 
 am at present. 
 
 " August 28th. — Translated into English eight 
 maxims of Kochefoucault, beginning with the 85th, 
 and translated six back into French, from the 7th, 
 — very clumsy at both. As a preparation for French 
 composition, I rather think it will be necessary to 
 transcribe for some time : I began to write over 
 the seventh book in the second volume of Bailly's 
 ' History of Modern Astronomy.' I do not lay the 
 book exactly before me, which would make the exer- 
 cise nothing at all, but at some distance, in order that 
 I may carry a whole sentence in my head at once, 
 and write it down as it were by rote. 
 
 " In the afternoon, I employed my thoughts on the 
 best plan of studying history — ran over Bolingbroke 
 on this subject. As I am about to enter on a course 
 of historical and political reading, and am ambi- 
 tious of studying those important subjects, not in an 
 irregular miscellaneous manner, but with an attention 
 
 g 4
 
 88 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. to general principles, and a serious attempt to sys- 
 JEt. 22. tematise the knowledge which I may be able to amass, 
 it is of some importance, as conducive to that end, to 
 form a distinct view of the objects I mean to pursue. 
 At present, I am sensible it would be no easy matter 
 for me to state to my own mind a distinct conception 
 of those objects ; but by endeavouring to arrange 
 such floating ideas as are already in my head, it will 
 be more easy for me to correct and to expand those 
 ideas, as I make some progress in my investigations. 
 Before I enter therefore upon these inquiries, I shall 
 .endeavour to form as accurate a notion as I am fit to 
 form of the proper objects of history, of the best 
 mode of studying it, and of the manner in which it 
 should be combined with the elements of political 
 philosophy, in order that each may throw light and 
 strength on the other. 
 
 " I imagine the events of history might, with conve- 
 nience, be divided into two classes; viz. general and 
 particular — not that I mean, by the word general, any 
 allusion to a classification into genus and species, but 
 as such events as are not single, but made up of a 
 number of particular occurrences, which altogether 
 have such a relation and connection that they appear 
 one great transaction. The American, or English, or 
 French revolutions are what may be called general 
 events ; the reformation also, the revival of Letters, 
 the irruption of the northern barbarians. 
 
 " Mr. Hume has observed, and I believe with great 
 truth, that it is of such general events alone of which 
 we can attempt, philosophically, to investigate the 
 causes; particular events depending on such compli- 
 cated combinations of minute causes as we are quite 
 unable to develope, and which we therefore deno- 
 minate chance or accident.
 
 JOURNAL 89 
 
 " The effect of particular events, however, it may 1799. 
 frequently be interesting and useful to trace in the ^ T . 2 2. 
 course of historical inquiries. But, upon the whole, 
 the consequences of any general event present a 
 wider and more noble field of investigation. 
 
 " But I do not mean to affirm that the causes even 
 of particular events are entirely to be overlooked ; all 
 speculations with respect to them may probably be 
 resolved into the study of individual characters — 
 and a most attractive study that will ever be found. 
 Some authors, Tacitus and Davila especially, and 
 perhaps De Retz, excel in this line of writing ; they 
 have been accused of refining too much sometimes; 
 an error indeed which it must be extremely difficult 
 to avoid. I must leave it among my desiderata upon 
 subject, to settle the rules that ought to be attended 
 to here, in order to reach the proper medium. 
 
 " With respect to the investigation of general 
 events, Allen made an excellent observation to me this 
 forenoon, when I was mentioning to him my plans of 
 historical reading ; he proposed to divide history into 
 its general events, and, before studying, tout de suite, 
 the annals of the world in chronological order, to take 
 those great events, one after the other, and investi- 
 gate their several causes and various consequences. I 
 rather think this would be the best species of histori- 
 cal reading that I could possibly carry on, along with 
 my political inquiries. I shall attempt to enumerate 
 some of them : — 
 
 " 1. The Feudal System; its rise, fall, consequences, 
 and what the permanence of those consequences. 
 
 "2. The Revival of Letters — prosecuting the his- 
 tory of European literature. 
 
 "3. The Reformation — consequences upon science, 
 letters, taste, politics, &c.
 
 90 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. " 4. The French Revolution. 
 
 iEx 22 "5. The Discovery of America. 
 
 "6. The Influence of the commercial spirit on po- 
 litics, letters, and manners of Europe. 
 
 "7. The Rise and Establishment of Christianity, 
 and of Mahometanism. 
 
 " 8. The Age of Lewis XIV. 
 
 " In order to assist me in the prosecution of these 
 reflections, and to form proper notions on the true 
 spirit of historical reading, I shall consult Boling- 
 broke and Chesterfield ; and extract from them what 
 I find most worthy of notice. ' History is Philosophy 
 teaching by examples.' 
 
 " The plan I propose for the occupation of the en- 
 suing two months is, all the morning to study history 
 and politics ; and, in the afternoon, rhetoric and com- 
 position : I shall begin with Smith's Wealth of Na- 
 tions, next Voltaire's Histoire Generale, and then 
 L 'Esprit des Loix. My studies in rhetoric should 
 consist chiefly of actual composition, and an attentive 
 study of a few of only the best models. 
 
 " October 29th. — My two English friends, the Rev. 
 Sydney Smith and Lord Webb Seymour, are again 
 come to Edinburgh for the winter; and I promise 
 myself much pleasure and much instruction from 
 their conversation. I shall perhaps improve my 
 powers of argumentative dexterity, which are still 
 very low; and, at any rate, I cannot but learn can- 
 dour, liberality, and a thirst for accurate opinions and 
 general information, from men who possess in so re- 
 markable a degree these valuable dispositions. 
 
 " November 1st. — Read a little of Millar on Govern- 
 ment, in the chapter on the alterations in the courts of 
 justice, during the reign of Edward I. Much of the
 
 JOURNAL. 91 
 
 information new to me, with respect to the distribution 1799. 
 of the English courts; made an acquisition of two j Et 22 
 general principles which I think accurate, viz. the 
 constant progress of the line of distinction between 
 equity and strict law, and the historical origin of the 
 distinction between civil and criminal law. I am not 
 at all satisfied with Millar's account of the circum- 
 stances that prevented the Roman law from being so 
 much incorporated with the jurisprudence of England, 
 as with that of other European countries : the jealousy 
 which, at so early a period, was spread through England 
 against the extension of ecclesiastical power, is a cir- 
 cumstance which he wholly overlooks, though it is 
 sufficient perhaps to account for the fact. 
 
 " November 2d. — I commenced the study of Scotch 
 Law, and read Erskine's chapter on Jurisdiction. 
 Hume's class opens on the 15th instant, so that I have 
 got a fortnight before him, a start which I should like 
 to keep up in the way of reading, while I go along 
 with him in the notes. 
 
 " November M. — Read two chapters in Erskine's 
 Institute, on the Judges and Courts of Scotland. 
 
 " I this day resumed, Avith Seymour, the investigation 
 we attempted last spring into the nature of probable 
 evidence ; taking Hume's Metaphysical Essays, by no 
 means as our text-book or creed, but as furnishing to- 
 pics for our own reflections. Metaphysics I find a most 
 improving exercise; fixing the powers of attention, 
 and sharpening those of apprehension. Metaphysics 
 and history, says Lord Bolingbroke in a very fine 
 passage of his Letters, are the vantage grounds which 
 a lawyer must seize, if he means to make a science of 
 his profession. 
 
 " Nov. 5th. — Went through Erskine's title on Mar-
 
 92 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. riage, and read my notes from Hume on the Consti- 
 jEt 22. tution of Marriage. 
 
 " The difficulty of studying law consists in that 
 of filling the memory with an infinite multitude of 
 precepts that appear unconnected. Under each title, 
 I must strive to catch the general principles on 
 which particular ordinances depend; being aware, at 
 the same time, of the danger of an excessive simpli- 
 fication, or of arranging laws under a general prin- 
 ciple, which cannot, but by an arbitrary fiction, be 
 made to comprehend them. A remarkable instance 
 of this occurs in the very title I am studying at 
 present: the most general principle with respect to 
 what the law of Scotland requires as necessary to 
 constitute marriage, is the consent de prcesenti ; at 
 the same time it admits consent defuturo, provided 
 subsequatur copula. Now, Lord Stair endeavours to 
 reduce this case to the general principle, as if consent 
 de prcesenti were implied in the copula, in which he 
 has evidently sacrificed rational arrangement to ex- 
 cessive anxiety for systematic coherence and sim- 
 plicity. 
 
 " By studying law upon this plan of arranging it in 
 my head under general principles, I shall secure the 
 assistance of an artificial memory ; I shall place myself 
 in the path to become something more than he whom 
 Cicero describes as a ' leguleius quidem cautus, et 
 acutus prceco actionum, cantor formularum, auceps 
 syllaharum; ' and I shall probably preserve my mind 
 in that proper tone and exercise, Avhich is necessary 
 for the prosecution of scientific improvement. There 
 is a passage in Stewart's ' Philosophy of the Human 
 Mind,' which, for some years past, T have been unable 
 to read without mingled emotions of ambition and 
 despair: — ' One great use of philosophy is to give
 
 JOURNAL. 93 
 
 us an extensive command of particular truths, by 1799. 
 furnishing us with general principles, under which ^ T 2 2. 
 a number of such truths is comprehended. A 
 person in whose mind casual associations of time 
 and place make a lasting impression, has not the 
 same inducements to philosophise, with others who 
 connect facts together, chiefly by the relations of 
 cause and effect, or of premises and conclusion. I 
 have heard it observed, that those men who have 
 risen to the greatest eminence in the profession of 
 law, have been in general such as had, at first, an 
 aversion to the study. The reason probably is, that 
 to a mind fond of general principles, every study 
 must be at first disgusting, which presents to it 
 a chaos of facts apparently unconnected with each 
 other. But this love of arrangement, if united with 
 persevering industry, will at last conquer every 
 difficulty ; will introduce order into what seemed, on 
 a superficial view, a mass of confusion, and reduce 
 the dry and uninteresting detail of positive statutes 
 into a system comparatively luminous and beau- 
 tiful: p. 469.* 
 
 u Nov. 25th. — My time is at present pretty uni- 
 formly employed, but as yet I have had no severe 
 study. I go on as usual with my law notes, and 
 augur well of my regularity. . 
 
 " At the Speculative Society I spoke twice this 
 evening f, and both times without any premeditation. 
 I feel a considerable command of language with regard 
 to fluency, but very little command indeed with re- 
 gard to selection. How is this judgment and taste to 
 be acquired? Is there any other exercise beside 
 composition ? I mean to practise myself in replying ; 
 
 * First volume, first edition, quarto, 1792. 
 
 t The subject of debate was, " Ought the laws against treason to ex- 
 tend to the forfeiture of estates ? " — Ed.
 
 94 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. and I think it will be a good plan to confine myself 
 iE T . 22. at first to one antagonist, Copland, for instance, and 
 to study most accurately his peculiar style of speaking, 
 his habits of association both in point of illustration 
 and argument, and the most successful plan of en- 
 countering him. Then I shall proceed to another, 
 and sometimes venture to give a reply at once to 
 both. The first thing essential to the faculty of 
 making a successful reply, is a strong and undivided 
 attention to the speech which we propose to dissect. 
 
 " Dec. 3. — Lord Webb Seymour has communicated 
 to me a plan, which his brother the Duke has for 
 some time past been attending to, of forming a Phi- 
 lological Society, ultimately with a view to the inven- 
 tion of a real character. Marsden, Layton, Boucher, 
 and some other philologists, have already been spoken 
 to. I this day read some letters which Seymour put 
 into my hands, and which he has received from his 
 brother, containing a developement of his plan. The 
 perusal of them exceeded the expectations I had con- 
 ceived with respect to the metaphysical speculations 
 of the Duke ; and he seems to have formed a pretty 
 correct, as well as comprehensive, idea of the object to 
 be attended to in the composition of a real character. 
 The project is a grand one; and though it may not, 
 for a long course of time, be completely successful, 
 much subordinate advantage may, in the mean time, 
 result from the prosecution of it. It has awakened 
 (why do I suffer myself to be distracted) some of 
 those speculations in which I indulged myself about 
 five or six years ago, on the subject of Philosophical 
 Grammar ; and I should like to prosecute some of the 
 interesting topics which at that time I started to 
 myself. The metaphysics of grammar, and the phi- 
 losophical investigation of the intellectual instrument-
 
 JOURNAL. 95 
 
 ality of language, are subjects which I shall keep 1799. 
 floating within sight ; in case a line of inquiry should ^ T> 22. 
 present itself, I shall most probably attempt to follow 
 it out. 
 
 " In the evening I was at the Speculative Society : 
 the question was, ' Can knowledge be too much 
 disseminated among the lower ranks of the people?' 
 In pursuance of my plan, I laid myself out to reply 
 to Copland, who made a speech abounding with 
 information and ingenious argumentation on the 
 affirmative side; I succeeded tolerably well in cri- 
 ticising his arguments. I mention in what I was 
 satisfied, in order that I may distinguish more accu- 
 rately in what respect I failed. In replying to Cop- 
 land, I forgot the main object of the question; all 
 Copland's arguments tended to conclude, that the 
 diffusion of knowledge ought to be altogether shut 
 up from the lower classes ; whereas the question sup- 
 poses the contrary of this, and demands whether 
 there is not a maximum beyond which the diffusion 
 ought not to be carried. After clearing away Cop- 
 land's arguments, I ought to have come to this pro- 
 position ; the proof of the negative of which would only 
 turn upon an enforcement of the same principles, 
 by which it is shown that the diffusion ought not 
 to be altogether prevented. To prevent this in fu- 
 ture, it may be a very good precaution, always to 
 consider the terms of the question, after I have ar- 
 ranged my ideas, and am preparing to speak, and to 
 examine whether in what I have arranged I do not miss 
 the real point to be determined. The other omission 
 consisted in not enforcing more strongly, and illus- 
 trating more clearly than I did, an idea which broke 
 in upon me during the course of my argument, and 
 which I fancy might admit of a successful prosecution ;
 
 9(3 JOURNAL. 
 
 1799. viz. that with respect to diffusion among the com- 
 ?Kt 2-> munity at large, knowledge may be considered in the 
 light of a commodity, prepared by a separate pro- 
 fession, and consumed or enjoyed by the community 
 as a luxury. I have only to remark another particular ; 
 I thought it prudent to take notes of Copland's argu- 
 ments, and, in speaking, I found it necessary to have 
 frequent recourse to them. I must get the better of 
 this, which is attended with a very awkward effect. 
 I must try to invigorate my powers of attention, and 
 by artifices of arrangement to strengthen my recol- 
 lection of details. With respect to language, I some- 
 times feel an absence of strong and eligible expres- 
 sions; but I have attained a greater fluency than I 
 ever expected. This however is the lowest attain- 
 ment in the art. By the habitual study of the best 
 writers, particularly the poets, I must store my ima- 
 gination with the elegancies of expression, and ac- 
 quire such a habit that my thoughts will naturally 
 present themselves to me clothed in the most per- 
 spicuous and the purest language. 
 
 " Dec. 8th. — A day of metaphysical labour with Sey- 
 mour. We again took up Robison, but read only one 
 sentence of two lines and a half ; for we were imme- 
 diately carried off into quite a different track. Our 
 speculations related to the proper definition of Ana- 
 log!/, and to an arrangement of the different species of 
 argument and the different processes of reasoning, 
 which pass under the denomination of analogical. 
 Should I ever succeed in my prospects of a work on 
 the General Principles of Philosophical Investigation, 
 I shall be much indebted to these exercises with Lord 
 Webb; if not for principles ascertained, at least for 
 the discipline to which I am inured. 
 
 " Dec. 1 Wi. — This day being appointed for the funeral
 
 JOURNAL. 97 
 
 of the great Black* (whose death a few days ago was 1799. 
 such as may be considered the true recompense of a ^ T . 2 2. 
 philosophical life), and there being consequently no 
 business at college, I employed myself in drawing up 
 my paper on Disposing Affinity, which I read at the 
 Academy in the evening. 
 
 " Dec. %lst. — Since the 20th, I have been very re- 
 gularly employed. I have got on wonderfully with my 
 law notes, but have done very little as to real acqui- 
 sition of knoAvledge, except dabbling a little in che- 
 mical papers. Yet I flatter myself that I am gradu- 
 ally creeping into a systematic disposition of my time, 
 and more regular habits of application, than I have for 
 some time past been accustomed to. The greater part 
 of the day I give exclusively to Scots law, hitherto 
 with many exceptions no doubt, but such temptations 
 I hope in time to get the better of. Chemistry I only 
 read before breakfast ; and as the days are now length- 
 ening, I trust my measure of philosophical reading 
 will receive a proportional augmentation. The even- 
 ings are given to general reading; I should wish to 
 confine them to style and the perusal of models of 
 eloquence. I have been delighting myself with some 
 of Cicero's Rhetorical Dissertations ; which swell one's 
 imagination and ambition towards the conception of 
 that aliquid immensum et infinitum, which he paints 
 with such enthusiasm. I wish to study upon general 
 principles the plan of intellectual education ; for every 
 man must educate himself, as I am now beginning to 
 be sensible. This education consists in the formation 
 of habits ; for which two previous questions are neces- 
 sary, the choice of the habits, and the mode after 
 
 Dr. Joseph Black, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edin- 
 h. — Ed. 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
 burgh. — Ed
 
 98 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1799. which they are to be acquired. In order to simplify 
 2Et 2Q this important task, I have confined my reflections at 
 first to one habit alone, the arrangement of time : 
 but as I have not yet matured my ideas on the sub- 
 ject, and as I am still farther from having reduced any 
 of those ideas into practice, I must defer taking any 
 farther notice of this at present. At the end of the 
 year I should like to take a retrospect ; and consider, 
 as far as they may still be brought together, the 
 improvements, or at least the changes, of character 
 which I have undergone. But I must refer this to 
 the first vacant dav. 
 
 " I was more idle to-day, as to Scots law, than I 
 have been for a fortnight past : an experiment in 
 chemistry led me astray, sinner that I am ! 
 
 " In the evening I read the Eloge of Haller in the 
 Memoirs of the French Academy, written, I suppose, 
 by Condorcet ; at any rate, by the hand of a master. 
 Of all the species of writing, literary biography is to 
 me the most delightful. I never rise from an account 
 of such men as Haller without a sort of thrilling pal- 
 pitation about me, which I know not whether I should 
 call admiration, ambition, or despair." 
 
 Letter XXH. TO MR. WILLIAM ERSKINE *, DUNSE, 
 BERWICKSHIRE. 
 
 Dear Sir York Place, 23d January, 1800. 
 
 I have been desirous of writing to you, since 
 I first heard you had left Edinburgh; but, till the 
 
 * In the spring of 1804, Mr. Erskine accompanied Sir James Mackin- 
 tosh to India ; and, on the formation of the Literary Society of Bombay, 
 in November of that year, he was chosen as their secretary. He is the 
 author of several valuable papers in the Transactions of that society, and 
 translated the " Memoirs of the Emperor Baber," published in 1826. Of
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 99 
 
 present opportunity, I have never succeeded in catch- isoo. 
 ing a single hour to employ so agreeably. I cannot ^ T _ 22. 
 make a parade of professions, but believe me no one 
 felt more sincere regret when I was informed of your 
 departure from this place, nor feels now more solici- 
 tude for the success of the choice which you have 
 adopted. A great town I believe is the true scene for 
 a man of letters, but I know likewise that inde- 
 pendence ought to be the first object of our arrange- 
 ments for life, and that the passion for literature 
 ought only to be gratified in the second place. At 
 the same time you are not at so great a distance from 
 us as to be deprived of the chief advantages which a 
 metropolis affords, with respect to the encouragement 
 of literary pursuits ; and I hope you will not allow 
 the distance to prevent your participation in the 
 greatest of all those advantages, the free communica- 
 tion among those who are engaged in similar studies. 
 Reddie *, Brown f , and I have lately projected a 
 translation of the political and philosophical writings 
 of Turgot, and we are anxious to engage you in the 
 undertaking. There is no collection of those valuable 
 dissertations even in the original language, and one 
 
 the merits of the latter work, the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, in his 
 " History of India," thus speaks : — " Almost all that has been said of 
 Baber has been drawn from Mr. Erskine's admirable translation of his 
 Memoirs from the Turki. The notes and supplements which accompany 
 that work remove the obscurities which, without such assistance, would 
 beset us in every page ; and the preliminary dissertation gives a complete 
 view of the state of Asia in Baber's time, and contains the best account of 
 the geography of the countries which were the scene of his exploits, and 
 the clearest exposition of the divisions of the Tartar nations. The trans- 
 lation seems to have imbibed the very spirit of the original. The style is 
 singularly happy, strikingly characteristic, though perfectly natural, and 
 equally remote from the usual inflated language of the East, and from 
 the imitation of scriptural simplicity into which other translators of 
 similar works have fallen." (Vol. ii. p. 121.) — Ed. 
 
 * James Reddie, Esq. See note, page 21. 
 
 f Dr. Thomas Brown, afterwards the successor of Dugald Stewart in 
 the chair of Moral Philosophy. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1800. only has hitherto appeared in English, so that the 
 jEt.22. plan is a very promising one. Redclie, as you might 
 guess, insists that his share in the execution should 
 be kept a secret; Brown and Jeffrey make no objec- 
 tion of any kind; and Murray and Lord W. Sey- 
 mour are both desirous to have a portion of the task 
 allotted them. By means of this subdivision, I think 
 it may be accomplished without toil to any one. I 
 have written to a London bookseller (Johnson), to have 
 his commercial opinion of the project. The works of 
 Turgot which we have collected are, his letters on 
 the corn laws, on provincial administrations, on the 
 interest of money, on toleration, on the police of 
 the administration of mines, on the iron manufactory, 
 his outlines of the theory of national wealth, five 
 articles in the Encyclopedie, and a short letter on the 
 poetry of savage nations : some others may perhaps 
 be found by a more diligent search, but these alone 
 would make a valuable present to the public ; their 
 contents are at once so important and so unknown. 
 We think it would be proper, too, to include a new 
 translation of Condorcet's biographical account, with 
 extracts from the more detailed memoirs of Dupuy. 
 That the translation might do us credit, and not be a 
 mere job, it is proposed that each of us should not 
 only subject his own translation to the criticism of 
 the rest, but also undertake to revise that of his 
 associates. 
 
 Professor Stewart has lately begun a course of 
 lectures on Political Economy ; and though his plan is 
 not quite so comprehensive as he proposes to render 
 it next winter, yet I promise myself great instruction ; 
 and I hope he will at least have the influence to make 
 this captivating science more popular than it has been 
 for some time past, and that he will render us familiar 
 with those liberal enlarged views which he forms
 
 JOURNAL. 201 
 
 upon sciences. Hitherto he has been occujried with isoo. 
 preliminary disquisitions on the history of the science, 7£r Q0 
 and the best mode of prosecuting its inquiries. We 
 had an admirable lecture on Godwin's system ; in the 
 discussion of which Stewart displayed, with his usual 
 eloquence, more than usual acuteness ; at least it was 
 quite a new view of that system to me, to consider it 
 as a reductio ad absurdum of Hutcheson's principle of 
 universal benevolence. If you are willing to enter 
 into a correspondence, I shall be very happy to give 
 you an account of Stewart's speculations, as well 
 as such other literary news as may occur from time 
 to time. 
 
 I am ever sincerely yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " Feb. 2d. — Plan. — I have long been 
 feeding my ambition with the prospect of accom- 
 plishing, at some future period of my life, a work 
 similar to that which Sir Francis Bacon executed 
 almost two hundred years ago. It will depend upon 
 the success and the turn of my speculations, whether 
 they shall be thrown into the form of a discursive 
 commentary on the ' Instauratio Magna ' of that 
 illustrious author, or shall be entitled to an original 
 form, under the title of a ' View of the Limits of 
 Human Knowledge, and a System of the Principles of 
 Philosophical Inquiry.' 
 
 " I shall say nothing at present of the audacity of 
 such ambition. No presumption is culpable, while it 
 only stimulates to great undertakings; it becomes 
 excessive when it appears ridiculous by the inadequacy 
 of what is performed, when contrasted with what is 
 attempted. If I have vanity enough to think myself — 
 
 H 3
 
 102 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. I do not say equal to such a scheme, but capable of 
 iEx 22. rendering myself equal to it, I trust I shall retain 
 pride and discretion enough to be conscious all along 
 how far my acquisitions are adequate to my aims. 
 
 " The chief difficulties I shall have to encounter, 
 arise from the vast extent of the plan itself, from the 
 necessity of making it but a secondary object during 
 the greater part of my life, and from my natural 
 indolence and versatility. To the proper remedy of 
 these evils, and the proper counterpoise of these 
 obstacles, I must pay a solicitous and persevering 
 attention ; above all, to the most effectual means of 
 economising intellectual labour, and of methodising 
 the distribution of time. But I do not mean to enter 
 upon these details at present. My object in com- 
 mitting myself to paper upon this occasion is very 
 different. In order to reduce my views within the 
 span of probable longevity, I must look forward with 
 courage, but at the same time with discretion and 
 prudence, to the quantum of science which it is prac- 
 ticable for me to attain, in compatibility with my 
 professional pursuits, within the next twenty years. 
 It is proper for me to know how much I should aspire 
 to, and then to arrange the order of my journey. At 
 present, I am of all men that pretend to be informed 
 the most superficial: I have dabbled in languages, 
 mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, metaphysics, the 
 fine arts, even physiology and physiognomy: on all 
 of them I can talk very fluently before the ignorant, 
 but on none of them am I profoundly, or even accu- 
 rately, informed, or capable of thinking for myself, 
 either with originality or with precision. I see there- 
 fore what yet remains to be done, viz. to take up one 
 science after another, and work doggedly through its 
 details; to content myself, as far as vanity is con-
 
 JOURNAL. 2.03 
 
 cerned, with the reputation, which every superficial isoo. 
 man acquires, of being a profound savant on those ^ T 22 
 subjects on which I still remain superficial; and, as far 
 as ambition is concerned, to content myself with the 
 consciousness that my claim to real information and 
 science will be progressively augmenting. 
 
 " Before I enter upon this course, I am not sure but 
 it may be advisable to extend my surface a little far- 
 ther; that is, previous to the particular investigation 
 of any one science through its details, to make myself 
 master of the elements merely of all the different 
 sciences. This idea I adopt, not merely from a con- 
 viction, that it is in early life that elements are most 
 easily acquired; but likewise from its appearing to 
 suit more happily, than any other plan, the project I 
 have in view as the end of all my labours. For by 
 thus embracing an elementary view of all the sciences, 
 I shall obtain probably, in the same proportion, an 
 elementary and imperfect conception of that Prima 
 Philosophia which I mean to extract from my 
 studies. 
 
 " So much am I convinced of the propriety of keeping 
 my final object always in sight, and of making refer- 
 ences to it in every state of my advancement, that 
 I intend to attempt even at present, in the crude state 
 of my elementary knowledge, a sketch of my ultimate 
 plan. It will be the scrawl of a child, who has for 
 the first time laid his hands on a pencil; without 
 proportion, without transition, without mind, without 
 shading, without perspective, almost without form. 
 
 " Sketch, fyc. — 1. It will probably be long ere I 
 can decide, whether the best plan is to throw the 
 ' view of the object of science,' and the ' system 
 of logic,' into two separate treatises, as Bacon has 
 done, or to combine them into one great regular 
 
 h 4
 
 104 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. structure. At present I am disposed to prefer the 
 iBr.22. latter idea; but I am still ignorant whether Bacon 
 explains his reasons for adopting the other. 
 
 " 2. Philosophy is the knowledge of those numerous 
 existents or beings that compose the universe, and of 
 those various events which compose the phenomena 
 of the universe. The rules and method of philoso- 
 phical investigation are directed to the means of ac- 
 quiring and of preserving this knowledge with the 
 greatest accuracy, security, and facility. A know- 
 ledge of the beings that compose the universe seems 
 to consist in a proper classification of them ; and con- 
 stitutes Natural History. Such classifications appear 
 at first sight to be nothing more than artificial assist- 
 ances to memory : if they are nothing else, it remains 
 to inquire, upon what general principles such classi- 
 fications should be constructed, so as most effectually 
 to answer the purpose which they are intended to 
 serve. This discussion, however, belongs to another 
 part of the arrangement; here we have only to de- 
 termine how far the knowledge of existents lies in 
 classification, and how far the utility of classification 
 consists in aiding the memory. 
 
 " A knowledge of the events which compose the 
 phenomena of the universe consists also in a classi- 
 fication of those events; in other words, in the re- 
 duction of them to general facts or events, which are 
 commonly but improperly called general laws. There 
 appears to be some essential and fundamental dis- 
 tinctions between this classification and the former, 
 though I cannot yet point out on what it depends." 
 
 Note by Mr. Horner on the margin of this page of 
 his Journal, dated the 12th of July " The an-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. X05 
 
 nexed plan fell into my hands* among other isoo. 
 scrawls, and I looked at it as if it had fallen ^ T 2 2. 
 from heaven. I have an indistinct recollec- 
 tion, however, of having written this dream one 
 rainy afternoon, when I dreamt of a resolu- 
 tion to be a great man. — ' Parce, puer, stimulis, 
 &c. '" 
 
 Letter XXIII. TO THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 
 My Lord, Edinburgh, 14th February, 1800. 
 
 I have been prevented by indisposition from 
 acknowledging the letter with which you lately 
 honoured me, and in which you communicate to me 
 some idea of your views with respect to the improve- 
 ment of language. .No piece of literary intelligence 
 ever gave me more pleasure than I received when 
 Lord Webb first informed me that such views were 
 afloat. For though I have long been satisfied that the 
 invention of a real character is practicable, yet I had 
 almost despaired of witnessing the attempt ; the diffi- 
 culties which surround the undertaking are so for- 
 midable, and so repulsive to the prevailing taste. 
 Those difficulties, indeed, may safely be pronounced 
 insurmountable by individual exertion ; though to 
 associated talents and combined industry they present 
 a field, extensive indeed, but by no means unbounded, 
 and promising in the highest degree. 
 
 The foundation of the great fabric must unques- 
 tionably be laid in metaphysics; or, to abandon so 
 alarming a phrase, in that science which teaches us to 
 analyse the operations of the understanding, and to 
 
 * This " Plan" was written on a separate paper, and is stitched into 
 the Journal. — Ed.
 
 106 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1800. resolve complex ideas into their simple elements. 
 iEx# 2 2. For the advantage of a real character would consist 
 in representing our ideas by signs, which, freed from 
 the indistinct associations that perplex the terms of 
 ordinary language, would suggest simple ideas in their 
 simple state, and express compound ideas by an accu- 
 rate picture of their real composition. It would be 
 ineffectual, therefore, to attempt to construct the 
 signs, unless we had ascertained with precision the 
 ideas to which they shall correspond. 
 
 But, in my opinion, the invention of the signs, and 
 the analysis of the ideas which they are to represent, 
 are researches that coincide, and ought to be carried on 
 together. On the one hand, we cannot with propriety 
 set ourselves to affix signs, but in proportion as we ad- 
 vance in resolving the principles of human knowledge 
 into their elements ; otherwise, our real character would 
 not be a philosophical language. On the other hand, 
 (whatever theory we adopt with regard to the nature 
 of general and abstract ideas), it can scarcely be 
 doubted, that our success in analysing the principles 
 of knowledge will be partial and insecure, so long as 
 we have not a philosophical language at hand, in 
 which we may record the results that we obtain. 
 
 As to the coincidence, however, or at least very 
 intimate connection, of those two researches, my opi- 
 nion is principally derived from a theory on which 
 the best metaphysicians of modern Europe are agreed ; 
 and, according to which, Language is not only instru- 
 mental in the communication of sentiments, but like- 
 wise in the solitary intellectual processes of reasoning 
 and reflection. Your Grace must be well acquainted, 
 I presume, with the arguments on which that theory 
 is founded; for it furnishes the most satisfactory 
 illustration of the necessity as well as practicability
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 107 
 
 of a real character. And, if I am not much mistaken, isoo. 
 the farther elucidation of that principle might, in a j^t. 22. 
 great degree, facilitate the execution of the project. 
 For, though the general fact appears sufficiently as- 
 certained by the evidence which Berkeley and Con- 
 dillac have adduced, yet its effects on the intellectual 
 economy have not been investigated with that minute- 
 ness which the importance of the subject demands. It 
 would probably throw much light on the best scheme 
 of a philosophical language, were we enabled to trace 
 the steps by which the mind proceeds in the invention 
 and use of artificial signs, the manner in which they 
 enter into the processes of intellectual exertion, and 
 the influence which different systems of signs (I mean 
 different in point of brevity and precision, as well as 
 in the fundamental principles of their structure) may 
 have upon the habits and perhaps the capacity of the 
 understanding : beside a variety of other topics, that 
 might be easily enumerated. These present a very 
 interesting field of inquiry, which, so far as I know, 
 has not yet been explored. 
 
 If your Grace is of opinion, that these speculations 
 bear any affinity to the great object which you have 
 in view, I shall with great pleasure communicate 
 whatever ideas may hereafter occur to me, in the 
 course of my metaphysical studies. As I cannot pre- 
 tend, however, to any thing but a consciousness of 
 my ignorance in these matters, and an anxiety to re- 
 move that ignorance, I trust you will always receive 
 my remarks as nothing else than hints and invitations 
 to discussion. Your condescension in writing to me 
 upon the subject, encourages me to believe that mu- 
 tual and free discussion was what you intended. I 
 shall therefore make no apology for the metaphysical 
 aspect of the present letter ; into which I have been
 
 108 „ CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1 betrayed, by your compliment to Scotland for her at- 
 
 - ZEt - 22 - tachment to a science as unalluring, it is usually 
 conceived, as her own soil and climate. That com- 
 pliment, my Lord, I swallowed with the more exqui- 
 site relish, under recollection of the mortification 
 which I have often experienced in England, on account 
 of the same national peculiarity. The unpopularity 
 of metaphysics in England has retarded very much 
 the general progress of the science. For we can 
 scarcely preserve ourselves in Scotland from falling 
 into a sort of sect, and yielding of course to the un- 
 philosophical spirit of sectaries, sometimes perhaps 
 to the still more unphilosophical temper of persecuted 
 sectaries. In our moments of candour, however, we 
 cannot fail to recollect, that whatever the case may 
 be at present, the light of rational metaphysics first 
 broke upon us from England, the venerable source of 
 all our learning, and all our improvement. You can 
 put no author in competition with Hume, for im- 
 portance of metaphysical research and admirable 
 perspicuity of metaphysical language; but his is the 
 single name we can oppose to those of Locke and 
 Berkeley. At the same time, it must be confessed, 
 that the name of the latter illustrious man is almost 
 forgotten in England ; and a sound national Scotsman, 
 priding himself sincerely on his admiration of Locke, 
 might insinuate, perhaps with plausibility, that even 
 that philosopher owes the reputation he enjoys among 
 his countrymen more to his Whig pamphlets than to 
 his " Essay on Human Understanding." 
 
 I have the honour to be 
 Your Grace's most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 JOURNAL. 109 
 
 Journal. " March 26th. — In a fortnight it will be isoo. 
 my turn to read a paper at the Speculative Society, ^ Et _ 2 2. 
 for the subject of which I have chosen ' the Circulation 
 of Money.' This forenoon I endeavoured to medi- 
 tate, and made out a few queries; all I can hope to 
 do for some days to come. I find the circulation of 
 money a very dark subject, though a few gleams of 
 light have struck me. 
 
 " April 8th. — The circulation of money I found a 
 subject of too great difficulty; and what Smith and 
 others have written on it too controvertible to allow 
 me to draw up a paper on it within so short a time. 
 After running myself within four days of this date, I 
 have been forced to change the subject of my paper 
 for the Speculative ; and I read this evening some re- 
 marks on the influence of a great commercial metro- 
 polis on the prosperity of the state. I had often 
 made this a topic of reflection ; so that I had little to 
 do but putting together. I rather congratulate my- 
 self that I wrote above one half of the disquisition at 
 one sitting this forenoon, and that I read the whole 
 of it from the first draught, without being reduced, 
 as formerly, to the sad task of copying. I must now 
 apply with unremitting diligence to Scots law, as I 
 mean to pass my trials in the course of two months. 
 
 " April 18th. — Four hours in the forenoon on the 
 subjects of Tack and Wadset; refreshed myself before 
 dinner with a few chapters of Livy. In the afternoon 
 Brougham * and I went over the title in Erskine's 
 Principles, 'Of the Vassal's Right;' and in the even- 
 ing I was at Stewart's lecture, in which he gave an 
 account of the poor laws of England and Scotland. 
 
 " May 8th. — This was a rambling sort of day. In 
 the morning, instead of my regular allotted portion of 
 
 * They met at this time regularly, to study Scots law together. — Ed.
 
 HO JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. Scots law, I studied the circumstances of a case 
 j EiT 22. which Murray put into my hands, relating to testa- 
 mentary succession. Brougham came to grind, and 
 we had nearly gone through the title of Adjudica- 
 tions, when Lord Webb called, to propose a walk; 
 we set out all three, and had a little chemical chat. 
 In the evening, after lounging about an hour over 
 Bell's Travels, to dispel the drowsiness of rapid diges- 
 tion, I set myself down to Pinto * ; and had worked 
 about a couple of hours, when Brougham came to 
 show me a mathematical communication that had been 
 anonymously sent him from London, in which some 
 criticisms were contained upon his last paper on 
 Porisms. The essay is upon cycloidal curves; and 
 the author affects to have discovered that the prolate 
 and contracted are sufficiently distinct from the ordi- 
 nary cycloid to entitle them to a separate name. Be- 
 fore going to bed, I endeavoured to refresh my memory 
 upon this subject. What a time it is since I tasted 
 the pleasures of mathematical exercise ! 
 
 " May 11th. — Did not read a syllable of Scots 
 law, but lounged all the morning over some com- 
 mercial details, till Brougham called on me, in com- 
 pany with Miller f, who is come to town with a view 
 of passing his trials in civil law. Walked out with 
 my father to dine with Sir Patrick Inglis.| As we 
 went along, I got some valuable commercial informa- 
 tion. Indeed, if I were awake to the opportunities 
 that I daily possess, I might receive from my father 
 a great deal of information in that line ; to an exten- 
 sive experience, he has added the habit of viewing 
 that experience upon enlightened general principles. 
 
 * " On Circulation and Credit," the work of a Portuguese Jew. — Ed. 
 f Son of Mr. Miller of Dalswinton, in Ayrshire, 
 j His father's partner in business. — Ed.
 
 JOURNAL. HI 
 
 " May Vdth. — In the forenoon, studied Scots law for isoo. 
 three hours: got through Poinding, and entered on ^ T 2 -2. 
 the doctrine of Prescription. Lounged with Seymour 
 till dinner-time in the Botanic Garden, Leith Walk; 
 and after dinner lounged, in a different manner, over 
 the first twelve chapters of the fourth book of the 
 Annals of Tacitus. 
 
 " I cannot resist, as I ought to do, the luxurious 
 temptations of a fine evening, especially when I can 
 enjoy it in a solitary walk, and absorb myself in 
 the delirium of meditative romance. All my plans 
 of life have been reviewed this evening, and I have 
 suffered my imagination to pursue, with unrestrained 
 sensibility, the track of future scenes. Such fits of 
 musing may have a decided effect even in realising 
 their own fond anticipations, if I can always guide 
 them to leave upon me this valuable impression ; that 
 my objects must be simplified, my views systematised, 
 my ambition concentrated. 
 
 " May 20th. — In spite of the near approach of my 
 Scots law trials, I read only an hour at Erskine; 
 the day was given up to a chemical debauch. 
 
 " May 2Mh. — Was at the Chemical Society *, where 
 we arranged the business that is to occupy us during 
 the summer. Every thing looks well. This evening 
 Dr. Kennedy performed the beautiful experiment of 
 distilling phosphorus from the vitreous acid. Lord 
 Webb and I attended him through the whole oper- 
 ation. 
 
 " May 2Qth. — Another day of chemical dissipation. 
 Before breakfast went over Fourcroy's chapter upon 
 phosphorus and the phosphoric acid. In the fore- 
 
 * A society recently established — projected, he says in his Journal of 
 the 9th May — by Mr. Brougham, Dr. John Thomson (late Professor of 
 Pathology in the University of Edinburgh), and himself. — Ed.
 
 112 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. noon, had a ramble with Seymour, who went over for 
 t Et 90 my benefit an outline of the Huttonian theory. He 
 chose for the scene of action the whin dyke that 
 crosses the strata of schistus in the bed of the water 
 of Leith. In the afternoon, I met Kennedy and 
 Thomson, and enjoyed a miscellany of chemical con- 
 versation. I went with Kennedy to see the manu- 
 facture of tobacco-pipes, which is a very neat oper- 
 ation. A knowledge of the arts, as they are practised 
 in different parts of the country, is what I am de- 
 sirous to possess on many accounts; but especially 
 the subserviency of such knowledge to the study of 
 political economy. To collect information from work- 
 men is a matter of some address, for they are in 
 general mere machines, and not unfrequently more 
 ignorant, literally speaking, than the tools which they 
 employ. I may gain sufficient practice of this address 
 in the few manufactories that are in the neighbour- 
 hood of this place, to prepare me for more ample 
 opportunities. But I must reflect on the best mode 
 of acquiring this habilete of interrogating the lower 
 orders ; Locke and Franklin are said to have pos- 
 sesssed this power in an eminent degree; the latter 
 acquired it of course spontaneously by his early 
 habits, the former must have made it a matter of 
 study. 
 
 "June 5th. — To-morrow my trials take place ; I have 
 therefore this day taken a laudable fag at Scots law. 
 For two hours before breakfast I read the title of 
 Servitudes ; I went up to the court to visit my ex- 
 aminators, and was detained there till near four by a 
 pleading in Morthland's cause; when I came home I 
 set myself resolutely down, and worked for six and a 
 half hours, till I was fatigued and sick of the subject. 
 Why should I not read at all times with the same
 
 JOURNAL. 113 
 
 vigour of attention, which I have maintained during isoo. 
 these six hours ? l&r~22. 
 
 " June 6th. — Stood my trials, and passed. 
 
 " July 1th 1 had quite forgot my Journal ; my life 
 
 for some weeks past has been pretty uniform. I have 
 to walk the Outer House* every forenoon; which 
 gives me a constant headach, and debilitates me for 
 the remainder of the day. I have had three or four 
 causes to study, which have been my sole occupation 
 in that way : even my favourite chemistry has been 
 neglected till this day. 
 
 "I have been with Seymour and Kennedy to visit the 
 manufactory of steel at Cramond ; we got a tolerable 
 notion of the process, and are to take another view 
 of it next Friday. I hope I shall regularly persevere 
 in my plan of acquiring a knowledge of the various 
 arts and manufactures, on which so much of the 
 prosperity, independence, and happiness of this country 
 depends. The manufacture of iron, in its various stages, 
 presents itself as the most prominent object in such 
 a survey ; iron is not only the soul of every other 
 manufacture, but the main-spring perhaps of civilised 
 society. The study of this, in its various relations, 
 is a most complicated subject, and will require a com- 
 prehensive survey. I shall keep a journal of my pro- 
 gress in this speculation. 
 
 " July 12th. — This day the session closed, and I am 
 delivered from few fees and many headachs. The 
 ensuing four months, though usually a time of idle- 
 ness, I hope to give a good account of; law must be 
 my chief occupation, chemical manufactures my prin- 
 cipal amusement. 
 
 " I have this afternoon paid another visit to the 
 
 * The old Parliament House, the Westminster Hall of Edinburgh. 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. manufactory of steel, and gathered some additional 
 JEt. 22. information. 
 
 " July 11th. — Before breakfast I read part of a me- 
 moir, inserted among those of the Academy for 1786, 
 drawn up by Yandermonde, Berthollet, and Monge, 
 on the manufacture of iron. Between breakfast and 
 dinner, studied the acquisition of property by occu- 
 pancy. The law of Scotland has been too well feu- 
 dalised and regalised, to have much to do with this 
 abstract notion. When Grotius, and of course his 
 followers, talk of the Law of Nature, it is evident 
 that they stagger between the Roman law which 
 they knew too familiarly, and the institutions of 
 savage life, which they had not philosophy enough to 
 understand. Who had, that was born before Montes- 
 quieu? In the afternoon I performed my task, and 
 revised a complete lecture. 
 
 "July 20th. — I have this day for the first time 
 lighted my furnace ; — an era proper to be marked in 
 the annals of my learning, or my folly. A Scots 
 lawyer spending the live-long day in distilling sul- 
 phuric acid ! It is playing a deep game ; but I have 
 thrown the die, and my ambition is staked upon the 
 issue. Without making chemical experiments, it is 
 impossible to understand the details of chemical 
 theory : without making experiments of some kind, it 
 is impossible to study the principles of philosophical 
 inquiry ; and those of chemistry are, perhaps, the most 
 instructive in this point of view; both because they 
 are the most simple, and, at the same time, are sus- 
 ceptible of much variety. Scots law and science are 
 not therefore incompatible because they are seldom 
 joined. Is there any thing in the charms of science 
 that makes it a less fit companion for professional 
 pursuits, than drinking and dissipation? Yet these,
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 115 
 
 I learn from actual observation, are not inconsistent isoo. 
 with high professional eminence. I wish to study ^ T 22 
 law as a science ; and, for this purpose, it is an essen- 
 tial preliminary, to become familiar with the methods 
 and principles of philosophical investigation, as they 
 have been successfully employed in physics, before I 
 can pretend to apply them to jurisprudence. 
 
 " July 22d. — In the forenoon, studied, in Hume's 
 notes and in the decisions quoted by him, the Right 
 of Recovery according to the law of Scotland. How I 
 thirst, after having made myself master of the law of 
 Scotland professionally, to become acquainted, for the 
 purposes of theoretical speculation, with the institu- 
 tions and laws of other countries, on the multifarious 
 relations of private right, wherever those countries 
 may be situated, and whatever form of government 
 or state of society may prevail ! I remember Gibbon 
 has, in one of his volumes, a note upon the erudition 
 of Sir William Jones, which, in the recollection, 
 spreads a glow and pulsation over my whole frame : — 
 ' He was equally acquainted with the Term Reports 
 of Westminster Hall, with the laws of Hindostan, and 
 with the decisions of the Persian Cadhis.' What 
 would Montesquieu have made of such knowledge? 
 Would he have contented his ambition, with attempt- 
 ing to reconcile the philosophers of Europe to the 
 Mosaic Chronology ? 
 
 In the afternoon, I read, or rather devoured, about 
 thirty pages of the Memoir of Vandermonde, Ber- 
 thollet, and Monge, on the different metallic states 
 of iron. It is drawn up with great ability, and some 
 parts of it with the most delicate artifices of chemical 
 reasoning. This was rather a deviation from my 
 plan, which is to read chemistry before breakfast, and 
 to study (for some afternoons at least) the iron 
 
 1 2
 
 jj q JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. manufacture, considered with a view to political 
 /Et. 22. economy : but I had read nothing this morning. This 
 day I may reckon six hours of profitable occupation, 
 without an exertion, however, of all the fixed at- 
 tention of which I am capable. How seldom is it, 
 not above half-a-dozen times a year, that I am roused, 
 either by the interest of my subject, or by the 
 necessity of an effort, to that powerful energy of 
 application, in which the whole soul is brought to 
 one regular persevering train of thought ! Yet this 
 mioht be made a habit of. 
 
 " August Ath. — I have been indulging for some days 
 past in the indolence of miscellaneous reading. Taste 
 and criticism and composition have been uppermost 
 in my thoughts ; and I have devoured half a volume 
 of ' Price on the Picturesque,' and some chapters of 
 Hume's history. The history of Britain, during the 
 eighteenth century, haunts me like a dream ; and I am 
 alternately intoxicated with visions of historic laurels 
 and of forensic eminence. 
 
 " August 5th Still am I loitering. The late trials in 
 
 England for forestalling: and engrossing, are talked of 
 as such a complete refutation of the speculations of 
 theorists on the subject of the corn trade, that I was 
 driven to re-peruse Smith's noble chapter on it ; and I 
 have risen from it once more with the most thorough 
 satisfaction in the profoundness and accuracy of his 
 reasonings. In spite of Lord Kenyon, and the juries 
 who have agreed with him in opinion, regrating is a 
 public benefit; and whenever it is practised with a 
 different intention, or with a different tendency, it 
 provides for itself the most ample and efficacious 
 punishment. 
 
 Beside these reflections, the perusal of this beautiful 
 chapter of Smith, on the Corn Trade, has suggested 
 to me the propriety of studying his work as a model
 
 JOURNAL. 117 
 
 of argumentative composition. I should imagine, isoo. 
 that his style of reasoning, so artificial and yet ^ T 2 2. 
 so perspicuous, so ingeniously minute and yet so 
 broad and comprehensive, "would be admirably adapted 
 to the subjects of law. A treatise of law written in 
 such a manner would be a masterpiece ; nor would it 
 be less suited, I apprehend, even to pleadings at the 
 bar. Spent the evening with Allen. 
 
 " August 1th. — In the evening of yesterday, and 
 this forenoon, I have read a Memoir by Talleyrand 
 on the commercial relations of England and the 
 United States of America. That intriguing politician 
 visited the American republic within these few years ; 
 and though we cannot, under the recollection of the 
 infamous negotiations at Paris, trust him as an im- 
 partial judge of American manners and character, 
 yet this memoir challenges in every page the acknow- 
 ledgment, that he had observed them with a pene- 
 trating eye, and has delineated them with a nervous 
 pencil. It is easy to detach the parade of unnecessary 
 abstractions, with which, like the present French 
 writers of every class, he has thought it necessary to 
 introduce and to close his dissertation ; and it requires 
 no extraordinary vigilance to be aware of the false 
 refinement, by which he endeavours to resolve all the 
 peculiarities of the American character into a single 
 passion: but with this caution, and after this sepa- 
 ration, I have found in the memoir several most im- 
 important views of the commercial relations, the 
 domestic manners, and the national character of the 
 United States. The style is mixed like the sub- 
 stance, but the good predominates greatly: for, 
 independent of some affected conceits, and a few 
 idiomatic in elegancies (if I may presume to judge of 
 such a matter), his composition abounds in excellent 
 
 i 3
 
 118 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. characteristic painting. This Memoir is in Vol. II. 
 Mt 22. ' Sciences Morales et Politiques 1 of the Memoirs of the 
 National Institute. 
 
 " In the evening, studied some pages of Turgot's 
 ' Lettres sur les Grains] with a view to make myself 
 master of this important subject. This has been in 
 some degree a day of study ; yet, as in my late days of 
 idleness, both chemistry and law have been neglected. 
 
 " August 10th. — After reading a little Scots law, 
 I went to sit with Murray, who is confined ; we went 
 over together those fine chapters of Tacitus in which 
 he delineates the death of Britannicus, and the first 
 developement of Nero's savage disposition. 
 
 " Till the heat of the day was over, I indulged 
 my listless imagination with some pages of ' Price 
 on the Picturesque ;' I then took up Turgot's 
 ' Lettres sur les Grains] which I studied with deep 
 attention for above three hours. The admirable 
 views that are opened in every page of this little 
 book, not only on the subject of the corn trade, 
 but with respect to the various relations of political 
 society, must afford me incalculable instruction, if 
 studied throughout with as eager and profound at- 
 tention as I have been able to exert this evening." 
 
 Letter XXIV. TO WILLIAM ERSKLNE, ESQ. 
 Dear Erskine, Edinburgh, 23d September, 1800. 
 
 I am lately returned from the Highlands, 
 which I have been traversing on foot ; and I at length 
 conquer my epistolary laziness, in consequence of a 
 vow which I made to my own mind in some pleasing 
 scene of that romantic country. I am not metaphysician 
 enough to recollect the particular train of ideas by
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 119 
 
 which the blue lakes and the heath-covered moun- isoo. 
 tains conducted my fancy to the remembrance of you, ^ T 2 3. 
 among other absent friends ; but you are enough of 
 a pedestrian to have been taught, by the experience 
 of your own sensations, that the picturesque charms 
 of nature impart an emotion which does not ter- 
 minate in the mere pleasure of the eye; but carries 
 on the mind to every delightful recollection. For 
 myself, indeed, I must own that, in taking these 
 excursions to our native mountains, I am conscious 
 of indulging myself as a sort of voluptuary; for all 
 enthusiasm is surely nothing better than a debauchery 
 of the imagination; and while surrounded with the 
 forms of that wild magnificence, on which I have 
 lately feasted my senses, I feel myself sunk alto- 
 gether in passive impressions, and hurried into every 
 involuntary dream, either of the future or of the 
 past, that the fever of association brings before me. 
 You see I have not even yet lost all symptoms of 
 what would, fashionably, be called morbid excitement. 
 In the progress of my recovery, while I slowly 
 regain the cooler habits of a city life, I have been 
 reflecting whether the practice of travelling in search 
 of picturesque beauty has not arisen of late years, and 
 whether it may not be considered as a new source of 
 beneficial enjoyment. In all ages, the poets have 
 studied natural scenery as the storehouse of their 
 ornaments and imagery ; and in all ages, men of heroic 
 views must have drawn the inspirations of genius 
 amidst the solitude and silent wildness of nature: 
 the same disposition insensibly led Mahomet and Bo- 
 naparte into the same path. But that people of all 
 descriptions should now feel it agreeable from taste, 
 or necessary from fashion, to visit every scene in their 
 native country that is said to be romantic, seems, as 
 
 1 4
 
 [20 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1800. far as I recollect, peculiar to the present age. It is a 
 ^T^ consequence, no doubt, of that increasing luxury 
 which keeps up a constant demand for new gratifi- 
 cations ; but luxury seems here to have taken a di- 
 rection that must be attended, I should imagine, with 
 an important influence on manners, and an influence 
 which I cannot suppose to be disadvantageous. A 
 taste for picturesque beauty must be intimately con- 
 nected with a taste for the productions of poetry as 
 well as painting, and must contribute to diffuse very 
 generally correct principles of judgment ; or at least 
 correct principles of enjoyment, with respect to those 
 arts. It is still more intimately related to another 
 art — that of gardening; which, while the property of 
 this country is in its present state, appears to be a 
 matter of national concern. Were the taste for the 
 beauties of nature less connected with all these arts 
 than it really is, it might still be considered as forming 
 by itself one of the fine arts. How much the cultiva- 
 tion of all these elegant refinements is daily becoming 
 more necessary to this country, we are daily taught 
 by the enormous influx of commercial wealth. It may 
 reasonably be questioned whether, upon the common 
 chances of probability, we can expect the progress of 
 national instruction to go on so rapidly, as to keep 
 down the baleful effects of overgrown commerce, and 
 to repress the growth of that odious character which 
 a nation receives from the combination of opulence and 
 ignorance. Am I too sanguine, or am I even correct, 
 in fancying that some good effects may result from a 
 fashion which carries the Edinburgh citizen to the 
 lakes of Westmoreland, and brings the London citizen 
 to the falls of the Clyde ? In the course of the reli- 
 gious pilgrimages, some few gleanings of information 
 were picked up and brought home. In the course of
 
 JOURNAL. 121 
 
 a picturesque pilgrimage, though undertaken from isoo. 
 fashion merely, some faint rays of elegant and refined ^ T . 23. 
 pleasure may gleam upon the mind, and light up some 
 portion of taste. 
 
 When I began this letter, I had about fifty dif- 
 ferent things to say to you in the way of literary 
 news, and in the way of literary demands ; but I have 
 left room for none of them, and I have harped all 
 along upon one string, and that one which I had no 
 thoughts of striking. But I must write to you just 
 as we should converse, and I have followed the humour 
 of the hour. If you write to me soon, I shall make 
 another attempt to begin that list of fifty topics. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal, " November 1st. — After this long interval 
 in my Journal*, I can onjy state the results of my 
 studies and reflections, according to the general 
 impression which they have left on my memory. 
 I shall therefore extend the review over the whole 
 period of vacation. 
 
 " I cannot say I have been very idle; yet I cannot 
 boast of having studied with much effect ; my appli- 
 cation, as usual, has been irregular and desultory. 
 The ultimate objects I have in view are great, but 
 they are distant; their distance has sometimes the 
 effect of withdrawing them from my sight, and their 
 magnitude occupies so large a portion of the various 
 departments of knowledge, that the most desultory 
 reading finds a plausible excuse in the apparent rela- 
 tion which all sorts of inquiry, how dissimilar soever 
 among themselves, bear ultimately to the investigation 
 which I have in view. 
 
 * From the 18th of August.
 
 122 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. " With respect to Scots Law, I have been shame- 
 
 ^ Et 23 fully negligent. I really know no more of my pro- 
 fession, than a rude conception of the general out- 
 line : I could, with tolerable ease, study any par- 
 ticular case allotted me, but I have not a mass of the 
 details of law accumulated and arranged in my head. 
 During these last two months, I have studied 
 Erskine's three chapters in the fourth book on 
 Actions, Probation, and Sentences ; three chapters in 
 the first book on Jurisdiction and Courts; and the 
 long chapter on Moveable Succession : I am at pre- 
 sent engaged with that on Heritable Succession. 
 Though I have studied so little law with that dogged 
 application, which I must soon exert or give up all 
 hopes of professional distinction, I begin even already 
 to find the subject more easy; I am getting more 
 into the habit of generalizing and classifying the 
 materials that are so ill put together in the treatises 
 hitherto drawn up on the subject ; when I plunge 
 into the wilderness of Karnes's Dictionary, I can, with 
 a little exertion, clear the ground about me; when 
 I am immersed in the dulness of Erskine, my eye, 
 after a while, adapts itself to the situation, and a 
 small circle brightens round me. 
 
 " With respect to science, my studies have been parti- 
 cularly diffuse ; and except a small addition to the mass 
 of chemical details already accumulated, but not ar- 
 ranged in my memory, I can boast of no acquisition. 
 I can scarcely recollect more than one evening on which 
 I really exerted any powers of original investigation ; 
 and (so generously is labour rewarded) even that 
 short exertion was not altogether unsuccessful. 
 
 " Of late I have been more than usually fond of 
 poetry and fine writing. Scarcely a day has passed 
 in which I have not melted away an hour or two in
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 123 
 
 this luxurious reading; and I believe I have both isoc. 
 given a sort of polish to my taste, which is still very ^ T 23 
 rough, and added a relish to my sense of enjoyment, 
 which is still rather blunt, Virgil, Tacitus, Junius, 
 Franklin, Pope and Montesquieu, are the authors 
 whom I have devoured; and yesterday I found my- 
 self whimpering over Currie's account of the great 
 and unfortunate Burns. 
 
 " November 23d. — This is the second day of meta- 
 physics, of the present winter, which Lord Webb and 
 I have spent together. We have begun to read Bacon, 
 De Augm. Scient.; and our plan is, each having a 
 copy, to read silently to ourselves, and communicate 
 whatever difficulties or illustrations occur to us. 
 This is a considerable improvement upon our method 
 of working together last winter; which consisted in 
 one reading aloud to the other. Neither the person 
 who reads, nor he who listens, but especially the 
 former, can command that close attention which may 
 be exerted in the silence of individual meditation. 
 A great advantage, at the same time, is derived from 
 the occasional practice of reading together ; for each 
 person selects different beauties, and starts different 
 objections, while the same passage perhaps awakens 
 in each mind a different train of associated ideas, or 
 raises different images for the purpose of illustration. 
 This exercise, I am persuaded, will be attended with 
 an important influence upon my literary habits ; inde- 
 pendent of the enjoyment which it affords in the 
 meantime : from the details of legal form and pro- 
 cedure I shall look forward with pleasure, but (if I 
 can) without impatience, to the weekly relaxation of 
 entering into Bacon's sublime visions. Into this de- 
 lightful retirement, where I can breathe a pure at- 
 mosphere, and view that magnificent prospect which
 
 124 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. he has brought to light, I shall transport myself with 
 2E T . 23. delight from the dust, and the jostling, and the 
 loungers of the Outer House. 
 
 " November 27th. — I have this day finished a law- 
 paper, the first I have been employed to write in any 
 cause of importance ; it relates to a question between 
 the incorporated trades of Edinburgh and Leith, and 
 involves rather a nice investigation of some points in 
 the doctrine of prescription, which aj)pear not to have 
 been yet decided by the practice of our Court. The 
 memorial was required of me in such a hurry, that I 
 had no leisure to digest and arrange the general argu- 
 ment ; between Friday last and Tuesday, I ran over the 
 voluminous papers that were sent to me ; on Tuesday 
 evening and Wednesday forenoon, I arranged the 
 materials and composed some sheets ; on Wednesday 
 evening, my clerk was at work beside me for seven 
 hours, and this morning, in an additional hour and a 
 half, he completed the paper of eighty such pages as a 
 lawyer's clerk transcribes. I have noted these parti- 
 culars of my first professional exertion, in order that 
 I may record the progress of habit, and have an op- 
 portunity of comparing, at a future time, the facility 
 acquired by custom with the awkwardness of unprac- 
 tised skill. To assist this comparison, it is proper to 
 notice two circumstances : first, I am not quite satis- 
 fied with the view which I have taken of the general 
 argument from which I have drawn the reasonings of 
 my paper, partly indeed because it differs from the 
 view of the subject contained in the papers sent to 
 me, but chiefly (I must own) because, out of defer- 
 ence, I have adulterated my own view of the argu- 
 ment by an awkward mixture of what appears to me 
 a wrong conception of it ; secondly, I find myself 
 almost incapable of dictating, except from very full
 
 JOURNAL. X25 
 
 notes, so that a great part of this memorial was actually isoo. 
 written out at length in my own hand, and then ^ T 23> 
 copied by my clerk. I ought to give some time to 
 very serious reflection on the most expeditious mode 
 of forming those professional habits which it is proper 
 for me to form, and the most effectual preventives 
 against those improper and ruinous habits into which 
 Scots lawyers seem scarcely ever to save themselves 
 from falling. 
 
 "December 1st. — This forenoon was spent with 
 Bacon and Seymour. We went over that portion 
 of the first book De Augm. Scient. which enumerates 
 the various obstacles that arise to the progress of sci- 
 ence, from the defects of literary character ; after 
 running over the paragraphs separately, we examined 
 them minutely together, with a view to illustrate them 
 by such practical instances as had fallen under our own 
 observations. The whole passage abounds in ideas so 
 profound, and so beautifully expressed, that I cannot 
 resist the temptation of culling some of the sweets, 
 and serving up another banquet to my delighted ima- 
 gination. In describing the opposite prejudices of a 
 blind reverence for ancient opinions, and a raging ap- 
 petite for paradox and innovation, Lord Bacon quotes 
 a quaint maxim, which suggested to me an idea en- 
 tirely new ; ' Aniiquitas seculi, juvenilis mundi: 1 
 whence is it that our ordinary associations on this 
 subject are so fallaciously founded on an analogy, 
 directly the reverse ? ' Nostra profecto sunt antiqua 
 tempora, cum mundus jam senuerit.' Bacon speaks of 
 the evil effects of premature system upon the progress 
 of science, and he insists upon the superior advantage 
 of arranging our knowledge into detached aphorisms, 
 which leave the passage always open to farther addi- 
 tions and improvements. If this observation refers to
 
 12G JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. the propriety of confining our theoretical arrange- 
 xEt. 23. nients within the precise limits of actual and legiti- 
 mate induction, it aj)pears to be so well founded, 
 that no real progress can be made in any science with- 
 out implicit obedience to the precept. 
 
 " In all my future studies and investigations with 
 regard to the complicated relations of political eco- 
 nomy, and the principles of general jurisprudence, 
 I wish I could keep this rule steadily and habitually 
 in view. Did not Adam Smith judge amiss, in his 
 premature attempt to form a sort of system upon the 
 wealth of nations, instead of presenting his valuable 
 speculations to the world under the form of separate 
 dissertations ? As a system, his work is evidently im- 
 perfect ; and yet it has so much the air of a system, 
 and a reader becomes so fond of every analogy and 
 arrangement, by which a specious appearance of sys- 
 tem is made out, that we are apt to adopt erroneous 
 opinions, because they figure in the same fabric with 
 approved and important truths. That illustrious 
 philosopher might therefore have contributed more 
 powerfully to the progress of political science, had he 
 developed his opinions in detached essays ; nor would 
 he have less consulted the real interests of his repu- 
 tation, which indeed may have been more brilliant 
 at first, by his appearance as the author of a compre- 
 hensive theory, but will ultimately be measured 
 by what he shall be found to have actually contri- 
 buted to the treasures of valuable knowledge. I can- 
 not refrain from copying, at length the following 
 sentence : — ' Omnium autem gravissimus error in 
 deviatione ab ultimo doctrinarum fine consistit. 
 Appetunt enim homines scientiam, alii ex insita 
 curiositate, et irrequieta; alii animi causa et delecta- 
 tionis ; alii existimationis gratia ; alii contentionis
 
 JOURNAL. 127 
 
 ergo, atque ut in disserendo superiores sint; pie- isoo. 
 rique propter lucrum et victum ; paucissimi ut donum ^^ 23> 
 rationis divinitus datum in usus humani generis 
 impendant.' Must I confess it to myself with 
 shame, that, except under the temporary illapses of 
 philosophical enthusiasm, I cannot be numbered 
 ' inter hos paucissimos ?" Of the former motives to 
 the prosecution of science, I must own, that except 
 one (of which I am not in the smallest degree con- 
 scious), I feel them all in some degree. Yet the 
 passions which I should encourage in my mind are 
 an inviolable attachment to truth for its own sake in 
 every speculative research, and an habitual reference 
 of every philosophical acquisition to the improvement 
 of my practical and active character: ' Hoc enim 
 illud est quod revera doctrinam atque artes condeco- 
 raret, et attolleret, si contemplatio et actio arctiore 
 quam adhuc vinculo copularentur.' 
 
 " In the evening, I read over with attention that 
 sketch of the general principles of jurisprudence, which 
 Bacon has given in the eighth book of this treatise. It 
 suggested materials for much reflection and future 
 investigation. In particular, it presented the idea of a 
 work which might, perhaps, be entitled ' Elements of 
 Judicial Logic / and which would contain not only 
 those general principles of equity, by which the deci- 
 sions of a judge ought to be guided when cases occur 
 to which no principle already established is applicable ; 
 but likewise a set of rules, with respect to the inter- 
 pretation of statutes, the proper limits of the authority 
 which is due to precedents, and the gradual develope- 
 ment of consuetudinary law; and besides these, the 
 general rules and principles of evidence. 
 
 " This day has therefore been usefully employed, 
 though not distinguished by laborious diligence : I
 
 128 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. shall endeavour to devote one day of the week, as re- 
 ™ ~ gularly as I can, to the study of Lord Bacon's writings, 
 or of works on a similar plan. In this way I may flatter 
 myself with the reflection of making an effort at least, 
 to preserve my mind untainted by the illiberalities of 
 professional character; if not to mould my habitual 
 reflections upon those extensive and enlightened views 
 of human affairs, by which I may be qualified to re- 
 form the irregularities of municipal institutions, and 
 to extend the boundaries of legislative science. 
 
 " December 2d. — This forenoon I began a course of 
 reading on the details of political economy, with a 
 view to Stewart's lectures, which I propose to attend. 
 I have commenced with the investigation of the Com 
 Trade ; partly determined by its general importance, 
 and partly induced by the interest which it excites at 
 present in this country ; when all enlightened reasoners 
 are awaiting that accomplishment of the first genuine 
 triumph of political philosophy, which the candid and 
 liberal coalition of the two parliamentary parties has 
 so fondly predicted. I read about fifty pages of the 
 Essai sur la Police Generale des Grains. In the 
 evening went over, in a cursory manner, the general 
 doctrine of the law of Scotland with respect to agri- 
 cultural leases. 
 
 " December M. — This forenoon, after returning home 
 from the Parliament House, I ran through the re- 
 mainder of the Essay on the Police of Grain. I have 
 perused it in so hasty a manner, merely with a view 
 to prepare myself, by a general idea of its contents, 
 for a minute and reflective examination of its prin- 
 ciples. I scarcely imagine, however, that it will de- 
 tain me long ; the views contained in it are delivered 
 with so much perspicuity and eloquence, and accord 
 so entirely with all that I have ever believed upon the
 
 JOURNAL. 129 
 
 subject, that I hope it will cost me very little trouble isoo. 
 to select and appropriate to myself either what is new ^ 23 
 in argument and fact, or what is happy in point of 
 exjDression. I was not entirely occupied, however, 
 even this day, with the inactive impressions of cursory 
 readings ; many passages set my own thoughts to 
 work, and I shall prosecute in the remainder of the 
 week the hints that suggested themselves with respect 
 to the general analysis of the corn trade. Not a day 
 passes over me, whatever be my immediate object of 
 inquiry, without a visionary and brilliant prospect of 
 the position which the results of all my researches 
 will hold in my general history of Britain. 
 
 " December 11th. — For some days past my hours 
 have been pretty regularly distributed between idle- 
 ness and occupation. To the former side of the 
 account, I must place the whole morning spent in the 
 Parliament House ; and which I can only occasionally 
 relieve by attending a pleading, or by reading a law 
 paper. On the other side, I may note a couple of 
 hours devoted, after my return home, to the econo- 
 mical details of the corn trade ; an hour immediately 
 after dinner, while the rapid progress of digestion 
 clouds the powers of apprehension, employed in the 
 lighter labour of culling flowers from the style of 
 Gibbon ; and the remainder of the evening filled up 
 with the study of my friend Bell's* new publication on 
 the bankrupt law. 
 
 " The corn trade, the elegancies of Gibbon, and the 
 bankrupt law, are all coupled, in my dreaming ima- 
 gination, with two glorious visions, historical reputa- 
 tion and professional eminence. I have of late been 
 haunted, likewise, with numberless reflections on the 
 propriety of investigating my political opinions with 
 
 * By George Joseph Bell, Esq., Advocate. 
 VOL. I. K
 
 |30 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. impartial perseverance, and of forming some short 
 JEr 93 rules of conduct in this particular : solvendum est 
 problema difficillimum, to ascertain the maximum of 
 absolute and enlightened independence, and the happy 
 medium between the prostitution of faction and the 
 selfish coldness of indifference. 
 
 " December 11th. — In addition to the employments 
 and speculations described in the preceding article, I 
 now attend Stewart's Lectures on Political Economy, 
 which he delivers three times a week. I do not ex- 
 pect to find that he has enlarged his materials much 
 beyond what he communicated to his hearers last 
 winter ; but it is not so much from the detail of par- 
 ticulars that I derive improvement from this amiable 
 philosopher's lectures, as from the general manner and 
 spirit with which he unfolds his speculations, and de- 
 livers, in chaste and impressive language, the most 
 liberal and benevolent sentiments, the most compre- 
 hensive and enlightened views. Something of this 
 taste may perhaps be caught, by the frequent oppor- 
 tunities of so pleasing an example. His plan embraces 
 the various branches of what he properly terms Poli- 
 tical Economy : the general principles of population, 
 the theory of national wealth including an illustra- 
 tion of the doctrine of free trade as well as of the 
 circulation of money, regulations with respect to the 
 poor, plans for the education of the lower classes, for 
 a system of preventive police, &c. He omits alto- 
 gether the theory of jurisprudence, civil and criminal; 
 a noble field for the future achievements of philoso- 
 phical genius, and from which even the genius of 
 Smith seems to have shrunk : he relinquishes also the 
 theory of government, because he conceives (in my 
 apprehension most justly) that compared with the 
 investigations of political economy, it is at all events 
 of secondary consideration, and perhaps of subordinate
 
 JOURNAL. 131 
 
 importance. He proposes, in all these subjects which isoo. 
 he is successively to discuss, to remark the striking ^E T 23. 
 contrast of ancient and of modern policy. 
 
 " Stewart insisted this morning, with great elegance 
 and force, on his favourite remark, that the general 
 principles of internal economy and regulation, are far 
 more worthy of the interest and attention of the poli- 
 tical philosopher, because more immediately connected 
 with the public happiness, than discussions with re- 
 gard to the comparative advantages of different con- 
 stitutions. This view of political speculation falls in 
 with the train of reflections on which my mind has 
 lately dwelt a good deal, as to the share which the 
 contagious spirit of party disputation almost insen- 
 sibly leads most people to take in the parties of the 
 day ; a subject on which I ought soon to bring myself 
 to a decision. The plan of sentiment and conduct 
 can scarcely be difficult to form in my situation, and 
 with my views ; at too great a distance from the scene 
 of public action for a man of liberal ambition to enter- 
 tain any desire of political eminence, it can be no 
 arduous task for me to fix myself in uncontrollable 
 independence, and, by the intrenchments of liberal 
 opinion and candid judgment of character, to insulate 
 myself altogether from all forms of faction. My 
 great difficulty is to ascertain the exact degree and 
 tenor to which an interest in public transactions and 
 in the general welfare of the state, ought to be kept 
 up; for a scepticism or cold indifference about these 
 seems to me both criminal and contemptible. Perhaps 
 the remark of Dugald Stewart, to which I have al- 
 ready alluded, may help me to a solution of this prob- 
 lem ; and I may enlighten as well as fortify my 
 resolutions, by recourse to some of the ancient moral- 
 ists, particularly the elegant writers of the Stoical 
 
 k 2
 
 X32 JOURNAL. 
 
 1800. school. Such resolutions, and such a plan of life, it 
 jeix.as. imports me to form deliberately and boldly ; whether 
 I natter myself with eminence professional, historical, 
 or philosophical. 
 
 " December 18th. — I still carry on my inquiries 
 into the details of the corn trade ; I have been much 
 gratified with some late pamphlets on the subject, 
 both on account of the information which they 
 convey, and of the spirit in which they are written : 
 ' Magna quidem, magna est Veritas, et prasvalebit.' 
 In this investigation, I have enjoyed the advantage of 
 perusing some very full notes of the evidence which 
 the House of Lords is at present employed in collect- 
 ing and arranging ; these notes are written by the 
 Duke of Somerset, who sends them down by parcels 
 to his brother. 
 
 " My afternoon and evening are religiously gjven 
 to legal studies ; except the regular relaxation at 
 the Chemical Society, and in the works of Bacon, 
 and the occasional relaxation at the Speculative So^ 
 ciety. Four evenings in the week I strictly com- 
 mand ; and I extend the sitting for more than five, or 
 sometimes six hours. I have made some progress 
 in Bell's publication; and the arrangements of the 
 bankrupt law interest me extremely ; but the loss is, 
 I cannot always keep in remembrance that I ought to 
 prepare myself for business by the accumulation of 
 authoritative details, but frequently awake out of a 
 dream about the illustrations, which I ought to find in 
 these details, of the general theory of jurisprudence, 
 and about the prospects which break upon me at a 
 distance of general commercial history. I am forced, 
 in consequence of being engaged in a justiciary trial, 
 to suspend my study of Bell; in order to furnish 
 myself with some notion of the procedure of that
 
 JOURNAL. 133 
 
 court : I read this evening Hume's chapters on Arrest, isoi. 
 Commitment, and Bail. mt. 23. 
 
 " January 1st (The first day of the nineteenth 
 
 century, and the commencement of a new epoch in 
 the history of the British empire, consolidated by the 
 legislative union of the two islands.) During the 
 holidays, I had anticipated the possession of complete 
 liberty; but one half of the vacation has slipped 
 away in the preparation for the justiciary trial on 
 which I was engaged as junior counsel. As it was 
 my first attendance on any business of the kind, I 
 did not fail to see and learn something new; what 
 I learned, consisted chiefly in an imperfect glimpse 
 of what it will be necessary for me to learn. The 
 method of conducting the examination of witnesses ; 
 the means of forming a conclusive opinion from 
 numerous, varying, and circumstantial testimonies; 
 and the style of argument and of arrangement, 
 proper for enforcing to a jury a commentary upon 
 evidence; are subjects highly curious and important, 
 and in the thorough investigation of which much 
 immediate pleasure may be enjoyed, and powerful 
 resources accumulated for the management of judicial 
 business. I suspect no book exists, from which I can 
 derive any assistance as to general rules and methods ; 
 but a diligent perusal of such criminal trials as are 
 reported, will initiate me into the style of ordinary 
 practice ; and the rest must be acquired by the ex- 
 ertion of my own powers of arrangement. I may 
 here notice one trifling remark which occurred to me 
 in the course of the late trial ; upon that occasion, all 
 that the prisoner's counsel had to do was to forbear, 
 and to resist the curiosity of knowing the story that 
 was under investigation. 
 
 k 3
 
 134 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. « January 10th. — As I have been unwell for some 
 JEt. 23. days, and my indispositions generally unfit me for ac- 
 eurate attention, I have indulged myself in the agree- 
 able idleness of poetical and rhetorical reading. The 
 third book of Cicero, De Oratore, together with his 
 smaller miscellanies of the same kind, inflamed me with 
 the admiration of fine composition ; from the theory 
 and precepts I passed to some examples, and though 
 Massillon's Sermons did not much interest me, my 
 ardour was fully restored by some orations of De- 
 mosthenes which I read in the translation of Francis. 
 But my taste found a still more delightful repast in 
 some select morsels of historic eloquence; Gibbon's 
 fifteenth chapter is a splendid picture in its general 
 design, and finished with much ornament and skill; 
 it led me to two noble sketches which I had not 
 before perused, the fire of Rome under Nero, as 
 described by Tacitus, and the introduction of the 
 Bacchanalian mysteries and superstition, as described 
 in the 39th book of Livy. I have revelled likewise 
 in Milton, Virgil, and De Lille ; the rich store of 
 imagery and sentiment which De Lille has amassed, 
 the calm tone of philosophic elegance and refinement 
 of diction which breathes over the landscapes of 
 Virgil, and the lofty harmonious magnificence of 
 Milton's immortal verse, alternately supplied me a 
 luxurious repast, and may all contribute to the me- 
 lioration of my taste and the enlargement of my 
 powers of composition. 
 
 " January lQth. — I attend the Parliament House 
 scrupulously, and am creeping into a little business, 
 which gives me the shadow and fancy of occupation. 
 Occasional consultations direct in a great measure the 
 course of my legal reading : a paper on the subject of 
 judicial factory led me to study with some attention
 
 JOURNAL. 135 
 
 the whole article ofCautionry; and an appointment isoi. 
 to the list of counsel for the poor, induced the pro- Mt . 23. 
 priety of studying in the Acts of Sederunt, the duties 
 and functions of that situation. At the same time I 
 keep in view the general design of investigating the 
 principles of law on the various branches of personal 
 right or obligation : when I have made myself master 
 of these, which constitute the body of what may be 
 denominated commercial jurisprudence, I propose to 
 plunge into the mysteries and darkness of the feudal 
 institutions. 
 
 " Half hours have been given by stealth to a 
 new poem by De Lille, which I have just received 
 from London, and which is entitled l &homme des 
 Champs.'' I shall reserve my positive opinion and 
 enlarged criticism, till I shall have given the work a 
 repeated perusal ; my present impression of its merits 
 ranks it much lower than ' Les Javelins' of the same 
 author, though I have certainly been struck with 
 some elegant passages. 
 
 " I likewise attend Stewart's lectures, and strive to 
 imbibe some portion of that elegant taste and com- 
 prehensive spirit which are diffused over his specu- 
 lations. At the same time, I confess that I begin 
 to suspect him of excessive timidity on the subject 
 of political innovation, and the practicability of im- 
 provement by individual exertion. And I am not 
 sure, if the great elegance and sensibility of his com- 
 positions have not in some degree an unfavourable 
 effect in the investigation of truth and the com- 
 munication of knowledge : in so pleasing a dress, 
 error and involuntary sophistry might insinuate 
 themselves undetected, because without suspicion ; and 
 even truth itself finds admission too easy, when the 
 severities of attention have been lulled into reverie 
 
 k 4
 
 136 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. by the charms of the most select diction and the most 
 JEt. 23. attractive imagery. 
 
 " January 17th. — I may take notice in this place 
 that I have of late fallen very much into the habit of 
 taking advantage of those short intervals of time, that 
 would otherwise be entirely lost, by employing them 
 in the collection of elegancies of composition and 
 expression. I refrain from confining myself to any 
 one author, or to any peculiar style; but Gibbon's 
 first volume has been more in my hands of late than 
 any other book. My judgment of his style has un- 
 dergone several vicissitudes; at present it leans to 
 a much more favourable impression than I felt some 
 time ago. I read for about half an hour this after- 
 noon some passages at the conclusion of the tenth 
 book, which have struck me as being very finely de- 
 lineated ; particularly the character of Gallienus, and 
 still more his narrative of those events which, to use 
 his expression, ' reflect a strong light on the horrid 
 picture' of the times. 
 
