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DIARY, REMINISCENCES,
AND

CORRESPONDENCE
OF

HENRY CRABB ROBINSON,
BARRISTER- AT- LAW,

F. S. A.

SELECTED AND EDITED BY

THOMAS SADLER,

Ph.D.

TWO VOLUMES.
VOL.

II.

BOSTON:
FIELDS, OSGOOD, &
SUCCESSORS TO TICKNOR AND FIELDS.

I87O.

CO.,

A Man he seems of cheerful yesterdays
And confident to-morrows with a face
;

Not worldly-minded,

for

Of Nature's

— gayety

impress,

bears too

Freedom and hope; but keen
His gestures

Are

all

note,

— and

hark

much

and health,
withal,
!

and shrewd.

his tones of voice

vivacious as his mien and looks."

The Excursion^ Book VII.

From Advance

Sheets,

University Press Welch, Bigelow,
Cambridge,
:

Co.

CONTENTS OF VOL.

CHAPTER
Sir

II.

1824.

— Lamb. — Coleridge and Irving. — Athenaeum
opened. — Lady Morgan. — Tour in Normandy. — Visit

Page

John Franklin.
Club

to the Trappists

CHAPTER
Julius Hare.

II/ 1825.

— Sir James Stephen. — Blake's Conversations

— Lamb. — Irving. — Coleridge. — Tour in Ireland. — Jour— Visit Derrynane. — Wordsworth. —
Visit
Dawson Turner. — Macaulay. — Death of Flaxman

CHAPTER

1826.

III.

Blake.

ney with O'Connell.

CHAPTER
Death of Blake.

IV.

1827.

— Lamb at Enfield
CHAPTER

—

1828.

—

Goethe.
Opening of the London University.
Repeal of Test and
Corporation Acts.
Bishop Stanley.
H. C. R. quits the Bar

—

CHAPTER

VI.

1829.

— Linn aean Society. —Lamb's Hoax and Con— With Lamb at Enfield. — Mrs. Clarkson.
— Words—
worth.
Croker

Antiquarian Society.
fession.

CHAPTER
Tour

Germany.

— Visits

VII.

1829.

Benecke, Knebel, Goethe, Tieck, &c.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER
In Italy.

— Winter in Rome. — Tour

in Sicily.

CHAPTER

— The Reform
— Jeremy Bentham

In England again.
Clarksons.

IX.

Bill.

in Florence

1831.

Lamb and

the

.158

1832.

Pattisson and his Bride

CHAPTER

XI.

—

168

1833-35.

—

First Railway Journey.
At the Lakes.
Hudson Gurney.
Visit to Heidelberg.
Scotch Tour with Wordsworth.
Theological Talks with Benecke.
Death of Lamb.
First Christmas at Rydal

—

CHAPTER
Dr. Arnold.

— Sydney Smith. — W.
CHAPTER

—

XII.
S.

—

Landor and Wordsworth

XIII.

—

— H.

Playford.

220

1837, 1838.

—
—

CHAPTER

179

1836.

Tour with Wordsworth.
Journey to the West of England
with Wordsworth.
Clarkson and
Copyright in America.
Wilberforce Controversy.
journey to Paris with Southey

Italian

At Rydal.

117

— Goethe's Death. — Lady Blessington. — Fatal Acci-

Bill.

dent to

— Stay

— Visits

CHAPTER
Reform

1829-31.

VIII.

—

XIV.

237

1839, 1840.

—

Visit to
C. R. removes to 30 Russell Square.
.271
Club.
Tour to Frankfort

— The Non-con.

—

CHAPTER XV.

1841.

Death of H. C. R/s Nephew, and of many Old Friends

CHAPTER

XVI.

.289

1842.

Christmas
Rydal (1841). — Death of Dr. Arnold. — Christmas at
.291
Rydal (1842). — Talks with Faber
at

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER
On Church
mas

XVII.

—

V
1843, 1844.

—

Correspondence with Quillinan.
ChristQuestions.
Archaeological Association
Visit to Play ford.

at Rydal.

—

CHAPTER

XVIII.

1844.

Dissenters' Chapels Act

CHAPTER
At Rydal.

XIX.

CHAPTER XX.

— Visit

to Heidelberg.

328

334

1845.

— Rogers. — Wordsworth. — Robinsoniana

Donaldson.

302

1846.

— Acquaintance with E. W. Rob343

ertson

CHAPTER

XXI.

1847.

— University Hall. — Deaths of Mary Lamb, Mrs.
Walter. — F. W. Robertson. — University
Quillinan, and
Rydal
College and Flaxman's Works. — Sad Christmas

Visit to Devizes.

CHAPTER
Political

— Bunsen. — Emerson. — On
— Christmas Rydal

Punishment of

the

366

CHAPTER
Circle at Rydal.

XXIII.

1849.

— University Hall opened

CHAPTER XXIV.

.383

1850, 1851.

— Visit Mrs. Wordsworth.
Wordsworth's Death. — Trip
— Flaxman Gallery University College. — Death of HabakGermany. — Arndt
kuk Robinson. — Tour
to Paris.

....

CHAPTER XXV.

—
—

394

1852-1857.

Byron. — Dr. King. — Mrs.

Death of Robertson.
Lady
Clarkson
Visit to France.
Death of H. C. R.'s
and Mrs. Wordsworth.
Grand-nephew.
On the Study of Wordsworth

—

351

1848.

Crisis.

Criminals.

The

XXII.

—

420

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVI.
At Bury.
son.

1858-1862.

— Mrs. Wordsworth's Death. — Death of Thomas Robin— More Deaths. — At Lulworth Cove. — Anecdotes and

Bons Mots

464

CHAPTER
At

—

XXVII.

1863-1866.

—
....

Stratford-on-Avon.
Last Continental Journey.
Resigning Trusts.
pers in Order.
Death

—

Putting Pa481

Appendix

509

Index

521

REMINISCENCES
OF

HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.
CHAPTER

1824.

JANUARY

1st

—

dined with Flaxman.

agreeable

afternoon.
The Franklins there.
Rem*
Captain, the now lost Sir John Franklin, had "married Ellen, the youngest daughter of Porden, the architect. I

—

appear not to have justly appreciated his bodily nature.
My
journal says " His appearance is not that of a man fit for
the privations and labors to which his voyage of discovery exHe is rather under-set; has- a dark complexion
posed him.
and black eyes ; a diffident air, with apparently an organic deIt seemed as if
fect of vision ; not a bold soldier-like mien.
he had not recovered from his hunger.' 7 Flaxman was very
cheerful.
When he has parties, he seems to think it his duty
to give his friends talk as well as food, and of both his entertainment is excellent. He tells a story well, but rather diffusely.
We looked over prints, and came home late. It is a
curious coincidence, that being engaged to dine with Captain
Franklin at Flaxman's, I had to decline an invitation to meet
Captain Parry at Mr. Martineau's, Stamford Hill.
January 10th.
Walked out and called on Miss Lamb. I
looked over Lamb's library in part. He has the finest collection of shabby books I ever saw ; such a number of first-rate
works in very bad condition is, I think, nowhere to be found.
January 22d.
Rode to London from Bury on the " Telegraph."
I was reading all the time it was light Irving's
" Argument of Judgment to come," which I have since finished.
It is a book of great power, but on the whole not calculated
:

—

to resolve doubts.

It is

* Written
VOL.

II.

successful in painting strongly
in 1851.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

2
to

believers the just inferences from the

received doctrine.
written rather to alarm than persuade ; and to some
would have the effect of deterring from belief.

How different this from John Woolman's Journal * I have
been reading at the same time. A perfect gem
His is a
schone Seek (beautiful soul).
An illiterate tailor, he writes in a
style of the most exquisite purity and grace.
His moral
qualities are transferred to his writings.
Had he not been so
very humble he would have written a still better book, for,
fearing to indulge in vanity, he conceals the events in which
he was a great actor.
His religion is love. His whole existence and all his passions were love
If one could venture to
impute to his creed, and not to his personal character, the delightful frame of mind which he exhibited, one could not hesitate to be a convert.
His Christianity is most inviting,
!

—

it is

fascinating.

—

February 3d.
Made a long-deferred call on Mr. Irving, with
I was very much pleased.
He received me with flattering cordiality, and introduced me to his wife, a plain but very
agreeable woman.
Irving is learning German, which will be
an occasion of acquaintance between us, as I can be of use to
him. We had an agreeable chat his free, bold tone, the recklessness with which he talks, both of men and things, renders

whom

;

his

company piquant.

spoke of the Scottish character as

to be found only in the peasantry, not in the literati.

Jeffrey

and the Edinburgh critics do not represent the people neither,
I adverted to some of
I observed, do Hume, Adam Smith, fcc.
He seemed well acquainted
the criticisms on his sermons.
with them, but not much to regard them. He said that Coleridge had given him a new idea of German metaphysics, which
he meant to study.
February 15th.
Having resolved to devote my Sundays in
;

—

future to the perusal of writings of a religious character, I
this morning made choice of a volume of Jeremy Taylor as a
beginning.
I pitched on his " Marriage Ring," a splendid discourse, equally fine as a composition and as evidencing deep
thought.
Yet it has passages hardly readable at the present
In the
dcty.
It has naive expressions, which raise a smile.
* " John Woolman's Works, containing the Journal of his Life, Gospel Labors, and Christian Experiences.
To which are added his Writings." Philadelphia, 1775.
Dublin, 1794. London, 1824.
Charles Lamb greatly8vo.
Woolman was an
admired this work, and brought it to H. C. R.'s notice.
American Quaker, one of those who first had misgivings about the institution
of slavery.

IRVING.

1824.]

midst of a long argument to prove that a husband ought not
" If he cannot endure her talk, how
to beat his wife, he asks
M
can she endure his beating t
:

—

I had a short chat with Benecke, and read
February 17th.
Glad to find Benecke a
extracts from Jeremy Taylor.
He is, with all his piety and gravity, a
thinking Christian.

him

believer in universal restoration, or, at least, a disbeliever in
By the by, I met the other day this reeternal punishment.

a greater difficulty how evil should ever come
than that, there being evil already here, it
If it
should be continued forever in the shape of punishment.
is not inconsistent with the Divine attributes to suffer guilt, is
1
But I think I have
it so that he should ordain punishment "
Evil here, and the evil of
a short and yet satisfactory answer.

mark

" It

into the world,

punishment, like all other may be means to an end, which end
may be the good of all. But eternal punishment supposes evil
to be an End.
Bode to Hammersmith, where, accomFebruary 20th.
panying Nay lor, I dined with Mr. Slater. A rather large party,
rendered interesting by Irving. A young clergyman, a Mr.
talked of the crime of giving opium to persons beP
A
fore death, so that they went before their Maker stupefied.
silly sentiment, which Irving had the forbearance not to expose,

—

though his manner sufficiently indicated to me what his feeling
an old citizen, a parvenu.
There was also a Mr. C
was.
said by Slater to be an excellent and very clever man ; but he
quoted Dr. Chalmers to prove that the smaller the violation of
Irving spoke as if he knew how
the law, the greater the crime.
Hall had spoken of him, censured his violent speeches, and reported his having said to a young theological student
"Do
you believe in Christ 1 Do you disbelieve in Dr. Collier ? " and
incidentally asked " If such things " (some infirmity of I forget
what divine) " are overlooked, why not my censoriousness 1 "
Speaking of Hall, Irving said that he thought his character had
greatly suffered by the infusion of party spirit, which had disturbed his Christian sentiments.
Mrs. Irving was also very
agreeable the cordiality of both husband and wife was grati,

;

I anticipate pleasant intercourse w ith them.
February 27th.
Had a long chat with Flaxman about Sir
Joshua Reynolds.
In the decline of life he expressed dissatisfaction with himself for not having attended to religion.
He was not always sufficiently attentive to the feelings of
others, and* hurt Flaxman by saying to him on his marriage

fying to me.

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

—

" You are a ruined man,
you will make no further progress
now."
February 29th.
Read the second sermon on Advent. It
has checked my zeal for Jeremy Taylor. It is true, as Anthony
Robinson says, that one does not get on with him or rather
he does not get on with his subject. A diffuse declaimer must,
however, expose himself to this reproach. In eloquence, as in
dancing, the object is not so much to get from the spot as to
delight by graceful postures and movements without going
And I find as I go on with Jeremy Taylor that he is
away.
merely eloquent,
he dances, but he does not journey on. And
in works of thought there should be a union of qualities. One
might parody Pope, and say

—

;

—

set

Show

March

5th.

—

on oratoric ground to prance,
his paces, not a step advance."

all

— Walked over

to Lamb's.

Meant a short

visit,

but Monkhouse was there as well as Manning so I took tea
and stayed the whole evening, and played whist. Besides, the
On religion, Monkhouse talked as I did
talk was agreeable.
not expect rather earnestly on the Atonement, as the essential
doctrine of Christianity, but against the Trinity, which he
thinks by a mere mistake has been adopted from Oriental
philosophy, under a notion that it was necessary to the
Atonement. The dogmatism of theology has disgusted Lamb,
and it is that alone which he opposes ; he has the organ of
theosophy, and is by nature pious.
March 26th.
At the Spring Assizes at Thetford. I dined
with my nephew and niece, then living there.
I drank tea
with James Edmund Barker.
His literary anecdotes were
entertaining.
He wrote a work of some size about Dr. Parr,
whose pupil he was. He said Parr was intolerant of young
scoffers at religion
and to a Roman Catholic who had jeered
at the story of Balaam's ass and its cross, he said with more
severity than wit " It would be well, young man, if you had
less of the ass and more of the cross."
To a lady, who, seeing
;

;

—

;

him impatient

" You must excuse us ladies,
at her talk, said
" Pray, madam, did
whose privilege it is to talk nonsense."
you talk nonsense, it would be your infirmity, not your privilege, unless, indeed, you deem it the privilege of a duck to
waddle because it cannot walk." Barker related an anecdote of
Parr in connection with
which makes amends for
many a harsh word. He had lent
£ 200, as Barker

—

thought, but

think

was, in

fact,

£ 500.

" I shaft never see

IRVING.

1824.]

—

JOHN FRANKLIN.

SIR

— WILDE.

the money again," said the Doctor ; " but it is of no consequence.
It is for a good man, and a purpose."
April 19th.
I went after breakfast to Monkhouse.
Mr.
Wordsworth also there.
Irving there ; he was very courteous.
Listened with interest to a serious conversation between the
poet and the pulpit orator, and took a share in it. Wordsworth
stated that the great difficulty which had always pressed on
his mind in religion was the inability to reconcile the Divine
prescience with accountability in man.
I stated mine to be
the incompatibility of the existence of evil, as final and
absolute, with the Divine attributes.
Irving did not attempt
He declared that he was no metaphysician,
to solve either.
and that he did not pretend to know more of God than w as
He did" not, however, seem to take any
revealed to him.
offence at the difficulties suggested.
An interesting hour's

—

conversation.

May

18th.

— Called on

physician, nor do I

He was

very friendly, as was
but Irving is no metasuppose a deep thinker. But he is liberal,

A little

also his wife.

Irving.

serious talk

;

and free from doctrinal superstition. He received my free
remarks on the terrors which he seeks to inspire with great
I left him " John Woolman," a book which exgood-nature.
Woolman was a missionary, and
hibits a Christian all love*
He called it a GodIrving is writing on the missionaries.
send.

— After a
but
—

May 22d.
Franklin.
Franklin's,

A small

call

on Flaxman, dined with Captain

interesting party.

Several friends of

travellers, or persons interested in his journeys,

—

gentlemen and men of sense. They talked of the Captain's
he appeared
travels with vivacity, and he was in good spirits
quite the man for the perilous enterprise he has undertaken.
Mr. Palgrave (formerly Cohen), a well-known antiquary, was
She has
there, and his wife, the daughter of Dawson Turner.
more beauty, elegance, sense, and taste united than I have
all

;

seen for a long time.

—

May 28th.
I went down to Westminster to hear Sergeant
Wilde in defence of the British Press for a libel on Mr.
Chetwynd. He spoke with great vehemence and acuteness
combined.
His vehemence is not united to elegance, so that
he is not an orator ; but the acuteness was not petty. He
will soon be at the head of the Common Pleas.
Rem.^
My prophecy was more than fulfilled. He is now,

—

* See Vol.

p. 266.

f Written in 1851.

€

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

as Lord Truro, the Lord High Chancellor; but, like other
recent Chancellors, it is not so that he will be best known to
posterity.

—

June 1st.
I was induced to engage myself to dine with C.
Lamb. After dinner he and I took a walk to Xewington. We
She was looking tolerably,
sat an hour with Mrs. Barbauld.
but Lamb (contrary to his habit) was disputatious with her,
and not in his best way. He reasons from feelings, and those
she from abstractions and verbal definioften idiosyncrasies
tions.
Such people can't agree.
June 3d.
At nine (much too early) I went to a dance and
rout at Mr. Green's, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where I stayed
till three.
A large party. Luckily for me, Coleridge was
there, and I was as acceptable to him as a listener as he to me
as a talker.
Even in the dancing-room, notwithstanding the
noise of the music, he was able to declaim very amusingly on
This evening his theme was the growing
his favorite topics.
hypocrisy of the age, and the determination of the higher
;

—

even in science, to repress all liberality of speculation.
has joined the party, and they are now
patronizing Granville Perm's absurd attack on geology as being
against revealed religion. It seems that these ultra-religionists
deem the confirmation of the great fact of a deluge from the
phenomena within the crust of the globe as inconsistent with
After so entire a destruction of the
the Mosaic account.
earth, how could the dove find a growing olive ]
Coleridge
thinks German philosophy in a state of rapid deterioration.
He metaphysicized a la Schelling while he abused him, saying
the Atheist seeks only for an infinite cause of all things \ the
spurious divine is content with mere personality and personal
will, which is the death of all reason.
The philosophic
theologian unites both.
How this is to be done he did not
classes,

Sir

say.

Humphry Davy

—

June 10th.
Dined at Lamb's, and then walked with him to
Highgate, self-invited. There we found a large party. Mr. and
Mrs. Green, the Aderses, Irving, Collins, R. A., a Mr. Taylor,*
a young man of talents in the Colonial Office, Basil Montagu,
and one or two others. It was a rich evening. Coleridge talked
his best, and it appeared better because he and Irving supported
the same doctrines. His superiority was striking. The subject
dwelt on was the superiority of the internal evidence of
Christianity.
In a style not clear or intelligible to me, both
* Henry Taylor, author of " Philip van Artevelde."

A TALK AT

1824.]

COLERIDGE'S.

Coleridge and Irving declaimed. The advocatus diaboli for the
evening was Mr. Taylor, who, in a way very creditable to his
manners as a gentleman, but with little more than verbal
cleverness, ordinary logic, and the confidence of a young man
who has no suspicion of his own deficiences, affirmed that those
evidences which the Christian thinks he finds in his internal
convictions, the Mahometan also thinks he has ; and he also
asserted that Mahomet had improved the condition of mankind.
Lamb asked him whether he came in a turban or a hat. There
who broke out at last by an opposition
wr as also a Mr. C
to Mr. Irving, which made the good man so angry that he exclaimed " Sir, I reject the whole bundle of your opinions."
had no opinions, only
Now it seemed to me that Mr. C
words, for his assertions seemed a mere galimatias.
The least agreeable part of Coleridge's talk was about
He called Herder a coxcomb, and set
German literature.
Goethe far below Schiller, allowing the former no other merit
than that of exquisite taste. He repeated his favorite reproach,
that Goethe wrote from an idea that a certain thing was to be
done in a certain style, not from the fulness of sentiment on a
,

certain subject.

My talk with Irving alone was more satisfactory. He spoke
of a friend who has translated " Wilhelm Meister," and said
" We do not sympathize on religious matters.
But that is
:

nothing.

Where

I find

that there

a sincere searching after

truth, I think I like a person the better for not having found
it."
"At least," I replied, " you have an additional interest

—

Whether Irving said this, suspecting
doubter, I do not know.
Probably he did.
in him."

to be a

On my walk with Lamb, he spoke with enthusiasm of Manning,* declaring that he is the most wonderful man he ever
knew, more extraordinary than Wordsworth or Coleridge. Yet
he does nothing. He has travelled even in China, and has been
by land from India through Thibet, yet, as far as is known, he
has written nothing. Lamb says his criticisms are of the very
first quality.

—

July 1st.
Made my first call at the Athenaeum, a genteel
establishment ; but I foresee that it w411 not answer my purpose as a dining-place, and, if not, I gain nothing by it as a
lounge for papers, &c.
Bem.if
It now constitutes one of the great elements of my

—

* Thom*as Manning, at one time a mathematical tutor at Cambridge.
of Lamb's most characteristic letters were addressed to him.
t Written in 1851.

Some

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

life, and my becoming a member was an epoch in my
These great clubs have changed the character of London
society, and will save many a young man from the evils of a

ordinary
life.

rash marriage, as well as habits of dissipation.
Originally it
was proposed that all the members (1,000) of the Athenaeum
should be men of letters, and authors, artists, or men of
science,
in a word, producers ; but it was found impossible to
form a club solely of such materials, and, had it been possible,
it would have been scarcely desirable.
So the qualification was
extended to lovers of literature, and when Amyot proposed me
to Heber, the great book-collector, I was declared by Heber to
be worthy, on account of my being a German scholar. He at
once consented to propose me, but I needed a seconder who
knew me. Flaxman named me to Gurney, the barrister, who
consented to second me, and he writing a letter to that effect,
I was in fact seconded by I know not whom.
The entrance
fee was £ 10, and the annual subscription £ 5.
A house was
building for us in the square opposite the Park. We occupied
for a time the southwest corner of Regent Street.
I was not
at first aware that it would become my ordinary dining-plaee,
but I knew it would introduce me to good society.
I dined with Storks, to meet Lady and Sir
July 1st
Charles Morgan, and I was much amused by the visit. Before
I went, I was satisfied that I should recognize in the lady one
who had attracted my attention at Pistrucci's, and my guess
was a hit. Lady Morgan did not displease me till I reflected
on her conversation. She seems good-natured as well as lively.
She talked like one conscious of her importance and superiority.
I quoted Kant's " There are two things which excite my admiration,
the moral law within me, and the starry heavens above
" That is mere vague declamation," said Sir Charles
me."
;
" German sentiment and nothing else.
The starry heavens,
philosophically considered, are no more objects of admiration
than a basin of water "
Lady Morgan most offended me by
her remarks about Madame de Stael.
She talked of her own books. £ 2,400 was asked for a house.
" That will cost me two books," she said.
She has seen Prati,
who, she says, advises her to go to Germany ; " But I have no
respect for German literature or philosophy."
"Your ladyship
had better stay at home.
Does your ladyship know anything
about them ] " was my ungallant reply.
Hem.*
I saw her once or twice after this, but I never

—

—
—

—

* Written in 1851.

MRS. OPIE.

1824.]

— BALDWIN.

courted her company ; and I thought the giving her a pension one of the grossest misapplications of the small sum at
disposal of the government.
Wordsworth repeatedly dewthe
novelists,
clared his opinion that writers for the people
poets, and dramatists
had no claim, but that authors of dictionaries and books of reference had.
July 5th.
I dined in Castle Street, and took tea at Lamb's.
An agreeMr. Irving and his friend, Mr. Carlyle, were there.
able evening enough ; but there is so little sympathy between
Lamb and Irving, that I do not think they can or ought to be

—

intimate.

—

6th.
Took tea with Lamb. Hessey gave an account
Quincey's description of his own bodily sufferings. " He

July
of

should have employed as his publishers," said Lamb, " Pain

and Fuss
July
Opie,

(Payne and Foss).

IJfth.

—

At« the Assizes at Norwich.

who had then become a Quakeress.

Called on Mrs.
She received me

very kindly, but as a Quaker in dress and diction. I found her
very agreeable, and not materially changed.
Her dress had
something coquettish in it, and her becoming a Quakeress gave
her a sort of eclat ; yet she was not conscious, I dare say, of any
unworthy motive. She talked in her usual graceful and affectionate manner.
She mentioned Lord Gdfford,
surely a slip
of the tongue.
July 17th.
To-day heard a good pun from the unfortunate
A
The college beer was very bad at St. John's. " The
brewer ought to be drowned in a butt of his own beer," said
one fellow. A
replied " He ought.
He does, indeed,
deserve a watery bier."
Rem* July 23d.
My first visit to Charles Baldwin, at
Camberwell, where he dwelt in a sort of park, where once Dr.
Lettsom lived. He has been ever since as owner, first of
Baldwin's Evening Mail, and afterwards of the Standard, at
the head of the Tory and Church party press, and our acquaintance has, of course, fluctuated, .but has not altogether ceased.
August 12th.
All day in court.
In one cause I held a brief
under Henry Cooper. The attorney, a stranger, Garwood, of
Wells, told me that he was informed by his friend Evans (the
son of my old friend, Joseph Evans), that I was the H. C. E.
mentioned in the London Magazine as the friend of Elia. " I
love Elia," said Mr. Garwood ; " and that was enough to make

—

•

—

me come

you

"
!

* Written in 1851.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

— Called on Mr.

Irving, and had an agreeable
an honorable man in his feelings. He
was called away by a poor minister, who, having built a chapel*
says he must go to prison unless Mr. Irving would preach a
sermon for him. Mr. Irving refused. He said he had no call
or mission to relieve men from difficulties into which they
throw themselves. He says there is much cant and selfishness which stalk abroad under the mask of the word " gospel."
Irving praises exceedingly Luther's " Table-Talk," which I
have lent him. "It is the profoundest table-talk I ever read,"
he says.
August 23d.
I went to Brighton, and after spending a few
days with my friends there and at Lewes, I made a tour almost entirely in Normandy.
Bern.*
During my journey I was not inattentive to the
It was decidedly against the Bourstate of public opinion.
bons, as far as I accidentally heard sentiments expressed.
Of
course I except official zeal. At Caen, I was amused at the
Bureau de la Police by a plaster cast of the King, like those
sold by Italian boys for 6d.
Round the brow a withered leaf,
to represent the laurel " meed of mighty conquerors," with

August 18th.

chat with him.

—

this inscription

—

Francois fidele ! incline-toi;
Traitre, fr^mis,
voici le Roi

—

This contempt for the family was by no means confined to
the Republicans or Imperialists, though certainly much of it
was, and is, to be ascribed to the national character, which
would lead them to tolerate sooner King Stork than King Log,
if the devouring sovereign conferred any kind of honor on
those he swallowed.
How low the condition of the French judges is, was also
made evident to me. The salary of the puisne judges in the
is 1,200 livres per
provinces
at Avranches, for instance
annum, without fees or emoluments of any kind and from the
conducteur of our diligence I learned that he and his fellowconducteurs had recently struck, because an attempt had been
made to reduce their salary from 4,000 to 3,000 livres, with
permission to take the usual fees ; and every traveller gives

—

liberally.

The

who are distinguished from the Avoues, receive
they become of importance, and then such men

Avocats,

small fees

till

* Written in 1851.

MONASTERY OF LA TRaPPE.

1824.]

as Berryer will gain as much as several hundred thousand
The Avoues, tout comme chez nous, earn
francs per annum.
more than the Avocats in criminal cases, though the orders are

The Avoues alone represo entirely separated.
sent the client, who is bound by their admissions only ; and
their bills are taxed like those of our attorneys.
The most interesting occurrence on this journey was my
visit to the Monastery of La Trappe, to which I walked on
September 21st, from Mortagne. The spot itself is simple,
mean, and ugly,
very unlike la grande Chartreuse.
It had
been thoroughly destroyed early in the Eevolution, and, when
restored, the order was in great poverty.
Its meanness took
B-way all my enthusiasm, for my imagination was full of romantic images of " shaggy woods and caves forlorn." It is
by no means

—

situated in a forest about three leagues from Mortagne.
Indications of its peculiar sanctity were given by inscriptions on

barns and

mean houses

uti qui habitant in ilia

of husbandry, such as

;

and these

beati

and

Domus
felices

Dei, Be-

were

re-

peated so often as to excite the suspicion that the inscribers
were endeavoring to convince themselves of their own felicity.
The people I saw this day were mean and vulgar for the greatSome few had
er part, with no heroic quality of the monk.
visages indicating strength of the lowest animal nature, others
had a cunning look. One or two were dignified and interesting.

On knocking at the gate, a dirty old man opened it, and
conducted me to a little room, where I read on the wall, " InThe most significant of these was,
among the monks, any one were recognized, though he

structions to Visitors."

that

if,

he was not to be spoken to.
connection with the world,
all his relations with the world were destroyed.
Visitors were not to speak till spoken to, and then to answer
briefly.
I was led into a gallery from which I could see the
monks at mass. As others were on their knees, I followed
their example on entering, but I felt it to be a kind of hypocThe
risy, and did not repeat the act when I had once risen.
only peculiarity in the performance of the mass was the humility of the monks,
sometimes on their knees and hands,
and at other times standing bent as a boy does at leapfrog,
when a little boy is to leap over him.
Being beckoned back into the waiting-room, two monks
having white garments entered and prostrated themselves
were a

son, a parent, or a brother,

As every monk had renounced

—

all

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

Thej reand
uncomfortable.
Not that I felt like a Sultan or Grand Turk,
as if I were the object of worship, for I knew that this was

before me, covering their faces with their hands.

mained

in this posture long

enough to make me

feel silly

an act of humility which would be performed to a beggar.
Only once before was a man ever on his knees to me, and then I
felt contempt and anger, and this man was a sort of sovereign,
one of the Junta of Galicia, in Spain.
or portion of a king,
Towards these men I felt pity, not admiration. One had a
This, the
stupid face, the other a most benignant expression.
good genius of the two, after leading me into the church, where
unintelligible ceremonies were gone through, read to me out
I w as in a state of conof a book what I did not understand.
fusion, and I did what I was bid as obediently as a postulant.
I was offered
I was left alone, and then another monk came.
dinner, which I had previously resolved to accept, thinking
I might, at least for one day, eat what was the ordinary food
for life of men who at one time had probably fared more
sumptuously than I had ever done \ but it was a trial, I
own.
I would leave nothing on my plate, and was prudent in not
The following was my fare and that of two
overloading it.
other guests, meanly dressed men. A little table was covered
with a filthy cloth, but I had a clean napkin.
First, a soupe
maigre, very insipid ; a dish of cabbage, boiled, in what I
should have thought butter, but that is a prohibited luxury ;
a dish of boiled rice seasoned with a little salt, but by no
means savory and barley or oatmeal boiled, made somewhat
not disagreeable, considered as prison althick with milk,
While at dinner there came in the frere cellier, or
lowance.
butler, who said he had a favor to ask of me.
It was that I
would write to him from England, and inform him by what
means the English Gloucester cheese has the reddish hue given
The society have cows and sell their cheese, which
to it.
makes a large portion of their income. This I promised to
do, intimating that the color without the flavor would be of
In fact, I did send
little use.
what I hope was received
,* which cost me about as many shillings
a packet of
I was glad of this, for I saw no pooras my dinner cost sous.
box in which I could deposit the cost of my meal. The man who
made this request had a ruddy complexion, and by no means
a mortified air. The monk who brought in the wine also had

—

;

—

* Probably what Mr. Robinson sent was Arnotto.

—

LAWS OF THE TRAPPIST ORDER.

1824.]

All the others were
a laughing eye, and I saw him smile.
He could speak even loudly, yet
dismal, forlorn, and silent.

he had the dress of a frere convers. Among the monks was
the famous Baron Geramb, of whom I heard a romantic tale
One of the young
(worth telling, were this a part of a book).
men who dined with me was a seminarist of Seez. His hands
betrayed that he had been accustomed to day labor. His conHe was so ignoversation was that of the most uneducated.
rant that, on my expressing my astonishment that the Emperor
of Austria could allow his daughter to marry Buonaparte, who
had a wife already, he accounted for it by his being a Protestant.
This young man made the journey to the monastery to
relieve himself from his college studies at Seez, as our CamAt the same time, his object
bridge students go to the Lakes.
He came for edification, to be
was, I fear, purer than theirs.
strengthened in the pious resolution which made him assume
the holy office of a priest, and avail himself of the charitable
He was
education freely given him by his patron, the bishop.
my cicerone round the monastery, and felt like a patron towards
me. When I confessed that I was a Protestant, he smiled with
satisfaction, that he had had penetration to guess as much,
though he had never seen me before.
At that time the 'church was in want of supplies for the lower
order of clergy ; but it is otherwise now.
Under his guidance I could see through the windows the
monks at their dinner at a long table, with a sort of porridgepot before them, while the readers in the several apartments
were reading to the diners. I saw the dormitories. The monks
sleep on boards covered with a thin piece of cloth or serge. Each
has his name written on his den. The Pereprieur does not sleep
better than the others.
My informant told me that the monks have only a very short
interval between prayer and toil and sleep
and this is not
called recreation lest the recluse should be led to forget that he
is to have no enjoyment but what arises from the contempla;

tion of God.
If they sweat, they are not allowed to wipe their sweat from
their brows
probably because they think this would be resist;

ance to the Divine command.
The monks labor but very little, from pure weakness. Among
the very few books in the strangers' room were two volumes of
the u Laws of the Order."
Among the
I turned them over.
laws was a list of all those portions of the Old Testament

;;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

which the monks were prohibited reading. Certainly this was
not a mutilation of the sacred writings which the Protestants
have any right to make a matter of reproach. On my going
away, the priest who had first spoken to me came again, and
asked me my object in coming.
I said, "A serious curiosity "
that I wished to -see their monastery ; that I knew Catholics
grossly misrepresented Protestantism from ignorance, and I
believed Protestants misrepresented Catholicism in like manHe took my hand at parting, and said " Though you
ner.
are not of our religion, we should be glad to see you again. I
hope God in his grace will bring you to the true religion." I
answered " I thank you for the wish. If your religion be the
true one, I wish to die a believer in it.
We think differently
God will judge between us." Certainly this visit did not bring
me nearer to Roman Catholicism in inclination.
Came home by Dover, Hastings, and Brighton,
October 8th.
and returned to my chambers on the evening of the 15 th
:

—

October.
October 15th.
Mrs. Aders speaks* highly
I think, extravagantly
of Masquerier's picture of me, which she wishes to
She says it is just such a picture as she would wish to
copy.
my very best expression. It need be the
have of a friend,
best to be endurable.
Walked to Newington. Mrs. Barbauld was
November Jjth.
going out, but she stayed a short time with me. The old lady
is much shrunk in appearance, and is declining in strength.' She
is but the shade of her former self, but a venerable shade. She
is eighty-one years of age, but she retains her cheerfulness, and
seems not afraid of death. She has a serene hope and quiet
faith,
delightful qualities at all times, and in old age pecu-

—

—
—

—

liarly enviable.

—

Called on Southern. He tells me that the
November 16th.
dining-club he proposes is to be in Essex Street, and to consist
Hume,
of about fifty members, chiefly partisans of Bentham.
the M. P., is to be one, and Bo wring, Mill, and others will join.
Southern proposes Hogg as a member. I have intimated a strong

doubt whether I would belong to it.
Dined at the Bar mess in Hall, and then
November 21st.
went to Lamb's. Allsop was there, an amiable man. I believe
his acquaintance with Lamb originated in his sending Cole-

—

£ 100, in admiration of his genius.
Called at Flaxman's. He has been very ill,
December 1st.
These
even dangerously, and is still unwell, but recovering.

ridge a present of

—

SCHILLER.

1824.]

—

SIR

JOHN FRANKLIN.

repeated attacks announce a breaking constitution. One of the
salt of the earth will be lost whenever this great and good man
leaves

it.

December 3d.

and

ans's

This

— A bad morning,

for I

went to book auctions,

my time

money at Evat Southey's, I lost
19 5 s.
I bought the " Annual Register," complete, for
certainly a book of reference, but how often shall I refer

after losing

it %
Lamb says, in all my life, nineteen times. Bought also
the " Essayists," Chalmers's edition, 45 vols., well bound, for
6 J guineas, little more than the cost of binding ; but this is a
lady's collection. How often shall I want to refer to it I Brydge's
" Archaica," 2 vols., 4to, published in nine one-guinea parts ; but
it is only a curious book, to be read once and then laid by. " Bea useless admonition
ware of cheap bargains," says Franklin,

—

to me.

December 10th.

— Took tea

at home.