 " I ought here to enter likewise a record of another 
 practice, which I adopted about a month ago, and 
 in which I have persevered with resolution. I coj^y 
 into a book of a portable size, and in a small 
 handwriting, all such passages, in the works that 
 pass through my hands, as appear to me distin- 
 guished by the combined excellences of compre- 
 hensive sentiment and eloquent expression. In this 
 practice I have not so much in view, either the 
 effect of thus imprinting those passages on my me- 
 mory, or the exercise of discriminative taste in forming 
 the selection, as the remote pleasure of revolving such 
 sublime views of science and of human nature, if I 
 should happen at any time to be removed from an 
 opportunity of consulting the originals. At the same 
 time, I am pleased with the idea of forming such a
 
 JOURNAL. 137 
 
 noble museum, into which no specimen is admitted, isoi. 
 but what bears the divine stamp of genius; and I ^ T 2 3. 
 have sometimes flattered my vanity with comparing 
 this labour with that to which Raphael submitted, 
 when he formed his collection of what he called the 
 thoughts of the ancients. 
 
 " January l&th. — This morning was spent with 
 Lord Webb Seymour in reading Bacon, De Dign. et 
 Augm. Sc. We entered upon the fourth book with 
 the design of reading it through ; but the first chapter 
 supplied such abundant materials of discussion and 
 reflection, that we did not advance beyond it. I 
 wrote several pages in consequence of a conversation 
 which we had started ; and when we came to compare 
 our notes, we were mutually surprised, as we have 
 frequently had occasion to experience, at the very 
 different form and train of thought into which we 
 had separately wrought up reflections with regard to 
 which we were pretty nearly agreed. Our different 
 habits of present study, our different views of future 
 life, and our different plans of literary achievement, 
 could scarcely fail to produce this effect. Lord Webb 
 has just occasion to reproach me sometimes, with af- 
 fecting fine composition even in my notes and memo- 
 randums ; and I have taken the freedom of expressing 
 my apprehensions that certain innovations in meta- 
 physical language, to which he has, however, attached 
 very definite ideas, may have laid too fast hold of his 
 associations. 
 
 "January %lst. — This afternoon I studied a case, 
 which I am to plead in the Outer House to-morrow, 
 in which a sister pursues her brother for the provision 
 destined to her by their father. It seems to be a very 
 good exercise both of the memory and of the powers 
 of continued attention, to arrange in the head, without
 
 138 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. notes to assist it, the circumstances and narrative of 
 iE T . 23. a lawsuit. I already feel a difference in the improved 
 quickness of my apprehension in this respect ; but I 
 feel, to my utter mortification and shame, the greatest 
 dearth of legal topics on which I might build the ar- 
 rangement of argumentative discussion. I am too 
 little in possession of law to comprehend in one view 
 of any question, the various relations which its cir- 
 cumstances bear to each other. 
 
 " January 22d. — After waiting the whole morning, 
 my pleading did not take place. My only recompence 
 for a constant and ever-during headach, consists in 
 hearing a few important questions well discussed, out 
 of a vast mass of cases which are either not important 
 or do not receive an interesting discussion. 
 
 " The whole of this evening, and till almost two 
 hours past midnight, I was engaged in studying a 
 mass of papers, from a Sheriff Court and the Bill 
 Chamber, relative to a competition between two 
 alleged assignations to a tack.* In its present shape, 
 the question turns solely upon a point of form ; and 
 that of course costs me much trouble. 
 
 " January 23c?. — This forenoon I pleaded the cause 
 which I studied last night, against Gillies f ; a man of 
 a very vigorous intellect. I lost the question ; from 
 the demerits of my plea, as I am bound to believe, 
 not from the imperfections of my eloquence. Yet 
 what is that mysterious power of self-possession, which 
 is gifted to some men and withheld from others, ac- 
 cording to the constitution of their nerves and blood- 
 vessels ? which deserting us, when we are placed in a 
 new situation, palsies the faculty of memory in its re- 
 
 * A lease. 
 
 f Adam Gillies, Esq., Advocate ; afterwards Lord Gillies, one of the 
 Judges of the Court of Session.
 
 JOURNAL. 139 
 
 collection of what has been most recently imprinted, I801. 
 and suspends the course of those habits which long ^ T 23. 
 exercise had formed. 
 
 " February 19th. — During the long period, of which 
 I have omitted to register a journal, my time has 
 been variously portioned out between business and 
 dissipation; though I must confess that the latter 
 has occupied the greater share. I have mingled more 
 of late, than I had been accustomed, with the society 
 of that description of women, who were so agreeable 
 to David Hume; but after I deduct a few exceptions, 
 where personal preference has fixed a charm, I con- 
 fess that I rather yield to the speculative anticipation 
 that pleasure ought to be derived, than to the remem- 
 brance of pleasure actually experienced. At the 
 same time I believe this may be owing to my novi- 
 tiate in such society, and my unskilfuhiess in extract- 
 ing that amusement from it which it is qualified to 
 furnish ; it may be owing also, in part, to the very 
 irrational style of company which prevails in Edin- 
 burgh, where large parties are brought together with- 
 out the smallest idea, either on the part of the lady 
 of the house or her guests, that conversation is the 
 purpose for which people meet together. Indeed, 
 from what I have seen, the inhabitants of this place 
 have very little taste in conversation; if a few of 
 those be excepted, who, either by their rank or by 
 their literary pursuits, have viewed more of the world 
 than can be seen within Scotland. I talk chiefly of 
 that form of company in which men and females are 
 intermingled ; for in the male parties, there is always 
 information at least to be got, though very rarely 
 conveyed in an agreeable form. In general, the women 
 of Scotland are much less polished in their manners 
 than English women of the same rank ; nearly in the
 
 140 JOURNAL. 
 
 180L same proportion in which they are less successful in 
 ^t. 23. their dress : there is a coarseness, or rather a want of 
 softness, in Scotch manners ; there is more familiarity 
 than in the conversation of English ladies, and less 
 ease. I have been led into this long note on a sub- 
 ject which will attract my attention more frequently 
 in future, in consequence of having lately spent much 
 time very agreeably in female society ; though with a 
 burdensome consciousness of that awkwardness which 
 I have not yet seen enough of the world to lose, and 
 of that propensity to bookworm conversation which I 
 have contracted from the habits of my life. A little 
 more practice in varied society will qualify me for 
 profiting by it ; and will give me that self-possession 
 and readiness, not merely of conversation but of re- 
 flection, which may render society a field for the 
 observation of character and manners, instead of a 
 shifting scene, as it is to me at present, which com- 
 municates transitory impressions to a passive mind. 
 In particular, the society of modest and accomplished 
 women may serve to correct in me those asperities of 
 manner, which no man gets rid of but in their fair 
 hands ; and may present a constant opportunity for 
 studying some of the most pleasing diversities of 
 human character, and for ascertaining those varieties 
 of sentiment and ojDinion which the moral circum- 
 stances of education conspire with the physical differ- 
 ence of constitution to confirm. A week, or a month 
 hence, if I should review this note, it will amuse me 
 to remark my own anxiety to justify my late idleness 
 and gallantry: the morning walks, evening parties, 
 and public places, to which I have been seduced by 
 my lively cousin and her agreeable friend from Kent, 
 have interrupted in no small degree the perseverance of 
 legal study, and thrown into the shade certain very
 
 JOURNAL 141 
 
 brilliant visions of historic fame, professional emi- 1801. 
 nence, and philosophical speculation. J£t.23. 
 
 " This evening, I worked for about three hours and 
 a half at a paper, of which I wrote several pages 
 some days ago, and which I shall not be able to finish 
 without another sitting. It relates to a frivolous and 
 uninteresting question of mere fact, with regard to 
 the boundary of two insignificant patches of ground ; 
 and the subject, on which I have already written ten 
 close folio pages in my own hand, turns upon this 
 notable question, whether a ditch half a foot in 
 breadth and depth ought to run on the east or the west 
 side of a hedge which is not three feet high. When 
 I had fairly set myself to work, I flowed on fluently 
 enough, though certainly in a style of composition 
 worthy of a ditch; nothing but much practice of 
 philosophical writing during the vacation will rescue 
 me from the vulgarism and carelessness of Parliament 
 House papers. I have not yet acquired a taste for 
 business, or its habits of drudgery in detail ; formerly 
 labour was delightful to me, when it was employed 
 in the accumulation of general principles, or in the 
 arrangement of interesting illustrations under prin- 
 ciples already familiar to my mind; but the compo- 
 sition of Session papers for the Outer House sickens 
 me to nausea. Self-denial, perseverance, inflexible 
 assiduity, what virtues you are ! but what exertions 
 you require ! That ambition, which can submit to pre- 
 sent mortification and to long dull drudgery, for the 
 attainment of remote honour, is like that fortitude 
 which can reason in the midst of danger, the attri- 
 bute not of man, but of a god. 
 
 " February 2Uh. — I have spent three days at South- 
 field*, which is almost the only house from home in 
 
 * In East Lothian, the house of Andrew Gray, Esq., who had married 
 a cousin-german of his mother. — E».
 
 142 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. which I have completely domesticated myself. Against 
 t Et 23. the sum total of time lost from study, I place on the 
 opposite side of the account, first, much pleasure 
 and agreeable relaxation ; secondly, an increased 
 taste for the gratifications of domestic manners ; 
 thirdly, my solitary reflections (after I took my de- 
 parture) upon the duty of ameliorating personal 
 character and public happiness by contributing even 
 individual exertions to the multiplication and im- 
 provement of those pleasures which the conversation 
 of friends is calculated to afford ; fourthly, the dis- 
 covery of the false ideas which I have hitherto con- 
 ceived with regard to the most pleasing and instruc- 
 tive style of domestic conversation ; fifthly, the con- 
 templation of five individual characters, all different 
 from each other, but all deserving of my esteem in a 
 high degree. 
 
 " I went to the Speculative Society this evening, 
 where I heard a very indifferent discussion of one 
 of the most interesting subjects which can engage 
 the attention of a political philosopher ; the conse- 
 quences of a free commerce and intercourse between 
 China and the rest of the civilised world. There 
 cannot be a more splendid prospect, than that of this 
 new world being unfolded to the curiosity and the 
 observation of European science. The discovery 
 which Columbus achieved, hitherto the most mag- 
 nificent event in the revolutions of the globe, suffers 
 immensely in the comparison. That world, which he 
 found at the western extremity of the Atlantic, was 
 thinly peopled by scattered families of naked bar- 
 barians ; who, except in one or two spots, were in the 
 earliest infancy of the political order. But that 
 world, which is detached from Europe by the wilds of 
 Siberia and Tartary, exhibits the sublime spectacle of 
 an incalculable population, which, during a long 9m>
 
 JOURNAL. 143 
 
 cession of ages, has been disciplined into all the isol 
 arrangements of the social union, and by a gradation ^ T 23 
 of which the steps are unknown to the historians and 
 philosophers of Europe has attained a high pitch of 
 civilisation, industry, and refinement. What an im- 
 mense accession to the science of human nature, will 
 be furnished by the results of an insulated experi- 
 ment performed on so large a scale ! But it is not 
 upon the gratification of curiosity, to the philosopher 
 either of Europe or of China, that our anticipations 
 are most fondly allured to dwell: our fancy is still 
 more powerfully engrossed, by the prospect of a 
 change which will be accomplished, soon after a free 
 intercourse, in the moral situation both of China and 
 of Europe. The mutual collision of diversified man- 
 ners, opposing opinions, separate experience, will 
 strike a reciprocal stimulus into each; the impulse 
 will pervade the whole system of the earth, accumu- 
 lating force in the course of its progress ; new sciences 
 will spring up, and new arts; new powers will 
 develope themselves, of which man is yet uncon- 
 scious : but even then the career of human kind will 
 still appear infinite, and their prospects without a 
 a close. 
 
 " March 1st. — As a specimen of the irregular man- 
 ner in which my studies are often prosecuted, I will 
 note in this place the miscellaneous occupations 
 upon which my attention has been directed during 
 the course of the last twenty-four hours. After 
 having spent the forenoon of yesterday in traversing 
 the Parliament House, I read over after dinner 
 Lord Mansfield's celebrated State Paper of 1753, 
 with regard to the condemnation of prize vessels, 
 and the refusal of the King of Prussia to discharge 
 the debts which were secured upon the dutchy of
 
 J44 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. Silesia. The demonstration of this memorial is so 
 Mt 23 condensed and so perspicuous, that while it keeps up 
 a lively interest, it requires a very keen and constant 
 effort of attention. I finished the perusal about seven 
 o'clock, and went to the Chemical Society; where 
 exertions of a different kind were called forth : pre- 
 vious to the proper business of the meeting, Allen, 
 Lord Webb, and I joined in very active conversation 
 upon the theory of the Economists with regard to 
 productive labour. Allen confessed the same diffi- 
 culties of apprehension upon the subject which we 
 had experienced, and threw out a variety of inge- 
 nious hints which had occurred to his acute mind in 
 labouring to dispel the unpleasant obscurity : the 
 chemical paper before the Society was an analysis of 
 Scheele's famous theory of phlogiston and fire, which 
 it cost me much pains to follow throughout, from 
 my ignorance of his terms, as well as from my fami- 
 liarity with a different nomenclature. From these 
 diversified exercises, I transported myself to a scene 
 of a different kind; where I was seated for two 
 hours at the whist table ; a game, the ingenious com- 
 binations of which interest me enough to rouse 
 my attention, but puzzle me enough to make that 
 attention an effort. After all this, I went late to 
 bed; but rose in time to peruse before breakfast in a 
 new volume of the Annates de Chimie, which I got 
 at the Society, an abstract of Berthollet's recent pub- 
 lication on Affinity ; this abstract is very short, and 
 seems equally imperfect, but it has roused an im- 
 patient curiosity to see the original work; for the 
 ideas exhibited in this sketch coincide, in a very flat- 
 tering degree, with that line of speculation into which 
 I was led some months ago upon the subject of che- 
 mical action, in consequence of some objections which
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 145 
 
 occurred to me against a paper of Vauquelin. After isoi. 
 breakfast I Avorked with Lord Webb upon the be- ^ T 23. 
 ginning of the fifth book of Bacon De Augmentis; 
 which suggested various topics of interesting con- 
 versation : we were occupied at home till two o'clock, 
 but the thread of discussion was farther prolonged 
 throughout a walk of several miles. 
 
 " Such a review, when feebly and vainly considered, 
 may flatter the consciousness of power. But it is 
 manifest, that were the mind to be habitually indulged, 
 especially in the early period of life, in that course of 
 unrestrained and lawless rambling, it would soon lose 
 the power of persevering attention or systematic study, 
 and the memory would become a farrago of superficial 
 and unconnected information. At the same time, 
 some small advantage may be obtained by occasional 
 feats of this description ; provided they be performed 
 with activity and spirit : for it must be of great 
 utility to have all the energies of the understanding 
 under command, and ready to follow the various and 
 rapid vicissitudes of any emergency that may occur." 
 
 Letter XXV. TO MRS. GRAY, SOUTHFIELD.* 
 
 My dear Mrs. Gray, March, isoi. 
 
 Your fine stamped paper did not gratify me 
 half so much as your noticing me so soon. You would 
 have done it still sooner, and would write to me still 
 oftener, if you knew all the pleasure your letters give 
 me. I don't need to be reminded of Southfield ; but 
 I am brought more to your fireside in the old way 
 where you made me so happy, and when I receive a 
 letter from any of you, it is some time before I dis- 
 cover that I am not actually in the midst of my 
 
 * See Note, page 141. 
 VOL. I. L
 
 14(j CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1801. friends, determined to sit up very late, in spite of the 
 j£ T 23. laird's economy of fuel, and to drink a great deal of 
 punch, in spite of the lady's fears of my political indis- 
 cretion. I have often imagined that your friend 
 Cranston* must have set me down for the greatest 
 traitor unhanged ; he probably doubts a little at this 
 moment whether or not I have, by secret compact, 
 sold myself to the devil. 
 
 So you ask me about accomplishments and female 
 education too ? I am a notable hand for such weighty 
 matters. What shall I say ? my honest opinion ; 
 which is, that the accomplishments, as they are called, 
 are not to be dispensed with. That rational informa- 
 tion is a better thing, and that plain strong sense 
 about the affairs of the little domestic world is the 
 great object in female education, together with sagacity 
 and liberality of judgment about such characters and 
 such points of conduct as may affect a woman's hap- 
 piness, all this is very true, and very important. But 
 the acquisition of a little ornament is not only quite 
 compatible with these things, but will assist them by 
 the taste which it gives : and our tastes in manners and 
 in morals are more nearly connected, than we are al- 
 ways told from the pulpit. Besides, it is the custom 
 or fashion, if you will, to get a smattering of the fine 
 arts ; and the girls who neglect it are not always ranked 
 with those to whom they are equal, or even superior, 
 in more important respects. I think we are generally 
 as unreasonable as this; at least upon our first judg- 
 ments, in spite of ourselves ; and I need not tell you 
 that first impressions are not to be slighted. All that 
 is necessary in the way of ornament is very soon got, 
 I believe, and very easily. Your professed draughts- 
 
 * A gentleman of very strong Tory opinions. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. I47 
 
 women and players are, be it spoken with reverence, isoi. 
 often very tiresome and senseless ; though not quite ^ T 23 
 so much so as your very professed readers, and phi- 
 losophers in petticoats. We are jealous and envious 
 of you when it comes to that ; you must not encroach 
 upon us ; you have other matters to mind, quite diffi- 
 cult enough in their way, and which we have neither 
 head nor heart to do so well as you can. There is 
 another thing to be said in favour of the accomplish- 
 ments we have been talking of ; that they occasion a 
 little more attention than might otherwise be paid to 
 the elegances of manner. They do not give grace 
 and elegance of themselves ; but they lead the mind to 
 take that turn, and then they introduce those who 
 possess them more easily to the women of higher con- 
 dition, among whom, of course, the patterns of man- 
 ner are to be sought for. I must add one word more 
 in favour of music at least, which I hold to be some- 
 thing better than a mere ornament ; it has produced 
 a very great improvement in the parties of the 
 younger sort, for though not so good as pleasant con- 
 versation, it is better than cards ; and not only this, 
 but if I judge from myself, it ought to be a part of 
 every household establishment, for the sake of the 
 ready entertainment which it affords. I know no- 
 thing of music myself more than the pleasure it gives 
 me ; and a march, or a plain song, or even a reel, is 
 to me worth all the skilful execution of Italy : but I 
 should like to have the song or the reel always in the 
 room, to be heard when one longs for it ; and as these 
 things cannot be bottled up or kept in a drawer, we 
 must be beholden to you ladies for the gratification. 
 
 I am quite ashamed of the length of this dull epistle ; 
 in which you will find probably nothing to the pur- 
 pose, but what you have been sickened with a hundred 
 
 l 2
 
 148 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. times before. As my pen begins to fail in its duty, 
 j£ T 23> you are delivered from my preaching. If I had not 
 exceeded the share I allotted for you, I should have 
 filled another sheet to Harriet ; but the frank will not 
 admit of this. Give my love to her, and remember 
 me in the best way you can to my good friend 
 Mr. Gray. 
 
 Believe me ever most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " April 6th. — Since I wrote the last ar- 
 ticle of this journal, I have scarcely made any acqui- 
 sitions in the detail of any branch of knowledge. My 
 only drudgery has been writing out very full notes 
 of a few of Stewart's lectures on the corn trade. I 
 have been regular also in reading Bacon with Lord 
 Webb; we have now finished seven books of the 
 treatise De Augmentis. But neither in philosophy 
 nor in law have I prosecuted any regular object of 
 application. I have, as usual, indulged myself in all 
 the reveries of future achievement, future acquisi- 
 tion, future fame; poetry, romantic philosophy, am- 
 bition, and vanity conspire to infatuate me in this 
 oblivion of the present ; and amid this visionary in- 
 toxication I almost feel the powers of actual exertion 
 sink within me. In justice to myself, however, I 
 ought to note, that these speculations and dreams 
 scarcely ever consist in the representation of external 
 honours to be enjoyed, but in the arrangement of 
 schemes of action, in the systematic distribution of 
 various science to be acquired, in projected improve- 
 ments of my intellectual powers, and in the systematic 
 direction of this acquired knowledge and of these 
 improved faculties to one great and common end, 
 the Philosophy and Practice of Law."
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 149 
 
 1801. 
 Letter XXVI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ., LONDON. Mt. 23. 
 
 My dear Murray, York Place, 10th April, isoi. 
 
 Let me have a full and particular criticism of 
 Cooke's acting : is he of the Kemble school, or has he 
 struck out a line for himself ? Are his powers limited 
 to a set of characters? Every English performer, 
 who becomes a candidate for high reputation, must 
 rest a large proportion of his fame on the representa- 
 tion of some of Shakespear's characters : tell me what 
 Cooke makes of Iago, Richard, &c. I am glad you like 
 the oratorios, however unfashionable ; it is one point 
 more in which you and I agree: being altogether 
 as ignorant of music, both of us, as the dolphins 
 whom Arion charmed, or the stocks and stones that 
 yielded to Orpheus, it is fortunate that that ignorance 
 prevents neither stones nor dolphins nor Scotch law- 
 yers from being delighted with the divine composi- 
 tions of Handel. I used to listen to some of those 
 which are performed at the oratorios, with the same 
 kind of interest with which I followed the splendid 
 declamations of our ci-devant premier. His speeches 
 owed the greater part of their effect upon me (and it 
 was a stronger effect than I was always willing to 
 acknowledge) to the music and rhythm, not of his 
 voice, but his composition : they are no doubt equally 
 remarkable for skilful arrangement and distribution 
 of parts, and that is a merit which I have often 
 fancied I could trace in the performances of Handel. 
 I am prosing upon this subject, in order to lead your 
 attention to the subject while you are upon the spot, 
 where the comparison may be made experimentally. 
 
 Pray remember me to Petty. I am surprised he is 
 not yet gone abroad, but you must deem it a very for- 
 
 l 3
 
 150 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1801. tunate circumstance for yourself; as there cannot be 
 JEt 23 a more agreeable companion. If Lord Henry has 
 continued to improve that very strong understanding, 
 and to augment that store of valuable information, 
 which he appeared to me to possess when I had the 
 pleasure of knowing him, his society must be equally 
 instructive and pleasing. Partiality aside, would you 
 still distinguish him by a cool, clear-thinking head, 
 a plain, firm, manly judgment ? 
 
 As to my studies since you left this place, they 
 have amounted to very little ; I go on as usual, not 
 altogether idle, but employed about every thing else 
 than what I ought to be. On the subject of law, 
 I have so black a conscience that it is begrimed all 
 over with compunction and remorse. Poor Christian 
 M'Kay * still lies upon my table, a huge and shape- 
 less mass of chaotic matter, unfashioned into the 
 form of a petition, to the Lords, unanimated by the 
 breath of her un-fee'd and conscientious counsel. 
 Bell's book, which I had vowed to read, lies still on 
 my table. I was very glad to hear from him yesterday 
 that he had had complimentary letters from Sir W. 
 Grant and Lord Eldon, and a pretty long epistle, with 
 remarks, from Thurlow himself: this is very pleasing; 
 it is curious also, because none of our own judges are 
 yet known to have read the book. In consequence of 
 your request, I have taken notes from Dugald Stew- 
 art's late lectures with my accustomed copiousness; 
 he has given the subject of the corn trade a very 
 ample and interesting discussion ; Lord Lloyd Kenyon 
 did not escape some very pointed allusions, sharpened 
 in Stewart's best manner. ***** 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 * He had been appointed on the list of Counsel fur the Poor. See 
 p. 135.— En.
 
 JOURNAL. 151 
 
 Journal. u April 12th. — The portion of Bacon's trea- isoi. 
 tise, De Augm. Sc, on which Seymour and I were em- j EiTt 23. 
 ployed this forenoon, consisted of the first and second 
 chapters of the eighth book. The second of these I 
 devoured with a keen, rapid, and enthusiastic appetite : 
 it abounds with those views of life and of the man- 
 ners of the world, which never fail to charm me with 
 as lively an interest as the accounts of a new and 
 unknown country ; it presents also a rich variety of 
 experimental maxims with regard to the improve- 
 ment of individual manners and character ; chiefly in 
 that department of self-education which proposes to 
 augment intellectual power, to economise intellectual 
 labour, and to render its exertions more effective. 
 This is a subject which has for a long time attracted 
 occasionally my reflections ; but which I have hitherto 
 considered rather under a general sense of its import- 
 ance, than with any perspicuous or precise view of 
 the means by which it may be reduced to practice. It 
 is more than two years, I believe, since the idea first 
 struck me of composing a practical treatise, which 
 should bear the quaint title of ' The (Economy of 
 Intellectual Labour;' and which, professing to teach 
 this most important art, should be ornamented and 
 rendered interesting by a selection of such anecdotes 
 with respect to the literary habits and intellectual re- 
 sources of great philosophers and artists, as may be 
 found either in the accounts left by themselves, or in 
 the biographical repositories of Bayle, Fontenelle, 
 Vasari, D'Alembert, Johnson, Condorcet, &c. The 
 idea is not at present much more matured in my 
 mind, than it was upon the original suggestion ; but 
 I still think it a promising scheme, provided the 
 materials be wrought out of my own experience. 
 Indeed it is now high time that my plans of study 
 
 l 4
 
 152 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. should be much more systematised, the distribution 
 j Et og of my time more rigidly regular, and my literary 
 habits more formal than they have hitherto been ; for 
 the destiny of my future life seems now to be pretty 
 well fixed in most particulars. I have almost recon- 
 ciled myself at length to the resolution of adhering 
 to the solitary independence of a bachelor ; I am now 
 certain that the greatest portion of every future year 
 of my life will be spent in my native town*; and I 
 know pretty well in what proportion the months of 
 those years will probably be shared between the 
 reality or the semblance of professional servitude, 
 and the semblance or the reality of philosophical re- 
 laxation. It remains for me, therefore, to deliberate 
 on the most effectual means of directing my future 
 years to the attainment of certain objects : how many 
 habits have I to acquire ! how many to lose ! I have 
 never yet tasked myself to systematic perseverance ; 
 I have scarcely been conscious of any successful ef- 
 forts of self-denial. 
 
 " These are a few of the reflections which crowded 
 upon me this morning, while I was reading Lord 
 Bacon; he did not suggest them to me, for I have 
 long had them upon my mind ; but he recalled them 
 in fresh vigour, and with a mixed consciousness of 
 ambition and of shame, of despair and of resolution. 
 In the familiar use of his inestimable writings, may I 
 feed these sparks of latent perfectibility with constant 
 fuel, and teach myself not only the means of rousing 
 my faculties, but of enlightening and ennobling their 
 efforts ! 
 
 " I may here notice that, next to the writings of 
 Bacon, there is no book which has more powerfully 
 
 * He not long .after changed his views in this particular. See his 
 Joimml, 23d Nov. 1801. — Ed
 
 JOURNAL. 153 
 
 impelled me to revolve these sentiments than the Dis- 1801< 
 courses of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He is one of the jEt.23. 
 first men of genius who have condescended to inform 
 the world of the steps by which greatness is attained : 
 the unaffected good sense and clearness with which 
 he describes the terrestrial and human attributes of 
 that which is usually called inspiration, and the con- 
 fidence with which he asserts the omnipotence of 
 human labour, have the effect of familiarising his 
 reader with the idea that genius is an acquisition 
 rather than a gift ; while with all this there is 
 blended so naturally and so eloquently the most ele- 
 vated and passionate admiration of excellence, and of 
 all the productions of true genius, that upon the 
 whole there is no book of a more inflammatory effect. 
 
 " April 22d. — My legal pursuits of late have almost 
 entirely referred to the rules by which the interests 
 of creditors are regulated. 
 
 " This afternoon and evening were spent in the 
 very agreeable company of Sydney Smith, Playfair, 
 Alison*, and Greathead.f It is the first time I have 
 met with Alison, and I am quite taken with his con- 
 versation : he appears to me to possess a fund of 
 diversified and miscellaneous information, and to have 
 gradually formed the acquisition not only with the 
 vigour of an original and reflecting mind, but with 
 the temper of a mind happily harmonised, and free 
 from all the shackles of theory as well as of prejudice. 
 This information is likewise communicated not only 
 with the most unaffected ease, and with an air of per- 
 fect liberality and candour, but with a mixed sensi- 
 bility and pleasantry which I have seldom seen so well 
 
 * The Rev. Archibald Alison, author of the "Essay on the Principles 
 of Taste." 
 
 f Of Guyscliff, near Warwick.
 
 154 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. blended together. If I should be fortunate enough to 
 jet. 23. become acquainted with Alison, I persuade myself his 
 conversation would contribute to the melioration of 
 my character. When I recollect the lights which my 
 understanding has received, and the amendment which 
 my taste and passions have undergone from the 
 society and conversation of a few men with whom I 
 have chiefly associated of late years, — Hewlett, Allen, 
 Lord "W. Seymour, Smith, Murray, &c, — I cannot 
 hesitate to decide, that I have derived more intel- 
 lectual improvement from them than from all the 
 books I have turned over. Their influence has been 
 the more beneficial, that each has produced a different 
 effect; so that what I have received in the form of 
 habit or sentiment from one has not only been en- 
 forced by what the rest contributed, but corrected 
 also where there was any degree of excess. 
 
 " April 2M. — Kennedy* sent me last night 
 Berthollet's memoir on Chemical Affinities, which Sir 
 James Hall lately received as a present from the 
 author. I have been so long impatient to see this 
 paper, that I could not resist the temptation; and 
 resolved to do nothing till I made myself master of it. 
 That, I find, Avill not prove a very easy task ; I have 
 worked at it all this forenoon, and have not yet been 
 able to acquire any precise idea of his speculation. 
 The inquiry, which he states at the beginning of his 
 paper, coincides very much with the line of investiga- 
 tion into which I was led by Vauquelin's paper on 
 the decomposition of muriate of soda by oxide of 
 lead; and many of the experiments on which he 
 
 * Robert Kennedy, M.D., F.R.S., author of several valuable chemical 
 papers about this time ; among others, " A Chemical Analysis of Whin- 
 stone and Lava," published in the " Transactions of the Royal Society of 
 Edinburgh," — read 3d December, 1798. He died the following year. 
 Ed.
 
 JOURNAL. 155 
 
 founds his reasonings are exactly the same cases of isoi. 
 anomalous affinity which I collected from different iET.23. 
 books ; but the language in which he states the doc- 
 trine is very different from mine, and of course 
 appears to me at present inferior in point of precision. 
 The greater part of the memoir is, however, entirely 
 new to me; and while it throws into the greatest 
 uncertainty many theories of chemical phenomena 
 which we have hitherto looked upon as fixed, and 
 many results of analysis which we conceived to be 
 quite accurate, it opens a new and an immense field 
 of speculation, in which we may soon be conducted 
 perhaps to a precise mechanical doctrine of chemical 
 attraction. 
 
 " April 24:th This forenoon, likewise, I devoted 
 
 to Berthollet, but not with much success ; my head 
 was out of order, and my attention not under com- 
 mand. The afternoon I spent at Dugalcl Stewart's, 
 where I met Alison ; the rest of the company were 
 Allen*, Lord W. Seymour, and Lord Sempil. The 
 general conversation after dinner was of that ram- 
 bling, light, literary kind, which Stewart seems 
 studiously to prefer : he never will condescend in 
 company to be original or profound, or to display 
 those powers of observation which he possesses in an 
 eminent degree, but shuns the least approach towards 
 discussion. He told us some very interesting par- 
 ticulars of Adam Smith's character and habits, to 
 which he has alluded but slightly in his biographical 
 account. In the drawing-room, I had some pleasing 
 conversation with Alison; he gave me a very in- 
 teresting account of his parishioners in Shropshire, 
 who seem to have been in a singular state of bar- 
 
 * John Allen, Esq.
 
 156 JOURNAL. 
 
 isoi. barism when lie first settled among them. If I find 
 2E T 03. time, I will note down some of the particulars he 
 mentioned to me. My opinion of his conversation 
 and character is confirmed and heightened. 
 
 " April 26th. — This forenoon Lord Webb and I 
 worked at Bacon for five hours ; the latter part of 
 the second chapter of Book 8th, with respect to 
 political fortune-hunting, and the third chapter on the 
 means of promoting national aggrandisement, are 
 written in a spirit unworthy of his virtue as well as 
 of his philosophical comprehension. In the one, he 
 is the dupe of that short-sighted policy which makes 
 territorial extension by means of Avar an object of 
 national pursuit ; in the other, he expatiates, not with 
 indignation, but with complacency, on those loose 
 and profligate principles of morality which have 
 proved but too successful at all times in misplacing 
 the courtier into the situation of the statesman and 
 legislator. 
 
 "We went afterwards to hear Sydney Smith preach, 
 who delivered a most admirable sermon on the true 
 religion of practical justice and benevolence, as dis- 
 tinguished from ceremonial devotion, from fanaticism, 
 and from theology. It was forcibly distinguished 
 by that liberality of sentiment, and that boldness of 
 eloquence, which do so much credit to Smith's talents. 
 I may add, that the popularity of his style does equal 
 honour to the audience to whom it is addressed, or at 
 least to that diffusion of liberal opinions and know- 
 ledge, to which the members of so mixed an audience 
 are indebted for the fashion and temper of their sen- 
 timents. 
 
 " April 27th. — I employed the whole forenoon in 
 writing to the Duke of Somerset, upon the subject of
 
 JOURNAL. 157 
 
 philosophical language. I had delayed this from isoi. 
 time to time for nine months past. j£ T- 23. 
 
 " In the afternoon, I read with Lord Webb. He 
 lately came to the resolution of passing another year 
 in Edinburgh, as the political situation of the Con- 
 tinent is still unfavourable to travellers, and as in 
 that time he may prosecute pretty far his mathe- 
 matical studies under Mr. Playfair. He has chal- 
 lenged me to continue during this ensuing year our 
 studies of philosophical logic in the works of Lord 
 Bacon; and likewise proposed that we should read 
 together Smith's ' Wealth of Nations.' I have agreed 
 to both proposals. His more intimate acquaintance 
 with many facts in the interior situation of the 
 country, in consequence of having travelled a great 
 deal both in England and in Scotland, will contribute 
 a large portion of illustrations which will be valuable 
 to me in the progress of the investigation. I hope to 
 date from this day the commencement of a regular 
 course of political economy. 
 
 " April 30th. — Worked this forenoon at an answer 
 to a representation * , the commencement of my sum- 
 mer session ; but did not finish it, as Redclie called 
 upon me. A good deal of instruction may be derived 
 from his conversation upon general subjects of law; 
 for he has studied the theory of his profession most 
 conscientiously as to application, and with a consider- 
 able portion of the philosophical spirit. In the after- 
 noon, Lord Webb and I made our second attack upon 
 Smith's 'Wealth of Nations ;' and finished, for the pre- 
 sent, the subject of the Division of Labour. Our 
 mode of reading is, first to go through each chapter 
 with a minute attention to the accuracy of the argu- 
 
 * A paper for the Court.
 
 158 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. ment, endeavouring at the same time to recollect all 
 j Et 03 the illustrations by which we can either confirm, con- 
 tradict, or modify his general principles : when we 
 have read as many chapters as make a complete sub- 
 ject of itself, we review the whole in a more general 
 manner, and take a note of such subjects of fu- 
 ture investigation as seem necessary to complete the 
 theory. 
 
 " It may be proper here to mention, that I have for 
 some days past been in the practice of turning over, 
 for an hour, not more, after dinner, any of those 
 books in my room which are likely to present authen- 
 tic facts, which may be turned to account in the phi- 
 losophy of commerce and political economy. I wish 
 to impose it upon myself as a rule not to listen to 
 any fact, without an attempt at least to refer it to 
 some general principle; thus reversing the order to 
 which I subject the train of my thoughts when I read 
 any general or theoretical treatise, and allow myself 
 to admit no general principle, without summoning all 
 the details of particular illustration which my memory 
 can furnish. 
 
 " May 2>d. — In the forenoon read with Seymour 
 one half of Bacon's disquisition, De Justitid Universali. 
 The profound and comprehensive views, which are 
 sketched in the Prooemium of this disquisition, are 
 justly considered, by Dugald Stewart, as the most re- 
 markable flight to which the genius of Bacon soared 
 above the science and sentiments of the times in 
 which he lived : while the liberal and discriminating 
 good sense which pervades all the aphorisms in the 
 sequel of the treatise, illustrates the success of a vi- 
 gorous and original mind, when its energies are con- 
 centrated upon a professional subject, and proves that 
 the powers of Bacon were no less qualified to liberalise
 
 JOURNAL. 159 
 
 the details of minute arrangement, than to extend isoi. 
 and enlighten the bounds of general speculation. m^2S. 
 What a loss to the science and to the practice of juris- 
 prudence, that he did not prosecute the subject which 
 he has opened up in so pleasing a manner; and upon 
 which, as it had occupied the thoughts of his whole 
 life, the labour of composition must have consisted in 
 mere remembrance rather than invention ! It would 
 have been no less interesting, had he communicated 
 his ideas with regard to the theory of government : 
 for he has stated so well that principle of expediency 
 and of mutual sympathy, from which laws derive 
 their sanction, that he could scarcely have failed to 
 extend the same view to the foundations of the impe- 
 rial authority. It is possible, indeed, that the pre- 
 judices of the age, or rather of the reign in which he 
 lived, might be wrought into his habits of thinking, 
 in consequence of the habits of conversation and be- 
 haviour to which it was necessary for a courtier and 
 political lawyer of that reign to submit. But the 
 awkward, forced, and artificial manner, in which he 
 apologises to his readers for observing a total silence 
 upon the subject of government, renders it more pro- 
 bable that even in that walk of meditation his genius 
 preserved its liberty, however he might demean him- 
 self by a slavish observance of fashionable opinions, 
 or by a still more unworthy concealment of his real 
 sentiments from posterity. 
 
 " This afternoon I gave a second or third sitting to 
 the doctrine of the French Economists, which I per- 
 ceive will cost me many an hour before I comprehend 
 their meaning in the first place, and in the next 
 place form my opinion on the justness of their prin- 
 ciples. I have not yet been able to procure Quesnai's 
 original work. I can understand Turgot's treatise
 
 IQQ JOURNAL 
 
 1801. on the formation and distribution of riches, but I 
 
 ^ Et 23 see no reason to admit his doctrines ; but as to Mira- 
 
 beau's Philosophic Rurale, of which I have read a 
 
 few chapters, I can scarcely attach a meaning to his 
 
 terms. 
 
 " May 9th. — I have for two or three days past been 
 under the influence of my periodic fit of appetite for 
 poetry and composition. I have read with close at- 
 tention Burke's two speeches on American affairs; 
 not at all with reference to the historical controversy, 
 but in order to study this celebrated writer's style of 
 composition. While I had Burke in one hand, I held 
 in the other Sir Joshua's Discourses ; endeavouring to 
 apply to my art the admirable criticisms which he de- 
 livers upon painting. I have constantly referred to the 
 liberal precepts which he urges with regard to the 
 study and imitation of great masters ; and I repose 
 with confidence on the idea, that the general rules of 
 excellence in all the arts are the same. Reynolds 
 himself informs us, that he received lessons on paint- 
 ing from conversation with Johnson upon poetry. 
 
 " May 10th. — This morning we finished Bacon's 
 work, De Dignit. et Augm. Sc. It is right to consider 
 the profit I have received from the very careful pe- 
 rusal which I have given to this celebrated treatise. 
 I believe it has benefited my mind in a very important 
 degree. It has indeed added very little to my stock 
 of information, except that I caught a few scattered 
 and general sketches of the state of the sciences at 
 that period : for it has taught me less than I expected 
 with regard to the peculiar principles of the Baconian 
 logic; and the arrangement of the sciences, upon 
 which the composition of the work is founded, appears 
 to me not only objectionable in many particulars, but 
 upon the whole of very trifling utility. I have de-
 
 JOURNAL. 1GL 
 
 rived, however, from the treatise on the Proficiency I801. 
 and Advancement of Learning, improvement of a clif- 2Et. 23. 
 ferent and perhaps higher nature : at least I am dis- 
 posed to imagine that, in frequenting so long the 
 company of this illustrious man, I could scarcely fail 
 to contract, by the mere contagion of sympathy and 
 by force of habit, some feeble portion of his digni- 
 fied manner, and a certain degree of facility in the 
 application of his enlightened principles. I cannot 
 mortify myself so much as to believe that, in subjects 
 of philosophy, my imagination has not received some 
 enlargement, my temper been so far liberalised and 
 my taste refined, by the energy and eloquence with 
 which he repeats so many varied pictures of the ob- 
 ject, the extent, and the power of knowledge; when 
 he persuades that the ultimate end of science is the 
 increase of individual virtue and public felicity, and 
 insists that this benevolent conviction, joined to the 
 unbiassed love of truth, are the manly motives which 
 justify scientific enthusiasm, and insure scientific suc- 
 cess; when, from that lofty eminence on which he 
 surveyed all the regions of learning, he describes the 
 field of useful and of practicable inquiry to be as un- 
 bounded as the universe of nature ; when he declares 
 his noble confidence in the powers and perfectibility 
 of genius, and piercing with an eagle eye the pros- 
 pects of futurity, ventures, in those sublime prophecies 
 of which we have already in part beheld the fulfil- 
 ment, to anticipate the progress and discoveries of 
 the human race. It must likewise be remembered that, 
 amidst all this generous enthusiasm, he is constantly 
 aware that enthusiasm alone is inefficient, and that 
 judicious good-sense is an essential ingredient of ge- 
 nius ; he anxiously reminds the philosopher that, it is 
 not his sport to soar among the clouds, but his busi- 
 vol. 1. M
 
 1Q2 JOURNAL. 
 
 ]8oi. ness to labour on the surface of the earth; and at the 
 Et 2:3 very time that he inflames our emulation by clothing 
 philosophy in attributes that belong to immortality, 
 he domesticates her charms to our cooler judgment, 
 by the admirable intermixture of those plain and 
 concise maxims, which an enlightened experience in 
 study and an acute observation of the world had sug- 
 gested to himself. 
 
 " May 11th. — To-morrow commences the summer 
 session of the Court : and I have come to a very po- 
 sitive resolution of devoting almost the whole of the 
 ensuing two months to professional studies. 
 
 " Habits of professional business, and even of profes- 
 sional study, are yet all to form ; I must make them 
 an object of particular reflection. The morning pro- 
 menade of the Outer House may, I trust, be turned 
 to some account; it ought to present inexhaustible 
 materials of observation upon the means of excellence, 
 and upon the risks of bad habits ; and it surely fur- 
 nishes an opportunity of practising the lesson which 
 Reynolds so forcibly recommends, of studying our 
 own art and profession by the minds of other men. 
 
 " Having been appointed commissioner to take a 
 proof, (a new employment for me), I studied this af- 
 ternoon for four hours the rules of parole evidence, 
 and the disqualification of witnesses : I read part of 
 Erskine's Title of Probation, my notes from Hume's 
 lectures upon this subject, and glanced over some parts 
 of Buller's ' Nisi Prius.' 
 
 " May lQth. — I can look back on the manner in 
 which I have occupied myself during the whole of this 
 week, with some satisfaction ; for I have studied law 
 very diligently, and allowed nothing to interfere with 
 it, except the reading of Smith's ' Wealth of Nations ' 
 with Lord Webb, on Tuesday and Friday forenoons. I
 
 JOURNAL. 163 
 
 cannot say, that my application to law this week has isoi. 
 been as productive of information as it has been pri- j^ T 2 3. 
 vative of all other acquisitions ; for I do not feel that 
 I have yet set heartily to it. My studies have been 
 partly with reference to business before the Court, and 
 partly of a general nature ; under the last head I in- 
 clude Ersldne's Title of Probation, and half of the 
 first book of Bell on Bankruptcy. How I long for 
 to-morrow, to expand myself in the speculations of 
 the Novum Organum! 
 
 " May 24th. — The account I have to render of last 
 week resembles the preceding, which I deem rather a 
 favourable symptom of amendment. My studies of 
 law have been entirely general, to the neglect of two 
 Session Papers, the compilation of which I have idly 
 procrastinated from day to day. I have studied some- 
 thing more of the bankrupt law, and begin to catch 
 hold of some principles ; and in consequence of attend- 
 ding the bar of the Inner House, I have been led to 
 reflect a little on the proper style of pleading, but 
 have not yet fixed my taste. I am rather inclined to 
 prefer a close, elegant, didactic form; in which orna- 
 mental imagery is very sparingly indulged, and of 
 which the predominating character is clearness, com- 
 prehension, and originality of argumentative arrange- 
 ment; the language ought to be pure, perspicuous, 
 and flowing ; and as the sentiments most frequently 
 and most effectually urged, are of the satirical class, 
 particularly contempt and indignation, the pleader 
 should cultivate that manly, liberal, and apparently 
 constrained expression of them, which secures the 
 sympathy of his audience. 
 
 " We have been under the necessity of suspend- 
 ing our progress in the perusal of the ' Wealth 
 of Nations,' on account of the insurmountable dif- 
 
 m 2
 
 1G4 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. ficulties, obscurity, and embarrassment in which 
 2F.T.2;}. the reasonings of the 5th chapter are involved. 
 It is amusing to recollect the history of one's feelings 
 on a matter of this kind : many years ago, when I 
 first read the ' Wealth of Nations,' the whole of the 
 first book appeared to me as perspicuous as it was 
 interesting and new. Some time afterwards, while I 
 lived in England *, I attempted to make an abstract 
 of Smith's principal reasonings ; but I was impeded 
 by the doctrine of the real measure of value, and the 
 distinction between nominal and real price : the dis- 
 covery that I did not understand Smith, speedily led 
 me to doubt whether Smith understood himself, and 
 I thought I saw that the price of labour was the same 
 sort of thing as the price of any other commodity ; 
 but the discussion was too hard for me, and I fled to 
 something more agreeable because more easy. The 
 next incident that I can recollect of this narrative, is 
 the pleasure I received from finding in a pamphlet by 
 Lord Lauderdale, of which Professor Dalzel gave me 
 a copy, that what had puzzled me appeared decidedly 
 erroneous to him, and was rejected Avithout ceremony. 
 Mr. Stewart also devoted an elaborate lecture to this 
 curious subject; his refutation of Smith's argument 
 appeared to me at the time demonstrative, but the 
 principles he proposed to substitute were not quite so 
 satisfactory. The subject has again come before me, 
 and I hope, with Lord Webb's aid, not to quit it 
 without making something of it. In utter despair, 
 however, of conducting the investigation successfully 
 without more materials than Smith furnishes, we 
 have betaken ourselves to some treatises in which the 
 doctrine of money is examined in a more elementary 
 
 * He thus appears to have read the "Wealth of Nations" before he was 
 seventeen years of age. — Ed.
 
 JOURNAL. 165 
 
 manner. We are at present engaged with Rice isol. 
 Vaughan's little book.* iET.23. 
 
 " In prosecution of our Baconian studies, we read 
 last Sunday the different prefaces and introductions 
 to the Instauratio Magna. To-day we began the 
 Cogitata et Visa, as an introduction to the Novum 
 Organum, by the advice of Mr. Stewart to Lord 
 Webb; he told him that Adam Smith used to say, 
 that the whole of Lord Bacon's views were to be 
 found compressed in the treatise of Cogitata et Visa. 
 The whole of this evening, till I began to write this 
 long article, I delighted myself in solitary meditation 
 over a few pages of Bacon. 
 
 " June 11th. — Since I entered my last record, my 
 application has been chiefly to law, and that in a 
 desultory manner, which is alone practicable during 
 the time of session. I have been directed in my 
 different excursions, not by the necessities of business 
 alone, but by the occasional temptations of curiosity; 
 in the indulgence of which, I have even dipped into 
 the repositories of English jurisprudence, where I 
 have fancied myself enlightened and pleased by the 
 manner as well as the substance. 
 
 " I have gone on reading Bacon with Lord Webb, 
 but our economical speculations have been much 
 interrupted by the incomplete command which I at 
 present possess over the disposition of my hours. 
 
 " I have again been visited by the passion for com- 
 position and fine writing, and I feed the resolution, 
 and mature the plan, of acquiring an habitual fluency 
 of correct, forcible and ornamental expression. With 
 this view, I have made out a list of the authors, in 
 
 * " A Discourse of Coin and Coinage, by Rice Vaughan, late of Gray's 
 Inn, Esq. 1675." On Mr. Horner's copy of the book he has made this 
 note, " Written in 1623, and first published in 1655." — Ed. 
 
 M 3
 
 1GG JOURNAL. 
 
 isoi. different languages, whose works comprehend the 
 j£ T 23. various models of taste and genius; and I have rioted 
 an hour or two to-day in the enjoyment of one or 
 other. I have made it a subject of particular and 
 painful attention to form in my mind a conception of 
 the proper mode of pursuing this study ; and it puzzles 
 me much, where to point the medium which shall be 
 equally distant from vitious imitation of any one 
 author, and from a motley patchwork of inconsistent 
 excellences, where to mark the line of true elegance, 
 between affected simplicity and affected ornament. 
 I will take care to describe the result as soon as I 
 prove more successful. 
 
 " June 21st. — My law studies continue still to be 
 occasional and irregular, which will never make me a 
 lawyer; at least of that knowledge which I have the 
 ambition to possess, and of that eminence which I 
 aspire to reach. If I do not execute in part my 
 schemes of systematic study during the ensuing vaca- 
 tion, all those magnificent hopes are unsubstantial and 
 impertinent. 
 
 " For a few days past I have been reading a little 
 of Father Paul's History of the Council of Trent; and 
 am highly delighted with the unembarrassed perspi- 
 cuity of the narrative, the good sense and precision 
 with which the various reasonings and views of the 
 different parties are stated, and, above all, the sub- 
 lime impartiality and temper which holds so fair a 
 balance with such steadiness of hand.* This perusal 
 I have already felt so far profitable, not only by im- 
 
 * "Father Paul, of Venice, is perhaps the only person educated in a 
 cloister, that ever was altogether superior to its prejudices, or who viewed 
 the transactions of men, and reasoned concerning the interests of society, 
 with the enlarged sentiments of a philosopher, with the discernment of a 
 man conversant in affairs, and with the liberality of a gentleman." — Ro- 
 bertson's Charles V., Book vi.
 
 JOURNAL. 167 
 
 parting improved sentiments of historical taste, but 180L 
 by leading to some personal comparisons of a still iE-r.23. 
 more interesting kind. The transactions, as well as 
 the characters, by which the period of the Reforma- 
 tion was distinguished, suggest a very obvious applica- 
 tion to the recent events by which the public mind 
 has been agitated. 
 
 " June 28th This forenoon I read over by my- 
 self the treatise of Bacon entitled Cogitata et Visa. 
 It is an admirable specimen of his style, both in com- 
 position and in thought; and is more free of that 
 quaintness and childish ornament by which he fre- 
 quently spoils the finest passages in his works. It 
 has very much the air of a finished performance ; as 
 there is great correctness in the diction, and a con- 
 siderable degree of skill in the disposition of the parts. 
 It contains little more than a hint of the plan of phi- 
 losophical logic by which he reformed the sciences; 
 but displays a masterly sketch of the state of philo- 
 sophy in his time, and a bold delineation of those pro- 
 visions which nature has made in the adjustment of 
 human affairs for the indefinite progression of know- 
 ledge. After the perusal of this admirable treatise, I 
 scarcely expect to find any thing new in the pleasing 
 and profound declamations of Condorcet and Dugald 
 Stewart. If it be true that the compositions of Bacon 
 are scarcely at all read in his native country, I could 
 not devise a more effectual charm to revive a tuste 
 which ought never to have declined, than a just trans- 
 lation of the Cogitata et Visa. When Hume denied 
 this author the praise of eloquence, he must either 
 have forgot that such a work issued from his pen ; or 
 that profound observations, clothed with enlarged 
 sentiments and the images of a copious and exquisite 
 
 m 4
 
 168 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. fancy, will fully compensate the want of idiomatic 
 -ZEt. 23. purity, or a rhetorical structure of periods. 
 
 " July 15th. — I have now commenced the studies 
 of the long vacation ; and the few days that are already 
 gone have been passed in a miscellaneous and pleasing 
 relaxation. Professor Pictet of Geneva passed through 
 Edinburgh lately, and I spent two afternoons in his 
 company ; so far as his physiognomy and very general 
 conversation could inform me, I imagine him to have 
 a very active and perhaps ingenious mind, rather 
 than a genius of a reflective turn. I ran through 
 Sotheby's translation of Wieland's Oberon, with the 
 youthful rapacity which devours an Arabian tale ; the 
 composition of the fiction is both absurd and clumsy, 
 but there are parts which are executed with great 
 warmth of fancy, and in which the translator has 
 commanded all the varieties of rich expression. This 
 afternoon, I read De Lille's Preface to the new edition 
 of Les Jar dins ; which is disfigured by childish vanity, 
 and by a dotard and querulous egotism ; but contains 
 some enchanting passages. I then read Boileau's 
 U Art Poetique, in which I found less novelty than I 
 expected, as I had never read it before ; but his Pre- 
 face to his Poems breathes a masculine strength of 
 judgment. 
 
 " But Law must form my principal occupation. I 
 have taken up the forms of Actions, and have already 
 brought together in my head the materials of a short 
 dissertation on the history of our Summonses. I have 
 no intention to commit it to paper, except in a very 
 condensed note. I begin to perceive that, though all 
 knowledge of municipal law must be sought for in the 
 books of authorities, yet the system is not to be traced 
 in the order of any of our books, but by an original 
 arrangement, gradually and obstinately matured.
 
 JOURNAL. 169 
 
 " In the evening I walked with De Roche*, who, isoi. 
 with a great portion of general intelligence, is very j£ T ,23. 
 actively engaged in the study of the physical and 
 medical sciences. He gave me some curious inform- 
 ation with regard to the canton of Berne, in which he 
 resided for some time. 
 
 " July 30th. — I have been reading a good deal 
 since I entered the last notice, but not with the regu- 
 larity which I have so often enjoined to myself, and 
 always to no purpose. I still must plead guilty to 
 negligence of law ; I proceeded for some days with 
 tolerable vigour and interest in studying the forms of 
 process, till I found it necessary to write a paper 
 which I had put off from time to time. This had no 
 farther effect than to stop my legal studies almost en- 
 tirely ; for the narrative of this paper was so long and 
 so disgusting, that after I finished it I laid the whole 
 aside, and have done nothing since. 
 
 " My studies in political economy (which I compare 
 twice a week with Lord AYebb, though the compass I 
 take in is much wider than he has at present time for, 
 and more in detail than it would be consistent with his 
 plans of life to prosecute), have gone on with more 
 regularity. The theory of metallic or coined money 
 is my present subject; and while Seymour reads with 
 me Rice Vaughan's admirable little treatise, to which 
 we were driven in consequence of stumbling at Smith's 
 fifth chapter, I am going through Harris, Bodin, 
 Lowndes, Locke, &c. 
 
 " But I must confess that all my active enthusiasm 
 has been employed on books of taste. The projects 
 of historical composition are uppermost in my mind ; 
 the ambition for eloquence in pleading being remem- 
 
 * Dr. De Roche, of Geneva, then a student of medicine at Edinburgh.
 
 170 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. berecl only in the second place. But, it is not in the 
 j£ T 23> models of the great historians that I have been lately 
 purifying my taste and enlarging my conceptions of 
 composition : I have read two or three tragedies of 
 Corneille, in Voltaire's excellent edition, and have 
 alternately yielded my imagination to those magnifi- 
 cent swelling views of character which the poet has 
 sketched, and then cooled this heroic fervour in the 
 correct and judicious suggestions of the masterly 
 critic. I have likewise read some passages of Pope's 
 Moral Essays with more care and increased delight. 
 The prefaces of De Lille to his several publications 
 imparted to me, though often perused before, some 
 new judgments and new feelings. I endeavoured to 
 study, for it cost no effort to read, Marmontel's 
 Politique Francaise ; there are some excellent obser- 
 vations, but all didactic books of general criticism are 
 to me unsatisfactory and feeble, except those which 
 great artists themselves have condescended to publish ; 
 Cicero's Dialogues, ' De Oratore] and Reynolds's Dis- 
 courses and Notes on Fresnoi, are almost the only 
 works of this kind to which I return with increased 
 curiosity, and leave with increasing regret. — I have 
 thus endeavoured to sketch the manner in which I 
 endeavour to inhale at the original sources, those 
 draughts of ethereal inspiration — ' quce veniunt in aura 
 lent. 1 I am conscious of some feeble improvement ; 
 the dawn becomes gradually more clear and more 
 bright ; I discover excellences which I did not see 
 before, and enjoy the perception of that species of 
 beauty with a sentiment which I had not anticipated. 
 I read over two days ago the oration of Cicero, Pro 
 Ligurio, and felt myself, in some slight degree capable 
 of discriminating the delicacy, elegance, and masterly 
 artifice with which that composition abounds. In a
 
 JOURNAL. 171 
 
 much slighter degree, I fancied myself able to distin- isoi. 
 guish the beauties and defects of a picture, which I j£ T . 24. 
 saw the same day at Leith, and which is said to be the 
 production of Luca Giordano. In the foregoing nar- 
 rative of the works of taste which have recently passed 
 through my hands, I have omitted to mention a small 
 publication by Uvedale Price, which contains an essay 
 on Mr. Burke's account of Beauty, and a dialogue on 
 the distinct characters of the Beautiful and the Pic- 
 turesque ; I received from both a considerable portion 
 of entertainment, and was led to many reflections on 
 subjects of taste in which I have a more immediate 
 interest : it is of great importance to generalise our 
 conceptions of excellence, and to bring all the great 
 masters of poetry, of painting, and even of artificial 
 landscape, under contribution to the improvement of 
 prose composition. 
 
 " September 6th. — During this interval, I have been 
 reading much more constantly than for a long time, 
 though not much more systematically; I have been 
 entirely immersed in law, political economy, and his- 
 tory; and have scarcely felt a moment's inclination 
 to read either eloquence or poetry. As to political 
 economy, I have not yet arranged the subject of 
 money, nor reduced to analytic order either the facts 
 or the queries which I have accumulated. I have 
 taken a cursory view of the reign of Elizabeth of 
 England in Hume's agreeable narrative, and in the 
 valuable Journal of D'Ewes : some economical spe- 
 culations led me to this, but my attention was more 
 forcibly attracted by the dawn of English freedom 
 and of parliamentary privilege in the rude debates of 
 the House of Commons ; I have been hitherto utterly 
 ignorant of Yelverton and Wentworth, those intrepid 
 Puritans, whose independent character is equally
 
 172 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. marked by the fanatical innovations in which they 
 JEt 24 deviated from the prejudices of their own age, and 
 by those manly sentiments of liberty in which they 
 rose superior to all prejudice. The history of the 
 Puritans, and the gradual progress of their influence 
 in the House of Commons, throws a strong and clear 
 light on the nativity of the English constitution. 
 
 " My late discussions in law have been chiefly of an 
 antiquarian cast. I ran over hastily Lord Hailes's 
 Annals, and perused with more attention his disser- 
 tations on the antiquity of the Leges Malcolmi and 
 Regiam Majestatem; it has given me much disap- 
 pointment to find, not that these books are less 
 ancient than was once held out, but that it is almost 
 impossible to assign them any positive date. Some 
 investigations, into which this subject seduced me, 
 convinced me how readily I should fall into an 
 exclusive taste for the minute, easy, and valuable 
 labours of the historical antiquary. I have likewise 
 acquired a general view of the election law of Scot- 
 land, in Wight's very distinct and ample treatise; 
 and from this likewise I was conducted to the po- 
 lemical antiquities of the national parliaments. For 
 the just comprehension of this interesting branch of 
 legal erudition, I shall be more fully prepared, after 
 I have established a more familiar acquaintance with 
 the feudal customs of Scotland, and with the general 
 history of the government and the jurisprudence 
 which were founded upon the ruins of the Roman 
 empire. As this more general and speculative view 
 diffuses great perspicuity on the professional and 
 technical examination, I propose to carry on the 
 two together ; and indeed have already plunged deep 
 into the controversy, which has been managed with 
 such superior skill by those great masters of feudal
 
 JOURNAL. 173 
 
 history, — Boulainvilliers, Dubos, Montesquieu, and isoi. 
 Mably. ^24. 
 
 " September 22d I have lately spent two or three 
 
 evenings in the company of James Mackintosh, author 
 of the Vindicice Gallicce, who was in Edinburgh for 
 two or three days, and lived almost entirely with 
 Sydney Smith. To one resident in the stagnation or 
 poverty of Edinburgh conversation, the beaux-esprits 
 of London are entertaining and instructive novelties. 
 
 " November 23d. — I have lately composed several 
 papers for the Court of Session, and begin to feel an 
 enjoyment, which I did not expect, from that state of 
 mind which the investigation of a legal question 
 induces. The analysis of an obscure generality, the 
 application of subtle distinctions, the developement 
 of probability from a mass of evidence, the appre- 
 hension of a whole case in one simple view and in a 
 broad light, not only summon the intellectual powers 
 into activity, but impart, in a considerable degree, 
 that pleasurable interest which rewards exertion. 
 It would be important to examine in general the 
 principles of logic, according to which those four pro- 
 cesses of investigation might be conducted in the 
 most efficient manner. 
 
 " I ought not to have so long overlooked the notice 
 of some views which have occupied my mind, during 
 the greater part of the late vacation. Though I 
 become daily more attached to law as a study, I 
 become daily more averse to the practice of the Scots 
 Court. There are certain circumstances positively 
 disagreeable both in the manner in which business is 
 conducted, and in the manner in which success is 
 attained; and these disadvantages are rendered the 
 less tolerable, after comparison with the courts of the 
 South. To speak out at once, therefore, whether it
 
 174 JOURNAL. 
 
 1801. be foolish restlessness or ambition, I have for some 
 ^E T< 04. time entertained serious thoughts of removing to 
 another sphere of action, and of staking my chance in 
 the great but hazardous game of the English bar. 
 It would take a great deal more patience than I have 
 at present, to commit to paper the various views in 
 which this plan has presented itself to my mind ; as 
 it occurs daily to my meditation, another opportunity 
 will present itself for recording those sentiments of 
 which I should be glad to preserve the history. At 
 present, I shall only notice, that I came some time 
 ago to the resolution of paying a visit to London in 
 the Spring vacation, where, after a closer view of the 
 scene, I shall form my final determination. 
 
 "December lUh. — Five hours and three quarters 
 at law (Hume's Crim. vol. i. p. 306 — 390.), com- 
 paring occasionally the texts of Blackstone and Hale. 
 In the interval after dinner, I took a cursory peru- 
 sal of Burnet's biographical account of Sir Matthew 
 Hale; which I had not read since I lived in Eng- 
 land, five years ago. It filled me at that time, I re- 
 member, with enthusiasm ; I contemplate the prodigy 
 of labour now with a more sober sentiment ; not par- 
 taking less of admiration, but somewhat more of 
 despair. I have at the beginning of this note set 
 down five hours and three quarters as the portion of 
 this day which I occupied with law; and perhaps I 
 should not have set it down, if I had not silently 
 given myself some credit for an effort : for, though I 
 begin now to follow out the details of jurisprudence 
 with more interest in proportion as I have approached 
 towards a systematic view of my general plans, yet 
 there are still several subjects of which I cannot 
 always resist the seductions. What then can I 
 think or feel, to be told that ' Hale studied for many
 
 JOURNAL. 175 
 
 years at the rate of sixteen hours a day, and when he isoi. 
 was weary with the study of the law, used to recreate j£ T 2 4. 
 himself with philosophy or the mathematics ! ' I have 
 heard, from very good authority, that when Hume 
 was engaged in the composition of his history, he 
 generally worked thirteen hours a day. These mi- 
 racles are mortifying to me ; for, independent of having 
 selected a profession in which labour alone will con- 
 duct to eminence, I am conscious that from plodding 
 and judicious diligence I have the only chance of me- 
 riting excellence in any line : yet neither my mind nor 
 body is equal to such Herculean achievements. 
 
 " December 30th. — During the first part of the 
 recess I have been lounging in some of the more 
 pleasing walks of literature. I read Stewart's Life 
 of Robertson, which is a very elegant and agree- 
 able production ; and contains one or two passages 
 executed in Stewart's happiest manner. Upon the 
 whole, I do not think him successful in biographical 
 composition ; his conceptions of character, though 
 formed with comprehensive design, want that indivi- 
 duality to which the painter of portraits must descend. 
 His genius for writing belongs to a higher class, but is 
 confined to that; he is not qualified to be the first 
 of an inferior class. This book led me to give some 
 evenings to the study of Robertson's style ; in pursuit 
 of which I read, with renewed and increasing plea- 
 sure, the second and fourth books of his History of 
 America. Meeting accidentally with Dobson's Life 
 of Petrarca, I was tempted to consult the original 
 work from which it is abridged, the Memoirs, in 
 3 vols. 4to., by the Abbe Sade; and this of course led 
 to the perusal of several sonnets and canzones, as well 
 as of many parts of the Latin works of Petrarca. These 
 I had never seen before. They gave me very great
 
 176 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. pleasure, both on account of the intrinsic merit of his 
 ^E T . 24. letters, &c. in point of composition, and because they 
 throw a broad and clear light over that delightful 
 period in the history of letters, when the taste for the 
 writings of antiquity was just revived, and scholars 
 regarded each precious MS. that was successively 
 recovered as an inestimable benefit to mankind. I 
 should think that there are abundant materials for an 
 historical sketch of the progressive recovery of the 
 ancient writings, and I know scarcely a subject that 
 would prove more interesting to scholars ; as it would 
 admit of so much collateral ornament from biographi- 
 cal anecdotes. Such a sketch, however, would pro- 
 bably appear to most advantage in a general account 
 of the revival of letters ; — a noble subject, the neglect 
 of which bears an imputation against the gratitude as 
 well as the judgment of all those who, in the present 
 age, owe the light and the blessings of literature to 
 their indefatigable predecessors. 
 
 " February 15th. — I have been a good deal en- 
 gaged in writing Session papers, and in studying the 
 points of law which they required. I become daily 
 more reconciled to professional pursuits, and daily 
 more resolved to remove the scene of my professional 
 ambition to London. 
 
 " My studies with Lord Webb have been languid 
 in the ' Wealth of Nations,' but persevering and pro- 
 ductive in the Novum Organum. We shall finish it, 
 I hope, before I leave town. 
 
 " Every day I indulge myself a little, generally for 
 an hour after dinner, with works of literature and 
 models of composition. La Harpe's Cours de laLitte- 
 rature, Goldsmith's prose writings, and Burke's ini- 
 mitable pamphlets, are the books of this kind which I 
 have most recently perused.
 
 JOURNAL. 177 
 
 " March 1th. — This day Lord Webb and I read 1802. 
 Lord Bacon, I am afraid for the last time ; I go to ^Et. 24. 
 London in a few days, and by the time I return, he 
 will be prepared to bid farewell to Scotland. We 
 have not finished the Novum Organum, having got no 
 farther than that part of the ■ second book in which 
 the author begins to illustrate the prerogatives in- 
 stantiarum ; but we have worked very accurately 
 through the whole of what we have read, and pre- 
 pared ourselves tolerably well for the study of the 
 Baconian logic upon an enlarged plan, by an atten- 
 tive study of what may be called its grammar or 
 rudiments. I must take some future opportunity of 
 examining, retrospectively, the kind as well as degree 
 of improvement which these studies with Seymour 
 have purchased ; that it is considerable I cannot en- 
 tertain a doubt. Independent of the noble subject to 
 which it directed my attention for so considerable a 
 space of time, I must have learned something from 
 the manner and habits of my companion. He is in- 
 deed very slow in apprehension, partly from what 
 may be called a want of energy, or at least imagin- 
 ation, partly too from principle and voluntary habit ; 
 but then he possesses, in an eminent degree, the truly 
 philosophic qualities of scrupulous caution, uncon- 
 querable patience, unclouded candour. From this 
 crisis of our studies what different roads we are 
 to follow! His life devoted to speculative labour 
 and scientific accumulation ; mine immersed, si sic 
 fata, in the passing ephemeral details of professional 
 activity. He has the prospect, and the resolution, 
 before him, of persevering through all the general 
 reasonings of Lord Bacon's philosophy, and all the 
 pleasing illustrations that can be culled from every 
 field of science. I must content myself in that de- 
 vol. 1. n
 
 178 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. partment with imperfect knowledge, and with the 
 
 JEt 24 chance of assimilating some portion of philosophy to 
 
 the mass of practical information, and of infusing 
 
 something of the spirit of liberal science into the gross 
 
 and unformed details of business. 
 
 " London. 
 
 " March 25th. — I have now been in London a few 
 days, where I am come to form my decision with 
 respect to professional plans. I shall not have an 
 opportunity to see the interior of the courts, because 
 those of Common Law are at present shut ; and the 
 proceedings in Chancery afford little information to 
 a spectator. But I hope to see a good deal of the 
 society of lawyers, which cannot fail to furnish much 
 matter for reflections of a personal nature. 
 
 " As there is no reason why I should not be con- 
 fidential to myself at least, it is proper I should 
 confess, ere I forget it, that my resolution is almost 
 matured, and was nearly so before I left Scotland. 
 A conversation I had with Dugald Stewart gave at 
 length a firmness to my own inclinations ; and unless 
 I see reason to believe it an imprudent sacrifice to 
 ambition, I mean to enter myself in one of the Inns 
 of Court before I leave town. 
 
 " This morning I went to an exhibition of pictures, 
 on sale at Bryant's in Pall Mall ; they are the works 
 of the great masters. The great works of science, 
 and the models of literary composition, are made 
 common to all latitudes of the globe, by the art of 
 printing ; an Elzevir, or a stereotype edition of Virgil, 
 is to be found in every town and village of Scotland, 
 as well as in the great capitals of Europe. But the 
 divine productions of genius in the art of painting 
 are confined to the seats of opulence. I am entirely 
 ignorant, perhaps fortunately so, of the art and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 1 7 9 
 
 phraseology of connoisseurship ; but I receive a delight, 1802. 
 which I can neither express distinctly, nor analyse, j Et 24 
 from certain works which I have beheld in the several 
 departments of the fine arts. York Minster, which 
 I visited on my journey to town, and which I paced 
 with considerable emotion for an hour or two, set 
 my thoughts to work on the composition of orations 
 and histories; and the same train of reflection was 
 this day excited by some landscapes of Salvator Rosa 
 and Poussin, and some portraits of Titian. The 
 original creations of the human mind, in any one 
 field of exertion, enlarge our powers of imagination 
 and correct our sensibilities, in any other field in 
 which we may be ambitious to strive." 
 
 Letter XX VII. FROM THE HON. JAMES ABERCROMBY* 
 TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 My dear Seymour, London, 29 th March, 1802. 
 
 I was very happy not only to receive your 
 letter, but also to see Horner. You will doubtless 
 be very anxious to hear what impression he has 
 made on the people who have seen him. As yet the 
 only person to whom I have had an opportunity of 
 introducing him, is a very particular friend of mine, 
 of the name of Whishaw.f If I attempted to give 
 you a particular account of his character, I should 
 probably fail in giving you a just impression of it ; 
 and if I indulge in general remarks, you would 
 accuse me of partiality. I shall therefore only say 
 that I hold him to be a most excellent critic, and 
 accurate in his opinions of characters. He was very 
 
 * The present Lord Dunfermline, and late Speaker of the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 f John Whishaw, Esq. of the Chancery bar ; afterwards one of the 
 Commissioners for Auditing the Public Accounts. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1802. much pleased with what he saw of Horner, because 
 2g T 24 he found him well-informed, unaffected in his man- 
 ners, and rational in his opinions. Considering, 
 therefore, how little he has seen of this Northern 
 Light, your partiality cannot be offended with these 
 observations. 
 
 Phillimore* invited Horner to breakfast, and anti- 
 cipated me in introducing him to Hallam. I have 
 not seen the Doctor f since, but Horner thought well 
 of our friends. 
 
 Mackintosh had mentioned Horner to Whishaw in 
 terms of the greatest respect, and possibly he has 
 done so to some others of the liter ators whom he 
 will see before he returns to Edinburgh. You might 
 be very certain that I would exert myself as much 
 as possible to confirm Horner in his idea of removing 
 to this place. It cannot be denied that our pro- 
 fession is in many respects odious and disgusting. 
 It has, however, great merits ; and among the number, 
 the advantage of living in the metropolis holds a 
 distinguished place. Even if Horner should not find 
 himself disposed to make all the sacrifices which so 
 laborious a profession as that of the laAv requires, he 
 will certainly pass his time more agreeably in the 
 various and extensive society of London, than he 
 could possibly do in the narrower circle of the 
 northern capital. It is also to be considered, that 
 accident, and his own extraordinary merits, may con- 
 nect him with persons who may be disposed to put 
 him in situations where his acquirements may be 
 displayed with advantage to the public and with 
 honour to himself. If it is ever allowed to anv man 
 
 * Joseph Phillimore, D.C.L. 
 
 f The name by which Mr. Hallam was familiarly known amon"- his 
 Oxford friends.
 
 JOURNAL. 181 
 
 to act from his speculative views of futurity, it will 1802. 
 certainly be admitted, that these are times in which ^ T 2 4. 
 all persons fond of active and political lives would be 
 desirous to be in that place where the best inform- 
 ation, respecting the interesting events of the day, is 
 to be procured, and to be in the vicinity of a scene of 
 action which may eventually be so very important. 
 Horner and I have formed a plan of passing two or 
 three days at Cambridge; and I hope that nothing 
 will occur to interrupt it, as there is at present an 
 acquaintance of mine there, to whom I should wish 
 to introduce Horner, and who would show us the 
 nature of the society at that place, in the most sen- 
 sible and agreeable manner. The opportunity that I 
 have had of making further observations on Horner's 
 character has only increased my very great respect 
 for his talents and acquirements, and strengthened 
 my desire of cultivating his friendship. When you 
 find rational opinions and extensive information 
 united with integrity, amiableness of disposition, and 
 modesty in manners, the treasure is invaluable. I 
 cannot for a moment doubt that Horner's fame will 
 speedily be established; and if he feels disposed to 
 persevere, he will probably be equally successful in 
 his professional career. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 J. Arercromby. 
 
 Journal. " March Zlst. — I find it quite impossible 
 to keep a regular journal, as I once intended, during 
 my stay in London ; I shall therefore be content with 
 noting down shortly, when I can find time, such par- 
 ticulars as are worth preservation. 
 
 " I have been once to the Royal Institution, and 
 heard Davy lecture on animal substances to a mixed 
 
 n 3
 
 182 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. and large assembly of both sexes to tlie number, per- 
 ^ T 04. haps, of three hundred or more. It is a curious scene ; 
 the reflections it excites are of an ambiguous nature ; 
 for the prospect of possible good is mingled with the 
 observation of much actual folly. The audience is 
 assembled by the influence of fashion merely; and 
 fashion and chemistry form a very incongruous union. 
 At the same time, it is a trophy to the sciences ; one 
 great advance is made towards the association of female 
 with masculine minds in the pursuit of useful know- 
 ledge; and another domain of pleasing and liberal 
 inquiry is included within the range of polished con- 
 versation. Davy's style of lecturing is much in favour 
 of himself, though not, perhaps, entirely suited to the 
 place ; it has rather a little awkwardness, but it is that 
 air which bespeaks real modesty and good sense ; he 
 is only awkward because he cannot condescend to as- 
 sume that theatrical quackery of manner, which might 
 have a more imposing effect. This was my impression 
 from his lecture. I have since (April 2d) met Davy 
 in company, and was much pleased with him ; a great 
 softness and propriety of manner, which might be 
 cultivated into elegance ; his physiognomy struck me 
 as being superior to what the science of chemistry, on 
 its present plan, can afford exercise for ; I fancied to 
 discover in it the lineaments of poetical feeling. 
 
 " I have occasionally attended both the Court of 
 Chancery and the Cockpit. In the former I have 
 heard Mansfield*, a vigorous old man, and Romilly, 
 who stands at the head of the profession (as I am in- 
 formed by every one), both in point of legal accom- 
 plishments, general information, and respectability. 
 In consequence of a letter of introduction from Dugald 
 Stewart, I have seen and conversed with him for a 
 
 * Afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
 
 JOURNAL. 183 
 
 short time at his chambers. I understand he lived 1802. 
 very much with literary men in the earlier years of j Et< 24 . 
 his life, and at the same time gained high reputation 
 as a draughtsman ; it is highly gratifying to know, 
 that the two pursuits are not altogether incompatible. 
 At the Cockpit, where a committee of the privy council 
 decide prize appeals, I have heard Dr. Lawrence and 
 the Attorney- General Law. 
 
 " April 10th. — This day I dined at the King of 
 Clubs*, which meets monthly at the Crown and Anchor 
 in the Strand. The company consisted of Mackintosh, 
 Romilly, Whishaw, Abercromby, Sharp f, Scarlett J, 
 &c. Smith § is not yet come to town. The conver- 
 sation was very pleasing ; it consisted chiefly of lite- 
 rary reminiscences, anecdotes of authors, criticisms of 
 books, &c. I had been taught to expect a very dif- 
 ferent scene ; a display of argument, wit, and all the 
 flourishes of intellectual glacliatorship : which, though 
 less permanently pleasing, is for the time more striking. 
 This expectation was not answered ; partly, as I am 
 given to understand, from the absence of Smith, and 
 partly from the presence of Romilly, who evidently 
 received from all an unaffected deference, and imposed 
 a certain degree of restraint. I may take notice of 
 one or two particulars, which struck me as the charac- 
 teristic defects of this day's conversation. There was 
 too little of present activity ; the memory alone was 
 put to work; no efforts of original production, either 
 by imagination or the reasoning powers. All discus- 
 sion of opinions was studiously avoided ; this could 
 not proceed from any apprehension of unpleasant dis- 
 cord of sentiment, for upon the fundamental doctrines 
 
 * For an account of the " King of Clubs," see " Memoirs of Sir James 
 Mackintosh," vol. i. p. 137. 
 
 f Richard Sharp, Esq. \ The present Lord Abinger. 
 
 § Robert Smith, Esq. See note, p. 192. 
 
 N 4
 
 184 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. in religion and politics the whole company were cer- 
 iE-r. 24. tainly biassed to the same side ; neither could it arise 
 from a want of difference in opinion, in deductions 
 farther removed from first principles ; that can never 
 be the case with powerful understandings that have 
 been separately employed : I can only explain the cir- 
 cumstance, therefore, from an erroneous fashion or 
 taste in conversation. For I cannot help thinking that 
 the candid, liberal, and easy discussion of opinions, is 
 the most rational turn that can be given to the con- 
 versation of well-educated men ; it keeps the mind in 
 a course of perpetual instruction, as well as of disci- 
 pline and regimen for the acquisition of those habits 
 which form us to a manly and liberal philosophy. 
 This style of conversation is, no doubt, attended at 
 first with great difficulties ; but the whole refinement 
 of social intercourse consists in the imposition of re- 
 straints ; all improvement is nothing but the removal 
 of obstacles ; and perfection is merely a relative term, 
 to express the greater number of difficulties which it 
 remains for us to surmount. (These general reflec- 
 tions I have here thrown out, because ' the idea of a 
 perfeet conversation' has been very naturally sug- 
 gested to my fancy by the scenes of which I have 
 lately been a spectator; farther reflection may enable 
 me to decide how far my present idea is correct, and 
 farther observation to pronounce whether it is prac- 
 ticable.) I shall only remark farther in this place, 
 that between Sharp and Mackintosh, for example, 
 there seems to me too much of assentation with respect 
 to canons of criticisms, &c. ; as if they lived too much 
 together; as if they belonged to a kind of sect; or as if 
 there was something of compromise between them. 
 Their principles of criticism and taste appear to me 
 quite just, and formed very much iqpon the French
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 185 
 
 school; Racine and Virgil the models of poetical com- 1802. 
 position, and Cicero the prince of prose writers : at j£ T . 24. 
 the same time, they do not carry the principles, upon 
 which this judgment is founded, to that cold and dull 
 extreme, which limits all excellence to correctness, and 
 allows no relish for the wildness of untamed imagin- 
 ation, or the nights of extravagant eccentric genius. 
 I rather apprehend that they even suffer this indul- 
 gence a little farther than is quite consistent with the 
 the other ruling principle ; their admiration of Burke, 
 for example, is not qualified enough ; and their appe- 
 tite for the nervous or flowing passages that may with 
 toil be detected in the obscure folios of some of our 
 old English writers, ' apparent rari nantes in gurgite 
 vasto] betrays unquestionably a palate not fully gra- 
 tified with the milder relish of chastened excellence. 
 