Mr. Carlyle with me.
of my recollections of Schiller
for his book.
I was amused by looking over my MSS., autographs, &c. ; but it has since given me pain to observe the
I find I recollect
weakness and incorrectness of my memory.
nothing of Schiller worth recollection. At ten went to Talfourd's,

He presses me to write an account

where were Haydon and his wife, and Lamb and his sister ; a
very pleasant chat with them. Miss Mitford there ; pleasing
looks, but no words.
December lJfth.
E. Littledale sent me a note informing me
that the Douai Bible and Rheims Testament were to be sold
to-day, by Saunders.
I attended, and bought them both very
for 8 s. 6 d. and 3 s. 6 d.
cheap,
but I also bought Law's
" Jacob Boehme " for £ 1 7 s. ; though 4 vols., 4to, still a foolish
purchase, for what have I to do with mystical devotion, who am

—

;

gam a taste for a more rational religion ]
Had I a depth of reflection and a strength of sagacity which
1 am conscious of not possessing, I might profit by such books.

in vain striving to

—

December 25th.
Christmas day. I dined by invitation with
Captain Franklin. Some agreeable people, whom I expected to
meet, were not there.
And the party would have been dull
enough had not the Captain himself proved a very excellent
companion.
His conversation that of a man of knowledge and
capacity,
decision of character combined with great gentleness of manners.
He is eminently qualified for the arduous
labor he has undertaken of exploring by land the Northern
regions, in order to meet, if possible, the North Pole navigators.
Mrs. Franklin still remains very much an invalid.

—

EEMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

December 31st

—

The Flaxmans were

[Chap.

went to a party at Captain Franklin's.
there, also Lieutenant Back, the former

companion of the Captain

;

but the company too numerous for

interesting conversation.
I concluded the year at the Athenaeum, a spot where, if my
health and other accidents of felicity which I have yet been
blessed in be preserved to me, I hope to have much enjoyment.
Rem* When Southey was in town and breakfasted with
me, I mentioned to him that the Prussian government had
volunteered very extensive reforms in its administration, and
acquired so great strength by it, in the popular sentiment, that
it was mainly to be ascribed to this, that the successful resistSouthey said " I wish
ance to French oppression occurred.
you would write an article on this for the Quarterly? I rudely
" I should be ashamed to write for the Quarterly" and
said
Southey was evidently offended.
But the article was written, and ultimately appeared in the
It underQuarterly\ though not precisely as written by' me.
went no change, however, beyond the insertion of a Greek
passage, and one or two omissions. It appeared in Vol. XXXI.
No. 62, published in April, 1825.
During this year there was a small rise in the amount of my
fees, from 445 to 469J guineas j and I have to record the sudden death of my fellow-circuiteer, Henry Cooper.
Several incidents took place during the assizes at Bury, which
deserve notice as illustrative of the bad state of criminal law
and practice in the country. One man indicted pleaded guilty.
Eagle said "I am your counsel ; say, Not guilty.' "
With
difficulty, the Chief Baron interposing, he did.
The prosecutor,
being called, refused to be sworn, and was sent to jail.
I tried
The man was acquitted.
In
to do without him, and failed.
another case I defended, and, the evidence being very slight, the
Chief Baron stopped me and told the jury to acquit ; but the
jury said they had doubts, and, the Chief Baron going on, all
the prisoners were convicted, though against some there was no

—

evidence.

At Norwich another

case occurred exhibiting the wretched

which

I was the instrument of necessitating a reform.
I defended a knot of burglars, against whom
there was a complete case if the evidence of an accomplice
were receivable, but none without. Now, that accomplice had

state of the law, in

* Written

in 1851.

DR. SHEPHERD, OF

1825.]

GATEACRE.

been convicted of felony, and sentenced by a Court of Quarter
Sessions to imprisonment alone, without the addition of a fine
And the statute restoring competence requires
or a whipping.
an imprisonment and a fine or a whipping. Gazelee refused to
attend to this objection, and all were convicted ; but I called
on Edghill, the clerk of assize, and told him that, unless the
men were discharged, I would memorialize the Secretary of
State.
And in consequence the men were in a few days discharged ; and Sir Robert Peel, at the opening of the session of
Parliament, brought in a short act amending the law.
Imprisonment or fine alone was rendered sufficient to give a restoration of legal credit.

CHAPTER

II.

1825.

JANUARY 2d. — Dined

Christie's.*

very agreeable

now Major Gifford, and the cousins
Edgar and Richard Taylor there. Had a fine walk to Lamb's.
a pretended life, without
Read to him his article on Liston,
a word of truth, and not much wit in it. Its humor lies in
afternoon.

Captain,

—

It will be ill rethe imitation of the style of biographers.
ceived ) and, if taken seriously by Liston, cannot be defended.
Breakfasted with J. Wood.f Shepherd, % of
January Jfth.
Gateacre, the stranger whom we were to meet, Mr. Field, § of
Warwick, and R. Taylor present. We had a very pleasant
morning. Shepherd an amusing, and, I have no doubt, also
an excellent man. He related a droll anecdote, which he. had
" We
just heard from the manager of Covent Garden Theatre.
have to do," said the manager, " with a strange set of people.

—

Yesterday there was a regular quarrel between a carpenter and
One was a Jew, whom the other,
a scene-shifter about religion.
Why
a Christian, abused as belonging to a blood-thirsty race.
6

I blood-thirsty

replied the Jew.

When my

forefathers

*
merchant,- one of whose daughters married Edgar Taylor, already referred to (see Vol. I. p. 199), and another, General Gifford.
t See Vol. T. p. 220.
Shepherd, LL. D., a friend of Lord Brougham's, and author of
j Rev.
" The Life of Poggio Bracciolini."
§ Author of •* The Life of Dr. Parr."

Wm.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB KOBIXSOX.

[Chap.

conquered Palestine they killed their enemies, the Philistines ;
but so do you English kill the French. We are no more
blood-thirsty than you.'
That is not what I hate your people
for but they killed my God. they did.'
Did they ? Then you
may kill mine, if you can catch him.'
Shepherd, like the radicals in general, was very abusive of
Difficult,
Southey, whom it was my difficult office to defend.
not because he is not a most upright man, but because he and
his opponents are alike violent party men who can make no
allowance for one another.
January 17th.
There were but two appeals at the Bury
Epiphany Sessions. I succeeded in obtaining a verdict in both.
They were easy cases. On my saying of one of them, " The
u Do
said,
case will be short," that insolent fellow, Pc
you speak in your professional or your personal character f" I
" Sir, that is a distinction I do not understand.
I
replied
always speak as a gentleman and the truth. " He blushed and
apologized, and said his question was only a joke.
Went to Covent Garden Theatre. A dull
February 11th.
The pantomime
time of it, though I went in at half price.
a fatiguing exhibition, but the scenery beautiful and this is one
A panoramic view
of the attractions of the theatre for me.
of the projected improvement of the Thames, by the erection
of a terrace on arches along the northern shore, is a pleasing
anticipation of a splendid dream, which not even in this projecting age pan become a reality.
March' 18th.
(Cambridge Spring Assizes.) Went to a

—

;

—

Met there Julius Hare, the
youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Hare, who noticed me at Weimar
in 1804.
Julius was then a school-boy, but he has some recollection of me
and I was anxious to see him, as he had spoken
of me to Peacock.*
Hare is a passionate lover of German
literature and philosophy.
He has the air of a man of talent,
and talks well. I was struck with his great liberality. We
had so many points of contact and interest that I chatted with
him exclusively till past twelve, paying no attention to the
music, or the numerous and fashionable company.
Rem.^
Hare became afterwards remarkable as one of the
authors of " Guesses at Truth," with his now deceased brother
Augustus, and also as a writer of eloquent devotional works,
" The Mission of the Comforter," &c.
Yet it is his misfortune
to satisfy no party.
The High Church party consider him a
large party at Sergeant Frere's.

—

* Afterwards Dean of Ely.

Written in 1851.

A BAR DINNER AT THE ATHENAEUM.

1825.]

on account of his intimacy with Bunsen and Arnold,
and especially his affectionate memoir of Sterling ; and he is

heretic,

much

reprobated in the Record,

the

oracle of the

Low

Church party. He is brother-in-law to Frederick Maurice.
He must be a man of wide charity and comprehensive affections who makes almost idols of Goethe, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Bunsen, Arnold, Maurice, and W. S. Landor.

— After

dining with the magistrates, I gladly
on Hare. I had great pleasure in
the best collection
looking over his library of German books,
He
of modern German authors I have ever seen in England.
spoke of Niebuhr's " Roman History " as a masterpiece ;
praised Neander's " St. Bernard," " Emperor Julian," " St.
Chrysostom," and " Denkwiirdigkeiten"; was enthusiastic about
Hare represents Count De Maistre as the
Schleiermacher.
I am to read his " Soirees de St.
superior of De Lamennais.
Petersbourg." After two very delightful hours with Hare, J
returned to the " Red Lion," and sat up late chatting with the

April 15th.

stole

away

juniors.

April 22d.

make a

call

— In the evening

—

called

on C. Lamb.

He and

has obtained his discharge
from the Tndia House, with the sacrifice of rather more than a
third of his income.
He says he would not be condemned to a
seven years' return to his office for a hundred thousand
pounds.
I never saw him so calmly cheerful as now.
May Jfth. A house dinner at the Athenaeum set on foot by
me. It went off very well indeed. I took the bottom of the table.
his sister in excellent spirits.

—

had Edward Littledale at the top. The rest barristers or
coming to the bar, viz. F. Pollock, Storks, Wightman, L.
Adolphus, Wood, and Amos, Dodd and his pupil, Lloyd,
not
an unpleasant man of the party. The conversation not at all
professional or pedantic.
We broke up early. I remained at
the place till late. After my nap, Sir Thomas Lawrence came
The President and Turner talked of
in, Dawson Turner, &c.
the present Exhibition, Turner asserting it to be superior to
:

—

This Sir Thomas
the Exhibitions in the days of Sir Joshua.
denied.
He said two or three paintings by Sir Joshua, with
one by Northcote or Opie, made an Exhibition of themselves.
In number, there is now a superiority of good works. Both
praised Danby's u Passage of the Red Sea," also a picture by
Mulready.
Hilton and Leslie were named, and Hayter's
"Trial of Lord William Russell." The landscape by Turner,
Yet I have heard that he is going
R. A., was highly extolled.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

Sir Thomas mentioned that the Marquis of
on seeing Danby's picture, rode immediately to the
artist, and bought it for 500 guineas.
An hour afterwards
Lord Liverpool was desirous of purchasing it. Sir Thomas
spoke of Mr. Locke* as having the greatest genius of all living
painters.
Not that he is the greatest painter. I afterwards
learned from Flaxman that Locke was the son of a gentleman
once very rich, and was now too far advanced in years to have
recourse to painting as a profession.
He had expressed to
Flaxman the very obvious sentiment " How happy would it
have been if, in early life, I had been under the necessity of

out of fashion.
Stafford,

earning

May

my own
7th.

livelihood

— Went

"
!

to the Exhibition, with the advantage of

attention drawn to the best pictures, wT hich,
equalled my expectations.
Turner,
A.,
If he will invent an atmoshas a magnificent view of Dieppe.
phere, and a play of colors all his own, why will he not
assume a romantic name ? No one could find fault with a
Garden of Armida, or even of Eden, so painted. But we know
Dieppe, in the north of France, and can't easily clothe it in

having had

most

for the

part,

such fairy hues.

can understand

why

such artists as Con-

Constable has a good
and Collins are preferred.
The
landscape, but why does he spot and dot his canvas ?
Collins's healthy scenes are
effect is good on a great scale.
stable

refreshing to look at.

May
party.

and
and

10th.

— Dined

at Green's, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
and his very pleasing wife

A large

Phillips, R. A., there,

Collins, also of the

so far

Academy, and a Mr. Stokes, a

;

Ward

disputer,

an unpleasant companion, but said to be able and

scientific.

— Yesterday,

at the Athenseum, I charged Stokes
very agreeable acquaintance) with being this same
He pleads guilty, thinking his identity sufficiently lost

Eem.-\

(now
man.

after twenty-six years.

—

May 14th. William Pattisson, Thomas Clarkson, and
Joseph Beldam, called to the bar. I dined with them on the
occasion.

—

Rein. %
Not many years ago, it was remarked by Beldam
that both of his companions met with an early and violent
Pattisson drowned in a lake among the Pyrenees,§
death,

—

* In the Reminiscences Hope
Written in 1851.
§ See year 1832.
f

the name,
%

Written in 1851.

SIR

1825.]

Clarkson thrown from a

JAMES STEPHEN.
gig,

and

killed

on the

spot.

But the

young men and

their friends rejoiced on the 14th of
May, with that " blindness to the future wisely given."
sister put herself under the care of
About this time

three

She had known him when he was in some
Scott of Bromley.
He was an interloper, and
business or handicraft at Royston.
He
regular practitioners would not meet him in consultation.
owed all his reputation and success to his skill as a bandager.
He was especially successful in the cure of sore legs, and the
heretic, Thomas Belsham, gave him the credit of prolonging
I once heard Coleridge explain the
his life several years.
" By a very close pressure, Scott
rationale of the treatment.

humor into the frame, where it is taken up
My sister was
by absorbents, and expelled by medicine."
benefited for a time, and thought that an earlier application
to him might have saved her.
June 11th.
W. Pattisson with me. I went in the evening
But mere imitations of
to see Mathews, and was amused.
common life, exposing oddities, cant phrases, and puerilities,
forces the peccant

—

on the sense very soon. Where the original of an imitation
" Good night," proknown, the pleasure is enhanced.
nounced as Kemble, Munden, and others might be supposed
to pronounce it, amused me very much.
A very interesting day. I breakfasted early
June 12th.
and walked to Hampstead then proceeded to Hendon. The
exceeding beauty of the morning and the country put me into
excellent spirits.
I found my friend James Stephen in a most
delightfully situated small house.
Two fine children, and an
amiable and sensible wife. I do not know a happier man. He
pall
is

—

;

is a sort of additional Under Secretary of State.
He had previously resolved to leave the bar. being dissatisfied with the
practice in the Court of Chancery.
He has strict principles,

but liberal feelings in religion. Though a stanch Churchman,
he is willing to sacrifice the ecclesiastical Establishment of
Ireland.

June 16th.

— Finding myself released

an early hour from

professional duties, I took a cold dinner at the Athenaeum,

and then went to Basil Montagu. Mr. Edward Irving w^as
He and his brother-in-law, Mr. Martin, and myself
placed ourselves in a chariot.
Basil Montagu took a seat on
the outside, and we drove, to Highgate, where we took tea at
Mr. Gilman's.
I think I never heard Coleridge so very eloquent as to-day, and yet it was painful to find myself unable

there.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

to recall any part of what had so delighted me, i. e. anything
which seemed worthy to be noted down. So that I could not
but suspect some illusion arising out of the impressive tone and
He talked on for several
the mystical language of the orator.
hours without intermission. His subject the ever-recurring one
of religion, but so blended with mythology, metaphysics, and
psychology, that it required great attention sometimes to find

the religious element.
I observed that, when Coleridge quoted
Scripture or used w ell-known religious phrases, Irving was constant in his exclamations of delight, but that he was silent
Dr. Prati* came in, and Coleridge treated
at other times.
him with marked attention. Indeed Prati talked better than
One sentence (Coleridge having appealed
I ever heard him.
to him) deserves repetition
"I think the old Pantheism of
Spinoza far better than modern Deism, which is but the hypocIn which there is an actual sense, and
risy of materialism."
Coleridge referred to an Italian, Vico, who is
I believe truth.
said to have anticipated Wolfs theory concerning Homer, which
Vico wrote " Principi
Coleridge says was his own at College.
di una Scienza nuova," viz. Comparative History.
Goethe, in
his Life, notices him as an original thinker and a great man.
He wrote on the origin of Rome. Coleridge drew a parallel
between the relation of the West India planters to the negroes,
and the patricians of Rome to the plebeians ; but when I inquired concerning the origin of the inequality, he evaded giving
me an answer. He very eloquently expatiated on history, and
on the influence of Christianity on society.
His doctrines
assume an orthodox air, but to me they are unintelligible.
r

C. R.

to Miss Wordsworth.
June, 1825.

have not seen the Lambs so often as I used to do, owing
Nor can I give you the report
to a variety of circumstances.
you so naturally looked for of his conduct at so great a change
The expression of his delight has been childin his life
like (in the good sense of that word).
You have read the
" Superannuated Man."
I do not doubt, I do not fear, that
he will be unable to sustain the " weight of chance desires."
but I fear he cannot
occupy himself in some
Could he
great work requiring continued and persevering attention and
labor, the benefit would be equally His and the world's. Mary
I

—

Italian

a lawyer

profession.

1825.]

WILLIAM HONE.

— ENDLESS

PUNISHMENT.

Lamb

has remained so long well, that one might almost advise,
But Lamb has no desire
or rather permit, a journey to them.
If he had, few things would give me so much
to travel.
I should be proud of taking
pleasure as to accompany him.
But he has a passion for solitude, he says, and
care of him.
hitherto he finds that his retirement from business has not

brought

leisure.

—

Bern*
I bought my first spectacles, July 8th, at Gilbert's.
I became first sensible of the want at the French Theatre,
where I could not read the bills. Flaxman advised my getting
spectacles immediately ; it being a mistake, he said, to think
that the eyes should be exercised when it causes them inconvenience. I had no occasion to change the glass for some time,
and have changed but twice in twenty-six years ; nor, happily,
in my seventy-seventh year do I remark any increased symptom of decaying sight.
In the latter part of the day went to Lamb's.
October 11th.
He seemed to me in better health and spirits. But Hone the
parodist was with him, and society relieves Lamb.
The conversation of Hone, or rather his manners, pleased me.
He is
a modest, unassuming man.
Tea with Anthony Robinson. A long and
October 29th.
serious talk with him on religion, and on that inexplicable ridHe remarked that the amount of pain
dle, the origin of evil.
here justifies the idea of pain hereafter, and so the popular
But I objected that evil
notion of punishment is authorized.
or pain here may be considered a mean towards an end.
So
may pain, inflicted as a punishment. Bat endless punishment
would be itself an end in a state where no ulterior object could
be conceived. Anthony Robinson declared this to be a better
answer to the doctrine of eternal punishment than any given
by Price or Priestley. Leibnitz, who in terms asserts " eternal
punishment," explains away the idea by affirming merely that
the consequences of sin must be eternal, and that a lower degree of bliss is an eternal punishment.

—

Dined at Wardour Street, and then went
The family being at dinner, I strolled in the
Regent's Park.
The splendor and magnitude of these imNovember

1st.

to Flaxman.

provements are interesting subjects of observation and specuAt Flaxman's a pleasing visit. He was characteristic.
I find that his dislike to Southey originates in the latter's account of Swedenborg and the doctrines of the sect in his

lation.

* Written

in 1851.

;«

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

" Espriella."

[Chap.

Flaxman cannot

forgive derision on such a subhe expressed disapprobation of the
opening of St. Bride's steeple.* "It is an ugly thing, and
On inquiry, I found that his objection is not conbetter hid."
fined to the lower part of the tower, in which I should have
concurred, for I think the upper part or spire alone beautiful
but he objects to the spire itself, and indeed to almost every
spire attached to Grecian buildings.
He makes an exception
in favor of Bow Church.
November 20th, Sunday.
Hundleby and William Pattisson
took breakfast with me, and then we went to Irving' s church.
He kept us nearly three hours. But after a very dull exposition of a very obscure chapter in Hebrews, we had a very
powerful discourse,
the commencement of a series on Justification by Faith.
That which he calls religion and the gosI must, indeed,
pel is a something I have a repugnance to.
be new-born before I can accept it. But his eloquence is capti-

ject.

surprise,

—

He speaks like a
truth of what he teaches.

vating.

man profoundly convinced of the
He has no cant, hypocrisy, or ilimproved. He is less theatrical

His manner is
than he was a year ago.
November 27th.
A half-hour after midnight died Mr. Collier.
The last two days he was conscious of his approaching
end.
On his mentioning a subject which I thought had better
be postponed, I said " We will leave that till to-morrow."
"To-morrow?" he exclaimed, "to-morrow? That may be
ages "
These words were prophetic, and the last I heard
from him. He was one of the oldest of my friends.
December 10th.
Dined with Aders. A very remarkable
and interesting evening. The party at dinner Blake the painter, and Linnell, also a painter.
In the evening, Miss Denman
and Miss Flaxman came.
Shall I call Blake artist, genius, mystic, or madman % ProbI will put down without method what I can
ably he is all.
recollect of the conversation of this remarkable man.f
He has
a most interesting appearance. He is now old (sixty-eight),
liberality.

—

* The Fleet Street houses to the north had, till lately, formed a continuous
range in front of the church.
f The substance of H. C. R.'s intercourse with Blake is given in a paper of
Recollections, which may be found in Gilchrist's " Life of William Blake,"
vide pp. 337 - 344, 348 - 350, &c. In the present work, H. C. R.'s interviews with
that remarkable man will be given, for the most part, from the Diary, written
just after they took place. In the National Portrait Gallery may be seen a
fine portrait of Blake, by Thomas Phillips, R. A.
A beautiful miniature of
him has also been painted by Mr. Linnell, which he still possesses.

BLAKE'S RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.

1825.]

with a Socratic countenance and an expression of great
sweetness, though with something of languor about it except
when animated, and then he has about him an air of inspiraThe conversation turned on art, poetry, and religion.
tion.
He brought with him an engraving of his " Canterbury Pilgrims."

'pale,

One

of the figures in

it is

a figure in a picture belonging to

" They say I stole it from this picture," said
Mr. Aders.
Blake, " but I did it twenty years before I knew of this picture.
However, in my youth, I was always studying paintings of this
kind.
No wonder there is a resemblance." In this he seemed
But at another time
to explain humanly what he had done.
he spoke of his paintings as being what he had seen in his
visions. And when he said " my visions," it was in the ordinary
unemphatic tone in which we speak of every-day matters. In
the same tone he said repeatedly, " The Spirit told me." I
took occasion to say " You express yourself as Socrates used
What resemblance do you suppose there is between
to do.
" The same as between our counteyour spirit and his'?"
He paused and added, "I was Socrates" ; and then,
nances."
I must have
as if correcting himself, said, " a sort of brother.
had conversations with him. So I had with Jesus Christ. I
have an obscure recollection of having been with both of them."
I suggested, on philosophical grounds, the impossibility of supposing an immortal being created, an eternity a parte post
without an eternity a parte ante. His eye brightened at this,
and he fully concurred with me. " To be sure, it is impossible.
We are all coexistent with God, members of the Divine
body.
We are all partakers of the Divine nature." In this,
by the by, Blake has but adopted an ancient Greek idea. As
connected with this idea, I will mention here, though it formed
part of our talk as we were walking homeward, that on my
asking in what light he viewed the great question concerning
the deity of Jesus Christ, he said "He is the only God. But
then," he added, " and so am I, and so are you."
He had just
before (.and that occasioned my question) been speaking of the
errors of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ should not have allowed
himself to be crucified, and should not have attacked the government. On my inquiring how this view could be reconciled
with the sanctity and Divine qualities of Jesus, Blake said
" He was not then become the Father."
Connecting, as well
as one can, these fragmentary sentiments, it would be hard to
fix Blake's station between Christianity, Platonism, and Spinozism.
Yet he professes to be very hostile to Plato, and
:

—

VOL.

II.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

Wordsworth with being not a

reproaches

[Chap.

Christian, but a*

Platonist.
It is one of the subtle remarks of Hume, on certain religious
speculations, that the tendency of them is to make men indifferent to whatever takes place, by destroying all ideas of good

and

evil.

Blake had
or

took occasion to apply this remark to something
" If so," I said, " there is no use in discipline

said.

education,

— no

difference

upon me

between good and

evil."

" There is no use in education.
I
hold it to be wrong.
It is the great sin.
It is eating of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This was the fault of
Plato.
He knew of nothing but the virtues and vices, and good
hastily broke in

and

There

nothing in all that. Everything is good
putting the obvious question, "Is
there nothing absolutely evil in what men do ] "
"I am no
judge of that. Perhaps not in God's eyes." He sometimes
spoke as if he denied altogether the existence of evil, and as if
we had nothing to do with right and wrong ; it being sufficient to consider all things as alike the work of God.
Yet
at other times he spoke of there being error in heaven.
I
asked about the moral character of Dante/ in writing his
u Vision,"
" Pure," said Blake, "dp you think
was he pure 1
there is any purity in God's eyes 1
The angels in heaven are
He chargeth his angels with folly.'
no more so than wr e.
He afterwards represented the Supreme Being as liable to
" Did he not repent him that he had made Nineveh 1
error.
It is easier to repeat the personal remarks of Blake than these
metaphysical speculations, so nearly allied to the most oppoOf himself, he said he acted by
site systems of philosophy.
command. The Spirit said to him, " Blake, be an artist, and
nothing else." In this there is felicity. His eye glistened
while he spoke of the joy of devoting himself solely to divine
Art is inspiration. When Michael Angelo, or Raphael,
art.
or Mr. Flaxman, does any of his fine things, he does them in
the Spirit. Blake said " I should be sorry if I had any earthly fame, for whatever natural glory a man has is so much taken
from his spiritual glory. I wish to do nothing for profit. I wish
to live for art. I want nothing whatever. I am quite happy."
Among the unintelligible things he expressed was his distincThe natural
tion between the natural world and the spiritual.
world must be consumed. Incidentally, Swedenborg was reBla'ke said: "He was a divine teacher.
ferred to.
He has
done much good, and will do much. He has corrected many
evil.

in God's

eyes."

On my

—

BLAKE ON WORDSWORTH.

1825.]

— APHORISMS.

Yet Swedenerrors of Popery, and also of Luther and Calvin.
borg was wrong in endeavoring to explain to the rational faculty what the reason cannot comprehend. He should have left
Blake, as I have said, thinks Wordsworth no Christian,
that."
He asked me whether Wordsworth believed
but a Platonist.
On my replying in the affirmative, he said
in the Scriptures.
he had been much pained by reading the Introduction to " The
The passage was
Excursion."
It brought on a fit of illness.
produced and read
:

" Jehovah,

—

— with his thunder and the choir

Of shouting angels, and the empyreal
them unalarmed."

thrones,

—

I pass

This "pass them unalarmed" greatly offended Blake. Does
Mr. Wordsworth think his mind can surpass Jehovah 1 I tried
to explain this passage in a sense in harmony with Blake's own
theories, but failed, and Wordsworth was finally set down as a
Pagan ; but still with high praise, as the greatest poet of the age.
Jacob Boehme was spoken of as a divinely inspired man.
Blake praised, too, the figures in Law's translation as being
very beauftful.
Michael Angelo could not have done better.
Though he spoke of his happiness, he also alluded to past
" There is suffering
sufferings, and to suffering as necessary.
in heaven, for where there is the capacity of enjoyment, there
is also

the capacity of pain."

have been interrupted by a

from Talfourd, and cannot
But as Blake has invited
me to go and see him, I shall possibly have an opportunity of
throwing connection, if not system, into what I have written,
and making additions. I feel great admiration and respect for
him. He is certainly a most amiable man,
a good creature.
And of his poetical and pictorial genius there is no doubt, I
believe, in the minds of judges.
Wordsworth and Lamb like
his poems, and the Aderses his paintings.
A few detached thoughts occur to me. " Bacon, Locke, and
Newton are the three great teachers of Atheism, or of Satan's
I

now

recollect

call

any further remarks.

—

doctrine."

" Everything is Atheism which assumes the reality of the
natural and unspiritual world."
" Irving is a highly gifted man.
He is a sent man. But
they who are sent go further sometimes than they ought."
" Dante saw devils where I see none.
I
I see good only.

saw nothing but good
ther's,

—

in the latter

in Calvin's house.

were harlots."

Better than in Lu-

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

" Parts of Swedenborg's scheme are dangerous.
religion is so."
" I do not believe the world

round.

[Chap.

His sexual

I believe it is quite

flat."

" I have conversed with the spiritual Sun.
I saw him on
Primrose Hill.
He said, 'Do you take me for the Greek
Apollo V
No,' I said ; that (pointing to the sky) is the
Greek Apollo. He is Satan.' "

—

" I know what is true by internal conviction.
doctrine
told me.
My heart says, It must be true.' " I corroborated this by remarking on the impossibility of the unlearned
man judging of what are called the external evidences of religion, in which he heartily concurred.
6

I regret that I have been unable to do more than put down
The tone and manner are incommunicable.
these few things.
There are a natural sweetness and gentility about Blake which
His friend Linnell seems a great admirer." *
are delightful.
Perhaps the best thing he said was his comparison of moral
" Who shall say that God thinks evil ]
with natural evil.
That is a wise tale of the Mahometans, of the aftgel of the
Lord that murdered the infant " (alluding to the " Hermit " of
" Is not every infant that dies of disease
Parnell, I suppose).
murdered by an angel ] "
short call this morning on Blake.
December 17th.
He
dwells in Fountain Court, in the Strand.
I found him in a
small room, which seems to be both a working-room and a bedNothing could exceed the squalid air both of the apartroom.
ment and his dress ; yet there is diffused over him an air of
natural gentility.
His wife has a good expression of countenance.
The book (Cary) and his
I found him at work on Dante.
He showed me his designs, of which I
sketches before him.
have nothing to say but that they evince a power I should not
have anticipated, of grouping and of throwing grace and interest over conceptions monstrous and horrible.
Our conversation began about Dante. He was an Atheist,
a mere politician, busied about this world, as Milton was,
till in his old age he returned to God, whom he had had in his
childhood."
I tried to ascertain from Blake whether this charge of Athe-

—A

—

* Linnell aided Blake during his life, and after his death took care of his
widow. Linnell possesses a grand collection of Blake's works,
f Linnell possesses the whole series of the Dante drawings.

BLAKE ON THE FALL OF MAN.

1825.]

ism was not to be understood in a different sense from that
which would be given to it according to the popular use of the
But he would not admit this. Yet when he in like
word.
manner charged Locke with Atheism, and I remarked that
Locke wrote on the evidences of Christianity and lived a virNor did he
tuous life, Blake had nothing to say in reply.
make the charge of wilful deception. I admitted that Locke's
doctrine leads to Atheism^ and with this view Blake seemed to
be satisfied.
From this subject we passed over to that of good and evil, on
which he repeated his former assertions more decidedly. He
allowed, indeed, that there are errors, mistakes, &c. ; and if
But these are only negations.
these be evil, then there is evil.
Nor would he admit that any education should be attempted,
except that of the cultivation of the imagination and fine arts.
"

What

are called the vices in the natural world are the high-

When I asked whethhe had been a father, he would not have grieved if his
child had become vicious or a great criminal, he answered
" When I am endeavoring to think rightly, I must not regard
my own any more than other people's weaknesses." And when
I again remarked that this doctrine puts an end to all exertion,
or even wish to change anything, he made no reply.
We spoke of the Devil, and I observed that, when a child, I
thought the Manichean doctrine, or that of two principles, a
est sublimities in the spiritual world.''
er, if

He assented to this, and in confirmation asserted
The
that he did not believe in the omnipotence of God.
language of the Bible on that subject is only poetical or allegorical.
Yet soon afterwards he denied that the natural world
" It is all nothing ; and Satan's empire is the
is anything.
empire of nothing."
He reverted soon to his favorite expression, " My visions."
rational one.

me to beware of being misled
Paradise Lost.'
In particular, he wished me to show
the falsehood of the doctrine, that carnal pleasures arose from
the Fall. The Fall could not produce any pleasure." As he
spoke of Milton's appearing to him, I asked whether he
" What
resembled the prints of him. He answered, " All."
u Various
sometimes
age did he appear to be ] "
ages,
" I

saw Milton, and he told

his

—

a very old man." He spoke of Milton as being at one time
a sort of classical Atheist, and of Dante as being now
with God. His faculty of vision, he says, he has had from
^arly infancy.
He thinks all men partake of it, but it is lost

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

want of being cultivated. He eagerly assented to a reI made, that all men have all faculties in a greater or

for

mark

less degree.

am to continue my visits, and to read to him
whom he seems to entertain a high idea.

I
<

Wordsworth,

Dined with Flanagan at Richard's Coffee-House. A pleasant party. Frith, Reader, Brent, Dr. Badham, Hawkins, Long,
Martin Shee, Storks, and myself. I was placed next to Shee,
R. A.
He gratified me much by his warm praise of Flaxman,
speaking of him as by far the greatest artist of his country,
though his worth is disgracefully overlooked. Shee would not
hear of a comparison between Flaxman and his more successDr. Badham was on my other side, and
ful rival, Chantrey.
He has travelled in Greece.
talked very agreeably.
A short call on Flaxman. I find that,
December 22d.
though he is a decided spiritualist, he is a believer in phrenolIn Swedenborg, there is a doctrine which reconciles him
ogy.
to Gall's seemingly materialistic doctrine, viz. the mind forms
the body ; and Flaxman believes that the form of the skull is
modified in after life by the intellectual and moral character.
A call on Blake, my third interview.
December 24th.
I read to him Wordsworth's incomparable ode,* which he
But he repeated " I fear Wordsworth loves
heartily enjoyed.
nature, and nature is the work of the Devil.
The Devil is in
On my inquiring whether the
us as far as we are nature.
Devil, as having less power, would not be destroyed by God,
he denied that God has any power, and asserted that the Devil
not by God, but by God's permission.
is eternally created,
And when I objected that permission implies power to prevent,
he did not seem to understand me. The parts of Wordsworth's
ode which Blake most enjoyed were the most obscure,
at all
events, those which I least like and comprehend.
December 27th.
(At Royston.) This morning I read to
the young folks Mrs. Barbauld's " Legacy."
This delightful
book has in it some of the sweetest things I ever read. " The
King in his Castle," and " True Magicians," are perfect allegories, in Mrs. Barbauld's best style.
Some didactic pieces are
also delightful.
We had a family dinner at Mr. Wedd Nash's.
Mr. Nash, Sen., was of the party.
He, however, took no
share in the conversation.
His mind is, in fact, gone ; but
and this is singular
He is as amiable,
his heart remains.

—

* " Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood."
Vol. V. p. 108; edition 1857.

ANNUAL RETROSPECT.

1825.]

as conscientious, as pure, as delicate in his moral feelings as
ever. His health continues good, but a fit of the gout prevented
my seeing much of him. And I believe I shall never see him
He is a model of goodness, but, as the bigots think, a
again.
child of wrath, being a heretic.

Rem.* — This year my
— a very
ing.

fees rose

from 469 J guineas to 677J,

large increase in amount, but very far from flatterThe increase arose chiefly from the death of Henry

If a stroke of wit occurred to him,
Cooper, f in the summer.
he would blurt it out, even though it told against himself.
And sometimes I succeeded in making this apparent. Still,
however, with all his faults, and though he was as little of a
lawyer almost as myself, his death caused a vacancy which I
was unable to fill.
"In Norfolk, I
I wrote to Miss Wordsworth in August
holding briefs in sixteen
started for the first time a leader,
out of seventeen causes, in nine of which I was either senior

—

or alone."
At the Aylesbury Assizes, there was a trial which exhibited
the aristocratic character of our nation. An Eton boy was indicted for murder, he having killed another boy in a boxing-

—

perhaps not for
match.
It was not a case for a conviction,
manslaughter, though, had the fight taken place between two
stable-boys, that, probably, would have been the verdict.
But
what disgusted me was that Lord Nugent stood in the dock
by the side of the boy, and I did not scruple to tell him so.
His desire was to mitigate the boy's pain. The family of the
killed boy took no part in the prosecution, and the judge dismissed the offender without a word of reproof.
During this year I became a member of a whist club, which,
though small in number, made me more a man of expense.
And my being introduced to the Athenaeum was really an
epoch in my life. That club has never ceased to constitute an
important feature of my daily life. I had a place of resort at
all times, and my circle of acquaintance was greatly increased.
The death of old Mrs. Collier, past ninety, brought me into
further connection with Anthony S terry, the Quaker,
a most
benevolent man.
My acquaintance with him began in an act
of rudeness towards him, in ignorance of the facts of the case.
He accepted my apology in a Christian spirit, which, indeed,
he showed throughout. I had to do with a considerable sum
of money in which he and
had an interest. On the pres-

—

* Written in 1851.

t See Vol.

p. 419.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

ent occasion Sterry proposed that, as there might be doubtful
points, I should be Chancellor, to decide

them.

Never had

arbitrator so easy a task, for Sterry took an opportunity of
saying to me, " I would not boast, but I believe Providence
I wish, therefore,
has favored me more than Friend
that thou wouldst always give the turn in his favor, not mine."
his part, seemed to be
And I ought to add that
, on
.

equally unselfish.
Towards the close of this year, Thornton * became connected
with the Times. Barnes afterwards said to me, " We are obliged
to you, not you to us." I had mentioned Thornton to Walter.
This winter was rendered memorable by what was afterwards
spoken of as a crisis or crash in the mercantile world.
Many
banks failed. Some friends of mine wrote to ask if I would turn
a part of my property into cash, and advance it to them. I consented to do this ; but their apprehensions proved to be groundthe panic did not seriously affect them. To one friend,
less,
to whom I could be of no service, I had the satisfaction of adHis was the case of a man who, after a
ministering comfort.
life of industry and self-denial, finds the accumulations of more
than fifty years put in peril. He does not know whether he will
And, to use his own words, he is " too
not be left destitute.
old to begin life again, and too young to die." He talked very

—

philosophically, yet with feeling.
I spent my Christmas, as I had done many, at Royston. All
there were in low spirits, on account of the failure of the CamThe Nashes say that, among their friends, nine
bridge Bank.
families are reduced from affluence to poverty, by unexpected
blows of adversity. Neither Wedd Nash's fine organ, nor Pope's
" Epistle on the Use of Riches," could keep up our spirits j and,
notwithstanding good punch, our vivat to the New Year was not
a cheerful burst of glee. And never was there a less mefry New

Year

London than the

present.