 " April 17th. — This morning I at length wrote to 
 my father, informing him that I had made up my mind 
 as to the propriety of coming to the English bar, and 
 stating to him the particulars of the plan which I 
 have arranged." 
 
 Letter XXVIII. FROM FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 Dear Horner, Edinburgh, 9th April, 1802. 
 
 I have been cutting at my quill for these five 
 minutes, pondering with the most intense stupidity 
 what apology I should make for not having written 
 to you before. The truth is — though it is, any thing 
 but an apology — that I have written none of my re- 
 views yet, and that I was afraid to tell you so. I 
 began to Mounier, however, this morning; and feel 
 the intrepidity of conscious virtue so strong in me 
 already, that I can sit down and confess all my enor-
 
 186 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1802. mities to you. I must first tell you about the Re- 
 iET> 24. view* though, that you may be satisfied it holds the 
 first place in my affection. We are in a miserable 
 state of backwardness, you must know, and have been 
 giving some symptoms of despondency ; various mea- 
 sures have been tried, at least, against the earliness of 
 our intended day of publication ; and hints have been 
 given of a delay that I am afraid would prove fatal. 
 Something is done, however, and a good deal, I hope, 
 is doing. Smith f has gone through more than half 
 his task. So has Hamilton J. Allen § has made some 
 progress: and Murray || and myself, I believe, have 
 studied our parts, and tuned our instruments, and are 
 almost ready to begin. On the other hand, Thomson^" 
 is sick. Brown** has engaged for nothing but Miss 
 Baillie's Plays ; and Timothyf f has engaged for no- 
 thing, but professed it to be his opinion the other day 
 that he would never put pen to paper in our cause. 
 Brougham must have a sentence to himself; and I 
 am afraid you will not think it a pleasant one. You 
 remember how cheerfully he approved of our plan at 
 first, and agreed to give us an article or two without 
 hesitation. Three or four days ago I proposed two 
 or three books that I thought would suit him; he 
 answered, with perfect good humour, that he had 
 changed his view of our plan a little, and rather 
 thought now that he should decline to have any con- 
 nection with it. 
 
 I forgot to tell you that I ran away for three days 
 
 * The Edinburgh Review, of the origin of which an account is given in 
 the sequel. The first number was published in November, 1802. — Ed. 
 
 f The Rev. Sydney Smith. 
 
 I Alexander Hamilton, Esq. ; afterwards Professor of Sanscrit, &c. at 
 Hayleybury. 
 
 § See note, p. 81 . || See note, p. 4. 
 
 IT See note, p. 111. ** See note, p. 99. 
 
 ft Thomas Thomson, Esq., Advocate.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 187 
 
 to the Circuit at Glasgow, where I recruited Birk- 1802. 
 beck*, and Lockhart Muirhead, and my friend Dr. j Er 2 4. 
 Brown f for our review. They are all so lately 
 enrolled, however, that I doubt if we can expeet 
 any active service from them for our first number. 
 Birkbeck talks of going to France in the summer; 
 and Brown I am afraid will have but little time to 
 spare from his patients and his botany. We are 
 most in want of a German reviewer at present ; with- 
 out that language it would be ridiculous to pretend 
 that we are to give a passable account of Continental 
 literature : and now I am sick of this subject, and if 
 Murray has sent you his chapter on the Prospectus, I 
 think you will be completely master of it. 
 
 I am a little curious to hear more what you 
 have been doing, and what impressions have been 
 made upon you by the things you have seen and 
 heard. Upon the whole, I hope you will be wearied 
 of London by the end of this month, and will return 
 to us with the good resolution of remaining. I cannot 
 find out, either, whether you are to have any thing to 
 do in the House of Lords, and beg you would tell 
 me as much of all these things as you think proper. 
 For my part, I have no sort of news to repay you 
 with. Brougham is going on diligently with his 
 book. I have good hopes of it now, for he says it 
 will not be ready for publication for two years at 
 least to come. 
 
 This vernal weather is so extremely cold, that I can- 
 not afford to sit still any longer. As soon as it grows 
 warm, I engage to write you a more entertaining and 
 more legible letter; on condition, however, that you 
 
 * The late Dr. Birkbeck. 
 
 f A physician in Glasgow,'and an eminent botanist.
 
 Igg CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1802. take an idle morning to send me a large sheetful of 
 7Et 24 London intelligence. 
 
 Believe me always, dear Horner, 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 F. Jeffrey. 
 
 Letter XXIX. TO HIS FATHER. 
 My dear Father, London, 17th April, 1802. 
 
 The chief purpose of my visit to London was, 
 that I might form a conclusive opinion with regard 
 to the plan of coming to the English bar, on which 
 we had formerly some conversation. I delayed 
 writing to you upon this business, until I should be 
 able to give you the full result of my inquiries and 
 observation. 
 
 Before I obtain your concurrence, I cannot give 
 the name of resolution to the inclinations which I 
 entertain ; but I hope you will not regret it much, if 
 at all, that every circumstance contributes to encou- 
 rage me in the idea of removing to London. 
 
 The information I have now collected enables me 
 to estimate, tolerably well, the comparative advantages 
 of exercising the profession of law in the two coun- 
 tries ; and after contrasting the chances of success, the 
 mode of practice, and the value of the prizes that may 
 be ultimately won, I have no hesitation in giving a 
 decided preference to England. At the same time, I 
 am quite aware that, in my situation, the mere supe- 
 riority of the English bar is not alone sufficient to 
 justify a change: because, on account of the years 
 which I have spent in Scotland, and which would 
 otherwise have been employed in preparation for 
 English practice, what would have been a wise choice
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 189 
 
 at the beginning of life, might not be equally advisable iso2. 
 at this later period. This consideration would in j£ T .24. 
 general deserve much weight ; but fortunately there 
 are some circumstances, at present, by which it is 
 almost entirely obviated: I allude especially to the 
 present increase of Scots business in the House of 
 Lords ; which appears to me to open almost a certain 
 prospect to any Scots lawyer who should take up his 
 residence here, provided he has acquired any portion 
 of reputation in the Court of Session, and has made 
 himself acquainted with its forms. After having re- 
 volved the scheme in my mind for several months, 
 and with much anxiety, I am now satisfied that it is 
 recommended to me, not merely by ambition, which 
 may have first suggested it, but by deliberate pru- 
 dence. With your approbation, therefore, my plan 
 is what I originally proposed ; to enter my name 
 now in the books of Lincoln's Inn, to remain for two 
 years in Scotland studying and laying myself out for 
 practice, as if that bar were my ultimate object, and 
 at the expiration of the two years to take chambers 
 in London,- and serve the requisite number of terms. 
 The advice I have received, particularly from Mr. 
 Romilly, is to practise in Chancery ; the King's 
 Bench is quite overstocked, and success is there much 
 more precarious than in the Court of Equity. Indeed, 
 from my own observation, the business of Chancery 
 would prove more agreeable to my taste, and more 
 suitable to the habits I have cultivated, than the prac- 
 tice of what is called Nisi Prius in the Courts of Com- 
 mon Law. Another circumstance need not be over- 
 looked; that, by the present arrangement, the same 
 judge presides in Chancery and hears the Scots appeals. 
 I hope you will grant your consent, therefore, to my 
 entrance at Lincoln's Inn before I leave town. The
 
 190 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1802. fees .amount to 22/., for which I will beg leave to 
 ^Et. 04. draw. This is the whole expense of admission. 
 
 I am very anxious, my dear Father, to relieve you 
 from the suspicion, if you have ever given way to it, 
 that I am influenced to adopt this plan by any fickle- 
 ness of mind. The case, let me assure you, has been 
 literally the reverse. I become daily more attached 
 to the profession, which, under your direction, I 
 made choice of ; but constantly, in proportion as that 
 attachment became more firmly settled, my views 
 pointed more distinctly towards the English bar. 
 This I had long felt and concealed ; until a question 
 from yourself, in the course of a walk we had one 
 evening last summer, gave me hopes that such views 
 would not prove entirely displeasing to you. 
 
 I find it impossible to communicate in a letter the 
 various considerations which have gradually led me 
 to the conclusion which I have at length formed. I 
 must reserve all this until I have the pleasure of a 
 conversation with you. In the meantime, be assured 
 that I have not treated this subject as a matter of 
 light and momentary fancy. It involves all the for- 
 tunes of my life, and as such, has cost me during the 
 last eight months much painful and anxious reflection. 
 
 That I might be sure of exhausting it, I have pur- 
 posely considered it in all tempers of mind : some- 
 times, when I was disposed to be most sanguine of 
 success ; at other times, when I was in the humour to 
 despond ; as often as possible, when my feelings were 
 evenly balanced, and I could state the case to myself 
 as if it related to a third person. In addition to this, 
 I profited by the opinions of such of my friends in 
 Edinburgh, on whose good sense as well as attach- 
 ment I have most reliance ; Jeffrey, Allen, Lord 
 Webb, and, beyond all, Murray. Before I left you,
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 191 
 
 I had an express conversation with Mr. Dugald I802. 
 Stewart, who was very decided in his advice. iE T . 24. 
 
 I should be very much nattered if you will take an 
 opportunity of talking with Murray about my affairs ; 
 he knows all my thoughts upon the subject, and has 
 known them in their whole progress. I am not my- 
 self more solicitous about my own success than I be- 
 lieve him to be ; and you have long been acquainted 
 with his good sense, and prudence, and propriety. 
 Except to him, and a very few others, I rather wish 
 my plan to be for some time unknown in Edinburgh ; 
 it would only occasion troublesome and idle inquiries, 
 and probably give me a worse chance of business in 
 the Parliament House. 
 
 It is with a considerable degree of pain that I figure 
 to myself the anxiety which all this may occasion to 
 you and my dear mother : but I trust you will put 
 some reliance in my prudence and steadiness, and that 
 you will be ready to give a little indulgence to my 
 ambition. I have long felt the ruling influence of one 
 principle over my mind, which I trust will conduct 
 me, at least not dishonourably, through this game of 
 life ; I mean the desire to render my success not un- 
 worthy of you, and of the advantages which I have 
 derived equally from your tenderness and your pru- 
 dence. 
 
 As soon as I hear from you, I intend to fix the day 
 of my return ; I have nothing to detain me longer in 
 London, and indeed I have some business to finish 
 in Edinburgh before the Court meets. 
 
 My aunt and sister join me in kind love to you and 
 the rest of the family. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Most affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 192 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. Journal. " April 20th. — I dined at Mr. Romilly's, 
 
 ^ T 24. and met a party composed of too many great materials 
 to produce much effect: Bobus Smith*, Scarlett, 
 Mackintosh, George Wilson f, Whishaw, and Smyth. J 
 Though Mackintosh and Smith associate together 
 so much, their line of conversation is different ; and 
 the former does injustice to his own talents, for dis- 
 cursive and descriptive conversation, when he forces 
 them out of their way to an imitation of Smith's 
 smartness and point and sarcasm. The conversation 
 of Romilly and Wilson appears to be quite different 
 from either of those two ; never indicating a design to 
 display, but flowing from the abundance of enlight- 
 ened, refined, and richly informed understandings. 
 The consequence of all this yesterday was, that no 
 one had a full unrestrained course, and the conver- 
 sation was made up of occasional efforts by all, in 
 which each seemed fettered by the presence of the 
 rest. All this, however, is only in comparison of the 
 expectations I had raised ; for the scene was quite new 
 to me, and was unquestionably distinguished by great 
 talent. If I were to describe the merit of each by a 
 single word, I should say that Scarlett shows subtlety, 
 Smith promptitude, Mackintosh copiousness, and Ro- 
 milly refinement. I mention in Romilly this distin- 
 guishing character, both because I have seen in him 
 a remarkable degree of softness and elegance, and be- 
 cause I was rather hurt by a want of sentimental 
 delicacy in Mackintosh and Smith. Upon the whole, 
 
 * Robert Smith, Esq., afterwards Advocate General in Bengal, brother 
 of the Rev. Sydney Smith. 
 
 f For an account of Mr. Wilson, see " Romilly's Memoirs," vol. i. p.433. 
 1st edition. 
 
 I William Smyth, Esq.; afterwards Professor of Modern History at 
 Cambridge.
 
 JOURNAL. 193 
 
 Bobus is altogether the man of despotic talent in con- 1802. 
 versation that he has always been described to me ; jet. 24. 
 he has something of despotic manner too ; his phy- 
 siognomy, of which the forehead is admirable, indi- 
 cates both. 
 
 " April 24:th. — This day has been variously and 
 agreeably spent, and, by one circumstance, rendered 
 pleasant to me above many that I have lately passed ; 
 I have received a letter from my father, in answer to 
 mine of the 17th, in which he accedes to my profes- 
 sional scheme in the most liberal and nattering man- 
 ner. I passed the morning at Guildhall, attending a 
 trial for Scandalum magnatwm; dined at the 'King 
 of Clubs,' where I met Mackintosh, Scarlett, Sharp, 
 Kogers*, Maltbyf, and Tom Wedgwood J: in the 
 evening I went to Abercromby's chambers, where I 
 met, for the first time, Mr. Wintour. § 
 
 " April 2Qth. — This day I entered myself at Lin- 
 coln's Inn. 
 
 " Edinburgh. 
 
 " May 3d. — This morning I arrived at Edinburgh. 
 I have a great many particulars with respect to Lon- 
 don to take notice of, which I will set down at leisure, 
 before I enter my account of my resumed studies. 
 How delightful to return to the familiarity of home, 
 after the restraints of company with strangers ! to 
 
 * Samuel Rogers, Esq. 
 
 j The Rev. Dr. Maltby, the present Bishop of Durham. 
 
 I The son of Mr. Wedgwood, of Etruria, in Staffordshire. 
 
 § The Rev. Henry Wintour, here mentioned, was a very intimate 
 friend of Lord Webb Seymour and Mr. Abercromby, as well as of 
 Mr. Hallam and others, with whom Mr. Horner became afterwards ac- 
 quainted. Mr. Wintour was their contemporary at Christchurch, Ox- 
 ford, and was recommended by Mr. Abercromby to the Right Hon. Sir 
 John Anstruther, about 1798, as tutor at Eton School to his eldest son, 
 the late Sir J. Anstruther. Mr. Wintour was a man of the most amiable 
 character, of elevated and refined sentiments, and considerable abilities ; 
 but his life was prematurely cut short by pulmonary disease, in the 
 spring of 1804. He left children, one of whom, the Rev. Fitzgerald 
 Wintour, is a prebendary of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire. 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. return to the tranquil pleasures of my library, after 
 M^M, the distraction and dissipation of varied society ! 
 
 "I look back with much satisfaction to the six 
 weeks I have spent in London. It has indeed 
 occasioned a long suspense of study; but my mind 
 lias not been inactive in the accumulation of ma- 
 terials, and I have formed those definite arrange- 
 ments, with respect to my future plans, which will 
 render my past studies most useful to myself. In 
 this respect, the month that has just elapsed forms a 
 sort of era or crisis in my life. In addition to this 
 important event, my visit to London opened a new 
 held of society, in which I met with many interesting 
 acquaintances, and from which I shall be able to se- 
 lect a few valuable friends. I had an opportunity, 
 likewise, of observing a few of those particulars which 
 the scene of a vast metropolis presents to a specula- 
 tive and reflecting mind : and I have had, above all, 
 the advantage of knowing, in a general way, the 
 ground upon which, after having retired for a while 
 to a distance, I am to pass the active days of my life. 
 " From the irregular manner in which this Journal 
 has been kept, I have preserved, no very distinct 
 record of the gradual growth of my ambition for the 
 English bar. The early and feeble seeds, from which 
 it has sprung at last to maturity and vigour, were 
 received into my mind several years ago; while I 
 lived in England with Mr. Hewlett. But at that 
 time, there was nothing around me to feed such 
 sentiments; I had no acquaintance with the English 
 barristers, who might have either encouraged me in 
 the plan by their advice, or have led me to encourage 
 myself by lowering the English bar to my observation, 
 and presenting it in a more familiar aspect. Besides, 
 at Shacklewell, I was entirely without associates of
 
 JOURNAL. 195 
 
 my own age and pursuits ; and I naturally longed to 1802. 
 return to Edinburgh, and resume my post among the j£ T 24. 
 contemporaries with whom I had already entered on 
 the career of emulation, study, and activity. I felt 
 likewise, in a very great degree, the love of home ; 
 I could not reconcile myself to the idea of exiling 
 myself from my father's house; nor did I feel the 
 justness of a remark, in which I distinctly recollect 
 Mr. Hewlett having one day predicted to me, that I 
 should come, like other men, to acknowledge this to 
 be a youthful sentiment, which, without any abate- 
 ment of affection, is sacrificed, after a certain age, to 
 the schemes of an independent establishment. I may 
 now recognise the truth of this observation; but at 
 that time I felt the sentiments of domestic attach- 
 ment in their predominating force. I cannot accuse 
 myself, in the least, of any decay in these feelings ; 
 yet others, more immediatlely personal, have gained 
 the mastery. But the idea of the English bar, though 
 thus resisted, was not entirely subdued. It frequently 
 recurred, and was sometimes favourably received ; par- 
 ticularly during my dreams of ambition, and in my 
 meditations on the futurity that lies on this side of 
 death ; and chiefly, perhaps, in consequence of the 
 intimacies which I have successively formed with the 
 young Englishmen who have come to the University 
 of Edinburgh to finish their education. All these 
 occasional encouragements, accumulated one 'to an- 
 other, formed a bias tolerably strong and distinct; 
 which became daily more and more confirmed after 
 I had been called to the Scots bar; partly by the 
 observation I made on the practice of that Court, and 
 partly by the advice I received, after I began to com- 
 municate my imperfect schemes to a few friends. 
 " May 11 tli. — After so long an interval, I shall not 
 
 o 2 ~
 
 !9G JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. say of entire idleness, but at least of habits very 
 ^ Et 24 different from those of study, I recover but slowly 
 the practice of application. Had I returned to the 
 pursuits of general philosophy or literature, I could 
 have made the transition at once ; but the composition 
 of law papers is so repugnant to my taste, that I 
 submit with all the struggles of a novitiate to his 
 discipline and penance. I am in training, however, 
 towards as strict a course of study, as the necessity 
 of attending the Parliament House will admit of; and 
 as due a mixture of legal and economical reading, as 
 is consistent with the unavoidable distractions of 
 occasional business. I hope nothing will prevent me 
 from keeping a regular and very full journal; as the 
 remainder of the time I shall spend in Scotland ought 
 to prove a critical period of my education. The great 
 duty of self-improvement and of intellectual culture, 
 with reference to those active scenes in which my life 
 is to be passed, occupies frequent and large intervals 
 of my present meditations ; and I am anxious to 
 arrange, in one vast systematic picture before my 
 imagination, the labours of professional preparation, 
 the duties of private benevolence and influence, the 
 possible contingencies of political activity, and the 
 certain relaxations of literature and philosophy. I 
 keep in a separate memorandum-book, a set of short 
 notes, in Avhich I record from day to day such 
 reflections as occur to my mind on these important 
 views ; these memoranda I may enlarge from time to 
 time in the present Journal. I have prefixed to the 
 other book of notes a quaint but expressive title, 
 composed of two phrases that are the favourites of 
 Lord Bacon ; Georgica Ariimi, et Fabrica Fortunce. 
 
 " The whole of this forenoon, I was eno-ao-ed in ex- 
 amining the papers of a Process, and adjusting the
 
 JOURNAL. 197 
 
 shape in which an additional one should be composed. iso-2. 
 In the evening, I visited the Royal Society, where ~^ T 24 
 I heard Mr. Stewart read the first part of a Biogra- 
 phical Sketch of Dr. Reid. 
 
 " May 18 th. — From not rising early, and having a 
 petition to attend at the bar, this morning passed 
 without any legal study. I walked two hours with 
 Brown*, whose conversation I have always found an 
 agreeable mixture of metaphysical subtlety, elegant 
 literature, and unaffected benevolence. I then spent 
 the two hours that remained before dinner, in skim- 
 ming the Prose Essays of Cowley, which I had often 
 heard very highly commended for the style ; in this 
 respect I was so much gratified, by the genuine vein 
 of English idiom, as well as by what appeared to my 
 ear, in many passages, a sweet and flowing melody of 
 composition, that I have resolved to read the volume 
 over again three or four times, till I fix some of those 
 beauties in my memory, and accustom my ear to the 
 tune. Since dinner, I have worked hard for three 
 hours on a few pages of Quesnai's Analyse du Ta- 
 bleau Economique, printed in the Pliysiocratie: I am 
 still repulsed by the difficulty of the subject, or the 
 faults of his manner, or the Aveakness of my own 
 intellectual powers ; but I have commenced a regular 
 siege, and mean to proceed methodically by lines of 
 circumvallation. I keep in a separate set of notes a 
 diary of my tactics. By persevering, with patient 
 and painful thought, to examine the reasonings of 
 Quesnai, and by a careful trial of his mode of pro- 
 cedure, by those views of philosophical logic which I 
 have superficially learned in Lord Bacon's writings, I 
 trust I shall ultimately make out an opinion as to the 
 
 * See note, p. 99. 
 
 o 3
 
 198 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. truth, or error, or mixture of both, which prevails in 
 j Et> 24 these writings of Quesnai and his disciples. 
 
 "May 19th. — Of this day I can give no better 
 account, than that I worked as yesterday, and with 
 little farther progress, on the same pages of Quesnai's 
 Economical Table. I can make little or nothing of it. 
 It is some consolation to recollect what Lauderdale 
 once told me, that he had repeatedly left the study of 
 the Tableau Economique, cursing himself for a block- 
 head. I scarcely entertain a doubt that the mode of 
 reasoning, in which it is conducted, involves some 
 fundamental mistake ; probably in the misapplication 
 of a species of logic and evidence, belonging to 
 sciences of a different kind. I may be assisted, 
 perhaps, in ascertaining this, by examining those 
 writings which Quesnai produced on the general 
 views of philosophy; such as his Preface to the 
 Memoirs of the Society of Surgery. 
 
 "I passed some time in rhetorical exercise; com- 
 mitted to memory some passages of Cowley, par- 
 ticularly that splendid portrait of Cromwell. 
 
 " May 20th Law still most unpardonably ne- 
 glected at home ; before I leave the Parliament House 
 in the morning, I rather make it a rule to hear one 
 or two cases advised. The scene seldom fails to 
 suggest some useful observations. I mean to make 
 notes of such remarks ; they may at some future period 
 be of service. 
 
 " Worked still at Quesnai. My notes grow volu- 
 minous, yet I cannot solve the puzzle. 
 
 " My rhetorical reading this clay consisted of 
 twenty- seven chapters of Cicero's third book, Be 
 Oratore. The first sentence of Cap. 25. was most 
 to my purpose; for it contains almost the whole 
 theory of fine writing. It led me particularly to
 
 JOURNAL. " 199 
 
 reflect on what is called Relief in composition, as 1802. 
 well as in painting; and to aim at catching a just j£ T 24. 
 impression of what is designed by that technical 
 expression, and of the rules by which an artist 
 should be guided in order to secure it : a few notes 
 on this subject, I have put down on a sejmrate 
 paper. 
 
 " June 8 th. — This interval has been employed 
 almost entirely in professional avocations ; in one 
 case, I spoke before the General Assembly; and I 
 have written two papers for the Surgeons, which I 
 ought to have done long ago. 
 
 " A few occasional opportunities of relaxation have 
 been greedily devoted to more pleasing pursuits ; the 
 study of English diction in some of the prose works 
 of Milton and Cowley ; the refreshment of scientific 
 details in conversation with Allen, Kennedy, and 
 Seymour ; and the contemplation of my own schemes 
 and prospects, in a solitary evening walk by the 
 sea-side. 
 
 " Independent of my studies in Law and Political 
 Economy, there are two intellectual accomplishments 
 which I am resolute to cultivate. One is, the com- 
 mand of appropriate and elegant language, both in 
 writing and speaking ; half hours may be found every 
 day, that would otherwise be lost, and may usefully 
 be employed in culling beauties of expression, or con- 
 templating the models of composition; and indeed 
 my half hour in this pleasing and indolent occu- 
 pation is too easily found, and too often exceeded. 
 
 " The other intellectual acquisition I have in view, 
 is a ready and comprehensive talent of reasoning; 
 one's ambition is often excited by circumstances that 
 present themselves fortunately, and the manner of 
 
 o 4
 
 200 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1802. the present Master of the Rolls*, as a legal reasoner, 
 JEt. 25. has given me an idea of an excellence which it may 
 be practicable to acquire. i II y a des secrets dans 
 Vart de penser, comme dans tous les autres arts,' 
 is a maxim which I read lornr ago in Leibnitz, and 
 which from that moment has perpetually recurred to 
 me. I wish to get at these secrets by systematic 
 study ; and by a comprehensive review of the rules of 
 reasoning, and kinds of evidence that belong to dif- 
 ferent inquiries. I shall be much aided in this by my 
 acquaintance with Bacon's writings ; an intimacy 
 which must never be relaxed, if I mean to carry high 
 views through life." 
 
 Letter XXX. TO JOHN ALLEN, ESQ., PARIS.f 
 Dear Allen, Edinburgh, 1st September, 1802. 
 
 I received your letter with the greatest plea- 
 sure, and was much entertained with the information 
 it contains. The idea we are able at this distance to 
 form of Paris in its present circumstances, is made 
 up of so many unconnected and sometimes incon- 
 sistent reports, that a more distinct sketch, from a 
 hand in which we can trust, is quite invaluable. 
 
 You have managed the arrangement with regard 
 to the publication of Turgot's writings in the best 
 way; Constable has written, by my direction, to a 
 bookseller in London about the business, and is 
 willing to take for himself at the least 100 copies. I 
 hope Dupont will be prevailed on to print some of 
 the MSS. he possesses; from the account he gives of 
 them in his Memoir e sur la Vie, &c, they would be 
 highly interesting. 
 
 * Sir William Grant, 
 
 f Mr. Allen had gone abroad with Lord and Lady Holland. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 201 
 
 Our Review goes on tolerably well ; in conse- 1802. 
 quence of Constable's own arrangement, it is not to j£ T 05. 
 appear till the 1st of November, but more than half 
 the first number is already printed. I wish you 
 would advertise the publication in some of the Paris 
 newspapers or journals, in the manner that you 
 shall judge most likely, if there is any chance to 
 excite a little curiosity about it. Jeffrey has written 
 three or four excellent articles ; and Brougham is now 
 an efficient and zealous member of the party. We 
 regret your loss to a degree that I shall not express 
 to you, though we do not altogether despair of 
 receiving a few short critiques on such foreign pub- 
 lications as you happen at any rate to read with care. 
 I particularly wish we had had from you a review of 
 Ware's strange paper on the blind boy restored to 
 sight. Brougham has selected from the same volume 
 of the Philosophical Transactions, Herschell's dis- 
 covery of the sympathy between the spots of the sun 
 and the prices of wheat in Reading market. 
 
 I suppose you have almost exhausted Paris by 
 this time as a spot for observation ; the system 
 established there does not appear to be very com- 
 plicated, and the course of events for some time has 
 had a great air of uniformity. I am anxious to hear 
 what impressions you receive on going into the 
 country. It is there, I imagine, you are truly to 
 estimate the effects of the past, or to augur the pro- 
 babilities that are to come. You must persist in 
 your intention of keeping a regular journal, which 
 will be more useful in this part of your travels than 
 when you are residing in the centre of political 
 activity; there all the objects have such apparent 
 magnitude, and so much of an artificial glare is thrown 
 over them, that the memory may be much more
 
 202 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. safely trusted than in the tranquil scenes of the 
 j Er 25 country, which are not lively enough to excite cu- 
 riosity of themselves, and can only be preserved by 
 a sketch taken on the spot. At least, I have always 
 found this difference very great. 
 
 How much I envy you the opportunities you have 
 had of being with Mr. Fox : is your previous idea of 
 that character varied at all, (I do not mean lessened) 
 since you have surveyed it with your own eyes, or 
 has it received no other change than that of being 
 more definite? I have generally understood that his 
 simplicity is what is most striking to those, who are 
 introduced to him already full of admiration at his 
 other great qualities. 
 
 I shall ever be happy to hear from you, but beg 
 you will not on that account sacrifice any time that 
 would otherwise be employed in adding to the stock 
 of your observations. I shall endeavour to exhaust 
 your budget when we first meet. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " JSept.SOfh. — I finished, a few days ago, 
 an account and criticism of Thornton's book on paper 
 credit, for the Edinburgh Review; except three very 
 short articles, Irvine on Emigration, Christison on 
 Parish Schools, and an anonymous pamphlet on Coun- 
 try Banks, it is the only contribution I have prepared 
 for the first number of that publication. This Review 
 was concerted, about the end of last winter, between 
 Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, and myself. The plan was 
 immediately communicated to Murray, Allen, and 
 Hamilton ; Brown, Brougham, and the two Thom- 
 sons, have gradually been made parties. The ana-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 203 
 
 lysis of Thornton cost me a considerable degree of 1802 - 
 trouble ; but this labour has served to break up the .jet. 25. 
 ground in one of the most necessary fields of political 
 economy. I have given the review to the press in a 
 very rude form, although my aim was to mould the 
 irregular materials of the original work into an useful 
 arrangement ; my style of writing is too formal and 
 not sufficiently correct."* 
 
 Letter XXXI. TO JAMES LOCH, ESQ. + 
 My dear Loch, Edinburgh, 7th November, 1802. 
 
 I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from 
 you last week ; some of the particulars you mention 
 were new to me and interesting. I did not imagine 
 that, in that quarter of England, the lower orders were 
 in such a state of wretchedness. With all our talk of 
 the grandeur and prosperity of the country, it would 
 appear that there is yet an immense field for improve- 
 ment, even in the rudiments and fundamentals of po- 
 litical happiness. 
 
 I hope William J got the book I ordered Mawman to 
 
 * The following are the articles which were contributed by Mr. Hor- 
 ner to the first number of the Edinburgh Review, published in No- 
 vember, 1802: — 
 
 1. "An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of Emigration from the 
 
 Highlands and Western Highlands of Scotland. By Alexander 
 Irvine." 
 
 2. "The general Diffusion of Knowledge one great Cause of the Pros- 
 
 perity of North Britain. By Alexander Christison." 
 
 3. " The Utility of Country Banks considered." 
 
 4. " An Inquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of 
 
 Great Britain. By Henry Thornton, Esq., M.P." — Ed. 
 
 f The present Member for the boroughs of Wick, Cromarty, Kirk- 
 wall, &c. 
 
 X William G. Adam, Esq., afterwards Accountant-General of the Court 
 of Chancery.
 
 204 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1802. senc [ hi m . if 110 t ? I beg he will direct a servant to call 
 JEt.25. with his name at that bookseller's shop in the Poultry. 
 I shall be glad to hear your opinion of it fully and 
 candidly, and your conjectures, if you take the trouble 
 of making any. We are not a little amused by some 
 of the guesses that are attempted by various shrewd 
 readers ; they blunder with the most ridiculous cross- 
 purposes. You will not be surprised that we have 
 given a good deal of disappointment by the temperate 
 air of our politics ; nothing short of blood and atheism 
 and democracy were predicted by some wise and fair 
 ones, as the necessary production of our set. We shall 
 go on to another number with considerable spirit, as 
 a second edition of the first is in the press already : 
 the first impression was 750, and as many more are 
 to be printed. By all means, let me know whatever 
 you hear said of it — good, bad, or indifferent; this is 
 the main pleasure of such publications, and will in- 
 deed be our only recompence, as we give the MS. for 
 nothing. Brougham has concluded a bargain about 
 his book with Longman, who has been here making 
 purchases of that kind ; he talks of sending it to the 
 press in about two months. The title, an " Enquiry 
 into the Colonial Policy of the European Powers." 
 That it will do him great credit, I have no doubt ; I 
 hope it may be the means of introducing him into a 
 respectable line of political connections. Old Liver- 
 pool wrote himself into notice by a seasonable, though 
 puny, pamphlet on the rights of neutrals. Should an 
 active scene be opened to Brougham, I shall tremble 
 with anxiety for some time, though it is what I very 
 ardently wish ; his information on political subjects, 
 especially in some departments, is now immense ; his 
 talents are equal to the most effective use and display
 
 JOURNAL. 205 
 
 of that knowledge. But his ardour is so urgent, that 1802 - 
 I should be afraid of his being deficient in prudence. iE T . 25. 
 That he would ultimately become a leading and pre- 
 dominant mind, I cannot doubt ; but he might attempt 
 to fix himself in that place too soon, before he had 
 gone through what, I presume, is a necessary routine 
 of subordination. 
 
 Ever sincerely yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. "November 20th. — Before I proceed to 
 speak of my own studies, I shall make a short memo- 
 randum with respect to the reception which the first 
 number of our Review has met with in Edinburgh, 
 for we have not yet got an account of its fate in 
 London. Upon the whole, I do not think we have 
 gained much character by it ; it is considered as re- 
 spectable enough in point of talents, but the severity, 
 in some of the papers it may be called scurrility, has 
 given general dissatisfaction. In the next number, we 
 must soften our tone, and be more indulgent to folly 
 and to bad taste. Jeffrey is the person who will 
 derive most honour from this publication, as his ar- 
 ticles in this number are generally known, and are 
 incomparably the best : I have received the greater 
 pleasure from this circumstance, because the genius 
 of that little man has remained almost unknown to 
 all but his most intimate acquaintances. His manner 
 is not at first pleasing; what is worse, it is of that 
 cast, which almost irresistibly impresses upon strangers 
 the idea of levity and superficial talents. Yet there 
 is not any man, whose real character is so much the 
 reverse ; he has indeed a very sportive and playful 
 fancy, but it is accompanied with very extensive and
 
 206 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. varied information, with a readiness of apprehension 
 j Et< 25. almost intuitive, with judicious and calm discern- 
 ment, with a profound and penetrating understanding. 
 Indeed, both in point of candour and of vigour in the 
 reasoning powers, I have never personally known a 
 finer intellect than Jeffrey's, unless I were to except 
 Allen's. 
 
 " The four months of this winter session, (the last I 
 am to pass in Edinburgh, where I have enjoyed such 
 an uninterrupted course of happiness), will be en- 
 grossed by a variety of miscellaneous labours. I have 
 been forced to crowd a greater number of occupations 
 together, than is consistent with a judicious plan of 
 study ; partly from the necessity of performing certain 
 engagements with which I have fettered myself, and 
 partly from my desire of profiting by the last oppor- 
 tunity I shall ever enjoy of academical instructions. 
 Of the former class of tasks, I reckon my contribu- 
 tions to The Edinburgh Review, my occasional at- 
 tendance at the meetings of the Chemical Society, 
 and the discharge of such legal business as may occa- 
 sionally be committed to me. Of the latter sort, I 
 reckon a third attendance on Mr. Stewart's political 
 lectures, a regular attendance at the Speculative So- 
 ciety, and a course of fluxions and the higher geo- 
 metry, under Mr. Playfair. Some of these studies 
 and duties will require periodical labour; the rest 
 must be executed in their turns, in the course of a 
 continued application to business. 
 
 " I wish to attend the Speculative Society very re- 
 gularly, because I am satisfied that I have already 
 derived great benefit from the exercises of that place, 
 and still entertain hopes of receiving further im- 
 provement. In general, I shall leave myself, as I 
 have hitherto always done, to the extemporaneous
 
 JOURNAL. 207 
 
 efforts of the evening; but it would be very aclvan- 1802. 
 tageous to prepare myself upon one or two of the ^ T 2 5. 
 best questions: this, I observe, is the plan which 
 Brougham follows. 
 
 " I attend Mr. Stewart's lectures on political 
 economy, that I may complete my notes of his 
 course, and that I may impress myself fully with 
 the general manner in which he considers a sub- 
 ject, which, if my visionary prospects should ever be 
 realised, will occupy in some degree the last part of 
 my life ; and which will continue to amuse and exer- 
 cise my mind, though I should remain for ever in 
 obscure inactivity. 
 
 " My mathematical studies, which I am about to re- 
 sume for a little, after an interval of five years, form 
 the most striking deviation from my appropriate pur- 
 suits. It is not with a view, however, to mathema- 
 tical knowledge merely, or even to a future intimacy 
 with physical science, that I have resolved to place 
 myself under Mr. Playfair; but as forming a neces- 
 sary part of that survey, in which I have occasionally 
 been employed for two or three years past, of the 
 general field of the sciences, and of the logical me- 
 thods that are suited to various investigations. The 
 study of Lord Bacon's writings is still uppermost in 
 my mind, and that with an ultimate and steady view 
 towards the philosophy of legislation. The calculus 
 of fluxions, and the theory of curves, may appear 
 remote enough from such an object ; but my intention 
 is to get a knowledge only of the instrument, and of 
 the principles upon which it works, not to learn the 
 manual and ready use of it. It is as a chapter in the 
 great system of logic that I wish to understand the 
 transcendental geometry ; and it is with my eyes bent 
 upon the philosophy of politics and law, that I have
 
 208 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 iso-2. always been studying that system. I am quite 
 2Et . sensible, however, of the truth of what Mr. Playfair 
 remarked, (when I gave him a general hint of the 
 views with which I was to enter upon this subject), 
 that the principles of the instrument cannot be clearly 
 understood, or even its construction fully seen, until 
 a person has put his hand to it, and acquired a to- 
 lerable dexterity in the use of it. I must no doubt 
 submit to the condition; but if I keep my purpose 
 vigilantly in remembrance, it may perhaps exact 
 itself less strictly, than upon one whose primary ob- 
 ject is different. In the same conversation, Mr. Play- 
 fair used another illustration, borrowed from that 
 science, which he has lately prosecuted with so much 
 ardour, and adorned by one of the most elegant com- 
 positions that has ever appeared in physical phi- 
 losophy * : the study of the higher mathematics, for 
 the purpose of tracing their principles and general 
 relations, is like traversing a great range of moun- 
 tains; the individual objects are themselves so great, 
 that you must ascend to a great elevation, before you 
 can observe the chain. The image is fine and appro- 
 priate; it will not, however, be necessary for me 
 to collect all the curious minerals with which the 
 valleys may abound, but to make for the height with 
 all expedition, as soon as I have accurately traced the 
 great lines of stratification. 
 
 " In the remaining articles, which I consider rather 
 as tasks than as studies which I would now willingly 
 undertake, I must make the performance of duty sub- 
 servient to intellectual exercise. Law papers and 
 speeches may strengthen and correct my habits of 
 legal business ; the Chemical Society may, in a slight 
 
 * The Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory. — Ed.
 
 JOURNAL. 209 
 
 degree, give me some practice of chemical discussion ; 1802. 
 and the reviews may refine and quicken my habits of _^ T 2 5. 
 composition. 
 
 " November 30th. — This day I made a slight devi- 
 ation from my regular plan, in order to peruse the 
 account of Reid's Life and 'Writings by Mr. Stewart. 
 It proved, however, a less remote digression than I 
 thought of; as it contains some important reflections 
 on the proper method of philosophizing, which in a 
 great measure forms the general object to which I 
 have devoted this winter. If Dr. Reid understood 
 the spirit of the inductive logic so fully, and prosecuted 
 it so faithfully, as Mr. Stewart has represented him, 
 the study of his writings will greatly facilitate my 
 future plan ; and I must at least include a perusal of 
 them in the execution of my general schemes. I read 
 them formerly, but without any such purpose. Po- 
 litical science can only be prosecuted after the manner 
 of the Baconian logic, and the practice of that must 
 be most effectually learned from good models ; it will 
 be of inestimable value indeed, if to those we already 
 possess in some of the physical sciences, may be added 
 existing models of philosophical investigations relative 
 to mind. But farther, political science ought to be 
 erected on the philosophy of the human mind, as its 
 basis; and the study of what has been ascertained in 
 the latter is the only introduction to discoveries in 
 the former. These are great truths, of which I am 
 apprized rather in the gross, than specifically; by a 
 patient study of the principles of logic, and by a 
 sedulous acquisition of what has been already per- 
 formed in the science of individual man, as well as in 
 that of politics, I must labour to define their extent, 
 and to trace their mutual relations. The remark of Mr. 
 Playfair, with respect to the study of the geometrical 
 
 vol. 1. p
 
 210 JOURNAL. 
 
 1802. methods, will equally apply to those of moral science; 
 ^Et. -25. and it is necessary to traverse minutely the individual 
 objects, before we can hope to contemplate their rela- 
 tive position. 
 
 " In the composition of Mr. Stewart, I have pitched 
 upon two passages which I shall set down here, 
 because they awakened a train of personal reflections. 
 " ' It is with no common feelings of respect and of 
 ' gratitude, that I now recal the names of those to 
 ' whom I owe my first attachment to these studies, 
 ' and the happiness of a liberal occupation, superior to 
 ' the more aspiring aims of a servile ambition.'* 
 
 " Sentiments of this import exert a kind of illusion 
 over me, which might prove fatal to my professional 
 schemes; but, if duly tempered, cannot fail, by 
 being habituated in my thoughts, to impart consist- 
 ency and purity to that mixed line of activity and 
 speculation which I have, too fondly perhaps, chalked 
 out for myself. 
 
 " ' But I, too, have designs and enterprises of my 
 'own; and the execution of these (which alas! 
 ' swell in magnitude, as the time for their accom- 
 ' plishment hastens to a period), claims at length, 
 ' an undivided attention. Yet I should not look 
 ' back on the past with regret, if I could indulge the 
 ' hope, that the facts which it has been my province 
 ' to record, — by displaying those fair rewards of 
 ' extensive usefulness, and of permanent fame, which 
 ' talents and industry, when worthily directed, can- 
 ' not fail to secure, — may contribute, in one single 
 ' instance, to foster the proud and virtuous inde- 
 ' pendence of genius ; or amidst the gloom of poverty 
 ' and solitude, to gild the distant prospect of the 
 
 * Stewart's Biographical Memoirs, qtiarto, 1811 ; Life of Reid, page 
 425.— Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 211 
 
 ' unfriended scholar, whose laurels are now slowly 1802. 
 ' ripening in the unnoticed privacy of humble life.' " * 5^25. 
 
 After this date, there is no entry in Mr. Horner's 
 Journal, until the 2d of April, 1803 ; and from that 
 time there are only occasional notes, at distant 
 intervals, during the three following years : the 
 Journal ceases entirely on the 23d of June, 1806. 
 
 About this time, he was getting the family arms 
 cut upon a seal, and there being no motto, he adopted 
 one, — " Nitor in adversum." It is probable that he 
 had in his mind the following passage in Burke: — 
 " I was not, like his Grace of Bedford, swaddled, 
 and rocked, and dandled into a legislator ; ' Nitor in 
 adversum 1 is the motto for a man like me."f 
 
 Letter XXXII. TO JAMES LOCH, ESQ. 
 
 Edinburgh, 12th December, 1802. 
 
 Many thanks, my dear Loch, for your enter- 
 taining letters; they have afforded me an agreeable 
 relaxation, during a good deal of hard work. If it 
 had not been for this, which engrosses my time, I 
 should have answered your former letter sooner. The 
 account you give of the projected improvements in 
 London is very splendid; too magnificent, I fear, to 
 be carried into complete execution at once ; but 
 even a part of such a plan will be immense, worthy 
 of such a metropolis : we may look upon these as 
 
 * Life of Reid, page 521. — Ed. 
 
 f " Letter from the Right Hon. Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on 
 the Attacks made upon him and his Pension, in the House of Lords, by 
 the JJuke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale." — Burkes Works, 
 vol. vii. p. 397. — En. 
 
 p 2
 
 2 1 2 CORRESrOXDENCE. 
 
 iso2. the first fruits of that peace, which some would labour 
 j£ T 25 already to deprive us of. These public works afford 
 me a farther pleasure of a different kind; as I look 
 upon our foreign commerce, in its present extent, to 
 be only a temporary advantage, it is of importance 
 that the wealth it at present produces should be fixed 
 and embodied in our own country, either by multi- 
 plying the facilities of internal trade, or by enlarging 
 the capital vested in agriculture. Whatever indeed 
 is employed upon the first of these purposes, indi- 
 rectly promotes the other. 
 
 I am indebted to you for the pains you have taken 
 to make inquiries about the reception of our review. 
 Though to all of us it is only a matter of temporary 
 amusement, and subordinate occupation, Ave cannot of 
 course be indifferent about the fate of our attempt at 
 reputation. We have certainly no reason to be dissa- 
 tisfied with its degree of success; though, by the mis- 
 management of our publisher in London, it has scarcely 
 got into circulation there. The opinions that have 
 reached us as to its merits are pretty uniform ; Jeffrey's 
 papers being most admired, as they fully deserve to 
 1 >e ; and exception being in general made to the tone 
 and manner of certain articles, which most of us, 
 before they were printed, considered as exceptionable 
 on that very account. 
 
 I am much interested by your notes of political 
 intelligence, — never was there a period when one, who 
 cares very little about men or parties, except as con- 
 nected with the -fate of leading objects, ought to feel 
 a more lively curiosity : we are surely at a moment 
 of crisis. The question of peace or war, except as 
 determined by that of practicability, is surely far 
 from being quite clear ; if there is any foundation for 
 what is called the doctrine of the Balance of Power, 
 we have not, since the days of King William, seen an
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 213 
 
 era when the application of that theory to existing 1802. 
 circumstances was more important. Fox's second j Et . 75 
 speech afforded me much pleasure; the older that 
 man becomes, he seems to acquire a greater dignity 
 of character, — the opportunities of retirement seem 
 to have conspired with the growth of years, in 
 cleansing his fine understanding of that intemperance 
 by which it was often clouded, as well as in leading 
 him to those comprehensive and philosophical views 
 of political transactions, in which he appears to have 
 been deficient in the early part of his life. For a 
 long time I have not been so pleased with any cir- 
 cumstance, as the observation of this refinement of 
 Fox's manner in parliament, coupled with the anec- 
 dote you give me of the lively interest he takes in the 
 political events of the day. Has any thing more 
 been reported lately about his history? Has the 
 second speech been published? Send me a particular 
 account of the debate on the Estimates, especially of 
 Fox's leading positions and views of the subject; 
 such, I mean, as the newspaper reporters never think 
 of seizin 2: . 
 
 I have another commission for you, which I beg 
 you will set about without loss of time, if you have 
 any time to spare. This you may do the better, as 
 it will not carry you out of your own chambers. I 
 am engaged as a junior counsel in the Aberdeen case ; 
 the trial of the officers and soldiers for having shot 
 some people last king's birthday. Now I want very 
 much to know what English cases there are, on 
 homicide by soldiers on duty, and on homicide by 
 soldiers without proclamation under the Riot Act. 
 I have looked into the last edition of Hawkins, 
 (Leach's), and do not find an allusion to such a 
 point ; though in our more limited code of criminal 
 
 p 3
 
 214 JOURNAL. 
 
 1803. law, we have a considerable number of such cases, 
 j£ T 05. from that of Captain Porteous downwards. 
 
 Have you good authority for your anecdote of 
 Lord Grenville and the Poor Laws? I should like to 
 believe it. If you have seen any thing published on 
 that subject lately, let me know: I have got a paper to 
 write during the holidays on a very general question, 
 which has excited a good deal of interest among the 
 tenantry and landed gentlemen, whether, under the 
 existing Scottish Acts, relief was legally afforded, 
 during the scarcity, to the industrious poor. 
 
 You will be apt to infer that I have with all this 
 much law business on hand; but happily it is by 
 no means so, as I have no time for it ; what I have 
 got is fortunately as you see, of a pleasant kind. 
 But as this is my last winter of Edinburgh College, 
 where I have spent so many useful and happy years, 
 and where I could very agreeably spend my lifetime, 
 I have taken the opportunity of attending Stewart's 
 political lectures, and Playfair's third class on the 
 higher geometry. With my share of the review, 
 you may guess I have quite enough to do. 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 Fiia. Horner. 
 
 Extract from a Letter to Mr. Loch, 2iih January. 
 
 This day we publish a second number of our 
 review. I think you will find it free, at least nearly 
 so, from some of the objections that were most 
 strongly, and all of them justly, urged against the 
 former. There are scarcely any insignificant books, 
 — no sermons — few personalities — the general train 
 of criticism less abusive. We are not indeed quite
 
 JOURNAL. 215 
 
 purified of all our gross faults, but the opinion of 1803. 
 our friends has made a considerable impression upon j Et 25 . 
 us. I think this number has no articles so good as 
 some of the last ; but there is a good deal of careful 
 disquisition."* 
 
 * 
 
 " London. 
 
 Journal. " April 2d. — I have now been about 
 a fortnight in London, where I am at length fixed 
 for life. But I have had no leisure to form any 
 immediate plans of study, having been occupied for 
 more than a week with some business before a Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons. Yesterday I 
 made my first speech in England; the subject was 
 humble, manure, and a turnpike road. Such a 
 committee is not a very formidable audience to 
 address. 
 
 " I must now set myself to write a few articles for 
 the Edinburgh Review, of which engagement I hear- 
 tily wish I were rid.f 
 
 " April 3d. This morning I passed at Whishaw's 
 chambers, where I was introduced to DumontJ, and 
 enjoyed a conversation of three hours. I mark the 
 date of my introduction to Dumont, because he is a 
 remarkable person, and I may perhaps have it in my 
 power to know him well. He appears to be at 
 present an excellent composition of the English and 
 French qualities for conversation ; which is just say- 
 ing that he is a Genevese, without the defects of 
 a Genevese understanding, curious research about 
 
 * The following is the only article contributed by Mr. Horner to this 
 number : — 
 
 " Principes d'Economie Politique. Par N. F. Canard." — Ed. ^ 
 
 | Mr. Horner contributed to the 3d number, published in April, 1803, 
 a review of "Essays on Miscellaneous Subjects. P>y Sir John Sinclair." 
 —Ed. 
 
 I M. Etienne Dumont, of Geneva. 
 
 r 4
 
 216 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. trifles, unseasonable sensibility, and a passion for 
 J7— ^7 theory and system. 
 
 u April 9th. — I am returned from Mr. Adam's* 
 cottage in Richmond Park, where I have spent two 
 days. A delightful situation ! A delightful family ! 
 An uninterrupted flow of cheerfulness, without affect- 
 ation, and without noise. It is in this domestic, or 
 patriarchal character, that Adam appears to most ad- 
 vantage. At present, he takes to the country, with 
 all the playfulness of a schoolboy, escaping from the 
 bustle and toil of the election committees. 
 
 " April 10th. — Began to read English Law — two 
 hours and a half; ran through three or four chapters 
 of Blackstone's second volume on Real Property. 
 
 " April 11th. — Three hours at Blackstone — one 
 before breakfast. 
 
 " April 12th. — Four hours and a half at law ; be- 
 gan Coke upon Lyttleton, and read the first section. 
 Coke seems very wandering and digressive ; Lyttleton 
 most distinct and precise. " 
 
 Letter XXXIII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, 20th May, 1803. 
 
 I heard of your safe journey as far as York, 
 and take it for granted you got well home. 
 
 So war is at length declared, and I suppose you 
 will have seen the papers laid before Parliament be- 
 fore you receive this. All the world is going to the 
 debate on Monday, which, it is expected, will last two 
 days. There will be great difficulty in obtaining a 
 seat ; but I am to make the attempt with two very 
 agreeable companions, Mackintosh and Lord Webb. 
 If we get into the gallery, their conversation will 
 
 * The Right Hon. William Adam.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 217 
 
 lighten the ennui of waiting seven or eight hours. 1803 - 
 Pitt is certainly to come forward ; and he is still so j£ T . 25. 
 much connected with Grenville on the one hand and 
 Acldington on the other, that there are (as it were) 
 four parties, all of whom must be heard. Fox is gone 
 to St. Anne's Hill for a day or two, but is to meet his 
 troops on Sunday evening at Parsloe's. The impres- 
 sion which the papers have made is various ; many 
 people who have a profound contempt for the Doctor, 
 think he has made out a better case than they ex- 
 pected : others, that he has exactly made out the case 
 of the Grenville party. I am studying this very 
 critical and momentous question with as much anxiety, 
 as I ever investigated any point of mere speculation ; 
 a trouble which I have hitherto very seldom taken 
 with any of my political opinions. That you have 
 perhaps suspected all along, from my confidence. 
 
 Windham attacked the minister most fiercely last 
 night ; in a speech of indignant self-defence, he asked 
 if he had not given the House eight out of the nine 
 motions which the honourable gentleman supported? 
 The idea, of the Doctor having given the House eight 
 motions tickled the whole patient so irresistibly, that 
 he was made quite angry. Kinnaird* laughed so 
 much louder than the rest, that he turned towards 
 him, and said he claimed the protection of the chair ; 
 if the gentleman had any thing to object to in his 
 conduct, he begged him to do it on his legs. Jekyll 
 is a mischievous fellow; he says that Grey, in word- 
 ing his motions, had duly attended to the decorum of 
 professional expression ; he had moved for the papers 
 relating to the retention and evacuation of the Cape. 
 
 Tell me how my dear Jeffrey looks in his wig. I 
 
 * The Hon. Charles Kinnaird, afterwards Lord Kinnaird.
 
 218 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. propose lie should be engraved in that attire, for the 
 vEt 95. next volume of the Edinburgh Review. I shall write 
 to him and to Smith to-morrow. Pray write to me 
 very often. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XXXIV. TO THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ., 
 EDINBURGH. 
 
 Dear Thomson, London, 24th May, 1803. 
 
 I have inquired about Bentham's tracts, of 
 which you wish to have a collection ; they are very 
 scarce, and I have only been able to get one. I shall 
 not, however, despair of success ; as I shall soon have 
 a footing, if I go on, in every bookseller's shop and 
 stall in and about London. 
 
 I have seen a good deal of Mackintosh, since I 
 came to London; he is at present quite full of his 
 expedition to the East, and of his schemes of study 
 there. He carries out such a library with him as 
 never, I presume, was known in Asia; for his plans 
 of metaphysical and political reading, it is admirably 
 selected. He has fortunately no desire to make him- 
 self particularly acquainted with either the language 
 or the antiquities of Hindostan ; but he has got per- 
 mission from the Board of Controul and Directors to 
 circulate, under their authority, statistical and poli- 
 tical queries among all the servants of the Company 
 in the different establishments. This may produce 
 a little. In a few days the author of Vindidce Gal- 
 ileo 3 is to receive the honour of knighthood ! 
 
 You are indebted for this letter to a severe dis- 
 appointment I met with this evening, in not getting 
 into the House of Commons. A great display is
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 219 
 
 expected, on account chiefly of the nicety and various I803. 
 embarrassments under which the question mu st present ^ T 25 
 itself to more than one of the parties.* They are now 
 in the very heat and pride of the debate ; twelve 
 o'clock. After waiting all the morning, I got no 
 farther than the door of the gallery. Every body 
 here seems to be of one mind as to the justice of the 
 war, in respect of the case (as we lawyers may call 
 it) that this country can make out against Bona- 
 parte; but the policy of war at the present juncture 
 is a different question, of which people take various 
 views. 
 
 The old Opposition party held a meeting last night 
 to discuss their plans ; I learned a few particulars of 
 it. Fox spoke with great moderation, expressed his 
 anxiety for the preservation of peace, but acknow- 
 ledged the difficulties of the conjuncture. He had to 
 submit to the folly of some of his associates. TTould 
 you imagine that that great statesman Lord Suffolk 
 embraced this seasonable occasion of giving Fox a 
 formal lecture upon some improprieties of his former 
 conduct ; beginning with the coalition, and ending 
 with the evidence at Maidstone. This was meant 
 merely as friendly advice. Sheridan was so drunk, 
 that the first time he spoke he was unintelligible ; he 
 afterwards became more articulate, and dwelt a good 
 deal upon the danger of throwing the Doctor, by too 
 severe an attack, into the arms of Pitt. This idea I 
 find very prevalent among many of the friends and 
 partisans of the old Opposition. But Fox's observa- 
 tion was more manly ; that they were bound to expose 
 those errors and weaknesses of which they were con- 
 
 * A motion of Lord Hawkesbury, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, for an 
 Address to his Majesty, on his Message relative to the termination of the 
 discussions with France. — Ed.
 
 220 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. vinced, and were not entitled to practise an ovcr-cau- 
 Er .,. tious and temporizing forbearance upon a calculation 
 of any contingencies. Give my best respects to 
 Cranstoun, and believe me, my clear Thomson, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Fiia. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " May 28//?.— At Mr. Grant's*, Russell 
 Square ; met for the first time the Master of the 
 Rolls f and Wilberforce ; the former a silent but very 
 good-natured man, the latter equally good-natured, 
 and more talkative. Mackintosh was of the party, 
 and was of course the great entertainer." 
 
 Letter XXXV. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, nth June, isos. 
 
 I received your letter on Thursday. I have 
 had no business before the House of Lords ; nor have 
 I been engaged in any way that tends either to pro- 
 fit or improvement. You shall of course get an 
 account from myself of every thing in that way which 
 concerns me. 
 
 I decline Stewart's Life of Reicl, for more reasons 
 than one. I shall be much disappointed and really 
 chagrined, if Jeffrey does not take it into his own 
 hands. YVhateley's book on Currency I should like 
 to reserve for myself ; and I will review it, if I think 
 it worth while after Lord King's pamphlet. 
 
 I was so unlucky as not to hear the great debate. 
 The first day of it, Petty came clown early, that he 
 
 * Charles Grant, Esq., Director of the East India Company, father 
 of the present Lord Glenelg. 
 f Sir William Grant.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 221 
 
 might carry me through the house, but I just got up 1803. 
 to the door of the gallery in time to see it completely je^25. 
 full. I bore this misfortune with as much Christian 
 or philosophic resignation as you may suppose me 
 capable of. I likewise lost the adjourned part of the 
 discussion, from not hearing early enough of the 
 change in the hour of admission. By all the accounts 
 I have collected, both Pitt and Fox made a very great 
 display. Pitt's peroration was a complete half hour 
 of his most powerful declamation, not lowered in its 
 tone for a moment ; not a particle of all this is pre- 
 served in the Report lately published, though said to 
 be done by Canning. Fox's speech was quite of a 
 different cast, and not at all in the tone which he 
 usually adopts ; no high notes, no impassioned bursts ; 
 but calm, subtle, argumentative pleasantry. He very 
 seldom attempts to keep the house laughing; but in 
 this speech, I understand, it was evidently his design 
 throughout, and Mackintosh says he never heard so 
 much wit. A good many of the points are repeated, 
 none of which are in the newspapers, but I cannot 
 pretend to give you them ; I remember, however, 
 the compliment he paid to Pitt's speech, that " if De- 
 mosthenes had been present, he must have admired, 
 and might have envied." 
 
 I do not believe there will be any change of minis- 
 ters, unless some fatal blunder shall render it impos- 
 sible for them to hold their seats longer. The kino; 
 has two favourites — the war and the Doctor; but the 
 Doctor has at present the preference, and even the 
 war would be given up for him. Not that I believe 
 there is any personal partiality for him, more than 
 for his successors ; but his manners must be delightful 
 at Buckingham House. You would be surprised at 
 Pitt's speech on Fox's motion about Russia; the
 
 *o' 
 
 222 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. ki n g had passed him in the park two days before 
 
 Mr. 25. without notice. About the same time Lady Fortescue, 
 
 Lord Grenville's sister, was so coldly and rudely 
 
 received at court, that none of the ladies of that 
 
 house attended the birth-day. Such are the important 
 
 trifles which, when correctly known, throw more light 
 
 on the state of parties in this country, than all the 
 
 harangues in Parliament. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Fea. Horner. 
 
 Extract from a Letter to Mr. Murray, 6th July. 
 
 " To satisfy you at once about what I fancy is your 
 principal object of impatience against me at present, 
 I shall, by the mail coach to-morrow, send off a parcel 
 for the Review. It will contain only one article, but 
 a long one. One or two more I shall send in time for 
 publication. I hoped to have sent Lord King off 
 this evening ; but a knotty point has unexpectedly 
 interrupted my progress, where I had taken for 
 granted all was clear. You will easily discover this 
 part of the article."* 
 
 Letter XXXVI. TO JAMES REDDIE, ESQ., GLASGOW. 
 Dear Keddie, London, 2 1st July, 1803. 
 
 Your letter gave me the double satisfaction of 
 hearing that your health was better, and that you had 
 
 * The following articles by Mr. Horner are in the fourth number of 
 the Edinburgh Review, published this month : — 
 
 1 . " Thoughts on the Restriction of Payments in Specie at the Banks 
 
 of England and Ireland. By Lord King." 
 2 " Speech of Mr. Mackintosh on the Trial of John Peltier, for a 
 
 Libel against Napoleon Bonaparte." — En.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 223 
 
 resumed your scheme of a work on International Law, 1803. 
 which I always regretted that you had for a moment j Et 2 5. 
 suspended. 
 
 I have been with several foreign booksellers about 
 the contents of the list you have sent me, and have 
 left an order both with De Boffe and with Escher, who 
 is now (I understand) the most active in procuring 
 books from Germany. I am afraid, while the French 
 army retain possession of the Elbe, that there will be 
 considerable difficulty in getting any works from the 
 Continent. 
 
 If you will allow me to offer an opinion on a point 
 which you must have considered much more deeply 
 yourself, I should venture to question the propriety 
 of the change you have made in your general plan. 
 You remember the distinction which Bentham makes 
 between expository and critical treatises of law ; they 
 ought unquestionably to be kept as distinct from each 
 other, as the provinces of the judge and the legislator. 
 Now in the present circumstances of Europe, I fancy 
 that an expository treatise of international law is not 
 only more wished for than one of a critical and spe- 
 culative nature, but is more likely to be useful, and to 
 extend the reputation of its author. So many en- 
 croachments have recently been made, perhaps by both 
 parties, on the ancient course and maxims of the 
 law of nations, that the primary object of importance 
 now is to re-inspire a deference to solemn precedents 
 and established rules. I hardly know any thing more 
 calculated to have this effect, than a learned and 
 faithful exposition of the system. The execution of 
 such a work will demand so much research, so much 
 skill of arrangement, and such a firmness of temper, 
 as may justly inflame all your ambition. You must 
 forget (for that object) that you are a citizen of a
 
 224 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. particular part of the European commonwealth, and 
 /Et 25 consider yourself as a citizen of that commonwealth 
 at large. In the present aspect of affairs, that is no 
 ordinary effort; but it is absolutely necessary in your 
 undertaking. In recommending you to adhere to 
 your original plan of an expository treatise, I am 
 supported by the authority of Mackintosh, to whom I 
 mentioned your design generally, in order to obtain 
 his opinion upon the point. I found him entirely 
 coincide with my own ideas, both of the necessity of 
 such a work at present, and of the vast field it pre- 
 sents for the acquisition of fame. Every lawyer, he 
 told me, in the Cockpit and Commons, complains that 
 they have no book whatever which they can have on 
 the table for reference. 
 
 With respect to Gentz's designs, you need not be 
 in the least alarmed. I consulted Mackintosh about 
 this too, because he knows him intimately, and was 
 much with him when Gentz was in England. His 
 work will be entirely polemical, and defensive of the 
 rights of Britain against the prejudices and doctrines 
 of the Continent. This being the case, there can be 
 no clashing of your plans ; but his work, if published 
 earlier, may be of use to you in one part of your 
 work. I shall without any delay make a collection 
 for you of all the tracts on the Armed Neutrality, that 
 I can get hold of: if my books at Edinburgh were 
 not packed up indiscriminately, I should have sent di- 
 rections to give you my copies of them. I shall be 
 glad to hear farther from you about this subject, to 
 me, as you well know, most interesting, both for its 
 own high importance, and from my sincere sympathy 
 in your enjoyment and anticipation of reputation. I 
 shall never forget an evening walk we had together 
 in the summer of 1801, when vou sketched to me the
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 225 
 
 outline of your intended arrangements. The details, 1803. 
 however, I have not been able to carry so long in my j£ T 05. 
 head. If you can find leisure enough to communi- 
 cate to me an idea of your plans, I will most willingly 
 and most frankly tell you every thing that occurs to 
 me. I must take another opportunity of informing 
 you, in some measure, of the situation in which my 
 own schemes of study are at present. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Fra, Horner. 
 
 Letter XXXVII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, 29th July, 1803. 
 
 I am grieved to hear of your indisposition ; but 
 it gives me a little satisfaction to know that you are 
 aware of the great importance of care upon such oc- 
 casions. I was beginning to blame you for not 
 writing ; and nothing has prevented me this week 
 from writing to you, but military services. James 
 Brougham and I joined the Bloomsbury Association ; 
 and for ten days past have been drilling most inde- 
 fatigably; going from Northumberland Street up to 
 the Foundling Hospital Ground twice every day. I 
 have been at it three hours this morning, and my 
 hand shakes so, that you see I cannot write. Your 
 plan of weekly incitements to patriotism is good, pro- 
 vided you execute them well ; coarsely, and plainly. 
 Brougham, I think, will be most successful. Send me 
 the first you print immediately, and all the rest ; I 
 may try my hand perhaps. Placards upon the walls 
 have some effect : we have here, for want of original 
 matter, the speeches in King John and Henry the 
 Fifth ; Rolla's speech, signed R. B. Sheridan, &c. ; 
 vol. 1. Q
 
 2 2 ( ', CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 iso3. Elizabeth's speech to her troops at Tilbury, they have 
 Et 2 .- not, though it is better than any; it is perhaps the 
 purest piece of English eloquence existing, certainly 
 the best war address. 
 
 I go to Garden Court this evening, and enter upon 
 the proper life of a lawyer. AVhat a plague of these 
 warriors, that they break in upon all our schemes of 
 study and slumber. 
 
 Let me hear from you very soon and very often, 
 even though shortly ; for I shall be very anxious to 
 hear of your health while it is precarious. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XXXVIII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, London, 6th August, 1803. 
 
 I like your Beacon well ; it holds a strong, 
 clear, and true light. I hope it will guide your 
 countrymen into the right harbour. The old Scots- 
 man is well personated ; the local circumstances are 
 well hit. Pray have you engaged Walter Scott in 
 these patriotic labours ? His border spirit of chivalry 
 must be inflamed at present, and might produce some- 
 thing. I wish he would try a song. I joined Mack- 
 intosh in exhorting Campbell to court the Tyrtaaan 
 muse ; as yet he has produced nothing : not that I 
 looked upon the success of his efforts with certainty, 
 being not quite in his line ; but a miracle produced 
 Hohinlinden, and this is now the age of miracles of 
 every kind. You should reprint the different hand- 
 bills that have had a great effect here; they are in 
 general stupid and coarse, but it is the coarse souls 
 which it is now most important to excite. The He-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 227 
 
 claration of the merchants and bankers was written isos. 
 by Mackintosh. If you have any channel of influence i^25. 
 over the ballad- singers of your city, you should set 
 them all a-singing " Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled." 
 I understand the spirit of the people in London is in 
 general almost as good as can be wished, and better 
 than could have been expected. The police magis- 
 trates can form a tolerably good guess, from their spies 
 in the alehouses. In the country, particularly along 
 the coast, the spirit of the people is said to be very 
 high. Indeed no other country of such extent ever 
 exhibited so grand a spectacle, as the unanimity in 
 which all political differences are at present lost. 
 
 I am mightily amused with 's charge of 
 
 plagiarism, which I scarcely indeed understand ; he 
 is a sensible neat man enough, and, in his own way, 
 clever, but he has no measure for such understand- 
 ings as Burke and Fox and Mackintosh ; in the 
 school of Burke, the last has certainly learned much 
 of that practical sagacity and wisdom upon the politics 
 of modern Europe, for which he is distinguished, 
 and something too of the false taste in writing which 
 may occasionally be objected to him; but to deny the 
 defence of Peltier a merit and manner original, and 
 quite distinct from that either of Fox or Burke, seems 
 to me to proceed from a deficiency in those feelings 
 and that comprehension which are requisite for such 
 large subjects. The speech for Peltier has mannerism 
 throughout, and one uniform cast of colouring ; 
 Mackintosh cannot then have stolen from both; for 
 the manner of Burke differs as much from Fox's, as 
 the style of Lucan or Milton from the style of Lucre- 
 tius or Racine. You will perceive this charge of 
 plagiarism has a little incensed me. 
 
 Tell Jeffrey I have taken to myself, for the Review, 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. Miss Williams's correspondence of Lonis XVI. From 
 
 JEt 25> what I see of it, I shall probably adore the unfortunate 
 
 prince, and flagellate the conceited heartless woman.* 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XXXIX. TO THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ. 
 My dear Thomson, London, 1 5th August, 1803. 
 
 It would be very dishonest in me not to ac- 
 knowledge, that I did very frequently in my own 
 mind reproach you for your long silence. But I take 
 it for granted that you have formed resolutions of 
 amendment ; and I will say not a word more upon 
 the subject. 
 
 I hope I am not mistaken in inferring from your 
 letter, that you have set yourself doggedly to an ana- 
 lysis and criticism of Dumont's publication. It will 
 cost you some trouble; but it is a noble subject. Du- 
 mont himself has been very anxious, I understand, to 
 see it noticed by us : and indeed it should have made 
 its appearance earlier. The work does not seem to 
 have been much read, or to have excited much atten- 
 
 * The article appeared in the fifth number of the Edinburgh Review, 
 published in October, 1803. The book is entitled — \ 
 
 " The Political and Confidential Correspondence of Louis the Six- 
 teenth, with Observations on each Letter. By Helen Maria 
 Williams." 3 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Professor Smyth has stated that this book was a forgery — " The men 
 of letters in Paris are notorious for impositions of this nature. During 
 the French Revolution, the " Letters of Louis XVI." were published in 
 Paris. Helen Maria Williams, then on the spot, gave a considerable sum 
 for the manuscript, and translated it ; she had no doubt of the authen- 
 ticity of the work : the Edinburgh Review pronounced in favour of it, 
 in an article written by so considerable a reasoner as Francis Horner : 
 it was quoted in one of the chambers, after the Restoration, as ge- 
 nuine. After all, the whole turned out to be a forgery; and two impudent 
 men came forward, and avowed that they had thought it a fair literary 
 enterprise one morning after breakfast." {Lectures on the French Revo- 
 lution, vol. iii. p. 277. published in 1840.) — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 229 
 
 tion, even in that small class of persons to whom such 1803. 
 attempts are interesting. Bentham's name is repul- iET.26. 
 sive. I never got through more than a half of the 
 three volumes, and that not in a manner to have fixed 
 much in my memory, or to qualify me for an opinion. 
 The truth is, I found that I did not assimilate much 
 matter ; I made very little chyle of it, and I lost appe- 
 tite for the food. But I have always meant to attack 
 it again ; for though I am satisfied the system is quite 
 devoid of large views and comprehensive principles, 
 there are possibly minute details both ingeniously 
 contrived and admitting of practical applications. It 
 is a curious fact, and to me almost unaccountable, 
 that more copies of Dumont's book have been sold in 
 Spain than either in England or France. 
 
 There has been nothing new very lately in the line 
 of political economy, though Brougham's work* and 
 Malthus's"j" are a great deal for one year. An indirect 
 application was made to me, to furnish a set of notes 
 for a new edition of Smith's " Wealth of Nations;" 
 this of course I declined,, because I have other things 
 to attend to : even if I had been prepared for such an 
 undertaking, which I certainly am not yet, I should 
 be reluctant to expose Smith's errors before his work 
 has operated its full effect. We owe much at present 
 to the superstitious worship of Smith's name; and 
 Ave must not impair that feeling, till the victory is 
 more complete. There are few practical errors in the 
 " Wealth of Nations," at least of any great conse- 
 quence ; and, until we can give a correct and precise 
 theory of the nature and origin of wealth, his popular 
 and plausible and loose hypothesis is as good for the 
 vulgar as any other. 
 
 * On Colonial Policy. 
 
 f Essay on the Principle of Population, in one volume, quarto; " a new 
 edition, very much enlarged." — En. 
 
 Q 3
 
 230 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. I have some hopes of completing my set of the 
 
 2Et 26 Economiste books, in consequence of an application 
 by Mackintosh to Morellet at Paris. If I procure 
 duplicates of any, I will take care of you. Morellet 
 knows more of the matter than any other person 
 living ; as he has been a labourer in that line, and of 
 the first class, for near fifty years. I suppose you 
 heard of the First Consul having nominated him to 
 the Conseil da Commerce ; but he complains sadly of 
 the ignorance that is triumphant ; all his represent- 
 ations and remonstrances are quite ineffectual. He has 
 preserved his name unsullied through the revolution, 
 and a character for independence ; the same can hardly 
 be said of any other literary man at Paris, though 
 they have, upon the whole, behaved less atrociously 
 and servilely than the men of science. Morellet has 
 likewise preserved his library, which is very rich and 
 curious in our way ; when it is dispersed, I hope wc 
 shall catch some fragments. 
 
 The approaching invasion, and the circumstances 
 of the country, have driven every other topic from 
 conversation ; questions are mooted, and possibilities 
 supposed, that make one shudder for the fate of the 
 world. But my habit is confidence; I have not been 
 long enough away from Stewart, to have yet un- 
 learned his optimism. But these intervals of ambi- 
 guity, and these suspensions of general laws, are 
 dreadful while they last. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 231 
 
 1803. 
 Letter XL. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. iE T . 26. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, 17th August, 1803. 
 
 I have looked for some more Scotch Beacons 
 with impatience; this invasion is a subject which I 
 am unwilling to forget for a single hour. Every thing 
 depends upon the spirit of the country; and now 
 that parliament is up, the country is in a great mea- 
 sure left to itself. 
 
 The appearances are very gloomy and troubled all 
 round us, but just where we stand, the spot is bright. 
 You used to quiz me a little for my sanguine hopes 
 about further progress ; but I assure you, I am forced 
 to summon all my philosophy to keep these hopes 
 alive. It is probable, I endeavour to persuade myself, 
 that the people of England are about to gain, for 
 civilisation and true democracy, a very splendid 
 triumph over military despotism; but it is terrible to 
 think, that we can only call this at the best a proba- 
 bility. I have been lately fortifying myself by some 
 favourite historical precedents — the invasion of Greece 
 by Persia, Holland by Louis XIV., and England by 
 Philip. What a mortifying contrast the behaviour 
 of Elizabeth forces us to make with some characters 
 of the present age ; so much spirit, caution, and gene- 
 rous confidence, contrasted with bigotry, mean jea- 
 lousy, and a selfish stupid coldness towards the 
 people. Remember what Hume tells us of the con- 
 duct of Elizabeth to the Catholics, who in her time 
 were really dangerous ; now it is a certain fact, that 
 the few of the present peers and gentry of England, 
 that adhere to that persuasion, have been treated with 
 indignity and distrust. They held a meeting for an 
 address to the king, adding to the usual forms of 
 
 Q 4
 
 932 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. loyalty an expression of regret that, by the laws of 
 ^T^, the land, they could not contribute their personal 
 services: Lords Petre, Arundel, and Kenmare (of 
 Ireland), were the leading names. From delicacy 
 alone, a draught of their address was previously com- 
 municated to one of the Secretaries of State, and it 
 was returned with the passage I have alluded to ex- 
 punged. The consequence was, that no address was 
 presented. This was before the rebellion broke out 
 in Ireland. Since that event, a plan has been sug- 
 gested by the Prince, that he should go to that coun- 
 try with Moira, Lord Hutchinson, and Sheridan ; in 
 such a disease, even desperate remedies and quack 
 medicines ought to be tried, and I really believe that 
 the humbug popularity of Sheridan and Moira might 
 have a healing effect, especially if assisted by the 
 more substantial measure of emancipation, which 
 hazards nothing against us, gives the Irish almost all 
 they ask, and nothing more than in justice they ought 
 to have had long ago. The Doctor, or some other of 
 his compeers, said of this scheme with great decency, 
 that it was as much as their places were worth to 
 hint at it. You must have noticed the address from 
 the county of York, as by far the best thing that has 
 appeared upon this great occasion ; it is a single sen- 
 tence, but one of admirable power and composition. 
 I hear it was written by Mr. Fawkes, a gentleman of 
 property, who has been mentioned as likely to repre- 
 sent the county. For the Scotch Beacon, I wish you 
 would read the history of Judas Maccabeus in the 
 Apocrypha ; it will furnish you with some apt and glow- 
 ing quotations. The feelings of local patriotism and 
 attachment to old laws and national independence are 
 ardently and eloquently expressed. I do not know 
 a finer piece of dramatic narrative than the second
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 233 
 
 chapter. You may laugh at those oddities in human 1803. 
 character, which make the same quotations of Scrip- ^ T>2 6. 
 ture appropriate now, that fired and maddened the 
 poor persecuted Covenanters. 
 
 Believe me truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XLI. FROM SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 
 Dear Horner Tenby, South Wales, 26th August, 1803. 
 
 We shall both be very happy to hear that you 
 persevere in your intention of visiting South Wales. 
 We shall be here for nearly four weeks, and I need 
 hardly say how much you would add to our enjoy- 
 ment of the sea and rocks here : they are very beau- 
 tiful, and the road from Gloucestershire through 
 Monmouthshire, Brecknockshire, and Caermarthen- 
 shire, is as beautiful as any equal extent of country 
 in the world. 
 
 Are the Sydney Smiths come to town? I waited 
 two days till near eleven, for you and Mr. Playfair to 
 breakfast. If he has a separate copy of his paper on 
 Indian astronomy, I should be very desirous of bring- 
 ing it with me. Your Edinburgh Transactions are 
 too large, and not interesting enough. I should be 
 very curious to know whether he thinks Bentley's 
 objections to the antiquity of the Indian calculations 
 conclusive : they are in the sixth volume of the 
 Asiatic Researches. I own I lean against great 
 antiquity, as against all marvellous things. It is so 
 naturally connected with national vanity, and with 
 the general proneness to exaggerate, that I should 
 require stronger evidence/or than against it. 
 
 Miss Williams's observations (or rather Stone's, for
 
 234 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. I am persuaded they are his) on Louis XVI. 's letters 
 Et are, to be sure, stupid and malignant to the last 
 degree. In talking either of Berthier or Foulon (I 
 forget which), she or rather he says that the charge 
 of monopolising provisions, with a view to starve Paris, 
 has never been disproved. This sort of negative observ- 
 ation, after a man has been murdered, savours rather 
 strongly of revolutionary law. But what strikes me 
 most is the admirable consistency of her belief in 
 forestalling, with a reverence for Turgot, whom, it is 
 very obvious, she admires only for his faults. I do 
 not believe in the authenticity of all the letters ; 
 there is no evidence produced of it, and some of 
 them have a sententious and ostentatious cast, very 
 unlike the simplicity of the poor king's mind and 
 style. They are, however, I believe a very fair 
 picture of his sentiments, and they represent per- 
 fectly the opinion generally entertained of him in 
 France. She deserves a very severe castigation for 
 dulness and malevolence. Depend upon it that 
 liberal principles will never again be popular, till 
 we shake off all those who have brought disgrace 
 upon them. 
 
 But I catch myself prosing, and shall therefore 
 conclude, with assuring you that 
 
 I am ever truly yours, 
 
 J. Mackintosh. 
 
 Letter XLII. TO L. HORNER, ESQ. 
 My dear Leonard, Temple, 5th November, 1803. 
 
 By a letter from my father this morning, I 
 have had the satisfaction to be assured that my 
 mother's health is restored. * * *
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 235 
 
 Tell my father, he is quite right about Atterbury's 1803. 
 Sermon ; I believe I have borrowed two phrases out jet.26. 
 of it, though I have not been honest enough to mark 
 more than one of them in Italics. I ought, in this 
 theft, to plead in mitigation of punishment, the 
 merits of my memory ; for I have not opened Atter- 
 bury's Sermons these many years, and have not read 
 that on the Martyrdom of Charles, since the first or 
 second year I was at college. 
 
 I am glad to find you have been reading Adam 
 Smith ; it is quite true, as you remark, that upon the 
 subject of money he is not quite clear; the true 
 reason of which is, that in some points he is not 
 quite right, as you will be satisfied after you have 
 studied a little farther. What I say now applies 
 entirely to the fifth chapter, which I would not have 
 you puzzle yourself with too much ; it is sufficient for 
 your present purpose, that you take from it the 
 general idea of what distinguishes the money-price of 
 commodities from their real price, or their price in 
 other goods. This will fully enable you to under- 
 stand all his subsequent reasonings with regard to 
 prices, at least all such of them as are accurate and 
 quite free from error ; for you are not to take for granted 
 all that is given you in this book, more than you ought 
 to do in any other ; and it should be your rule in read- 
 ing, upon all occasions and all subjects, to examine 
 the truth of every argument by the force of your own 
 understanding. There is less chance, however, of 
 being led into false opinions by the " Wealth of 
 Nations," than by almost any other book 011 that 
 kind of philosophy. 
 