* Thomas Thornton, who, in 1823, married Elizabeth, daughter of H. C. R.'s
brother Habakkuk.

JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY.

1826.]

CHAPTER

HI.

1826.

JANUARY 6th. — A
very

call

on Blake.

His conversation was

much a repetition of what he said on a former ocHe was very cordial. I had procured him two sub-

casion.
scriptions for his " Job,"

from George Procter and Basil Monpaid £ 1 for each. This seemed to put him in spirits.
He spoke of being richer than ever, in having become acquaintthat he and I were nearly
ed with me ; and he told Mrs. A
of the same opinions. Yet I have practised no deception intentionally, unless silence be so. The strangest thing he said was,
that is,
that he had been commanded to do a certain thing,
to write about Milton,
and that he was applauded for refusing.
He struggled with the angels, and was victor. His wife took
part in our conversation.
January 9th.
My ride to Norwich to-day was diversified by
an agreeable incident. On the road, a few miles out of London,
He and I did not at
we took up a very gentlemanly Quaker.
once get into conversation, and when it became light, I amused
myself by reading till the coach stopped for breakfast.
Then
our conversation began, and permitted very little reading afterwards.
He told me his name on my making an inquiry concerning Hudson Gurney. I was speaking to J. J. Gurney. We
soon entered on controversial subjects.
I praised a work of
Quaker autobiography without naming it.
He said " Thou
meanest 'John Woolman " ; and added, "Let me not take
credit for a sagacity I do not possess.
Amelia Opie has told
me of thy admiration of the book." We now knew each other,
and talked like old acquaintances.
He is kind in his feelings,
if not liberal in his opinions.
He read to me some letters from
Southey.
In one Southey thus expressed himself "I cannot
tagu.

—

believe in an eternity of hell.

but in this matter

hope God

will forgive

if I

cannot say, Lord, help thou mine unbelief.' "
J. J. Gurney spoke of Mrs. Opie very kindly, and of
the recent death of her father, Dr. Alderson, as edifying.
He
was purged from unbelief.
February 3d.
The whole morning in the courts, waiting in
the Common Pleas for nothing ; but I saw a meeting of knights
err,

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

girt with swords to elect the Grand Assize, a proceeding, it is to
be hoped, to be soon brushed off with a multitude of other antiquated proceedings, which time has rendered inconvenient.
February 6th.
Late at the Athenaeum.
Hudson Gurney
was there. He related with great effect the experience of Ferguson of Pitfour. Ferguson was a Scotch Member, a great supporter of Pitt's, both in Parliament and at the table. Not a refined man, but popular on account of his good-natured hospitality, and of the favor he showed to national prejudices.
In his
old age he was fond of collecting young M. P.'s at his table, and
of giving them the benefit of his Parliamentary experience, which
he used to sum up in these few axiomatic sentences
" I was never present at any debate I could avoid, or absent
from any division I could get at.
" I have heard many arguments which convinced my judgment, but never one that influenced my vote.
" I never voted but once according to my own opinion, and
that was the worst vote I ever gave.
" I found that the only way to be quiet in Parliament was
always to vote with the Ministers, and never to take a place."
Called on Blake.
An amusing chat with
February 18th.
him.
He gave me in his own handwriting a copy of Wordsworth's Preface to " The Excursion." At the end there is this
note
" Solomon, when he married Pharaoh's daughter, and became
a convert to the heathen mythology, talked exactly in this way
of Jehovah, as a very inferior object of man's contemplation. He

—

•

—

also passed

dropped a
void.

him by unalarmed,' and was permitted. Jehovah
and followed him by his Spirit into the abstract
1

tear,

It is called the Divine mercy.

Satan dwells in

it,

but

mercy does not dwell in him."
Of Wordsworth Blake talked as before. Some of his writings
proceed from the Holy Spirit, but others are the work of the
However, on this subject,

found Blake's language
than before.
He talked of being under the direction of self. Keason, as the
creature of man, is opposed to God's grace. He warmly declared
that all he knew is in the Bible. But he understands the Bible
in its spiritual sense. As to the natural sense, he says " Voltaire was commissioned by God to expose that.
I have had
much intercourse with Voltaire, and he said to me, I blasphemed the Son of Man, and it shall be forgiven me -but
they (the enemies of Voltaire) blasphemed the Holy Ghost in
Devil.

in accordance with orthodox Christianity

;

BLAKE ON

1826.]

HIS

OWN

WRITINGS.

I asked in what lanme, and it shall not be forgiven them."
guage Voltaire spoke. " To my sensations, it was English. It
was like the touch of a musical key. He touched it, probably,
I spoke again of
French, but to my ear it became English."
the form of the persons who appear to him, and asked why he
"It is not worth while. There are so
did not draw them.
Besides, there would be
many, the labor would be too great.
As to Shakespeare, he is exactly like the old engravno use.
I think it very good."
ing, which is called a bad one.
" I have written
I inquired of Blake about his writings.
more than Voltaire or Rousseau. Six or seven epic poems as
long as Homer, and twenty tragedies as long as Macbeth." He
show ed me his vision (for so it may be called) of Genesis,
" as understood by a Christian visionary."
He read a passage
it was striking.
He will not print any more. " I
at random
write," he says, " when commanded by the spirits, and the
moment I have written I see the words fly about the room in
all directions.
It is then published, and the spirits can read.
My MS. is of no further use. I have been tempted to burn
" She is right," said
my MSS., but my wife won't let me."
" You have written these, not from yourself, but by order
I.

—

;

—

The MSS. are theirs, not yours. You canof higher beings.
not tell w hat purpose they may answer unforeseen by you."
He liked this, and said he would not destroy them. He repeated his philosophy. Everything is the work of God or the
There is a constant falling off from God, angels becomDevil.
Every man has a devil in him, and the conflict is
ing devils.
He told me
eternal between a man's self and God, &c, &c.
my copy of his songs would be five guineas, and was pleased
by my manner of receiving this information. He spoke of
his horror of money,
of his having turned pale when money
was offered him.
T

—

H. C. R. to Miss Wordsworth.

dear Friend,

—

[No

date,

I did a

but the postmark

mighty

February.]

foolish thing

when

intimated at the close of my last letter that I should write
again very soon.
This was encouraging
not to say inviting
you to postpone writing till I had so written. Now7 1 have,
you see, not fulfilled my intention. And I take up my pen
now, not so much because I have anything to say, as to discharge myself of the sort of promise which such an intimation

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

36
raised.

[Chap.

And, besides, the quantity of what I shall then have
me to some notice from you.

sent you will entitle

friends here, there are few to mention.

Clarkson,

probably soon see.
He means to visit you, if
possible, on the circuit.
He will give you all Playford and
Woodbridge news. The Lambs are really improving. If you
look into the last New Monthly Magazine, you will be delighted
by perceiving that Charles Lamb is himself again. His peculiar mixture of wit and fancy is to be found there in all its
charming individuality. No one knows better than he the
proportions of earnestness and gajety for his undefinable
His health, I think, is decidedly improving.
compositions.
A few evenings ago I met at his house one of the attaches
He said that Mr. Wordsto the great Lombard Street shop.
worth's works had been repeatedly inquired after lately ; and
This
that the inquirers had been referred to Hurst's house.
led to a talk about the new edition, and the new arrangement.
and that is
Lamb observed " There is only one good order.
that is, a history of
the order in which they were written,
This would be true enough of a poet who
the poet's mind."
produced everything at a heat, where there is no pondering,
and pausing, and combining, and accumulating, and bringing
to bear on one point the inspirations and the wise reflections
Jim.,

you

will

—

of years.
I hope I shall never see it,
In the last edition,
of course
not meaning the variorum editions of Commentators, but in
the last of the author's own editions intended for future generations, the editor will say to himself,
aware of the habit
people have of beginning at the beginning, and ending at the
How shall I be best understood and most strongly felt %
end,
By what train of thought and succession of feelings is the
reader to be led on,
how will his best faculties and wT isest
curiosity be most excited 1
The dates given to the table of
contents will be sufficient to inform the inquisitive reader how
the poet's own mind was successively engaged. Lamb disapproves (and it gave me pleasure to find I was authorized
by his opinion in the decided opinion I had from the first) of
the classification into poems of fancy, imagination, and reflection.
The reader who is enjoying (for instance) to the top of
his bent the magnificent Ode which in every classification ought
to be the last, does not stay to ask, nor does he care, what facThis is certain,
ulty has been most taxed in the production.
that what the poet says of nature is equally true of the mind

—

1826.]

CLASSIFICATION OF WOKDSWORTH'S POEMS.

They exist not
of man, and the productions of his faculties.
To attempt ascertainin " absolute independent singleness."
ing curiously the preponderance of any one faculty in each
work is a profitless labor.
An editor such as Dr. Johnson would make short work of it.
All the elegies, all the odes, all the sonnets, all the etceteras
But then your brother has had the impertinence to
together.
plague the critics by producing works that cannot be brought
under any of the heads of Enfield's " Speaker," though he has

Why a
not a few that might be entitled, A Copy of Verses.
Goethe has taken
copy ? I used to ask when a school-boy.
this class of

poems under

And

his especial protection.

his

" Gelegenheit's Gedichte " (Occasional Poems) are among the
most delightful of his works. My favorites of this class among
your brother's works are, " Lady the Songs of Spring were in
I rifled a Parnassian Cave."
the Grove," and " Lady
One exception I am willing to make in favor of the Sonnet,
though otherwise a classification according to metrical form is
the most unmeaning.
If I may venture to express the order that I should most
enjoy, it would be one formed on the great objects of human
concern \ though I should be by no means solicitous about any,
or care for the inevitable blendings and crossings of classes.
Were these poems in Italian, one grand class would be alia
Unluckily, we want this phrase, which both the
bella Natura.
Germans and French have. Der sclionen Natnr geividmet.
Such a heading would be affected in English. Still, I should
like to see brought together all the poems which are founded
that exquisitive discernment
on that intense love of nature,
and that almost deification of nature
of its peculiar charms,
which poor Blake (but of that hereafter) reproaches your
As subdivisions, would be the Duddon, the
brother with.
One division of the Sonnets
Memorials, the naming of places.
would correspond with this great class.
After nature come the contemplations of human life, viewed
infancy and youth,
in its great features,
active life (viz.
old age and death. Collateral with these
the happy warrior),
are the affections arising out of the social relations,
maternal
and filial,
fraternal and connubial love, &c, &c, &c.
Then
there is a third great division, which might be entitled The Age.
Here we should be forced to break into the Sonnets, in which
shape most of these poems are.
Why is the " Thanksgiving
!

—

—
—

—

Ode "

to be the last of this class

It is a sort of

moral and

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

your brother not to have continued his
admirable series of poems " dedicated to liberty/'
he might
intellectual suicide in

—

add, " and public virtue."
I assure you it gives me real pain when I think that some
future commentator may possibly hereafter write " This great
poet survived to the fifth decennary of the nineteenth century,
but he appears to have died in the year 1814, as far as life consisted in an active sympathy with the temporary welfare of his
fellow-creatures. He had written heroically and divinely against
the tyranny of Napoleon, but was quite indifferent to all the successive tyrannies which disgraced the succeeding times."
fourth class would be the religious poems. Here I have a
difficulty
ought these to be separated from the philosophical
poems, or united with them ? In some of these poems, Mr.
Wordsworth has given poetical existence to feelings in which
the many will join j others are moods of his own mind, mystiphilosophical, as the few would say. I should
cal as the mob,
give my vote for a separation. The longer narrative poems, such
as the " White Doe," would form classes of themselves.
I have above mentioned Blake.
I forget whether I have referred before to this very interesting man, with whom I am now
become acquainted.
Were the " Memorials " at my hand, I
should quote a fine passage in the Sonnet on the Cologne
Cathedral as applicable to the contemplation of this singular
being.*
I gave your brother some poems in MS. by him, and
they interested him, as well they might ; for there is an affinity
between them, as there is between the regulated imagination of
a wise poet and the incoherent outpourings of a dreamer. Blake
is an engraver by trade, a painter and a poet also, whose works
have been subject of derision to men in general ; but he has a
few admirers, and some of eminence have eulogized his designs.
He has lived in obscurity and poverty, to which the constant
I do not
hallucinations in which he lives have doomed him.
mean to give you a detailed account of him ; a few words will
serve to inform you of what class he is.
He is not so much a
disciple of Jacob Boehme and Swedenborg as a fellow-visionary.
He lives as they did, in a world of his own, enjoying constant
intercourse with the world of spirits.
He receives visits from
:

—

* Probably these
"

lines

—

Angels to complete
This Temple
Angels governed by a plan
Thus far pursued (how gloriously !) by man."
for the help of

—

1826.]

BLAKE DESCRIBED.

Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, Voltaire, &c, and has given me
repeatedly their very words in their conversations. His paintHis books (and
ings are copies of what he sees in his visions.
his MSS. are immense in quantity) are dictations from the
spirits.
A man so favored, of course, has sources of wisdom
I will not pretend to give you
and truth peculiar to himself.
an account of his religious and philosophical opinions ; they are
a strange compound of Christianity, Spinozism, and Platonism.
I

must

confine myself to

what he has

said about your brother's

works, and I fear this may lead me far enough to fatigue you
in following me. After what I have said, Mr. Wordsworth will
not be flattered by knowing that Blake deems him the only poet
of the age, nor much alarmed by hearing that Blake thinks that
he is often in his works an Atheist.
Now, according to Blake,
Atheism consists in worshipping the natural world, which same
natural world, properly speaking, is nothing real, but a mere
illusion produced by Satan.
Milton was for a great part of his
life an Atheist, and therefore has fatal errors in his " Paradise
Lost," which he has often begged Blake to confute.
Dante
(though now with God) lived and died an Atheist ; he was the
slave of the world and time.
But Dante and Wordsworth, in
spite of their Atheism, were inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Indeed, all real poetry is the work of the Holy Ghost, and Wordsworth's poems (a large proportion, at least) are the work of
Divine inspiration.
Unhappily, he is left by God to his own
illusions, and then the Atheism is apparent.
I had the pleasure
of reading to Blake, in my best style (and you know I am vain
on that point, and think I read Wordsworth's poems peculiarly
well), the " Ode on Immortality."
I never witnessed greater
delight in any listener ; and in general Blake loves the poems.
What appears to have disturbed his mind, on the other hand,
is the Preface to " The Excursion."
He told me, six months
ago, that it caused him a stomach complaint, which nearly
killed him.
When I first saw Blake at Mrs. Aders's, he very
earnestly asked me, " Is Mr. 'Wordsworth a sincere, real Chris" If so, what does he
tian'? " In reply to my answer, he said
mean by the worlds to which the heaven of heavens is but a
veil % and who is he that shall pass Jehovah unalarmed 1 "
It
is since then that I have lent Blake all the works which he but
imperfectly knew.
I doubt whether what I have written will
excite your and Mr. Wordsworth's curiosity ; but there is something so delightful about the man, though in great poverty, he
is so perfect a gentleman, with such genuine dignity and inde:

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

—

[Chap.

scorning presents, and of such native delicacy in
pendence,
that I have not scrupled promising to
words, &c, &c, &c.
He expressed his
bring him and Mr. Wordsworth together.
thanks strongly, saying " You do me honor Mr. Wordsworth
Besides, he may convince me I am wrong
is a great man.
about him ; I have been wrong before now," &c. Coleridge
has visited Blake, and I am told talks finely about him.
That I might not encroach on a third sheet, I have compressed what I had to say about Blake. You must see him
one of these days, and he will interest you, at all events, whatever character you give to his mind.
I go on the 1st of March on a circuit, which will last a
month. If you write during that time direct, " On the Nor-

—

folk Circuit "

;

before, direct here.

And
best remembrances to Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth.
recollect again that you are not to read all this letter to any
one if it will offend. And you are yourself to forgive it, coming from one

who

Affectionately your friend,

H. C. R.

March 22d.
preacher.

— A consultation

in a libel case for a Methodist

The

Rather a comic scene.

zeal as

well as the

taste of the partisans of the prosecutor

was shown in the

One sentence

" This

copy as a specimen

originating in the profoundest

on the base hope of extortion,

brief.

shameful trash,
malice, nurtured and propagated
has ingratitude unparalleled for
undiscovered for its nature, and
reputation to seal the abhorrent
:

its stain, wickedness hitherto
the indelible shame of its own
character of its crime."
March 23d.
Was much pleased with my great-niece
(daughter of Tom). She has as many indications of sensibility and talent as I ever witnessed in a child not much more
than two years old. She sings with apparently a full feeling
of what she sings.
- sufficiently spread
April 16th.
A report concerning
to make his return from the Continent necessary.
Yet
says he is quite satisfied that the report is groundless. It cannot be traced to any authority whatever, and it is of a kind
which, though highly injurious, might arise out of the most
insignificant of idle remarks.
A says to B, " Nobody knows
keeps abroad
it is quite unaccountable.
His
why
friends say nothing."
B says to C, " Have you heard why

—

;

COLERIDGE'S "AIDS TO REFLECTION."

1826.]

keeps away

Can he be

in difficulties

41
In speaking

of the matter to D, C acknowledges that there is a suspicion
" I hope there is nothis in difficulties, and adds
that
Better say nothing in it, for I had a high opinion of him.
Surmises increase, and the whisper goes down to Z, and
ing."
comes back and crosses and jostles ; and unless some one gives
himself the trouble to write to the subject of these reports, he
comes home to find his reputation gone.
Called late on Lamb.
He lent me a humorApril 23d.
:

—

ous " Essay on Deformity," which I read with pleasure.
It
is very much in Lamb's own style of humor, and is a piece of
playful self-satire, if not written in the assumed character of a
hump-backed, diseased member of Parliament. Published by
Dodsley, 1794, the author, William Hay, Esq.
He would have
been known to the wits of his age.*
May 18th. At night over Coleridge's " Aids to Reflection,"
a work which has interested me greatly and occupied me much
It has remarkable talent and strange singularities.
of late.
His religion that of the vulgar, his philosophy his own. This
work exhibits the best adaptation of Kantian principles to
English religious sentiment.
That beautiful composition, in the special sense of
Item.f
being compounded of the production of the Scotch Abp. Leighton and himself, I compared to an ancient statue said to be made
of ivory and gold, likening the part belonging to the Archbishop
Coleridge
to ivory, and that belonging to Coleridge to gold.
somewhere admits that, musing over Leighton's text, he was not
always able to distinguish what was properly his own from what
was derived from his master. Instead of saying in my journal
that his philosophy is his own, and his religion that of the vulgar, might I not more truly have said that he was not unwilling
in some publication to write both esoterically and ^oterically ?
May 20th.
At Miss Sharpe's. A small but agreeable
party,
the Flaxmans, Aikins, &c.
Samuel Rogers came
late, and spoke about Wordsworth's poems with great respect,
but with regret at his obstinate adherence to his peculiarities.
Rem.%
There was at this time a current anecdote that
Rogers once said to Wordsworth, " If you would let me edit
your poems, and give me leave to omit some half-dozen, and
make a few trifling alterations, I would engage that you should
be as popular a poet as any living." Wordsworth's answer is

—

* Works on Deformity, &c, by William Hay.
t

Written in 1852.

London, 1794.
Written in 1852.

4to.

2 vols,

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

14
1 am much, obliged to you, Mr. Eogers
said to have been
I am a poor man, but I would rather remain as I am."
May 26th.
Mr. Scargill * breakfasted with me.
sensible
:

—

an Englishman is never happy but when he is
miserable ; a Scotchman is never at home but when he is
abroad | an Irishman is at peace only when he is fighting.
Called on Meyer of Red Lion Square, where Lamb was sitA strong likeness but it gives him the
ting for his portrait.!
air of a thinking man, and is more like the framer of a system
of philosophy than the genial and gay author of the " Essays
man.

said,

;

of Elia."

—

May 27th. At the Haymarket. An agreeable evening.
saw nothing but Liston. In " Quite Correct " he is an innkeeper, very anxious to be quite correct, and understanding
everything literally. His humorous stupidity is the only
In " Paul Pry " he is not the
pleasant thing in the piece.
mar-plot but the make-plot of the play, for by his prying and
picking out of the water some letter by which a plot is detected, he exposes a knavish housekeeper, who is on the point of
Liston's inimitable
inveigling an old bachelor into marriage.
face is the only amusement.
A party at Miss Benger's. Saw Dr. Kitchener,
June 5th.
of gastronomic celebrity, but had no conversation with him.
A grave and formal man, with long face and spectacles. Other
a Mr. Jerdan, the editor of the Literary
authors were there,
Gazette, % a work I do not like
Miss Landon, a young poetess,
the " L. E. L." of the Gazette, with a gay gooda starling,
humored face, which gave me a favorable impression ; an
Australian poet, with the face of a frog; and Miss Porter
(Jane), who is looking much older than when I last saw her.
With W. Pattisson at Irving's. We took tea
June 12th.
there. Some slight diminution of respect for him. He avowed
intolerance;
Thought the Presbyterian clergy were right in
insisting on the execution of Aikenhead for blasphemy. §
Yet
I

—

;

—

* The supposed author of the " Autobiography of a Dissenting Minister."
M Mef There is a lithograph by Vinter of this portrait in Barry Cornwall's
moir of Charles Lamb," p. 192.
A
X Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, "weekly periodical established in 1817, under the editorship of William Jerdan,
Esq., and continued by the Rev. H. Christmas.
§ Thomas Aikenhead, a student of eighteen, was hanged at Edinburgh, in
1697, for having uttered free opinions about the Trinity and some of the books
of the Bible. His offence was construed as blasphemy under an old Scottish
After his
statute, which was strained for the purpose of convicting him.
sentence he recanted, and begged a short respite to make his peace with God.
This the Privy Council declined to grant, unless the Edinburgh clergy would

1826.]

COLERIDGE'S TALK DIFFICULT TO NOTE.

cannot deny the consistency of

this.

The

difficulty lies in

There
reconciling any form of Christianity with tolerance.
came in several persons, who were to read the Prophets with
Irving.
I liked what I saw of these people, but Pattisson and
Irving has
I came away, of course, before the reading began.
sunk of late in public opinion in consequence of his writing
and preaching about the millennium, which, as he said this
afternoon, he believes will come in less than forty years. He is
I fear, too, a fanatic.
certainly an enthusiast,
He was as wild as
June 13th.
Called early on Blake.
ever, with no great novelty. He talked, as usual, of the spirits,
asserted that he had committed many murders, that reason is
the only evil or sin, and that careless people are better than
those who, &c, June 15th.
Called at Montagu's.
Rode with him, Mrs.
Montagu, and Irving to Highgate. Coleridge, as usual, very
eloquent, but, as usual, nothing remains now in my mind that

—

I never took a note of Coleridge's
I can venture to insert here.
conversation which was not a caput mortuum.
But still there
is a spirit, and a glorious spirit too, in what he says at all
Irving was not brilliant, but gloomy in his denunciatimes.
tions of God's vengeance against the nation for its irreligion.

the by, Coleridge declaims against Irving for his reveries

about the Prophecies. Irving, however, pleased me by his
declaration on Monday, that Coleridge had convinced him that
he was a bibliolatrist.
June 17th, Rem*
Went down to Witham, and Pattisson
drove me to Maldon, that I might exercise my electoral franchise.
The Pattissons were then Whigs and Liberals, and Mr.
Lennard was their candidate. There was a sort of medium
man, a Mr. Wynn, a Tory, but less offensive than Quentin
Dick, a vulgar anti-papist.
I gave a plumper for Lennard,
and made a speech on the hustings. I began wilfully with a
few sentences meant for fun, and gained a little applause.
I
declared that I was an enemy to popish practices.
But when
I turned round and said that the anti-Catholic laws were
of a popish character, and therefore I was against them, the
storm of hisses and screams was violent. One fellow cried
out " Don't believe that feller,
he 's a lawyer,
he 's paid
for what he says."
I enjoyed the row, and could well imagine

—

intercede for him; but so far were they from seconding his petition, that they
actually demanded that his execution should not be delayed
(See " Macaulay's History," Vol. IV. pp. 781 - 784.)
!

* Written in 1852.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

how a man used
and not
June 27th.

party,

to being abused,

[Chap.

and knowing that

he, that is attacked, can very well bear

—

it is

his

it.

Dined at Flaxman's. Mr. Tulk, late M. P.
Sudbury, his father-in-law, Mr. Norris, and a namesake of
mine, Mr. Robinson, I think an M. P. Our talk chiefly on

for

public matters.

The

littleness

of this sort of greatness

on me, that I am in no danger of
overestimating the honors which public office confers.
The
quiet and dignity attendant on a man of genius, like Flaxman,
are worth immeasurably more than anything which popular
favor can give.
The afternoon was as lively as the oppressive
heat would permit.

now

so deeply impressed

Irish Tour.*

—

July 30th.
I left London early by coach, and the journey
was rendered pleasant by an agreeable companion, the son of
an old and valued friend. On passing through Devizes, I had
a mortifying sense of my own forgetfulness, as well as of the
transiency of human things.
There I spent three years at
But I could not without difficulty find an individual
school.
in the place who knows me now.
Not a school-fellow have I
any recollection of. The very houses had nearly grown out
of knowledge ; and an air of meanness in the streets was very
unpleasant to me. Yet, had I not been expected elsewhere, I
should have stayed a night at the Bear.f I could, perhaps,
have found out some once familiar walk.
We were set down at Melksham, twelve miles before Bath,
at the house of the mother of my companion, Mrs. Evans, a
widow. % Her sister-in-law and a cousin were there, one daughThey seemed to
ter and three sons, besides my companion.
have one heart between them all, and to be as affectionate a
knot of worthy people as I ever saw. Mrs. Evans and her
sister were glad to see an old acquaintance, who enabled them
to live over again some hours they might otherwise have forgotten forever.
* This tour is given more at length than usual, as one in which Mr. Robinson himself felt especial interest. He says of it: " My Reminiscences of this
journey were written nearly eight years ago (i. e. in 1843), when I by no means
thought I should write so much as I have done, and when I hoped merely that
I might be able to produce something worth 'preserving for friends after my
death. I had already written an account of my adventures in Holstein in
1807, and what I wrote next is contained in the following pages."
| The inn formerly kept by the father of Sir T. Lawrence.
\ The widow of my excellent friend Joseph Evans, who died in 1812,
and who was a son oif Dr. Evans of Bristol, Principal of a Baptist College
there.
H. C. R.

—

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

— proceeded
— My journal

to the Hot Wells, Bristol.
expresses disgust at the sight of the
river Avon, " a deep bank of solid dirty clay on each side, with
I should not think
a streamlet of liquid mud in the centre."
it worth while to mention this, were it not to add that a few
years since I found this Western port vastly improved by the
formation of a wet dock, so that the city is in a degree reI had the company
lieved from the nuisance of a tidal river.

August

Bern.*

Jfih.

of a younger son of Mrs. Evans.f
•

August

5th.

—

embarked

in a steamer for Cork.

The

cab-

the steerage passengers 2 s.
A
pleasant voyage, with pleasant companions, whom I have never
heard of since.
Landed early in the Cove of Cork. And four
August 6th.
I was amused and
of us were put on a jaunting-car or jingle.
The animal,
surprised by the efficiency of man and beast.
small and rough, but vigorous ; the driver all rags and vivacity.
He managed how I could not conceive
to pack us
all on his car, and vast quantities of luggage too, with the
pack-thread, handkerchiefs, &c,
oddest tackle imaginable,

in passengers paid

each

;

—

&c.

— My

impression of the Irish poor was never
Those who did not beg or
all rags.
look beggingly (and many such I saw) were wr orse dressed
than an English beggar. The women, though it was summer,
had on dark cloth cloaks. Yet, except the whining or howling
beggars, the gayety of these poverty-stricken creatures seemed

Rem.%

altered.

first

The men were

quite invincible.
"

And

they, so perfect is their miserj*,
their foul disfigurement."

Not once perceive

O'Connell one day, pointing to a wretched house, said to me,
" Had you any idea of so much wTretchedness ] "
I answered,
" I had no idea of so little wretchedness with such destitution."

August

7th.

—

rose early

and took a walk in the city. After
two gentlemen who ap-

breakfast, seeing in the coffee-room

peared to be barristers, I presented my card to them, told them
I was an English barrister, and requested them to take me into
court.
They complied with great politeness. The name of
one was Thwaites.
The courts, two wretched buildings in the
* Written in 1843.
f Either he or his brother

—

Punch.
H. C. R., 1843.
\ Written in 1843.

now

the printer and part proprietor of

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

shape of meeting-houses

;

[Chap.

the jury sitting aloft in the gallery,

and the counsel, on one side, sitting so near the gallery that
they were obliged to lift up their heads ludicrously to catch a
glimpse of the foreman.
Mr. Justice Torrens
I went first into the Nisi Prius Court.
was sitting. A very young-looking, fair-complexioned, mild
and gentlemanly man. A point of law was being argued. The
prominent man at the bar was a thick-set, broad-faced, goodhumored, middle-aged person, who spoke with the air of one
It was Daniel O'Connell.
conscious of superiority.
He began
to talk over with Mr. Thwaites the point under discussion.
I
" You seem, sir, to be of
could not help putting in a word.
" I am an English barrister."
our profession," .said O'Connell.
He asked my name, and from that moment commenced a series
of civilities which seem likely to be continued, and may greatly
modify this journey. He took me by the arm, led me from
court to court, as he had business in most cases, and yet found
time to chat with me at intervals all the day. He made much
of me, and, as I have no doubt, from a mere exuberance of
good-nature.
In the other court was Baron Pennefather, a man whom all
the bar praised for his manners as well as for his abilities. He
had nevertheless a droll air, with a simplicity somewhat quizzical.

With the judges

and the people O'Connell
good-humor probably atoning
for his political perversities, and, what must have been to his colBennett, K. C,
leagues more objectionable, his great success.
a complete contrast. Wagget, Rew as his chief opponent,
corder of Cork, is a man of ingratiating sweetness of manner.
Among the juniors is O'Loghlen, a rising man with a good
seemed to be a

as well as the bar

sort of pet

;

his

—

face.*
I

found that business was transacted with more gravity and

had expected. An insurance cause was tried,
which both judges and counsel seemed to be at fault. It is
only recently that insurances have been effected here.
On
questions of evidence greater latitude was allowed than in our
English courts. That is, there was more common sense, with
fewer technicalities.
I amused myself attending to the business, with one incident to divert my mind, and that is worth
politeness than I
in

mentioning.
*

was

I have since met him at Rolfe's, when he, the Solicitor-General of Ireland,
visiting the Solicitor-General of England.
He died, lamented, as Master

of the Rolls.

— H. C. R.

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

I recollected that

among

Cork boy, named Johnson.

my
I

school-fellows at Devizes

had heard of

his being

—

was a
an at-

red hair,
I recalled his countenance to my mind,
torney.
I looked
reddish eyes, very large nose, and fair complexion.
about, and actually discovered my old school-fellow in the

Under

Sheriff.

inquiry, I found I

w as
T

right in

guess.

went up to the Under Sheriff and
When the judge
said, " Will you allow me to ask you an impertinent question ]
His look implied, " Any question that is not impertinent."
" Yes, I was. Why, you
" Were you at school at Devizes V?
" Yes, I am."
are not an old school-fellow % "
"I shall be
glad to talk with you." Our conversation ended in my enretired, I

—

gaging to dine with him to-morrow.
The morning was spent in lounging about the
August 8th.
environs of Cork, about which I shall say nothing here.
In
the afternoon I went to my old school-fellow, Johnson, whom I
found handsomely housed in the Parade. Accompanied him
and two strangers in a jingle to his residence at our landingplace, Passage.
From first to last I could not bring myself
back to his recollection but I had no difficulty in satisfying
him that I had been his school-fellow, so many were the recollections w e had in common.
Johnson has a wife, an agreeable
woman, and a large fine family. He gave me an account of
himself. He began the world with a guinea, and by close attenFor
tion to business is now at the head of his profession.
many years he has been Solicitor to the Admiralty, Excise,
Customs, and Stamp Office. He is a zealous Protestant,
I
I therefore avoided politics, for, had we
fear an Orangeman.
quarrelled, we could not, as formerly, have settled our difference by a harmless boxing-match. But our old school was a
subject on which we both had great pleasure in talking.
Our
recollections were not always of the same circumstances, and
" Do you remember Cuthbert ]
so we could assist each other.
" What," said I, " a shy, blushing lad, very
said his daughter.
gentle and amiable 1 "
She turned to her father, and said " if
we could have doubted that this gentleman was your schoolfellow, this would be enough to convince us.
He has described
Cuthbert as he was to the last." She said this with tears in
her eyes. He was the friend of the family, and but lately
dead. Johnson promised that if I would visit him on my return, he would invite three or four school-fellows to meet me.
The drive to Passage was very beautiful ; but the boy who
drove me did not keep his promise, to call for me before

—

nine, to take

back, and so I

had

to walk.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

August

—

[Chap.

a very interesting day.
I rose
Quay, and breakfasted. After eight
I was packed upon the Killarney Mail, with a crowded mass
of passengers and luggage, heaped up in defiance of all regulations of Parliament or prudence. The good-humor with which
I
every one submitted to inconveniences was very national.
was wedged in behind when I heard a voice exclaim " You
must get down, Mr. Robinson, and sit by O'Connell in front.
He insists on it." The voice was that of a barrister whom I
had seen in court, and who, by pressing me to change places
with him, led to my having as interesting a ride as can be
imagined; for "the glorious Counsellor," as he was hailed by
the natives on the road, is a capital companion, with high
animal spirits, infinite good temper, great earnestness in discussion, and replete with intelligence on all the subjects we
There w^as sufficient difference between us to
talked upon.
produce incessant controversy, and sufficient agreement to
Perceiving at first that he
generate kindness and respect.
meant to have a long talk on the stirring topics of the day, I
took an early opportunity of saying " In order that we should
be on fair terms, as I know a great deal about you, and you
know nothing about me, it is right that I should tell you that
I am by education a Dissenter, that I have been brought up
to think, and do think, the Roman Catholic Church the greatest
enemy to civil and religious liberty, and that from a religious
point of view it is the object of my abhorrence. But, at the same
time, you cannot have, politically, a warmer friend.
I think
emancipation your right. I do not allow myself to ask whether
in like circumstances you would grant us what you demand.
Emancipation is your right. And were I a Roman Catholic,
there is no extremity I would not risk in order to get it."
These, as nearly as possible, were my words.
On my
ending, he seized me by the hand very cordially, and said " I
9th.

early, strolled

This,

on the

too,

fine

would a thousand times rather talk with one of your way of
thinking than with one of my own." Of course the question of
the truth or falsehood of the several schemes of religion was
not once adverted to, but merely the collateral questions of a
historical or judicial bearing.
And on all these O'Connell had
an infinite advantage over me, in his much greater acquaint-

He maintained stoutly that intolerance
no essential principle of the Roman Catholic Church, but is
unhappily introduced by politicians for secular interests, the
priests of all religions having yielded on this point to kings

ance with the subject.
is

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

and magistrates. Of this he did not convince me. He also
that during the reign of
and this may be true
Queen Mary not a single Protestant was put to death in IreNor was there any reaction against the Protestants
land.
during the reign of James II.
Our conversation was now and then amusingly diversified
by incidents. It was known on the road that " the glorious
Counsellor" was to be on the coach, and therefore at every
village, and wherever we changed horses, there was a knot of
affirmed

—

The country we traversed
people assembled to cheer him.
for the most part wild, naked, and comfortless.
I will mention only the little town of Macroom, because I
here alighted, and was shown the interior of a gentleman's
a violent Orangeman, I was told.
seat (Hedges Eyre, Esq.),
However, in spite of the squire, there was in the town a signboard
on which was the very " Counsellor " himself, with a visage as
He would not confess to having
fierce as the Saracen's head.
sat for the picture, and promised us one still finer on the road.
On a very wild plain he directed my attention to a solitary
tree, at a distance so great that it was difficult to believe a
rifle would carry a ball so far.
Yet here a great-uncle of
O'Connell's was shot.
He had declared that he would shoot a
man who refused to fight him on account of his being a
Catholic. For this he was proclaimed under a law passed after
the Revolution, authorizing the government to declare it lawful
to put to death the proclaimed individuals.
He never left his
house unarmed, and he kept at a distance from houses and
places where his enemies might lie in wait for him ; but he
had miscalculated the power of the rifle.
At one of the posting-houses there was with the crowd a
was

—

very, very old

woman, with gray

eyes, far apart,

and an

ex-

of that excellent woman, D. W.
As soon as we stopped she exclaimed, with a piercing voice
" 0 that I should live to see your noble honor again
Do
"
" Why, you are an
give me something, your honor, to

pression that reminded

—

" Did you not ask me
the Counsellor.
"I
for a sixpence last time, to buy a nail for your coffin ? "
" Well, then,
believe I did, your honor, and I thought it."
there 's a shilling for you, but only on condition that you are
dead before I come this way again." She caught the shilling,
and gave a scream of joy that quite startled me. She set up
a caper, and cried out " I '11 buy a new cloak,
I '11 buy a new
" You foolish old woman, nobody will give you a
cloak "
old

cheat,"

cried

—

VOL.