 With respect to the time you are to divide between 
 political economy and chemistry, you must, of course, 
 judge for yourself. To a certain degree, I believe it
 
 236 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. is most beneficial in study to indulge one's taste and 
 ^26. predilections, particularly if they are strong ; but in 
 this, to be sure, some discretion too is necessary. I 
 shall only say, that you will have less opportunity of 
 being taught the elements of political economy here*, 
 than of prosecuting your knowledge of chemistry, 
 which I presume by this time is a good deal more 
 than elementary. There are in London more than a 
 dozen courses of lectures on chemistry, though none 
 certainly so valuable as those at Edinburgh ; but 
 there are no lectures whatever on political science. 
 I have no purpose in mentioning all this, but to make 
 you fully aware of the advantages of your present 
 situation; if you were to neglect them, which I am 
 sure you will not, you might feel a regret when it 
 would be unavailing. 
 
 With respect to chemistry in general, I would 
 advise you, from my own experience, not to throw 
 away many hours upon manual and operative experi- 
 ments ; because your plans of life will not admit of 
 your ever becoming a perfect, or even a tolerable, 
 workman. Indeed your views should be a good deal 
 higher than that; you have surely no ambition to 
 discover a new metal or earth. If you had, you have 
 no chance of success, unless you chain yourself for 
 life to a furnace. Do not imagine that I am disposed 
 to damp your ardour for chemical studies; on the 
 contrary, my design is to promote it, by urging you 
 to choose the most important and most difficult parts 
 of the science. Do not quit it, till you have mastered 
 all the general knowledge, that has hitherto been 
 ascertained, of the chemical phenomena of nature; 
 and have fixed in your mind such a store of facts, 
 
 * His father had by this time determined to remove his residence from 
 Edinburgh to London. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 237 
 
 and principles, and reasonings, as will enable you, 1803. 
 after you turn your labours to other subjects, to je t .26, 
 follow the future discoveries and improvements that 
 may be made. Only remember, that an evening, for 
 your purposes, may be far more profitably employed 
 in labouring to comprehend a general theory or ex- 
 position of great natural phenomena, or to detect the 
 fallacies of an inaccurate hypothesis, than in watching 
 the manipulation of a process which you perfectly 
 understand, but which you cannot qualify yourself 
 perfectly to execute. You have to render yourself a 
 man of liberal information and of a cultivated under- 
 standing, not a dexterous apothecary. I often reflect, 
 with pain and regret, that the hours I have wasted in 
 distilling sulphuric acid for future experiments that 
 never were attempted, might have put me in full and 
 steady possession of the doctrine of latent heat, the 
 theory of aflinities, that of oxygenation in its various 
 branches, &c. &c. 
 
 Write to me soon, and all about your studies, &c. 
 without minding the rotation of other letters from 
 
 York Place. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Hoener. 
 
 Letter XLIII. TO JAMES REDDIE, ESQ. 
 My dear Reddie, Temple, 14th November, 1803. 
 
 I am sincerely concerned to hear that your 
 health is still so delicate, as not to permit you to 
 undertake the fatigues of the Winter Session. In 
 every other respect your present situation is to be 
 envied ; a retirement occupied in the pursuits of 
 learning, and the prospect of a reputation to be 
 earned by those pursuits, are a pleasant exchange
 
 238 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1803. indeed for professional toils and technical studies. I 
 ^j T 26. interest myself very much in the progress of your 
 undertaking; such feeble means of assistance as are 
 in my power, I shall exert with cheerfulness, and 
 think myself highly flattered by your requiring them 
 of me. When I received your last letter but one, 
 Mackintosh was in the country ; since his return, I 
 have had a pretty full conversation with him upon 
 your business, and told him expressly the nature of 
 the work in which you are engaged. 
 
 I believe that I have already told you that such a 
 book is an acknowledged desideratum ; the execution 
 of it, he thinks, will be attended with no common 
 difficulties, but (these being conquered) the success 
 of it would be certain and great. That success, he 
 says, will turn upon the adaptation of the book to 
 the use of practisers in the courts ; and their habits, 
 though some of them may be prejudices, must be 
 consulted and indulged in the form and mode of 
 composition. I have already found, I assure you, 
 even in ordinary literary conversation, the necessity 
 of unlearning something of the manners which one 
 imbibes in the metaphysical climate of Edinburgh: 
 such as the inclination to theorize, and to present 
 general principles or rules in a scholastic dress. With 
 respect to the practical substance of international law, 
 Mackintosh has more than once confessed to me, that 
 he discovered he knew almost nothing of it when he 
 first went into the Cockpit, though he had previously 
 studied it with some attention, and had lectured on 
 it in Lincoln's Inn Hall. 
 
 Mackintosh speaks very highly of the general views 
 given by Leibnitz in the preface, or Monitum, to his 
 Codex Juris Gentium Diplomaticus. You will find 
 this in the fourth volume of Dutens' edition, p. 285.
 
 JOURNAL. 239 
 
 These remarks principally relate, I believe, to the 1804 » 
 nature and authority of usage ; and it is no doubt the ^ T . 20. 
 greatest nicety in your whole undertaking to ascertain 
 the just description and extent of that vague and 
 fluctuating source of rules. 
 
 From your last letter, I suspect you may be too 
 anxious to draw the precise line, which marks otF your 
 peculiar subjects from the other provinces and depart- 
 ments of jurisprudence. Metaphysically speaking, there 
 must doubtless be such a line and boundary, if our pre- 
 sent language had power to describe it : but it is hardly 
 to be expected, that in the practical administration of 
 any branch of law, such exactness should have been 
 scrupulously observed. We may incur a real inex- 
 actness, by attempting to reach an abstract ideal accu- 
 racy, beyond and above the clumsy conveniences of 
 practice. When you send me the sketch of your plan, 
 which I am very anxious to see, tell me whether I 
 may show it to Mackintosh, so as to place him more 
 completely in possession of the general nature of your 
 design. 
 
 Farewell, my dear Reddie ; believe me faithfully 
 and affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " January \\th. — I ought to be ashamed 
 of myself for having omitted to keep some sort of 
 diary, during the early part of this winter ; when I 
 have been tasting for the first time the sweets of Lon- 
 don society, and commencing that course of instruc- 
 tion, under other men's minds, the use and direction 
 of which will determine the cast of my future cha- 
 racter; for my character I must still look upon as of 
 future formation. I have no leisure now to recall any 
 part of the time I have passed ; my society has been
 
 240 JOURNAL. 
 
 1804. chiefly at Mackintosh's house, and among the men 
 Jvr. -26. whom he brings together.* 
 
 " This morning spent with Sharp f has forced me 
 to attempt again a journal. He is a very extraordi- 
 nary man ; I have seen so much of him lately, that I 
 determine every day to see more of him, as much as I 
 possibly can. His great subject is criticism, upon 
 which he always appears to me original and profound ; 
 what I have not frequently observed in combination, 
 he is both subtle and feeling. Next to literature, the 
 powers of his understanding, at once ingenious and 
 plain, show themselves in the judgment of characters ; 
 he has seen much of the great men of the last gene- 
 ration, and he appears to have seen them well. In 
 this particular, his conversation is highly interest- 
 ing ; from his talent of painting by incidents and 
 minute ordinary features, he almost carries you 
 back to the society of those great personages, and 
 makes you live for a moment in their presence. 
 He has paid much attention to metaphysics also, 
 and appears to me to praise the best books, with the 
 exception of Hartley, whom both he and Mackintosh 
 admire extremely, though in Scotland we are pro- 
 hibited from reading him by the contempt with 
 which he is spoken of. I must read him. But I 
 shall take many other opportunities of writing about 
 Sharp. We ran over all the title-pages in his room. 
 I have brought away one or two books to read by his 
 advice, particularly Fleury, Du Choix et de la Con- 
 duite des Etudes. He showed me a letter of Pliny, 
 lib. ix. cap. 10., which, compared with two passages 
 in the Dicdogus de Oratoribus, [in both of which 
 the phrase ' iiemora et lucos' occurs], strikes him as 
 
 * See Memoirs of Sir J. Mackintosh, vol. i. p. 190. — Ed. 
 f Richard Sharp, Esq., afterwards M. P.
 
 JOURNAL. 241 
 
 a proof that that Dialogue was really written by Tacitus. iso-4. 
 He observed of Butler's analogy, that the great merit ^ T>26> 
 of that writer lies in proportioning his language to 
 the degree of his assent, and in communicating that 
 degree perspicuously to his reader : I am too little 
 acquainted with the manner of Butler to feel this to 
 be just, but I feel the remark, taken generally, to be 
 a most important one, and one to be remembered for 
 ever in the accomplishment of my great objects. He 
 spoke of Henderson of Oxford ; that though he had 
 much quackery before ignorant people to astonish 
 them with his eccentricities of erudition, which be- 
 came so much a habit that he was generally quackish 
 in the selection of his subjects, the manner was full of 
 ability; and that he had a very powerful understanding. 
 The only things ever printed by Henderson were 
 two statements, of the arguments for and against 
 necessity, and of the arguments for and against Berk- 
 leianism ; Henderson was a Berkleian and a Neces- 
 sarian. Sharp showed me a curious document about 
 Junius ; the first collection he made of his letters, 
 containing some of a previous date, as far back as 
 August 1768, signed Lucius; the same manner evi- 
 dently, not yet perfectly formed and rounded. There 
 are said to be two other letters by the same hand, 
 signed Domitian. 
 
 " January Y&th. — The history of the volunteers, 
 during the last summer, followed out through that 
 dissolution which already appears to have begun, is a 
 most important experiment upon the subject of na- 
 tional defence, considered with respect to the peculiar 
 circumstances of so complicated a form of society as 
 that in which we live. The opinion of Pitt, with 
 respect to the volunteer system, appears a great 
 blunder for so eminent a statesman. Is it improbable, 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 1804. that he may persist in the same conduct, though con- 
 VT7 vinced of his error, on account of the immense and 
 powerful engine of present popularity, which the 
 volunteer system puts in his hands ? 
 
 " The great error of Fox, in the late years of oppo- 
 sition, appears to have consisted in that favourable 
 expectation of the issue of the French Revolution, 
 which was natural to young and to speculative 
 thinkers, but hardly to be permitted in a practised 
 statesman. He felt too much, and reflected too little ; 
 perhaps he did not take sufficient pains to inquire 
 into facts. He gave an indolent indulgence to his 
 benevolent and great feelings. An error of an 
 inferior appearance, but of fatal influence upon the 
 Opposition party, was the countenance given to the 
 Jacobin party in England by Mr. Fox. He was mis- 
 led in this by some people about him; and by the 
 persuasion, no doubt, that that powerful party might 
 easily be restrained from excess, and in the mean 
 time give effectual aid to the prevalence of popular 
 sentiments. Fox was led, in this business, even by 
 such an unworthy agent as Dennis O'Brien ; who must 
 have been the original, as Mackintosh remarked to 
 me, of Burke's picture of the go-between, in the 
 ' Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs.' 
 
 " Political Anecdote. — Lord Mornington, now Mar- 
 quis Wellesley, paid a visit to his friend Mr. Addington, 
 in Berkshire, about the time he was appointed Governor 
 General of India. In a conversation on the subject, he 
 was enumerating some of the disadvantages and ob- 
 jections to the situation. ' Lord Cornwallis,' he said, 
 ' has done every thing; has left nothing for me to do. 1 
 Mr. Addington, now minister, told this last Saturday 
 to Sir James Mackintosh, from whom I have it. I 
 forgot to ask whether, in stating this curious and
 
 JOURNAL. 243 
 
 valuable anecdote, the minister appeared conscious i804. 
 of the inference that it suggests with regard to Wei- ^ T . 2 6. 
 lesley's character, or the explanation it affords, from 
 that character, of the measures of his administration. 
 It was mentioned, however, in a conversation in 
 which Addington was gently, and after his manner, 
 blaming the wars, &c. of the Governor General. 
 
 " January 22d. — At Sydney Smith's: the happiest 
 day I remember to have ever spent; Mackintosh, 
 Whishaw, Sharp, Kogers, and three interesting women 
 of unlike characters and manners. I was startled to 
 hear Sharp say that the critical writings of Marmontel 
 were unreadable ; I have always considered them 
 almost evangelically orthodox. 
 
 " January 25th. — At Rogers's ; — Mackintosh, 
 Sharp, Sydney Smith, AYilkins, &c. Somewhat a 
 melancholy evening, for it was the last Mackintosh 
 is to spend in London. Wilkins was a load upon the 
 company; for with that cast of gloom, and fond to 
 fix our eyes to the last moment on the light that was 
 sinking below our horizon, and is now sunk, one 
 was not disposed to think of grammatical antiquities. 
 It is something, however, to have seen the first En- 
 glishman who read Sanscrit ; a plain, hard-headed 
 man, enthusiastic and liberal in his own walk of liter- 
 ature, but with no original thoughts or feelings out 
 of it. 
 
 u February 2d. — Spent the whole afternoon with 
 Sharp ; I trust beneficially, I am sure most delight- 
 fully. He spoke very actively, and sometimes with 
 ardour. I begin to learn the art of listening ; a diffi- 
 cult art. He talked to me a great deal about the 
 commerce of London, on which he must be exten- 
 sively informed; I can judge for myself, that he spoke 
 with precision on some interesting views of it. I 
 
 r 2
 
 244 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. have elsewhere noted such facts as I have been able 
 yET 2G> to remember. We ended of course upon criticism, 
 minute criticism of English composition. Though 
 I boast of beginning to learn the art of listening, I 
 have not acquired the least talent for putting ques- 
 tions; still more difficult." 
 
 Letter XLIV. TO WILLIAM ERSKINE, ESQ., PORTSMOUTH. 
 Dear Erskilie London, 4th February, 1804. 
 
 I am vexed that you should have suffered so 
 much delay in receiving your letters. I am afraid 
 Sir James may not have received all that has been 
 sent; the Edinburgh Review last Monday, and the 
 London Reviews on Thursday. 
 
 Yesterday I nattered myself with the idea of seeing 
 you once more, for Mr. Sharp and I had settled 
 it so. But these cruel tempests have brought back 
 some of his West Indian ships to Plymouth, and he 
 cannot leave London in the midst of the business 
 which this occasions. 
 
 Give my respects to Sir James and Lady Mack- 
 intosh, when you see them. I never pretended to 
 express to either of them my sense of the great kind- 
 ness they have shown me since I came to London, 
 because I could not express it adequately ; I shall ever 
 feel it with gratitude, if I am good for any thing. 
 To Mackintosh, indeed, my obligations are of a far 
 higher order than those even of the kindest hospi- 
 tality ; he has been an intellectual master to me, and 
 has enlarged my prospects into the wide regions of 
 moral speculation, more than any other tutor I have 
 ever had in the art of thinking ; I cannot even except 
 Duarald Stewart, to whom I once thought I owed
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 245 
 
 more than I could ever receive from another. Had 1804. 
 Mackintosh remained in England, I should have pos- ^ T 26> 
 sessecl ten years hence, powers and views which are 
 now beyond my reach. I never left his conversation, 
 but I felt a mixed consciousness, as it were, of in- 
 feriority and capability; and I have now and then 
 flattered myself with this feeling, as if it promised 
 that I might make something of myself. I cannot 
 think of all this, without being melancholy; " osten- 
 dent tantum fata, neque ultra." Farewell, my dear 
 Erskine, and believe me faithfully and affectionately 
 
 yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XLV. FROM LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 Dear Horner, Torquay, llth April, 1804. 
 
 I have been living here alone for some weeks, 
 and a great part of what little leisure I have has 
 been employed in studies, the pleasing toil of which 
 you once shared with me. This has often led my 
 thoughts towards you, and those thoughts have at 
 length ripened into a letter. 
 
 I long very much to see you, and to renew old 
 subjects, and to profit by the information you have 
 acquired since we parted. It will be amusing to me 
 to trace what changes have been produced in your 
 opinions by the society of London. You will not 
 think I say this with any air of triumph, for you 
 cannot suppose that I wish you to have taken up 
 old-fashioned English prejudices in the room of the 
 philosophy of the North ; but it may be supposed 
 that there are national peculiarities in the sentiments 
 and literary taste of the most enlightened minds in 
 
 e 3
 
 246 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. this country, and I conceive that some of them, with 
 2 EiT 26. whom you have been conversant, may have imparted 
 a little of these peculiarities to you. I am glad you 
 saw all you could of Mackintosh, who is to me a 
 magnus Apollo above all the men with whom I am 
 acquainted. His talents are of the highest kind, and 
 of that kind perhaps the first in degree. Stewart I 
 believe to be as bright a sun, and his lustre is cer- 
 tainly more benignant, but Stewart veils himself in 
 an eclipse, and Mackintosh has dazzled me most. I 
 expect to gain much from your conversations with 
 Mackintosh, and I shall have the advantage of having 
 the ideas which you derived from him conveyed to 
 me in an arrangement and in language, to which I 
 have been accustomed. See how you are threatened 
 with my chain pump. 
 
 Since the middle of August last I have not left 
 Devonshire. My time has been almost wholly occu- 
 pied with the business of my regiment, and chiefly in 
 drudgery with pen and ink. Fortunately I had been 
 prepared for this by patient application to some things 
 in science for which I had no relish. This volunteer 
 business has had, however, the good effect of restoring 
 (and I flatter myself completely restoring) my love 
 of philosophical pursuits and of study, which, as I 
 have before told you, had been wretchedly impaired 
 by my over-strained exertions at Edinburgh. In 
 January I resumed the study of the Prcerogativa In- 
 stantiarum, with no very serious hopes of prosecuting 
 it amidst my present engagements. But the attempt 
 has succeeded beyond my expectations; for, though 
 often interrupted, I have pursued the work ever 
 since, and am growing every day more attached 
 to it. When I take up the little vellum-coated com- 
 panion you gave me, it is with feelings of self-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 247 
 
 indulgence; and speculation is now quite a refresh- 1804. 
 ment from the harass of business. My progress in ^et. 26. 
 this study has of course been exceedingly slow: I 
 dwell a fortnight sometimes upon one kind of in- 
 stantiaa. But I care not if this small part of Bacon's 
 work employs me two years, for I find it furnish 
 hints for speculations which branch off into all parts 
 of the great subject; and as I write perseveringly, I 
 may in this desultory manner collect a store of useful 
 materials. Our practice of illustrating by examples, 
 from the more recent investigations of science, I con- 
 tinue very assiduously. Having been led to think 
 lately upon the principles of classification, and find- 
 ing myself deficient in illustrations, I have returned 
 to my once favourite botany, for the sake of examin- 
 ing the various characters for classification which the 
 vegetable kingdom affords, and considering the ad- 
 vantages of those chosen by Linnaeus. My previous 
 knowledge of the details is of course very useful to 
 me. 
 
 The environs of this place form one of the most 
 beautiful pieces of sea-coast I know. You have this 
 noble bay (itself finely indented) closed in on this 
 side by a country that has all the varied charms of 
 wildness and fertility, gray rocks and verdure, and 
 trees almost upon the beach. Spring is now begin- 
 ning to dress the scene in her gayest colours. If I 
 am here in summer, you must come and see me. Re- 
 member me to Sydney Smith, and Elmsley*, and 
 Whishaw ; to whom I have been long in debt for two 
 very entertaining letters. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Webb Seymouk. 
 
 * The Rev. Peter Elmsley, elected in 1823 Principal of St. Alban Hall, 
 Oxford. 
 
 R 4
 
 248 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. 
 JEt. 26. 
 
 Letter XLVI. TO HIS FATHER. 
 My dear Sir London, 24th April, 1804. 
 
 You will not get yesterday's newspaper, in 
 consequence of my going down to Westminster before 
 it arrived. I was at the door of the House by half 
 past eight ; so that we had a pretty good seat of it, till 
 three next morning. But we were fully rewarded.* 
 I have not read the report in the Morning Chronicle ; 
 but if it is no better than they have been of late, you 
 will receive but a feeble impression of the debate. 
 Fox's opening speech was not eloquent; on the con- 
 trary, slovenly as to manner, and languid ; probably 
 from an express intention to restrain himself on per- 
 sonal topics, that he might not anticipate Pitt in this 
 respect; he did not allude to ministers, but confined 
 himself to the inadequacy of the present arrangements 
 for national defence, and the means of improving 
 them into a permanent system by a better plan of 
 recruiting, and by regulations for military exercises 
 among the peasantry. All the substance of his 
 S£>eech was excellent. Pitt gave us both substance 
 and manner, as a debater of the highest powers ; most 
 explicit in his declaration against ministers, which he 
 delivered, however, as if at last after much consider- 
 ation and reluctance ; but he enforced it with a good 
 deal of grave vehement declamation in his way, and 
 some touches of that bitter freezing sarcasm, which 
 every body agrees is his most original talent, and 
 appears indeed most natural to him. His speech 
 was very argumentative and full of details ; through- 
 
 * The debate was on a motion of Mr. Fox : — " That it be referred to 
 a Committee of the whole House to revise the several Bills for The De- 
 fence of the Country, and to consider of such further measures as may be 
 necessary to make that defence more complete and permanent." — En.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 249 
 
 out, the impression he left was, and he disguised very 1804. 
 successfully his anxiety to make this impression, that iE T .26. 
 every measure government had adopted for the na- 
 tional defence originated from his suggestion, which 
 they had marred, however, by adopting them imper- 
 fectly, and carrying them still worse into execution. 
 The speeches of ministers were confined, till the 
 Attorney-General* rose, to the defence of the different 
 parts of their military measures that had been at- 
 tacked; Percival took a much more judicious view of 
 the debate, and treated the motion as if it had been 
 in terms for the dismissal of ministers. This was the 
 true mode of treating it, if he could have executed 
 his idea with skill ; but his want of talent drove him 
 to violence and extreme personality, so as to betray 
 the fury and despair of his friends, or rather their 
 convulsions in death. His personal abuse of Fox and 
 Windham was vulgar and gross in the extreme. 
 But we in the gallery were much indebted to him, for 
 it produced a masterly speech from each in their very 
 different styles. Windham repelled the personality, 
 chiefly by the contrast of his own manner ; with great 
 fire, but perfect temper, a very polite contempt, and 
 exquisite wit ; he spoke not more than ten minutes, 
 but he refreshed one's mind from all the bad feelings 
 that Percival had given us. Fox treated him after a 
 different regimen ; condemning, with much vehemence 
 and indignation, the faction and ribaldry which he 
 had introduced into the debate; and defending his 
 own political connections and conduct with all the 
 manliness and simplicity of his best manner. It is 
 very likely that, so soon after the great entertainment 
 I have had, I may be talking of it in a way that you 
 will suppose exaggerated; but if it is so, you will 
 
 * The Hon. Spencer Percival.
 
 250 JOURNAL. 
 
 1804. know how to make allowances. One feature of the 
 j Et 0(3 debate I must not forget ; the fulsome adulation paid 
 by Tierney, and the Attorney- General to Pitt; the 
 latter of whom said, that no event would be more 
 agreeable to the country than his return to power — a 
 very strange expression to use in such circumstances. 
 After such a division as that of last night, nobody 
 conceives the Doctor can any longer remain at the 
 head. 
 
 Love to my mother and sisters. 
 
 I am ever faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " May 16th. — This day I have made my 
 first appearance at the bar of the House of Lords; 
 and have committed what Hume calls the most pre- 
 sumptuous of all attempts — to speak before the Chan- 
 cellor with less than a month's study of the laws.* 
 For I can scarcely say that I have ever given a 
 month's study to Scotch law, or to any law. I have 
 probably, therefore, spoken to the same effect that 
 Hume describes, that of labouring to make myself 
 
 * " The greatest genius, and greatest orator, who should pretend to 
 plead before the Chancellor, after a month's study of the laws, would 
 only labour to make himself ridiculous." (Essay xvi. " Of Elo- 
 quence" quarto edition, Edinburgh, 1758.) He was led to make this 
 remark, by what he had said before — " The great statesmen and generals 
 among the Romans were all lawyers ; and Cicero, to show the facility of 
 acquiring this science, declares, that in the midst of all his occupations 
 he would undertake, in a few days, to make himself a complete civilian. 
 Now, where a pleader addresses himself to the equity of his judges, he 
 has much more room to display his eloquence, than where he must draw 
 his arguments from strict laws, statutes, and precedents. In the former 
 case, many circumstances must be taken in, many personal considerations 
 regarded ; and even favour and inclination, which it belongs to the orator, 
 by his art and eloquence, to conciliate, may be disguised under the 
 appearance of equity. But, how shall a modern lawyer have leisure to 
 quit his toilsome occupations, in order to gather the flowers of Parnassus? 
 Or what opportunity shall he have of displaying them, amidst the rigid 
 and subtle arguments, objections, and replies, which he is obliged to 
 make use of ? " — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 251 
 
 ridiculous. I know full well that I must at least have 1804. 
 been ridiculous from my symptoms of trepidation /Et.26. 
 and embarrassment. Speaking for the first time in 
 any place would make me nervous; but before so 
 great an assembly, (great from association and pre- 
 vious impression), in a large hall, those you address 
 at a great distance from you, with a vacant gap be- 
 tween, is enough to chill all fancy and all memory. 
 If I had not used the precaution of full notes, which 
 must become unnecessary as soon as I can render it 
 so, I should have utterly lost my train of argument. 
 I scarcely could finish a sentence, and could find no 
 variety of language to express distinct ideas. This, 
 I know, partly resulted from having notes, and from 
 not having courage to trust myself to invention ex- 
 tempore; but my tongue in truth clove to the roof 
 of my mouth." 
 
 Letter XLVII. TO JOHN A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, Th e Temple, 8th June, 1804. 
 
 I have just received your kind inquiries, and 
 am much pleased to have at length a letter from 
 you. 
 
 Tell Jeffrey not to be so much alarmed ; and that 1 
 wish to keep Stevens's new pamphlet called " Oppor- 
 tunity" for a review. Brougham and I have been 
 discussing the subject a little; and I feel myself 
 more inclined to agree with the author than with 
 Brougham upon the subject. I wish, besides, to 
 break a lance in this chivalrous cause, the slave 
 trade, before it be quite forgotten, and to pronounce 
 a panegyric on Wilberforce and Co., if they shall 
 prove victorious, or to animate them to farther per-
 
 252 JOURNAL. 
 
 1804. severance if they suffer another defeat. So that you 
 
 i: . r OG may suspect me of a desire to be converted, if you 
 
 please, and to labour, as AVilberforce said of Brougham, 
 
 when he introduced him to one of the brethren, " in 
 
 the same vineyard." 
 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " June 15th. — This afternoon I had a 
 meeting, by appointment, with Mr. Elphinstone, the 
 chairman, and Mr. Charles Grant, the deputy-chairman, 
 of the East India Company. They had made a pre- 
 vious application to me, through Mr. Adam, to know 
 if I would undertake an exposition of the views now 
 entertained in Leadenhall Street, with respect to the 
 extension of their Eastern dominions, and an examin- 
 ation of the Governor-general's conduct in the late or 
 present war against the Marattas. As I signified 
 my assent to the proposal, this meeting was for the 
 purpose of entering a little into particulars, and set- 
 tling the scheme. Mr. Grant was the spokesman, and 
 though I have lono; been aware of his worth and in- 
 formation, I had now occasion to admire both the 
 extent of his knoAvledge in Indian politics, and the 
 purity, sensibility and enlargement of his political 
 views. This is an honourable opportunity for me, 
 and, if I make the most of it, may prove a crisis in my 
 progress. It is a great subject on many accounts, and 
 I shall bring the discussion before the whole audience 
 of England. The investigations it involves will lead 
 me, I expect, to a survey of the whole system of our 
 Oriental policy and projects ; and in advocating a cause 
 which is congenial to my own principles and feelings, 
 I shall have to illustrate the high rules of political 
 virtue, to assert the rights of remote nations of men,
 
 JOURNAL. 253 
 
 and to prescribe maxims to the government of Eng- 1804. 
 land for the preservation and improvement of her iE-r.26. 
 empire in Asia.* 
 
 " June 30th. — I have received from Lord Fitz- 
 william, whom I never saw, an invitation to dine with 
 him ; and I am given to understand, it is a political 
 party dinner. After some deliberation, and consult- 
 ing with Adam, Ward f, and Whishaw, I have accepted 
 it. Almost from my first entrance upon the study of 
 law, I considered politics as an ultimate object and a 
 concurrent occupation. Political adventure is a game 
 which I am disqualified from playing by many cir- 
 cumstances of my character; and which I am resolved 
 to decline. But some share in public business, ac- 
 quired by reputation, and supported on an independent 
 footing, is a fair object, and almost the only reward 
 that stimulates me to the law. Without belonging to 
 a party, there can be no efficient participation in public 
 affairs. If an honourable man sees no formed party, 
 among the factions of the state, by whom his general 
 ideas of policy are maintained, he will shrink from them 
 all, and attempt only individual efforts to explain and 
 enforce his views. But in the general maxims and 
 principles of Mr. Fox's party, both with regard to the 
 doctrine of the constitution, to foreign policy, and to 
 the modes of internal legislation, I recognise those to 
 which I have been led by the results of my own reflec- 
 tion, and by the tenor of my philosophic education. 
 And I am ambitious to co-operate with that party, in 
 labouring to realise those enlightened principles in the 
 government of our own country; however I lament 
 
 * I have not found in any of Mr. Horner's papers or letters any evi- 
 dence of this "exposition" having been written; and a Director of the 
 East India Company, who was kind enough to make the search at my 
 request, did not discover any such document among the Archives of the 
 India House. — En. 
 
 f The Hon. John "W. Ward, afterwards Earl Dudley.
 
 254 JOURNAL. 
 
 1804. some violences and mistakes in the conduct of Op- 
 iET.26. position on particular occasions, and however much 
 I suspect the characters of some who have at times 
 been very near Mr. Fox's person. All my feelings carry 
 me towards that party ; and all my principles confirm 
 the predilection. Into that party, therefore, I reso- 
 lutely enlist myself; with very feeble hopes of its ever 
 being for any long period triumphant in power. 
 There is a low prudence, in rearing the fabric of one's 
 fortunes, which fixes the ambition (if it maybe called 
 by so proud a name) on the actual possession of 
 places and emolument ; and there are some living 
 instances which prove this to be quite a sure game, 
 provided there are never any compunctious visitings 
 of principle or personal regard. There is a more 
 virtuous discretion, which limits a man's schemes of 
 exertion to his professional sphere, and to the honest 
 accumulation of large profits and small praises, such 
 as the English bar seems almost infallibly to bestow 
 on diligent abilities. But there is a more elevated 
 prudence, which does not stop at affluence in its pros- 
 pect, but ventures to include the chances of lasting 
 service to mankind, and of a good name impressed 
 upon the history of the times. I could not have de- 
 sired a more respectable channel of introduction to 
 the meetings of the party, than that of Lord Fitz- 
 william's house; for though I have never been made 
 known to that nobleman, I am not ostensibly brought 
 to his house by any other person. I have some reason 
 to believe that Lord Lauderdale may have suggested 
 my name ; but I am pleased that I do not enter under 
 his wing, as his is one of those characters in which I 
 have not yet entire confidence." 
 
 " July 1st — I have been at Lord Fitzwilliam's ; 
 the party, like all large ones, unsatisfactory. I had 
 the pleasure, however, of seeing, and being intro-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 255 
 
 duced to, Windham and Sheridan. I heard Windham 1804. 
 talk no more than to enchant me with his manner ; ^Et. 26. 
 Sheridan, I had an opportunity of seeing and hearing- 
 more at length, and in an appropriate manner, for he 
 went afterwards with the younger men of the com- 
 pany to a tavern, where we sat till three o'clock in 
 the morning. His serious conversation, about the 
 defence bill and some other matters, was very tame ; 
 but his satire and pleasantry full of fire and vigour. 
 He seems to me rather too attentive to strangers, 
 though his manners are certainly very polished ; but 
 this courteous notice of one looks as if it had a pur- 
 pose, though it may not. 
 
 " The intention, I find, of bringing people together 
 at Lord Fitzwilliam's, was that some association might 
 be formed, for writing pamphlets, squibs, epigrams, 
 &c. &c. against the administration. So that this is 
 the end of the scheme which was communicated to 
 me, in a message from Lord R. Spencer, with a re- 
 quest that I would belong to the club. I saw no per- 
 sons brought together, who are likely to write to- 
 gether, except those whose writings would be worth 
 
 less than nothing ; such must I esteem , , 
 
 , &c, not to name others who ought to have no 
 
 acknowledged place in such society. This literary 
 scheme, of commanding the press, will end in a few 
 paltry skirmishes, and some epigrams, by Jekyll*, 
 Fitzpatrick, and Lord John Townshend. At any 
 rate, it is not my destiny to write in newspapers ; nor 
 is it likely, that the proposal will ever be made to me 
 I shall perhaps look out for some opportunities, of my 
 own accord, for writing constitutional tracts, such as 
 those opportunities which my Lord Somers, in his 
 earlier days, thought no improper temptations from 
 the general career which he pursued." 
 
 * Note by Mr. Horner, dated 180G.— -"By Jekyll only, as it turned out."
 
 256 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. 
 ^TT^: Letter XLVIII. FROM FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Horner Edinburgh, 5th August, 1804. 
 
 I thank you for your last kind and candid 
 epistle, though it was a great deal shorter than it 
 should have been. You would receive mine from 
 Spott before your complaints of my silence had well 
 got out of your hands, and have blushed, I dare say, 
 a sufficient expiation for your uncharitableness. 
 
 I am glad there is any thing in the Review to please 
 your fastidious taste, and most glad to find that you 
 are actually at work upon something to make the next 
 number still better. Your's has been a deplorable 
 desertion, my dear Horner; and has really weighed 
 very heavily upon my spirits : for our sake, for my 
 sake, for your own sake, and for God's sake, do set 
 about Malthus immediately, and by the labour of one 
 week save yourself from the penitence and reproaches 
 of many months. I cannot vary my exhortations 
 more ; you have worn out my whole stock of obtest- 
 ations. 
 
 I do not dissent from Brougham's Anti-CEconomics, 
 and I am almost perfectly certain that the doctrine of 
 these theorists is absurd : and I am only confirmed in 
 that impression, when you put on your most profound 
 countenance, and tell me that neither you nor I un- 
 derstand properly what it means. When you expound 
 it, I engage to listen with the utmost patience, and to 
 weigh it with the most respectful attention. But I 
 do not quite agree with Brougham in what he has said 
 of Lauderdale's view of the effect of capital. I am 
 not sure that his Lordship has not blundered, and am 
 persuaded, at any rate, that the thing may be simpli- 
 fied ; but I do not think Brougham has done justice
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 257 
 
 either to the author or the subject in that article, 1804 - 
 though I have not time now to tell you why. The ^ T .26. 
 article, however, is excellent, and takes a fine range. 
 The said Brougham, I understand, has emigrated, so 
 he writes me, but with what view he does not 
 explain. He has left a political article for us ; and 
 says he has engaged several Royal Society men for 
 others, to the extent of two sheets in all; he fights 
 very well with his own hand, but I do not in general 
 approve of his choice of seconds. 
 
 You say I write too little: my time is so much 
 taken up by dunning my "tardy ministers," that I can 
 scarcely do any thing else ; and begin to suspect that 
 the office of editor should be separated from that of 
 author, in this as in other cases. I am forced, too, as 
 patron of the feast, to take my place last, and some- 
 times find the table full before I am aware. For next 
 number, however, I project great things, though 
 nothing that can afford an important article. I think 
 of giving an analysis of Brougham's Colonial Policy, 
 Richardson's Letters, Barrow's Travels, and Sir W. 
 Jones's Life. When will "Wordsworth and Southey 
 come forth? I shall try to give you a little pointed 
 criticism then. Do you know anybody who would 
 give an elegant account of Delille's iEneis, and com- 
 pare it prettily with the Georgics? Your Oxford 
 professor of poetry, perhaps, might undertake this; 
 I wish you could endeavour to make him attack some- 
 thing. Do you not see Campbell? — what is he about? 
 Write me very soon and very fully of your whole 
 state and condition, moral, physical, political and 
 literary. I have bestowed my last drop of ink upon 
 you, and can only say that I am, dear Horner, always 
 most truly yours, 
 
 F. Jeffrey. 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 JOURNAL. 
 
 1804. Journal. " 26th August. — Mr. Playfair opened a 
 
 jEt. 27. conversation with me first about the scheme which 
 they lately agitated at Edinburgh for a new Encyclo- 
 paedia, about which he said they were at one time very 
 sanguine, but dropped it at last, from the difficulty 
 of finding a proper person who would undertake the 
 superintendance of the work as editor. The book- 
 sellers had made him a very liberal offer ; but it was a 
 slavery to which he would not submit. Mr. Stewart 
 had not promised any thing specially, but favoured 
 the work generally. Mr. Playfair then went on to 
 say, that Cranstoun* had afterwards suggested "a 
 much prettier thing," a course of literature to which 
 we should contribute separate treatises on the dif- 
 ferent departments of science and literature ; that he 
 undertook to mention it to me, that Mr. Stewart 
 caught the idea with great favour, and had himself 
 suggested the subject which he should like to treat, 
 Criticism, and Mr. Playfair said he spoke more 
 zealously and confidently about this than he was in 
 the habit of doing on such matters. Mr. Playfair 
 suggested likewise to Stewart, a treatise on logic ; but 
 he did not acquiesce. Mr. Playfair said he himself 
 was ready to begin immediately to his department, 
 pure mathematics and physical geography, upon 
 which he was engaged at any rate ; but there was a 
 great difficulty in finding persons to fill many of the 
 departments — grammar, for instance, physics, &c. 
 Robison was the man naturally thought of for physics, 
 but he never can bring himself to write in an ele- 
 mentary manner ; Mr. Stewart spoke of Dr. Gregory 
 for grammar, but he also writes too much at large, 
 and with bad taste. Mr. Playfair asked me about 
 
 * George Cranstoun, Esq. ; afterwards Lord Corehouse.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 259 
 
 Brougham, observing very justly that, had he re- 1804. 
 mained at Edinburgh, he would have been the man ^ 07 
 for editor of the Encyclopaedia ; I told him fairly, 
 that I should not expect that Brougham would be- 
 stow that perseverance in composition and minute 
 execution, on which the merits of elementary treatises 
 must very much depend, and that at any rate he 
 was for the present wholly absorbed in political 
 schemes, with the view of bringing himself into ac- 
 tion ; though I thought it not an improbable event, 
 if he were disappointed in his immediate views, that 
 he might bury himself for the remainder of his 
 life in retirement, devoted to science and literature, 
 and occupied with some vast scheme of literary 
 ambition. 
 
 " For myself, I did not wait to be invited, but 
 without hesitation offered to give elements of poli- 
 tical economy, if that subject was not already occu- 
 pied, which I found it was not, and provided I should 
 not be called upon for some years. This falls in very 
 well with the plan of outlines, which I have long in- 
 tended to form for my own use, as a sort of systematic 
 common-place book, in which I might register the 
 results either of my own investigations, or of such as 
 are published from time to time. It gives me an op- 
 portunity too of associating my name with those of 
 Stewart and Playfair, a greater honour than I ever 
 had boldness to think of." 
 
 Letter XLIX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 Frognal, Hampstead, 13th September, 1804. 
 
 I rejoiced much, my excellent Murray, to see 
 vour handwriting once more. It gives me some 
 
 s 2
 
 260 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. satisfaction to find that you have not lost sight of the 
 jg T 27 # subject which I was anxious you should examine. 
 The occasion will recur again, perhaps soon enough ; 
 and it would really be a disgrace to the Scotch bar, 
 that another such occasion should find them as un- 
 prepared, as they and the constitutionalists of parlia- 
 ment were upon the last.* 
 
 The discussion about the expediency of a public 
 prosecutor lies a little away from this constitu- 
 tional question, but is one of very high importance. 
 I have never thought closely upon the subject ; 
 though I have long seen it lying at a particular 
 part of the field, in which I have been, as you 
 know, trying for years to raise game, with the 
 hope once of hunting it all over. This hope cools 
 more and more, I find, even to freezing ; but I like 
 the game still better than the sport, and, provided it 
 is brought in, I am comforted for my own want of 
 success. A public prosecutor appears an useful 
 institution in a country not yet subdued to law; 
 especially if that country is provincially administered 
 under another in which justice is more systematised, 
 manners more tame, and the privileges of rank more 
 equalised. In the circumstances of Scotland, from 
 the accession to the end perhaps of the Seven Years' 
 War, when I consider the Jurisdiction Act as having 
 completed its practical operation, the ofiice of Lord 
 Advocate may have been of use; perhaps, for the 
 same reason, a similar officer in Ireland would give 
 energy as well as purity to the system of penal law, 
 and would accelerate civilisation. In this view of the 
 
 * The case here referred to was a charge brought forward in the 
 House of Commons, on the 6th and 22d of June, 1804, against the 
 Lord Advocate (the Right Honourable Charles Hope), of conduct to- 
 wards a Mr. Morrison, which, in the words of the motion, was said to have 
 been " oppressive, illegal, and contrary to his official duty." The motion 
 was negatived. — See Hansard's Debates. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 261 
 
 subject, which I am throwing out upon very loose 1804 - 
 conjectures, I should consider Scotland as now eman- tet.27. 
 cipated from the disorders that rendered an advocate 
 necessary. But what are you to substitute in his 
 place? the instance, as you term it, of the injured 
 party is obviously inadequate, would lead to the 
 impunity of crimes, and would obliterate the distinc- 
 tion, which appears quite sound, and a great step in 
 the progress of legal improvements between criminal 
 and civil jurisprudence. The system of common 
 informers hardly deserves the name of system; it is 
 a very rude clumsy device, and sometimes very 
 troublesome in its operation. It is clumsy, upon the 
 principle, that what is left to be every man's business 
 will either become nobody's, or be assumed by those 
 who had better attend to their own affairs, and who 
 will manage their own so much the worse for 
 meddling with this; and it frequently has proved 
 very troublesome and impertinent in England, where 
 corrupt people have tried to make a profit, and con- 
 ceited fanatics to glorify God, by the revival of penal 
 prosecutions, which the necessities of commerce or 
 more rational manners had sunk into disuse. All the 
 West of England was set on fire about two years ago, 
 and the woollen manufactures in a manner suspended, 
 by some attornies who commenced qui tarn inform- 
 ations upon the statute of apprenticeships, which had 
 been practically repealed in that great seat of opulence 
 and industry. And we have a society in town for 
 the suppression of vice, which will probably be over- 
 come, like the laws they would revive, by the good 
 sense of the times ; but which, if allowed to have any 
 effect, can have no other than to abridge the plea- 
 sures of the lower classes, and to propagate among 
 the class just above them those views of canting, 
 
 s 3
 
 262 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. inquisition, and scandal, which are infinitely Avorse 
 j£ T _ 27. than all the stage-playing and sabbath-breaking ; 
 which I agree with them in holding in great abhor- 
 rence. 
 
 I remember having seen some inquiries about me 
 in a letter to your brother, which I always intended 
 to take a little notice of the first time I should write 
 to you. Indeed, if I had thought the matter of much 
 consequence to myself at the time, I should have 
 satisfied you immediately ; or rather have been before- 
 hand with you, for in spite of your distance, you are 
 the only one with whom I can communicate quite 
 unreservedly upon all my private affairs. And I 
 have always found that any thing interesting to me 
 becomes of still more interest, in its relation to myself, 
 after I have imparted it to you. This summer, I 
 have allowed myself to be recognised more expressly 
 as an adherent of the Opposition, than I ever had an 
 opportunity of doing before. I did not dine at 
 Carlton House ; but at Lord Fitzwilliam's, with a set 
 of partisans, " black spirits and white." The advances 
 were made to me, and, after taking the subject into 
 serious deliberation, I resolved to take advantage of 
 them. You have known, as long as myself, the cast 
 of my political opinions, as well as my wish that 
 politics should be joined to law in the occupations of 
 my future life, if indeed my schemes of fife shall 
 ever be matured into real occupations. To hold an 
 efiicient character in politics, a man must choose a 
 party, if the state presents one to whose leading 
 declarations and views he can honestly subscribe. 
 Now, though there are several parts of the former 
 conduct of Opposition which I cannot approve of, and 
 some men attached to it whom I never can esteem, 
 yet the maxims and principles professed by Mr. Fox
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 263 
 
 are congenial upon all great questions to my feelings 1804. 
 and conviction. I am not giving you tins as an ^ T< 27. 
 apology for myself, but as the deliberate mode in 
 which I considered the subject before I came to a 
 resolution. I accepted Lord Fitzwilliam's invitation, 
 and permitted my name to be put down in the list of 
 a new club to which Fox, Windham, Sheridan, &c. 
 belong. It will be very comic to you, and therefore 
 I cannot omit the circumstance, that this club meets 
 at Budd's in Pall Mall, where Cobbett's works are 
 published, under the sign of the Crown, Bible, and 
 Mitre. 
 
 I do not think that for a long, long time, my poli- 
 tical activities will proceed any further. For my view 
 of the matter is this. Law must be my business and 
 first object, because I have no fortune ; I can per- 
 mit nothing, therefore, to interfere with the necessary 
 preparations for professional practice. Then again, I 
 have no chance of getting into parliament these many 
 years, whatever my chance may be at last. Now, to 
 be an active politician out of parliament is, in my 
 way of thinking, neither a very useful nor a very 
 respectable character ; and to be at the tail of a party 
 is quite as much below my education and my schemes, 
 as to be near the head of one is above my capacity, 
 or indeed my inclinations. To be useful and eminent 
 as a constitutional lawyer, and to turn to the public 
 advantage those studies with regard to internal legis- 
 lation which I still continue to prosecute, compose 
 very nearly the ideal object which I long ago set be- 
 fore my ambition ; I believe I have regulated my 
 ambition, and sketched this " beau ideal," both calmly 
 and with a desire to be right. As for the splendid 
 hazardous pursuits of foreign policy and ministerial 
 intrigue, into which our friend Brougham is plunging 
 
 s 4
 
 264 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1 804. himself with a resolution to succeed that seems to insure 
 2E T 27 success, and will at all events secure distinction, 
 they are as unsuitable to the habits of my mind as to 
 its powers ; too bustling for the indolent predilection 
 (which grows upon me hourly) for domestic and con- 
 fined society, and not of magnitude, I will acknowledge, 
 adequate to my idea of the highest sort of ambition. 
 Lord Bacon and Dugald Stewart have made me a 
 little of a visionary, as I believe you have sometimes 
 thought ; I am sure Brougham must have thought so 
 always. But I have not yet reasoned myself out of 
 those shades; the "fantastic spell" is unbroken, so I 
 must even go on still u per que domos vacuus et ma- 
 nia regna" But I am forgetting the very humble 
 subject, from which I have run off into a sort of de- 
 clamation. It was under the impressions which I 
 have been endeavouring to describe, and which you 
 will not think new, that I took the step I lately 
 did; deeming it advisable to form an early connec- 
 tion with the public men who maintain such prin- 
 ciples and views as appear to me just, and that the 
 opportunity offered was one which allowed me to 
 form that connection in the most respectable man- 
 ner, and without the imposition of any personal fet- 
 ters. The first application was made to me by Petty, 
 in name of Lord Robert Spencer, with whom I am 
 not acquainted, at a time that a literary project in 
 aid of politics was thought of, which is now dropt; 
 and after I had signified my ready acquiescence, 
 came the invitation from Lord Fitzwilliam, at the 
 suggestion, I have some reason to conjecture, of Lord 
 Lauderdale. Lauderdale, you know, is not a cha- 
 racter altogether suitable to my taste, nor have I 
 yet, in spite of his steadiness to an unsuccessful party, 
 entire confidence in the purity of his politics; but I
 
 JOURNAL. 265 
 
 have traced him on more than one occasion speaking 1804. 
 indulgently of me, with the intention of doing me a 2e t . 27. 
 service ; and I cannot be insensible to this unsolicited 
 attention. I did not forget this consideration, in the 
 subject which I have desired Jeffrey to consult you 
 upon ; but it appeared to me wholly eclipsed by the 
 duty of acting with justice to Brougham, who in his 
 absence has been so wantonly attacked. 
 
 I ought to apologise to you, both for the egotism 
 and for the double postage of this letter. But it is 
 so long since we gossiped together, that I have in- 
 dulged all my inclinations to sit long, and talk over 
 my own concerns with you. I thank you for your 
 kind inquiries about my family ; they like Hampstead 
 very much, and have made the house very com- 
 fortable. Let me hear from you again very soon, 
 with all your sentiments favourable or unfavourable 
 about the foresaid egotism. 
 
 Ever yours faithfully, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " 1st October. — Employed very closely 
 for a week in investigating the policy of bounties 
 upon exported corn ; the results sent to Jeffrey. In 
 this method of investigation, one cannot be without 
 distrust, having no security that some necessary steps 
 in the process may not be missed. The method must 
 be improved, by the discovery of some principle, that 
 shall at once abridge and make it more general. " : 
 
 »* 
 
 * In the ninth number of the Edinburgh Review, published in Oc- 
 tober, 1804, there are two articles by Mr. Horner. 
 
 1. "Letters on Silesia, written during a Tour in the Years 1800, 1801. 
 
 By John Quincy Adams." 
 
 2. " Observations on the Bounty upon Exported Corn." 
 
 He had not contributed any thing to the Review since his article on 
 the Correspondence of Louis XVI., in October, 1803 (see p. 228.) — Ed.
 
 2(56 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. 
 JEt. 27. 
 
 Letter L. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, Temple, 3d November, 1804. 
 
 I have just had the satisfaction of seeing your 
 brother. It gives me the most sincere pleasure to 
 find that your good mother continues to have tolerable 
 health ; I am sure she has no belief of the reverence I 
 entertain for her. 
 
 People are coming to town very slowly. We had 
 but four clubbists yesterday, at our first meeting. 
 My only regret about this is that we have not been 
 able to show Thomson* any of our lions. I have been 
 selfish enough to keep him as much as possible to 
 myself ; it was so long since I had enjoyed the cor- 
 diality and free spirit of an Edinburgh friend. I had 
 languished for it very much ; for as yet I have found 
 no substitutes here. I am almost glad to hear that 
 you don't mean to come up till the long vacation, 
 though it is long to look for ; I shall then be able to 
 see something of you. 
 
 I hardly know what people say or feel now about 
 politics; having lived almost out of the recollection 
 of them for some months past. This seizure of 
 Rumbold renews of course those regrets and dis- 
 gusts, which are every now and then repeated by 
 fresh violations of the good old usages, that once 
 made war itself a proof of civilisation. There is no- 
 thing preserved that gives it a character of greatness 
 or refinement. Shall we ever see those rules again 
 in force, that were the pride of Europe ? The pre- 
 sent Europe, I fear, is not that in which we were 
 born six and twenty years ago. Had they been 
 only violated on one side, there might have been 
 
 * Thomas Thomson, Esq.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 267 
 
 hopes. But the country which ought to stand forward i804. 
 the systematic assertor of them, and which is con- iET 97 
 ceived by its best inhabitants to be really placed in 
 that important station, has in truth betrayed the 
 cause from a want of magnanimity in its rulers. We 
 have been tempted by the short-sighted argument of 
 retaliation, and for the pedlar profits of a precarious 
 commerce, to imitate both the meanness and the 
 ferocity of our adversaries. The violent invasion of 
 neutral rights, the prostitution of the diplomatic cha- 
 racter, the outrage to decency and private feelings in 
 the publication of intercepted correspondence, unfor- 
 tunately may be retorted upon ourselves when we 
 bring them as charges against France. I understand 
 there is an entire suspension of all intercourse between 
 this country and France, even for the necessary pur- 
 poses of belligerent accommodation. In the course 
 of this last autumn, I looked a little into Thucydides ; 
 and was struck with the melancholy resemblance 
 between that destruction of an international common- 
 wealth, which he narrates, and the one we are now 
 witnessing. Among other things, he expressly re- 
 marks the moral revolution that took place in the 
 conduct of the hostile states towards each other. 
 
 I have this moment received a letter from you ; I 
 will not describe all the pleasure it has given me. 
 Some parts of it I must think over before I can write 
 upon them ; so you will hear from me soon again. 
 
 Believe me ever yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 Temple, 13th November, 1804. 
 
 I intended to have sent you a letter by 
 Thomson, who left me on Friday evening ; but I
 
 268 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. found myself disposed, when it came to the last, to 
 2E T . 27. lounge away as much of my time as I could with him. 
 There are very few of our friends more to my taste 
 than he ; and as we had become thoroughly accustomed 
 to each other before I left Edinburgh, this revival of 
 our intimacy seems to have breathed a second spring 
 upon me. His information is very much diversified, 
 and, just like his library, brought together in a 
 desultory way to be sure, but with excellent judg- 
 ment in the selection of the best sorts. Then his 
 temper is so manly and cheerful ; and, with all his 
 seeming calmness and suspense, has a sufficient 
 portion of that vice of admiration, which it is the 
 fashion to quiz, but which I am old-fashioned enough 
 to be very unwilling to dispense with. 
 
 Your last two or three letters, upon personal sub- 
 jects, have afforded me very great comfort and delight. 
 Your account of your own views with regard to the 
 profession are exactly what I have always repre- 
 sented to myself, in thinking of you. Party politics at 
 Edinburgh are a miserable waste of mind ; from the 
 unavoidable disadvantages of a provincial residence, 
 they must narrow the judgment and debase the 
 temper, in the worst manner. And what is to be got 
 by this sacrifice, that might not be almost certainly 
 secured by an independent and resolute cultivation of 
 the genuine qualifications that belong to the pro- 
 fession ? The crown offices are a fair and honourable 
 object of ambition, if gained and held as Blair* has 
 done. The political agency of the Lord Advocate is 
 becoming daily of less use, in proportion as Scotland 
 becomes more incorporated with the other counties 
 of the kingdom ; and that office will surely be more 
 
 * Robert Blair, Esq., Solicitor General, afterwards Lord President of 
 the Court of Session. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 269 
 
 dignified and agreeable when it is a legal honour 1804. 
 merely, like that of our Attorney General. In the ^e t . 27. 
 management of elections, and General Assemblies, and 
 town councils, &c. he has been hitherto no better 
 than a sub-clerk of the Treasury ; but of late years, 
 that is, ever since the complete subjugation of the 
 Highlands, this seems to have been very unnecessary — 
 a poor effort, perhaps, in those who have held the 
 office, to preserve that sort of state which belongs to 
 any thing like executive discretion, but which cannot 
 be maintained when there are no longer any emer- 
 gencies that call for discretion or execution. 
 
 There is no object of ambition now at the Scotch 
 bar, but professional distinction, from great knowledge 
 and powers of public speaking ; nor should I be sur- 
 prised if even the two silk gowns were in future to 
 be earned very often by eminence in these respects, 
 independently of all factious connections. It often 
 gives me pleasure to reflect, that the men who form 
 your race of contemporaries at the bar, as well as 
 that above you, Thomson, Cranstoun, &c. are of this 
 honourable description; very active and decided in 
 their opinions upon public measures, but without any 
 tincture of party. Now that you are come together 
 and understand each other, nothing is likely to break 
 your union; and it is in your power to exert an 
 influence of the best kind, both by giving a tone of 
 independence to the bar, and, from its necessary effect 
 in such a town, communicating that fashion a little 
 farther. Is it not likewise well worth the thoughts 
 of all of you, who are not yet immersed in the 
 luxuries of practice, to consider the opportunities 
 that are presented by the present state of Scotch ju- 
 risprudence ? The dissatisfaction that prevails, the 
 real imperfections of its administration, and the idle
 
 270 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. projects of new constitutions which (I am per- 
 j£ T 27. suaded) can do little or no good, are a sufficient 
 proof that an opportunity exists, which ought to pro- 
 duce a corresponding effort. Whoever take advan- 
 tage of it will establish their name ; and it would be 
 contrary to what has happened on similar occasions, 
 if individuals are not produced by this opportunity. 
 Why should not your set seize it ? It is to be done 
 only by an accurate and deep study of principles, and 
 of the errors that are committed in the administra- 
 tion of your excellent system. A few admirable mo- 
 dels of practice, and some judicious publications, 
 particularly Reports, will do more than a thousand 
 acts of parliament ; the great business is to introduce 
 the authority of logic into the Court of Session, and 
 let her dictate close, correct, and consistent habits of 
 discussion and judgment. 
 
 This subject is far from being new to me, and I am 
 quite earnest about it. The opportunities of an original 
 reputation in the law of England are gone by ; they 
 were seized, as they presented themselves, for instance, 
 by Northington who organised the chancery and the 
 peculiar rules of its system, by Holt who gave form to 
 the law of personal property, that novelty of modern 
 times, and by your great relation*, who collected the 
 principles of commercial jurisprudence. We have 
 now only to apply the cases which these lawgivers 
 have left us, until some other change shall be slowly 
 effected in the arrangements of property ; I see no 
 opportunity likely to arise out of our present state in 
 England, except in the creation of an agricultural 
 code, when leases shall become more frequent, and 
 cultivation more properly a sort of trade, as it ought 
 to be. When that necessity arrives, we shall probably 
 
 * Lord Mansfield.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 271 
 
 be forced to borrow from you ; you are welcome in 1804. 
 the mean time to copy as much from us as will do j EtT 27. 
 you good. What you would do best to imitate, is 
 not our particular principles, which are often very 
 arbitrary and technical, but our logic, as I said be- 
 fore ; that is, our mode of proceeding, the precision of 
 inquiry and statement, the caution with which we pro- 
 ceed upon all new cases, and the strict observance of 
 precedents. If this method of jurisprudence shall be 
 introduced into Scotland, and well established, you 
 will ultimately have an immense advantage over us, in 
 beginning to fix your rules in a more cultivated state 
 of society, and after a more thorough discussion of 
 general principles. There are some branches in 
 which you have clearly the advantage of us already, 
 if you would make the most of it; such as in bank- 
 rupt law, some parts of the law of real property, 
 and some parts (I must confess) of the Crown law. 
 
 If I am right in my general idea, is there not a fine 
 opportunity to make a name at the Scotch bar ? If a 
 man would devote himself to the object resolutely, 
 pursue it systematically, and with a great pre- 
 paration of learning, his success must be certain. 
 It is easier no doubt to destroy than to build up; 
 yet within the same period of time that the Presi- 
 dent has thrown every thing loose that was fixed be- 
 fore, might a person with the same advantage of situ- 
 ation, and a store of contrary qualifications, not only 
 trace back his steps, but pursue the opposite progress 
 a good way beyond the point from which he set out. 
 I fear you will think I talk very glibly on a subject 
 with which I can be but little acquainted ; but I am 
 talking only to you, and all this makes itself so very 
 clear to me, that I cannot suspect myself to be very 
 far wrong. Now, for the execution of the project.
 
 272 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. Suppose the person or persons destined to effect 
 
 JEt 27 this revolution thoroughly prepared for it, by a deep 
 knowledge of their own law, and a ready command 
 of general views. How are they to set about it ? 
 I have spoken already of Reports ; and until you 
 have your Decisions reported upon another plan, very 
 little good can be done. A case without the reasons 
 of judgment is good for very little. You will tell 
 me, that the present judgments are often given with- 
 out any foundation even of attempted reasoning. 
 No matter, let us have a faithful picture of the 
 manner in which they are actually given, and if it 
 does not shame the present generation of judges to a 
 better mode, it will infallibly prepare a better for the 
 next. There are difficulties, I know, thrown in the 
 way of all such attempts by the Court itself; yet 
 I cannot believe but that a dexterous and well- 
 mannered management might get the better of these. 
 What if another sort of thing be first tried ; reports 
 of cases of an older date, upon which the opinions 
 of the judges who decided them can be recovered. 
 Among the repositories of those who have sat upon 
 the bench, there must be materials for such a work. 
 Thomson will publish one day or other the manu- 
 scripts of Lord Hailes ; with your advantages of 
 intercourse among the judges, and your father's 
 papers, something else might be done in the same 
 way. A judicious compilation of this sort, published 
 seasonably, could not fail to produce a considerable 
 effect. 
 
 I have some other schemes to propose to you; but 
 these I find we must put off to another sheet. If 
 these long-winded dissertations oppress you, pray 
 give me a hint. • I was led into the present by 
 thinking very anxiously of your professional pro-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 273 
 
 spects. Only be true to yourself. My dear Murray, 1804. 
 I not only expect, but demand by virtue of our con- j Et 97 
 tract, a return to this in kind. Your brother is quite 
 well. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, Temple, 15th November, 1804. 
 
 When William gave me your letter to-day, he 
 said he should probably have a frank to-morrow or 
 Saturday, and would give me a place in it. Under 
 that hope, I take another sheet of large paper, to pro- 
 vide against all accidents, knowing that prolixity is 
 the sin which doth most easily beset me when I am 
 writing to you. I am just come in from Lincoln's- 
 Inn Hall, and, according to my custom, sit down to 
 strong coffee and lounging books while the process of 
 digestion is going on, so troublesome to students in 
 the law. I throw aside Dryden's prose works, one of 
 my greatest favourites among lounging books, to gossip 
 for a little. If you find me more than usually dull, 
 you will have indulgence enough to advert to the pre- 
 sent operations of my gastric juice. 
 
 I did not quite finish my homily upon Scotch law ; 
 if I recollect right, I left off at my eighteenth head, 
 viz. upon Faculty Decisions. You will of course take 
 all that I have thrown out, as the beginning merely 
 of a discussion with you, and all the positiveness you 
 may discover there was only to provoke you to con- 
 tradiction ; as I well know you are no " granter of 
 propositions," which used to be Sydney's last term of 
 intellectual reproach. We have often talked formerly 
 
 vol. 1. T
 
 274 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. of the great utility of treatises upon detached titles of 
 j£ T ,27. Scotch law ; and there can be no doubt of it. They 
 would form an essential part of that scheme of sys- 
 tematic reformation, which I propose you and your 
 friends should undertake. But they must be executed 
 upon a better plan, than any we have yet seen. Hi- 
 therto they have been all too loose and vague, to pro- 
 duce any effect. A method must be tried, more legal 
 and technical in its form, and more logically precise 
 and accurate. There are some capital subjects for 
 such treatises at present, of which we have often 
 spoken. There is another sort of composition, which 
 might be made eminently subservient to the important 
 object of the others, and the execution of which would 
 be still pleasanter, but still more difficult than any of 
 them ; I mean critical lives of a few of the most emi- 
 nent of the Scotch lawyers, such as Stair, Dirleton, 
 M 'Queen, and perhaps a very few more; critical, as to 
 their professional character, the cast of their legal genius 
 and views, the effect which they had upon the system, 
 and the effect which they attempted to produce. 
 This would be a more delicate, skilful and powerful 
 mode of introducing such remarks, as the present 
 aspect of the Court of Session suggests, than any other 
 perhaps. It could not be adequately executed, how- 
 ever, without much erudition in law, and a profound 
 habitual sense of that which is the genuine manner 
 and just logic of administrative jurisprudence. After 
 all, however, the great matter is, that you should edu- 
 cate yourselves in such a manner, that when you get 
 possession of the bench, as most of you will of course, 
 you may guard against the errors which have done 
 so much mischief; some of these arise no doubt from 
 the constitution of the court, or rather are sheltered 
 by that constitution. You must take it, however, as
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 275 
 
 it is ; for I look upon all changes of that by parliament 1804. 
 to be chimerical. The only feasible one I ever heard of ^et. 27. 
 is the opening of the other courts to civil actions. I 
 apprehend "the Session" ought not to be touched. 
 
 I suppose you know that Smith* begins to lecture 
 on Moral Philosophy next Saturday at the Royal In- 
 stitution. You would be amused to hear the account 
 he gives of his own qualifications for the task, and his 
 mode of manufacturing philosophy; he will do the 
 thing very cleverly, I have little doubt, as to general 
 maimer, and he is sufficiently aware of all the forbear- 
 ances to be observed. Profound lectures on meta- 
 physics would be unsuitable to the place ; he may do 
 some good, if he makes the subject amusing. He will 
 contribute, like his other associates of the institution, 
 to make the real blue-stockings a little more disagree- 
 able than ever, and sensible women a little more 
 sensible. It seems to me for the interest of general 
 conversation, that these subjects should not be quite 
 so unknown to them, as to be thought unintelligible 
 pedantry if mentioned in their company ; and the im- 
 pertinence of those who set up as adepts is the price 
 we must pay for this important acquisition. Your 
 chemists and metaphysicians in petticoats are alto- 
 gether out of nature, that is, when they make a trade 
 or distinction of such pursuits ; but when they take a 
 bttle general learning as an accomplishment, they 
 keep it in very tolerable order. Tell me if I take this 
 rightly ; I know it is not well settled, and men of 
 letters usually lean too much on one side. 
 
 Good afternoon, my dear Murray. 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 * The Rev. Sydney Smith. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1804. 
 jEt. 27. Letter LIII. TO THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ. 
 
 My clear Thomson, T »e Temple, aut Nov. 1804. 
 
 You know how restless I shall be till you tell 
 me something of the second and third volumes of the 
 Philosophy of the Human Mind.* The thought of 
 having so much to come quite delights me. How far 
 will this carry the work ? I hope the course of poli- 
 tical economy is not given up for want of students ; 
 the number, to be sure, has always been small, but 
 then it was composed only of such as take to the sub- 
 ject in earnest. If peradventure there shall be twenty 
 found there, for twenty's sake it ought to be saved. 
 The effect which these lectures are already producing, 
 by sending out every year a certain number who have 
 imbibed a small portion of his spirit, is so great, that 
 I cannot consent to any suspension of it. 
 
 Our friend Sydney gave his first lecture on Satur- 
 day; I was not there, but all the accounts I have 
 collected from different sorts of people agree in its 
 favour, and that it took extremely well. You were 
 inquired for by Mrs. Smith on Sunday evening, where, 
 with Whishaw and Peter f, we kept it up till a very 
 tolerably good hour. 
 
 I see a new edition advertised in the Scotch papers 
 of Playfair's Euclid; tell me whether there are any 
 
 * " I have just come from the Stewarts, where I have been gossiping 
 for two or three hours. Mr. Stewart is far advanced in the composition 
 of his intended work. It will extend to two volumes, and will not appear 
 till next year, that is, till next winter, or the following spring. I hope 
 soon to give you a more particular account of it. To give himself more 
 leisure, he is not to lecture this winter on political economy. He was 
 much delighted with the new edition of the " Wealth of Nations," " for 
 the benefit of the mechanic, the wholesale dealer, and the shopkeeper." 
 (Letter from Mr. Thomson, dated Edinburgh, 14th November.) 
 
 f The Rev. P. Elmsley. See note, page 247.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 277 
 
 material alterations or enlargements of it. For one 1804. 
 good note in his own manner, I will most cheerfully jet27. 
 purchase this also, though I have the former. We 
 talked in Windsor Forest of a selection of beauties 
 from the old English prose writers; I hear there is 
 one to appear immediately, by Mr. Basil Montagu, 
 formerly of Jesus, Cambridge. I do not know him, 
 nor have I heard how he is qualified for such a choice ; 
 except the circumstance that he has lived a good deal 
 among the set of men who have revived of late years 
 the fashion of reading those authors ; so that he is 
 probably aware of the striking passages on which 
 their admiration rests. 
 
 What shall I tell you in the way of politics ? Every 
 morning, we have some new disgust or some new 
 puzzle to swallow. This excommunicating bull of 
 Talleyrand is the largest yet set before us ; is it to be 
 bolted too ? What an opportunity all these outrages, 
 on both sides, would make for a Grotius, if we had 
 one, to advocate the cause of sense and civilisation ! 
 A slight change is now spoken of in the foreign de- 
 partment, on account of Lord Harrowby's bad health ; 
 Canning to have the green box, and Sturges Bourne 
 to be Treasurer. 
 
 Tell Jeffrey to write to me soon. I do not take his 
 corn tract for a letter ; besides, his arguments are so 
 strong, and his handwriting so unusually execrable, 
 that I have not made up my mind about it yet. 
 You must let me hear how you proceed in your an- 
 tiquarian researches ; you are aware of my omnivo- 
 rous curiosity, and of my schemes for being somewhat 
 of a Jack of all trades. 
 
 Remember me to all my friends at the club, and 
 believe me faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 t 3
 
 278 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. 
 ^Et. 27. 
 
 Letter LIV. TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 My dear Jeffrey, Temple, llth January, 1805. 
 
 I received your letter this morning, which 
 there are sterling good reasons for acknowledging by 
 return of post. You were relieved I trust, from all 
 difficulties, by the arrival of Brougham's packet; it 
 would be new indeed, if any thing connected with 
 Brougham' were to fail in dispatch. He is the surest 
 and most voluminous among the sons of men. 
 
 I am very glad to hear you were to be forced to 
 write for your own Review ; for I have lamented with 
 every body else the appearance of that lethargy, 
 which you complain of. I could scold you severely 
 about this, if I had not done it before. 
 
 Hallam spoke to me about Ranken's history, and 
 will do it for you. He is a very able man ; full of 
 literature, and historical knowledge: but I do not 
 know hoAv he will write. Pillans, I will speak to 
 again; though I hardly know what he can do. There 
 is a vigilance and judgment about trifles, which men 
 only get by living in a crowd; and those are the 
 trifles of detail, on which the success of execution 
 depends. I long to see the " Last Minstrel;" to renew 
 the pleasure I received from parts which I heard. I 
 would rather have you review it than any body I can 
 think of, for I try in vain to think of any very good 
 critic here who is not a friend of Scott's : you must 
 even do it; but you will of course do it with a little 
 of the partiality, which we all feel for the author, and 
 which it would be both disagreeable to yourself and 
 affected to attempt to avoid. 
 
 Your promise of an autumnal visit reconciles me 
 to the loss of you in spring; the greater pleasure I
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 279 
 
 should then have in seeing more of you compensates iso5. 
 the delay. You know of course that you do not see ^ T 27 
 London at that season ; but green England is better. 
 I natter myself much with the idea of Murray being 
 here likewise in autumn; when we can talk to one 
 another at a small table, or in the open fields. But 
 the "blazing squares" will get the better of his re- 
 solutions, I take it, and I shall be put off with the 
 pleasure of seeing his titles every morning in the 
 Morning Post. Remember me to the said dissi- 
 pated youth ; I have not heard of him for a long time, 
 but both of you have the same justification of your 
 late silence, that I had sickened you with some epistles 
 of unconscionable length. Remember me particularly 
 to Mrs. Jeffrey, and believe me 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LV. TO SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, BOMBAY. 
 My dear Sir James, Temple, 19th January, 1805. 
 
 Though I write by one of the ships now going- 
 out, this overland dispatch gives me an opportunity 
 of collecting for you some of the news of the last two 
 months. Some of these are very amusing to the by- 
 standers; more intrigues and changes, but all after 
 the old fashion ; virtually another change of adminis- 
 tration, but conducted in the approved mode to which 
 we have been accustomed for about four and forty 
 years. The said forty-four years seem to have be- 
 stowed a masterly experience in such matters. 
 
 You know, of course, the whole history of Pitt's, 
 return to power, and the expressions of contumely 
 
 t 4
 
 280 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. and personal indignation with which he joined the 
 ^27. combined Oppositions in precipitating Addington. 
 During the prorogation of Parliament, which was un- 
 usually prolonged to the 15th of January, various 
 attempts are said to have been made by ministers to 
 reinforce themselves; particularly against Carleton 
 House, by the offer of Ireland to Moira, and of a high; 
 volunteer command to the Prince. These were re- 
 jected, it is said, (a phrase which you must hold as 
 repeated through the remainder of this chronicle), but 
 it is so said, with great spirit and dignity ; a sort of 
 cabinet being held in Pall-Mall, composed of the heads 
 of the combined Opposition. After this, some other 
 unsuccessful attempts are supposed to have been 
 made. The other party looked forward to a very 
 promising show of numbers ; Addington in corre- 
 spondence with Sir W. Pulteney, about forming a band 
 of allies by themselves ; the former declining to boast 
 that he had a party, but admitting that there were 
 about twenty-seven gentlemen in the House who 
 "thought with him." The Spanish war, especially 
 the violent and unprecedented mode of its commence- 
 ment, were looked upon as the grand topics of attack ; 
 a vehement pamphlet against government upon this 
 subject came out under the name of the author of the 
 " Cursory Remarks ;" and Lord Carrington, I have been 
 told, expressed himself at Lord Keith's table, not more 
 than six weeks ago, that he understood " the fellow 
 Addington " was to lead in a motion of inquiry about 
 it. Another rumour is, that Sheridan has in his pos- 
 session a jotting of the terms of some such or other 
 motion, which he and Addington had begun to settle 
 together. However all this may be, nothing could 
 surpass the surprise we were all thrown into in Christ- 
 mas week, when it was announced that a formal re-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 281 
 
 conciliation had taken place, in presence of the King, isos. 
 between Pitt and Addington. So far as I had oppor- /Et.27. 
 tunities of observing the first impression of it, it was 
 strongly disapproved by Pitt's intelligent admirers, 
 and lowered him a little in the city. The King break- 
 fasted next morning at the lodge in Richmond Park, 
 and on the 7th instant Addington dined at Kew, tete- 
 a-tete; an honour not conferred on any subject since 
 Lord Bute. He is now Viscount Sidmouth, and Pre- 
 sident of the Council. He stipulated for the entrance 
 of Lord Buckinghamshire also into the cabinet, which 
 Pitt peremptorily refused, and the King granted. You 
 will easily suppose what language is held by the party 
 which I wish well to, upon these transactions; they 
 consider Pitt as having sunk in the opinion of the 
 public, by yielding to so hard a necessity for the sake 
 of office, and as being no longer the efficient minister 
 of the state. I cannot conceive why he did not make 
 a bold stand against the entrance of Addington into 
 the cabinet, for the said Addington never could have 
 been forced upon the country again, as ostensibly the 
 sole minister, and Pitt might have trusted that the 
 King would in no event have had recourse to Fox. 
 All the appointments, and stories of appointments, 
 within the last week, are of an Addingtonian com- 
 plexion. Nat. Bond is made Attorney General; Van- 
 sittart and Bragge Privy Councillors. A large living 
 at Taplow had been solicited from the Chancellor by 
 Lord Camden ; it is given to Vansittart's cousin. 
 Lord Abercorn is made a Knight of the Garter, and the 
 number of the order is enlarged on purpose to introduce 
 him. Osborn Markham had received his dismission 
 from the Navy Board, where he was put by Adding- 
 ton, and on his return he is now replaced. Lord Sid- 
 mouth made no bargain for Tierney, because he had
 
 282 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. been trying a separate one for himself; nor for Charles 
 Mr. 27. Yorke, because he did not profess to join the Adding- 
 tonian band of opposition to the Defence Bill last 
 summer. All this is not only real predominance, but 
 looks very like the conscious enjoyment and use of it. 
 In the conversation in the House of Peers upon the 
 Address, Hawkesbury scrupled not to say, that what- 
 ever improvements have lately taken place in the 
 supply of the disposable force, are to be ascribed to 
 the Army of Reserve Bill, passed in the last adminis- 
 tration, or, (as we say), in the administration before 
 the last. 
 
 The King's speech announced an offer of pacific 
 dispositions from the Emperor Napoleon, to which he 
 had returned an answer, that he must first consult 
 those continental powers, with whom he has lately 
 formed a confidential intercourse upon the general 
 state of Europe. All parties seem agreed, that peace 
 upon any other footing would be unavailing. There 
 does not seem much expectation of this sort of peace 
 at present. The Emperor will probably persist a 
 little longer in his idea of excluding us from the pale 
 of continental policy ; and in that case, I hope we 
 shall all have pride and wisdom to persist in asserting 
 so essential a part of our power and defence. There 
 was no division upon the Address ; but the conversa- 
 tion between Fox, Pitt, and Windham, furnished us 
 the bill of fare for the spring- supplies within the year, 
 a new constitution of the army, continental alliances, 
 on Pitt's side; — Catholic emancipation, the outrage 
 against the law of nations in the mode of commenc- 
 ing hostilities against Spain, and the entire failure of 
 the famous Defence Bill, on the part of Opj)osition. 
 Windham has given notice for next week of the same
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 283 
 
 motion, a committee into the state of the defence, 1805. 
 which he and Pitt supported jointly last spring, Mt 27 
 against Addington. But while the King is as efficient 
 as at present, we shall have the satisfaction of seeing 
 things go on in their usual course ; though he did 
 make his gracious speech from the throne, in one of 
 those flowing brigadier wigs which one sees in the 
 old portraits of King William and Marlborough. 
 
 I confine myself to these gossiping trifles, which 
 will show you what we continue to trifle about here. 
 They may serve to supply the chasm of news, till you 
 get the papers of this month. I blame myself very 
 much for having been so long in writing to you and 
 Lady Mackintosh ; there is a folly about one in 
 writing letters to a great distance, as if (to use a 
 phrase of Windham's) it were necessary to brew them 
 of a stronger body for exportation. I beg you will 
 remember me in the most grateful manner to Lady 
 Mackintosh, whom I never think of but as one to 
 whose kind notice I owe much of the best society I 
 enjoy now in London, and most of the happiest days 
 I passed while you were here. When the members of 
 these parties come together, we scarcely fail on any 
 occasion to remind ourselves of them, by some frag- 
 ments of conversation that have made us better and 
 wiser for life. I dine to-day at Boddington's, where 
 most of us will meet : if I owed nothing to you but 
 the friendship of Sharp, I never could repay even 
 that. I am assiduous to make myself worthy of it, 
 by bringing myself as frequently as I can in contact 
 with his strong and purified understanding. In my 
 letters by the ship, I will put together as much 
 literary and private tattle as I can collect; I must 
 not forget to tell you, that the Archbishop died yes-
 
 284 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. terday morning, and Sutton is generally spoken of as 
 iEr.27. destined for Lambeth. Lord Rosslyn died last week. 
 I beg my kindest respects to my friend Erskine. 
 Ever faithfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LVI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, 2ist Feb. 1 805. 
 
 I have several letters of yours to acknowledge, 
 and a great many points in some former ones to go 
 back upon. I have been however very much occu- 
 pied of late ; the little business I have harasses me 
 more than you will easily imagine, both because I 
 have to acquire the very rudiments on every case that 
 comes into my hands, and because this uncertainty 
 of the ground I stand upon increases all my other 
 anxieties. I cannot prevail on myself either to forego 
 the pleasures, and indeed the advantages, of society 
 in the afternoon, which at this season is at high tide ; 
 my acquaintances increase more rapidly than I care 
 for, so that I begin to be fastidious again, and to 
 make a choice at my discretion. I foresee very dis- 
 tinctly that this round of dinners will not last many 
 years, if I get at all into business ; so that I think it 
 advisable to frolic while 'tis May, and by a provident 
 scheme of selection from the immense mass, to lay up 
 a small store of lasting materials for the Saturdays 
 and Sundays of the long Chancery winter. 
 