—

II.

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

—

" 0, but I won't wear
you have a new cloak on."
wear it here " And, when the horses started,
we left her still capering, and the collected mob shouting the
praises of " the glorious Counsellor."
Everywhere he seemed
to be the object of warm attachment on the part of the people.
shilling if

here, I won't

And

even from Protestants

him as a private gentleman.
To recur once more to our

heard a very high character of
conversation.

On my telling him

that if he could prove his assertion that intolerance is not inherent in Eoman Catholicism, he would do more than by any
other means to reconcile Protestants to Roman Catholics,
that the fires of Smithfield are oftener thought of than the
seven sacraments or the mass, he recommended Milner's
" Letters to a Prebendary," * and a pamphlet on the Catholic
claims by Dr. Troy.f He said " Of all the powerful intellects
I have ever encountered, Dr. Troy's is the most powerful."
He related a very important occurrence, which, if true, ought
by this time to be one of the acknowledged facts of history. J
During the famous rising of the Irish volunteers, in 178G, the
leaders of the party, the Bishop of Bristol, Lord Charlemont,
and Mr. Flood, had resolved on declaring the independence of
Ireland.
At a meeting held for the purpose of drawing up
the proclamation, Grattan made his appearance, and confounded
them all by his determined opposition. " Unless you put me
to death this instant, or pledge your honor that you will abandon the project, I will go instantly to the Castle, and denounce
you all as traitors." His resolution and courage prevailed.
This was known to the government, and therefore it was that
the government assented to the grant of a pension by the Irish

—

Parliament.

arrived, about four o'clock, at the mean and uncomfortOn our arrival O'Connell said,
able little town of Killarney.

* " Letters to a Prebendary; Being an Answer to Reflections on Popery. By
the Rev. J. Sturges, LL. D. With remarks on the Opposition of Hoadlyism to
the Doctrines of the Church of England, &c. By the Rev. John Milner." Winchester, 1800.

4to.

Archbishop of Dublin. An Irish friend to whom I have shown this passage thinks that H. C. R. must have confounded names, and that it was of
Father Arthur O'Leary O'Connell spoke as having produced a powerful
pamphlet on the Catholic claims. O'Leary' s "Loyalty Asserted" appeared
or, Plea for Liberty of Conscience,"
in 1777.
His " Essay on Toleration
appeared in 1780 or"l781.
There was no
+ This anecdote does not seem to be correct as it stands.
rising of volunteers in 1786; only a weak and ineffectual convention of
Flood and
Their power had been already long on the wane.
delegates.
Grattan were then bitter enemies. Moreover, the grant (not pension) to Gratt

;

tan was in 1783.

;

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

" You are aware by this time
just as I was about to alight
Now, as I have the
that I am king of this part of Ireland.
power, I tell you that I will not suffer you to alight until you
give me your word of honor that on Monday next you will be
at the house of my brother-in-law, Mr. M'Swiney, at Cahir.
There I shall be with my family, and you must then accompany me to Derrynane, my residence. Now, promise me that
" I am too well aware of your power to resist
instantly."
you ; and therefore I do promise." He took me to the Kenmare
Arms, and introduced me as a particular friend and I have
no doubt that the attentions I received were greatly owing to
A glance shows
the recommendation of so powerful a patron.
me that this spot deserves all its fame for the beauty of its
:

—

;

environs.

—

Having risen early and begun my breakfast,
August 10th.
was informed by my landlord, that four gentlemen would be
glad if I would join them in an excursion to the Lower Lake.
Two were a father and son, by no means companionable, but
The other two were very good society ;
perfectly innocuous.
one Mr. J. White, of Glengariff, a nephew of Lord Bantry
the other a Mr. Smith, the son of a magistrate, whose family
came into Ireland under Cromwell. We walked to Ross Castle,
and there embarked on the lake for Muckruss Abbey, where we
saw bones and fragments of coffins lying about most offensively.
W^e next proceeded to the Tore Lake, landed at Tore Cottage,
and saw a cascade. At Innisfallen Island we had the usual
meal of roasted salmon. The beauties of these places,
are
they not written in the guide-books ? Our coxswain was an intelligent man, and not the worse for believing in the O'Donoghue and his spectral appearances.
Walked up the mountain Mangerton. Had
August 11th.
He took us by a glen from Mr.
a little boy for our guide.
Coltman's new house.
On our way we saw a number of cows,
where the pasture is said to be rich, and our little guide pointed
out a ledge of stone where, he said, " a man goes a-summering."
He attends to the cows, and lives under the shelter of the
ledge of stone.
We saw, of course, the famous Devil's Punchbowl.
On the summit a magnificent mountain scene presented
itself.
Three gentlemen as well as ourselves were there, and
one of them, a handsome young man, with the air of an officer,
accosted me with the question whether I was not at Munich
three years ago, when a German student fought a duel.
That
I

—

incident I well recollect.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

—A

[Chap.

drive to the Gap of Dunloe.
August 12th.
Near the
some eight or ten ragged
entrance I observed a hedge-school,
The boatman said the
urchins sitting literally in a ditch.
master is " a man of bright learning as any in Kerry." A remarkable feature in the rocks of this pass is that they take a
dark color from the action of water on them. The charm of
the Gap was the echo called forth in several places by a bugleman, a well-behaved man, and an admirable player. He played
the huntsman's chorus in " Der Freischiitz." I think he would,
without the echo, make his fortune in London.
At the middle of the Gap sat a forlorn, cowering object, a
woman aged 105. She is said to have survived all her kin.
Her face all wrinkles ; her skin like
She spoke Irish only.
I never saw so frightful a creature in the
that of a dried fish.
human form. Swift must have seen such a one when he
described his Goldrums.*
Took my place on an outside car (a RusAugust 14th.
sian drosky, in fact), a by no means inconvenient vehicle on
good roads. At five, reached the house of Mr. M'Swiney, at
Cahir.
In
It would have been thought forlorn in England.
Here
Ireland, it placed the occupier among the honoratiores.
Mrs. O'Connell an
I found a numerous family of O'Connells.
There were six or seven
invalid, very lady-like and agreeable.
other ladies, well-bred, some young and handsome.
It was a
The dinner, however, was a very good one,
strict fast day.
and no mortification to me. Salmon, trout, various vegetables,
sweet puddings, pie, cream, custards, &c, the invalid a single dish of meat, of which I was invited to
partake.
On arriving at the table, O'Connell knocked it with
the handle of his knife,
every one put his hand to his face,
and O'Connell begged a blessing in the usual way, adding
something in an inaudible whisper. At the end every one
crossed himself.
I was told that O'Connell had not tasted
food all day.
He is rigid in the discharge of all the formalities of his church, but with the utmost conceivable liberality
towards others ; and there is great hilarity in his ordinary
manners.
After tea I was taken to the house of another connection of
the O'Connells, named Primrose, and there I slept.
August 15th.
I did not rise till late. Bad weather all day.
The morning spent in writing. In the afternoon a large dinner:

—

* Struldbrugs. The editor fears
mistakes as to names.

impossible to correct

all

H. C. R.'s

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

Before dinner was over the piper
treated with kind familiarity by every

party from Mr. M'Swiney's.

was

called in.

one.

He was

The Irish bagpipe is a more complex instrument than the
and the sound is less offensive. The young people danced
and we did not break up till late. O'Connell very lively,

Scotch,
reels,

— the

soul of the party.

—

A memorable day. I never before was of a
August 16th.
party which travelled in a way resembling a royal progress. A
chariot for the ladies. A car for the luggage. Some half-dozen
I was mounted on a safe old
horsemen, of whom I was one.
horse, and soon forgot that I had not been on horseback three
times within the last thirty years.
The natural scenery little
attractive.
Bog and ocean, mountain and rock, had ceased to
be novelties.
We passed a few mud huts, with ragged women
and naked urchins but all was redolent of life and interest. At
the door of every hut were the inhabitants, eager to greet their
;

in O'Connell's territory.
And their
tones and gesticulations manifested unaffected attachment. The
women have a graceful mode of salutation. They do not courtesy, but bend their bodies forward. They join their hands, and
then, turning the palms outward, spread them, making a sort
of figure of a bell in the air. And at the same time they utter
unintelligible Irish sounds.
At several places parties of men were standing in lanes. Some
of these parties joined us, and accompanied us several miles. I
was surprised by remarking that some of the men ran by the

landlord, for

we w ere now
T

and were vehement in their gesticulaFirst one spoke, then another.
and loud in their talk.
O'Connell seemed desirous of shortening their clamor by whisAsking afterwards what all
pering me to trot a little faster.
this meant, I learnt from him that all these men were his tenants, and that one of the conditions of their holding under him
was, that they should never go to law, but submit all their disputes to him. In fact, he was trying causes all the morning.*
We were .driven into a hut by a shower. The orators did not
cease.
Whether we rested under cover or trotted forward, the
eloquence went on.
The hut in which we took shelter was, I
was told, of the bettermost kind.
It had a sort of chimney,
side of O'ConnelTs horse,

tions

* This is worthy of note, especially for its bearing on one of the charges
He is accused of
brought against the agitator on the recent monster trial.
conspiring to supersede the law of the land and its tribunals by introducing
arbitrations.
I could have borne witness that he had adopted this practice
seventeen years ago, but it would have been exculpatory rather than criminating testimony.
H. C. R., 1844.

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

not a mere hole in the

roof, a long wooden seat like a garden
and a recess which I did not explore. The hovels I afterwards saw seemed to me not enviable even as pigsties.
At the end of ten miles we entered a neat house, the only
one we saw. Before the door was the weir of a salmon fishery.
Here Mrs. O'Connell alighted, and was placed on a pillion, as

chair,

the carriage could not cross the mountain. As the road did
The rest of
not suit my horsemanship, I preferred walking.
the gentlemen kept their horses. From the highest point was
a scene, not Alpine, but as wild as any I ever saw in Scotland.
A grand view of the ocean, with rocky islands, bays, and promontories.
The mouth of the Kenmare River on one side, and
Valentia Bay and Island on the other, forming the abuttals of
O'ConnelFs country, Derrynane. In the centre, immediately
behind a small nook of land, with a delicious sea-beach, is the
mansion of the O'Connells,
the wreck, as he remarked, of
the family fortune, which has suffered by confiscations in every
reign.
The last owner, he told me, Maurice, died two years
ago, aged ninety-nine. He left the estate to his eldest nephew,
It was humble
the Counsellor. The house is of plain stone.
when Maurice died, but Daniel has already added some loftier
and more spacious rooms, wishing to render the abode more
suitable to his rank, as the great leader of the Roman

—

Catholics.
I was delighted by his demeanor towards those who welcomed him on his arrival. I remarked (myself unnoticed) the
eagerness with which he sprang from his horse and kissed a
toothless old woman, his nurse.
While the ladies were dressing for dinner, he took me a short
walk on the sea-shore, and led me to a peninsula, where were

the remains of a monastery,
He
the O'Connell family.

— a sacred
showed

spot, the

cemetery of

inscriptions to the

memory

of some of his ancestors.
It is recorded of the Uncle
Maurice, that he lived a long and prosperous life, rejoicing in
the acquisition of wealth as the means of raising an ancient
family from unjust depression.
His loyalty to his king was
eulogized.

O'Connell has an uncle now living in France in high favor
with Charles X., having continued with him during his emigration.
Circumstances may have radicalized the Counsellor, but
his uncle was made by the Revolution a violent Royalist
and anti-Gallican, as their ancestors had always been stanch
O'Connell remarked that, with a little manageJacobites.

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

ment, the English government might have secured the Irish

—

at least, said he, signifiCatholics as their steadiest friends,
but for the Union." He represented the priests as
stanch friends to the Bourbons. They inflexibly hated Buonaparte, and that is the chief reason why an invasion in his day
was never seriously thought of. " But," said he, " if the prescantly, "

ent oppression of the Catholics continues, and a war should
between France and England, with a Bourbon on the
*
throne, there is no knowing what the consequences might be."
piper
of
course,
the
there,
dinner,
excellent
We had an
and the family chaplain. Tea at night. I slept in a very low
old-fashioned room, which showed how little the former lords
of this remote district regarded the comforts and decorations
arise

—

of domestic

life.

—

Rain all day. I scarcely left the house.
August 17th.
During the day chatted occasionally with O'Connell and variEach did as he liked. Some
ous members of the family.
played backgammon, some sang to music, many read. I was
greatly interested in the " Tales of the O'Hara Family."
Fortunately the weather better.
I took a
August 18th.
walk with O'Connell. The family priest accompanied us, but
left abruptly.
In reply to something I said, O'Connell remarked, " There can be no doubt that there were great corruptions in our Church at the time what you call the Reformation took place, and a real reform did take place in our Church."

—

this the priest bolted.
I pointed this out to O'Connell.
" 0," said he, " I forgot he was present, or I would not
He is an excellent
have given offence to the good man

His whole life is devoted to acts of charity.
always with the poor."
We walked to a small fort, an intrenchment of loose stones,
called a rath, and ascribed to the Danes.
He considered it a
place of refuge for the natives against plundering pirates,
Danes or Normans, who landed and stayed but a short time,
ravaging the country.
" Our next parish in that direction," said O'Connell, pointing seaward, " is Newfoundland."
parish priest.

* I cannot help adverting to one or two late acts of O'CcJnnell, which, seem
inconsistent with his Radical professions on other occasions. His uniform
declaration in favor of Don Carlos of Spain against the Queen and her Liberal
adherents; his violent declamations against Espartero, and the Spanish Liberals
in general; and, not long since, his abuse of the government of Louis Philippe,
and his assertion of the right of the Pretender, the Duke of Bordeaux, to the
throne.
H. C. K., 1844.

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

The eldest son, Maurice, has talents and high spirits. He
coming to the bar, but will do nothing there. He is aware
He is fit to be the chieftain of
that he will be one day rich.
his race.
He has the fair eye which the name O'Connell imis

ports.
I believe mass was performed every morning before I rose.
Nothing, however, was said to me about it.
With feelings of great respect and thankfulness for personal
kindness, I left Derrynane between twelve and one.
I believe
my host to be a perfectly sincere man. I could not wonder
at his feeling strongly the injuries his country has sustained
from the English. My fear is that this sentiment may in the
breasts of many have degenerated into hatred.
I did not conceal my decided approbation of the Union ; on which he spoke
Something having been said about insurrection, he
gently.
said "I never allow myself to .ask whether an insurrection
would be right, if it could be successful, for I am sure it would
fail."
I had for my journey Maurice O'Connell's horse, named
Captain Rock. Luckily for me, he did not partake of the
I did not, however, mount
qualities of his famed namesake.
till we had passed the high ground before the fishery.
Slept at Mr. Primrose's.
Returned to Killarney. A ride through a
August 19th.
dreary country, which wanted even the charm of novelty.
Before eight o'clock I left my friendly landAugust 21st.
lord.
I was jammed in a covered jingle, which took us to
Cheerful companions in the car, who
Tralee in three hours.
were full of jokes I could not share in. The country a wild
bog-scene, with no other beauty than the line of the Killarney
hills.
Tralee is the capital of Kerry, and bears marks of prosAfter looking round the neighborhood a little, I
perity.
walked on to Ardfert, where were the ruins of a cathedral. I
learned, from the intelligent Protestant family at the inn, that
book-clubs had been established, and that efforts were being
made to get up a mechanics' institution.
Having slept at Adare, I proceeded to LimAugust 23d.
My impression not pleasing.
erick, the third city of Ireland.
:

—
—

—

The cathedral seemed to me jail-like without, and squalid
One noble street, George Street. While at dinner I

within.

heard of a return chaise to Bruff.

and before

six I

was

—

My plan was at once formed,

off.

Rose early, and at eight was on the road toAugust 21fth.
wards the object of this excursion, the Baalbec of Ireland, the

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

town of Kilmallock, which lies four miles from Bruff. " Etiam
This fanciful epithet is intelligible. Though
periere ruince."
there are only two remarkable ruins, there are numerous fragments along the single street of the town. And the man who
was my cicerone, the constable of the place, told me that within twenty years a large number of old buildings had been
He also told
pulled down, and the materials used for houses.
me that there were in Kilmallock fifty families who would
Many could
gladly go to America, if they had a free passage.
get no work, though they would accept sixpence per day as
wages.
I returned to Limerick, visiting on the way some
During the day I
Druidical remains near a lake, Loughgur.
chatted with several peasant children, and found that they had
The schools, though not favored by
nearly all been at school.
the priests, are frequented by Catholics as well as Protestants.

—

August 26th.
(At Waterford.) Waterford has the peculibeing really like a very pretty village, it has neverShips of large burden
theless a long and handsome quay.
are in the river, and near are a village church, and gentlemen's
country houses.
I with difficulty obtained a bed at the Commercial Hotel, as a great assemblage of Catholics was about to
take place. This I learned by accident at Limerick, and I
changed my travelling plan accordingly.
August 27th.
(Sunday.)
I rose early and strolled into a
large Catholic cathedral, where were a crowd of the lowest of
the people.
There was one gentleman in the gallery, almost
concealed behind a pillar, and seemingly fervent in his devoarity, that

—

I recognized

Daniel O'Connell,

late hospitable host.
could not say a word to
him, as I wished to do.
I afterwards went into the handsome
Protestant church.
It is here the custom to make the churches
attractive,
not the worst feature of the government system,
when the Protestants themselves defray the cost ; which, however, is seldom the case.
August 28th.
I was called from my bed by the waiter.
" Sir, Counsellor O'Connell wants you."
He came to present
me with a ticket for the forthcoming public dinner, and refused
to take the price, which was £ 2.
No Protestant was allowed
to pay.
He promised to take me to the private committee
meetings, &c. The first general meeting was held in the chapel,
which contains some thousands, and was crowded. The speeches were of the usual stamp.
Mr. Wyse, Lucien Buonaparte's
son-in-law, was the first who attracted any attention ; but
tions.

slipped

away

at a side door,

—

and

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CKABB ROBIXSOX.

[Chap.