 I contrived to get the second day of the debate on 
 the Spanish papers; William* and I went down toge- 
 
 * William Murray of Henderland, Esq., and of the Middle Temple, 
 the elder brother of Mr. J. A. Murray.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 285 
 
 ther. It was by no means a very satisfactory dis- 1805. 
 cussion of so important a transaction, nor was there ^ T . 27. 
 much eloquence on either side. Fox was very slo- 
 venly, desultory, and incomplete ; it is impossible for 
 him to speak without inimitable execution in parts ; 
 but he took no great range of the subject, though 
 one (I thought) most suitable to his taste and best 
 power, nor did he seem to strike into the pith and 
 heart of it. Pitt's reply was very angry and loud, 
 full of palpable misrepresentations. The best hints as 
 to the real substance of the case gleamed through the 
 darkness and turbidness of Dr. Lawrence, who would 
 fairly have talked his audience to death, if they had 
 not coughed him to silence; his expectoration (to 
 use a delicate phrase of Lord Ellenborough's) was 
 dreadful to the hearer, but seemed to be full of 
 knowledge and sense and acuteness, as I have al- 
 ways found him whenever I have had self-command 
 sufficient to listen. There was one extraordinary 
 oration that night, — Sir William Grant's; quite a 
 master-piece of his peculiar and miraculous manner : 
 conceive an hour and a half of syllogisms strung 
 together in the closest tissue, so artfully clear that 
 you think every successive inference unavoidable ; 
 so rapid that you have no leisure to reflect where you 
 have been brought from, or to see where you are 
 to be carried, and so dry of ornament or illustration 
 or refreshment, that the attention is stretched — 
 stretched — racked. All this is done without a single 
 note. And yet, while I acknowledge the great vigour 
 of understanding displayed in such performances, I 
 have a heresy of my own about Grant's speaking ; it 
 does not appear to me of a parliamentary cast, nor 
 suited to the discussions of a political assembly. The
 
 286 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 i«05. effect he produces is amazement at his power, not the 
 iET.27. impression of his subject; now this is a mortal symp- 
 tom. Besides this, he gives me a suspicion of sophis- 
 try, which haunts me through his whole deduction; 
 though I have nothing immediately to produce, I feel 
 dissatisfied as if there were something that might be 
 said. And after all, there are no trains of syllogism 
 nor processes of intricate distinctions in subjects that 
 are properly political. The wisdom, as well as the 
 common feelings that belong to such subjects, lie 
 upon the surface in a few plain and broad lines; 
 there is a want of genius in being very ingenious 
 about them, and it belongs to talents of the second 
 order to proceed with a great apparatus of reasoning. 
 Your scheme of bringing together the honest and 
 able men of the Scotch bar, and uniting them in con- 
 fidence towards each other, will do more, if rightly 
 managed, to reform the Court than any new act of 
 parliament. We know here well, what an advantage 
 is derived to the administration of justice, from the 
 footing upon which the Bench and Bar are to each 
 other; nor would the Court of Session, though fifteen* 
 is a protecting number, feel it at all comfortable to 
 conduct themselves as I have sometimes witnessed, 
 under the inspection of a Bar formidable by real 
 knowledge, mutual concert, and systematic good 
 manners. The present period is more favourable for 
 such a combination, than could have been found of 
 late years, when the evil spirit of politics kept men 
 so much asunder. You must proceed in all this with 
 delicacy and reserve, and I have no doubt of your 
 success. I have always been aware of the repulsion 
 between two or three sets, all of which contain 
 
 * The number of Judges then composing the Court.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 287 
 
 several men of strong powers and excellent prin- 1805. 
 ciples; men too, who are quite formed, in spite of jet.27. 
 their past distance, to respect each other. I got 
 myself a little into all of the sets; and some who 
 appeared most fastidious and exclusive, proved, after 
 a little cultivation, as candid as they are steadfast. 
 Such men are the very sinews of a censorial juris- 
 diction. 
 
 I must reserve to another opportunity the further 
 prosecution of these interesting topics, on which I 
 beg you will continue to inform me of all your pro- 
 jects and meditations. I am resolute to continue a 
 member of the Faculty of Advocates, and hope you 
 will all consider me as still a learned brother. Many 
 years hence, if we add business to years, we may 
 perhaps have a little practical influence in the alle- 
 viation of these abuses on which we are speculating 
 at present. We shall certainly be unprepared for 
 the exertion of practical influence, unless we go on 
 with our speculation. 
 
 I shall hear from you very soon, I trust, your final 
 determination about your visit this year to England. 
 And I shall not come to any decision about the 
 employment of next autumn, till I hear of your 
 plans. 
 
 Ever yours truly, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Lettee LVII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My clear Murray, Tem P le > 16th March ' 1805> 
 
 I have just received your most kind and enter- 
 taining letter. I had delayed arranging my plans for 
 the autumn, till I should hear from you ; and till I hear
 
 2$8 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. from you again, I shall fix nothing. I have not seen 
 2Gb. 27. the sea these two years, and I long for it impatiently. 
 South Wales, the coast of Devonshire, Kent — any- 
 where, — I leave this arrangement wholly to you. I 
 shall be ready to set out with you the very moment 
 the old King takes off his brigadier wig. Our mode 
 of travelling may be adjusted in a few seconds; and 
 the duration of our excursion may be fairly left to 
 accident. 
 
 Your account of Leslie's election interests me 
 beyond any thing I have heard for a long while.* 
 But you must tell me a thousand things more about 
 it. In the first place, procure me, I beseech you 
 earnestly, every document about it that you can lay 
 your hands upon; especially the Protest, any para- 
 graphs in the newspapers that may have been pub- 
 lished by either party, Dr. Hunter's letter if you can, 
 or any other morsels of correspondence. I shall pre- 
 serve them in the same bundle with my copies of 
 Aikenhead's conviction, and Lord Anstruther's let- 
 ter f: and shall enjoin my heirs, in the whole line of 
 substitution, to collect similar documents from century 
 to century, by way of proving, some thousand years 
 hence, that priests are ever the same. 
 
 You must have heard by this time, that the Catho- 
 lic delegates, after an unsuccessful application to Pitt, 
 and deliberating for some time upon their next step, 
 resolved finally to entrust their important measure to 
 Opposition. It will be lost, of course ; but it may be 
 of great moment even to the immediate tranquillity of 
 
 * An attempt was made to exclude Mr. Leslie from the Chair of Mathe- 
 matics, by a charge of infidelity, founded upon a note in his Treatise on 
 Heat, in which he says that " Mr. Hume is the first who has treated of 
 causation in a truly philosophic manner." For an account of this cele- 
 brated case, see an article by Mr. Horner in the Edinburgh Review for 
 October, 1805.— Ed. 
 
 f See Appendix B.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 289 
 
 Ireland, that the powerful Catholics of that country isos. 
 shall be satisfied how large a proportion of the talents, yEx 27 
 property and influence of the imperial parliament is 
 placed on their side. You may take the following 
 fact as quite authentic, though I am not myself pos- 
 sessed of the original authority on which it rests ; 
 very recently, an offer of assistance from the Emperor 
 of France was transmitted through the Irish directory 
 at Paris to the heads of the rebel party in Ireland, 
 who still (it seems) form an associated body. This 
 offer was deliberated upon in Dublin, and rejected, in 
 consequence of the strong expectations entertained 
 (perhaps reluctantly by those traitors) that govern- 
 ment would conciliate the Catholics by a speedy ad- 
 justment of their claims. 
 
 Give my kind compliments to Mrs. Murray and 
 your sister, and believe me 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LVIII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, 6th April, isos. 
 
 I have just received your letter, for the ful- 
 ness of which, upon a subject which interests me be- 
 yond any thing, I return you many thanks.* I have 
 received likewise the printed minute of the Senatus 
 Academicus, and have read it with great satisfaction ; 
 but I am all impatience for the protest, and your 
 anecdote about Copland increases it to fever. It 
 would certainly r be indiscreet to send the minute to an 
 opposition newspaper; nor should I have thought of 
 sending it to any of them. From the terms of your 
 letter, I rather collect a wish that it should be sent to 
 
 * The case of Mr. Leslie. 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. a ministerial paper, by way of preventing its first ap- 
 jp t 07 pearance in the other. I shall take this into consider- 
 ation. The present moment, however, is not fit for 
 it; as the Tenth Report* absorbs all interest and 
 conversation. 
 
 I am glad to hear that a narrative is likely to be 
 made out of these strange and disgraceful proceed- 
 ings.! I nac ^ J ust suggested this to Mr. Stewart in 
 a letter 1 have been writing to him this morning. So 
 far from having any objection to do the thing, 1 should 
 be proud of it ; but it appears to me that it would be 
 executed with more fidelity and vigour, by a person 
 who has witnessed the whole transaction upon the 
 spot. Have you not thought of Jeffrey? I am clear 
 it should be done. On first mentioning the story to 
 Whishaw, it immediately struck him that its circum- 
 stances should be made publicly known, in some shape 
 or other. I shall write to Dr. Parr to-day, and try 
 to get his metaphysical erudition as well as his zeal 
 for toleration, to contribute something for us in the 
 way you mention. You must not suffer Moncrieff 
 to forget the report of the debate in the Presbytery. 
 
 I have been scheming our autumn travels; and 
 have a very fine scheme indeed to propose — that we 
 should traverse the whole of what is emphatically 
 called the Garden of England, setting out from Bir- 
 mingham and coming round to Gloucester, through 
 all the beautiful scenes of Shropshire, Herefordshire, 
 Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. Such a tour 
 would take us about three weeks. 
 
 Ever yours most truly, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 * Of the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry, involving the charges of 
 corruption against Lord Melville. — Ed. 
 f Against Mr. Leslie. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 291 
 
 1805. 
 Letter LIX. TO SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, BOMBAY. Mt 27 
 
 Dear Sir James, Temple, 8th April, i805. 
 
 I shall not now write about politics to you, as 
 the newspapers sent out by the same conveyance 
 which carries this will give you every information up 
 to the latest date. But by the next overland despatch, 
 I shall give you some abstract of the most interesting 
 events or changes ; and that, I fancy, is the best oppor- 
 tunity of sending you this sort of intelligence, both be- 
 cause it reaches you in less time, and because it cannot 
 bring you the originals. For the present, I shall only tell 
 you, that the impression produced on the public mind 
 by the Tenth Report is such as has seldom been wit- 
 nessed, and such as I was very far from expecting on 
 the present occasion. You don't meet with a single 
 person in any company whatever, who pretends to 
 deny, or will suffer you to doubt, that Lord Melville 
 has participated in the peculations of his subordinate. 
 The cry is loud against placemen and Scotsmen. 
 The most habitual zealots for Mr. Pitt are most de- 
 cided in their indignation against Dundas; this, in- 
 deed, is natural, and very reasonable. The impression 
 is deepest, where it is most important that it should 
 be, in the city ; where the direct evidence of the report 
 is aided by many feelings and motives which you 
 can easily imagine : "By G — , sir," says Alderman 
 Curtis, "we felt him in our market!" There can be 
 little doubt that all this will have an immediate effect 
 in shattering the administration, already so frail. 
 
 An occurrence at the theatre last week is much 
 talked of. In the " Wheel of Fortune," the old 
 Governor says he cannot give his daughter a portion, 
 for he had never understood the arts of governing ; 
 
 u 2
 
 292 CORE ESPONDEMJE. 
 
 1805. this play was performed at Covent Garden, and this 
 JEt. 17. sentence was received "with so much noise, that the 
 players were interrupted for some minutes. Within 
 three days, the King ordered the same play at the 
 other house; and the uproar was infinitely greater. 
 His Majesty is said to have appeared disconcerted : and 
 the sagacious politicians opine, that he had ordered 
 this play so soon after, with the idea that his presence 
 would suppress any such emotion. The historical 
 effect of the Tenth Report, since Pitt is to defend 
 Melville, is more certain, and perhaps more valuable ; 
 the men and the principles, that were vilified for so 
 many years by those statesmen, will be seen in a 
 different light, now that their antagonists are cast 
 into the shade by the disclosure of such vulgar and 
 miserable embezzlements. 
 
 Brougham returned from the Continent just as this 
 story was made public, and the feeling it raised in his 
 mind was very natural ; he had had to defend the 
 statesmen of this country in general, against the con- 
 tempt with which they are spoken of upon the con- 
 tinent, for their ignorance of foreign affairs, their 
 ill success, want of diplomatic system, &c. ; the 
 single topic he always found himself driven to, in 
 contrast with their continental colleagues, was the un- 
 suspected purity of our financiers : it was rather 
 provoking, just on being landed at home, to find that 
 no more was to be said on that head. All Englishmen 
 have the same feeling ; and it may produce wonders 
 to-night in the House of Commons : I shall not send 
 this letter to the India House till to-morrow, that I 
 may give you some account of the division. 
 
 You will believe that I was very much interested by 
 the details you have sent us about the famine in the 
 Maratta Country. I sent an account of it to Stewart,
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 293 
 
 not forgetting the anecdote of Colonel Close's maxi- 1805. 
 mum.* Can any thing show more strongly the im- mt.27. 
 portance of giving the elements of liberal opinion, or, 
 if you will, the dogmas of the right school, to men 
 who have such trusts ? 
 
 I am glad to hear of your intention to survey 
 statistically the island of Bombay; the Archives 
 Statistiques shall be sent out to you certainly by 
 these ships. As to general queries, it would be idle 
 to make out any such; and to frame such particular 
 ones as would be pertinent, requires that some local 
 information should be already possessed, which I can 
 hardly say is my case, with respect to the political 
 economy of Bombay. Yet I have a strong curiosity 
 about it, and, if I were taught a little, might make 
 out questions to learn more. As the emporium of a 
 very extensive and peculiar commerce, it must suggest 
 many illustrations and many corrections of the theo- 
 ries which have been framed in this part of the 
 world, from our own limited experience; with respect 
 to the distribution of capital, the facilities of credit, 
 and the contrivances for accelerating and economizing 
 exchange. The theory of prices, and their variations, 
 is the darkest part of our system ; much light might 
 be thrown on it, by considering the subject in various 
 parts of the world, where the habits of consumption, 
 and the medium of circulation, are different. 
 
 * " The main causes of this tremendous famine, so far surpassing all 
 European ideas of public distress, are the failure of the rains for two suc- 
 cessive seasons, and the civil wars which have distracted the Maratta 
 empire for eight years. Something may have been contributed by our 
 campaign of last year, but certainly much the least part. In the midst 
 of these obvious causes, and of this wide desolation, so obstinate are men's 
 prejudices on this subject, that Colonel Close, our resident, very seriously 
 ascribes much of the evils to the avarice of the corn-dealers at Poonah. 
 He prevailed upon the Peshwa to compel them to sell their grain at what 
 he thought a reasonable price : they ran away, and there was no grain in 
 the market next day." (Extract from a Letter of Sir James Mackintosh 
 to the Rev. Sydney Smith, 14th August, 1804.) 
 
 U 3
 
 294 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. You would confer a high favour on me, by communi- 
 JEt. 27. eating such views on these parts of the general theory, 
 as the peculiar facts to be observed in Bombay sug- 
 gest : any books or papers, containing accurate de- 
 tails, I should look upon as invaluable. 
 
 The trade of bullion connects all the parts of the 
 world into one system; and there are some recent 
 phenomena in the commerce of this quarter, which 
 would probably be explained if we understood the 
 state of the bullion market in Asia. Have you any 
 means of ascertaining the variations of prices at Bom- 
 baj r , from one point of time to another ? If there are, 
 you may aid us much in solving this problem, how far 
 the extraordinary rise of prices all over Europe, within 
 the last twenty years, is to be ascribed to a change in 
 the supply of the precious metals. Has there been a 
 similar depreciation in India ? Has it been felt in a ge- 
 neral enhancement of commodities ; in the collection, 
 for example, of the revenue from the zemindars, with 
 whom Lord Cornwallis compounded for a money rent ? 
 The Ayeen Akbery contains some very full and cu- 
 rious lists of prices ; a comparative set of modern 
 tables would render both prolific of general results. 
 I wish you would set Erskine and other persons to 
 collect materials for a political description of the 
 Marattas ; the documents printed with regard to 
 the late war gleam out enough, to excite one's cu- 
 riosity in the highest degree, about a people whose 
 political situation is so interesting, both in its singu- 
 larities and in its analogies, to what has been seen 
 elsewhere. All the books I have been able to get 
 here are equally scanty, and, in the little information 
 they give, inconsistent. The best thing I have met 
 with is Major Malcolm's account of the southern Ja- 
 ghirdars, in a letter to Lord Give, from the camp at
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 295 
 
 Meritch two years ago. It is the sketch of a feudal i805. 
 system. ^ T . 27. 
 
 April 9th. — The vote of last night is the most 
 unexpected event that we have had for a long time, 
 216 against 216, and the Speaker's casting voice gave 
 the majority to Opposition : resolving, that Lord 
 Melville, in conniving at Trotter's abuse of the public 
 money, has been guilty of a gross violation of law. 
 But this event will be known to you long before you 
 receive my letter, and the newspapers will give you 
 all the circumstances with which it has been attended. 
 I shall take care, however, to send you some account 
 of them overland. 
 
 I have directed two pamphlets to be sent out, on 
 the Education of the Poor, by Joseph Lancaster, a 
 Quaker who keeps a large free school in St. George's 
 Fields; the novelty and success of which has been 
 very much a subject of attention here. I have like- 
 wise sent with them, an account published here of a 
 similar institution formerly established at Madras, 
 but which, I understand, has been allowed to decline. 
 By my sending these together, you will understand 
 what I wish you would put into somebody's head at 
 Bombay. While you are in Asia, you must comfort 
 those whom you have left to regret your absence, with 
 the knowledge that you are sowing the seeds of all 
 the blessings that we possess in this part of Europe. 
 Your quarterly charges, your daily conversations, 
 and your actual institutions, will strike an impression 
 which no future negligence can wholly efface, and 
 which moderate care may extend. We have hopes, 
 some of us, that Lancaster's school may be the germ 
 of establishments for a national education both in 
 England and Ireland ; he has got about 3000 copies 
 subscribed for, of a new and enlarged edition of his 
 
 u 4
 
 296 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. book (I have put down both your name and Mr. 
 ^ T# 27. Stewart's), and Foster has proposed to take him over 
 with him to Ireland this summer, in order to intro- 
 duce his methods there. You will find a good deal 
 of novelty and ingenuity in all his plans for teaching 
 the common elements; a great saving of direct ex- 
 pense, of time too, and, what is more important 
 than all, perhaps, a great saving to the children of 
 that languor and formal inactivity, which are in- 
 separable from the present method of teaching. I 
 was very much pleased the other day in going to 
 this school, to find that Mr. Hastings had just been 
 there, and had explained to the elder boys (the 
 monitors) a practice which he recollected among the 
 natives in India, of teaching arithmetic by head, 
 without the use of any notation ; and the boys were 
 already teaching it in their classes, with success. I 
 have already suggested to Lancaster, that he should 
 procure a circulation of his book in America ; he 
 has likewise met with a person, who undertakes to 
 translate it into German ; and we shall give it the run 
 of all our readers in the Edinburgh Review, from 
 which it will get into the BibliotMque Britannique. 
 There may not be novelty enough in the book to 
 deserve all this ; but there is importance enough in 
 the subject to make a very little novelty a sanctified 
 pretext for over-praising any book that relates to it. 
 The interest already excited in London, and some 
 parts of the country, by this Quaker's school, is a suf- 
 ficient indication, that some of the wounds inflicted 
 on the English mind, by the terrors of French prin- 
 ciples, are already sloughing off. 
 
 I shall write to Lady M. by the same ships, and 
 very soon again to yourself. For the present you 
 must be heartily tired of me. Give my affectionate
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 297 
 
 remembrances to Erskine, and believe me most faith- iso5. 
 
 fully and affectionately yours, . ^e t . 27. 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LX. TO LADY MACKINTOSH, BOMBAY. 
 
 My dear Lady Mackintosh, Temple, isth April, iso5. 
 
 I owe you many thanks for your kind letter ; 
 the messages to Miss Sloper, &c, I delivered without 
 any delay. 
 
 You ask me what progress I make in London. 
 When I think of that subject, I never cease to regret 
 what I personally lost by your leaving it ; both in 
 immediate enjoyment and in permanent improve- 
 ment. I have found no new acquaintances who can 
 give me the society and conversation I found in your 
 house; nor have I any hopes of enjoying any thing 
 of the same sort again, until you return among us. 
 I shall all my life remain a worse metaphysician, 
 and more vulgarly a lawyer, by losing Sir James's 
 tuition, and the stimulus with which he excited to 
 great undertakings and good hopes every one's mind 
 that approached him. But I must not fatigue you 
 with these unavailing regrets about myself. I have 
 had a few opportunities this winter of seeing a little 
 of some parts of London society, which I knew nothing 
 of before : and indeed I am often reminded by my 
 solitary books, when I come home, that it is necessary 
 to resist the pleasure of seeing as much as one may. 
 I find this now the only difficulty; from which you 
 may infer, that I have been more idle than becomes 
 a poor Templar, and have reason, on the other hand, 
 to think myself very fortunate in acquiring so early
 
 298 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 iso5. as much of London society as I am entitled to partake 
 JEt Q7 of. My best hours still are where I have often met 
 you ; especially in Doughty Street.* Sharp I respect 
 and love more every day; he has every day new 
 talents and new virtues to show. I take every op- 
 portunity that your sister and the Wedgwoods afford 
 us, of seeing them in town. 
 
 This morning I returned from a visit to our poet 
 Campbell. He has fixed himself in a small house 
 upon Sydenham Common, where he labours hard, 
 and is perfectly happy with his wife and child. I 
 have seldom seen so strong an argument, from ex- 
 periment, in favour of matrimony, as the change it 
 has operated on the general tone of his temper and 
 manners. The last little thing he has written is a 
 sea ballad, on Nelson's fight at Copenhagen, most 
 parts of which are very successful. I shall inclose 
 a copy of it for you. In the course of three months, 
 he will publish a little volume of such poems as he 
 has written since the last ; chiefly ballads and odes. 
 
 Till Lord Melville came to our relief, we have 
 all this winter had but two topics of conversation, 
 young Roscius, and the Lectures of the Right Re- 
 verend our Bishop of Mickleham.f His Lordship's 
 success has been beyond all possible conjecture ; from 
 six to eight hundred hearers ; not a seat to be found, 
 even if you go half an hour before the time. Nobody 
 else, to be sure, could have executed such an under- 
 taking with the least chance of this sort of success ; 
 for who else could make such a mixture of odd pa- 
 radox, quaint fun, manly sense, liberal opinion, striking 
 
 * The house of the Rev. Sydney Smith. 
 
 j The Rev. Sydney Smith's lectures on Moral Philosophy, at the 
 Royal Institution. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 299 
 
 language? You must have had more than enough i805. 
 of the other great delighter of the public ; the Roscius. ^ T 27> 
 As it is the propensity of all superior minds to ad- 
 mire, I am sorry that this occasion has added another 
 to my own proofs that I must place myself on a very 
 low form. There never was such a rage, except that 
 for Sydney. 
 
 You gratify me very much by the terms in which 
 you speak of my friend Erskine. His great worth, 
 and the strength as well as fineness of his understand- 
 ing, have long ago placed him very high in the esteem 
 of a great many friends. I owe great obligations to 
 him; he was one of a set of men, somewhat older 
 than myself, at college, who gave me such advantages 
 of education as I could not otherwise have commanded. 
 Farewell, my dear Lady Mackintosh, I hope you will 
 not forget me ; though you have too many others to 
 remember to think much of me. 
 
 I am, most sincerely yours, 
 
 Fra. Hoknek. 
 
 Letter LXL TO SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 
 
 Dear Sir James, London, ioth April, i805. 
 
 I have written to you by these ships what you 
 will probably think a very long letter ; I sent it to the 
 India House. 
 
 AVe are still full of that extraordinary event, Lord 
 Melville's disgrace ; but the persons going out in the 
 ships will tell you all about it. There is a determined 
 resolution to prosecute these inquiries still further. 
 Nor will it surprise any body, if the projected investi- 
 gation of army expenditure shall open still more igno-
 
 300 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1 805. mioious histories of abuse, than the navy commissioners 
 jet.27. have given us. 
 
 Lord Henry Petty has gained immense reputation 
 by his speech on the 8th instant. I have heard 
 several persons say, that Fox's compliment was se- 
 riously deserved, when he called it the best speech 
 that was made that night. Lord Henry is moving 
 very steadily on to a high station, both in the public 
 opinion, and in office. His discretion, his good sense, 
 his pains in acquiring knowledge, and the improve- 
 ment of his power as well as taste in speaking, make 
 such a prophecy with respect to his future destiny 
 very safe. 
 
 The saints were very useful on the late occasion, 
 and their conduct, no doubt, is entitled to appro- 
 bation. Tniberforce's speech produced a great effect. 
 So little was the result expected, that at two o'clock 
 that morning Lord Melville was in high spirits, 
 having just received a note from the House of Com- 
 mons, saying, that there was no doubt of a large 
 majority in his favour. 
 
 There is much reason to fear that these Easter 
 holidays will give an opportunity to the Court of 
 practising some means to rise above their late defeat. 
 A very great person is reported to have addressed a 
 letter to the culprit, regretting that through inadvert- 
 ence he had lost his office, but expressing a hope that 
 he might still live to be of service to his country. 
 
 I shall write by the next dispatch, and am ever, 
 
 Dear Mackintosh, 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 301 
 
 1805. 
 Letter LXII. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. yEx 27> 
 
 My clear Seymour, Temple, 9th July, 1805. 
 
 When you spoke of returning to London before 
 the end of June, I did not suffer myself to expect it, 
 nor have I indulged myself with any defined time for 
 that agreeable event. There is but this one occasion 
 on which you are not a man of your word ; but former 
 experience has taught me to interpret such promises 
 of yours with great latitude. Some time or other, 
 however, before the end of July, I trust you will 
 make your appearance here ; else I shall lose you for a 
 whole year. 
 
 I have been going on very much as you left me, 
 meeting with new people every now and then, and 
 drawing myself closer towards the old. I reckon 
 that about one in ten is worth seeing a second time, 
 and about one in fifty worth adding to the permanent 
 list. I cling to Smith* and Whishaw, and Wardf, 
 and Mrs. Spencer J, with a very short list of &c. 
 I have had frequent opportunities of seeing Lord 
 Holland, and am delighted with his spirited under- 
 standing, and the sweetness of his dispositions. In 
 both respects, he resembles his sister very much; 
 and both of them are of their uncle's make. The 
 strongest features of the Fox head are, precision, 
 vigilance, and (if I may apply such a word to the 
 understanding) honesty : nobody escapes from them 
 in vague showy generals, or imposes by ostenta- 
 tious paradox; you are sure of getting both fair 
 play and your due : but you must give as much, or 
 you have neither chance of concealment nor mercy. 
 
 * The Rev. Sydney Smith. f The Hon. J. W, Ward. 
 
 I The Hon. Mrs* William Spencer.
 
 302 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 .Et. 27. 
 
 1805. Watchful, dexterous, even-handed, implacable sense is 
 their law. I have shrunk from it often with shame ; 
 and this I have felt » as often in conversation with 
 Miss Fox as with any of them. 
 
 I passed a most agreeable day in Grafton Street, 
 with Lady Susan and Lord Fincastle, in addition to 
 your other friends there. Except that time, I have 
 scarcely seen the former since you went to Devon- 
 shire. If you return before they go to Tunbridge, I 
 hope we shall contrive to see them sometimes toge- 
 ther. This is another argument for hastening your 
 arrival ; to which I will even add another, that Petty 
 goes very shortly after the prorogation of Parliament 
 to Ireland, which he intends, after visiting his own 
 estates, to explore politically with Dumont ; a most 
 suitable and judicious object of inquiry to any one, 
 who is to belong to the next generation of English 
 statesmen; and the fairest and widest field for 
 undertakings, of which the success would be almost 
 certain if it were only wished for, and which would 
 bestow the most genuine and lasting fame on the 
 statesman who resolves to accomplish them : " Sed in 
 longum tamen cevum!" I shall direct this to Berry 
 House, as you desired me, and beg you will present 
 my most respectful regards to your brother and to 
 the Duchess. 
 
 I am ever, most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXIII. TO HENRY HALLAM, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Hallam, 2d Au s ust > 1805 - 
 
 I have this morning had the pleasure to read 
 your article in the Critical Review ; with which I am
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 303 
 
 sure all those who heard of Leslie's affair, and are 1805. 
 friendly to toleration, will be highly gratified. You Mr 27- 
 have stated it in the just point of view, and with 
 great force and dignity. It will give Mr. Stewart 
 much satisfaction, to find his services, in a cause very 
 disagreeable to himself, but most necessary to be 
 undertaken by him, appreciated with correctness and 
 warmly applauded by the independent scholars of 
 England. And the expression of their opinion, de- 
 livered so seasonably and in so impressive a manner, 
 will assist in securing the good effects of that victory, 
 which, as you have observed, was but very doubtfully 
 won. 
 
 I have been reading, in a desultory way, Knight's 
 book on Taste; and am most agreeably surprised 
 with the variety of pleasant instruction it conveys. 
 I had expected no such thing. I have not yet looked 
 very narrowly into its philosophy ; but the practical 
 remarks on books, buildings, and manners, appear to 
 me very spirited and just, and though now and then 
 tinctured with an ambition of newness, remarkably 
 free from the narrow uniformity of any system or 
 school. The style too, though a little careless, some- 
 times more than a little vulgar, has the great charm 
 to me of being a spoken style, and quite refreshing 
 after the solemn, languid, tight-laced form in which 
 every book is now written. Knight to be sure has 
 little grace, but much animation. In his philosophy, 
 I fancy he is upon the right track at least ; though I 
 scarcely believe it ever answers any good purpose, to 
 treat with so much levity and even petulance the 
 errors of a man like Burke, or of one who has written 
 so excellent a book as Price. In this respect, he may 
 have borrowed too much from the tone of conver- 
 sation. When I have leisure to read the work regu-
 
 304 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. larly, I mean to look very closely, whether he is him- 
 .Et. 27. self quite consistent and sufficiently comprehensive 
 in the doctrine of associations, which I rather suspect 
 is not the case with him, nor in his view of the phe- 
 nomena of sympathy. In the last doctrine, at least, 
 I have as yet met with very few who are aware of all 
 that has been done for them by Adam Smith, whose 
 work, however imperfect as a theory of moral senti- 
 ments, always seemed to me the most scientific and 
 acute description we have yet received in -any branch 
 of what may be called the Natural History of the 
 Mind. This analysis, I am persuaded, contains in it 
 the means of explaining many of our difficulties both 
 in criticism and morals. Forgive me, my dear Hal- 
 lam, for being so very Scotch through my whole 
 letter; but with you, I forget these distinctions now, 
 and look on you as one of us, except that you possess 
 besides what we alas ! have not. I shall inclose this 
 to Elmsley to direct for me, as I do not know your 
 address. I hope to hear from you, and that you 
 
 believe me 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXP7. FROM HENRY DALLAM, ESQ. 
 Dear Horner West Bronrwich, August 9th, 1805. 
 
 I am much flattered by the approbation which 
 you express of my critique on Mr. Stewart's pam- 
 phlet. From the time that I was fully acquainted 
 with the case, I considered it as one of public import, 
 and shall be happy if I have succeeded in conveying 
 that impression to the minds of those, who would take 
 little interest in any local politics of your metropolis.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 395 
 
 For this reason, as well as for the sake of brevity, I 1805. 
 entirely omitted all notice of the secret motives, which ^^27 
 indisputably actuated Mr. Leslie's opponents, though 
 by so doing I probably made the circumstances less 
 intelligible to English readers than they would other- 
 wise have been. 
 
 I thank you for your remarks on Knight's book, to 
 which I shall pay attention when I come to put my 
 own thoughts together on the subject. I have read 
 him, as you have, in a desultory manner, and concur 
 pretty much in your opinion. Perhaps I should rate 
 the merits of his style rather lower, and the faults 
 rather higher than you appear to do. It is certainly, 
 as you say, a spoken style; but hardly neat or correct 
 enough for good conversation : and I doubt whether 
 the tone of common conversation, even among quick 
 and intelligent men, can well be borne in a serious 
 work in any language except the French. The style 
 of that people in ordinary speech is much more cor- 
 rect, pointed, and lively than our own ; and as their 
 language does not admit of any rythmical cadence, 
 nor of so much force and majesty as most others, 
 their best writers make use of a style which may 
 truly be called, spoken. There is another objection, 
 besides carelessness and laxity, to Knight's manner 
 of writing. He is perpetually leaving his subject, as 
 all men will do, who follow the course of their ideas 
 without the discipline of method and arrangement ; 
 so that I have never seen a book of which the general 
 scope was so difficult to catch. The particular re- 
 marks seem, however, for the most part very good, 
 and I have no doubt of being able conscientiously to 
 give him a good character. I hope you liked Herbert's * 
 
 * The present Dean of Manchester. 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. articles in No. 12. They seem to me admirably 
 iEx Q7 written, to say nothing of their substance, which I 
 could wish to have been more weighty than sonnets 
 and accents. Do you not like Scott's detection of the 
 Caledonian imposture? We shall now hear no more 
 of Ossian than of Vortigern. 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 H. Hallam. 
 
 Letter LXV. TO THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Thomson, Hampstead, 8th August, 1805. 
 
 I stood very much in need of your letter, to 
 
 console me under my disappointment at not seeing 
 
 you here in person. I have not extracted from 
 
 Murray a very distinct explanation of this change in 
 
 your plans; though he does say something of your 
 
 increasing business, which I shall put up with for a 
 
 good reason, till you give me a better. Will you 
 
 allow me to dream so pleasantly as to think still of 
 
 having you in London about the same time you were 
 
 last year ? a period I often look back to with much 
 
 satisfaction, we saw each other so well, and idled 
 
 away a fortnight so profitably. I mean at length to 
 
 commit myself to a special pleader or draughtsman ; 
 
 but can promise, with a safe conscience (I think) to 
 
 be very idle with you, if you will but come and try me. 
 
 I don't know what to say to your account of 
 
 Mr. Stewart's plan of his book.* I should like to 
 
 * " You will rejoice to hear that Mr. Stewart is going on busily with 
 his continuation of the 'Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind.' 
 He is living about eight miles from Edinburgh, on the banks of the 
 water of Leith, where I lately spent two days with him, and had the plea- 
 sure of hearing him read several chapters of his work. His present plan 
 extends to two additional volumes, of which, however, only one half of 
 the first will be occupied with the harder parts of metaphysics, the 
 remainder being given to a series of dissertations on taste, and various
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 307 
 
 have all his metaphysics, and I should like to have all 1805. 
 his literature, and I should like to see him pay both j^ Tt 2 7. 
 these debts, that he might proceed forthwith to dis- 
 charge his farther engagements in political economy. 
 On all of these subjects, his views are original and 
 profound; and their originality consists so much in 
 the comprehensive form which they have assumed in 
 his mode of conceiving them, that it can be preserved 
 only in his expressions. His writing on literary and 
 moral topics is the most popular in this part of the 
 world, but Stewart ought not to write for this part 
 of the world, or for this age of the world ; he is bound 
 to feel more courage, possessing the art of writing as 
 he does, which always makes such a conquest over 
 time, to say nothing of that loftiness and sensibility 
 which pervade his philosophy, and must insure its 
 success for ever, if England has any pretensions to 
 immortality. If I could have my own wishes gratified, 
 I confess I should desire that he would make his vieAV 
 of mind, intellectually considered, as enlarged as he 
 has ever considered it, including all his valuable sug- 
 gestions for the improvement of logic in the various 
 sciences, even though he should not have perseverance 
 
 other modifications of intellect, which he considers as acquired powers, or 
 habits of the mind. Some of these last he has already written ; and they 
 are admirable ; but though certainly they will prove the most popular 
 and attractive parts of his work, I cannot help thinking that he is about 
 to sacrifice too much to them, by condensing or rather retrenching the 
 previous part of the system. In particular, many of his speculations for 
 the improvement of logic would thus be almost completely lopped off. 
 Were he to give himself full and free scope, he says that he could easily 
 fill another volume with the metaphysical part alone ; and I have been 
 earnestly exhorting him to do so. That it would add infinitely to the 
 real value of the work, I dare say you will agree with me in thinking ; 
 and I am very confident that its value would be enhanced even as a mar- 
 ketable commodity. For at least the present century, it will probably 
 come in the place of Locke's Essay as the standard elementary work on 
 this branch of philosophy, and in that view, nothing can more contribute 
 to its currency than an appearance of completeness. No part of it will go 
 to the press in less than a year." (Extract from a letter of Mr. Thom- 
 son to Mr. Horner, dated the 20th July, 1805.) 
 
 x 2
 
 308 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. to mould these into a systematic shape; and that then 
 2Et #2 8. he would proceed immediately to political philosophy, 
 in which I am confident he would produce a work 
 that would excite great attention, and impress a 
 lasting influence. After all the mischief that has been 
 done of late years, I am thoroughly convinced that 
 the public mind, in England at least, is still sound 
 and susceptible. 
 
 I am very sorry to see my paper so soon at an end, 
 for I had a thousand things more to say. It is very 
 odd we write so seldom, when I, at least, have so 
 much to write. I suppose you cannot tell the reason, 
 more than I can ; and yet I suspect I shall not have 
 the happiness to see your penmanship for another 
 twelvemonth to come. I am determined for my part 
 to behave better. We shall see. 
 
 Ever truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXVI. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR * 
 
 Hampstead, lath Sept., 1805. 
 
 Joy ! a thousand times ! my dear Seymour. I 
 have not had such happiness to congratulate for a 
 long time ; and there is not a line in your wild letter, 
 that did not give me the same ecstasy. May you have 
 unclouded health and peace to pursue objects that are 
 so dear to you, and to drink to the bottom those plea- 
 sures which your long abstinence makes you more 
 deserving of than ever. Yet I cannot help reflecting, 
 that this winter will separate us more than ever in 
 our labours; when to meet again, at the place we 
 parted, loaded with our separate and very different 
 collections for the great and common purpose! You, 
 
 * The letter of Lord Webb Seymour to which this is an answer, I 
 have not found. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 309 
 
 I know, will move steadily on to your point; while, in isos. 
 the nature of my immediate occupations, and still ^ T- 2 s. 
 more, alas ! in the irresolution and debility of my own 
 ambition, I see too certainly the trifling interests day 
 by day that will consume away my years, and the 
 habits that will imperceptibly unfit me for generous 
 speculations. I already begin to look back with 
 melancholy and shame on the acquisitions I have 
 lost; and the only favourable symptom I can dis- 
 cover in myself is, that when I do indulge myself a 
 little with philosophy, I fall to it with a devouring 
 appetite. But this too may go with the rest, and 
 abandon me to a false relish, not original to my na- 
 ture, for the temporary and limited purposes of a 
 London law life. Nee inutilis toga perhaps ought 
 to bound my wishes ; but I endeavour to fortify and 
 raise myself by the examples of those, (they are few) 
 who in other countries as well as this, but all of them 
 in other times, have successfully combined the duties 
 of the profession with other labours. You must for- 
 give this desponding egotism ; your letter brought it 
 all upon my mind, and I have delivered myself of it 
 for a while, by expressing it where I know it will be 
 understood. 
 
 I mean to be in Edinburgh for ten days about the 
 middle of October, and to leave London so as to take 
 a good deal of exercise, and see something of Murray, 
 before we rea'ch Scotland, where I shall lose him again 
 in another crowd. We purpose, therefore, to set out 
 in the first week of the month. I am necessarily 
 detained here till then; Sydney Smith comes home 
 upon the 1st, and Murray would like to see him once 
 or twice; so would he you, if you can be here by that 
 time, but that is of less consequence to him, as he 
 will have you all winter. As you must go down 
 
 x 3
 
 310 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. rapidly, it will not suit us to travel together ; for I 
 j Er og really want exercise and air, and the sight of true 
 green. But it will be quite practicable, I trust, to 
 have some of our old walks by the frith ; and I shall 
 rejoice to stay at Edinburgh a day or two more on 
 purpose. In case you should find a morning so 
 vacant before you come to town, as not to grudge 
 throwing it away in giving me more tour-directions, 
 I may tell you that we propose to go down by 
 Lancashire and Westmoreland, and, if the weather 
 is clear, to lounge away four days at some spot among 
 the lakes, wherever we can find the picturesque and 
 comforts together. Give us a little carte du pays : 
 your former instructions are not lost, but carefully 
 laid up in Cary's map for a future season. We have 
 settled it, I think, to enter Lancashire by Chester ; and 
 I shall propose to advance there rather circuitously, 
 through Bucks, to Warwick, straight north to the 
 Peak of Derby, and then across Cheshire by North- 
 wichi Can you amend this scheme? 
 
 Present my respectful regards to the Duke and the 
 Duchess. 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXVII. TO SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, BOMBAY. 
 
 My dear Sir James, Hampstead, 2oth Sept., iso5. 
 
 I have this moment observed in the newspaper, 
 that there is a vessel for Bombay ; and though I fear 
 it may be too late, I shall take such chance as there is 
 of sending you a letter by this opportunity. I have 
 had the satisfaction, too, of learning from Sharp the 
 interesting contents of your letter to him ; and Sydney
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 3 1 1 
 
 Smith, who has just come from the country, promises 1805. 
 me another gratification of the same kind ; so that I _^ T- 2 8. 
 contrive to learn a great deal about you, and imagine 
 to myself, in very lively colours, all the labours and 
 pleasures and public services that occupy you, both 
 at Bombay and at Parell. 
 
 You will see in the newspapers that we are upon 
 the eve of a frightful contest upon the continent ; in 
 which the utmost we can dare to hope seems, that 
 after several years of carnage and waste, we may be 
 left still in existence as a nation. There is a confi- 
 dence placed in Russia which I never could under- 
 stand; she has no direct interest affected by France, 
 and may be allured from our coalition in an instant by 
 irresistible bribes. What will then be the peril of 
 Austria, even if her fate should be protracted so long ? 
 We must do this, no doubt, because we cannot do 
 better, and because we are at war ; but it is miserable 
 to think of the hazards we have brought upon Europe 
 by this war of bullying fear and folly. Some people 
 entertain an expectation, that the conflict may be 
 averted by a general negotiation ; but that could only 
 be reasonably founded upon the proof, that Buonaparte 
 was disposed to give up part of his immense gains to 
 secure the remainder. They who dream of this, seem 
 to have considered neither his character, nor the neces- 
 sities of his situation. 
 
 I have not recently heard of any movements of a 
 party nature. The hints you will find in some of the 
 newspapers, of the King having waived his personal 
 exception of Mr. Fox, are well founded ; this was inti- 
 mated in the course of some ineffective advances that 
 were made, I believe, to the Grenville part of the 
 Opposition. Such advances are understood to have 
 been repeated once or twee since the prorogation of 
 
 x 4
 
 312 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 isoo. Parliament ; and attempts of this or another kind will, 
 j Er 98 of course, be tried again before it assembles. A dis- 
 solution seems improbable, though it is talked of; 
 Pitt would gain those few burghs which Adclington 
 filled with his friends, but, upon the whole, might lose 
 in popular places ; Lord Melville's affair, and Pitt's 
 awkward line of conduct with respect to it, have 
 worked so powerfully upon the public mind. Even 
 in Ireland, several contests are talked of, and the 
 weight of Catholic votes will become more apparent ; 
 perhaps the fidelity and unanimity of Scotland might 
 be shaken likewise, during the uncertainty that hangs 
 over Lord Melville's fate. 
 
 We have had few new books of late. Mr. Payne 
 Knight's on Taste has attracted more notice than any 
 other, and you would read it, I am very sure, with 
 avidity ; he rambles through such a variety of topics ; 
 always trying originality ; with entire freedom ; and 
 though not without paradox as well as licence, yet, 
 upon many occasions just and acute. I have heard 
 both Mr. Fox and Mr. Windham speak in praise of the 
 book, and with even less qualification of their praise 
 than I should have acquiesced in. He is often wrong, 
 I think, and petulant in the manner of being so ; and 
 there seem to me some gross heresies of taste, parti- 
 cularly in regard to Milton. Yet I have certainly de- 
 rived some profit, in addition to great pleasure, from 
 reading most part of it more than once. Mr. Fox 
 particularly admires the view given of Achilles's cha- 
 racter ; it is very fine : and I may add that Mr. Wind- 
 ham had announced his admiration of the work, before 
 he came to that passage in which you will find much 
 good sense about boxing. Lord Selkirk's tract on 
 the state of the Highlands and emigrations, excited 
 much attention; it is a valuable piece of descriptive
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 313 
 
 history, as well as political economy, and though I lsos. 
 had long known his accomplished understanding, it ^ T> 2 8. 
 has raised my admiration of that, as well as of his 
 exalted and practical benevolence.* We all lament 
 that he did not make the account of his own colony 
 longer. There was a much more perfect concurrence of 
 opinion among our critics upon this book than upon 
 the last I mentioned. I take it for granted, Sharp has 
 sent you both ; Stewart's tract on Cause and Effect 
 you had before, it has brought that senseless and 
 unprincipled persecution into more general attention, 
 than it would otherwise have obtained ; Brown's 
 tract, which grew out of the same occasion, was sent 
 to Erskine. I have sent to Sharp for you four 
 copies of Lancaster's book on the education of the 
 poor, that you may extend the benefits of his very 
 useful improvements. Some of them were bor- 
 rowed from India; they are returned with increase. 
 There is nothing else of value in political economy. 
 Roscoe's great history has made no name; it is 
 universally considered a dull lifeless mass, in which 
 the warm interests of the finest subject in modern 
 story are obscured by tasteless accumulation, or 
 diluted away in an insipid, colourless style. 
 
 Mr. Stewart has devoted this summer to the con- 
 tinuation of his philosophical work, of which we shall 
 receive two volumes some time next year. One half 
 of the first of these will be occupied with abstract 
 disquisition, and the remainder with a series of 
 dissertations on Taste and the other modifica- 
 
 * Mr. Horner wrote at this time a critique on Lord Selkirk's work, 
 entitled " Observations on the present State of the Highlands of Scot- 
 land ; with a view of the Causes and probable Consequences of Emigra- 
 tion." It was published in the 13th number of the Edinburgh Review, 
 October, 1805. To the same number Mr. Horner contributed the article 
 on Professor Leslie's case, mentioned in the note at p. 288, taking as 
 his text, Mr. Stewart's tract on Cause and Effect. — Ed.
 
 J 14 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. tions of intellect, which may be regarded as sub- 
 ^ T 28> sidiary powers. The different varieties of philo- 
 sophical and professional genius will likewise, I be- 
 lieve, occupy much of his speculations. The course 
 indeed he will pursue, you have in his outlines. The 
 only other work that I know of as in hand, from 
 which much may be expected, is by Mr. Allen, who 
 accompanied Lord Holland to Spain ; a series of 
 essays on the interior economy and administration 
 of Spain, under the different periods of her history, 
 with a view to illustrate the causes that have kept 
 down the natural resources of the country. I have 
 seen some parts of it, which are full of curious 
 minute information, compressed with excellent judg- 
 ment, and all selected with an eye to general prin- 
 ciples. It will be very instructive and entertaining. 
 I have seen much of Lord Holland since his return, 
 and though prepared by the account I had received 
 from you for an extraordinary man, am infinitely 
 charmed with such a combination of gentleness, inge- 
 nuity, and knowledge. 
 
 In a letter I wrote several months ago, either to 
 you or to Erskine, I proposed some queries in order 
 to obtain information about the change of prices in 
 India. I wish to arrive at a sort of inductive con- 
 clusion, from a comparison of remote facts, respecting 
 the recent variation in the value of the precious 
 metals, all over the world. If you can furnish me 
 details enough, to give a sort of oriental tinge to my 
 illustrations, I will humbly offer you a little essay for 
 your infant society; where I observe that statistics 
 and political economy are to be encouraged. I hope 
 you will infuse your own spirit into the mass which 
 they are to collect for you about Bombay and Sal- 
 sette; and that you will direct them to include as
 
 JOURNAL. 315 
 
 much as possible the details of former times as well as i805. 
 the present. A statist does nothing for philosophical ^ T _ 2 8. 
 economy, unless he ascertains and describes changes, 
 and such relations among his details as are matter of 
 fact. Insulated particulars, however accurate, like 
 those which the German statists are so fond of heap- 
 ing together, lead to nothing ; and perhaps the most 
 faithful picture of the economy of a country, if it is 
 taken only for a single point of time, may be con- 
 sidered rather as a curiosity for the library of a vir- 
 tuoso, than the materials of reasoning. A series of 
 such, no doubt, would give the relations and changes 
 that I speak of; but I fear that in undertakings of 
 this sort we cannot reckon upon successors precisely 
 to our own work. I doubt if I have shown myself 
 in this explanation quite as distinct, as I have been 
 presumptuous in obtruding my immature notions 
 upon you. 
 
 I am going next week to Edinburgh for about a 
 week ; and if I gain any news there that I think will 
 amuse you I will write an overland letter. 
 
 Believe me ever most faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal, dated August and September'. — " Mr. 
 Windham, speaking of Pitt, described him as being 
 without affectation in the least, much above vanity. 
 He considers him as having suffered greatly by having 
 been introduced too soon to office, and losing the op- 
 portunities of seeing men and manners, except as a 
 minister, not the most favourable way (Mr. Windham 
 added) of seeing men: had he only seen them for 
 a little while, as his father did, in the army. In pre- 
 paring his measures, he thinks more of the House of 
 Commons than of their operation ; satisfied if they
 
 316 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. will look well in statement — like those improvers of 
 jet. 28. ground, who will build you a house that shall look 
 most picturesque to spectators on the outside, though 
 within it be incommodious. Mr. Windham instanced 
 the Parish Recruit Bill, and said this was the most 
 satisfactory solution he had been able to give of Pitt's 
 failure in this and many other plans, when Mr. Fox 
 had observed to him, that surely these were occasions 
 on which it was Pitt's interest to summon all his 
 talents. Speaking of his going through military de- 
 tails — military cars, rockets, catamarans, &c, Wind- 
 ham observed, that Pitt's judgment on such matters 
 was generally bad, though he had a great talent in 
 stating them. On another occasion, with Ward and 
 John Ponsonby, when there was a great deal of con- 
 versation about the exercises and sports of the com- 
 mon people, the impolicy of suppressing them, &c, 
 and when we ran over the names of the different 
 public men in the state and the law, whose opinions 
 upon such a point of policy might come to be of im- 
 portance, I hazarded Pitt's name, — " Oh!" exclaimed 
 Windham, "Pitt never was a boy; besides, such 
 questions Avo'n't conduce to make a minister." 
 
 Letter LXVIII. FROM LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 Dear Horner, Oxford, 30th Sept., 1 805. 
 
 Thus far have I proceeded on my journey to 
 London, and here I halt among friends for three or 
 four days, but I hope to meet you in London on 
 Monday or Tuesday next. Many thanks for your 
 congratulatory letter. The confident hopes you en- 
 tertain respecting me and my views will always be 
 an additional stimulus in the effort to realise them.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 317 
 
 I too feel a regret that your pursuits and mine must 1805. 
 every day carry us wider asunder in our acquisitions, ^Et. 28. 
 and our habits. Yet it ought to be so. Your desires 
 have prompted you, and your talents adapt you, to an 
 active station; and, while I in retirement am endea- 
 vouring to work out the distant good of mankind, 
 you may indulge immediate, as well as remote, views 
 of public utility. The hopes I have formed for my- 
 self are never so checked as when I find you despond- 
 ing about your success in life. The difference of our 
 situations and views, indeed, renders us dependent on 
 very different circumstances. Leave me exempt from 
 the casualties of human life, and I am almost secure 
 of my object. You must be guided by one circum- 
 stance, which must be watched for, as it grows out of 
 the future — opportunity. In your philosophical love of 
 steady rules of expectation and of conduct, you seem 
 unwilling to bow to the influence of fortune, and 
 anxious to omit it in your calculations. Hence per- 
 haps arises that irresolution of your own ambition of 
 which you complain, and which has always left me in 
 doubt about your pursuits, even when you fancied 
 that your plans were definite. Any remarks that I 
 may make with a view to advice, may only show that 
 I have misconceived the state of your mind ; yet it 
 may be of use to know the ideas an intimate friend 
 has formed of your motives and plans. You appear 
 to me to be desirous of the emoluments of your pro- 
 fession, and to distinguish yourself as a philosopher 
 in law, in political economy, and moral science ; while 
 your ambition prompts you to aim at a situation, 
 which may allow you to apply your speculative princi- 
 ples in practice. All these objects operate upon your 
 mind, with various degrees of influence, according to 
 the temper of mind, the society, the line of study, &c.
 
 318 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. of any particular period, and according to the hopes 
 jEt. 28. afforded by external circumstances of the attainment 
 of this or that, and conscious that such different pur- 
 suits must materially interfere with one another, you 
 are thrown into a continual fluctuation of motives, 
 and of plans arising from them. If this view is just, 
 I wish that you could bear more patiently the uncer- 
 tainty of events that do not depend upon yourself; 
 but, in order to turn contingencies to the best ac- 
 count, you should also define your objects with more 
 precision, and determine the proportionable quantum 
 of each that will satisfy you. In my own mind I 
 can easily adjust your difficulties, so as to form, a 
 notion of what I would do in your situation, but it 
 would be vain to give precise advice in a case of 
 which I probably know so little. If you think proper 
 to discuss the subject, I shall be very glad to do it in 
 conversation, when I can inquire into facts while I 
 reason. 
 
 I shall be in town on Wednesday the 2d; friends 
 have detained me here. On that day I shall dine at 
 Brunet's at six: if you are not engaged, do come 
 and console me for bad wine by philosophy. 
 
 Yours ever truly, 
 
 Webb Seymour. 
 
 Letter LXIX. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 My dear Seymour, Temple, 3oth Nov, 1805. 
 
 I reached this place on Tuesday morning in 
 very good health, though I had not halted on my 
 journey, even at York. It is a greater exertion than 
 I should be fond of repeating often ; but it is not bad, 
 either for the body or the understanding, to try now
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 319 
 
 and then how much it can do. I have found all lsos. 
 our friends here well. jEt.28. 
 
 I mean to go into a lawyer's office immediately ; as 
 soon as Whishaw can determine for me, which it 
 ought to be, a conveyancer's, a special pleader's, or an 
 equity draughtsman's : a good many things must be 
 considered with respect to each. In the meantime, I 
 am reading law, and making very virtuous resolutions : 
 an arrear of business, of a more literary complexion, 
 still hangs upon me; but I shall reduce it, I hope, be- 
 fore another year of wandering fires begins to shine 
 on me. 
 
 . I have not seen Sharp yet, nor Petty, but I expect 
 to meet them to-day at the " King of Clubs ;" so that 
 next time I write to you, I hope to tell you something 
 of the City Institution, and of the motion for thanks 
 to old Clerk.* 
 
 By this time, I have no doubt, Henning has put your 
 physiognomy upon paper, if not into wax. You will 
 take care to let me have the best of the drawings he 
 makes of you; and as soon as he will part with it. 
 Your company over the chimney-piece here will assist 
 me in dreaming of the rest; and your countenance 
 will keep me in mind of many valuable discussions, 
 and wholesome advices. 
 
 I have much to write to you, or Mrs. Stewart about 
 Poet Campbell ; but have no more room left now. 
 His health is pretty well. 
 
 Faithfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 * The author of the Essay on Naval Tactics.
 
 320 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. 
 
 ^t. 28. 
 
 Letter LXX. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 My dear Seymour, London, 26th Dec, 1805. 
 
 I have read your notes on Lancaster with great 
 delight. You have stated the merits of his plan in 
 the true point of view, and have pointed out some 
 circumstances which I had not sufficiently perceived. 
 I regret very much that I had parted with Lancaster's 
 book before I got this letter of yours, for it would 
 have assisted me so much that I might have accom- 
 plished a review of it without sacrificing too much 
 time from my other pursuits. But when I found that, 
 in my slow and fastidious way of proceeding upon 
 such occasions, I could not have it ready for next 
 number, I begged of Hallam, when he left town for 
 the holydays, to take Lancaster with him and send 
 Jeffrey an account of it. I have reserved Mrs. Trim- 
 mer, however, for myself, and I shall furnish one or 
 two pages of remarks upon her pamphlet. I was 
 quite aware that this must be done in the tone which 
 you recommend to me : to do it in any other, would 
 only furnish these canting and mischievous fools with 
 a new ingredient for the poison, which they so busily 
 administer whenever there are appearances of life and 
 motion. Mrs. Trimmer is only the very humble tool 
 of a numerous, increasing, opulent, and authoritative 
 class, which has sounded throughout London an alarm 
 against Lancaster. 
 
 I find that Alison's book* has just got into Holland 
 House; I believe from Petty happening to mention it. 
 Nobody had heard of it before. General Fitzpatrick, 
 
 * Essay on the Principles of Taste.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 321 
 
 who reads a great deal, particularly in that line, has 1805. 
 been reading it, and is very highly pleased. He says ^ T . 28. 
 that all Knight's doctrine is there, better stated, and 
 infinitely better illustrated. Try to tell this, in such 
 a manner, that it may go to Alison. He has never 
 received fame enough for a book which, with many 
 faults, contains many beautiful thoughts and many 
 charms in the writing. 
 
 I shall obey you, in not repeating what you 
 very rightly call your aspersions on Opposition, 
 but I will not obey you so far as to bear my 
 wrath in silence towards yourself. Thinking as 
 candidly upon the case as I can, you seem to me 
 substantially unjust. I cannot affect to deny, that 
 there is more of personal party-feeling in their 
 ambition, and more of faction occasionally in their 
 judgment of public occurrences, than a generous and 
 enlightened spectator wishes to find. But I do assert, 
 that there is not more of these bad qualities mingled 
 with their other motives to activity, than a fair 
 spectator always in fact finds among all political 
 leaders and their partizans. If I should say, that the 
 principal men of the present old opposition are less 
 tainted with the inconsistencies and profligacy of 
 mere place ambition, than either those to whom they 
 are opposed, or any of those to whom England has 
 in general had to look up for the discharge of public 
 business, it is the impression which I have received 
 from looking a little into our history since the Kevo- 
 lution, and considering a little, as they pass, the 
 ministerial scenes of our own time : but I am some- 
 what of a partizan myself, and, therefore, I need not 
 go so far, for you will say my impression is not a fair 
 one. I only say then, that they are upon an equal 
 footing. Well then. It is all of course, that each 
 
 VOL. I. y
 
 522 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1805. faction should taunt the other with an unprincipled 
 2Et 28< love of place, and a total want of public virtue. But it 
 is not the part of an impartial spectator, who cares only 
 for the public interest, to join in this cry with either, 
 unless he has evidence that the other is really the 
 worse of the two. He knows that both have less 
 patriotism and purity than he could wish ; but when 
 he knows that the deficiencies of both are pretty 
 much the same, in this respect, he will direct his pre- 
 ference by other points of comparison. There is a 
 certain kind and quantity of work necessary to 
 be executed, with instruments which you cannot 
 perfect and finish to your mind, but must take as 
 you find them. You must take political men as nature 
 gives them ; not wholly selfish and unprincipled ; but 
 urged by motives that are not purely benevolent, and 
 liable, in a personal contest, to the errors of personal 
 passions. But if all history satisfies you that they 
 have ever been so, and you discover no glorious 
 exception in your own time to this constant ex- 
 perience, you will then compare the men that are 
 opposed to each other, not by their own pretences to 
 purity, or by their libels against one another, but by 
 the talents which they have respectively proved 
 themselves to possess, and by the judgment which 
 you can exercise for yourself upon their opposite 
 plans and proposals of public policy. Do not, there- 
 fore, say with the vulgar partizans of Huskisson, that 
 Opposition build their prospect of place and power on 
 the ruins of Europe ; it is not true ; and if it were, it 
 is very little to the purpose. Is it merely for the 
 love of mankind and Europe, that our Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer takes all the trouble of that office ? 
 Do not permit me if I ever say with the other vulgar 
 partizans, that Pitt cares for nothing but place ; for
 
 JOURNAL. 323 
 
 that is not true, and would not be much to the pur- i806. 
 pose of any conclusive comparison of men, if we were jet.28. 
 both to believe it. I could name to you gentlemen, 
 with good coats on, and good sense in their own 
 affairs, who believe that Fox did actually send in- 
 formation to the enemy in America, and is actually 
 in the pay of France. These stupid atrocities of 
 faction are the disgrace of all ages : they circulate 
 only among the illiterate and base-minded; but they 
 are not a very much over- charged caricature of the mis- 
 takes which are committed by minds of a higher order. 
 I must here cut my pamphlet short, before I have 
 got half through it ; that is, before I have made the 
 practical application, as the preachers say. For I 
 meant to have proceeded to the comparison in point of 
 talents and proposed plans of policy, and at least to 
 have shown the reasons of the preference which I give. 
 But I dare say you are tired of me. I shall write to 
 you about Campbell in a day or two. Kemember me 
 to all my friends; particularly at Callender House*, 
 where I should be mortified to be forgotten. You 
 are a great favourite of the Riddells, I find, which 
 makes me jealous to despair; it will be very generous 
 in you to praise your rival in his absence. But I 
 fear you cannot help taking the most ungenerous 
 advantages. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " January 9th. — Mr. Fox was of opinion, 
 before the commencement of the present war, that 
 the real intentions and wishes of Bonaparte, however 
 hostile he was to this country, were to make his sub- 
 
 * The residence in Edinburgh of Mr.Dugald Stewart. 
 
 y 2
 
 ;24 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. jects a commercial people ; to keep bis own power, of 
 j Et< 28. course, as absolute as possible; but to reduce the 
 military spirit and system to which he originally 
 owed it. It is needless to say what ought to have 
 been the policy of this country, upon such a suppo- 
 sition. 
 
 I heard Mr. Fox yesterday, speaking of Burke, say 
 that the coincidence was quite surprising between 
 the arguments, declamations, and even the very 
 expressions, of Salmasius against Milton, and Burke's 
 upon the Revolution. He did not say Burke had 
 taken from Salmasius; but he disclaimed making 
 the charge as if he thought it might be made with 
 considerable probability. Dryden's prose, he said, 
 was Burke's great favourite. He seems to copy him 
 more than he does any other writer." 
 
 Letter LXXI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 Gallery of House of Commons, 21st Jan. 1806. 
 
 My dear Murray, 
 
 We are all here in a corner together — your 
 brother, Brougham, Loch, Frederick*, and Dumont; 
 waiting with much patience for what the day may 
 bring forth, but without a certain expectation of 
 being repaid for our trouble. The amendment is to 
 be moved here by Petty, and in the other House by 
 Lord Cowper : the Chronicle is correct in this. It is 
 possible that the speech may be of such an aspect as 
 to render an amendment unnecessary or impolitic; 
 though I hardly imagine that will be the case. For 
 the speech must either omit all allusion to continental 
 
 * The present Lieutenant- General Sir Frederick Adam.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 325 
 
 affairs, or speak of them in a style very different from 1806. 
 what ought to satisfy those who have no confidence jet.28. 
 in the present ministers : in both cases, an amend- 
 ment is the proper course ; and though the answer 
 will probably be, that you ought to wait till the 
 treaties and papers are laid before the House, yet 
 there are sufficient grounds for an amendment in the 
 objections that were formerly stated, against entering 
 into any treaties of subsidy. There is another event, 
 which may turn off the debate ; the announced dis- 
 solution of the ministry, which is not altogether out 
 of the question, since the increased illness of Pitt. 
 This is the point which at present occupies every 
 one's feelings and attention; for no one, even with 
 all his party antipathies, or with all his resentment 
 for the mischiefs which have been brought upon the 
 country, can be insensible to the death of so eminent 
 a man. In the place where I am sitting now, I feel 
 this more than seems quite reasonable to myself; 
 I cannot forget how this space has been filled with 
 his magnificent and glowing declamations, or reflect 
 with composure that that fine instrument of sound is 
 probably extinguished for ever. You observe I speak 
 as if he were already dead. 
 
 The physicians at first suspected that his disease 
 was " schirrus pylori" but they are of opinion now 
 that it is not so. A stomach completely destroyed 
 by his habits of living and labour, and at the last, I 
 suppose, by painful anxiety and mortification of mind, 
 has reduced him to extreme emaciation and debility. 
 He had been able to take no sustenance for some time 
 but egg and brandy ; on Saturday he was rather better, 
 and ate some chicken broth ; but in the evening he 
 became worse than ever. Wilberforce had gone to 
 Putney in the morning, but could not see him : he 
 
 y 3
 
 26 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. had a conversation with the Bishop of Lincoln who 
 
 iET. 28. attends him constantly, and of course knows his con- 
 stitution better than any body. He said to Wilber- 
 force that he looked upon it as a breaking-up ; this 
 Wilberforce told to Stephens, who repeated it to 
 Brougham. He continued very ill all Sunday; yes- 
 terday morning, Lord Chatham was sent for very sud- 
 denly. In the evening, I met young Rose, who told 
 us of a letter his father had had from Sir Walter Far- 
 quhar, dated 7 o'clock in the evening; he said "his 
 hopes were not so good," but "he did not quite 
 despair." This was the first time Farquhar had ac- 
 knowledged there was danger; Baillie, and still more 
 Reynolds, as you must have heard, pronounced it 
 from the first a very bad case. I have heard, since I 
 came into the gallery, that there are accounts this 
 morning of his being still alive. And we must have 
 heard, if it had been all over, for Billy Baldwin, the 
 chronicle of the day, is writing his name at this mo- 
 ment for his seat. 
 
 If this event should take place, it must be followed 
 by some very considerable effects on the state of our 
 domestic politics. A numerous tribe of inefficient 
 retainers, who have usurped important stations, will 
 be swept off the field for ever; perhaps to be sup- 
 planted in time by another set of the same. But the 
 very change is wholesome, and there is an interval 
 always of something like qualification for offices, and 
 deference to public opinion. There will be a new cast- 
 ing of parts among some of our state adventurers. And 
 the removal of the old personalities, which have per- 
 haps on both sides attached our speakers too perti- 
 naciously to their respective systems, may render it 
 more easy to enter upon that new system which 
 seems necessary in this new position of our affairs.
 
 JOURNAL. 327 
 
 I sent off a cargo of books for the Advocates' Li- i806. 
 brary, ten days ago, and am making up another, in ^T~28. 
 which I shall include some modern book on usury. 
 
 Ever yours most truly, 
 
 Fea. Horner. 
 
 Journal. "January 22d. — I imagine that the ill- 
 ness of Pitt, and the belief that his life was despaired 
 of, was not the only reason of postponing the Amend- 
 ment last night, though it would have been a suffi- 
 cient one. It had been understood for some time 
 that the Addingtonians were to " co-operate with the 
 Opposition," according to their own phrase in what 
 I believe was almost a communication from them. In 
 the course of Monday, hoAvever, they sent notice that 
 they could not support the Amendment : this must 
 have been late on Monday, for at three o'clock that 
 day Lord Cowper had no idea that the Amendment 
 would not be moved. In consequence of this defec- 
 tion, it was probably deemed prudent not to push a 
 division, especially as there was so good a reason for 
 postponing the discussion for a few days. This sud- 
 den turn of the Addingtonians can only be explained, 
 since the Amendment is so moderate, if not tame, by 
 the report which we have had for some days, that the 
 King- wishes to make Sidmouth his minister, since he 
 is deprived of Pitt ; and either from an understanding 
 with the Court, already, or not to injure their chance 
 by any thing offensive, they have agreed to relinquish 
 the hostility they had resolved on. A few days will 
 explain this ; I shall not be surprised, in the least, if 
 we have again the Doctor, Castlereagh, Hawkesbury, 
 &c. I shall be surprised indeed, if, at such a crisis of 
 peril, the country submits to it ; but Whishaw says, 
 " the brute power of Government will do any thing." 
 
 r 4
 
 32b CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806 - Tierney is said to be very angry at this conduct of the 
 iEx.28. Addingtonians, which of course means that the 
 Prince is ; certainly last AYednesday he was all for an 
 Amendment. 
 
 " Since writing the above, I have inquired into the 
 fact more particularly. Lord Cowper told me that 
 the Addingtonians did give notice, that they would 
 not vote for the Amendment ; but that this had no 
 effect in postponing it. A few hours before going 
 down to Westminster there was a meeting at Mr. 
 Fox's house of a few of the principal persons of Oppo- 
 sition ; Cowper was there ; Fox stated to them that 
 he thought it impossible they could enter into the dis- 
 cussion ; he could not, while they had the idea that 
 Pitt was in extremities; — "mentem mortalia tangunt" 
 he said. Cowper described him as appearing to feel 
 very sensibly the calamity of his distinguished rival ; 
 and he described it by saying, that Fox appeared 
 to feel more than Lord Grenville, who was present 
 also. 
 
 "January 23d. — Mr. Pitt died this morning." 
 
 Letter LXXIL TO MR. DUGALD STEWART. 
 My dear Sir, The Temple, 23d Jan. 1806. 
 
 Allen wrote to you yesterday, to inform you 
 that Petty has begun a canvass for the University of 
 Cambridge, in consequence of that very unexpected 
 event, which, though not yet announced, is considered 
 as certain. Lord Spencer's son, Lord Althorp, is his 
 opponent, and he set out last night for Cambridge ; 
 Petty thinks it more proper to wait till the death of 
 Mr. Pitt is declared, and it fortunately happens that 
 the Cambridge address is to be presented to-day, and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 329 
 
 has brought the Vice-Chancellor and several of the 1806. 
 Heads of Houses to town ; Petty will go to St. James's, j£ T> 2 s. 
 and set out probably immediately after. 
 
 Lord Althorp is a Johnian*, and that college has 
 always been formidable in elections, from the great 
 number of graduates who belong to it, and who have 
 always been more thoroughly disciplined to act toge- 
 ther upon University contests, than those of Trinity. 
 We have great reason to expect success ; Lord Henry 
 himself is very sanguine. It is on every account a 
 most desirable object for him. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, I have been down to West- 
 minster Hall. Pitt expired this morning at eight 
 o'clock. 
 
 If I hear any thing worth telling you about the 
 ministerial arrangements, that does not find its way 
 into the newspapers, I Avill write to you again. 
 
 My anxiety about Petty's election is now much less 
 than when I wrote the first part of this letter. He 
 has had a letter from the Chief Justice, flattering in 
 the highest degree. Turncoats are volunteering to 
 him ; and a great many of the base worshippers of sun- 
 shine have, even since eight o'clock, turned their faces 
 towards him. The very courtiers are showing such 
 symptoms of kindness, as if they believed it possible 
 to play over again the game of 1784, and set up a 
 young one against the House of Commons and the 
 public. They mistake their man ; for if Petty has any 
 good quality, on which I rely, it is a firm attachment 
 to Fox and his maxims of government : any other 
 conduct, to be sure, in the present circumstances, 
 would be folly ; but he has had praise enough to turn 
 his head, if it were not a steady one. He has inform- 
 
 * This was a mistake ; Lord Althorp was of Trinity, and Mr. Allen, 
 the present Bishop of Ely, was his tutor. — Ed.
 
 330 JOURNAL. 
 
 1806. ation, diligence, and sense, that will make him an 
 ^E T 28. eminent statesman, if he preserves unimpaired his 
 political consistency and probity. In this respect, I 
 have the most sanguine expectations of him ; notwith- 
 standing the great disadvantages he may incur, if he 
 is brought early into considerable power. I talk of 
 him as if he were already a minister ; almost all the 
 world talk of him as on the high road to it, and Mr. 
 Fox regards him as his successor in the only station 
 he has ever held, or may perhaps ever hold. I meant 
 to have made this wholly a letter of news and busi- 
 ness, but have insensibly got into another strain. I 
 should hardly write with so little reserve about our 
 friend Lord Henry to any other person, and at pre- 
 sent he is in every body's mouth. 
 
 I shall keep part of this paper open for any news 
 that I may pick up before dinner. In the mean time, 
 let me second Allen's request that if any thing can be 
 done at Edinburgh to aid the canvass, you will not 
 consider it so secure as to entitle us to neglect any 
 portion of interest. Murray will consult you about 
 the best means of exerting it, in the case of Cambridge 
 
 CD f cD 
 
 graduates who have formerly been at Edinburgh, or 
 of students who may be there now. 
 
 Give my best regards to Mrs. Stewart, and believe 
 me, 
 
 Faithfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Journal. " 26th January. One story last night 
 was, that Lord Hawkesbury had, with the approbation 
 of the rest of the cabinet, accepted the office of First 
 Lord of the Treasury the evening before, together 
 with the Cinque Ports; but that after considering it, 
 they took fright, and when the king came to town,
 
 JOURNAL. 331 
 
 told him they could not venture to go on : that the 1806. 
 king was very much incensed at this want of courage, ^ T . 28. 
 and said, he would go out to Windsor till Monday, 
 and arrange it otherwise for himself. 
 
 " The other story was, that Hawkesbury had not 
 accepted, but that he was entrusted by the king to 
 make the new arrangements. This I heard Nicholas 
 Vansittart say, rather with a sneer at Lord Hawkes- 
 bury, for he observed that a place in the Treasury 
 might be had more easily than one where we were 
 then standing — in the pit of the opera. 
 
 " What is certain is, that Lord Grenville received 
 a message this morning from the king, desiring to see 
 him to-morrow at twelve o'clock. The message was 
 brought by Lord Dartmouth; Lord Grenville gave 
 notice of it immediately to Mr. Fox. After the 
 Speaker's dinner this evening, Mr. Fox went to Lord 
 Grenville' s. 
 
 " January 2S)th. — At the interview which Lord 
 Grenville had on Monday last, the 27th, with the 
 king; his Majesty, after customary compliments, said 
 he had sent for his Lordship, to have his advice in 
 forming a new administration. Lord Grenville an- 
 swered, that his sentiments on that subject were 
 already well known, and that the new ministry ought 
 to be comprehensive, &c. The king then desired that 
 Grenville should, without delay, proceed to draw up 
 such an arrangement as he and his friends might 
 agree upon. Grenville said, it was his duty to men- 
 tion to his majesty, that the person with whom he 
 should consult upon this occasion was Mr. Fox. The 
 king replied, " he expected it to be so, and he meant 
 it so;" then the conversation, in substance, ended, 
 and the king went into another room : as he was
 
 332 JOURNAL. 
 
 1806. going out he said, ' You will be happy, my Lord, to 
 je t . 28. hear that our troops will come safe home.' 
 
 " This account I received from , who had it 
 
 of course from immediate authority; and it seemed 
 to be intended that it should be generally known, 
 because some inaccurate reports of it were abroad. 
 
 " In the interval between Pitt's death and the mes- 
 sage to Lord Grenville, that is, between Thursday 
 and Sunday, an offer was certainly made to Lord 
 Wellesley, from the remainder of the ministry, and, 
 of course, with the king's approbation, to take the 
 lead of administration. He declined it immediately, 
 and distinctly. This was made known to the Prince, 
 I presume, by Lord Wellesley himself, who has courted 
 his Royal Highness since his arrival very assiduously, 
 and with success; the Prince mentioned it to Mr. 
 Fox as an instance of great generosity in Wellesley. 
 Mr. Fox probably viewed it as belonging rather to 
 the virtue of prudence and address. This was men- 
 tioned to me by 
 
 Sheridan is very little consulted at present ; and it 
 is said, will not have a seat in the cabinet. This is 
 a distressing necessity. His habits of daily intoxica- 
 tion are probably considered as unfitting him for 
 trust. The little that has been confided to him he 
 has been running about to tell ; and since Monday, he 
 has been visiting Sidmouth. At a dinner at Lord 
 Cowper's on Sunday last, where the Prince was, he 
 got drunk as usual, and began to speak slightingly of 
 Fox. From what grudge this behaviour proceeds I 
 have not learned. The whole fact is one to investigate 
 with candour, and with a full remembrance of She- 
 ridan's great services, in the worst times, to the 
 principles of liberty. 
 
 " January 2>lst. — So Lord Holland, according to
 
 JOURNAL. 333 
 
 the projected arrangement, has not a seat in the 1806. 
 cabinet. He has been too disinterested; and the mt.2%. 
 future operations of this ministry may suffer for it. 
 He determined not to take a step higher than Lau- 
 derdale, who has been absent all the while ; Holland 
 would not consent to be raised over him. He has 
 given way likewise for Lord Henry Petty, in order to 
 secure him a high situation. Lord Grenville was 
 desirous to have the Home Department, on account of 
 the difficulty of holding together the offices of first 
 Lord of the Treasury and Auditor of the Exchequer; 
 in that case, to make Mr. Fox first Lord, and Lord 
 Holland Secretary for Foreign Affairs ; Thomas Gren- 
 ville Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Mr. Grey, and 
 Lord Henry Petty a Lord of the Treasury. 
 
 Adam * at his own request is left out of the present 
 arrangement : he probably would find it inconvenient, 
 at present, to sacrifice to a high station his various 
 occupations. 
 
 The seals were offered to Chief Justice Mansfield, 
 who refused; then to Ellenborough, who likewise 
 declined them, on the score of his family ; speaking at 
 the same time to the Prince in the most proper 
 manner of Erskine : Erskine has been all along per- 
 fectly accommodating. 
 
 Lord Sidmouth wished to have one friend intro- 
 duced into the cabinet with him, and he named Lord 
 Buckinghamshire ; he was refused, and it was agreed 
 that Lord Ellenborough, as a friend of Sidmouth, 
 should be introduced into the cabinet. A very 
 judicious nomination, considering Ellenborough' s ori- 
 ginal connections; but not agreeable to what one 
 should describe as the most suitable line of conduct 
 for a judge. 
 
 * The Right Hon. William Adam. -
 
 }34 JOURNAL. 
 
 1806. Nothing can exceed the cordiality, reasonableness, 
 
 iE-r.28. and moderation, with which the whole progress of 
 the arrangement has been conducted on both sides. 
 Whoever knows Mr. Fox at all, needs no authority as 
 to him : he is in every respect most perfectly satisfied 
 with Lord Grenville. 
 
 " February M. — On Saturday evening (the 1st 
 instant) between seven and eight o'clock, the king 
 sent for Lord Grenville, and made no objection to 
 any person upon the list he had presented at the 
 former interview. They passed from that to what 
 was proposed as a sketch of the fundamental measures 
 of the new administration, contained in a paper which 
 had been drawn up by Lord Grenville and his friends. 
 "Whether this had been delivered to the king along 
 with the list of ministers at the first interview, or 
 was now read to his majesty for the first time, I have 
 not been able to learn distinctly. One part of the 
 paper was to this effect, that in the present dangerous 
 circumstances of the country, it was necessary that 
 the unreserved management of the army should be in 
 the hands of ministers. The king stopped at this; 
 he observed that it had always been understood, at 
 least since the time of the Duke of Cumberland, that 
 the entire control and disposal of the army belonged 
 to the crown; and he asked, whether it was meant 
 that the Duke of York should be turned out? Lord 
 Grenville answered, that he could not enter into any 
 explanation of measures further than the paper which 
 he held in his hand. His majesty replied, that it was 
 necessary he should take this again into consideration. 
 At his interview, his manner to Lord Grenville was 
 perfectly civil. 
 
 This morning, at noon, Lord Grenville had another 
 interview, by order of the king ; at which his majesty
 
 JOURNAL. 335 
 
 gave in writing his view of the subject, on which he 1806, 
 had stated his objection at the last interview. From ^t.28. 
 this paper, I understand, it appeared that his majesty 
 had misconceived the intention of the persons who 
 are to form the new administration ; he had supposed 
 that they meant to impair his royal prerogative of 
 defending the country, and his written paper clahned 
 the preservation of his negative over all their measures 
 with respect to the army. Of course, there could be 
 but one answer to this — that they could have no in- 
 tention to withdraw any part of their measures from 
 that negative to which they must all be subject. This 
 last part of the story I have heard very indistinctly. 
 
 " February 5th. — Lord Grenville, at the outset, 
 stated to Mr. Fox, as a condition of their forming an 
 administration, that the accusation of Lord Wellesley 
 should not be made a cabinet measure. Fox yielded 
 to this, but said he would not pledge himself not to 
 support the accusation if it were otherwise brought 
 forward. Lord Grenville required, also, that no per- 
 son should be appointed President of the Board of 
 Control who should bring forward the accusation of 
 Lord Wellesley as minister of that board. This was 
 agreed to. 
 
 Among the last entries in Mr. Horner's Journal, 
 there is the following, dated the 1st of Feb. 1806 : — 
 
 " The events of this week have led me to revieAV 
 very anxiously my original schemes, and to consider 
 my future prospects. I have fortified myself by re- 
 ferring to such notes as I had put down from time to 
 time, in the course of former meditations of the same 
 kind. I shall collect them here, as much in the order 
 of time as I can." 
 
 Then follow a number of notes, written at various 
 times, on fragments of paper, the most of them with
 
 336 JOURNAL. 
 
 1806. dates, which are stuck with wafers upon the leaves of 
 ^Et. 28. the Journal, each leaf being headed 1st of February. 
 In some of them, the words are so abbreviated that 
 they are not intelligible: those that are distinct I 
 insert here, as they are characteristic of Mr. Horner's 
 habits of reflection, self-examination, and system ; and 
 as they serve to indicate what were still the objects of 
 his ambition at this more advanced period (the com- 
 mencement of his political life), and the principles 
 and rules of conduct by which he purposed to guide 
 himself. 
 
 The first in order is thus headed: — 
 
 " Georgica Animi, et Fabrica Fortunce ." * 
 
 " 1802, May <dth.— Walk. 
 
 " Political engagements, perhaps about fifty years 
 of age — interest and study to be pursued till active 
 scene opens. Must act upon the vantage ground of 
 independence acquired professionally, as well as of 
 professional reputation. 
 
 " 1802, May 10th Study. 
 
 " Subjects of Meditation. 
 
 "1. Society to form in metropolis — characters to 
 study — scale of intimacies — in what consists inti- 
 macy? 
 
 "2. Style of conversation to cultivate. 
 
 "3. The use of other men's minds in conducting 
 self-education. 
 
 "4. The regulation of ambition in all its shapes. 
 
 " 5. Regulation of political sentiments, connections, 
 and conduct. 
 
 "6. Regulation of all the habits and feelings con- 
 nected with money. This more immediately neces- 
 sary, from carelessness, want of economy, &c. 
 
 * See cmte, page 196.
 
 JOURNAL. 337 
 
 "7. Immense importance of steadily systematizing rsoff. 
 all views and plans of life, and of so providing against ^ T> 2 s. 
 contingencies, as to put happiness at least out of the 
 reach of accident. 
 
 " In the cultivation of moral feelings, of great utility 
 to lay hold of dignified sentiments and pleasing asso- 
 ciations, however furnished — whether by poetry, by 
 moralists, or by actual scenes of life. 
 
 " 8. Expression of opinions concerning religion. 
 
 "9. Various intellectual powers to be acquired, and 
 habits to be guarded against. 
 
 "May llth.— Walk. 
 
 " 10. Corrective discipline of feeling ; give more 
 truth and more enlargement. 
 
 "11. More acute sensibility to the proprieties of 
 conversation, character, and company. 
 
 " June llth. — Evening. 
 
 " Political virtue, political sagacity, political science, 
 are three great branches of habit to be cultivated; 
 and so, that by being blended together in the 
 mind, they may strengthen as well as purify each 
 other. 
 
 " November 2fith. — Evening. 
 
 " Future prospects, usque ad extremum vitce, ar- 
 ranged and defined : viz. 
 
 "• Object : — influence, in advancing the progress of 
 the public mind and the public fortunes, as a political 
 philosopher. By situation in active life, if circum- 
 stances permit ; if these should fail, by writings ad- 
 dressed to future ages. 
 
 " The three great preparations for this noble scheme 
 are, a complete study of political science, and the ac- 
 quisition of powers as a public speaker, and as a 
 writer. In the present aspect of my future life, which 
 is ambiguous, I must apply resolutely to these three 
 
 vol. i. z
 
 338 JOURNAL. 
 
 1806. objects ; all of which will be useful, whatever line my 
 ^ T .28. fortunes shall take. 
 
 " It is to give myself a chance for acting in public 
 life, that I shall laboriously devote myself to the law ; 
 if I succeed in which, I have two chances for a public 
 scene ; either as a judge, which, if in a supreme situ- 
 ation, I should consider as the most dignified, and in 
 which a beneficial and permanent influence might be 
 impressed ; or, secondly, upon the foundation of an 
 independence acquired professionally, place myself in a 
 public situation, where the results of political philo- 
 sophy may be applied to the exercise of the great 
 duties of legislation. 
 
 " If I do not succeed in the profession, I must of 
 course give up all thoughts of active life, and en- 
 deavour to exert that influence, and to enlarge those 
 results, by compositions of a general nature. The 
 sketches of all these must of course be formed in that 
 course of study which prepares me for either alterna- 
 tive. It seems to me wise, it is at least pleasing, thus 
 to place my schemes of ambition beyond the reach of 
 accident ; and to plan out for myself a scheme of indus- 
 try, in which, while my mind and its faculties remain 
 unimpaired, I can never fail to find such opportunities 
 of exertion as may at least keep me perfectly happy 
 in myself, and perhaps render me, in some small de- 
 gree, useful to mankind. 
 
 " The study of Political Philosophy must undoubtedly 
 commence with a general survey of philosophical logic ; 
 in order to define steadily the object of inquiry, and 
 to acquire a just confidence in the means of investi- 
 gation specifically adapted to that particular branch of 
 science. This survey of logic implies a view of the 
 relations in which the various sciences stand to each 
 other, and of the various methods by which the
 
 JOURNAL. 339 
 
 powers of the understanding are aided in prosecuting iso6. 
 scientific investigations ; the general relations, &c. ^ Ti 2 8. 
 The two most remarkable methods are, the mathema- 
 tical and the inductive. The mathematical method 
 includes a considerable variety ; I must examine the 
 general principle in which all of them agree, and the 
 circumstances in which they severally differ. 
 
 "1803. October 8th. — Object and plans systema- 
 tised ; views of regulated ambition ; scheme of domes- 
 tic society; arrangement of remote views; sedate, 
 practical, calm prospect. 
 
 " Of the interval that must elapse before the do- 
 mestic scheme is completed. 
 
 " Limitation of objects of study and ambition. 
 
 "Papinian, Malesherbes, Lord Somers, Sir Matthew 
 Hale. 
 
 " Domestic ethics — Op. desid. 
 
 " November 21st. — Much occasion for self-reproach, 
 on account of irregular performance of professional and 
 of literary duty — for want of economy, management 
 of time, &c. — idle literary musing. Should not in- 
 dulge in that literature which is so delightful till the 
 duty of the day is over, and should render that de- 
 light more toilsome by systematic object and dogged 
 pursuit of it even then. 
 
 " Prospect, cold and prudential, of future life ; 
 both with respect to ambition and to domestic ar- 
 rangements. 
 
 " Nov. 29th. — Systematic opinions, at least steady 
 and systematic views of object of government, under 
 form like ours ; — regulated views of ambition ; — strike 
 just medium of approbation and feeling with regard 
 to present state of affairs and opinions ; — ambition of 
 office under the Roman republic, compared with that 
 under English monarchy ; — ambition of legal office, in 
 
 z 2
 
 340 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. what respects similar to that of political office, and in 
 
 jEt. 28. what different ; — rules, reduced into practical and 
 
 ready habit, for judging of the political integrity 
 
 of public characters ; not even acquainted with the 
 
 duties and proprieties of such a situation. 
 
 " 1804. Jan. 9th. — Use to be made of individual 
 minds: — Sharp, Rogers, Whishaw, Smyth, Dumont. 
 
 " Form a connection with the Whig aristocracy of 
 England. Upon what footing do I join ? Upon Avhat 
 footing am I at present received or invited? As 
 lawyer to be — as having already studied political 
 philosophy; — preserve this independent character. 
 Early part of Burke's life — Lord Somers's — Ro-. 
 milly's. Transfer of examples and maxims from Plu- 
 tarch and Livy to England." 
 
 Letter LXXIII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, The Temple, 4th Feb. isog. 
 
 I have not been from home this morning to 
 gather news ; and nothing has been brought to me, 
 except that Lord Eldon took leave of the Court of 
 Chancery this morning, Pigott, as the senior king's 
 counsel, returning an answer. Petty is sent for by 
 express, to kiss hands to-morrow ; he will thus avoid 
 the trouble of a second election. 
 
 My chief objections to the ministerial arrange- 
 ments, as now settled, though I have others, are, that 
 the Sidmouth family has unaccountably got so much, 
 that a Scotsman has the patronage of India, and that 
 Lord Ellenborough has a seat in the cabinet. This 
 last appears to me an objection of great moment, 
 both upon constitutional grounds, and in point of party 
 prudence. There is the precedent of Lord Mansfield's
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 341 
 
 case; but that does not give an answer satisfactory lsoG. 
 to my mind. It is against the constitution, both in ^ 28 
 its forms and its spirit, that the Chief Justice of 
 England should have a seat in the cabinet ; and it is 
 a violation of those fundamental principles, on which 
 the purity and integrity of judicial administration 
 rest. He may sit to try those prosecutions, which he 
 has concurred in the cabinet to order ; and in all 
 questions of state prosecution, he is a party with the 
 government, instead of being the bulwark to protect 
 the people against power. These general reasons are 
 doubly enforced, in the present instance, by the cha- 
 racter and ^manners of the man; in the year 1801, 
 he changed at an hour's notice the opinions and lan- 
 guage of his life, to become a court lawyer ; and has 
 never felt the dignity of his great station a restraint 
 upon his temper, from uttering what is to the pur- 
 pose of the day with the utmost coarseness of factious 
 warfare. I consider his nomination to the cabinet 
 as a foul stain upon the new system of government. 
 
 You have probably looked into the foreign papers 
 laid before parliament ; in the present imperfect state 
 of the communication, it is a very indistinct story. 
 But there is enough to satisfy one of the precipitation 
 with which every thing was hurried on, and the ex- 
 treme reluctance of the really efficient part of the 
 Continent, Austria, to be " roused." It surely ought 
 to have appeared a hopeless undertaking, when it be- 
 came evident that Austria required almost every 
 soldier she brought into the field to be paid by Eng- 
 land ; for this was proof, she did not yet feel her own 
 injuries or danger from France so keenly, as to be 
 animated by a very hearty resentment. Had such a 
 spirit evinced itself in Austria and Prussia, or even 
 in Austria alone, it was our business to second it and 
 
 z 3
 
 342 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. co-operate ; we can never do more ; whereas we 
 ^ T _ 98 made the wild, fatal experiment last year, of giving 
 the first movement to the whole body of Europe, and 
 goading and bribing into measures of aggression a 
 state which did not feel it necessary of her own ac- 
 cord. Whether it was wise in Austria to be so back- 
 ward and indifferent, till she got the immense bribe 
 from England, is another question ; I do not speak of 
 the justice of our cause, but the practicability of 
 urging it in such circumstances. 
 
 You think me too much of a Whig to trust me 
 with the anecdotes and scenes in which the Parlia- 
 ment House must be so rich at present. Try me, 
 however, whether I can bear to be amused with the 
 follies of my friends. 
 
 Ever yours most truly, 
 
 Fea. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXXIV. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, The Temple, 7th Feb. lsoe. 
 
 I got your kind letter to-day. The election 
 seems pretty sure, yet I cannot help feeling nervous 
 about it. Petty came to town yesterday to receive 
 his seals ; I did not see him ; but I understand he 
 was in high spirits about the election, counting 340 
 sure promised votes, if every one came. 
 
 I must take another day to utter to you at full 
 length, what has been passing in my mind about 
 these public transactions, which have so unexpectedly 
 come upon us. As I live very close to one corner of 
 the scene, I have kept my eyes wide open, to see all 
 they could take in ; and thoug even there I learn 
 what passes only at second-hand, I have been nearer
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 34; 
 
 than I ever was before to a view of actual affairs. 1806. 
 There is nothing I have learned from it with so strong j EiT 28# 
 an impression as this lesson, that it is extremely dif- 
 ficult to ascertain, with any thing like fidelity, those 
 anecdotes of conversations, and of individual motives, 
 which your writers of memoirs deliver in such abun- 
 dance, with perfect confidence. 
 
 I have learned also some painful instances of what 
 I was j)repared to expect, the rapacious corrupt 
 jobbing of underlings in patriotism, who have been 
 fiercely inquisitorial all their lives, upon the success 
 of their adversary underlings. On the other hand, 
 I have proofs to give you, some other time, of the 
 disinterested and truly public feelings of some of 
 those persons whom I have lately seen most of, 
 which bind me to them more closely than before. 
 From all I can learn, indeed, we have every reason 
 to place our trust in the two leaders of this ministry, 
 from their behaviour to each other in this arrange- 
 ment ; whatever may have been the case with others, 
 both Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville have shown great 
 moderation, and a perfect confidence in each other. 
 If they as perfectly understand each other, with 
 regard to the direction of public measures in future, 
 we shall have an administration of far greater effi- 
 ciency and success than the appearances of our do- 
 mestic parties, I must own, would at first lead us to 
 expect. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 z 4
 
 544: CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. 
 2Et 98. Letter LXXV. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, Tll « Temple, 28th Feb. isoe. 
 
 For the last four days I have very reluctantly 
 put off my intention of writing to you, about a piece 
 of business and emolument which has been conferred 
 on me, until I could inform you that the appointment 
 was officially fixed. I have not yet received that 
 sort of intimation, but I believe there is no uncer- 
 tainty about it ; and I should be sorry if you were to 
 receive any report of it, before you were assured of 
 the fact by myself. 
 
 Last Monday evening, almost at midnight, I re- 
 ceived a proposal from Lord Minto, to accept of a 
 seat at the Board of Commissioners, established by 
 the East India Company, to adjust the long-disputed 
 claims of the creditors of the Nabob of Arcot. The seat 
 was vacant by the resignation of Mr. Ryder, Lord 
 Harrowby's brother. I had but a few hours to de- 
 liberate upon the matter ; however, I employed them 
 in taking the advice of Lord Holland, Allen, my 
 father, and Whishaw. I then intimated my readiness 
 to accept of the situation. The points of consider- 
 ation in my own mind were two ; both very material, 
 and either of them perfectly sufficient, if unfavourably 
 determined, to have decided me against accepting of 
 the place. The one was, whether this obligation 
 received from Lord Minto, at the same time that it 
 bound me to gratitude for a very considerable, unex- 
 pected and unsolicited favour, could ever be con- 
 strued into a political connexion with his lordship 
 personally, or fetter, in any measure, the freedom of 
 my opinions or future conduct in matters of govern- 
 ment. My own scruples on this point were entirely
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 345. 
 
 dissipated by the manner in which they were treated 1806. 
 by Lord Holland and Whishaw, and afterwards by j Et 28 
 Lord Henry, to whom I had not an opportunity of 
 stating them till I had accepted of the offer. The 
 other consideration was, how far the occupations of 
 this commission would encroach upon my time, or 
 interfere with my preparations for the great purpose of 
 my whole life — success in the law ; upon this part of 
 the case I have yielded to the authority of Whishaw, 
 though not with so absolute a consciousness of the 
 prudence of the measure, in this respect, as I should 
 be happy to possess. It must occupy a great deal of 
 time, I suspect, particularly at first; the investiga- 
 tions, however, are very much of a legal character, as 
 our business is to determine the validity or fraud of 
 claims of debt. The Indian details, which must be 
 taken into evidence, will not be altogether foreign to 
 my own plans of political reading. You see thus 
 that I am upon the eve of being a sort of placeman. 
 I expect to receive your opinion as to what I was 
 forced to determine on before I could take your 
 advice, and also your advice for my future operations. 
 As I have not actually received my appointment, you 
 need not mention it till I give you notice of that ; 
 unless it should be talked of, when you may, of 
 course, explain the matter to my friends. I owe it 
 entirely to the kindness of Lord Minto, whom I have 
 never known much, and who upon this occasion was 
 neither solicited by myself nor prompted by any of 
 my friends. 
 
 I have great satisfaction in answering your in- 
 quiries about Petty, whom I have seen several times 
 since his elevation. He is surrounded with novelties, 
 and difficulties of business ; but he sets to them with 
 great ardour, and preserves his spirits and cheerful-
 
 346 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. ness quite as he used to be. Nothing can be more 
 JEt 28 agreeable to all my opinions and sentiments, than the 
 tone in which he speaks of his duties and his inten- 
 tions. I shall write to you very soon again more at 
 length upon the different subjects of your last letter; 
 probably to-morrow. Remember me to all my 
 friends, and believe me most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXXVI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray The Temple, 6th March, 1806. 
 
 I have only a minute to give you : I have 
 heard nothing farther on the subject I mentioned to 
 you in my last letter ; only be assured of this, that I 
 shall accept of no employment, whatever the reward 
 may be, that would interfere with my views in the 
 law. In truth, I have not yet been able to collect 
 information enough to satisfy me upon this head ; and 
 therefore the acceptance on my part is not yet defini- 
 tive. I am quite positive, and clear-sighted, upon the 
 prudence of making the law my ground. I repeat 
 this so often, because you may have given way to a 
 little of the suspicions which I can see are enter- 
 tained by some of my friends who know me less than 
 you do. 
 
 Lady Campbell, whom I saw yesterday, desired me 
 to second her orders for your visit to London this 
 spring. I promised to do so. You know the comfort 
 and delight it gives me, to have an opportunity of 
 discussing with you our own concerns ; I must 
 selfishly confess, I enjoyed this more completely last 
 autumn, than I can hope to do in the spring season. 
 But I ought to remember my promise to Lady Camp-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 347 
 
 bell. You shall hear from me very soon again ; when 1806. 
 I hope I shall not be out of breath with haste as I ^ T 28 
 am now. 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXX VTL FROM J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Horner, Edinburgh, nth March, 1806. 
 
 I have two kind letters from you to acknow- 
 ledge, and I am afraid that I shall not be able to 
 finish this letter in time for this day's post, so I must 
 remain another post in your debt. That would not 
 lie heavy on my conscience, had I not so much to 
 write about, that I should like to divide it into one or 
 two letters. Before I write of any thing else, I must 
 talk of what interests me most, which is your ap- 
 pointment. I enter most completely into all your 
 views, especially that which you have expressed so 
 strongly in the letter I received to-day, that you will 
 not accept of the situation offered, if it shall inter- 
 fere at all with your progress in the law. There is 
 great wisdom in forming that resolution. No political 
 situation is half so respectable. I think, however, 
 there is some risk that, although the business which 
 it will give you will not prevent you from carrying 
 on your legal studies, it may ultimately lead to some 
 political situation. I therefore wish to strengthen all 
 your resolutions in favour of the law; and wish you, 
 while you accept of this situation, to be much on your 
 guard against yourself. 
 
 Seymour and I have talked a good deal about you, 
 and I observe he is much more doubtful whether you 
 will ultimately follow out your legal views than I am.
 
 348 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. I own my chief objection to a situation of that kind, 
 iEx. 28. to a young lawyer, is the income which it gives. I 
 believe that a certain amount of poverty and difficul- 
 ties is essential as a stimulus for submitting to legal 
 drudgery. After the habits are once formed, they 
 can be preserved without the same motives. I 
 own, therefore, I wish you had got through the la- 
 bours of the Special Pleader's and Draftsman's office. 
 That is the only difficulty I have, but I am confident 
 you can surmount it. There are some things, how- 
 ever, which I hope you will have constantly in view, 
 and I shall never fail in reminding you of them from 
 time to time ; — first, always to live in such a manner as 
 will expose you to no inconvenience, if you shall give 
 up your present situation; I could almost, in that 
 point of view, wish there was no salary attached to 
 it, because it is hardly possible to receive a salary, 
 without living upon it as permanent. You must also 
 consider, that when you come to engage in the active 
 pursuits of law, you must give up what will not be 
 reckoned income,but what is much more gratifying to 
 your feelings — I mean the enjoyments of a most re- 
 fined society, where you possess every luxury which 
 the largest fortune could give you. I have no doubt 
 that if this business of the Nabob of Arcot's were at 
 an end, you would be desired to accept of some poli- 
 tical situation, which would both present to you all 
 the allurements of an income ecpial to your wants, 
 and would be perfectly compatible Avith remaining in 
 the society which you like. This you are fully on 
 your guard against; but, as Dr. Grieve would say, 
 you must watch round Zion. 
 
 The next thing to be considered is, going into Par- 
 liament. If you accept of this situation, I should 
 think it very probable you will be offered a seat in
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 349, 
 
 Parliament. I do not say immediately, but in the 1806. 
 course of the year, or at the next election. I should ^ Ex>2 8. 
 not have objected to your going into Parliament, if 
 the former ministry had attempted to keep their 
 places. It would have been a most laudable act to 
 have assisted in driving them out, and the state of 
 the country was such as to make it a duty to sacri- 
 fice every thing else for such an object. But Par- 
 liament does not now give the same field for showing 
 talents; and if a person goes into Parliament with a 
 party who are in power, he will feel himself strongly 
 called to remain in it, should they be forced out of 
 power. I think that would be your feeling, though 
 it is not the sort of motive which weighs with vulgar 
 politicians. It would certainly be a gratification to 
 you to be in Parliament ; but I think you ought to be 
 on your guard against it on that very account, and 
 to resolve firmly, on no account and on no terms, to 
 go into Parliament. 
 
 I should not object to your being in Parliament, 
 without being commissioner, or vice versa; if you are 
 both at the same time, I own I think you will meet 
 with great difficulties in devoting yourself to the 
 practice of law; such as, I am afraid, would prove 
 insuperable. Accounts of your appointment have 
 come here from various quarters ; I therefore men- 
 tioned it to Seymour, Jeffrey, and Thomson. 
 
 Farewell, my dear Horner, and believe me yours 
 truly, 
 
 J. A. Murray.
 
 350 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. 
 ^ 28. Letter LXXVni. FROM LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 Dear Horner, Edinburgh, llth March, 1806. 
 
 Your last letter to Murray, which I saw this 
 morning, seemed almost intended to meet our prin- 
 cipal objection to your recent appointment, and I 
 could not help taking to myself the last passage in 
 the paragraph upon that subject, where you point at 
 some of your friends, who doubt your steady devotion 
 to the study of the law. In our conversation last 
 autumn, I gave you my sentiments respecting your- 
 self very freely; and though your declarations, at 
 that time, made me think you more firmly attached 
 to the profession than I did before, still in antici- 
 pating the fortunes of your life, I allowed much for 
 the influence of the society of men engaged in poli- 
 tics, and for the demand, not only from party, but from 
 the public, for superior talents joined to integrity. 
 
 I do so now, notwithstanding what I read from you 
 this morning; and yet I am not uneasy about you, 
 for I do not fear that you will sacrifice your dignity 
 or independence through a love of power, or to gratify 
 a faction. But if I can at all estimate your abilities, 
 your dispositions, your general views, and your repu- 
 tation in the world, I foresee that the course of events 
 must invite you, upon your own terms, to some high 
 public station, long before you can rise to eminence by 
 the toilsome paths of legal practice. 
 
 Were I to indulge my own wishes for the just dis- 
 play of your character, and for the benefit of the 
 country, I should welcome such an occasion with joy. 
 But the obstacle of a want of pecuniary independence 
 checks my sanguine views respecting you, and obliges 
 me to resign you to the prudent track of professional
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 35 1 
 
 labour. Circumstances may indeed be imagined, in 1806. 
 which the offer of power would be accompanied by j Et 28 
 that of such permanent emolument, as might remove 
 this obstacle. Hopes of this kind, however, ought 
 scarcely to be entertained by your friends, and I am 
 sure you will be the last to admit them. It remains, 
 therefore, that every thing should be done to strengthen 
 your resolution of clinging closely to your profession, 
 till you have securely laid the humble, but essential 
 basis on which you may rest the whole machinery of 
 that public influence, which I hope hereafter to see 
 you in possession of. In adhering to your plan, you 
 have many temptations to resist, and those tempta- 
 tions are likely to increase. Formerly you had merely 
 to sacrifice the gratification of your taste for science; 
 you have now to guard against the incitements of the 
 literary luxuries, as well as the political ardour, of the 
 society in which you live. You will soon have to 
 withstand the direct allurements of power, and of the 
 applause which attends the patriotic statesman. With 
 regard to your late appointment, you seem to have 
 weighed so justly the danger of its interference with 
 your professional studies, that nothing is left for a 
 friend but to approve of your views of the subject. 
 Yet I sincerely hope that the two occupations will not 
 be found incompatible; for this new situation must 
 bring you forward advantageously to public notice, and 
 afford you an opportunity of acquiring some know- 
 ledge respecting that important but mysterious branch 
 of our politics, the affairs of India. 
 
 In a letter to Murray, you mentioned the ill success 
 of Lancaster's proposals among the parochial clergy. 
 No wonder, — but the laity will be found liberal enough 
 to carry him on. The reception of Lancaster's pro- 
 posals may afford us a good test of the liberality of
 
 352 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. the age with respect to sectarian doctrines. Those 
 ^ T 28 who wish to remove the political disabilities of Dis- 
 senters will do well to attend to it. How has Lancas- 
 ter been going on of late ? 
 
 Yours ever sincerely, 
 
 Webb Seymour. 
 
 Letter LXXIX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray The Tem P le > 15th March, 1806. 
 
 Since I wrote to you last, my appointment has 
 been completed, and this day, to speak accurately as 
 a Commissioner, I took my seat at the Board. I 
 know little as yet, even about the probability of my 
 being much engaged by this business ; there will be a 
 good deal of Indian detail to learn, and occasionally 
 perplexed points of evidence and law to adjust. All 
 this will be good for me, and to my purpose. I 
 cannot speak of my colleagues yet, except that they 
 received me with great civility, and are gentlemen in 
 their manners ; there is a good-natured importance of 
 office in Hobhouse*, which seems as if it might be 
 easily satisfied, and I hear very good reports of 
 Mr. Cockburnf, but the best I know of him is, that 
 he knows my friends the Ricldells. Set your mind at 
 ease about the salary; I believe it is to be just as you 
 would have arranged it, that is, there is to be no 
 salary at all, nor any present emolument. I have 
 made no inquiries upon this part of the subject; I 
 told you the hint Lord Minto dropped about a fixed 
 allowance ; the Chairman however, in a parenthesis of 
 the same sort, gave me to understand that there was 
 
 * The late Sir Benjamin Hobhonse. 
 
 f Thomas Cockburn, Esq., late in the Civil Service of the East India 
 Company at Madras, now resident at Roehampton.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 353 
 
 no intention of compensating us, except by a vote at 1806. 
 the conclusion of our labours. This is the part of the 2Et 98 
 business about which I am least concerned, though I 
 am not fool enough to say this to any body who is 
 not ready to take it on my word. It would be very 
 satisfactory to me to have a permanent enlargement 
 of income, which might enable me if not to establish 
 myself, at least to ease my father of what may be 
 required for the establishment of other members of 
 the family. But a precarious income would very 
 probably render me liable to those contingent disad- 
 vantages, which you have so justly stated. If I do 
 justice to myself, by working at law, I have but little 
 fears of being independent at least, as soon as perhaps 
 it would be good for me. You understand all this 
 perfectly. 
 
 I cannot express to you how keenly I feel all your 
 kindness; your letter yesterday, on which I have 
 volumes to write to you, increases all your former 
 proofs of it. I have a truly friendly letter from 
 Seymour to-day, which I will acknowledge in a post 
 or two. Of course I intrust you to communicate to 
 him, Jeffrey, and Mr. Stewart, whatever you choose 
 with regard to my concerns. 
 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXXX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, Th e Temple, 25th March, 1806. 
 
 I hope your retirement at Burntisland has 
 
 refreshed you from all the feverish fatigue, which the 
 
 business and raking of an Edinburgh winter infallibly 
 
 produce. It gave me great pleasure to hear that you 
 
 vol. 1. A A
 
 354 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. had adopted that excellent mode of treatment ; I 
 iET.28. should only have better liked to be with you. 
 
 The first thing I wish to say to you, is about your 
 coining up. I own to you that I see nothing at all — not 
 a jot of reason — in the additional argument you state 
 to William, though you do not indeed give it very 
 great weight, that you do not wish to have the appear- 
 ance of coming near those who are in power. My dear 
 Murray, you are strong enough to entitle you to 
 despise all inferences from appearances ; and one shall 
 never get on in the straight road, if one turns out of 
 the way to escape such inferences. No human pru- 
 dence will guard you from suffering transient impu- 
 tations from the mean and malignant, who will invent 
 against you when there is nothing visible on which to 
 fix their constructions ; and this temporary incon- 
 venience, which the most honourable must undergo, 
 is in the end fully compensated for, by the certain 
 triumph of consistent practical independence. No 
 man is so sure of this victory as yourself; and indeed 
 no one is so little exposed even to malignity and ca- 
 lumny in the mean time. Upon this point, therefore, my 
 counsel is, that you ought not to take the least thought 
 about saving appearances. I quite agree with you, 
 that it would be extremely detrimental to your dignity, 
 if your very near friends were to make applications 
 for your advancement to professional offices ; and I 
 have this impression strongly with respect to my own 
 conduct. I should be considered as representing your- 
 self, in any solicitation I should attempt. Your letter 
 to William confirmed me in that idea of propriety. I 
 will even go farther, and agree with you, that it is 
 desirable that whatever may be in reserve for you 
 should not be conferred immediately ; you owe no- 
 thing personally to Melville indeed, since your little
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 355 
 
 place was stipulated for by Lord Henderland* when he 1806. 
 gave up an equivalent, and had Melville been high in ^t.28. 
 opposition, I would have bid you set his reproach at 
 defiance ; the peculiarity of his present circumstances 
 makes a difference, and disposes one to lend to the 
 arguments of the weak a little more force than they 
 actually possess. This might be too fine, if it stood 
 in the way of any thing to be done, or any duty ; but 
 in a matter of personal comfort merely, a little fine- 
 ness too much is worth paying for. 
 
 In addition to what I have just now said, there 
 seems to me a good deal in what you say, as to the 
 effect a sheriffship, got too soon, might have upon 
 your professional studies. There are strong appear- 
 ances, that the character of your judicial administra- 
 tion will be on a higher footing ten years hence than 
 it has been for the last fifteen years ; and I shall be 
 much disappointed if you do not hold one of the first 
 stations. A profound knowledge of the law, practical 
 talents for the despatch of business, united with high 
 personal respectability, make up all the essentials of 
 such a station ; official dignities add a little to these 
 at particular periods, when the general administration 
 of which they form a portion distinguishes itself. 
 These periods recur rarely; and official dignity at 
 Edinburgh is not worth the price that in ordinary 
 cases is paid for it ; a long servitude to party cabals, 
 party prejudices, and party disappointments. I think 
 we agree very nearly in the view we take of your 
 plans and prospects. 
 
 Let me now say a little about myself; though I 
 regret you are not to stay another week at Burnt- 
 island, that you might have had the luxury, and I 
 the profit, of your ruminating upon all these concerns 
 
 * Mr. Murray's father. See page 4. 
 A A 2
 
 356 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. of ours in perfect solitude by the calm blue sea, with 
 ^t.28. Edinburgh far away from you as well as London. 
 Your main objections to the late appointment I have 
 accepted, I have already removed; since it gives no 
 immediate income whatever, and can have no tend- 
 ency to entangle me in politics more than I am 
 already. It is entirely a business of legal arbitration. 
 I am most firmly determined to accept of no political 
 situation under any circumstances that I can at pre- 
 sent foresee ; this may be a piece of superfluous 
 virtue, as perhaps no such thing would ever be put 
 in my power ; it is a virtue, however, for which I be- 
 lieve I can answer, if the trial should come. Every 
 day I have lived in London, and every hour since my 
 own friends came into power, has driven and riveted 
 this opinion into my mind, which I had already 
 formed very clearly before I quitted Scotland. I 
 believe my friends over-rate my ambition immensely, 
 or mistake it ; my indolence, my love of quiet lazy 
 pleasures, my habits of indulgence, my gratifications 
 in speculative truth, are so many pledges for my 
 good conduct in this respect. As to accepting a seat 
 in Parliament, if that should ever be offered to me, I 
 am not prepared to acquiesce entirely in the reasons 
 you have stated, which I mention in order to excite 
 you to a farther consideration of the question. Par- 
 liamentary distinction forms now but a very small 
 part of my objects; I cannot give myself up wholly 
 to political discussions, and I will not do it by halves : 
 those departments of public business in Parliament, 
 Avhich are connected with the studies and knowledge 
 of a well-educated lawyer, or relate to the improve- 
 ments of domestic administration, remain open to me ; 
 and in these I have some desire to be useful, because 
 a great field of utility lies before one in the present 
 circumstances of this country. If any thing is to be
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 357 
 
 done in my time upon these subjects, I should like to 1806. 
 bear a share. There is another sort of parliamentary ^ T _ 2 8. 
 discussion, which I like to keep in view ; though it has 
 been for some time past out of fashion, it is not out 
 of date, but (I am persuaded) will revive with fresh 
 vigour and new honours ; I mean that which is called 
 Constitutional Law, the sound exposition of which 
 needs the combined accomplishments of a lawyer and 
 practical statesman. If I am ever destined to put 
 my name upon the Journals of Parliament, my am- 
 bition is to connect it with one or the other of those 
 two branches of public business. Now an early seat 
 in Parliament is advantageous in both respects; for 
 the former, because it is only by seizing successive 
 opportunities, which arise at distant intervals, and 
 each but of a narrow scope, that good is ultimately 
 to be secured by a gradual accumulation of very 
 small portions ; and for the latter, because long habits 
 of seeing the constitution actually at work are the 
 only effectual education to the trade of keeping it in 
 order. In all this, I take it for granted, that the 
 seat in Parliament is to be offered to me, in a manner 
 beyond all exception ; which, so far as I see the state 
 of matters at present, amounts very nearly, I assure 
 you, to a negative upon all these pretty visions. But 
 we proceed hypothetically in the whole of this con- 
 sultation. I would not accept of what is called a 
 Treasury seat in Parliament, from which I should be 
 turned out upon the next change of ministers. A 
 good close Whig borough, the property of a very 
 staunch old Whig family, might tempt me; though 
 even that is not free from objections. I had much 
 rather go in as an opposition member at all events. 
 Let me hear from you soon on these matters. 
 
 Ever truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 a 3
 
 358 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. 
 j£t. 28. 
 
 Letter LXXXI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, The Tem P le > 12th Ma J> 1806 - 
 
 The great event, which occupies us all in Lon- 
 don, has drawn nearer its conclusion ; and has already 
 passed its most critical stage. In the view which I 
 take of the lasting consequences that will ensue from 
 the result of Lord Melville's trial, I might have ex- 
 pected that no circumstance could collaterally add 
 any interest to it. But as Saturday drew near, my 
 anxiety for Romilly's first public appearance had 
 swallowed up every other concern. It was not that 
 I felt any doubts of his talent, for the conduct of such 
 an affair, or that I was not even quite sure he would 
 distinguish himself greatly; it was this very confi- 
 dence which filled me with solicitude to witness all 
 the circumstances of an occasion, which was to reward 
 a long course of severe independence, modest study, 
 and the practice of every virtue, by opening to him 
 a new career of utility and fame. He has now placed 
 himself in his rank ; the notoriety of his talents and 
 accomplishments assigns him already his station as a 
 public personage, and the proofs he cannot fail very 
 soon to display, of resolute consistency in political 
 principles, will so attract to him, I am persuaded, 
 the confidence of all liberal men, that in the times 
 we have to observe or act in, he must have the most 
 important weight in the state. Among the many 
 circumstances which sadden me respecting the race 
 of public men now coining upon the stage, it is a 
 compensation almost against them all, that, for a 
 period at least, we shall have Romilly's exertions and 
 name on the side of liberty and justice. Perhaps 
 you will think my language exaggerated ; I can only
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 359 
 
 say that it very faithfully expresses my present sen- i806. 
 timents and expectations ; though it is possible one's ^ T . 2 8. 
 fancy might be heated, after having long revered the 
 past tenor of his life, to witness it in the very act 
 of spreading out into a larger sphere, under all the 
 splendid circumstances of the audience and ceremonial 
 of Westminster Hall. But I must come down to par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 May 13. — These particulars I cannot come to yet. 
 I wrote the first part of this sheet in bed at a very 
 late hour, and all this morning I have been down 
 hearing Plomer's speech in defence, of which I have 
 sent a short account to Jeffrey, for which I must 
 refer you to him. I shall take another day to give 
 you my criticisms on Romilly's speech, as well as an 
 account of the character given of it by various sets 
 of people. 
 
 I shall write very soon again, and am 
 
 Most affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Extract from a Letter to Mrs. Dugald Stewart, 
 May 19th, 1806. 
 
 " Romilly's success was as great as his friends pre- 
 dicted. He spoke for three hours and a half, and his 
 speech might be named as the model of the simple 
 style. Had he hazarded more, he might have pro- 
 duced passages of more striking effect for a moment ; 
 had he been more declamatory, he would have col- 
 lected more suffrages in the express praise of his 
 eloquence. For I have heard it observed, that the 
 speech had nothing but good sense, perfect clearness, 
 and a strong cause. The fact is, he kept every one 
 chained in attention, and made the whole case distinct 
 
 A A 4
 
 360 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. } to the dullest. Particular parts of the composition 
 -3LT.28. there certainly were, that might be enumerated on 
 account of their being more impressive, more indig- 
 nant, more finely pointed, than the rest; but they 
 were so in keeping with the whole, that the prevail- 
 ing tone was only heightened, never interrupted. One 
 might have said, his taste was too severe, too simple, 
 if it had betrayed itself by a single false step ; but it 
 was so maintained throughout, and the execution all 
 so uniform, and the general designing of the speech 
 in so great a style, as to give it the rank of the 
 highest order of compositions. It wanted only a 
 finished conclusion ; for he ended abruptly : he had 
 one prepared, but something, he says, occurred in the 
 course of his delivery, which prevented him from 
 giving it, and he did not like to venture a composition 
 of that formal sort upon the spot. I very much sus- 
 pect, that the fastidiousness of his judgment, his 
 great modesty and horror at any thing like display, 
 rushed all back upon him about ten minutes too 
 soon. His language is free from all ambition and 
 curious adaptation, and therefore one never re- 
 marked felicities at the moment; and if he used any 
 figurative expressions, they were so melted into the 
 substance of his style, as to produce their effect with- 
 
 out being noticed. 
 
 " F. H." 
 
 Letter LXXXII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, The Temple, i6th June, i806. 
 
 I should have been very impatient under your 
 long silence, if I had not learned from Jeffrey that 
 you have been very busy. I write now to mention a
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 361 
 
 little plan which has offered itself to me, among many 1806. 
 others that I have been considering for our better ^T^ 
 enjoyment of each other's society, when you come to 
 the south. It is this ; that we should pass a week or 
 two, at least, at some one fixed spot upon the sea coast ; 
 a cleaner and greener Burntisland. I wish to read a 
 good deal this autumn, and for that purpose to 
 station myself in some southern village, at a good 
 distance from London; would it not be delightful, 
 therefore, and very profitable, that you should see me 
 well settled, and that my first fortnight should be 
 seasoned with your conversation ? And my particular 
 reason for mentioning all this so soon to you is, that 
 I think if you have any little by -job of reading or 
 writing, such as would occupy three weeks, you could 
 not do it better than at such a time, and in such a 
 place. We should have our regular hours of working 
 and walking; do carve out some little scheme, there- 
 fore, of labour, and we shall make the time the hap- 
 piest of our life. My eye is turned to the coast of 
 Dorset or Devon; where there are places to be had, 
 unknown to Londoners and Lakers : my servant will 
 be enough for us; and in going down, we may see 
 some of that country which we had laid out for our 
 excursion last summer. If you have not some un- 
 answerable objections to so pretty a plan, talk to 
 Seymour about the coast of Devonshire ; he knows 
 " each bosky bourne from side to side," and will tell 
 you where we may be best accommodated, most 
 secluded, and most surrounded with picturesque 
 scenery to walk through. There is but one little 
 circumstance which may defeat so pleasing an arrange- 
 ment ; my being confined to London all the summer 
 and autumn. I hope it is not likely, but it is pos- 
 sible.
 
 362 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. I am very far from agreeing with you in our feel- 
 
 er. 28. ni g s on tlie event of Lord Melville's trial. On the 
 contrary, I consider his acquittal as a foul stain upon 
 the records of parliamentary justice; bringing the mode 
 of trial by impeachment into disgrace, and subjecting 
 the House of Lords to the distrust and contempt of 
 the public. Upon party occasions, I never pretend to 
 speak otherwise than as a party man, because, for a 
 time at least, I have given myself to that profession, 
 with a view of being perhaps useful. I think I am 
 sufficiently aware that the habits of that connection 
 insensibly debauch our judgment, even for occasions 
 that ought to be exempt from its influence : but I can 
 perfectly and securely distinguish between the stronger 
 bias, or the higher colouring, which party feelings 
 communicate to my opinion and the substantial frame 
 and fabric of that opinion reared out of the evidence 
 laid before me by the natural use of my understanding. 
 I am sure I am honest at least in stating it as the 
 conviction of my understanding, whether accurate or 
 not, that the acquittal of Lord Melville is a verdict 
 contrary to plain strong accumulated evidence ; and 
 after that, I will farther say, that I consider that ver- 
 dict to have been pronounced, by a great proportion 
 of those who acquitted him, with a corrupt conscious- 
 ness of its being contrary to evidence, or a corrupt 
 prostitution of the honour which they pledged without 
 having considered the evidence. This is the opinion 
 of many unbiassed persons, who have no knowledge 
 of parties, or interest in their passions; among the 
 fifty-four peers, who thought him guilty of some 
 charges as they were expressed in the articles, there 
 were many of this description ; and whatever Lord 
 Melville's friends may say, or he himself may feel, 
 such of his friends as are more sensitive to honour
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 363 
 
 than he is (he has many such), cannot feel a very 1806. 
 j)roud exultation, when they look at the sort of ac- ^ T 28> 
 quittal he has received, or look forward with much 
 confidence to the future verdict of posterity and 
 history. That you and I should take different inte- 
 rests in the effect this may possibly have upon the 
 revolutions of domestic party, and that we should 
 entertain different sentiments personally towards 
 Lord Melville; that you, for instance, should be glad 
 for the sake of his friends that he should get off] 
 though he might deserve punishment, and that I 
 should regret it on other grounds than merely the 
 defeat of justice, is very possible : but I have no doubt 
 we shall think quite alike upon the evidence, •consider- 
 ing it as a question of evidence and parliamentary 
 law, when you come to read the proceedings. I have 
 said this much now, in order to banish the odious 
 subject from my mind; it has given me much disgust 
 and despondency with respect to public affairs, and I 
 have often reflected, since last Thursday, what a waste 
 of individual happiness there is, in committing the 
 fate of one's hopes, or even curiosity, to such an ad- 
 venture as the chances of political event, where every 
 expectation of good is disappointed, and the little that 
 does come in in one's day is got by stealth or acci- 
 dent, when one might secure a steady and growing 
 indulgence in the pursuits of science or the confidences 
 of j)rivate friendship. 
 
 You will think this a most formidable letter, and, 
 perhaps, that I make a very unequal return for those 
 " few and far between" you have written to me for the 
 last two months. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 364 JOURNAL. 
 
 1806. Journal. "Monday, June 23c?. — Dining at the 
 
 -ZEt.28. Duke of Somerset's on Saturday, where Lord Henry- 
 Petty was, he took me aside in the evening, and 
 communicated to me a proposal from Lord Kinnaird 
 to bring me into the House of Commons next Par- 
 liament. The intention of Lord Kinnaird was, he 
 said, to purchase the seat in one of those burghs 
 where the Treasury alone could oppose him, provided 
 the Treasury waived their right of interference, and 
 to nominate me (if I consented) to the seat; Lord 
 Henry Petty added that he wished much to see me in 
 Parliament, and that he was sure there would be no 
 difficulty in securing that arrangement with the 
 Treasury. My answer was, that it was a subject 
 on which it would be necessary for me to reflect for 
 a few days, before I could come to a decision ; in the 
 mean time it was necessary for me to say, that I 
 could myself afford no expense ; that I would never 
 come into Parliament with instructions from any 
 man ; that my political attachment was to Mr. Fox's 
 party ; that it would be right therefore for me to be 
 satisfied that Lord Kinnaird' s views were in the same 
 direction, and likely to be steady, but that upon that 
 point I should chiefly rely upon his (Petty's) opinion. 
 Lord Henry then said, that he had himself considered 
 the proposal repeatedly in this point of view, and 
 that he was very much satisfied of its propriety in 
 that respect. I requested him to weigh it over again 
 in his mind, before I had an opportunity of seeing 
 him ; and I said, that if that point of the case were 
 quite right, I should think this mode of coming into 
 Parliament very respectable and honourable, and that 
 at any rate I was much affected with such an instance 
 of Kinnaird' s esteem, with whom I had maintained 
 but a very slight intercourse since I came to London ,
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 355 
 
 though we had been intimately connected at Edin- 1806. 
 burgh. Lord Henry said, he had no doubt of Kin- jet.28. 
 naird's steady attachment to them, that his marriage 
 would probably corroborate it ; he had views of his 
 own, no doubt, but he (Petty) thought they were 
 very fair. This, I suppose, alluded to a demand of a 
 British peerage."* 
 
 Letter LXXXIII. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 My dear Seymour, The Temple, 26th June, 1806. 
 
 There is a subject on which I should most 
 anxiously have consulted you within these four days, 
 if I had had you here ; I was not altogether unpro- 
 vided with former meditations of my own upon such 
 a contingency, nor with the result of former counsels 
 with my few intimate friends as well as you ; but at 
 the last, I have been called upon to decide with less 
 discussion at the time than I like to have. A pro- 
 position, in short, has been made to me to come into 
 Parliament at the next general election, and I have 
 declared my readiness to acquiesce in the proposed 
 arrangement. I am not yet at liberty to explain to 
 you the particular quarter from which this offer has 
 been made to me ; though very unexpected, there are 
 circumstances in it both gratifying and respectable, 
 and upon the whole quite as satisfactory as any in- 
 troduction into the House of Commons can be, that 
 is not obtained in the way of popular election, or by 
 one's own money. It is proper that you should keep 
 this information entirely to yourself at present, for 
 many reasons that affect others as well as me. But 
 
 * This is the last entry in Mr. Horner's Journal. — En.
 
 366 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. on all occasions that so deeply concern me, I have a 
 ^E T< 28. real comfort in confiding myself to you. I shall see 
 Murray so soon in person, that I shall hardly make 
 the communication to him till then ; indeed the opinion 
 which I know he entertains upon this subject makes 
 me feel far from being satisfied with the step I 
 have taken, for he will regard it, I fear, as a very 
 imprudent risk. After turning it, however, very often 
 in my mind, when I fancied the possibility of such an 
 offer being one day made, I have never succeeded in 
 subduing my strong inclinations, nor even in beating 
 them out of the argument. A risk no doubt there is ; 
 but it is the risk inherent in the plan of life which I 
 have long ago sketched for myself, and to which my 
 ambition and my most reflected principles of appro- 
 bation are steadily attached. A lawyer only, I never 
 could consent to be, no more than to be merely a 
 political adventurer ; for mere emolument has no other 
 attraction for me but the independence it gives, and 
 mere office has no attraction at all. To carry on at 
 the same time my professional views, and to bear a 
 share in the great interesting discussions of public 
 business, forms a combination not often tried with 
 success, but which I long ago resolved to try. The 
 question no doubt still remains, whether the active 
 union of the two may not be attempted too soon; 
 and if I have solved this question at all to my satis- 
 faction, it is in this way, that I am about to begin it 
 somewhat too soon: but opportunity is an element 
 to be calculated in all such reasonings, and is one 
 risk of another sort with which the other must be 
 balanced. 
 
 Though I have gone so far as to express my will- 
 ingness to accept of this proposal, it is not yet defi- 
 nitely settled by any means ; for I have not had an
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 367 
 
 interview upon the subject with the person princi- 1806. 
 pally concerned, and many accidents may be in store jet. 28. 
 to disconcert the arrangement. But it will probably 
 end successfully, or lead to something else of the 
 same sort. 
 
 I expect and request to receive your sentiments 
 upon what I have now explained to you, as well as 
 your counsel with regard to the future. You know how 
 much I value your opinions, and I am sure they 
 have upon many occasions kept me more firm, as 
 well as more delicate, in my conduct than I could 
 otherwise have been. You are in this particular 
 affair already committed too, both by the constant 
 tenour of your advice to me, and particularly by the 
 effect of a letter you wrote from Oxford last Sep- 
 tember, which with another from Murray of opposite 
 sentiments, and one from Jeffrey more consonant 
 with yours, were the privy council I carried with me 
 to Hampstead on Sunday last, when I deliberated 
 upon this important measure. I settled it in my 
 own mind first ; and I am happy to say that I have 
 received the approbation of my father and Whishaw, 
 to whom alone I have made it known. 
 
 Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXXXP7. FROM LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 My dear Horner, Edinburgh, 7th July, 1806. 
 
 Were we, as I often wish, to write more fre- 
 quently, I should scarcely begin so formally as to 
 assure you of the deep interest with which I read 
 your last letter. The crisis has been an important 
 one, and I have discussed your conduct in my own
 
 368 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. mind as if I had been talking to yourself. In my 
 2£ T 28. letter of September last, and in our conversation soon 
 after at Brunet's, I gave you a sketch of what I 
 thought the course of your life would probably be, 
 considering the combined effect of all the circum- 
 stances and motives by which you seemed to be ac- 
 tuated. At that time your ambition, your habits, 
 and your connections all pointed to a political career; 
 and I did not much wish to check it, because oppor- 
 tunity promised fair, and because I have always been 
 anxious to see you in a situation consonant to your 
 views, honourable to yourself and friends, and bene- 
 ficial to the country. The declaration you made of a 
 resolution to attain independence by your profession, 
 I heard with some distrust of the constancy of such a 
 motive. In the course of the winter, frequent con- 
 versation with Murray corrected my sanguine pros- 
 pects respecting you; and in a letter three or four 
 months ago I joined with him in urging you to resist 
 the temptations of political connection, and to prose- 
 cute your professional studies with steadiness. It 
 gave me satisfaction to learn not long since, through 
 Thomson, that law was now a serious occupation 
 with you, and I rested in the idea of your more tardy 
 but safer rise to political eminence. You will infer 
 from all this, that your late decision meets with my 
 disapprobation ; I will not say that it does so strongly, 
 and yet it does. 
 
 In order that you might hold the proud station in 
 public life for which I have always destined you, I 
 wished to see you step forward from the firmest basis 
 of independent character, and with this independence 
 of fortune is closely connected. A few years devoted 
 to your profession would have given you, not inde- 
 pendence of fortune, but that to which you might
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 369 
 
 ever after resort for such independence. They would 1806. 
 have given also a greater stability to that high, dis- ^ T 2 8. 
 interested character, which you have justly obtained 
 among a large circle of men of rank, talents, and vir- 
 tue, and there would have been a dignity arising from 
 the rejection of those sources of emolument or dis- 
 tinction, which it must be known that friendship 
 placed within your reach. You would have found 
 advantage in the longer period afforded you for form- 
 ing a candid estimate of men and parties, for collecting 
 information respecting the circumstances of the coun- 
 try, domestic as well as foreign, for digesting plans 
 of legislative improvement, and I may add, for 
 strengthening, during a close insight into the course 
 of affairs, those principles which seldom continue un- 
 impaired amidst the violence or the cankering cor- 
 ruption of party zeal. 
 
 But you will say, in going into Parliament I neither 
 abandon my profession, nor my independence. As to 
 the latter, I do not fear any important sacrifice, but you 
 must be conscious that the firmness with which you 
 would now resist the influence of party friends, would 
 be very different from what it might be five or seven 
 years hence. To give your opinions weight in debate, 
 the appearance of independence is also of consequence, 
 and such appearances will now be far less favourable, 
 than they would have been, had you entered Parliament 
 as a man rising steadily in the profession of the law, and 
 known to be neither under the necessity, or in the dis- 
 position, to look to power for advancement. As to 
 your profession, I tell you frankly, that as soon as 
 you enter the House, I think it will be almost totally 
 neglected. You may promise, perhaps, to confine 
 yourself to the great questions of Parliamentary dis- 
 cussion, but considering the interest you have always 
 
 vol. 1. b B
 
 370 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. taken in politics, and the power of speculations in 
 ^ T> 28. political economy to seduce you from the study of 
 law, it is plain that much of your time will be oc- 
 cupied by the legislative application of your favour- 
 ite principles in measures of local or inferior import- 
 ance, especially as the gratifying pursuit will be 
 sanctioned by a sense of public duty. Besides, the 
 business of the House, and the society into which it 
 will lead you, will more than ever draw your attention 
 to subjects of literature and moral science ; and if 
 temptations of this kind have hitherto been often ill 
 withstood, how much less will they be so hereafter ? 
 Nor can I conceive it possible for you to be long in 
 parliament, without being seduced, or forced, into office. 
 There is at present a lamentable dearth of young 
 men of political talents, and you would be such a 
 valuable accession to any party, that you might soon 
 command office upon your own terms, so as to pre- 
 serve your integrity and independence. If then you 
 go into Parliament, my prospects respecting you will 
 revert to what they were last summer. I shall look 
 upon you as advancing to fame and to power by steps 
 that are honourable, and more rapid than if you had 
 continued to tread the wearisome path of your pro- 
 fession ; but, at the same time, with more hazard to 
 your reputation, and to your integrity and wisdom as 
 a politician. 
 
 I agree with you in thinking that you are going to 
 attempt the union of parliamentary business with 
 your profession too soon; at least too soon for that 
 secure and steady career which you had planned in 
 your calmest moments. Whishaw's opinion is a strong 
 one in support of the decision you have made, but I 
 know Whishaw's keenness in party politics ; he is 
 upon the scene of action, and his anxiety to have your
 
 ' CORRESPONDENCE. 371 
 
 talents brought forward on the side of his darling i806. 
 principles may have biassed his judgment. You jet.28. 
 plead opportunity as a ground for incurring risk; 
 but you do not think highly enough of yourself, if 
 you do not foresee that opportunities, like the pre- 
 sent, will become more frequent, as the character 
 and connections which gained you this are more 
 confirmed. If you can retreat with honour from 
 the consent you have given, I should advise it. In 
 resisting temptation, or in the discharge of a duty, 
 it is more easy and more safe to make one decisive 
 effort, than continual, though more feeble, struggles; 
 and if you seriously intend to prosecute the study 
 of the law, you may, by this one act of self-denial, 
 save yourself a fatiguing contest between the avoca- 
 tions of Parliament and those of your profession. I 
 say this, on the supposition that the claims of pro- 
 fessional duty would triumph, though I have already 
 expressed my own decided opinion to the contrary. 
 
 If you are so far pledged that you cannot retract, 
 or if your own judgment, and the approbation of 
 other friends, lead you to persevere, it will remain 
 to devise some fetters to bind you to such an adjust- 
 ment of your occupations, as prudence dictates ; but 
 little do I expect that such can be found. Indeed, 
 this late occurrence has strongly awakened the antici- 
 pations I have for two or three years entertained, con- 
 cerning your progress in life. I have pictured a man 
 of a high spirit of independence, resolving to advance 
 himself by his own patient exertions in a profession 
 of which the practical details are ill suited to his 
 habits, — distracted from the prosecution- of it by a 
 taste for higher intellectual occupations, and by a 
 nobler ambition for political fame and influence, — often 
 from principle refusing, and yet often accepting, the 
 
 BB 2
 
 372 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. prizes which fortune, impelled by his own merits, and 
 ^Et. 28. by his own desires, however restrained, still throws in 
 his way; and rising ultimately to the highest stations, 
 partly by favour of successive accidental circum- 
 stances, which a diguity of mind that gave him a 
 confident hope to command his destiny, would have 
 never allowed him at the outset to take into calcula- 
 tion. In the compass of a letter it is difficult to 
 convey one's views on so comprehensive a subject 
 with tolerable accuracy ; but you flatter me by saying 
 that the hints I have formerly given were of use to 
 you, and what I have now written is dictated by the 
 same warm wishes for your welfare. 
 
 Playfair, I hear, is to arrive on Saturday. We shall 
 hasten our departure for the Highlands as much as 
 possible. I look forward to his society in our tour 
 for much pleasure and instruction. His travelling 
 with Miss Hamilton* affords his friends here much 
 amusement. What a joke it must be for Sydney ! 
 Remember me to that witty wight, and to all other 
 friends. 
 
 I am now fixed for remaining here next winter. 
 My studies will be the same as during the last: I 
 have worked steadily, but my progress, as usual, has 
 been slow. The foundation is laid at least. 
 Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 Webb Seymour. 
 
 Letter LXXXV. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 My dear Seymour, Temple, nth July, 1806. 
 
 Your letter arrived while I was in the midst 
 of a legal meditation for the House of Lords to-day, 
 
 * Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton, authoress of " The Cottagers of Glen- 
 burnie," &c. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 373 
 
 adjusting this argument here, and that there. You put 1806. 
 them all into medley ; and the picture I had been draw- ^ T< 09. 
 ing in my head is become more like a painter's pallet 
 than his canvass. I cannot set to my work again with- 
 out thanking you for your valuable and truly friendly 
 communication ; I shall take up the whole subject 
 again anew, nor shall I find any difficulty in retract- 
 ing the consent I had given, if I ultimately determine 
 that to be the right thing to do. In my former con- 
 sideration of the subject, I confidently set down your 
 opinion on the affirmative side ; after detecting such 
 an error in my data, I must go over the whole calcu- 
 lation again. I never can be sufficiently grateful for 
 the possession of such friends as I have, though, 
 alas ! they are most of them four hundred miles from 
 me. They overrate me excessively; but, by striving 
 to make myself worthy of part of their opinion, I shall 
 accomplish more than any other motive would have 
 secured. 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXXXVI. TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Jeffrey, Tem P le > 15th Sept. I8O6. 
 
 It was the day you left us that Fox was again 
 taken ill ; and he is now no more. It has been a painful 
 anxious week; for after all had been given over, there 
 was a strange renovation that deluded us, in spite of 
 our despair. It is a cruel disappointment, if one 
 thinks of the hopes so recently indulged ; and a cheer- 
 less prospect forward. The giant race is extinct ; and 
 we are left in the hands of little ones, whom we know 
 to be diminutive, having measured them against the 
 
 bb 3
 
 374 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. others. Tell me what view you take of our situation, 
 JEt.29. where you stand; careless as you are of public events, 
 you are not indifferent (I know) at these critical 
 moments, when lasting and large interests are in- 
 volved in the turn which is given to the conduct 
 of individuals. I have had but a short time to col- 
 lect my thoughts ; my own little line of conduct was 
 long ago determined: but one must form a sort of 
 chart of the future, in order that our rule may be 
 wide enough at least to embrace the j^obable 
 accidents that will occur. I look upon what has 
 been called Mr. Fox's party, the remains of the old 
 Whig faction, as extinguished entirely with him ; his 
 name alone kept the fragments together, after the 
 party had been long ago broken to pieces. At the 
 same time, I cannot resist the conviction, that, in 
 spite of appearances, there is in the middling order 
 of people in this country a broad foundation for a 
 popular party, constituted by the opinions, interests 
 and habits of those numerous families who are cha- 
 racterised by moderate but increasing incomes, a 
 careful education of their youth, and a strict observ- 
 ance of the great common virtues. No doubt, this 
 is the genuine democracy, if they preserve their 
 weight in that public voice, which government must 
 obey. Many circumstances have occurred of late 
 years to depress the just influence of that order of 
 men ; and it is melancholy to think, that they are the 
 very circumstances which have brought other free 
 governments to an end — an overgrown foreign 
 trade, the dependencies proceeding from too bulky a 
 system of finance, and an augmentation of the mili- 
 tary force on account of foreign danger. These 
 causes, I am persuaded, have already both under- 
 mined our institutions, and vitiated the sentiments
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 375 
 
 and character of the nation. At the same time, it 18O6. 
 does strike me very forcibly, that the great num- ^ T 29 
 ber among whom wealth is diffused in considerable 
 yet equal portions, the tolerably good education 
 that accompanies it, the strength of physical and 
 moral forces that are thus combined ;n a population 
 to which both order and freedom are necessary, 
 form a new case very different from any former 
 example ; and it is from this aspect of our condition, 
 that I take my hopes of there being still a chance 
 of defending successfully the liberties of England, 
 chance enough to make it a reproach for ever against 
 the present age if it does not make a trial at least. 
 We are deprived, by this calamitous death, of our 
 great leader in all popular principles of administra- 
 tion ; no man of acknowledged and commanding 
 talents is left to supply his place. But there are a few 
 men whose integrity and steadiness have been tried ; 
 and a few others, younger men, who are confided in 
 by those who know them best. Howick, Lauderdale, 
 Holland, and Petty, are the persons in whom I am 
 inclined to repose my confidence ; though it seems to 
 me, that they ought to yield the supremacy to Gren- 
 ville, while he perseveres in the same honourable 
 conduct to which he has adhered since his junction 
 with Mr. Fox. The new appointment will be a sort 
 of test ; not precisely the disposal of the seals, but 
 the manner in which the vacant seat in the cabinet 
 is filled. I look with very great solicitude to the 
 course of parties during the next six months ; it will 
 be a period probably, though not at first, of severe 
 and decisive probation. I have no fears of Lord Gren- 
 ville himself; he is free from all levity or fickleness 
 of conduct, certainly, and has given pledges which he 
 has too much obstinacy as well as honesty to forfeit. 
 
 b b 4 

 
 376 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. A few years of opposition gave him some sentiments 
 ^ T 29. which will remain ; and the circumstances of his 
 family, their influence, fortune and pretensions, 
 make them now a knot of aristocrats, not ready to 
 submit to the crown, but disposed to make terms. 
 You perceive, therefore, that I consider an alliance 
 with the Grenvilles as a measure of prudence for the 
 "Whigs; but my speculations will perhaps appear as 
 fallacious, as you would think the subject of them un- 
 worthy of a philosopher' s approbation, even if they were 
 better founded in themselves. These chances and 
 changes, however, will irresistibly engage my curi- 
 osity and reflections for a little while ; till I can settle 
 my expectations of what is probable : and I hope you 
 will not wholly refuse to let me have the benefit of 
 your observations. 
 
 I have this morning got Walter Scott's volume of 
 Ballads; he has not mended that sad rhyme of 
 Catchedicam, the absurdity and meanness of which 
 spoils a very pleasing set of verses.* I am reading 
 
 * In the poem of Helvellyn. Catchedicam is the name of a part of the 
 mountain-group of Helvellyn, in Cumberland. 
 
 " I climb'd the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn, 
 Lakes and mountains beneath me gleam'd misty and wide ; 
 All was still, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling, 
 And starting around me, the echoes replied. 
 On the right, Striden-edge round the Red-tarn was bending, 
 And Catchedicam its left verge was defending, 
 One huge nameless rock in the front was ascending, 
 When I mark'd the sad spot where the wand'rer had died." 
 
 1st Stanza. 
 
 " But meeter for thee, gentle lover of nature, 
 To lay down thy head like the meek mountain lamb, 
 When, wilder'd, he drops from some cliff huge in stature, 
 And draws his last sob by the side of his dam. 
 And more stately thy couch by this desert lake lying, 
 Thy obsequies sung by the grey-plover flying, 
 With one faithful friend but to witness thy dying, 
 In the arms of Helvellyn and Catchedicam," — 5th Stanza. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 377 
 
 Glen Finlass, and St. John again, after many years. isoe. 
 Thomson and Murray are both in the country. ^t.29. 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXXXVTI. FROM LORD KINNAIRD. 
 Dear Horner Drininrie House, 19th Oct. 1806. 
 
 By the good offices of our friend Petty, I have 
 obtained the promise of a seat in the next parliament, 
 which he has taught me to .believe you will not 
 decline. You are too well acquainted with me, to 
 suppose that I attach any condition to this offer ; and 
 I have known you too long and too well to doubt 
 your immediate rejection of it, if you were not satis- 
 fied that I make it with the sole view of promoting 
 your honour and welfare. 
 
 Believe me, dear Horner, 
 
 Yery faithfully yours, 
 
 KlNNAIRD. 
 
 Letter LXXXVIII. TO LORD KlNNAIRD. 
 
 My dear Kinnaird, The Tem P le ' 23d 0ct - 1806 - 
 
 I accept of your generous offer with very 
 great pleasure; you have done me a more valuable 
 service than any other I can ever receive, for which I 
 will not attempt to say how much I thank you, nor 
 how sensible I am of the kindness you express for me 
 in your letter. A seat in the House of Commons was 
 among the earliest objects of my ambition ; and having 
 laid it down as a plan of life, from which I wish never 
 to swerve, that I should unite an attention to public
 
 378 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. affairs with the regular pursuit of my profession, I 
 j£ T ^ 29. was contented to look towards parliament as a distant 
 prospect. Your friendship removes the interval by 
 which I seemed to be separated from it : and you can 
 imagine how delightful it must be to have a favourite 
 passion indulged, in a manner so agreeable to my 
 private feelings, and to all my public opinions. I 
 shall have the satisfaction of acting along with men 
 of my own age, whom I have long known as thinking 
 alike upon all the great questions in our politics. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter LXXXIX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, The Temple, 27th Oct. isoe. 
 
 I am going off this evening into Cornwall, to 
 be returned for St. Ives — a terrible journey, but it is 
 through Devonshire, and the weather is fine for the 
 season. William Adam goes with me, too, as far as 
 Launceston; he is to appear for Lord Maitland at 
 Camelford. 
 
 I am at present in too great a hurry to write to 
 you at length upon some of the subjects which I have 
 most upon my mind for you. For the last fortnight, 
 the dissolution, and a good deal of Carnatic business, 
 have kept me in a great bustle. I flatter myself I 
 am subsiding easily into a man of business, notwith- 
 standing my irregular habits for some time past; but 
 I must not boast too soon. 
 
 Brougham will receive orders for his return this 
 week ; it is very much to be regretted that he was not 
 at home at this time, for he left no instructions with 
 any person about parliament, and the sum necessary
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 379 
 
 is too great for any of us to have become answerable I806L 
 for it. Had he been here, he would have judged for j£ T 29. 
 himself, and his activity would have carried his object 
 through all obstacles. It cannot be long, however, 
 before a good opportunity will occur ; he is too well 
 known now, for him to be suffered to lie unemployed : 
 and that is the scene, I am sure, where he may be 
 employed to the best advantage. 
 
 You will be glad to hear there is a report that 
 Canning, Frere, &c. mean to back their parliamentary 
 exertions with another newspaper of fun and wit; 
 some of our friends will be scratched, no doubt, but 
 the mischief will not be worse than that, and we shall 
 have some merriment. The letter I received from 
 Kinnaird was satisfactory to me in the highest degree, 
 and (I think) does him much honour. 
 
 Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XC. TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 My clear Mother, St - Ives > 31st 0ct - 18 °6- 
 
 Till this evening, I had no news to tell you. 
 I did not come here till this morning, and all day I 
 have been occupied in canvassing the worthy and 
 independent electors of this ancient and free borough. 
 The election is not till Monday; and, what I did not 
 in the least expect, there is an opposition. My brother 
 candidate is Squire Stephens, a man of good fortune, 
 close by the town ; and our antagonists are two Indian 
 colonels, Symes the traveller to Ava, and Montgomery, 
 whose history I find nobody here that can tell me ; 
 they are in what is called Lord Wellesley's party, 
 both excellent men, I believe, if they did not oppose
 
 380 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. | us. From all I can see and learn, we have no reason 
 vEt.29. *° fear the event, though they have certainly got a 
 good many votes : the whole number is 250, and we 
 reckon a majority in our favour of 70 clear double 
 votes. I must reserve particular stories till I get 
 home ; all I can say is, that I have been a good deal 
 entertained with the novelty of this sort of business 
 to me, improved very much, no doubt, by our con- 
 fidence of triumph. We go through the country part 
 of the parish to-morrow, having canvassed the town 
 to-day. I am glad enough none of you were here 
 to quiz me as I went through my duty; entering 
 every cellar in the place, and behaving as sweet as 
 possible to every man, woman, and child. I never 
 made so many vows, or shook so many by the hand, 
 in the whole course of my life. There are near thirty 
 fishermen of pilchards, every one of them styled 
 captain ; and all of them our fast friends. I met with 
 few rebuffs; the people indeed receiving me with 
 great cordiality and readiness, for which I am willing 
 to forget my friend Sir Christopher*, and impute it 
 all to my talents for popularity. Perhaps you will 
 not give me so much credit. I did sometimes feel 
 ashamed of myself, I own, and there were some hands 
 that went against my stomach ; if it had not been for 
 the number of pretty women, three or four of them 
 quite beautiful, whom I found in these hovels. I 
 ought to ask your pardon for all this nonsense; but 
 it is some relief to me at the end of such a day, the 
 worst part of which has been the last, a dinner with 
 two or three of my " friends," who are very tiresome, 
 and can endure port wine more patiently than I can. 
 I ought not to forget, however, to make most honour- 
 
 * Sir Christopher Hawkins, the proprietor of the borough. — Ed. 

 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 381 
 
 able mention of a John Dory, the first I ever tasted, 1806. 
 which was very good indeed, though like some other ^ T 29. 
 famous things, not deserving (I think) the whole of 
 its fame. 
 
 I expect to reach London again on Thursday, or 
 Friday at the farthest ; which is a sad distance off, 
 considering how much I have to do there. 
 Ever, my dear Mother, 
 
 Most affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XCI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, T ™™, 4t]l Nov. 18O6. 
 
 I have had a sort of contest and canvass for 
 my seat, as you would probably learn from Jef- 
 frey, to whom I wrote from St. Ives. The election 
 was yesterday, and the numbers were, Stephens 135, 
 Horner 128, Symes 93, Montgomery 86. ATe had 
 several more double votes, but the gallant Colonels left 
 us the field, before we brought down all our forces. 
 
 As I went my rounds among the fishermen and 
 other independent electors of St. Ives, I amused 
 myself with the idea how much you would have been 
 amused at my expense ; and also with the conscious 
 pride of being most admirably adapted for some situa- 
 tions, where you are always pleased to say that I only 
 expose my incapacity. I shook every individual voter 
 by the hand, stinking with brine and pilchard juice, 
 repeated the same smiles and cajoleries to every one 
 of them, and kissed some women that were very 
 pretty. I have laid such a foundation of popularity, 
 and mean to raise so much upon it by my exertions 
 against salt duties, and in favour of fish bounties, that 

 
 382 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. I should not be surprised if I were to become the very 
 JEt 29 Dagon of my constituents. 
 
 I am very anxious to learn what has been done in 
 the Faculty of Advocates with respect to the new 
 plans for the reform of the courts, and whether there 
 is any likelihood of the discussion taking place in 
 parliament early in the session. I wish very much to 
 be prepared for it ; and if I can make myself useful, 
 to be so. But I must depend very much upon you for 
 instruction. If a draft of the proposed bill is cir- 
 culated at Edinburgh, lose no time in sending me a 
 copy. 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XCII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, Temple, 19th Nov. isoe. 
 
 There can be no objection to your saying that 
 you have read Kinnaird's letter to me; for nobody 
 will ever censure me for my habit of keeping nothing 
 secret from you that concerns me. Certainly, do not 
 refuse to say to any one who asks the question, and 
 is entitled to ask, that I am introduced into parlia- 
 ment by the friendship of Kinnaird. It is not a fact 
 that admits of concealment, if that were desirable; 
 but I see no more reason that it should be made a 
 mystery of, than that it should be proclaimed. I 
 would not have accepted the obligation, if I had not 
 considered it as honourable to me, both in itself, and 
 by the person who bestowed it. I owed it to no 
 solicitation, but to his own free, and to me quite un- 
 expected, generosity; and I shall on all occasions be 
 ready to acknowledge my gratitude to him for so im-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 383 
 
 portant a service, which on the part of a person, who 
 has no political situation that requires adherents, I 
 must consider as an instance of most disinterested 
 munificence. I rely upon your knowledge of my 
 views and feelings with regard to all the circum- 
 stances of this event in my life, and I trust to your 
 kind, honest discretion for making them understood, 
 as far as they need be, by those who wish me well. I 
 know very well what doubts of some friends I have 
 to clear away, and what predictions may be delivered 
 by others whom I shall delight to disappoint. It will 
 take my life-time, I believe, to establish that confi- 
 dence, which it would give me such pleasure to pos- 
 sess ; because I bring no birth-rights in my favour. 
 But it is my temper very much to repose upon dis- 
 tant expectations, enjoying in the meanwhile the 
 trust of one or two who have known me longest. I 
 ought not to have said two. Pray pardon me for 
 saying so much about myself. 
 
 Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XCIII. FROM J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Horner, Edinburgh, 25th Nov. 1806. 
 
 I have time to write a very few lines, and in- 
 clination to say a great deal. I have already delayed 
 too long telling you how entirely I agree with every 
 sentiment you express in your last note. Kinnaird's 
 letter does him much honour. 
 
 There is no circumstance in your life, my dear 
 Horner, so enviable as the universal confidence which 
 your conduct has produced among all descriptions of 
 men. I do not speak of your friends, who have been
 
 384 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. close and near observers, but I have had some occa- 
 2£ r 29. sions of observing the impression which those who are 
 distant spectators have had, and I believe there are 
 few instances of any person of your age possessing the 
 same character for independence and integrity — qua- 
 lities for which very little credit is given in general to 
 young men. I do not consider it as an accident or 
 piece of good fortune your having had a seat in Par- 
 liament offered to you, upon the most independent 
 footing. Without having any idea from what quarter 
 it might come, it has been an event which I have for 
 a long time looked forward to. Kinnaird has gained 
 much in my estimation by the manner in which he 
 has behaved upon the occasion. I shall resume my 
 pen in the evening : in the meantime believe me, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 John A. Murray. 
 
 The new parliament met on the 15th of December, 
 and was very short-lived. A change of Ministers took 
 place on the 24th of March; parliament was pro- 
 rogued on the 27th of April, and was immediately 
 afterwards dissolved. 
 
 Mr. Horner took no part in any of the great ques- 
 tions that were debated; and is reported as having 
 spoken twice only, and very shortly on both occasions. 
 The first of these was on a motion of the Lord 
 Advocate of Scotland, (the Hon. Henry Erskine) for 
 leave to bring in a bill to suspend, for a limited time, 
 the powers of the Court of Session to grant augment- 
 ations of the stipends of the clergy. In making the 
 motion, he stated, that no less than a hundred and 
 forty-nine suits for augmentation had commenced 
 since July, 1806. Mr. Horner supported the motion; 
 which he said was not brought forward in a spirit of
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS. 385 
 
 hostility to the Court of Session, but rather as a relief 1806. 
 to them. He at the same time spoke in terms of high j£ T 2 9. 
 commendation of the clergy of Scotland, as distin- 
 guished for their piety; and said that their emolu- 
 ments were very inadequate to their station and the 
 duties they had to perform. 
 
 On the 10th of February he was named as a mem- 
 ber of a committee " to examine and consider what 
 regulations and checks have been established, in order 
 to control the several branches of the public expen- 
 diture;" and on the 24th of March, Mr. Bankes, as 
 chairman of the committee, having moved — " That 
 no office ought hereafter to be granted in reversion," 
 Mr. Horner spoke in favour of the motion, and 
 stated, that the subject had been the first to which the 
 attention of the committee had been directed.* 
 
 At the general election, he did not obtain a 
 seat; but in July following, by the friendship of 
 Lord Carrington, he was elected for the borough of 
 Wendover. Lord Mahonf, the son-in-law of Lord 
 Carrington, had been chosen for Hull as well as for 
 Wendover, and made his election for the former 
 place. 
 
 The new parliament met on the 2 2d of June, and 
 was prorogued on the 14th of August. Mr. Horner 
 is not reported as having spoken on any occasion 
 during the short period between his return and the 
 prorogation. 
 
 * Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 
 f The present Earl Stanhope. 
 
 VOL. I. C C
 
 386 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. 
 ^ x2g Letter XCIV. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, The Temple, 25th Dec. 1806* 
 
 I have scarcely had time to write for some 
 days past, but there has not been much to tell you 
 of. Lord Howick's speech f is reckoned the best he 
 has ever made; so Tierney says, and I overheard 
 Percival make the same remark. It seemed to me a 
 speech of considerable ability, and parts of it were 
 admirable in point of manner and sentiment ; I parti- 
 cularly liked his account of Sir Home Popham, and 
 his asserting the honour and discipline of the service, 
 in defiance of the low manufacturing popularity with 
 which that unscrupulous commander will be received. 
 It is difficult to judge, from such a specimen as the 
 moving an address, what powers Lamb J will have for 
 debate ; he has evidently the most striking manner and 
 voice of any person that is yet known in the House. 
 Your friend Canning made an able speech certainly, 
 but a very injudicious one. It seemed a piece of per- 
 sonal ostentation ; and perhaps a device to fix himself 
 in the throne of Opposition, the settlement of which 
 seems not yet regulated. I look upon it as a serious 
 misfortune to the country, that it is for the present 
 deprived of that important part of our political 
 system ; a party arrayed against the ministers, for the 
 purposes of popular vigilance and inquisition, upon 
 fixed and assignable principles. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 * Parliament met on the 15th of December. 
 
 t The present Earl Grey : debate upon the Address, 19th of December. 
 
 | The Hon. Wm. Lamb, the present Lord Melbourne.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 387 
 
 1806. 
 Letter XCV. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. Jet~29. 
 
 My dear Seymour, The Temple, 29th December, 1806. 
 
 You have ascribed my delay to the true 
 cause; I projected a long and full letter. I take it 
 very kind of you, whose occupations are quite as 
 urgent and more important than mine, to have over- 
 looked the punctilios so dear to letter- writers. 
 
 Our military arrangements remain still a very im- 
 portant subject of parliamentary discussion ; though 
 what is yet to be done rests more with the executive 
 government, parliament having already furnished, in 
 the way of plans and facilities, a great deal more than 
 has been acted upon. The vigilant superintendence 
 of the manner in which legislative measures are car- 
 ried into execution, is no doubt an unceasing and 
 imperious duty to the two Houses. I agree with 
 you perfectly upon the subject of the Duke of York; 
 and have always entertained an opinion, that the pre- 
 sent ministers are not aware of their own strength in 
 shrinking from a struggle upon that question, in 
 which they would be supported very generally by the 
 country, by all the best part of it, all but the most 
 blind worshippers of the gracious sovereign. At the 
 same time, it is not doing justice to the men now in 
 power, to forget that, upon the military arrange- 
 ments, they have introduced a most important inno- 
 vation, in opposition to the Duke of York, the king, 
 the court, the old staff, and all the tribes of retainers 
 that depend upon these ; and that they put to hazard 
 their power and their places, though one or two 
 among themselves, whom the public, or at least his- 
 tory, will hear of at some future period, were cowardly 
 and corrupt enough to think of abandoning the ques- 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. tion. I am induced to mention this circumstance to 
 jE T . 29. y ou i tliat you may feel a little more confidence than 
 I perceive you do, in the disposition of our present 
 administration towards useful innovation. In the 
 present session, I expect, as we saw in the last, they 
 are much more likely to be opposed for innovating 
 what is called too much, than for a contrary line of 
 conduct. With respect to military affairs, my ap- 
 prehensions take very much that turn ; and the lan- 
 guage I sometimes hear used by those who call for 
 new and great measures, fills me with disquiet. 
 
 The sort of army, and the means of raising it, 
 that some people want, would only be a less evil than 
 conquest by a foreign invader ; what I wish to see 
 preserved from Frencli subjugation, is not the phy- 
 sical England alone, with its two-footed inhabitants, 
 but artificial England, the constitution, and that mar- 
 vellous exception to all common experience, — the free- 
 dom of the people. I have a great confidence in the 
 efficacy of this system to furnish the means of its own 
 defence; and those persons who think the same sort 
 of exertions and sacrifices necessary for us, as for the 
 languid old monarchies of the Continent, overlook, it 
 seems to me, both the advantages of insular situation, 
 and the resources that grow out of the established 
 habits and feelings of political liberty. The present 
 ministers have difficulties which it will be the great- 
 est of all glories to surmount ; if they can steer their 
 course with a firm hand, between the selfish preju- 
 dices of the court against improvements that touch 
 its own immediate possession and abuses, and, on the 
 other hand, the clamours of the frightened public for 
 innovations, disproportioned to a temporary danger. 
 To recur to first principles, is to resolve our complex 
 machine of immunities and privileges into its two
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 389 
 
 simple elements of multitude and violence; and after 1806. 
 deluding ourselves with the vision of a splendid mili- ^Et.29. 
 tary power, we should awake slaves in a camp. De- 
 pend upon it, the question is not so short as you have 
 put it. 
 
 My anxieties are fixed upon quite another subject 
 from that which occupies your letter — Ireland; where 
 there is the fairest and surest opportunity of doing 
 good, not only against the present danger, but 
 through all the succeeding ages of this country, and 
 where there are the materials of unceasing agitation, 
 perhaps of some fatal explosion, if that opportunity 
 be neglected. Since the present administration came 
 into power, they have adopted a new set of maxims 
 for the government of that injured country, and have 
 enforced them by including Catholics in their distri- 
 bution of patronage, as well as by repressing, as much 
 as possible, the hostile and malignant spirit of the 
 Orangemen. AVhile Mr. Fox lived, whose power the 
 Catholics regarded as a pledge that as much would 
 be done for them as was practicable, the continuance 
 of this impartial and mild spirit of administration 
 might have anticipated the effects of more decisive 
 measures; but now, some of these are absolutely 
 necessary, in order to renew a pledge which they lost 
 by his death. It is something, that ministers have 
 been able to crush the late disturbances, without 
 stepping out of the forms of the law ; and to my 
 mind, this is a contrast with the proceedings of former 
 governments, that would alone attach me to the pre- 
 sent. But I am persuaded the time is now come, 
 when that which ought to have been bestowed long 
 ago, as an act of justice to that country, must be con- 
 ceded as a precaution for our own security. You 
 
 c c 3
 
 390 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1806. know where the difficulty lies upon this subject ; with 
 ^ Et 29 our gracious sovereign again, and the bigots of the 
 church establishment. Whether our ministers have 
 determined any thing upon the subject, I do not 
 know ; I speak only of my own wishes and fears. I 
 shall regard it as a fatal oversight, if another session 
 of parliament shall pass away, without a most decisive 
 measure being adopted with regard to the church 
 revenues of Ireland, and the rights of Catholic sub- 
 jects to rise in the army and the state. 
 
 I have not said a word about myself, and must 
 delay that subject to another time. I cannot, how- 
 ever, delay any longer my thanks to you for the true 
 kindness and friendship of your last letter, which I 
 have read over very often. My views and resolutions 
 with respect to my scheme of life, and plans of con- 
 duct, remain unaltered; I am not insensible of the 
 dangers that surround me, nor unconscious of my 
 failures in acting up to the principles which I have 
 laid down. Yet I am not without hopes of executing 
 the original design in some manner, however imper- 
 fect; and though I shall not accomplish a hundredth 
 part of what six years ago I considered easily practi- 
 cable for me, I do not yet yield up my confidence 
 that that hundredth part will be of the kind, and in 
 the sort, which six years ago, and steadily ever since, 
 has been the object of my ambition. I have been far 
 less industrious than I determined to be ; fortune and 
 accident have run infinitely more in my favour than 
 I ever dreamt of. But both my diligence and my 
 successes have tended to advance me towards my 
 original object. Not that I have not often wavered, 
 and for days been false to my purpose; but it has 
 always rallied, and each time binds me faster to it. I 
 will write more particularly to you very soon, and you
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 39 X 
 
 will allow me to remind you that you have promised 1807. 
 me a letter about yourself. ^ T 2 g. 
 
 Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XCVL TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Jeffrey, Temple, uth Jan. 1807. 
 
 I have been directing so many letters to you 
 for other people, that I must have one now of my 
 own. Not that I have much to say, but to desire 
 you not to forget me quite, which I am sometimes 
 afraid of. 
 
 Before you receive this, you will be delivered of 
 your eighteenth birth ; which I become curious to 
 see, as I have heard nothing of its contents, except 
 Allen's abstract of the Mercurio Peruviano, and Mur- 
 ray's Essay on the Judicial Keforms, both of which 
 promise me much pleasure. 
 
 Have you any good subjects in view for your nine- 
 teenth? There are two I wish you, yourself, would 
 undertake, if you can pick up books that would admit 
 of them ; they are political perhaps strictly, but there 
 is no objection to them on the ground of party poli- 
 tics, from which you must ever abstain. The subjects 
 I mean, are, the policy to be pursued with respect to 
 the commerce of neutral nations, and with respect to 
 the grievances of Ireland. Many well-disposed people 
 are in error upon these two great questions, who 
 would be set right, or at least cured of the dogma- 
 tism and clamour of their errors, by a candid, plain, 
 and forcible exposition of the conduct that is recom- 
 mended equally by prudence and by kindness. I do 
 not want an elaborate argument of right about the 
 
 c c 4
 
 392 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. rule of 1756, nor an exhaustive disquisition upon all 
 iET.29. the points of the question of Catholic emancipation; 
 but a perspicuous and pithy statement, drawn from 
 the maxims of obvious policy and justice, which will 
 satisfy honest thinkers, that the wild Irish ought not 
 to pay a tithe of their potatoes, and that we ought 
 not to aid and abet Napoleon in his plans for extir- 
 pating commerce and opulent industry. If you have 
 given me the article I asked you for, upon the slave 
 trade, it will come to London the week after next 
 with most appropriate and beneficial effect. 
 
 I do not know whether I have given you a hint 
 already, that I think Whishaw, now that he has more 
 leisure, might be tempted to review, if you would 
 invite him yourself, and instigate him by the means 
 it would afford him of diffusing and strengthening 
 just opinions. He would prove a valuable associate 
 in some departments. 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XCVTI. TO DR. ADAM. * 
 My dear Sir Tte Temple, 3 1st Jan. 1807. 
 
 I have had the pleasure this morning of re- 
 ceiving your letter, respecting a Bill for the Relief of 
 the Widows and Children of the Schoolmasters of Scot- 
 land. I am much gratified at being thought of by you 
 in such a business, and shall most assuredly pay every 
 attention to it, both because it is your wish, and on 
 account of the propriety of the measure. From what 
 you say, I expect to receive the draught of the bill in 
 
 * Rector of the High School, Edinburgh.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 393 
 
 the course of this day, and I shall wait on the Lord 1807. 
 Advocate to-morrow, in order that it may be brought jet. 2 9. 
 into the House without delay. At this moment, I am 
 not able to say whether we can contrive to have it 
 received as a public bill ; I rather fear not ; but as 
 soon as I have ascertained this point, I will let you 
 know. 
 
 I cannot help thanking you for employing me a 
 little on a subject of this nature. You are active as 
 ever in the best interests of knowledge and humanity ; 
 and I am vain enough to believe you intended a com- 
 pliment to one of your school-boys, and supposed him 
 worthy of seconding your endeavours. I often reflect 
 with gratitude on the obligations I owe to you ; and 
 since I became a nearer spectator of affairs to which 
 you always directed our curiosity, I feel the blessing 
 of some early impressions, of which I was scarcely 
 conscious at the time they were made. 
 
 I am ever, with much gratitude and respect, 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XCVIII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, 20th Feb. iso7. 
 
 We have a very interesting week before us in 
 the House ; the investigation of this ugly charge 
 against Sheridan, the new clauses in the Mutiny Bill, 
 and, introductory to the violent debates we are likely 
 to. have on the proposed benefit to Catholics, Percival's 
 opposition to the annual grant of a small sum of money 
 for the support of the Catholic college at Maynooth. 
 These ministers have very nearly removed every doubt 
 I ever suffered myself to entertain, with respect to
 
 394 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. their determination to redeem all the pledges they 
 j$ Tm 29- formerly gave. I begin to exult a little over you 
 about the Whigs, and shall be doubly armed for the 
 argument in their defence when we meet. The Slave 
 Trade, the Finance Committee, the Limited Service, 
 and this commencement of wise and moderate justice 
 to the Catholics, give me great confidence and great 
 pleasure. We differ a little in our opinions of indi- 
 viduals connected with politics, from the different 
 accidents of our intimacies ; but on questions so large 
 and so lasting as these, it has been one of the great 
 delights of my life to think alike with you. 
 
 I begin to be ashamed of not having attempted yet 
 to speak ; perhaps these Catholic discussions will lay 
 hold of me : but I shrink from it when it comes to 
 the moment. 
 
 I am happy to think there is some chance of your 
 coming to town this spring ; it might be pleasant to 
 yourself, and would be useful to us, if you were here 
 while the Scotch Court Bill is in progress. You have 
 put it upon me to determine for you, which I am 
 averse to do, because I know not if I should be certain 
 of enjoying your society so much as I should desire it. 
 At present, I am almost separated from all my friends; 
 and the Shrewsbury committee, which occupies almost 
 the whole morning, may last a good while longer. 
 Part of the year we must contrive to pass together ; 
 for I shall never think any year fully enjoyed, in 
 which we have not met to compare our late impres- 
 sions and renew our old conversations. The years 
 begin to run off so rapidly, that we have few to lose. 
 With a view to our arrangements, I must tell you, 
 that I have determined to go the western circuit; I 
 shall be at Winchester by the 6th of July, and shall be 
 out near five weeks. From a part of Whitbread's
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 395 
 
 speech on the Poor Laws, you will perhaps have been iso7. 
 led into an idea that I was consulted by him upon his ^ T> 29. 
 plan ; which was not in the least the case. I earned 
 that unmerited panegyric by a short note, which I 
 wrote for him one night after midnight, stating the 
 present law of Scotland on the subject, about which 
 he had asked me some questions.* I will send you 
 his Bill, when I get it. 
 
 Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter XCIX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, 6th April, 1807. 
 
 It is a week since I heard the place of Depute 
 Advocate was to be offered to you, at the suggestion 
 of Robert Dundasf ; I had no doubt at all, that, in 
 the circumstances under which this administration 
 has been formed, and the views and principles which 
 they are likely to act upon, you would decline the 
 proposal without hesitation. No other course would 
 have been consistent with that line of conduct, which 
 you so steadily pursue, and which is, and has always 
 been, the object of my most delighted observation. 
 
 I hope your idea of coming up now is not a substi- 
 tute for the plan, with which I have been indulging 
 myself most agreeably, of your meeting me on the 
 
 * In Mr. Whitbread's speech on the Poor Laws, on the 19th of Fe- 
 bruary, he said : " Most of the information I have obtained on the subject 
 of the Scottish law relating to the poor, I owe to an honourable member 
 of this House (Mr. Horner), who has been well known in the republic of 
 letters, and at the bar of Scotland ; and who is sure to become an orna- 
 ment of this assembly." {Hansard 's Debates, vol. viii. p. 880.) — Ed. 
 
 f The present Viscount Melville, then President of the Board of Con- 
 trol for the Affairs of India. A change of Ministers had taken place on 
 the 24th of March. — Ed.
 
 39 G CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. western circuit; if it were, I would not give my con- 
 ^ Et 29 sent to the change but with great reluctance. Hear 
 me. William Adam * and I have taken each other, for 
 better for worse, to journey the circuits together ; 
 we are to have a carriage for ourselves two, with a 
 dickey for the joint clerk : the bodkin's seat is to be 
 maintained unviolated, unless a person of the most 
 choice conversation, not a lawyer going that circuit, 
 should upon any occasion present himself. In other 
 words, there is to be a spare seat kept for you. Can 
 you refuse after this ? We shall be at Winchester on 
 the 5th of July, and so travel on for about five weeks 
 through Cornwall round to Bristol. You might run 
 to the south as soon as your session business was over, 
 and join us soon enough to see the practice of the 
 western circuit at two or three of the assize towns. 
 I feel already a satisfactory repose from the irksome 
 disappointments and personalities of those political 
 intrigues, at the thoughts of having your conversation 
 to myself in the warmth of summer and among the 
 gardens of England. The circuit will set us down at 
 Bristol on the borders of that country, which we have 
 before projected to visit ; and I could easily add a 
 week to my absence from London. Now, if you come 
 to town at this moment, I shall never see you com- 
 fortably ; you will have a thousand Scotch relations 
 to make parties with, a thousand Lords of Session to 
 dine with at the British, a thousand routs and assem- 
 blies which you cannot refuse to go to. There are no 
 debates worth coming ten miles to hear; there is not 
 a speaker now, whom I would wait for two hours in 
 the gallery. You see what a selfish view of the sub- 
 ject I take ; were you to come both in spring and in 
 summer, a la bonne heure; but you will not. And I 
 
 * See ante, p. 203.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 397 
 
 have no pleasure in the year that passes over me, iso7. 
 unless I have you for a while, quietly away from Lon- ^ T 29> 
 don, all to myself. Here I must stop for to-day. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fea. Hoener. 
 
 Letter C. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, London, 7th April, 1807. 
 
 I thank you for the papers on the seat of 
 Lords of Session in Parliament. I got Thomson's 
 yesterday, and sent them immediately to Lauder- 
 dale ; on whom they do not appear to have made a 
 sufficient impression ; I shall give him yours to-day. 
 
 I am much charmed with your decided expressions 
 about the conduct of the late ministers. To be sure, 
 no man of personal spirit, or who understands the 
 constitution, can have a moment's doubt. The only 
 part of the story I could have wished to be otherwise, 
 is the withdrawing the Bill*, and not resigning at 
 once; but perhaps it was rendered unavoidable in 
 consequence of that misconception originally about 
 the extent of the measure. And yet, had the king 
 closed with that compromise, they would have re- 
 mained in power with tarnished honour : as it ended 
 in a resignation at last, the appearance of moderation, 
 in yielding to the king, may do them good with the 
 country, which takes these transactions with a coarse 
 judgment. Nothing but the impatience of the king's 
 advisers to get into power, or his own impatience to 
 get rid of the reformers and abolitionists, perhaps 
 the Duke of York's to stop the reformation of bar- 
 rack abuses, could have so blinded a practised artist 
 
 * To enable Catholic officers to rise in the army and navy. — Ed.
 
 398 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. in cabinet-making, like the king, as to make him 
 je t . 29 overlook the advantage he would have gained, by 
 keeping them, with their withdrawn bill, a little while 
 longer in office, to be thrust out on the next op- 
 portunity. 
 
 Do not think of undertaking a long journey for 
 the sake of hot rooms and late nights. The debates 
 ought not to tempt you, and would not reward you. 
 We are no longer in the heroic ages ; though Sheridan 
 has awoke from his dotage, to show us again some- 
 thing of what they were. Had the great discussions 
 gone on that were in view, upon measures of general 
 and lasting benefit to the country, the interest of the 
 subjects would have made up for the mediocrity of 
 the speakers; but those seem all vanished. All the 
 prejudices that have been skulking out of sight, will 
 be advanced into broad day, avowed in parliament, 
 and acted upon in the cabinet ; it will be the language 
 of the treasury bench in the House of Commons, that 
 the poor would be made worse subjects, and less com- 
 fortable to themselves, by letting them learn to read ; 
 the principles of toleration will be brought into ques- 
 tion, and we shall have eternal chimes upon the 
 wisdom of our ancestors and the danger of innova- 
 tion. I will own a foolish secret to you: that I 
 suffered more irritation from the sort of spirit and 
 opinions that prevailed against Romilly's little bill*, 
 than I have received in amusement from all my time in 
 the House of Commons. There was something lost 
 in the bill itself; but the symptoms that attended it 
 were discouraging to every attempt of the sort in 
 future. 
 
 * To make the freehold estates of persons who die indebted assets for 
 the payment of their simple contract debts. (See Memoirs of Sir S. 
 Roinilly, 1st edition, vol. ii. pp. 173. 177. 180. 184. 186.) — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 399 
 
 Like other good citizens, I do not quite despair; 1807. 
 so long as the press is free, and men will devote them- ^ T>29 
 selves to the labour of instructing the public mind, 
 there must be some impression made more and more 
 in favour of just opinions ; and, perhaps, upon the 
 subjects that now embarrass us the most, some blame 
 may be imputed to a neglect of this duty, especially 
 upon the state of Ireland, and the real nature of the 
 Catholic claims. I say, I do not quite despair; but I 
 am very near it. That these opinions in these par- 
 ticular applications of them, will finally be acknow- 
 ledged to have been just and salutary, I believe with 
 the faith of a fanatic, and that those who in these 
 days contend for them will be classed in one of the 
 lower orders of martyrs to liberty and justice. 
 
 All this is delightful, if I were still among my 
 books, and enjoying an uncontrolled and ceaseless 
 liberty of speculation. But when one sees how near 
 these improvements are to our reach, how easily they 
 might be reduced into possession (as the lawyers say), 
 how congenial they would be to the English consti- 
 tution, and what a hold we should have of them if 
 once allied with its stability, it is more than one can 
 bear without pain to find that the distance which 
 appears so small is in reality so great; and that the 
 best hopes of the wisest men and the best efforts of 
 the bravest are frustrated by ignorance, imbecility, 
 and the corrupt love of power that profits by them. 
 
 I understand that Bentham's tract on the Scotch 
 Judicature Bill will be published very soon, and you 
 shall have several copies of it sent down immediately 
 by the coach. Whishaw, who has seen it, speaks 
 rather indifferently of its merits ; but it cannot fail to 
 present judicious hints, for the consideration of those 
 who will condescend to be more soberly practical in
 
 400 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. their reasonings. It is some satisfaction to me, that 
 2e t . 29. y ou an d Jeffrey are converts to my opinion of his 
 book on French judicature; which, like all his other 
 treatises, contains many important observations which 
 may be taken in the very state in which he has left 
 them, but is still more valuable for its irresistible 
 effect in setting the mind of the reader to work by 
 the boldness and restlessness of the writer's specu- 
 lations. It is the most effectual exercise in the art 
 of legislative reasonings. 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 Mv dear Murrav Shrewsbury Committee, 8th April, 1807. 
 
 I send you a Morning Chronicle to-day, for the 
 sake of an excellent song, and a still more excellent 
 constitutional dissertation ; try if you can guess the 
 author of this last. You will perhaps find out a little 
 paragraph in another part of the paper, which may 
 amuse you in a different way, and which had almost 
 prevented me from sending you the rest of it ; though 
 I own that would have been somewhat like affectation.* 
 I may just explain to you, however, that this election 
 is in pursuance of an intention a great deal older 
 than my present factious state, and determined upon 
 while I was yet lolling in the sunshine behind the 
 Treasury benches ; though it happened to be delayed 
 from time to time till just before the change of minis- 
 ters. The Whig Club is of very little use ; but it is of a 
 
 * A notice of Mr. Horner having been elected a member of the Whig 
 Club.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 401 
 
 little : it serves to keep together a number of very 1807. 
 respectable Whigs, of the middle station of life, who ^ T- 29. 
 reside in the counties near London ; those from 
 Kent are particularly respectable : it will serve, also, 
 to give the memory and the name of Fox still an in- 
 fluence over the opinions and conduct of many per- 
 sons of that description. You will think this very 
 sad party- work ; I confess it looks like it ; it is not so 
 much in reality with me as it seems: you shall be 
 my judge. 
 
 I expect to have Bentham's tract for you in a day 
 or two. Romilly has read it ; and says there are a 
 great many acute remarks in it, and a great many 
 bad jokes. 
 
 To-morrow I hope to send you a " Short Account 
 of a late short Administration," which I have printed 
 in a three-penny pamphlet.* Harry Bennet had done 
 it first, on the model of Burke's little account of the 
 first Rockingham administration ; he gave it me to 
 alter ; and I have, bit by bit, altered it nearly all. I 
 wish I had written it originally in my own way ; it 
 would have been more uniform, the only merit such a 
 thing can have. 
 
 But I must return back to my sessions law. 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CII. TO LADY HOLLAND. 
 
 House of Commons, 15th April, Eleven o'clock. 
 
 None of the great ones have spoken yet on 
 either side.f A great many new orators ; the best on 
 
 * See Appendix C. 
 
 f Great debate on the motion of Mr. "W. H. Lyttleton, " That this 
 House, considering a firm and efficient administration as indispensably 
 
 VOL. I. D D
 
 4Q2 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. the government benches, young Milnes of Yorkshire, 
 iEx 29 who spoke very well. Lyttleton, not with too much 
 of youthful diffidence, but with more effect and better 
 taste than I expected. The best speech by far is 
 Ward's*; you will set this down, of course, to parti- 
 ality, but wait till to-morrow, and ask enemies, if 
 there are any, as well as indifferent persons. I have 
 always promised deep for him; but after what he has 
 done to-night, I am ashamed of my imperfect sagacity 
 in not promising a great deal more. Sir John New- 
 port has been beating Castlereagh pretty hard ; and 
 Lord Holland will not be sorry to hear that the Union 
 has been abused by Mr. Tighe. We are going to have 
 a speech from Windham, if I can judge from appear- 
 ances ; he sits quite absorbed, and growls if any one 
 disturbs him. I wish I could recollect more particulars, 
 but I must go down to hear Tierney answer Bankes. 
 
 Letter CIII. TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 Mv dear JeffreV Southampton, 5th June, 1807 
 
 Your scolding letter about my never writin 
 to you upon the affair of the Review, reached me the 
 very day that I expected an answer to a very long 
 letter I had sent to you upon that subject. If you 
 have not received that, it is enough just to mention, 
 that the course which I recommended, with the autho- 
 rity of Pigott, was at once to announce our desertion of 
 the Edinburgh Review, and our intention of commenc- 
 ing immediately a new work of periodical criticism. 
 
 
 necessary in the present important crisis of public affairs, has seen, with 
 the deepest regret, the late change in his Majesty's councils." The pre- 
 vious question was moved as an amendment, and was carried by 244 
 against 198, leaving a majority for the new administration of 46. — Ed. 
 °* The Hon. J. W. Ward, afterwards Earl Dudley.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 403 
 
 Though, at former times, I have often wished you 1807. 
 to relinquish the Review, and betake yourself to your ^ T# 29. 
 profession, I hold it to be a wise point of honour not 
 to be driven off the field in this way ; it is now become 
 a most useful channel for the circulation of liberal 
 opinions very extensively among the higher and mid- 
 dling classes of the people of England ; they would 
 regret the loss of it very much, and we seem bound 
 not to throw it up, until we have established for other 
 persons, who might be disposed to continue it, the 
 right and practicability of preserving its absolute in- 
 dependence of the booksellers. 
 
 I came down to this place two days ago, and am 
 passing some idle time very agreeably with my 
 friends from Holland House and Kinnaird's family. I 
 return to London to-morrow evening, and shall be 
 called to the bar early in the next week.* You tell 
 me nothing of your plans for the summer, which I 
 wish very much to know, that somehow, and some- 
 where or other, we may contrive to meet. I shall go the 
 western circuit, which will keep me from London till 
 the second week in August ; the rest of that month 
 and September I think I must spend in town, in order 
 to attend the Carnatic commission ; and October I 
 have not yet disposed of. 
 
 Elmsley has promised me to send you some short 
 article for the next number, of whatever Review it is 
 to be called ; so has Hallam ; and I have been exhort- 
 ing Allen to be just and generous to poor Jovellanos, 
 and to take charge of a late publication of American 
 state-papers between France and the States : he scru- 
 ples about the last, but promises fair for the other. I 
 have given over promising, you know ; but I own the 
 
 * He was called to the bar by the Society of Lincoln's Inn, on the 12th 
 of June. — Ed. 
 
 DD 2
 
 404 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 2Et. 29. 
 
 1807. only book I brought down with me is one about which 
 I wish to write something. You must do the life of 
 Karnes, which is an excellent opportunity for you: 
 grind yourself for it upon Thomson. There is a life 
 of Hume too, with a discreditable name on the title- 
 page ; but the occasion should not be missed. There 
 are some historical works lately printed in America, 
 which, if you please, I will send you ; and a continu- 
 ation of Lacretelle's little history of the Revolution, 
 which gives the period of the Directory. 
 
 You talk with great contempt of our solicitude 
 about elections, and our financial inquiries ; and would 
 have us think of nothing but Bonaparte. My system 
 is quite the contrary : foreign dangers are always in 
 this country sufficiently exaggerated; besides that 
 this one is, I am persuaded, transitory : on the other 
 hand, the decay of liberty at home goes on by imper- 
 ceptible steps, requires a constant vigilance, and all 
 the little successes that we gain by that vigilance are 
 immediately productive of others. I quite believe, 
 however, in your prediction of a great victory over the 
 Russians. You shall hear from me soon. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CP7. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 My dear Seymour, Temple, 6th July, 1807. 
 
 I had the pleasure of receiving your kind 
 letter from Durham; in which you acknowledge so feel- 
 ingly that the idleness of London was real enjoyment. 
 I have protracted it for myself beyond your de- 
 parture, though not in such excess, as when I had 
 your midnight or morning company to the Strand.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 405 
 
 I have been talking a great deal about you with 18 °7. 
 Mrs. Spencer, and with Miss Crewe too ; and though at Mr. 29. 
 the risk of indulging your vanity, I must tell you that 
 the latter amiable and excellent person spoke of that 
 famous night conversation after Vauxhall, amidst all 
 the festivities of Wimbledon on Saturday; if you 
 had known what that scene was to be, you would 
 have stopped in London a week for it, as a study, 
 where all the beauties in living and still nature were 
 united with all the refinements of polished society, 
 in one immense luxury. I shall tell you no more 
 particulars of it than this, that in one of the most 
 wooded and extensive points of view in the park, 
 there was a small tent pitched, away from all the 
 rest, and out of hearing of the Pandeans, in which 
 dined the two ladies I have already named, Windham, 
 Ward, Sharp, and myself; I think you would have 
 been of this party. 
 
 I was provoked at not seeing you once more be- 
 fore you left town ; I had left some things I wished 
 to say, to the last. The drawing is placed at length 
 upon my wall*, and gives me a shadow of company 
 at breakfast, by recalling many of the most valuable 
 hours of my life, and bringing upon me, by its asso- 
 ciations, that temper of mind in which I am both 
 calmer and more aspiring than at any other moment. 
 I have likewise to thank you for the book you left 
 for me ; Jacob Vanderlint's name was your attraction 
 of course. 
 
 You have not yet given me the note of Alison's 
 little scheme of Friendly Societies, which you said you 
 would write down. Give me the outline first, before 
 you find him at leisure to fill it up. These discus- 
 
 * A portrait of Lord Webb Seymour, by Henuing, now in my posses- 
 sion. See Appendix A. — Ed. 
 
 D D 3
 
 406 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. sions will be revived immediately by Whitbread, pro- 
 2Et. 29. bably without leading to any result this session ; but 
 the attention of the public must be kept up, and I 
 have no doubt we shall see some good done, if the 
 king's conscience and Bonaparte do not settle the 
 whole matter. 
 
 Though the official details are not yet arrived of 
 the last affair in Poland, no reasonable person seems 
 to entertain any hope of its being short of decisive. 
 What course will the conqueror take next? To the 
 south-east of Europe, or to Ireland? At all events, 
 he will probably give advantageous terms to the 
 Northern powers whom he has subdued, and will 
 march back an army to Boulogne. We shall have the 
 autumnal alarm of invasion, with more of likelihood 
 and a nearer approach to reality than we have yet 
 known it. 
 
 Since you left us, Malthus* has been a day or 
 two in town; and gave me a little of his society, 
 enough to enable me to judge of him ; and I am happy 
 to say, that a more philosophic candour, calm love of 
 truth, and ingenious turn for speculation in his im- 
 portant branch, I have seldom met with. It is quite 
 delightful to find, how closely he has taught himself 
 to examine the circumstances of the lower classes of 
 society, and what a scientific turn he gives the sub- 
 ject. There is a new speculation of his, about the 
 importance of the people being fed dear, which I 
 wish you were here to discuss ; it has the look of a 
 paradox, and, like most of his views, is revolting to 
 the common belief ; but I have not yet detected the 
 fallacy, if there is one. I will explain it to you in 
 my next letter. Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 Era. Horner. 
 
 * The Rev. T. R. Malthus.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 407 
 
 1807. 
 Letter CV. TO JOHN ALLEN, ESQ. J£t. 30. 
 
 Dear Allen, Ragland, 19th August, 1807. 
 
 I received the letter you were so good as to 
 write to me, when I was in Cornwall; our circuit 
 was not concluded till the day before yesterday, and 
 I am come into this fine part of the country, with 
 Murray, for a few days. You will think us, though 
 idle enough, not ill employed, when I tell you that 
 yesterday morning I visited, with becoming venera- 
 tion, the prison of the regicide Harry Martin, and 
 that I am just returned from a survey of the castle 
 of the Marquis of Worcester, which was demolished by 
 the army of the parliament. There is a field about 
 a mile off, which is called the League?', and must from 
 that name have been Fairfax's encampment ; though 
 the people can give no reason for the name, and, like 
 the common people every where in England that I 
 have seen, have not the least curiosity or tradition 
 about the history of their country. It is not so with 
 the descendants of the Covenanters. 
 
 I am very much satisfied in every respect with the 
 circuit, and have found it a pleasant sort of party, 
 though I should have gained more instruction from 
 it if I had set out with a larger stock of legal know- 
 ledge, particularly in pleading. I never had seen so 
 much of trials by jury before; and all I have now 
 seen increases very much my admiration of the pre- 
 cision, sureness, and dispatch of that mode of trial. 
 It is evident, however, that the establishment is too 
 narrow for the business of the country. At Exeter, 
 for instance, several causes were left, which the judge 
 could not overtake ; important causes of real property, 
 and which must remain till the judges come round 
 
 d d 4
 
 408 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. again. This is evidently a grievous defect in the 
 iEx. 30. system. 
 
 I have heard but little of the news lately, and very 
 imperfectly ; being reduced to the Morning Chronicle, 
 and not receiving that very regularly. There have 
 been some speeches in the House which I should like 
 to have heard, and indeed some divisions at which I 
 wish I had been present. Not even Grattan's au- 
 thority, or that of the late administration, would have 
 prevailed upon me to vote for that Insurrection Bill, 
 with the clauses it contains ; which seem worthy of 
 Charles the Second's Scotch parliament. Can you 
 explain to me Grattan's conduct, which appears so 
 repugnant to the system of all his former principles? 
 It is idle to talk of a necessity now, as different from 
 what was urged formerly, and seemed then no justi- 
 fication of tyranny, or to talk of any necessity as 
 justifying measures of that sort, which must per- 
 petuate all the evils of discontent, if they do not 
 bring them indeed to a crisis. Grattan's former 
 conduct appears so uniformly excellent, and his view 
 of the late Bill so inconsistent, that I am very anxious 
 to understand his conduct. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CVI. TO HIS SISTER, MISS HORNER, LONDON * 
 My dear Fanny, Crickhowel, 2 1st August, 1807. 
 
 The last account I gave of myself was from 
 Clifton ; since that, Murray and I have come by way 
 of Chepstow and Abergavenny to this pretty village 
 
 * Now Mrs. Byrne : she married, after her brother's death, Miles 
 Byrne, lieut. col. commandant of the 56th regiment of French infantry, 
 and officer of the Legion of Honour.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 409 
 
 of Crickhowel, which is just within Wales, upon the iso7. 
 borders of Brecknockshire. We do not mean to go ^ T> 30> 
 any farther, but have taken lodgings for four or five 
 days, till we turn eastward again to London. 
 
 The situation of this village is at the head of a 
 pass leading from Abergavenny into the mountainous 
 country, and five or six beautiful valleys, stretching 
 into that country in various directions, end and meet 
 here. They are more green than any thing that is to 
 be seen to the east of Somersetshire ; and the uplands 
 are inclosed and cultivated almost to the top of the 
 hills. The sides are covered with little farm houses 
 and their orchards, and very small patches of wheat ; 
 and every field almost has a footpath. I am very 
 apt to think the last beautiful country I have seen 
 the most beautiful I ever saw; so that you cannot 
 rely very much upon my choice ; that, however, is my 
 present way of thinking. We wanted a place to be 
 quiet for a short time, and we seem to have pitched 
 upon this one, fortunately. Our plan is this; we 
 go out to walk about one o'clock in the day, spending 
 a long morning (for we get up rather early) in a 
 long breakfast, and getting through some business 
 about the plans for reforming the Court of Session; 
 we return to dinner before it becomes dark, usually 
 about an hour and a half after the time we ordered, 
 lest we should acquire any rural habits of punctuality ; 
 and, after dining as well as we can in all respects, 
 contrive to get another walk before going to bed. We 
 dine at a little inn, where there is a ball-room how- 
 ever, as there is everywhere in this part of the 
 world ; our lodgings are with an old dapper gentle- 
 man, the tax-gatherer (I believe), quite a character, 
 addicted from his youth upwards to angling and 
 music.
 
 410 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. From Chepstow Ave took a walk up to Tintern Ab- 
 2EiT go bey, and back by the other side of the river. It is 
 described in so many books that I will say nothing 
 about it, except that it deserves all its fame. Itagland 
 Castle, between Chepstow and Abergavenny, is the 
 finest ruin of a dwelling-house I have ever seen; 
 being comparatively modern, built about the time of 
 Henry VII. I believe. It was demolished in the civil 
 wars ; and I fancy you will find a good deal about it 
 in Clarendon, which you are still reading I suppose. 
 At Abergavenny, I sent for a harper, who played very 
 well; but he had quite as many of Gow's reels as 
 Welsh tunes, and did not seem to know the one very 
 well from the other. I asked him for Sir W. Wynne's 
 March, but he did not please me half so much as you 
 do. At Abergavenny there is a very curious old 
 church, full of monuments ; it is as old as the time of 
 king Stephen. We shall go to Monmouth on Tuesday 
 evening, where I shall find many letters I hope. The 
 folio wing day we shall spend upon the Wye, and, after 
 seeing Berkeley Castle, propose to sleep at Chippenham 
 or Malmsbury on Thursday. We have offered to 
 dine with Sydney Smith on Friday, so that on 
 Sunday or Monday at farthest I shall make my 
 
 appearance. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CVII. TO JOHN ALLEN, ESQ. 
 My clear Allen, Temple, 3 1st August, 1807. 
 
 I am very anxious to remove immediately all 
 thoughts from your mind that I entertain, or ever for 
 a moment entertained, any suspicions of Grattan's 
 integrity. On the contrary, all I have observed
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 411 
 
 either of his public conduct or character since he 1807 - 
 came into England, has strengthened into most com- ^t.30. 
 plete conviction an opinion I had formed of him from 
 his transactions in Ireland, as one of the few men of 
 great talent in our day that have proved perfectly 
 honest and pure in politics. I certainly regret very 
 much and condemn the language he held, and the 
 votes he gave upon the late Insurrection Bill; and 
 nothing that I can imagine seems to me a sufficient 
 explanation of such an inconsistency with the whole 
 tenor of his former conduct. 
 
 Nothing yet of the Danish expedition : the delay is 
 very much a la Duckworth. Sir William Scott is said 
 to have furnished ministers with his opinion in favour 
 of our right to search ships of war for deserters ; such 
 an opinion must be against all precedent, as well as 
 all principle in the law of nations. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CVHI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, r^ssell Square, 29th Sept. iso7. 
 
 I trust that several days before you receive 
 this you will have arrived in George Street, and have 
 found your family quite well. 
 
 I have made up my mind upon this Copenhagen 
 business; you will think it strange, perhaps, that I 
 had it to make up. But I expressly put myself into 
 doubts upon the subject, and endeavoured for a while 
 to view it as one of the extreme cases of that necessity 
 which has no law. I am returned from every devia- 
 tion that I attempted into the intricacies of state 
 expediency to the daylight of common justice and 
 old rules. It was an unwise measure even for the
 
 412 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. purposes of the actual war ; with auy prospect of 
 iET.3o. future character, or of future wars by sea, this im- 
 policy becomes still more apparent ; and then it is, 
 beyond even all the proceedings of the Convention 
 or the Directory or Bonaparte against neutral na- 
 tions, a violation of the laws by which the society of 
 the human race is preserved. Sir William Scott, 
 however, told Sydney Smith that no principle is more 
 plainly laid down than our right to take the navy of 
 the Danes; and so he has been ready to say, and 
 would be still ready, for any outrage or breach of the 
 law of nations that the Government of this country 
 has dared or is meditating to commit. What say 
 your philosophers at Edinburgh upon this occasion? 
 I do not mean your political sceptics, who can take 
 the theme on either side, and look upon these miseries 
 and deeds of violence as so much sport upon a large 
 scale for their reasoning appetite, and as so many 
 favourable instances for their theorv of indifference : 
 but your graver and more terrestrial spirits, who 
 consider that it is practicable to make the world a 
 little more habitable, by taking some pains about it, 
 and that it is their duty, even for the sake of render- 
 ing it a very little more secure and agreeable, to 
 contrive useful rules, and exert their talents in per- 
 suading the multitude to observe them. I have here 
 broken off to an old grievance ; it is not unnatural, 
 when one sees how fast the barriers and bulwarks 
 raised by former wisdom are sinking, to regret that 
 the genius given to the world is not diligently em- 
 ployed to uphold them. 
 
 Write to me often, my dear Murray ; one has no 
 pleasure in dwelling upon any public subjects, while 
 the liberties and wealth of England are mouldering 
 away, and the institutions of Europe stiffening into
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 413 
 
 barbarism ; but the gratifications of private affection 1807. 
 are untouched by these revolutions, and though they ^ T 30> 
 give a sadder cast to one's conversation, they cannot 
 impair our confidence and freedom. Direct my letters 
 always to the Temple; and be sure I never enjoy a 
 letter more than when I am out of London. I go 
 down to Bradley* on Thursday, and from that to the 
 sessions at Taunton ; I have promised Petty, who 
 was in town yesterday, to go back to Bradley for 
 a day or two with him; and then a visit of a week 
 at Woolbedingf will close my wanderings for this 
 summer. 
 
 Ever truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Hoenek. 
 
 Letter CIX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray, T^P 1 ^ isth Nov. 1807. 
 
 I am quite ashamed of my long silence ; and 
 the more so, because I have much to tell you of in 
 various ways. Yet it must not be to-day ; for I am 
 staying at home from Westminster Hall, where I 
 ought to be, in order to draw up a memoir, in a case 
 of military inquiry, with respect to the conduct of a 
 general officer. I shall only tell you for the present, 
 that I have prescribed to myself a regular forensic 
 life, and find myself conforming to it with passable 
 cheerfulness and assiduity. Till the meeting of Par- 
 liament, I shall make Russell Square J my bed and 
 board; but I come to chambers regularly in the 
 evening, and having made a rule to dine out only on 
 tailors' holidays, I have already brought myself to 
 
 * The Duke of Somerset's. f Lord Robert Spencer's. 
 
 J His father's house.
 
 414 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1807. that pitch of self-denial as to refuse other invitations 
 ^ T 30 in the proportion of two out of three. Ever yours, 
 my dear Murray, with the same affection as of old, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 Friday, 4th Dec. 1807. 
 
 Indeed, my dear Murray, if it were only for 
 the sake of the argument, you shall not inveigle me to 
 say that trial by jury is either the most perfect or a 
 perfect institution. If you caught me in such ex- 
 pressions, in any of those morose fits of dogmatism 
 which occasionally come upon me, when I have not 
 activity to grapple with my companions' mortifying 
 ingenuity, I now must humbly beg leave to recall them. 
 I am not only however still of the same opinion, as 
 to the comparative excellence of that machine, for 
 doing the business of the law, but am growing daily 
 to rate its superiority still higher than I did before. 
 I have always owned to you that I find myself at a 
 loss in explaining the reasons of this excellence, and 
 that I am not satisfied that I could make out a strict 
 deduction from principle upon the subject: although 
 the importance of effecting a separation, wherever it is 
 practicable, betwixt the facts that are proved in a 
 cause and the rule of justice that is to be applied to 
 them, would be the first step of my theory, if I had 
 time to give it form. I should then proceed to proofs 
 from experience, of the failure of all other attempts 
 that have been made, in England or elsewhere, to 
 effect and secure this separation, except by the clumsy, 
 apparently inartificial and rude contrivance of a jury. 
 Whether the purpose might not be better answered,
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 415 
 
 by a permanent sort of jury, composed of persons 1807. 
 systematically educated to the art of trying facts, and ^ T 30 
 rendered skilful in evidence by accurate study of the 
 rules, and by constant practice ; or, upon a different 
 supposition, by such a structure of the record in a 
 cause as "would force the court to arrive at its decree 
 by two distinct steps of judgment, one upon the facts, 
 and another upon the law : this is an inquiry which 
 it would be extremely valuable to prosecute, and I 
 wish some country, that can afford to try experi- 
 ments, would make this one. I have said that my 
 opinion upon juries is becoming still more fixed ; 
 and I mean, since we parted. You will call it my 
 prejudice. 
 
 The management of a question upon the poor's-rate 
 acts, by his Majesty's justices of the peace at their 
 Quarter Sessions, gives one what Lord Bacon and 
 Lord "Webb would call an instance of the extreme 
 case, against the judicial composition of law and fact. 
 The nicest and most evanescent questions of law are 
 apt to be started upon the construction of those 
 statutes, and frequently the point must be taken upon 
 a mass of intricate evidence ; and you do not require to 
 have it described, what the worthy gentlemen of the 
 quorum do with such difficulties. I will grant you a 
 large allowance of natural hereditary dulness, and of 
 habits that do not much sharpen the wit, but you 
 cannot get rid of my instance entirely by that ex- 
 planation. In the trial of indictments by the Sessions, 
 a jury is interposed; and the chairman seemed to me 
 to acquit himself much better with that assistance. 
 But I do not mean to rest upon that. From the 
 Quarter Sessions I come up to the Court of Chancery ; 
 where we have a judge long practised in all the varieties 
 of legal procedure. We have lately had some very
 
 416 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 !807. elaborate judgments delivered by Lord Eldon upon 
 JEt. 30. suits which called for the interposition of the peculiar 
 rules and maxims of the Court, upon circumstantial 
 proof of fraud and undue influence ; and in listening 
 to them I learned nothing very clear and distinct, but 
 the importance of giving separate judgments upon 
 the facts and the rule, and the necessity of resorting 
 to contrivances of form and system, in order to insure 
 that separation. I look upon the Court of Chancery 
 and the Quarter Sessions, as affording in this view 
 counterpart instances, each of which fortifies the con- 
 clusion I would draw from the other. 
 
 The proceedings of election committees of the 
 House of Commons, and those of the House of 
 Lords, when it sits not as a court of error, but 
 judging, either originally or by appeal, of the fact 
 as well as law, would supply me with confirmations of 
 the same argument, which I push no farther, how- 
 ever, than this, that it is the result of the experience 
 of England upon the subject; not very enlightened at 
 any time I own, not managed with any view to a 
 decision of the question now between us, and suggest- 
 ing nothing like a reason against trying other modes 
 of attaining the same object ; but proving, I think, 
 that the administration of law is not likely to be con- 
 ducted upon a system of certain and clear rules, 
 except where the separation of law and fact is, by 
 some means or other, secured. 
 
 There is among the State Trials, that of Lord 
 Mohun for the murder of Mountford *, quite a 
 dramatic example of the confusion which may 
 overcome the most exalted heads, when they are 
 called upon to take, what I remember hearing Lord 
 
 * Before the House of Lords, Jan. 31. 1692 : Howell's State Trials, 
 vol. xii. p. 949.
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS. 417 
 
 Meadowbank* upon the bench say he always liked lsos. 
 to take, a complex view of the case. You will not j£ T .3o. 
 find it difficult, it seems to me, to guess what 
 Lord Holt and Somers would have said, upon our 
 subject, if we had caught them on their way from the 
 Court of the Lord High Steward. 
 
 My dear Murray, I intended to write a few lines, 
 because I would not send William's note without 
 saying a little myself; and here is something as long 
 and dull as a dissertation. I have thrown out these 
 points very hastily, and without much previous con- 
 sideration, to have the advantage of your discussion 
 of them. 
 
 Ever yours, most affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Hornee. 
 
 Parliament met on the 21st of January, and the 
 session continued to the 4th of July. Although Mr. 
 Horner did not take a prominent part in any of the 
 greater subjects which came under discussion, he took 
 a more active share in the public business than he 
 had done in the preceding session, and spoke upon 
 several minor questions. 
 
 On the 25th of January, Mr. Bankes, as chairman 
 of a committee that had been appointed to inquire 
 into the subject of offices in reversion, moved for 
 leave to bring in a bill to prevent the granting of 
 offices in reversion f; and Mr. William Dundas having 
 on that occasion stated that, " When the abolition of 
 offices, and the limitation of the prerogative of the 
 Crown with respect to them, were talked of, he could 
 
 * One of the Judges of the Court of Session. 
 
 f See the proceedings on the same subject on the 24th March, 1807, 
 page 385. 
 
 VOL. I. E E
 
 418 HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
 
 1808. not help recollecting the instance of a distinguished 
 iEx. 30. character in that House, he meant the late Mr. 
 Burke, who had been most active in the early part 
 of his political career in reforming and abolishing 
 offices, and in limiting the prerogative of the Crown, 
 and who lived to lament and condemn all those re- 
 forms, abolitions, and limitations," Mr. Horner de- 
 fended the memory of Mr. Burke: — " He rose," he 
 said, "for the purpose of repelling the aspersions which 
 had been thrown upon the memory of one of the 
 proudest ornaments of this or any other country, by 
 the inconsiderate observations of the right hon. 
 gentleman. He denied that the latter part of Mr. 
 Burke's life went in any way to invalidate or contra- 
 dict the sincerity of his earlier efforts. Those who 
 were honoured with that great man's friendship, or 
 those who were acquainted with his very last work, 
 knew that he took honour and credit to himself, for 
 having pursued such measures as tended to every 
 species of economical reform; they knew that to the 
 latest hour of his splendid career, he was as zealous 
 and as sincere an enemy to rapine and public mal- 
 versation, as he was in the most vigorous period of 
 his memorable life. He thought this measure the 
 more valuable, not because it bore upon the preroga- 
 tive of the crown, but because it was a measure of 
 reform ; and that, perhaps, was the very reason of the 
 right hon. gentleman's opposition to it." : 
 
 # 
 
 * Mr. Horner never published any of his speeches in parliament, and, 
 except on two occasions that will be noticed in the sequel, he does not 
 appear to have corrected the report of any one. Those which are re- 
 ferred to, or given at length, in the present work, have been taken from 
 Hansard's Debates ; in most instances these reports are very brief, and 
 convey little more than the general scope and line of argument of the 
 speech. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 419 
 
 Letter CXI. TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 My dear Jeffrey The Temple, 17th February, 1808. 
 
 There is no chance (I fear) of my being able 
 to write any thing for you next time, because the 
 whole month of March I shall be riding the circuit, 
 and till I set out I have my hands full. If I can 
 meet with any person whom I can induce to assist 
 you, and who is worthy of being admitted by you as 
 an auxiliary, I will not forget your necessities. Since 
 Malthus has begun to contribute, I hope it will not 
 be for want of solicitation on your part, if he does not 
 continue to supply you with articles. Of all subjects, 
 political economy is at present the most productive of 
 useful publications, and though his general views are 
 sometimes imperfect, he is always candid, and an 
 advocate for what he believes to be most liberal and 
 generous. You are good enough to ask me to 
 recommend some subjects to you ; I have long been a 
 truant from literature, and find very little leisure to 
 read any thing but black-letter and parliamentary 
 accounts. But I mil try to recollect some of your 
 omissions, which ought to be supplied. 
 
 There is Home Tooke's work on language, of 
 which we talked long ago; a very fit subject for 
 yourself, not because you have the learning that 
 some would think indispensable, but because what 
 is in truth required for improving that speculation 
 is a more enlarged knowledge of metaphysics, and 
 of the relations of the different sciences, than the 
 acute inventor is himself possessed of. Dr. Jamie- 
 son's new work on etymology would give occasion 
 for quite a different sort of dissertation; not on 
 the philosophy of grammar, but on the actual his- 
 
 e e 2 
 
 1808. 
 J£t. 30.
 
 420 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. tory of the languages of Europe, with many curious 
 ^ T 30 illustrations of the philosophical history of manners 
 and customs among the common people. The tra- 
 ditionary preservation of so many catholic, and even 
 the most ancient pagan, rites of superstition among 
 the children and old women of your presbyterian 
 country, is very whimsical, and must be very mor- 
 tifying to the serious and feeble. 
 
 The mention of the Presbyterians puts me in mind 
 of a book, which I read last summer, and which has 
 not been reviewed yet ; the Memoirs of Colonel Hutch- 
 inson, one of Charles the First's judges, by his widow. 
 It is a composition of much merit in various respects, 
 and would give you an excellent opportunity for that 
 characteristic criticism, which you ought to be very 
 vain of ; the personages who play what they thought a 
 most important part in that day, are brought forward 
 with strong effect ; and the fanaticism of the times exhi- 
 bited so far in a new light, that you see it in alliance with 
 elegance of manners and accomplishments, mitigated 
 by them, and corrupting them. If you could review 
 Mrs. Hutchinson without quizzing her, which I rather 
 doubt, you might give a very gratifying and useful 
 impression, of the practicability of accommodating 
 even to the sternest times of civil war, the same 
 domestic virtues, and the same love of letters and the 
 arts, which thrive best, no doubt, in tranquillity. 
 I do not mean that those times are coming to us ; we 
 shall live on in the tranquillity of a vulgar servitude 
 and degeneracy. In the spring you will have many 
 fine subjects ; Campbell, I am told by his friends 
 Richardson and Charles Bell, has written a charming 
 poem of narrative and description ; and Scott, of 
 course, will be very vehement with irregular success. 
 I hope you will review them with your own hand;
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 421 
 
 nobody else has written a sentence of literature in lsos. 
 the Edinburgh Review that can be endured. iET.30. 
 
 I shall mention Buchanan's project to Mr. Wind- 
 ham, who inquired of me the other day if I knew any 
 thing about him. Encourage him by all means to try 
 the experiment, at least, of a newspaper in Scotland ; 
 though I doubt very much whether your advice of 
 mere impartiality will help him to a better sale, than 
 his own propensities of Whiggism. The latter has 
 but a poor chance in Scotland, and the former none 
 any where. The man had better be left to his own 
 opinions and inclinations ; for he will give them more 
 warmth and force, than if he writes impartially upon 
 system : a heavy monotonous fairness is the last thing 
 that people will read in their newspaper. People 
 read it to get their daily opinions and impressions; 
 it is now a necessary of life, especially in the country 
 towns ; and a man feels himself as awkward if he 
 walks out without his political creed for the day, as 
 if he wanted his breakfast. Newspapers are a new 
 means of influence to government in England; and 
 no set of ministers ever understood this more prac- 
 tically, than the present ; their indefatigable, sys- 
 tematic attention to the daily press is quite admir- 
 able : and the persevering activity with which the 
 most palpable lies, the most atrocious calumnies and 
 misrepresentations are circulated and repeated, after 
 every refutation, is irresistible. Nothing ever equalled 
 them, but the litterateurs of the French Revolution. 
 It sometimes strikes me as quite ludicrous, to see 
 the scrupulous, indolent leaders of our half-combined 
 party, make a few feeble efforts to oppose this torrent, 
 by good writing and virtuous indignation. 
 
 I had some thoughts of saying something about 
 politics before I ended this letter ; but I have no time, 
 
 e e 3
 
 422 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. and in truth little inclination. It is a subject in 
 ^Et.3o. which all the interest I now feel partakes of dejection 
 and disgust. I have no fears, like you, about con- 
 quest; but I see the progress of a base servitude so 
 rapid, and the degeneracy of the laws and constitution 
 is now so sensible, that I despair of any good being- 
 done by any exertion. 
 
 It was very kind to write to me ; pray let me hear 
 from you again very soon. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXII. TO JOHN ALLEN, ESQ. 
 Dear Allen, Wells, Thursday, April, 1808. 
 
 I thank you very much for your letter yester- 
 day ; not more for the information concerning the 
 characters of the men brought into power by this 
 revolution, than for the fit of hope which you have 
 given me, that it may possibly lead to good. It is a 
 doubtful and hazardous course, however, which the 
 Due d'Infantado has adopted for restoring liberty to 
 his country, by the assistance of such invaders as the 
 French troops are in the present age. And perhaps 
 the hazard and uncertainty lie chiefly in this, that 
 the further steps of such a course require harder and 
 coarser virtues than usually belong to such a cha- 
 racter as you describe the Due d'Infantado's to be. 
 As far as the individual is concerned, the success would 
 be so glorious, as to be worth every chance and danger ; 
 and there have been so few moments lately, when one 
 could find a pretext for indulging any hopes about the 
 politics of the world, that I find it very agreeable to 
 fall in with your sanguine expectations. It is so
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 423 
 
 pleasant to dream again. I shall leave this place to- i808. 
 night, and hope to have the pleasure of seeing you in Mt 30 
 a day or two. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXIII. TO JAMES LOCH, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Loch, Tem P le ' June 13 - 1808> 
 
 In consequence of my being in the country, 
 and my letters following me there and back again, I 
 did not receive those you have written to me lately in 
 their proper order. Two of them I have only now 
 received, and the other yesterday. I was down in 
 Buckinghamshire with Abercromby, at Lord Carring- 
 ton's ; and for four blessed days we were as idle in the 
 open air, as it was possible for two men to be. 
 
 I wish you would let me know to whom the King 
 made that notable remark about Mr. Fox's slovenliness 
 in writing notes. Your conviction that this was said 
 in order to give a tone to the court about the book*, 
 is a pleasant instance of the refinement you philoso- 
 phers are fond of, in imputing profound motives to 
 the most insignificant actions of great people. And 
 yet you may be right. I rather think, that the tone 
 of the courtiers is that of contempt for so flimsy and 
 slovenly a performance ; and, in the present circum- 
 stances, I am neither surprised nor sorry that they 
 have taken this turn. The attachment to principles 
 and examples of public liberty is so dead in this 
 country, and even the recollection of the old senti- 
 ments and sounds of the English language in that 
 
 * Mr. Fox's History of the early part of the Reign of James the 
 Second, published this year. 
 
 E E 4
 
 424 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. cause is so slight, that it is very natural for better 
 2$ T 30 people than the courtiers to regard a piece, which 
 breathes the very ardour of youth about freedom and 
 justice, as belonging to some remote age or country, 
 and having nothing to do with present interests or 
 present purposes. This is my reason for not being 
 surprised. And, very much from the same view of the 
 present state of public opinion, I am rather glad, that 
 the church and the Tories do not seem to think it 
 worth while to raise a cry against the book ; if it were 
 to be stigmatised now as a mere party pamphlet, 
 which would be a plausible criticism, an impression 
 might be given which would last a long while ; whereas, 
 if it is suffered to get into every library, and con- 
 sidered, for the present, as curious from the fame of 
 its author, rather than for its own merits, and as the 
 fragment of a history of antiquated times, the day may 
 once more return, when its immortal doctrines will be 
 cherished even in England, and the style will be ad- 
 mired as a singular, but not perfectly successful effort, 
 to recur to the purity of English writing, from the 
 false taste and affectation of the age. 
 
 I quite enter into your enthusiasm about Spain, 
 and, in spite of Abercromby, whose calmer and colder 
 judgment is an excellent bridle upon one's sanguine 
 expectations, I have been dreaming wild in the same 
 train of ideas. To speak as coldly as I can upon the 
 subject, I have not any strong hopes of success, even 
 if the circumstances be made the most of, and assisted 
 or guided in the most judicious manner. But, what- 
 ever the result may be, I cannot but rejoice that a 
 people, who bear such a name as the Spaniards, should 
 make a struggle, at least, for their independence ; the 
 example cannot be otherwise than beneficial, even if 
 they should entirely fail, to their posterity at some 
 future day, and to all the rest of mankind. It is the
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 425 
 
 most detestable of all the enormities into which Bona- 1808. 
 parte's love of dominion has plunged him ; and more ^ T . 30. 
 completely devoid, than any other, of all pretence of 
 provocation or security. If I were a Spaniard, I 
 should consider resistance, however desperate in its 
 chances of success, and however bloody in its imme- 
 diate operation, as an indispensable duty of discretion 
 and expediency ; to put the proposition in its most 
 frigid form of expression. 
 
 What the mode of our assistance from England 
 should be, is quite another question. To judge of it 
 in detail, would require more information than I have 
 been able to gather concerning the real state of affairs 
 in Spain. But my general principle would be, to 
 make at once a cessation of all hostilities, and to de- 
 clare to the Spanish nation, or to any provisional 
 government which the insurgents may establish, that 
 we renounce all projects against their colonies, as well 
 as all views whatever of dismemberment or partition 
 of any part of their dominion ; that so long as they 
 can maintain the struggle against France, they shall 
 have the most cordial support, and supplies of all that 
 is necessary. Indirect aid, I imagine, would be the 
 best; that is, money, arms, provisions, &c. ; for if the 
 thing is to be accomplished, it is not by regular war, 
 but by a protracted defence of the fastnesses of the 
 country, and by the valour and perseverance of the 
 Spaniards themselves. What a moment for a Spaniard 
 of political and military genius ! 
 
 I must take another time to answer your queries 
 about hydrosulphurets ; for I am afraid of being too 
 late for Sheridan's notice about Spain. Nobody could 
 tell me yesterday what he was to do, except that it 
 Avas something in concert with Canning. 
 
 Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 426 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. 
 jE T . 30. Letter CXIV. TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Jeffrey, Temple, 15th June, 1808. 
 
 The long interruption of our correspondence, 
 on my side, did not proceed from the motive which 
 you have assigned to it, and was not in any degree 
 designed ; but was the consequence of the little lei- 
 sure which is left me, and the difficulty I find in sit- 
 ting down to write, except upon the spur of a letter 
 just received. This proceeds much more from my 
 bad economy of time, than from any thing exclusive 
 in my other occupations. 
 
 I will not accept your flattering and tempting offer 
 to review Mr. Fox's book. It must be done with 
 more habilete than I have, and with greater impar- 
 tiality too than I should be able to observe. Will 
 you let me ask it, as a favour to me, that you will do 
 it yourself with some pains, and more than usual 
 care. It is rather important for the Review, that 
 this should be a distinguished article ; and it is more 
 important, for all good interests in England, that that 
 work should be received with a proper impression. I 
 have been collecting some observations and criticisms, 
 which I will write out and send to you, as materials 
 pour servi?', if you will make use of them. It is not 
 all mere admiration. I am going to read the book 
 once more, and will send you my remarks in a few 
 days. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Fka. Horner.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 427 
 
 1808. 
 Letter CXV. TO JAMES LOCH, ESQ. ^30. 
 
 My dear Loch, 01d Down > Jul ? 8 - 1808 - 
 
 Spain ! Spain ! I am in a fever till I bear 
 more about Dupont and the passes of the Sierra Mo- 
 rena. It will be desperate, if they have failed in 
 their first resistance, under favourable circumstances, 
 in the very sort of war upon which all their hopes 
 must rely. 
 
 Till we hear how they will bear to be blooded ; 
 how they can maintain themselves after want of suc- 
 cess ; it is hard to judge of the event. It is quite a 
 new experiment, in which the powers are for the 
 first time to be tried of a vast regular army, and an 
 enthusiastic people. The circumstances are very fa- 
 vourable on both sides; this is indeed the very 
 crisis of the fate of Europe, and the event (either 
 way) will perhaps be the most decisive test of the 
 genius and effects of the French Revolution. The 
 
 o m 
 
 one result would revive our original persuasion, in 
 its first ardour, that the people are not to be subdued 
 by foreign troops, unless the love of their country is 
 lost in a contempt of their government. The other 
 would sink me in final despair of ever living to see 
 prosperity or liberty again in any part of Europe, or 
 even of descrying, at any distance, the prospect of 
 their return. For even the military empire might 
 last ages, before its discipline degenerated ; and ages 
 more of darkness and idleness might protract the 
 shame and misery of Europe. Suppose all this to 
 take place, are you prophet enough to look beyond 
 such an abyss? Will the Tartars once more over-run 
 the West ? Is there a circulation in the peopling and 
 civilising of the world, an alternation like those
 
 428 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 ' 1808 - which prevail in its physical history ; so that Europe 
 &t. 31. is to oscillate from feudal institutions to military mo- 
 narchy, and to catch only a short interval of laws 
 and refinement, while it is passing from the one con- 
 dition into the other? And shall we have future 
 theories of the moral history of the earth, like Hutton's 
 system of its changes upon the surface, tracing back 
 many former transitions from civilisation to barbarism, 
 and presenting, in the future prospect, an endless, 
 irksome succession of the same changes ? 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXVI. TO HENRY HALL AM, ESQ. 
 My dear Hallam, Wells, 24th August, 1808. 
 
 I found your letter to-day upon my arrival ; 
 it had gone in quest of me to Bodmin. 
 
 The news from Spain for the last fortnight has been 
 admirable indeed ; much beyond my expectations, both 
 in respect of the success itself, and of the prudence by 
 which it has been secured. But it makes one quite 
 nervous to reflect, how much more prudence will for 
 a long course of time be required, how much wisdom, 
 too, both military and civil, and (what is the most 
 fearful condition of all) how great a stock of genuine 
 active patriotism, in order to accomplish entirely, 
 and permanently secure, the vast scheme which the 
 Spaniards have before them. 
 
 Like you, I have been reading a little in the language 
 of the country which we have been all thinking of so 
 much ; but the summer circuit does not, without more 
 self-denial than I have, allow much time for any regular 
 study. I brought with me that memoir of Jovellanos,
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 429 
 
 which, you may remember, was praised in one of Al- i808. 
 len's articles in the Edinburgh Review, as worthy of ^e t 31> 
 Turgot's pen. It contains many valuable details of the 
 agricultural economy of Spain, and is perfectly of the 
 liberal and enlightened school, in all general doctrines, 
 with the exception of one grand error upon the corn 
 trade ; for he is elaborately against exportation being 
 permitted. The language is very perspicuous, and 
 sometimes elegant ; formed upon the model of what 
 the French used to call their academic style. I have 
 read so little Spanish before this, as hardly to be 
 ready to say whether I agree with you or not, in 
 condemning even the little time that it requires to 
 learn it as wasted. I remember being very much 
 struck with the spirit and magnificence of some an- 
 cient ballads, which Lord Holland showed me in a 
 collection called Romancero, and the little I read 
 once of Zurita, the historian of Arragon, gave me a 
 desire to have leisure to read him all through : indeed, 
 I believe there are other pieces of history, written 
 while Spain had constitutions in actual operation, 
 that would be well worth studying, for the sentiments 
 with which they are composed, as well as for the 
 information to be collected respecting the history of 
 popular and representative government in modern 
 Europe. I should expect also to find the original 
 narratives of the discoverers and conquerors of the 
 New World extremely worth perusing in their own 
 language. The extracts which Robertson gives from 
 the letters of Cortes are excellent; and even in the 
 translation, the story of Bernal Diez has a very ori- 
 ginal and characteristic cast. 
 
 Have you seen the pamphlet of which I have been 
 reading extracts in the Morning Chronicle, called "A 
 plain statement of the conduct of the Ministry and
 
 430 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. the Opposition towards his Royal Highness the Duke 
 jEt.31. °f York," and supposed to be published under his 
 orders ? If it have really that authority, I shall bind 
 one forthwith with Burke's Causes of the Discontents ; 
 for if it has the Duke's sanction, it must have a still 
 higher permission. And it would be indeed a very 
 bold, but I do not for that conceive it a less likely 
 step, that in the extreme weakness of his old age, 
 (but to be sure when all the men of genius who kept 
 him at bay are no more,) he should at length ex- 
 pressly avow, what has been so uniformly charged 
 against him, and constantly denied ; the existence of 
 a "domestic party — a kind of closet and family 
 council, whom the monarch may occasionally inter- 
 pose between even his ministry and himself." These 
 are the words of the pamphlet. If it comes really 
 from the court, this publication marks a new era in 
 the history of our constitution. 
 
 I beg you will present my best regards to Mrs. 
 Hallam, and believe me ever very truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXVII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray ^he Temple, 16th September, 1806. 
 
 I am afraid you have set me down as a very 
 unkind one, for my long silence. I do not know how 
 it has happened, except that I have been meditating 
 several long letters on several different topics, and 
 that in the course of the circuit I never found an 
 interval of quietness sufficiently to myself for that 
 purpose. 
 
 While I was at Exeter, I received from you the 
 sheets of Jeffrey's review of Mr. Fox's History ; and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 431 
 
 before I had done with my travels, I wrote to him isos. 
 some remarks which had occurred to me. Since I Mt^si. 
 came to London, I find that the faults found with 
 that article are chiefly on account of some inconsis- 
 tencies; which are very intelligible to any one who 
 knows in what manner Jeffrey writes his reviews, and 
 with what carelessness in general he sets himself to 
 do what all the world fancy he undertakes with an 
 overwhelming sense of its importance. 
 
 Though some of the strictures which I have heard 
 upon the criticism of Mr. Fox's history are, I think, 
 well founded, the article pleased me very much, and 
 still pleases me in its principal parts. I do not know, 
 however, that it has occurred to you, but it has 
 struck me of late, and strongly upon reading that 
 piece, that though Jeffrey's powers of observation are 
 strengthened, and his delineation of sentiments still 
 more discriminating and refined, than when he first 
 began these publications, his style of writing has suf- 
 fered materially from the hurry in which he is usually 
 left to compose. Some of his best-thought passages 
 about Mr. Fox are composed with a clumsiness that 
 surprised me. 
 
 I mean this letter really as a sort of commence- 
 ment of correspondence, to break the spell which has 
 bound me ; and therefore I do not mean to go seriously 
 into any of the subjects about which I have so much 
 to write to you. I shall only touch them, and have 
 done. 
 
 I wish very much to hear, whether any commission 
 has yet passed the Great Seal, nominating the persons 
 who are to prosecute the further inquiries relative to 
 the improvements of the Scotch Judicature. I have 
 heard nothing of it ; but it is very likely that the first 
 I am to hear of it will be from Scotland. The chan-
 
 432 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. cellor is slow, without being sure; and I have always 
 iET.3i. suspected that there was a want of good faith in his 
 undertaking to reform. It must go quite against his 
 heart to make any change ; though there is nobody so 
 much addicted to the practice of criticising existing 
 institutions in the law with severity : an inconsistency 
 of character by no means rare. By the way, I should 
 not be sorry to hear what remarks are current at your 
 bar upon the new act ; it was something rash in me 
 to take the part I did, though I was very anxious and 
 scrupulous about all that I proposed, and contented 
 myself with securing the alterations that appeared to 
 me right, with less attempt at ostentation upon the 
 general subject than I originally intended, and per- 
 haps less than it would have been right for me to 
 have attempted. 
 
 I mean to write very soon again. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXVIII. TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ 
 My dear Jeffrey, Glastonbury, October, 1808. 
 
 I came here in the mail from London, before 
 dinner ; and have been enjoying a quiet evening in a 
 scene perfectly rural, and equally singular and beau- 
 tiful. The verdure of Somerset is now in all its 
 brilliancy; and if I had had you an hour ago with 
 me, looking at the red sunset upon the hills of Gla- 
 morganshire, with a storm collecting upon Mendip, 
 while immediately below us were the orchards and 
 neat cottages, and Abbey ruins of this curious town, 
 I think you might have been caught in a momentary 
 admiration even of English landscape.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 433 
 
 Will you adopt the suggestion I made yesterday, I8O8. 
 of an article in some early number of the Review, j Et 31 
 upon the probable fate of the principles of liberty and 
 good government upon the Continent? In our re- 
 moter views of the future, I fancy you and I come 
 nearer to a coincidence than the terms in which we 
 might compare our opinions would seem to show; 
 while you, with a just caution and some mixture of 
 despondency, suggest ultimate objects as what ought 
 to be aimed at; and I, with more of sanguine cre- 
 dulity, and more too of indolence, would describe 
 them as events which are steadily accomplishing 
 themselves, . and which will be realised as the result of 
 a course which has never been suspended, but of 
 which it is in truth the acceleration that has occa- 
 sioned all this alarming violence — 
 
 " Kind nature the embryo blossoms will save." 
 
 All this, in my romancing, is equally probable, at a 
 greater or less distance of time, whatever turn the im- 
 immediate posture of affairs upon the Continent may 
 assume. I do not allow myself to be very sanguine 
 about that, for I find the best judges of such matters 
 do not hope. Every thing, it is now manifest, depends 
 upon the great operation upon the Danube ; and the 
 issue of that will either spread one conflagration over 
 Europe, or plunge it once more, and until another 
 crisis of similar uncertainty, in sullen submission. 
 
 Always truly yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 vol. 1. FF
 
 434 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. 
 JEt.31. Letter CXIX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Murray Carnatic Office, 27th October, 1808. 
 
 The sight of your hand-writing once more 
 gave me very great joy this morning. Since I wrote 
 my last letter to you, in which I said something 
 about Jeffrey's review of Mr. Fox's work, I have not 
 looked into either, so that I cannot immediately re- 
 collect those parts of the criticism, which had struck 
 me as being composed with less care and ease, than 
 Jeffrey's style usually bears upon the face of it. But 
 if I am not mistaken, those reflections at the begin- 
 ning of the Review, upon the effect of political habits 
 on the moral feelings, and which are well founded in 
 great justness of observation, seemed to me to be 
 clumsily expressed. But I will read them over again, 
 and tell you whether I adhere to that criticism. 
 
 I do not know Avhy Mr. Fox has not taken any notice 
 of the charge against Algernon Sydney, of receiving 
 money from the French court. For though the de- 
 tails of that part of Charles the Second's reign, do not 
 enter into the plan of his preliminary sketch, yet he 
 has dwelt so much upon Sydney's character, that it 
 would have been natural, and perhaps was necessary, 
 to advert to this very serious accusation. You will 
 think me very Whiggish, for saying I do not believe 
 it. Algernon Sydney is not quite a hero with me ; 
 he wanted many of the graces, and even virtues, that 
 are necessary for the full perfection of that character. 
 But he is a martyr, and you know my superstition ; 
 indeed it is not a Ions; while since I went to his shrine 
 at Penshurst, and looked upon his image with all 
 the raptures of a pilgrim. So that you perceive I 
 am in a very unfit state of mind, to receive your allu-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 435 
 
 sion to that calumnious story. Do you believe it to 1808. 
 be true? ^ T# 31 , 
 
 I have been more Whiggish than ever, all this 
 summer; for I have been full of sanguine expect- 
 ations, and, as far as I know myself, that is the 
 state of mind in which I am most liable to think of 
 politics. Some of my most confidential Whigs have 
 treated me all along as too sanguine and somewhat 
 Quixotic; and, to be sure, my castles were in Spain. 
 Even still, my views of what the result is probably to 
 be, are more confident than what I can find people 
 ready to approve of. Spain seems to me now to be 
 quite secure from ultimate subjugation by France, 
 even if large French armies should once more pene- 
 trate the country, and gain general battles ; and 
 indeed, from all I can observe of Bonaparte's conduct 
 with respect to that country, or guess from com- 
 paring it with other measures of his policy, I am 
 much inclined to believe that he has for the present 
 relinquished the project. What a triumph for the 
 principles of liberty is this revolution in Spain, and 
 its extensive influence upon the present and future 
 fortunes of the world ! It may even make those prin- 
 ciples be felt and regarded by men of property and 
 education in this country, and deliver them from the 
 suspicion and derision to which they are at present 
 exposed. 
 
 I passed a few days lately with Petty, in the beau- 
 tiful country where he has taken an old house in the 
 midst of old trees ; and I cannot tell you how much I 
 am pleased with Lady Louisa. I believe you saw 
 her ; so I need say nothing of her beauty. The gen- 
 tleness of her maimer has a degree of shyness joined 
 with it, but not the least reserve ; so that you soon 
 discover her good and well-informed understanding. 
 
 f f 2
 
 436 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. She takes as much interest in his particular objects 
 iET.3i. and pursuits as is natural and proper. I could not 
 fancy a wife better suited to him. They made no 
 stranger of me, and allowed me to see how they lived 
 daily ; he went on, for instance, with the book 
 which he was then reading through of an evening to 
 her. Their scheme seemed to me very rational and 
 tranquil, and likely, as far as depend upon themselves, 
 to insure them an uniform happiness ; I am only 
 apprehensive of her health, which seems to require 
 much attention. 
 
 I went down on Saturday last with Whishaw to 
 Hertford, on a visit to Malthus and little Hamilton.* 
 The Pundit is very happy, and gets very fat ; in two 
 years' time, I take it, he will have a figure in which it 
 will be hard to say which is length, and which breadth, 
 and which thickness. In a little comfortless lodging, 
 I found him with Sanscrit proof sheets of a grammar, 
 sitting in the most perfect content, and ready to 
 discuss any proposition. He is very much liked, as 
 he may well be, by every body, for his sense and his 
 temper. I do not know that you have ever seen 
 Malthus ; remember, next time you come to England, 
 that I make you acquainted with him ; Whishaw, who 
 has known him long very intimately, says he is one 
 of the very best of men ; and that you know is the 
 judgment of Ehadamanthus ; and there is no man 
 with Avhom I like better to converse upon controverted 
 subjects; not that he is remarkably original in such 
 extenrpore exercises, or even satisfactory always in 
 his manner of communicating his views, but then he 
 has the mere love of truth, for which I would willingly 
 exchange, when you come to serious matters, all the 
 
 * See note, p. 186.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 437 
 
 Versatility, dexterity and eloquence that can be dis- isos. 
 played in the famous sport, which is so much practised j EiT 31# 
 at our learned university. I know this looks like a 
 decision in favour of dulness ; and so the ingenious 
 gentleman would think it. You have seen in 
 Malthus's review of Kewenham's Population of 
 Ireland, some statement of those views of his with 
 regard to the cheapness of the food of the common 
 people, which we discussed together two years ago, 
 and particularly, if I remember right, going from 
 Eagland to Abergavenny. I think in this review 
 you find the defect to which I have already alluded, 
 and which affects all Malthus's writings ; a want of 
 precision in the statement of his principles, and 
 distinct perspicuity in upholding the consequences 
 which he traces from them. 
 
 I am going to dine with Jeremy Bentham and Colo- 
 nel Burr, and am very curious to see what sort of 
 mixture will result from putting together pure philo- 
 sophy and Yankee treason. 
 
 When you write to me pray let me hear of George 
 Stewart*, and whether he is thought likely to live. 
 My heart bleeds for Stewart. I am going to remove 
 forthwith from Garden Court to Lincoln's Inn. 
 Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXX. FROM FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 My dear Homer Edinburgh, 6th December, 1808. 
 
 I see by the Courier that the combustion which 
 the review of Cevallosf has excited here has spread 
 
 * Sou of Mr. Dugald Stewart, then dangerously ill. — Ed. 
 
 ■f The article here alluded to was generally understood to have been 
 
 F F 3
 
 438 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. in some degree to London. I am convinced, too, that 
 ./Et.31. ^ has damaged us a little; and am so much per- 
 suaded that it is necessary for us to make more than 
 an ordinary exertion at this crisis, that I take courage 
 to do that which is now very painful to me — to soli- 
 cit your aid in my day of need. The Tories having 
 got a handle are running us down with all their 
 might ; and the ghosts of all the miserables we have 
 slain are rising to join the vengeance. Walter Scott 
 and William Erskine, and about twenty-five persons of 
 consideration, have forbidden the Review to enter their 
 doors. The Earl of Buchan, I am informed, opened 
 his street door, and actually kicked it out! Then, 
 Cumberland is going to start an anonymous rival ; 
 and, what is worse, I have reason to believe that Scott, 
 Ellis, Frere, Southey, and some others are plotting 
 another. You must see, therefore, that it is really ne- 
 cessary for us now to put on a manful countenance, and 
 to call even the emeriti to our assistance. I entreat 
 you to do an article for me during the holidays. We 
 shall scarcely be out before the end of January, and 
 I might even give you the Avhole of that month, if you 
 need it. Now, I do think that you would give me 
 100/. if I was in great need of it; and this will cost 
 you less work than you could do for 50/. for any 
 knave of a solicitor : and it is of infinitely more conse- 
 quence and gratification to me than any 100/. could 
 be. Persuade yourself for once then, my dear 
 Horner, that this is not a solicitation of custom, but 
 that I make it with as much real anxiety and earnest- 
 ness, and as much dread of a refusal, as if I were ask- 
 ing a pecuniary boon. You shall have your choice, 
 of course, of a subject ; but I wish you would put 
 
 written by Mr. Brougham, and is headed " Don Pedro Cevallos on the 
 French Usurpation in Spain." Vol. xiii. p. 215. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 439 
 
 your notes and notions of Malthus together at last. It isos. 
 is a fine subject; and you are in a manner pledged Mt 3L 
 to it. But if you can think of any thing more popu- 
 lar or striking, take it — only no party politics, and 
 nothing but exemplary moderation and impartiality 
 on all politics. I have allowed too much mischief to 
 be done from my mere indifference and love of sport ; 
 but it would be inexcusable to spoil the powerful in- 
 strument we have got hold of, for the sake of teazing 
 and playing tricks. Tell me, too, what you think I 
 should do myself. I grow stupid from day to day ; 
 but I will cheerfully dedicate the holidays to this ser- 
 vice, if you will condescend to guide me. 
 
 I would gladly write you something more amusing, 
 but I am over head and ears in session papers, and am 
 dying of sleep. Murray tells me that you have still 
 hopes of Spain. I have despaired utterly, from the 
 beginning ; and do not expect that we are ever to see 
 10,000 of our men back again — probably not 5000. 
 The prospect is monstrous, and startles even my pub- 
 lic apathy ; but it is well to know what it is really. 
 Murray will have told you all about our two courts, 
 and the state of matters here. The club is cordial 
 and vigorous, and the faithful steadfast, as becomes 
 them. Do send me a line of comfort, and believe me, 
 in infinite haste and stupidity, 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 F. Jeffrey. 
 
 f f 4
 
 440 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1808. 
 .Et.31. 
 
 Letter CXXI. TO THE REV. JOHN HEWLETT. 
 Mv dear Sir Lincoln's Inn, December, 1808. 
 
 I return the three first sheets of your great 
 undertaking*, with many thanks for your permission 
 to me to have the pleasure of reading them. I fear 
 it is not the proper word to use in mentioning such 
 a work, but your notes have afforded me much enter- 
 tainment, especially your history of the old serpent 
 and his catholic church. Though a very serious 
 task, you must find it a very interesting labour, in 
 the way you pursue it; you can so diversify it, 
 between researches that carry you into the most re- 
 condite curiosities of ancient history, and reflexions 
 of a more general scope, upon the expression of which 
 no degree of care in composition would appear mis- 
 placed. Will you allow me to say, that I am par- 
 ticularly satisfied with your supplementary observa- 
 tions on Genesis, chapter iii. In the present day, 
 one is so sickened on all sides with the bigotry and 
 intolerance that prevail in the discussions of all sorts 
 of subjects, that there is a real enjoyment or rather 
 refreshment, if I may so say, in finding a rational 
 liberality and moderation ; and that upon a subject in 
 which infinitely more than in any other, to speak of 
 it in a mere worldly light, bigotry or moderation have 
 always affected, one way or the other, the happiness 
 and tranquillity of mankind. 
 
 I have not been from home since I saw you, and 
 shall not go out for some days yet; so I hope you 
 will excuse me for not being able to have the pleasure 
 
 * His edition of the Bible with notes, in three volumes quarto. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 441 
 
 of dining with you to-morrow. Give my best regards 1809. 
 to Mrs. Hewlett, and believe me always, my dear sir, JEiT 31 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXII. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 My dear Seymour, Lincoln's Inn, 7th January, 1809. 
 
 I was not prepared to expect that poor George 
 Stewart would be so soon relieved from his sufferings, 
 though I looked upon the melancholy event as in- 
 evitable. You will believe that I shall be anxious to 
 hear now and then of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. Her 
 sorrow will be more lasting, I fear, and incurable ; for 
 no distress or calamity can be greater than hers. 
 But I am apprehensive about the first excesses of his 
 grief, in a constitution of such strong and sanguine 
 affections. I know not when I should venture to 
 write to him ; from which I have abstained during the 
 period of his poor son's illness, except at that momen- 
 tary interval of apparent recovery which is always so 
 delusive in this disease : — 
 
 " Visa tamen tardi demum inclementia niorbi 
 Cessare est, reducemque iterum roseo ore salutem 
 Speravi" 
 
 a passage which I have heard Mr. Stewart read with 
 the most touching expression, but which he will never 
 be able to read again. About writing to him, I wish 
 you, who are upon the spot, to direct me; after a 
 while, he may take some interest in the details of 
 public news, or be tempted to amuse himself with 
 new books ; and as soon as there would be any real 
 kindness, and no unpleasant intrusion, in supplying 
 him with these, I should be happy to make a duty of 
 such attentions to him. I shall rely, therefore, upon 
 being guided by your hints.
 
 442 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809 - If the last number of the " Journal de Physique " 
 
 2Et.31. (for October, 1808,) is arrived in Edinburgh, let me 
 recommend to you a report, made by Cuvier and Sa- 
 batier, on Dr. Gall's anatomical discoveries, at the 
 direction of the Institute of France.* It is not upon 
 the subject of his foolish craniology ; but upon those 
 particular views of the system of the brain and nerves, 
 upon which, as the foundation, he conceives himself to 
 have erected the solid fabric of his other speculations. 
 This memoir is full of anatomical minutice ; but I 
 wish you to examine it as a piece of logic — a sort of 
 scientific decree or judgment — reasoned upon the 
 principles of the inductive method, in which the 
 judges, by the test of those principles, laboriously 
 separate ascertained physical facts from loose evidence 
 and the adulteration of metaphysical fallacies. I have 
 been a good deal struck with the excellent manner of 
 the report in these respects ; but I do not recommend 
 it the less to you as an exercise, because I thought 
 there were one or two passages in which they did not 
 strictly, or, at least, perspicuously enough, keep to the 
 line of demarcation between the phenomena of ana- 
 tomy and those of mind. But I fear the little I ever 
 knew of these subjects is become less by long disuse. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXIII. TO MRS. DUGALD STEWART. 
 My dear Mrs. Stewart, Lincoln's Inn, 25th January, 1809. 
 
 I should have written to you this day, even if 
 I had not received your kind letter; for I had the 
 
 * Rapport sur un Memoire de MM. Gall et Spurzheim, relatif a 
 l'Anatomie du Cerveau — Commissaires, MM. Tenon, Portal, Sabatier, 
 Pinel, et Cuvier. Journal de Physique, tome Ixvii., Octobre, 1808. — Ed.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 443 
 
 pleasure to hear from Ward of your being in good 1809 - 
 health, as well as Mr. Stewart. And this relief to iEx.3i. 
 me was the more complete, by hearing at the same 
 time that you were gone into the country. Lord 
 AVebb has been very attentive in easing my anxiety 
 about you from time to time ; and he could not do me 
 a more real kindness. 
 
 I am very much comforted by the account you give 
 me of Mr. Stewart's health. And, on every public as 
 well as private account, I rejoice at the resolution he 
 has formed to quit the college after this winter ; for 
 though I never think of the decline of that institution 
 without a melancholy regret, yet its fall is now in- 
 evitable, and the continuation of its best remaining 
 advantages would be no compensation to the public 
 for a delay in the execution of Mr. Stewart's other 
 plans, or to those who love him and you, for your 
 losing that freedom and power of retirement which 
 you know so well how to enjoy. I shall regret only 
 Mr. Playfair's solitude ; but he is in the mean time 
 establishing a new reputation, in addition to what he 
 possessed before ; and it is some triumph to expect, 
 that the last glory of the college will be the exertion 
 of those who protested against the system which has 
 destroyed it. 
 
 There is nothing new, I think, to-day ; when any 
 thing occurs, I will write you a little note. Though in 
 truth I have not much heart for politics ; and find 
 myself more alienated than you would believe from 
 the immediate questions and objects. It is not that I 
 despair of what is to be the ultimate result ; but there 
 is such a prospect in this country of an interval, 
 during which no exertions will avail, that it requires 
 an iron fortitude to keep up one's interest in the de- 
 tails that are passing. I never felt any pleasure in
 
 444 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. the game itself, and care only for the object ; and 
 2Et. 31. indeed if it were otherwise, there is so little capacity 
 in any of the actors among us, and such a tone of 
 illiberality in the successful ones, that my feelings as 
 a spectator are often the very reverse of being plea- 
 surable. 
 
 I believe you are in the neighbourhood of Minto. 
 When you see any of that family, may I beg you will 
 present my respects to them : I have always regretted 
 that they left London so soon after I had the good 
 fortune to make their acquaintance. With affectionate 
 remembrances to Mr. Stewart, I am ever, 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXIV. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear MurraY Lincoln's Inn, 26th January, 1809. 
 
 I cannot let another day end, without thanking 
 you for your letter of last Sunday. It gives me the 
 most gratifying proof of that personal kindness, 
 which is one of my chief comforts and pleasures in 
 life. Fame, even reputation, are things too big for 
 me ; but the possession of them would not fill me 
 with so much satisfaction as does your solicitude 
 about them for me. Your indulgence, I well know, 
 has no mixture of intended flattery; perhaps it will 
 spoil me as much as if it were. But be its effects 
 what they may, in blinding your judgment or mine, 
 I delight to enjoy your partiality as such, and have 
 more gladness of heart from it, than if I were to earn 
 the successes that you would have me believe are not 
 out of my reach. 
 
 Besides yourself, I can perceive that the more par-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 445 
 
 tial of my friends think me wrong in not making an 1809. 
 attempt to speak in the House of Commons; while ^ T 31 
 the rest have given me up as incapable. Sometimes, 
 I have been for a moment upon the point of agreeing 
 with the latter in their opinion upon the subject, for 
 every one has his moments of honesty and self-con- 
 fession. But, upon the whole, I am willing to believe 
 that I might have done better, and that I have reason 
 to reproach myself with a want of proper exertion. I 
 have better resolutions for the present session ; of 
 which we shall see what may come. It would be an 
 idle history of indolence, fastidiousness, dread of 
 failure, &c, were I to give you my apologies for not 
 making the trial on several occasions. There have 
 been some discouragements of a different nature ; the 
 petty war of political personalities is exceedingly irk- 
 some to me, it disgusts rather than irritates me, 
 (being personally not implicated), and I have wit- 
 nessed but little else since I sat in the House. I 
 suspect too that I have not nerves for a hopeless 
 unavailing struggle, where I have a contempt for my 
 antagonists, and more than suspect the unfairness of 
 their fighting. Then I have a great dislike for the 
 audience in that place, in their present temper of 
 stupid illiberality. I am made, or educated, for the 
 sunshine of an improving community ; and have not 
 yet acquired the habits and resolutions that are more 
 suitable to the present state of this country. I am 
 learning them a little ; and there is not one motive I 
 have assigned for my silence in Parliament, that does 
 not, I own, admit of a complete answer. I have one 
 still to assign, which probably has but too just a 
 foundation : my dread of finding it an effort above 
 me, to discuss a large subject in public after many 
 speakers, and with numerous details and arguments
 
 446 HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
 
 1809. to manage. I have never made the experiment, and 
 Mr. 31. perhaps I should sink in the first attempt; though I 
 am perfectly convinced that the power is to be acquired 
 by practice, since men of very humble talents have 
 acquired it. This, I take it, is the real cause, though 
 confirmed and coloured by the others I have men- 
 tioned. Of course, you would not put me upon 
 making a set speech, though fame for a day is to be 
 had in that way ; and rather than give such an ex- 
 press demonstration of my incapacity for business, I 
 would sit contentedly under the doubts which my 
 friends might continue to entertain of me. 
 
 God bless you, my dear Murray, and believe me 
 ever affectionately yours, 
 
 Fka. Horner. 
 
 The session of Parliament had commenced on the 
 19th of January, and it was prorogued on the 21st of 
 June. Notwithstanding his " better resolutions," he 
 still held back from taking any prominent part in the 
 debates ; for, except on one occasion, his speeches this 
 session occupy a very limited space in the columns of 
 Hansard. On the 13th of June, the Scotch Judicature 
 Bill was under consideration, and Mr. Horner is re- 
 ported as having spoken " at considerable length, 
 upon a great and oppressive defect existing in the 
 mode of proceeding in the Court of Session, for which 
 the Bill then before the House afforded no remedy ; 
 viz. the necessity under which suitors were placed, 
 when answering the allegations of their opponents, of 
 first taking out copies of all the elaborate pleadings 
 required to be entered by the other side. These 
 pleadings, he said, in some instances that came 
 within his knowledge, amounted to a volume of 1500
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 447 
 
 pages; and he had known instances where, though 1809. 
 the sum in litigation did not exceed 200/. or 300/., j^ T 3L 
 the fees of Court alone amounted to from 500/. to 
 700/." 
 
 Letter CXXV. TO LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 My dear Seymour Lincoln's Inn, 27th January, 1809. 
 
 I had a letter from Mrs. Stewart two days ago, 
 and have since written to her at Mount Tiviot. Her 
 account upon the whole is satisfactory, both of Mr. 
 Stewart and herself. She informs me, that he has at 
 last determined, and openly declared his intention, of 
 lecturing no more after the present winter. I think 
 this resolution quite right. Thirty-eight years of 
 service would justify him, even if he were retiring 
 from all public duty ; but he has engagements to the 
 public and to posterity, which he ought no longer to 
 delay fulfilling, and for which he will thus secure 
 himself an ample command of leisure. I am pleased, 
 besides, with the hope, that he may be tempted to em- 
 ploy some part of it in England, and that I shall have 
 some opportunities of seeing him. 
 
 I hear faint and distant rumours of immense dis- 
 coveries in chemistry, which I eagerly wish I had the 
 means of knowing and following ; but it has pleased 
 the gods to dispose of me otherwise, for no good to 
 others, and for less enjoyment to myself. I hear, 
 however, of Davy, Berzelius, and others, from Ten- 
 nant occasionally ; and their late successes appear truly 
 wonderful and immensely important. How happens 
 it, that Edinburgh contributes nothing to these dis- 
 coveries, with all the study and zeal that prevail there 
 for this science ?
 
 448 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. Will you listen for a moment to a difficulty which 
 
 jBj.,31. I wish to have solved, in a very large speculation, but 
 one with which you must be very conversant ? Since 
 the modern astronomers completed the Newtonian 
 system of the universe, and ascertained all the apparent 
 irregularities to be periodical and constant, we have 
 been led to the proposition, that all the revolutions of 
 the system are uniform, and repeated in a certain 
 order. The views of geology which have been opened 
 by the Huttonian manner of treating that science, 
 point to the same conclusion, with regard to the 
 changes that happen to the surface of this planet; 
 which would appear to be repeated in a certain uniform 
 succession, and are not progressive either from an 
 ascertained origin, or towards a probable end. But is 
 there not one difficulty in the way of this general con- 
 clusion, on account of the chemical composition of the 
 substances of which the surface of the earth consists ? 
 If every earth is an oxyd, the oxy elation has been 
 progressive; and going back through the whole suc- 
 cession of compositions that have been effected, one 
 would be led up (within the limits of definite dura- 
 tion) to the first instance in this series, to the first 
 union of oxygen with the first metal that was oxydated. 
 I have no doubt that the principle of periodic revo- 
 lution will be found to prevail throughout nature ; but 
 I cannot state to myself in what manner this apparent 
 exception is to be reduced under it. Probably I am 
 talking nonsense all this while ; if there appears to 
 you to be any reason in the speculation, but that I have 
 not sufficiently explained myself, I will try again. It 
 is rash in me now-a-days to " tempt with wandering 
 feet the dark unbottomed infinite abyss ;" but in mak- 
 ing an escape from the subjects to which I ought to 
 confine myself, and trying an excursion once more
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 449 
 
 " through the palpable obscure," I feel the gladness 1809. 
 and vanity of an old man who tries to repeat the ^Et. 31 
 scenes of his young days. 
 
 I am ever, my dear Seymour, 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXVI. FROM THE REV. JOHN HEWLETT. 
 My dear Sir Hunter Street, 8th February, 1809. 
 
 I enclose you the Remarks on the subject of 
 Hebrew Numerals, &c. * ; and you know how much I 
 value your sentiments on any thing connected with 
 literature and science. I dare not trespass too much 
 on your time, which is extremely valuable ; but you 
 will oblige me by devoting half an hour to the sub- 
 ject, and giving me your candid opinion. Tell me, if 
 you think any thing is deficient, redundant, irrele- 
 vant, or inconclusive ; and particularly, tell me, if you 
 think there is any thing in the paper that can possibly 
 offend the rational friends of the Church, as well as 
 Christianity. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Yours most faithfully, 
 
 J. Hewlett. 
 
 Letter CXXVII. TO THE REV. JOHN HEWLETT. 
 Mv dear Sir Lincoln's Inn, 9th February, 1809. 
 
 I cannot conceive there should be the least 
 chance of your giving offence to the rational friends 
 
 * Hewlett's Bible, Numbers, chapter i., note to verse 46., " Even 
 all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three 
 thousand and five hundred and fifty." — En. 
 
 VOL. I. G G
 
 450 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. of the Church, by this valuable and curious dissert- 
 j Et gl at ion. If it be liable to objection, that must be in 
 common with every attempt that can be made to 
 settle, or correct, or elucidate the text of the Scrip- 
 tures. In the present times, so peculiarly unfavour- . • 
 able to all kinds of free inquiry, persons may be 
 found, no doubt, who would dread, even if it were 
 now to be done for the first time, that there should 
 be any use of reason upon such subjects ; they are 
 persons who would have been hostile to the Protestant 
 Reformation itself. No good would ever be accom- 
 plished, if the influence, and even the malignity, of 
 such persons were not wholly disregarded by those 
 who love truth, and employ their labours in the dis- 
 covery and cultivation of it. 
 
 This subject of the Numerals, and (that which 
 introduces it) the population of Israel, seem both 
 involved in very great difficulties ; which probably 
 admit of no better solution, than by approximations 
 more or less ingenious. Is not the number 16,539, 
 to which, upon one supposition, the number of the 
 eleven tribes would be reduced, smaller than is likely 
 to have been the fact ; and inconsistent with what is 
 said throughout Joshua, with regard to the 40,000 
 men who were brought into the field? And is it not 
 against this hypothesis that the total sum in this 
 passage not only agrees with the particular items 
 recited, but with the total given in other passages, 
 not onl) r that which you quote, but also in Exodus, 
 xii. 37., and likewise with particulars mentioned in 
 such passages as 2 Chronicles, xiii. 3.; xiv. 8.; xvii. 
 from 12. to the end; xxv. 5.; and xxvi. 12. and 13. 
 All these passages are so consistent, that perhaps 
 one mode of conjectural emendation Avould apply 
 equally to them all, and still preserve their con-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 45 X 
 
 sistency; but if it fails to do so, is there not an argu- 1809. 
 ment from that against there being an error in the ^ T< 3L 
 text merely ? After all, is it to be wondered at if the 
 historians of Palestine manifest the same disposition 
 to exaggerate the numbers of their nation and of 
 their mighty men of valour, which is evinced by the 
 historians of all countries, especially in early times, 
 and by none more than by the learned of the 
 Egyptians, among whom Moses had studied? It 
 would no doubt be a remarkable and rare instance of 
 historical fidelity, if the numbers were really con- 
 sistent with probability ; and your endeavour to 
 remove the apparent exaggeration is in this respect 
 calculated, instead of offending the rational friends 
 of Christianity, to remove one of the popular but 
 slightest grounds of objection to the inspiration of the 
 whole text of the Pentateuch. I cannot suggest that 
 there is any deficiency in your statement; nor does 
 any part of it appear to me either redundant, or in 
 the least degree irrelevant. With respect to its 
 being conclusive, I have already ventured to point 
 out what would make it more strongly so to my 
 mind, owning, at the same time, that I think it most 
 likely the original author did greatly exaggerate. 
 Believe me ever 
 
 Yours most faithfully, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXVITI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, London, llth February, 1809. 
 
 I cannot help being uneasy till I hear of your 
 health. Unless you make yourself quite well, you 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. must not come up to London, and expose yourself to 
 2Et.31. a, U t ne ev il chances of late hours and hot rooms. 
 
 I have not changed my view of the Duke of York's 
 affair, since I wrote to you last; many more circum- 
 stances have come out in the evidence, which places 
 his guilt beyond all question, without yet carrying 
 the proof to the point of corrupt connivance, though 
 making that the most probable inference upon the 
 whole. My sense of the critical importance of the 
 proceedings that shall be had upon this case, is still 
 farther increased by a rumour which I have heard, 
 that the ministers and the Duke of York together 
 consider the matter as now brought to this alterna- 
 tive, resignation or impeachment, and that the Duke 
 will not resign. 
 
 I shall consider the impeachment of the Duke of 
 York by the House of Commons as the death-knell of 
 the constitution. It will keep the whole country in 
 a ferment for months ; the House of Lords will ac- 
 quit ; both houses will be looked upon by the public 
 as having concerted this acquittal : and then you have 
 the alternative to expect, of an entire prostration of 
 all public opinion and popular efforts before the 
 Crown, or a democratical anarchy of which no man 
 can see the end. I think these are distinct public 
 grounds upon which the House of Commons should 
 refuse to impeach the Duke ; because the present case 
 is one, not for punishment, but for future distrust 
 and immediate removal, both from the nature of the 
 evidence, and still more from the rank of the person. 
 I do think, that the ministers who advise an impeach- 
 ment as the means of ultimately screening the Duke 
 from the consequences of his conduct, will more crimi- 
 nally betray the public interests to serve an indi- 
 vidual, than by any other act of which, in the present
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 453 
 
 days, a minister can be guilty. The course for the 1809. 
 House of Commons seems to me to be clear; to ad- ^ T 31 
 dress, in the mildest and most general terms, convey- 
 ing their wish to the King, that he would remove the 
 Commander-in-Chief. I should like best to have it 
 done by an address of the Commons, because even the 
 formality and record of such a victory increase its 
 value, by attaching it to the merits of the constitu- 
 tional assembly ; but even this advantage I would 
 consent to relinquish, provided the substantial triumph 
 of public opinion is secured by the voluntary resigna- 
 tion of the Duke, so much do I dread the consequences 
 of a struggle between the Crown and the people. 
 
 Tell me what you think of these views, which I set 
 down very hastily, having only a few minutes to write 
 to you. I am very anxious to know if the light in 
 which I see the subject appears to you to be just. 
 Believe me ever affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXIX. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray Lincoln's Inn, 25th March, 1809. 
 
 Your brother has not given up all hopes yet 
 of your coming to town ; and I still think it possible 
 that the pleasure of travelling with Jeffrey may 
 tempt you to undertake the journey. For myself, I 
 do not know what to wish ; we meet so uncomfortably 
 at this season in London ; and if you come so late, 
 your stay will be too short to allow me any interval 
 of monopoly : however, you shall not have my autho- 
 rity for not coming, except upon the condition that, 
 somewhere or other in England or Scotland, we shall 
 contrive to pass the month of September together. 
 
 gg 3
 
 454 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. My wish is to come clown to Scotland; though I can- 
 JEt. 31. not foresee what arrangements it will be practicable 
 for me to make about the Carnatic Office, if I retain 
 my situation there so long: for I have thought of 
 resigning; it, when the business advances to a certain 
 stage, to which it "will probably be brought before that 
 time. I have been prevented from going the whole 
 of my circuit this time, except the last county; I 
 mean to go down to Taunton on Friday next, and as 
 the sessions are held the week after the assizes, I shall 
 be absent from London till about the 15th of April. 
 
 I am not surprised at the desponding tone in which 
 you express yourself respecting the conduct of the 
 majority of the House of Commons in the Duke of 
 York's question. At the same time, I do not feel the 
 same degree of despondency, because the conduct of the 
 House in general has been much more patriotic, and 
 the vote of the minority has been much more effective, 
 than I expected at the outset of this important in- 
 quiry, that either would be found to be. The prac- 
 tical measure has been obtained; and it can neither 
 be denied, nor fail to be attended with a beneficial 
 impression among all intelligent men, that this 
 practical result has been accomplished by the united 
 force of public opinion, and of the respectable mino- 
 rity in the House. Had that minority been less, the 
 Duke would not have resigned. That there should 
 have been such a majority upon such a question, and 
 in such a state of the public mind, is a disgrace to the 
 constitution; and strengthens all former conclusions 
 for diminishing the influence of the Crown, as well as 
 the arguments in favour of a place bill. But the 
 successful issue of the contest is a satisfactory de- 
 monstration of the vigour and virtue that still remain 
 in the constitution, infirm as it is.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 455 
 
 In the midst of the satisfaction, which I feel upon 1809. 
 the whole result of this affair, as it affects the po- jet.31. 
 pular interests of the constitution, I cannot dis- 
 guise from you that the part which the opposition 
 leaders have taken fills me with concern; because 
 there are no longer any men, not a single man in 
 the House of Commons, in whom, as a leader of 
 the popular party, I can repose confidence. But 
 this is a larger subject than I have time to ex- 
 plain myself upon at present ; I will take another 
 opportunity. This is entirely confidential ; for I would 
 not by a premature declaration of my apprehensions, 
 run the risk of hastening the event which I dread. 
 I am giving the most mature consideration to the 
 present state of parties, and to the probable course of 
 party relations, in order to be prepared for every 
 turn it may take, and to be sure that my conduct 
 will be right. I am so much a spectator only in the 
 business, that I am not likely to have much trouble 
 in attaining" a correct view of what that conduct 
 ought to be. 
 
 Believe me ever affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXX. FROM FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Horner, Edinburgh, 2d April, 1809. 
 
 You take your revenge of me now I am sure, 
 for you owe me at least three letters, and the first of 
 them a very urgent one : you have scarcely gone any 
 circuit either, I hear, and I am informed, from more 
 quarters than one, stand greatly in need of scolding 
 from any person who has courage to do you that good 
 office Why do you not make speeches, if you will 
 
 G G 4
 
 45G 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. not write reviews? I shall be very sorry to see you 
 JEt 3 j set clown decidedly among the country gentlemen, at 
 least till you have a rus of your own to console you ; 
 but I must tell you that your friends wonder at you, 
 and that our enemies are impertinent at your silence. 
 Do, my dear Horner, assume a more manly pride, and 
 trample this fastidiousness under your feet; make 
 yourself known for what you are, and at 31, and in 
 the crisis of Europe, do not still think of training 
 yourself for futurity. 
 
 You will answer me perhaps, I hope you will, that 
 you are busy with your profession ; but this is not a 
 sufficient answer for such a man, and at such a time. 
 You are in Parliament, and you are known to be in 
 Parliament ; nobody knows anything about your doings 
 in Westminster Hall, and your not doing elsewhere is 
 noted, and lamented. You owe it to your fame, and I 
 think to your country, to make some effort, and even 
 if you really think that could be the consequence, to 
 expose yourself in some degree in that duty. I am 
 inspired I believe to tell you all this, so I hope you 
 will receive it with proper reverence, for I cannot tell 
 what has led me to it. 
 
 I still hope to come and scold you in person, but I 
 get on so miserably with my Reviews, that I begin to 
 doubt; however I will come if I can spare but ten 
 days for you. It is necessary, I suspect, to appear 
 once in two years in London, to avoid falling under 
 your utter contempt : you neglect me already, I take 
 it, for this long rustication. Murray will not go at 
 all now. Thomson is with you by this time, and will 
 tell you all our news ; so I cannot choose a worse time 
 for writing. I do it mainly to reproach you, and to 
 give myself another chance of hearing from you. I 
 am myself incredibly idle ; and shall grow poor
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 457 
 
 apace, if I refuse as many fees as I have done out of 1809 - 
 pure indolence, this last Session. I expect an answer Mt.si. 
 still about my reviews, though I disdain to say any 
 thing more on the matter. If I am to think of re- 
 viewing Malthus myself, could you give me any notes 
 or ideas ? It is a pang to my heart to quit this hold 
 upon you, but it is idle I fear to hope for any thing 
 better, perhaps even for this ; — God mend you ! — 
 If you do not write me soon, I will send you an ounce 
 and a half every day by the post, till you plead. 
 Ever very affectionately yours, 
 
 F. Jeffeey. 
 
 I am reviewing Gertrude*, and praising her perhaps 
 a little too much con amove; but I do love her. Tell 
 me what you and the dotti of London have uttered by 
 your oracles on the subject. It is but rarely I consult 
 oracles. 
 
 Letter CXXXI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, Lincoln's Inn, 29th April, 1809. 
 
 You ask me how I like Nisi Prius and the 
 examination of witnesses? The very little business I 
 have had as yet on the circuit or sessions, has been 
 chiefly in the Crown Court ; and, speaking from that 
 little experience, I should say that the extrication of 
 the case you have to make out from witnesses, in the 
 presence of the Jury, and under the rules of evidence 
 by which we are bound, is one of the most agreeable 
 parts of our professional practice which I have tried. 
 I am more and more satisfied of the utility of going 
 
 * Campbell's Poem of Gertrude of Wyoming.
 
 458 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. the circuit, and from appearances, I do not despair 
 Ms.si. °f being gradually introduced into some share of 
 business. 
 
 I am greatly captivated by the project you have 
 sketched out, for a tour in the South of Scotland in 
 September next. I wish very much to see that part 
 of my native country, with which I am wholly unac- 
 quainted. Nothing will prevent me from putting it 
 in execution, but the necessity of returning from the 
 circuit to the Carnatic Office, which I hope I may be 
 able to avoid by some arrangement. Indeed, I shall 
 probably be able to resign my situation there by that 
 time. 
 
 I am very glad that Jeffrey thinks so favourably 
 of Campbell's new poem, for his good opinion is very 
 essential to the poet's prosperity. Nobody will deny 
 that it abounds in touches of a true genius ; but the 
 obscurity and embarrassment in the narrative, and 
 the many bouts-rimes which we may charge upon the 
 impatience of his subscribers, prevent me from reading 
 the work yet with that uninterrupted pleasure which 
 poetry must give, or it fails. My enjoyment in that 
 sort of reading depends, perhaps too much for a just 
 taste, upon the beauty of all the details in point of 
 execution ; and the stanza, which Campbell has chosen 
 for this poem, perhaps imposed upon the author a 
 more indispensable necessity of finishing to a faultless 
 perfection, because it gives the reader so many rests 
 in his attention. The breaking of the subject by 
 pauses at equal intervals, imposed another necessity, 
 that of filling up the parts of the subject, in them- 
 selves unequal, by circumstances not only selected 
 with judgment, but " pencilled over with all the cu- 
 rious touches of art." I cannot so well explain what I 
 would have had Campbell's work to have been, as by
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 459 
 
 sending you to read the serious and tender parts of 1809 - 
 the first canto of the Castle of Indolence. 2Et. si. 
 
 Jeffrey arrived in town yesterday, and I was happy 
 to find him looking so well, and in such delightful 
 spirits. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXXII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. 
 My dear Murray, Lincoln's Inn, 9th May, 1809. 
 
 I gave notice in the House last night of a re- 
 solution which I mean to propose, in the committee of 
 the whole House upon the third Report of the Finance 
 Committee, for the purpose of grounding upon that 
 resolution, if acceded to, a bill to render illegal the 
 sale of all judicial offices, by persons having the 
 power of appointing to them. 
 
 The grounds upon which I proceed, as far as Eng- 
 land is concerned, are to be found stated and sanc- 
 tioned by the greatest authorities, both in the state 
 and the law, from Sir Matthew Hale downwards. 
 You will find his opinion, in his tract upon the amend- 
 ment of the laws. And the same sentiments are ex- 
 pressed in one of the Reports made by the Royal Com- 
 missioners, and presented to both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, in 1740. They are cited, with full concurrence, 
 by the Finance Committee of 1797, in their 27th Re- 
 port. I am desirous, of course, to make this a general 
 law, equally applied to the three kingdoms. With re- 
 gard to Scotland, it will be necessary for me to be put 
 in possession of more detailed information than I can 
 obtain here, or without your assistance, as to the 
 number and description of offices of a judicial nature,
 
 4G0 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. which are in fact disposed of by the patrons, and as 
 JEx.si. to tne view m which such sales are regarded by the 
 law of Scotland. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 Fra. Hokner. 
 
 Letter CXXXIII. TO CHARLES GRANT, ESQ., CHAIRMAN 
 OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. 
 
 Sir, London, 18th May, 1809. 
 
 As it will be necessary for me very soon to re- 
 sign my situation at the board of commissioners for 
 investigating the debts of the late Nabobs of the Car- 
 natic, I wish to give you notice of my intention to do 
 so, and I shall likewise give notice to the agent in 
 London for the majority of the creditors, in order 
 that you may have full time for the appointment of 
 my successor. Though, for a considerable time past, 
 I have found the attendance at the board inconve- 
 nient to me, and incompatible with the pursuit of my 
 profession, I was desirous, if it were possible, to see 
 the investigations in which I have been eno-awd 
 brought to a close. But the information which has 
 just been received from the Commissioners at Fort 
 St. George, with respect to the multitude and vast 
 amount of the claims which have been made before 
 them, removes to so great a distance the prospect of 
 terminating these inquiries, that I feel myself under 
 the necessity of declining to act longer in the com- 
 mission. 
 
 That my resignation, however, may occasion no 
 delay in the progress of the business before the board, 
 I propose to continue to act till the end of the month 
 of June ; by which time, probably, all the instructions 
 for the Commissioners at Fort St. George, upon the
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 461 
 
 claims made in England, will be completed, and the 1809. 
 gentleman who shall be nominated by the Court of ^et. 31. 
 Directors and the creditors to succeed me, will be 
 ready to take his seat at the board. 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXXP7. TO THE HON. JOHN W. WARD. 
 
 My dear Ward, 24th May, 1809. 
 
 I am out of patience with the patriots, as they 
 call themselves, and with the Opposition too ; some 
 reforms are become absolutely necessary, both with 
 regard to expenditure, and in the representation of 
 the Commons: but the patriots delude the people 
 about the extent and nature of the evil that calls for 
 remedy, and likewise as to the efficacy of the remedies 
 which they propose ; and the Opposition, by a timid, 
 wavering, and ambiguous line of conduct, are losing 
 all command of the popular party, both in the House 
 of Commons and in the country. This has been a 
 new sort of session in the House of Commons ; the 
 next, it is probable, will be still more remarkable, 
 particularly if the Opposition leaders come to it, as 
 they probably will, with the same want of explicit 
 and determined opinions under which they labour at 
 present. There is no evading any longer those dis- 
 cussions about sinecure places and the reform of Par- 
 liament ; the questions must be met directly, and 
 some considerable concessions must be made to the 
 popular sentiments. 
 
 Windham is the only man who speaks out ; with 
 that contempt of popularity, of which the courage is
 
 462 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. quite admirable ; but with that systematic repugnance 
 ^ T .3i. to every proposition that savours of reformation, 
 which turns all his wisdom into foolishness ; and if it 
 should guide the councils of government, will speedily 
 deprive us of the constitution, the living principle of 
 which has always consisted in prudent and timely 
 reforms. It is very irksome to me to have a middle 
 sort of course to steer for myself; it feels so like 
 trimming ; and it is so completely ineffectual : but 
 what else can I do, when I cannot find men and mea- 
 sures together? I like most of the 'parliamentary 
 measures of the patriots, for I would make some ex- 
 ceptions ; but the men I never can have any reliance 
 upon ; not so much that I suspect any of them, or 
 rather I should say many of them, to entertain un- 
 constitutional designs, but because they seem to me, 
 one and all, wholly devoid of political ability. I like 
 the men of the late Cabinet and old Opposition, but 
 their proceedings in this session, their backwardness 
 upon some questions, and their indistinctness about 
 certain subjects, that are fundamental and (what is 
 more) will press upon every public man immediately 
 for a declared opinion or conduct, have shaken my 
 confidence, not in their views and intentions, but in 
 their judgment and firmness. All this, however, in- 
 terests you, I fear, very little. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Hornee. 
 
 Letter CXXXV. TO FRANCIS JEFFREY, ESQ. 
 My dear Jeffrey, Loudon, 12th June, 1809. 
 
 I hope you have received Sergeant Heywood's 
 book ; I write, though in a very great hurry, to ac-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 463 
 
 knowledge your kind letter. Lord Webb and I have 1 809. 
 been down for two days at Hertford, and passed them ^ T 3L 
 very agreeably with the Pundit * and Malthus. 
 
 I hope you will not commit yourself upon the sub- 
 ject of Parliamentary Reform, before you have fully 
 made up your mind, after a careful view of the ques- 
 tion. It is very fit that you should give your opinion 
 upon it at large, before the next meeting of Parlia- 
 ment, but I should grieve very much if you were 
 to take up in sport any side of the debate that first 
 strikes you. I am a good deal of a reformer, and am 
 prepared to go a considerable length; the question 
 as to Scotland admits of no hesitation, and in England 
 I would give members to some important classes of 
 the population who can scarcely be said to be repre- 
 sented. It is at the same time a perilous thing, either 
 to change the qualification, or to take away franchises, 
 or, by compensations, to recognise such a principle 
 as the acquisition of that kind of property. I see 
 a great deal of practical benefit result, even to the 
 interests of liberty and popular rights, from the most 
 rotten parts of the constituent body ; and while I am 
 satisfied that we should, upon the whole, be a more 
 virtuous and patriotic House of Commons, if the 
 deputies were more dependant upon the people, there 
 are many occasions on which the clamorous and in- 
 constant voice of the public would dictate a wrong 
 course of conduct, and I cannot say, upon a retrospect 
 of parliamentary history, even in the worst periods, 
 that the House of Commons has ever for a great 
 length of time, or upon a system of measures, been 
 at variance with the sentiments of the people. The 
 close of the American war is the strongest case of 
 
 * Professor Alexander Hamilton.
 
 464 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. that nature ; and it was then, accordingly, that the 
 iET. 3i. remedy of a reform in the representation was most 
 thought of. It is very fit to be considered also, whe- 
 ther, at any former period of our history, the formation 
 of the House approached nearer than it does at pre- 
 sent to the theory of our constitution, as drawn by 
 general writers. With all this, I have a strong bias 
 in favour of the proposition for rendering the re- 
 presentation more adequate and agreeable to that 
 theory; and I only throw out these topics of doubt, 
 that I may have the benefit of your mature consider- 
 ation of them. It is a momentous question in its 
 consequences, as likely to affect the permanent vigour 
 of the constitution. It is no less so, on account of 
 the circumstances of the time in which we may be 
 forced to discuss it ; not the most favourable, cer- 
 tainly, for any measure of internal change. And 
 I cannot therefore express to you how anxious I am, 
 that you should take the utmost pains with the article 
 you mean to write upon it ; you ought to consider 
 what it is, to send out eleven thousand prints of your 
 doctrine on that subject, whatever that doctrine may 
 be, with all the weight of your authority, and in the 
 midst of such an agitation of the popular mind ; and 
 indeed the question has been recently connected so 
 much with the irritating topics of the day, that you 
 should not appear to enter into it, but with more 
 remote views, and upon the largest contemplation of 
 all parts of the discussion, and of all the effects of 
 the proposed measure. 
 
 Miss Edgeworth's Tales of Fashionable Life, Al- 
 phonse by Mad. Genlis, and Wordsworth's pamphlet on 
 Spanish affairs, are the last new books I have heard of. 
 
 Ever sincerely yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 465 
 
 P. S. I hope no notice of the Quarterly will ever be 1809. 
 suffered to appear in the Edinburgh. You must be Et 39 
 above controversy, however provoked. You must be 
 delighted with the accounts which have appeared lately 
 in the newspapers relating to the state of opinions 
 in Germany; they are quite your politics and mine; 
 and they will ultimately restore the civilisation and 
 independence of Europe. 
 
 Letter CXXXVI. TO HIS FATHER. 
 My dear Sir, Marlborough, 20th August, 1809. 
 
 I wrote to my mother from Bodmin, and to 
 my sisters from Bridgwater. The assizes at Bristol 
 were finished yesterday, and we are got so far on our 
 way to town, where we shall arrive early on Tues- 
 day. This circuit has been pleasant enough ; and 
 notwithstanding a great deal of wet weather, we have 
 contrived to secure several fine days for excursions 
 from the direct road of our journey, and have been 
 on horseback for the best part of five hundred miles. 
 I have not been so robust for some years past, as I 
 am now, not having had a single day of cold during 
 the circuit. You will, of course, be desirous to know 
 whether I have had any thing to do ; and though I 
 would rather say nothing about it, until I have good 
 news to tell, yet if I did not own that I have had no 
 briefs this time, you might for a moment perhaps 
 suppose me to be indifferent about the anxiety which 
 you have for my success. For myself, I do not con- 
 sider this as a disappointment, or as otherwise than it 
 must be, and ought to be ; for the business upon the 
 circuit is at present in the hands of those who are 
 best entitled to confidence, and between them and 
 vol. 1. II H
 
 466 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. me there are several who have never had so much 
 j Et 32 encouragement, as even the little I have already 
 received, and who have a just right to succeed before 
 me, both because they have waited longer, and be- 
 cause their qualifications are better. The little I 
 have had formerly was, in truth, out of my turn ; and 
 I see no reason to relinquish an expectation I once 
 expressed to you before, that possibly some accidental 
 advantages, which make me more known, may ad- 
 vance me into business with rather less delay than is 
 the common, and necessarily the common lot of the 
 profession. I have said so much, on account of the 
 solicitude which you feel upon this subject : I have 
 never myself been sanguine, either in the hope of 
 early or great business, but a moderate share, enough 
 for independence, I reckon myself ultimately sure of ; 
 as much as one can be of any thing, which, though 
 subject to the ordinary accidents, may be aimed at 
 steadily. 
 
 I am happy to think that your journey has been of 
 a little service to your health ; for my mother thinks 
 you are decidedly the better for it. I entreat that 
 you will avail yourself of the excellent medical advice 
 you can have at Edinburgh; and as I find that they 
 enjoin exercise on horseback, I trust that I need not 
 any longer urge my recommendations of it. 
 
 In our way to Bristol, Adam and I spent the 
 greater part of two clays at Sir John Hippesley's; 
 Mr. Strangways Horner, who married his daughter, 
 was there, of whom I should make a great eloge, if 
 I were to measure out my praises in proportion to 
 the civility which he expressed to me. He has one 
 great merit in my eyes, a real attachment to Scot- 
 land, where he was four years for the purposes of 
 education ; two at Glasgow, and afterwards two at
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 467 
 
 Edinburgh, in the house of Dr. Blacklock. He was iso9. 
 also in the Speculative Society, in the days of Emmet ^ Ti 32 . 
 and Charles Hope ; which drew us still nearer. I 
 have promised to pay him a visit next winter at 
 Mells Park, which lies in our way from Wells. Let 
 my dear mother know that I have received her letter 
 of the 13th instant. I will write more frequently to 
 you, after I am settled in town, than I have done upon 
 the circuit, where nothing occurs that can interest 
 any body who does not belong to it. London is 
 always full of news. I mean to be pretty stationary 
 there during the month of September, with the ex- 
 ception, perhaps, of a visit out of town on Saturday and 
 Sunday; though the only one which I at present intend 
 is to Lord Carrington. I have great pleasure in the 
 prospect of so many mornings to myself for reading, 
 having scarcely known that for a fortnight together 
 since I entangled myself in the Carnatic commission; 
 which I shall always consider a blunder in my plans, 
 and a blunder wholly my own. I should have known 
 more law by this time, and more of public business 
 too, if I had not yielded to that temptation ; which was 
 a departure from my general scheme of life, and against 
 which Murray warned me at the time. With my 
 most affectionate love to my mother and my sisters, 
 1 am ever, my dear Sir, faithfully yours, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Letter CXXXVII. TO JOHN ALLEN, ESQ. 
 Dear Allen Birmingham, 30th September, 1809. 
 
 I am very much obliged to you for the letter 
 which I received yesterday, the only scrap I have had 
 from London during all this bustle. There must be 
 
 h h 2
 
 468 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. a good many details and circumstances to hear of the 
 
 ^t.32. l as t scenes of a ministry, which in its exit, as in its 
 
 origin, is more ignominious to the country, as well as 
 
 to the principal actors, than even any other of the 
 
 present reign. 
 
 I reckon so confidently upon what Lord Grenville 
 and Lord Grey will do, that I have abstained from 
 troubling you with any inquiries. Their course is 
 plain; and I rely implicitly upon their pursuing it 
 from first to last. They cannot make a coalition with 
 either set ; nor can they become the King's ministers 
 without obtaining his consent to the immediate relief 
 of the Catholics. Whatever expediency and patriot- 
 ism there might have been at former periods, in tem- 
 porising upon the question, our friends are no longer 
 free to temporise, for they are committed upon it so 
 strongly in the opinion of the public, that they must 
 stand fast to that point, or forfeit all chance of 
 ever regaining public confidence. Every thing I 
 have seen of late in the country confirms me in this 
 opinion. Not that the late ministry is actually 
 pledged to the Catholic concessions, as a necessary 
 condition of their accepting office, if the details of the 
 transaction in March 1807 be accurately stated and 
 fairly reasoned ; but of this the public is incapable : 
 the King, by dismissing them, though they yielded 
 the point, fixed the question upon them; and the 
 universal impression of the public (whether favour- 
 able or not) has so identified their return to power 
 with the success of that question, that they must 
 carry it, or lose the last remnant of character with 
 the people ; while, on the other hand, I believe that 
 their carrying it would (in spite of Protestant preju- 
 dices) establish them very firmly in public confidence, 
 by so intelligible a proof, both of political strength
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 469 
 
 and of attachment to principle. With this view of 1809. 
 what they ought to do, and with my reliance upon 2Et 32 
 their integrity, I am far from having much expect- 
 ation that Lord Grenville and Lord Grey will form 
 an administration. Nor can I believe that this step 
 has been taken by Liverpool and Percival with any 
 other view, than to gain time for the return of Lord 
 Wellesley. He is manifestly the man for the King's 
 purpose, and for their purpose, in the present circum- 
 stances ; and into his hands, or Canning's, the whole 
 must ultimately fall. 
 
 What I am most anxious about is, that our leaders 
 of Opposition should explain themselves so clearly, 
 that they may all remain untouched by any suspicion 
 of a disposition to yield to the Court, and acquire 
 strength in the country, by this opportunity of 
 proving their consistency and independence. You 
 can scarcely conceive how lowly and unjustly all de- 
 scriptions of persons in the country think of the poli- 
 tical virtue of either of the statesmen who have been 
 sent for upon this occasion; among the Dissenters, 
 Reformers, Jacobins, Philosophers (for some of all 
 of these I have seen in this part of the world), there 
 prevails an uniform apathy and indifference about 
 party, and distrust of men. For God's sake, let us 
 have no more coalitions ; and then, either victory upon 
 the Catholic question, or a resolute prosecution of it, 
 may help us again up hill.* 
 
 * The ministerial changes here referred to were caused by disagree- 
 ments in the Cabinet between Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh, (which 
 led to a duel, both having previously resigned their places,) and by 
 the death, shortly afterwards, of the Duke of Portland, who had been 
 First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister. The remaining mi- 
 nisters made proposals to Lords Grenville and Grey, to effect a coalition, 
 which were rejected. The Marquis of Wellesley succeeded Mr. Canning 
 as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the Earl of Liverpool, who had the 
 Home Department, replaced Lord Castlereagh as Secretary for the De- 
 partment of the War and the Colonies, the Hon. Richard Ryder succeeding 
 
 H H 3
 
 470 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 1809. I am going to-morrow into Somersetshire, for the 
 
 JEt. 32. Sessions ; if you will write to me at Taunton, I shall 
 be much obliged to you. And pray let me know whe- 
 ther Lord John's* going to Edinburgh is settled, and 
 Play fair's uncertainty removed ; from his letter, which 
 I sent to Lord Holland, he was in a difficulty about 
 it, which may have been inconvenient to him. 
 
 If it is not too much trouble, will you send me to 
 Taunton another copy of your " Suggestions f," for I 
 lent that you gave me to Dr. Parr, and he would not let 
 me have it again ; he never read any thing, he said, 
 "with such unhesitating approbation." You promised 
 me that I should have several copies, which I wish to 
 send to two or three persons when I return to town. 
 The Courier, I understand, states, that Lord Grenville 
 is arrived in town, but that Lord Grey has declined to 
 come. If the summons was from the King, how could 
 lie refuse? and if it was an invitation from Percival, 
 how could Lord Grenville accept ? 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Fra. Horner. 
 
 Lord Liverpool as Home Secretary ; Mr. Percival, who had been Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer only, became also First Lord of the Treasury 
 and Prime Minister. No other changes in the Cabinet took place. — 
 Ed. 
 
 * Lord John Russell, who resided for some time with Professor Play- 
 fair at Edinburgh. 
 
 f For an account of this work, see the letter to Lord Webb Seymour, 
 of 17th October, with which Vol. II. commences. — Ed.
 
 LORD WEBB SKYMOUR.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX A. (Page 71.) 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF LORD WEBB SEYMOUR.* 
 BT HENRY HALLAM, ESQ. 
 
 Webb John Seymour, son of the last, and brother of the 
 present Duke of Somerset, was born in the spring of 1777. 
 He received his classical education principally at the school 
 of Ranisbury, in Wiltshire, kept at that time by Mr. Edward 
 Meyrick. Both the Duke of Somerset and his brother were 
 of Christ Church, Oxford, where Lord Webb appears to 
 have begun to reside early in 1794. It was not long after 
 this time that his character developed itself in a steadiness 
 of purpose and an unshaken determination to cultivate his 
 mind according to a preconceived scheme of improvement, 
 rare in a young man of his rank, and much more so at that 
 time than in the present age. The habits of his natural 
 associates, those in college language called {/old tufts and 
 silk gowns, were any thing rather than studious, estimable 
 as many of those young men were in private life, and have 
 since shown themselves in the world. Lord Webb Seymour 
 soon adopted a plan, which even the reading men at Oxford 
 seldom thought it necessary to pursue. He resolutely 
 
 * The accoinpanying likeness is from the drawing mentioned at page 405. 
 — En.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 declined all invitations, and during the whole remainder 
 of his stay at Christ Church was never seen at a wine party. 
 Such a course, whatever in this more studious age may be 
 thought, brought down at that time on his head the imputa- 
 tion of great singularity ; but his remarkable urbanity of 
 maimers, and the entire absence of affectation, preserved to 
 him the respect and regard of those from whose society he 
 thus seemed to withdraw. The reason which Lord Webb 
 gave for thus sacrificing- all convivial intercourse was charac- 
 teristic of his modesty. He felt, he said, that his parts were 
 slow ; that he acquired knowledge with less facility than 
 many of his contemporaries ; and that he could not hope to 
 compass the objects which he had in view, if he gave up the 
 evening hours, as was then customary, to the pleasures of 
 conversation. The dignity of his mind, always intent on 
 future and even distant schemes of improvement, and hence 
 superior to all momentary emulation, which it is perhaps too 
 much the habit of those who guide our academical studies to 
 encourage, can only be appreciated by those who remember 
 him at this period, and who remember also the frivolous and 
 superficial tone of conversation from which, relatively at 
 least to him, few of his fellow-students, even though not de- 
 ficient in mental quickness or school learning, were exempt. 
 
 Lord Webb Seymour was neither a very good scholar, in 
 the common sense of the word, nor by any means the con- 
 traiy. He knew well, on every subject, what he knew at 
 all, and his character rendered him averse to spread his 
 reading over a large surface. He read slowly and carefully, 
 possibly too much so ; but as on this account he forgot little, 
 he was by this means uninformed on many subjects of ge- 
 neral literature. But his peculiar quality was the love of 
 truth, and, as is perhaps the case with all true lovers, he 
 loved that mistress the more in proportion as she was slow in 
 favouring his suit. It was said of him that he would rather 
 get at any thing by the longest process ; and, in fact, not 
 having a quick intuition, and well knowing that those who 
 decide instantly are apt not to understand what they decide, 
 he felt a reluctance to acquiesce in what the world call a 
 common-sense view of any philosophical question.
 
 LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 475 
 
 The first subjects that seem to have attached his peculiar 
 attention at Oxford were anatomy and chemistry, especially 
 the latter ; for the sake of experiments in which he fitted up 
 a laboratory in his rooms. He acquired also some knowledge 
 in other branches of physical history and philosophy. But 
 his inquisitive mind soon led him to a different walk : he 
 became fond of metaphysical theories; a turn far enough 
 from being uncommon in young men of nineteen, but seldom 
 accompanied with so patient, so sceptical (in the best sense), 
 and so unbiassed a temper. That he did not come to many 
 conclusions in his psychological investigations, will hardly be 
 thought a proof of his wanting capacity for them ; but per- 
 haps it was a real defect in his intellectual character, that he 
 did not grasp a proof, when it was fairly made out, with as 
 much tenacity as he had shown in collecting its elements ; 
 and was more ready and ingenious in accumulating analogies 
 and presumptive arguments, than in reducing them to a cal- 
 culated probability. This may possibly have been the reason, 
 if the fact were as he afterwards believed it to be, that he 
 had no natural turn for strict mathematics. 
 
 In these pursuits, and in the society of a few friends, Lord 
 Webb Seymour passed his time at Christ Church till the end 
 of 1797. He now put into execution a scheme which he had 
 been for some time revolving, of passing the next few years 
 at Edinburgh. The high reputation of this university, 
 during that period, for moral and physical philosophy, had 
 made a deep impression on his mind, though he was far from 
 anticipating that Scotland would become his chosen abode for 
 the rest of his life. 
 
 It was not long after his settling at Edinburgh that he 
 became intimate with Mr. Horner, as well as with other indi- 
 viduals of a remarkable constellation who illustrated that 
 city ; especially Dr. Thomas Brown and Mr. Playfair. 
 Under the auspices of the latter he carried on his inquiries 
 in geology ; a science then hardly more than nascent, and to 
 which Lord Webb's attention had been drawn during his 
 residence at Oxford. He travelled in company with Mr. 
 Playfair on several occasions over great part of Scotland, 
 and sometimes in England. Mr. Playfair became also the
 
 47G APPENDIX A. 
 
 instructor of Lord Webb in mathematics, to which he ad- 
 dicted himself for some years with great assiduity, and not 
 without injury to his health. " For the last two months," 
 he says in a letter, dated June, 1799, " I have applied 
 almost exclusively to the study of mathematics, which I in- 
 tend to prosecute for the next twelve months, though I fear 
 that other avocations will sadly interrupt it. As to my 
 opinions and habits of thinking, you will find my mind nearly 
 in the same state as when we parted. Eager to discover truth 
 in her native simplicity, but growing more and more suspi- 
 cious of being deluded by those airy phantoms, which the 
 enchantress Falsehood tricks up in the array of truth to delude 
 poor mortals: — 
 
 ' Dat inania verba ; 
 Dat sine mente sonum, gressusque effingit euntis; 
 Morte obita quales fama est volitare liguras, 
 Aut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus.'" 
 
 The next years of Lord Webb's life were spent at Edin- 
 burgh, interrupted by occasional visits to the South. The 
 following letter of May 18th, 1801, will serve to exemplify 
 his habitual love of knowledge : — 
 
 « Edinburgh, May 18. 1801. 
 
 " Dear Hallam, 
 
 " Had Dame Nature blessed me with Fortunatus's 
 wishing-cap, I should often have made use of it during the 
 last seven months for a flight to your chambers at Lincoln's 
 Inn, — there to have held much high debate on the abstract 
 mysteries of human knowledge, and also on the great events 
 that have been going forward in the world around us. The 
 mail-coach is, perhaps, an invention that argues the progress 
 of civilisation more than any other: to think that in three 
 days my thoughts may be communicated at the distance of 
 four hundred miles makes me exult that I was born in an 
 age when human power has attained so high a pitch ; but 
 greater and happier far will be those mortals or rather incipient 
 immortals, who in that golden age predicted by Godwin shall 
 have acquired the complete dominion of mind over matter, 
 when every illumined spirit, unincumbered by this cold clod 
 of earth, shall glance, like a meteor, through the infinity of
 
 LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 477 
 
 space, and maintain a personal intercourse with the inhabit- 
 ants of those far distant worlds, which it now strains our 
 imagination but to think on. But here are we, Anno Do- 
 mini 1801, and we must make the best of it. 
 
 " Since my return to Edinburgh I have been working stea- 
 dily at mathematics, and indeed almost exclusively ; for I 
 have at length learnt to confine my attention to two or three 
 subjects at a time, instead of being distracted by a dozen at 
 once, as you may remember to have been the case. Play- 
 fair has been my guide ; I think myself extremely happy in 
 having so good a one. He has a profound knowledge of the 
 subject, and our intimacy has afforded me opportunities of 
 discussing all my difficulties with him under as little re- 
 straint as I should have felt with another person of my own 
 age, with whom I might have been pursuing the study. My 
 progress, however, has not been such as I had hoped for at 
 the beginning of the winter. You know how slow I am at 
 every tiling, and most of all at mathematics. Nevertheless, 
 I am resolved not to abandon the science till I have acquired 
 such a knowledge of it as will afford me the clearest insight 
 into the different branches of physics that depend on it. 
 With this view I shall stay at Edinburgh during the next 
 twelvemonth, and persevere in this course of study. 
 
 " In the course of the winter I have, in company with a 
 friend, read through Lord Bacon's De Augmentis, and we 
 gave every part of it such a discussion, as in times of old you 
 and I were wont to bestow on the pages of Bishop Butler ; I 
 hope, too, with equal profit. Though I had reaped no other 
 advantage, I should think myself well repaid by the enthu- 
 siasm for science and the improvement in philosophical 
 temper which I must have derived from it. Bacon's mind 
 must have been influenced in all its speculations by an ardent 
 zeal for useful truth, an unaffected candour, and a sublime, yet 
 modest, dignity ; qualities which, in the degree to which he 
 possessed them, may be deemed even more extraordinary than 
 the vigour of his comprehensive imagination, and the depth 
 of his judgment. Without habitual sentiments of this kind 
 he could hardly have detected the fallacy of those misguided 
 exertions of the intellect which had been sanctioned by the
 
 478 APPENDIX A. 
 
 labours of ages, nor have had the courage to undertake the 
 reformation which he effected. We are now just enter- 
 ing on the Novum Organum. I again attended Stewart's 
 course on Political Economy last winter, and with great 
 satisfaction. A course of lectures cannot give an insight 
 into the depths of a science, but they, at least, give a general 
 view of what may be learnt, and of the means of pursuing it 
 by private study." 
 
 But in 1803 a temporary change took place in Lord Webb 
 Seymour's plan of life. The prospect of an invasion, loudly 
 threatened by Bonaparte, had aroused a more unanimous 
 spirit than has been often witnessed in this nation : every one, 
 according to his station, took his place in the numerous corps 
 of volunteers or yeomanry which sprung up on every side. 
 Lord Webb Seymour was not insensible to the call of duty ; 
 and relinquished his scientific associates to take the command 
 of a battalion of volunteers, raised in the neighbourhood of 
 Dartmoor. " This new vocation," he writes, in Sept. 1803, 
 " will oblige me to make Devonshire my residence for some 
 time to come." He took accordingly a small house at Tor- 
 quay, a place then scarcely known beyond the county ; but 
 the beauties of which served to compensate in some measure 
 for the sacrifices of society which it entailed. Lord Webb 
 was extremely fond of natural scenery : he had been a pic- 
 turesque as well as a scientific traveller; and was a warm 
 admirer of the celebrated work of Uvedale Price. He was a 
 good walker, and his tours were frequently on foot ; the only 
 mode, as he thought, of travelling in which natural beauty 
 can be fairly appreciated. Nor was Devonshire without its 
 attractions to him as a geologist. 
 
 The business of his regiment was, as may be conceived, 
 very toilsome to a man of his character ; and in the autumn 
 of 1805, when the apprehensions of a hostile attack had con- 
 siderably subsided, he left Torquay, and soon returned to his 
 favourite capital of Scotland. But not long after the com- 
 mencement of this second residence in the North, a most un- 
 fortunate change took place in Lord Webb's constitution. 
 Of a robust form, accustomed to much exercise, and rigorously
 
 LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 479 
 
 temperate, he seemed to have the probable elements of health 
 and longevity. This however was far from being the case. 
 The digestive organs began to fail, and to require a con- 
 tinual attention, which he was not ill-disposed to afford ; but 
 which came, as often happens, to engross much of his thoughts, 
 and to shut him out from many pleasures, both intellectual 
 and social, which he was formed to enjoy. With no manifest 
 disease, a gradual languor stole over his mind and body, fre- 
 quently relieved by transient rallying, but on the whole 
 silently increasing for the rest of his life. Edinburgh con- 
 tinued to be his principal quarters ; but the loss of some 
 friends, and the removal of others to England, conspired with 
 the decay of his health, to break off, except at intervals, or at 
 least to relax the vigour of those philosophical speculations 
 which he had pursued in the society of a Horner and a Brown. 
 He came not more than two or three times afterwards to 
 England; for the last, in the winter of 1816, when he re- 
 mained in London for several months. 
 
 His pursuits for some years were now directed towards the 
 fine arts, still, however, with more regard to the philosophy 
 of the emotions of taste than to technical knowledge. Mathe- 
 matical study he was early forced to abandon ; and the bodily 
 languor that oppressed him put a stop to the prosecution of 
 geology in the field ; though he never ceased to take a great 
 interest in the science. 
 
 In the year 1810 Lord Webb Seymour purchased a small 
 property on the Clyde, by name Glenarbach. This after- 
 wards passed into the hands of Mr. Robertson, Glasgow. 
 Glenarbach, by its own romantic grounds, and by the mag- 
 nificent river which almost washed its garden, had many 
 charms in the eyes of so fond an admirer of scenery. He 
 reasoned indeed upon beauty, as he did on every thing else ; 
 for no man was ever more desirous of finding a principle ; but 
 he also felt it with a pure and placid delight. 
 
 In a letter, dated Feb. 16. 1810, he thus describes this 
 place, and his own reasons for choosing it as his residence : —
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 " Edinburgh, Feb. 16. 1810. 
 
 "Dear Hallam, 
 
 " I had long been desirous of passing a certain portion of 
 the year in a retirement which would allow me an uninterrupt- 
 ed pursuit of my own peculiar objects of scientific research, 
 and the bad state of health, from which I suffered so many 
 months last year, showed me the necessity of seeking pure air 
 and quiet, as preservatives of a weak constitution. Upon my 
 return to Scotland, I began to look out for a residence in that 
 beautiful country, which lies near the Clyde below Glasgow, 
 and I had soon the good fortune to find a place for sale, which 
 suited me exactly. Within these few days I have agreed for 
 the purchase of it. The estate is small, about sixty English 
 acres. It lies on the north side of the Clyde, between ten 
 and eleven miles below Glasgow, and about four from Dum- 
 barton, of course within an easy ride of Loch Lomond, Rose- 
 neath, and other delightful scenery in that neighbourhood. The 
 property extends from the bank of the river up the steep slope 
 of a hill, the surface of which is agreeably diversified with 
 pasture, and wood, and rock. On the first rise of the ground 
 is a small neat dwelling-house, commanding pleasing views of 
 the river and the adjacent country. The late proprietor was 
 a man of a good deal of taste, and has laid out the place very 
 comfortably, though he has left many improvements for a 
 disciple of Price to amuse himself with. The whole place 
 might be literally described in the words of Horace, as 
 
 ■ ' modus agri non ita magnus, 
 
 Hortus ubi, et tecto vicinus jugis aqua; fons, 
 Et paullum silvae super his.' 
 
 " It will hold me, and my books, and a few friends, and pro- 
 mises a snug retreat. Glasgow will furnish all the comforts 
 of a large town, and the libraries, scientific news, and other 
 literary conveniences of an University. I hope to be settled 
 in my new habitation early in the summer. The name of the 
 place is Glenarbach." 
 
 It is certain, that notwithstanding the late failure of health, 
 Lord Webb at this time, and indeed long afterwards, had not
 
 LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 
 
 abandoned the generous hope of contributing something to 
 moral philosophy. He flattered himself that the solitude of 
 a retired country-house, might be more favourable than any 
 city could be to such an object. " Nobody can do any thing 
 in London is an opinion (he writes from Glenarbach in 1812) 
 I am more and more confirmed in ; and I find Dugald Stewart, 
 and other sedulous labourers in the literary vineyard, were 
 cp:iite of the same mind. David Hume wrote his history in 
 the Cowgate at Edinburgh. You have not seen this Cow- 
 gate ; and without having seen it, you cannot conceive how 
 completely this residence secluded him from any intrusion of 
 the refined pleasures of life. But Hume was still in Edin- 
 burgh, and had resources in a small circle of cultivated minds. 
 Not so Adam Smith, when employed on the ' Wealth of 
 Nations' — he was then living at the small and miserable town 
 of Kirkaldy in Fife, and his only relaxation was in a weekly 
 club composed of the inhabitants of the place. It is not only 
 the time engrossed by society that I find to be the loss in a 
 town ; there is a still more serious obstacle to any independent 
 pursuit in the sympathy excited by the occupations of other 
 men, who are continually thrusting in upon you political 
 discussions, the business of the world, and the novelties of 
 literature." 
 
 The gradual progress, however, of an enfeebling languor 
 soon suspended, and ultimately extinguished, those hopes. 
 He quitted his residence at Glenarbach, and returned to Edin- 
 burgh. In a letter dated from thence, May 20. 1814, he 
 gives what may not be an uninteresting character of a dis- 
 tinguished friend. 
 
 " Edinburgh, 2. Abercromliy Place, 
 
 « My dear Hallam, May 20. 1814. 
 
 " A few days ago I gave a line of introduction to you 
 to a friend of mine, with whom, I think, you will be glad to 
 form an accpiaintance. The person I allude to is Dr. Brown, 
 w r ho within these three or four years has succeeded Dugald 
 Stewart in the Moral Philosophy chair in the University of 
 Edinburgh. Any man who came after Dugald Stewart 
 must have put his reputation to a very severe test. I am 
 happy to say that Dr. Brown has sustained the trial with the 
 
 VOL. I. II 
 
 481
 
 482 APPENDIX A. 
 
 greatest ci*3(lit. He is one of the earliest philosophical friends 
 that I grew intimate with in this country, and was a dis- 
 tinguished character in that circle of young men, to which 
 belonged Horner, Brougham, Jeffrey, and others, then un- 
 known, and since so well known, to fame. Of his attainments 
 in literature, as well as in science, of his acuteness, his depth, 
 and his powers of original thinking, I could say a great deal ; 
 and I can add, that he is one of the best men I know. His 
 various qualifications and merits you may learn more in detail 
 from Horner; but it is necessary to prepare you for some 
 defects of address and manner, which are likely to appear 
 very prominent to a stranger, and to diminish the impression 
 of his real excellence. He is one of the most sensitive beings 
 I know, yet not reserved and shrinking, but animated, rapid, 
 and talkative ; anxious about the appearance he makes in 
 society, yet confident of his own powers, and in his own 
 opinions. These circumstances combine to make him precise, 
 subtle, and a little dogmatical. His ingenuity fatigues by the 
 marks it bears of labour ; his mind is too much occupied with 
 its own train of thoughts ; and in conversation he is apt to 
 show a keen irritability, quite devoid of malevolence or anger, 
 but inconsistent with that easy flow, which is the principal 
 charm of good company. The presence of strangers, of course, 
 brings out these defects in their greatest degree, and makes 
 his whole manner affected, though he is in fact good-natured, 
 sincere, and open. I can scarcely fancy him appearing to 
 more disadvantage than among a party of beaux esprits in 
 London ; and it would be injustice not to prepare you for the 
 unfortunate demeanour of a man so deserving of admiration 
 and esteem. His is one of the few minds that politics, and 
 the active professions, leave zealously and exclusively devoted 
 to literary and philosophical pursuits." 
 
 Though no longer equal to much continuous exertion, Lord 
 Webb Seymour retained his love of knowledge ; and perhaps 
 his reading became more miscellaneous as it became less labo- 
 rious. The following extracts from his letters will exhibit 
 the general character of his judgment: one relating to a subject
 
 LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. 483 
 
 with which he had no close acquaintance, the other to a 
 favourite science : — 
 
 . . . . "I have been for some days reading Voltaire's 
 Histoire Generate. I have been going on very slowly ; and it 
 is a work which should be read slowly in order to be read 
 with advantage : for his comprehensive sketches succeed one 
 another so rapidly, that the memory would grow confused in 
 a cursory perusal. I like to read three or four of his chapters in 
 an evening, and to chew the cud upon them. The Histoire 
 Generate is the production of a mind directed by a philoso- 
 phical spirit, and capable of great views, but biassed by cer- 
 tain errors in reasoning, some defects in moral feeling, and 
 some in temper. The author is occasionally too confident in 
 setting up his own conjectures in opposition to direct testi- 
 mony. Immorality is apt to be leniently treated by him, 
 when a king or a priest is not the offender, or when the 
 offence is not of such a kind as more peculiarly belongs to 
 the station of a king or a priest. His style is too light and 
 too gay for his subjects, and especially unbecoming of a 
 censor in -such grave matters. His antipathy to the Church 
 of Rome extends itself to every thing Christian in a manner 
 that is quite unjustifiable : this is remarkable in his account 
 of the Crusades, in which he scarcely says any thing of the 
 noble acts of heroism displayed in those misguided enter- 
 prises, and loses sight of the many beneficial results which 
 indirectly accrued from them to Europe. Then, because 
 the barbarians, and afterwards the semi-barbarians, of Europe 
 are Christians, all other barbarians and semi-barbarians rise 
 in the scale of comparison ; the Arabs, the Chinese — I 
 might almost add the Tartars: for how lightly he passes 
 over the horrible destruction inflicted by the armies of 
 Zhino-is Khan ! Yet notwithstanding these faults, and 
 others, which you, no doubt, could point out better than I 
 can, the Histoire Generate is a vast work, and it affords me . 
 more delight than any book I have taken up for a long time. 
 Tell me how far you think Voltaire is accurate — tolerably ac- 
 curate — for neither the extent of the work, nor the habits 
 of his mind, can allow me to expect great accuracy. It is 
 
 I I 2
 
 484 
 
 APPENDIX A, 
 
 said that Robertson admitted his accuracy, as far as lie had 
 examined him. His omission of authorities is a great fault, 
 and he is too negligent of dates. As I was not previously 
 well acquainted with the history of the middle ages, I am 
 obliged to derive assistance from chronological tables." 
 
 This letter is dated February 1. 1818. In another, bearing 
 date June 14. he says, " How can I venture to speak of the 
 Anarch old upon this remaining half page ? Your remarks 
 might lead me to talk for two hours. Yet I will say that you 
 are quite right in your remark, that the proper rudiments of 
 geology lie in the alluvial and secondary formations. If the 
 Huttonians have attended to these less than they merit, it is 
 because Scotland affords very scanty examples of them. There 
 is scarcely any thing in Scotland of later date than the coal 
 formation. On the other hand, if the English o;eoloQ;ists are 
 almost exclusively occupied with the secondary and alluvial 
 formations, and the fossils contained in them, it is because 
 strata of this description form the surface of the greatest part 
 of England. The Scotch geologists are like a set of Christ 
 Church tutors, who have confined their studies chiefly to 
 ancient history; the English are a set of home-taught young 
 members of parliament, deeply learned in Rapin, Rymer, 
 Velly, and Schmidt. Both are labouring in the great cause, 
 and as the science advances, each will have to consider the 
 labours of the other as of more importance." 
 
 But the race of this excellent person was more nearly run 
 than his best friends had anticipated. He had so long endured 
 a feeble state of health, and with so little appearance of 
 organic disease, that, little as a restoration to vigour could be 
 hoped, it seemed probable that his systematic care would pre- 
 serve the frail tenement of so noble a spirit for many years. 
 This, however, was not permitted. " I have not been quite 
 well (he says, November 30. 1818) for between two and 
 three months; am better, but cannot get rid of a cough, which 
 I believe to proceed entirely from weakness of the digestive 
 organs. I do not think I shall be in London next summer." 
 The cough, whatever may have been its origin, soon manifest- 
 ed itself in connexion with symptoms of pulmonary consump-
 
 LOED WEBB SEYMOUR. 485 
 
 tion. These made a constant progress during the winter, 
 accompanied with extreme debility, though Iris very retired 
 life kept almost all his Mends in ignorance of the extent of 
 danger. His Grace the Duke of Somerset set out for Edin- 
 burgh on receiving an intimation of it, and arrived in time to 
 witness the last stage of decline in his loved and respected 
 brother. Lord Webb Seymour expired on the nineteenth of 
 April, 1819, at the age of forty-two. 
 
 Nothing, except a few pages on geology, ever appeared 
 from the pen of Lord Webb. But he had been much accus- 
 tomed to commit his reflections to paper ; and whatever he 
 wrote Avas clear, precise, and full of thought. He left a 
 considerable quantity of notes designed for a work on the 
 Philosophy of the Human Mind, which, before the entire 
 failure of his health, he had not ceased to contemplate in 
 distant prospect; though, from the slowness of his compo- 
 sition, arising partly from the great labour which he gave, it 
 was not likely, perhaps, under the most favouring circum- 
 stances, that he would have given his reflections a methodical 
 form. It was at one time the wish of some of his friends, 
 and especially of his nearest relation, that these fragments of 
 his long-cherished speculations should be given to the world . 
 But it is believed that they were found, on examination, to 
 be in so unconnected a state, as to cause this intention to be 
 abandoned. 
 
 It would be doing the utmost injustice to the memory of 
 this most lamented person, were I only to dwell on his in- 
 tellectual character, or even on those qualities which have 
 been already mentioned — his love of truth and desire of im- 
 provement. Not only was Lord Webb Seymour a man of 
 the most untainted honour and scrupulous integrity, but of 
 the greatest benevolence and the warmest attachment to his 
 friends. This was displayed in a constant solicitude for their 
 success, their fame, their improvement; and in a sincerity 
 which made no concessions to their vanity, Avhile its delicate 
 and gentle expression endeared him still more to those who 
 were worthy of his friendship. Neither his constitution, nor 
 his habits of reflection, admitted of strong emotions : he 
 scarcely knew anger, or any of the violent passions; and 
 
 I I 6
 
 486 APPENDIX A. 
 
 perhaps, in considering the mild stoicism of his character, 
 the self-command which never degenerated into selfishness, 
 we are not mistaken in fancying some resemblance between 
 him and Marcus Aurelius. He would at least, in other times, 
 have surely chosen the philosophy of the Porch; but with all 
 the beneficence and kindliness which only the best disciples 
 of that school seem to have evinced. 
 
 The suavity of manners and agreeable conversation of 
 Lord Webb Seymour rendered him a favourite among intelli- 
 gent women ; and it will easily be conceived that he had a 
 predilection for their society. Some with whom he lived in 
 constant friendship survive ; though a greater part, perhaps, 
 have gone down to the grave like himself. It has been 
 deemed not unfit, in these memoirs of one to whom he was 
 strongly attached, that a few pages should be inserted in 
 order to commemorate a person so accomplished and excellent ; 
 and I have only to lament, that, separated as I was, except 
 at intervals " feAV and far between," from one of my earliest 
 and most valued friends, I may have omitted much that would 
 have exhibited in a more adequate manner the character of 
 Lord Webb Seymour.
 
 LETTER TO MR. LAING. 487 
 
 APPENDIX B. (Page 288.) 
 
 LETTER FROM MR. HORNER TO MALCOLM LAING, ESQ., 
 AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Dear Sir, Edinburgh, 15th May, 1802. 
 
 I take the liberty of writing to you, in order to com- 
 municate an historical anecdote, the evidence of which has 
 lately come into my hands. When I was in London some 
 time ago, I had a very agreeable opportunity of examining 
 the manuscripts of Mr. Locke. It was on every account 
 interesting, as you may imagine : not only from the supersti- 
 tious gratification of seeing, in the original, those writings 
 which have had so much influence on mankind ; but likewise 
 from a number of miscellaneous papers, which scarcely admit 
 of being published, and yet suggest many pleasing and cha- 
 racteristic views of that great mind. 
 
 In a bundle of MSS. on the subject of Toleration, there is 
 a collection of papers relative to the trial of Aikenhead, who 
 was executed at Edinburgh in 1697 for having spoken with 
 doubt, perhaps derision, of the holy doctrines of the Trinity 
 and Incarnation. Besides full copies of the indictment, 
 evidence, &c, there are several letters and notes which 
 Locke seems to have collected with much care. Among 
 these, there is one letter so remarkable, that it has suggested 
 to me the idea of giving you information of its contents. 
 All that we know of Aikenhead's case, from the reports 
 hitherto printed, is the melancholy fact of his judicial murder, 
 and the violent construction of the statutes upon which he 
 was prosecuted. From the minute description contained in 
 the authority which I am about to quote, his story accpuircs 
 a more powerful claim to interest, becomes more conspicuous 
 in the general picture of the age, and adds another deep 
 shade to those colours which you have touched so forcibly. 
 
 II 4
 
 aitendix n. 
 
 The paper I have alluded to is a letter from Lord 
 Anstruther, whose name you may remember from the 
 epigram in which his professional merits arc recorded. It is 
 addressed to one Mr. Cunningham in London, and is marked 
 on the back in Locke's hand-writing — " Aikenhead ; Lord 
 Anstruther's letter concerning him, 26 Jan. 9f." I have 
 not room to copy the whole letter, which is curious through- 
 out, and shows a mind moderate by disposition, but grovel- 
 ling in the lowest prejudices. 
 
 The paragraph, which refers to Aikenhead, I will give you 
 at length. After entertaining his correspondent with several 
 phenomena and prodigies, such as the river Clyde running 
 suddenly dry, and the daughter of a gentleman in the west 
 being possessed with a devil, and vomiting hot coals, of 
 which he had transmitted a narrative, attested by ministers, 
 to my Lord Tullibardine, he proceeds in these words : — 
 
 " We had lately an anomaly and monster of nature I may 
 call him, who was execut for cursing and reviling the persons 
 of the Trinity : he was eighteen years of age, not vicious, 
 and extremely studious. Fountainhall and I went to him in 
 prison, and I found a work on his spirit, and wept that ever 
 he should maintained such tenets, and desired a short re ■ 
 prieve, for his eternal state depended upon it. I plead 
 for him in Councel, and brought it to the Chan: vote; 
 it was told it could not be granted, unless the ministers 
 would interced. I am not for consulting the church in 
 state affairs. I doe think he would have proven an eminent 
 Christian had he lived, but the ministers out of a pious 
 tho' I think ignorant zeal, spoke and preached for cutting 
 him off. I find capital punishment inflicted most against 
 crimes that disturb the society and government, and not 
 against the heinousness of the sin against God ; for lawyers 
 say in that case, ' Satis est Deum. habere ultorem.' And so 
 stealing a sheep when one is hungry, or speaking against the 
 king, are punished by death ; whereas cursing, lying, slandering, 
 drunkenness, &c., are scarcely taken notice of by our law ; 
 but our ministers generally are of a narrow sett of thoughts 
 and confined principles, and not able to bear things of this 
 nature."
 
 LETTER TO MR. LAING. 489 
 
 It occurred to me that you would be pleased to have an 
 account of such a letter, and perhaps might be inclined to 
 make a more important use of the circumstances which it 
 authenticates. Mr. Thomson encouraged me to write to you. 
 If you shall feel any inclination to employ the letter as a 
 document, I make no doubt of obtaining permission. The 
 MSS. of Locke belong to the family of Lord King ; but are 
 at present in the hands of a gentleman who has full power 
 over them, and to whom I could make an application without 
 any restraint. 
 
 I have the honour to be, dear Sir, 
 
 Yours, Avith much respect, 
 
 Fra. Horner.
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 APPENDIX C. (Page 401.) 
 
 A SHORT ACCOUNT OF A LATE SHOUT ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 April, 1807. 
 
 The late administration came into employment on the 7th of 
 February, 1806, and was removed on the 24th of March, 
 1807, having lasted just one year and forty -five days. 
 
 In that space of time, 
 
 The system of the army has received the most important 
 improvement of which it was susceptible, by limiting the period 
 of service. The character and station of the soldiery are raised, 
 by delivering them from a tenure of servitude for life ; and 
 the inducements to enter into„the service are both increased, 
 and addressed to a better class of population, by the grant of 
 a provision for life, at the end of the soldier's engagement. 
 
 The Slave Trade has been abolished. 
 
 An effort was made, in the negotiation with France, to 
 restore to this country and to the rest of Europe the blessings 
 of peace. That sincere wish was disappointed by the ambition 
 and duplicity of the enemy ; but the negotiation afforded his 
 Majesty the opportunity of manifesting to the court of Russia 
 his faithful adherence to the spirit and principles of their 
 alliance, and of strengthening that connection, so important 
 to the liberties of Europe, by the strictest union of councils 
 and measures. The fidelity which was preserved towards all 
 his Majesty's allies throughout that discussion, and in the sub- 
 sequent communication to Parliament, restored the confidence 
 of foreign courts, which had been recently shaken by a mis- 
 chievous and dishonourable publication of state papers. 
 
 All projects have been discountenanced, of exciting to pre- 
 mature and unavailing struggles the wasted force of the 
 Continent, that, under a wise reserve, it might collect itself 
 for an effectual exertion. At the same time no opportunity 
 has been passed over of aiding, from the resources of England,
 
 SHORT ACCOUNT OF A SHORT ADMINISTRATION. 491 
 
 such of the foreign powers as were brought into conflict with 
 France by the progress of her unbounded encroachments. 
 Our rights of maritime warfare, contested only by ignorant 
 declamations, have been maintained in unimpaired possession, 
 while the true interests of the nation have been saved, and 
 its high character confirmed, by forbearance towards the neu- 
 trals in their distress. The misunderstandings which threa- 
 tened a rupture with America have been removed by the 
 moderation of both parties; and the foundations have been 
 laid of a permanent relation between the two states of the 
 world most naturally allied to each other, by origin, by a 
 common language and liberty, and by the mutual interests of 
 an immense commerce. 
 
 A system has been framed, and already completed, in 
 almost all its details, for controlling the collection and issue 
 of the public money, in such a manner as effectually to prevent 
 in future abuses and embezzlements similar to those which 
 were brought to light by the commissioners of naval and 
 military inquiry. Acts have passed for regulating the receipt 
 of all the great branches of the public revenue, the customs, 
 the excise, the post-office, and the stamps, by which all re- 
 mittances and payments are carried immediately to the public 
 account at the Bank of England ; and checks are established 
 which render it impossible, without complete detection, to 
 apply monies drawn from the Bank to any other than the 
 public service. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners for auditing the public ac- 
 counts has been new-modelled, in order that the enormous 
 arrear of outstanding accounts may be examined and settled 
 without farther procrastination, and at the same time to 
 establish, as the most effectual check upon the current ex- 
 penditure, an immediate audit of the accounts of each preced- 
 ing year. These commissioners, under the special instructions 
 they have received from the late Board of Treasury, may 
 likewise be considered as a permanent establishment for 
 inquiring into abuses in the public expenditure. 
 
 The establishment of the staff has been greatly reduced. 
 There has been a great diminution of expense in the barrack 
 department. There has been a reduction of the establishment
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 of the commissariat. The debt incurred upon the civil list, by 
 its excesses since the last estimates presented to the House of 
 Commons, has been defrayed out of droits of admiralty which 
 fell to the crown ; and an attempt has been made to prevent 
 the recurrence of such excesses, by directing quarterly esti- 
 mates to be previously made of all the heads of expense, and 
 all former demands to be satisfied before new expenses can be 
 incurred ; by introducing a more minute specification into the 
 accounts, and by securing a more strict appropriation, of the 
 several sums issued, to the services for which they Avere 
 allotted. Thirty-six offices in the customs in Ireland have 
 been abolished by an act of the present session. 
 
 A select committee of the House of Commons has been 
 appointed to examine and consider what regulations and 
 checks have been established, in order to control the several 
 branches of the public expenditure in Great Britain and Ire- 
 land, and how far the same have been effectual ; and what 
 farther measures can be adopted for reducing any part of the 
 said expenditure, or diminishing the amount of salaries and 
 emoluments, without detriment to the public service ; and to 
 report, with their observations, to the House. 
 
 A new plan of finance has been adopted, which will defray 
 the ordinary expenditure of the war, without any immediate 
 increase of taxes ; and provides for that expenditure through- 
 out the utmost probable duration of hostilities, with the 
 smallest practicable increase of taxes in any future year. It 
 is another principle of this new plan, that, while it accelerates 
 the operation of the sinking fund, it will distribute its effect 
 more equally over all the years of the period. 
 
 The West India colonics have been secured in a supply, no 
 longer precarious, of articles of the first necessity, by the 
 American Intercourse Act; which provided by parliamentary 
 authority a regular course of remedy for an acknowledged 
 evil, in the room of continual violations of the law and bills 
 of indemnity. 
 
 The final purpose of the union with Ireland has been kept 
 distinctly in view ; a full participation by both countries of 
 the same liberties, civilisation, and wealth. The first step 
 has been made towards an entire freedom of commercial
 
 SHORT ACCOUNT OF A SHORT ADMINISTRATION. 493 
 
 intercourse between the islands, by the Act to permit the free 
 interchange of every species of grain betioeen Great Britain and 
 Ireland. By placing a wise reliance in the constitutional 
 powers of the law, conspiracy and insurrection have been 
 suppressed without departing from the forms of justice. The 
 Habeas Corpus Act has not been suspended. There has 
 been no recourse to martial law. The administration of that 
 country has been conciliatory and firm, and guided by a dis- 
 position to give real effect to those laws which have already 
 conceded, in part, the just rights of the people. 
 
 The late ministers had already made considerable progress 
 in arrangements for extending, still further, to all descriptions 
 of the King's subjects, the benefits of equal laws and the 
 privileges of the English constitution. Among such plans 
 the reform of the Scottish judicature, especially the introduc- 
 tion of jury-trial in civil causes, was so far advanced that it 
 would be improper not to point it out in concluding this 
 enumeration. 
 
 In the prosecution of these measures, the ministers had to 
 contend with an opposition of a peculiar character. Parlia- 
 ment exhibited the novel and extraordinary spectacle, of 
 ministers required, and refusing, to arm the executive with 
 powers beyond the law ; and of an opposition, invariably 
 resisting every thing like concession and indulgence to the 
 subject, and maintaining, on all occasions, the prerogative of 
 the crown against the rights of the people. Most of them 
 were already placemen, pensioners, or reversionaries. 
 
 When the late ministers were called to the councils of the 
 King, parliament and the people expressed a firm confidence 
 in their integrity, experience, and talents. They have made 
 no sacrifices to popularity ; they risked it all, to discharge 
 faithfully and consistently their duties to the public. They 
 have made no sacrifice for the sake of power ; but considered 
 it no longer the object of their ambition, when it ceased to 
 be compatible with the free exercise of their judgment for 
 the public good. Their claims to the confidence of parlia- 
 ment and the people are confirmed and multiplied. Their 
 services are the acts of little more than a single year ; but 
 they were not mere expedients to get through the year;
 
 494 APPENDIX C. 
 
 they were measures founded upon large principles, and pi*o- 
 ductive of lasting and extensive effects. They will form an 
 era in the history of the country ; and the authors of them 
 would be insensible to their own certain fame, if, in retiring 
 from power, they felt any other regret than at being dis- 
 appointed in those farther councils which they had prepared 
 for the security of the state and the happiness of the people. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by A. Spottiswoode, 
 New-Street- Square.
 
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