O'Connell himself was the orator of the day.
He spoke with
great power and effect. He is the idol of the people, and was
loudly applauded when he entered the room, and at all the
prominent parts of his speech. His manner is colloquial, his
He seems capable of suitvoice very sweet, his style varied.
ing his tone to every class of persons, and to every kind of

—

all but seditious.
His language vehement,
He
spoke two hours, and then there was an adjournment.*
In the forenoon I was taken by O'Connell to
A ugust 29th.
the sacristy, where a committee arranged what was to be done
As usual in such cases, whatever difat the public meeting.
ference of opinion there may be is adjusted hi private by the
Here I remarked that O'Connell always spoke last,
leaders.
and his opinion invariably prevailed. At this meeting a subscription was opened for the relief of the forty-shilling freeholders, who had been persecuted by the landlords for voting
with the priests rather than with themselves. I was glad to pay
for my ticket in this way, and put down £5 by "a Protestant
English Barrister." The public meeting was held at half past
two.
Two speeches by priests especially pleased me. A violent and ludicrous speech was made by a man who designated
O'Connell as "the buttress of liberty in Ireland, who rules in
the wilderness of free minds." O'Connell spoke with no less
energy and point than yesterday.
The dinner was fixed for seven, but was not on the table till
There were present more than 200. The walls of
past eight.
the room were not finished ; but it was well lighted, and ornamented with transparencies, on which were the names Curran,
Burke, Grattan, &c.
The chair was taken by O'Brien. My
memory would have said Sir Thomas Esmond. O'Gorman, by
whom I sat, was pressing that I should take wine, but I resisted, and drew a laugh on him by calling him an intolerant persecutor, even in matters of drink. What must he be in religion?
The usual patriotic and popular sentiments were given.
The first personal toast was Lord Fitzwilliam, the former LordLieutenant, who had not been in Ireland till now since he gave
up his office because he could not carry emancipation. The
venerable Earl returned thanks in a voice scarcely audible.
With his eyes fixed on the ground, and with no emphasis, he
muttered a few words about his wish to serve Ireland. I recollected that this was the once-honored friend of Burke, and it

subject.

—

* My journal does not mention the subject; but
and not repeal, was the cry.
H. C. R.

—

in those

days emancipation^

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

was painful to behold the wreck of a good, if not a great man.
Another old man appeared to much greater advantage, being
Sir John Newport
his
in full possession of his faculties,
Lord Ebringcountenance sharp, even somewhat quizzical.
a fine spirited young man.
ton, too, returned thanks,
The
only remarkable speech was O'Conn ell's, and that was short.
When the toast, " the Liberal Protestants," was given, O'Connell introduced an Englishman, who spoke so prosily that he
was set down by acclamation. It was after twelve, and after
the magnates had retired, that a toast was given to which I
" Mr. Scarlett and the Liberal
was called upon to respond,
members of the English Bar." My speech was frequently interrupted by applause, which was quite vociferous at the end.
This is easily accounted for, without supposing more than very
ordinary merit in the speaker.
I began by the usual apology,
that I felt myself warranted in rising, from the fact that I was
the only English Protestant barrister who had signed the late

—

;

—

This secured me a favorapermission to make a few
remarks, in the two distinct characters of Englishman and Protestant.
As an Englishman, I am well aware that I ought not
to be an object of kindness in the eyes of an Irishman. I know
that for some centuries the relation between the tw o countries
has been characterized by the infliction of injustice and wrong
on the part of the English. If, therefore, I considered myself
the representative of my countrymen, and any individual before me the representative of Irishmen, I should not dare to
look him in the face."
(Vehement applause.) " Sir, I own to
petition for Catholic emancipation.
ble

reception.

M I

now

solicit

But I should
I do not feel flattered by this applause.
have been ashamed to utter this sentence, which might seem
flattery, if I had not meant to repeat it in another application.
And I rely on the good-nature and liberality of Irishmen to
you

bear wT ith me while I make it. I am Protestant as well as
Englishman. And were I to imagine myself to be the single
Protestant, and any one before me the single Catholic, I should
expect him to hang down his head while I looked him boldly
in the face."
not a sound,
There was an appalling silence,
and I was glad to es*cape from a dangerous position, by adding
" I am aware that, in these frightful acts of religious zeal, the
guilt is not all on one side.
And I am not one of those who
would anxiously strike a balance in the account current of
blood.
Least of all would I encourage a pharisaic memory.
On the contrary, I would rather, were it possible, that, for the

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

sake of universal charity, we should all recollect the wrongs we
have committed, and forget those we have sustained,
but
Irishmen ought not to forget past injustice, till
not too soon.
injustice has entirely ceased."
I then went on to safer topics.
I confessed myself brought up an enemy to the Roman Catholic Church, and would frankly state why I especially feared it.
" I speak with confidence, and beg to be believed in what I
know. The Catholic religion is obnoxious to thousands in
England, not because of the number of its sacraments, or because it has retained a few more mysteries than the Anglican
and I own I cannot
acknowledges, but- because it is thought

—

that there is in the maxims of
get rid of the apprehension
your church something inconsistent with civil and religious
liberty."
On this there was a cry from different parts of the
room, " That 's no longer so," "Xot so now." I then expressed my satisfaction at the liberal sentiments I had heard
" Did I think
that morning from two reverend gentlemen.
that such sentiments would be echoed were the Roman Catholic Church not suffering, but triumphant, could they be
published as a papal bull, I do not say I could become altogether a member of your church, but it would be the object
of my affection.
Nay, if such sentiments constitute your religion, then I am of your church, whether you will receive me
or no."
After I sat down my health was given, and I had a
few words more to say. There was a transparency on the
wall representing the genius of Liberty introducing Ireland to
" Your worthy artist
the Temple of British Freedom.
I said
is better versed in Church than in State painting, for, look at
the» keys which Liberty holds,
they are the keys of St.
general laugh confessed that I had hit the mark.
Peter "
September 13th.
(Dublin.)
I mention St. Patrick's Cathedral for the sake of noticing the common blunder in the inscribed monument to Swift.
He is praised as the friend to
liberty. He was not that ; he was the enemy of injustice. He
resisted certain flagrant acts of oppression, and tried to redress
his country's wrongs, but he never thought of the liberties of
his country.
I prolonged my stay at Dublin in order to spend the day
with Cuthbert, a Protestant barrister. There dined with him
my old acquaintance, Curran, son of the orator. His tone of
conversation excellent. I will write down a few Irish anecdotes.
Lord Chancellor Redesdale * was slow at taking a joke. In a
:

—

* Lord Redesdale was Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1802 to 1806.

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

" The learned counsellor talks
before him, he said
What does that mean ] I recollect flying
of flying kites.
kites when I was a boy, in England."- '"0 my lord," said
The wind raised
Plunkett, " the difference is very great.
bill case

—

our# raise the wind."
those kites your Lordship speaks of,
Every one laughed but the CJ^tncellor, who did not compreIf a
hend the illustration. It was Plunkett, also, who said
cause were tried before Day (the Justice), it would be tried in
the dark." Cuthbert related, in very interesting detail, a memOn the discusorable incident of which he was a witness.
sion of the Union question, Grattan had obtained his election,
and came into the House while the debate was going on. He
made a famous speech, which so provoked Corry, that in his
reply he called Grattan a traitor, and left the House.
Grattan
They fought a duel in the presence of a crowd.
followed him.
And before the speaker whom they left on his legs had finished,
Grattan returned, having shot his adversary.*
September IJfth,
Though not perfectly well, I determined
to leave Dublin this day, and had taken my place on the Longford stage, when I saw Sheil get inside.
I at once alighted,
and paid is. 6 d. additional for an inside seat to Mullingar,
whither I learned he was going.
It was a fortunate speculation, for he was both communicative and friendly.
We had,
as companions, a woman, who was silent, and a priest, who
proved to be a character. We talked immediately on the
stirring topics of the day.
Sheil did not appear to me a profound or original thinker, but he was lively and amusing. Our
priest took a leading part in the conversation.
He was a very
handsome man, with most prepossessing manners. He told
us he had had the happiness to be educated under Professor
" No one," said he, " could possibly go
P
at Salamanca.
through a course of study under him, without being convinced
that Protestantism is no Christianity, and that Roman Catholicism is the only true religion. Any one who was not convinced must be a knave, a fool, or a madman."
To do justice
to Sheil, he joined me in a hearty laugh at this.
And we
forced the priest at last to make a sort of apology, and acknowledge that invincible ignorance is pardonable.
I told
him dryly, that I was a friend to emancipation, but if it should
be proposed in Parliament, and I should be there, I should
certainly move to except from its benefits all who had studied
'

—

* The Right Honorable Isaac Corry, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer.
Although in this duel Grattan shot his antagonist, the wound was not fatal.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

under Father P
were waiting for the

[Chap.

At Mullingar, a crowd
and received him with cheers.
Septemher loth.
Proceeded to Sligo on the mail, and had
a very pleasant companion in a clergyman, a Mr. Dawson. He
asserted anti-Catholic principles with a mildness and liberality,
and at the same time with ai* address and knowledge, I have
seldom witnessed. We went over most of the theoWicoo
political questions of the day, and if we did not convince we
did not offend each other.
Of the journey I shall say nothing,
but that I passed through one town I should wish to see again,
Boyle, lying very beautifully, with picturesque ruins of an
abbey.
As we approached Sligo the scenery became more wild
and romantic. There I was seriously indisposed, and Mr. Dawson
recommended me to a medical man, a Dr. Bell, a full-faced,
jovial man, who was remarkably kind.
Wken I had opened
my case the only answer I could get for some time was, " You
must dine with me to-day." This I refused to do, but I promised to join the party in the evening, and was gratified by the
geniality of all whom T met at his house, and especially by his

—

Salamanca.

orator,

—

own

hospitality.

—

September 16th.
Dr. Bell again asked me to dine with him,
but excused me on my expressing a desire to be free. I enjoyed,
however, another evening at his house, where Mr. Dawson was
the ami de la maison.
After a very hospitable breakfast with Dr.
September 17th.
Bell, availed myself of the opportunity of proceeding on my
journey in my landlord's car. I noticed some buildings, which
a very meanly dressed man, one who in England would be supposed to belong to the lowest class, told me were Church
school buildings, erected by Lord Palmerston, whom he praised
He said that,
as a generous landlord to the Catholic poor.
formerly, the peasants were so poor that, having no building, a
priest would come and consecrate some temporary chapel, and
then take away the altar, which alone makes the place holy.
On my expressing myself strongly at this, the man said, in a
" I thank you, sir, for that sentistyle that quite startled me
ment." At nine o'clock, we entered the romantically situated
little town of Ballyshannon.
My host and driver took me to
the chief inn, but no bed was to be had. He said, however,
that he would not rest till he had lodged me somewhere, and
he succeeded admirably, for he took me to the house of a
character,
a man who, if he had not been so merry, might
have sat for a picture of Romeo's apothecary. I had before

—

;

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

—

an
taken a supper with a genuine Irish party at the inn,
Orange solicitor, who insolently browbeat the others a Papist
;

strolling players ; and a Quaker so
on the verge of intoxication.
like the others
wet as to be
to find out who I was
•I had to fight against all the endeavors
but neither they, nor the apothecary, Mr. Lees, nor my former
I found I
host, Mr. Boyle, knew me, till I avowed myself.

manager of a company of

—

could not escape drinking a little whiskey with Mr. Lees, who
On my
first drink with me and then talk with me.
saying, in the course of our conversation, that I had been in
Waterford, he sprang up and exclaimed " Maybe you are
" My name is Robinson."
On this
Counsellor Robinson ? "
he lifted up his hands, " That I should have so great a man in

would

—

making him sit
Here I may say that,
at Dublin, I found a report of my speech at Waterford, in an
Irish paper, containing not a thought or sentiment I actually
uttered, but a mere series of the most vulgar and violent com-

house!"

down

And

had some

difficulty in

in the presence of the great

monplaces.
September

man.

— The

journey to Belfast on a stage-coach
having as companions two reverend
amusgentlemen, whom I suspected to be Scotch seceders,
ingly, I should say instructively, ignorant even on points very
They
nearly connected with their own professional pursuits.
were good-natured, if not liberal, and with no violent grief
lamented the heretical tendencies in the Academical In-

was

2Jfth.

diversified

stitution at

Belfast.

—

" It has," said they,

" two

notorious

Arians among the professors, Montgomery and Bruce, but they
do not teach theology, and are believed honorably to abstain
from propagating heresy." Arianism, I heard, had infected the
Synod of Ulster, and the Presbytery of Antrim consists wholly
of Arians.
On my mentioning Jeremy Taylor, these two good
men shook their heads over " the Arian." I stared. " Why,
sir, you know his very unsound work on original sin % "
"I
know that he has been thought not quite up to the orthodox
" Not up to the mark
mark on that point."
He is the
This
oracle of the English Presbyterians of the last century."
was puzzling. At length, however, the mist cleared up. They
were thinking of Dr. John Taylor, of Norwich, the ancestor of
a family of my friends. And as to Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of
Down and Connor, they had never heard of such a man. Yet
these were teachers.
They were mild enemies of emancipation, and seemed half ashamed of being so, for they had more
fear of Arianism than of Popery.

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

—

September 26th.
Strolled on the shore of the Lough that
Then began my homeward journey, and it
adjoins the town.
was not long before I landed at Port Patrick. I was now in
Scotland.
That I felt, but I had been gradually and almost
unconsciously losing all sense of being in Ireland.
The squalid poverty of the people had been vanishing ; and, though a
poor observer of national physiognomies, I had missed the
swarthy complexion, the black eyes, and the long haggard faces.

The

signs of

Romanism had worn

The ear w as struck
T

out.

The descendants of Scottish setwith the Puritan language.
tlers under the Stuarts and Cromwells I have always considered as Englishmen born in Ireland, and the northern counties
And yet I am told that this is not the
as a Scotch colony.
true state of things.
Kircudbright, where I took up my
September 28th,
- At
quarters with my friend Mrs. Niven, at law my ward.
Mr. Niven, no slanderer of his countrymen,
October 1st.
related to me in a few words a tale, w hich in every incident
makes one think how Walter Scott would have worked it up.
Gordon wilfully shot his neighbor. The man might
Sir

—

have been cured, but he preferred dying, that his murderer
might be hanged. The Gordon fled, and lived many years in
exile, till he was visited by a friend, Sir
Maxwell, who
persuaded him that the affair was forgotten, and that he might
return.
The friends travelled together to Edinburgh, and
there they attended together the public worship of God in the
kirk.
In the middle of the service the Maxwell cried aloud,
" Shut all the doors, here is a murderer "
The Gordon was
seized, tried, and hanged, and the Maxwell obtained from the
crown a grant of a castle, and the noble demesnes belonging to
it.
This account was given to me while I was visiting the
!

picturesque ruins of the castle.
October 3d.
On my way southward I passed through
Annan, the birthplace of my old acquaintance Edward Irving.
October 5th.
Went round by Keswick to Ambleside. As
I passed through Keswick, I had a chat with the ladies of
Southey's family.
Miss D. Wordsworth's illness prevented my
going to Rydal Mount. But I had two days of Wordsworth's
company, and enjoyed a walk on Loughri gg Fell. In this walk
the beauty of the English and Scotch lakes was compared with
those of Killarney, and the preference given to the former was
accounted for by the broken surface of the sides of the mountains, whence arises a play of color, ever mixed and ever

—
—

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

The summits of the mountains round Killarney arc
changing.
as finely diversified as could be wished, but the sides are
smooth, little broken by crags, or clothed with herbage of variWordsworth showed
ous color, though frequently wooded.
me the field he has purchased, on which he means to build,
should he be compelled to leave the Mount. And he took me
over Mr. Tilbrook's knacky cottage, the " Bydal wife trap,"
He also pointed out the beautiful
really a very pretty toy.
spring, a description of which is to be an introduction to a
portion of his great poem, and contains a poetical view of waThe paster as an element in the composition of our globe.
sages he read appear to be of the very highest excellence.
October 7th.
Incessant rain.
I did not leave Ambleside for
Rydal till late. We had no resource but books and conversation, of which there was no want.
Poetry the staple commodiA very pleasing young lady was of our party
ty, of course.
to-day, as well as yesterday, a Miss A
from Sussex. Very
pretty, and very naive and sprightly,
just as young ladies
should be.
The pleasure of the day is not to be measured by
the small space it occupies in my journal.
Early at my inn.
Read
luxurious supper of sherry-negus and cranberry tart.
a book
the first part of Osborne's " Advice to his Son,"
Wordsworth gave to Monkhouse, and which, therefore, I supposed to be a favorite. But I found, on inquiry, that Wordsworth likes only detached remarks, for Osborne is a mere counSurely there is no need
sellor of selfish prudence and caution.
" Beware lest in trying to save your friend you
to print,

—

get drowned yourself
Wordsworth full of praises of the fine scenery
October 8th.
of Yorkshire. Gordale Scar (near Malham) he declares to be
one of the grandest objects in nature, though of no great size.

—

has never disappointed him.
Thus ended an enjoyable
Reached Bury.
journey.
The most remarkable circumstance attending it is,
that I seemed to lose that perfect health which hitherto has
It

October l^th.

accompanied

—

journeys.

But now

I feel perfectly

Perhaps my indisposition in Ireland may be beneto me, as it has made me sensible that my health re-

well again.
ficial

quires attention.

During my absence in Ireland, my excellent sister-in-law died.
cannot write of her at length here. The letter respecting her
death was missent, and did not reach me till about a week after
it was written.
My sister was a most estimable woman, with
I

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

a warm heart, great vivacity of feeling as well as high spirits,
great integrity of character, and a very strong understanding.
October 26th.
(At Mr. Dawson Turner's, Yarmouth.) I was
summoned to breakfast at eight ; and was delighted to find myself at nine treated with genuine hospitality and kindness, for
I was left to myself.
Mr. Turner's family consists of two married daughters,
Mrs. Hooker, wife of the traveller to Iceland,
and now a professor at Glasgow, a great botanist and naturalist,
and Mrs. Palgrave, wife of the ex- Jew Cohen,* now bearing the
name of Mrs. Turner's father, and four unmarried daughters, all
very interesting and accomplished young women, full of talent,
which has left their personal attractions unimpaired.
He has
two sons,
the youngest only at home, a nice boy. At the
head of these is a mother worthy of such children. She, too,
is accomplished, and has etched many engravings, which were

—

published in Mr. Turner's " Tour in Normandy," and many
heads, some half-dozen of which he gave me, or rather I took,
he offering me as many as I chose. The moment breakfast was
over, Mr. Turner went to the bank, Mrs. Turner to her writingdesk, and every one of the young ladies to drawing, or some
other tasteful occupation, and I was as much disregarded as if
I were nobody. In the adjoining room, the library, was a fire,
and before breakfast Mr. Turner had said to me " You will
:

find

on that table pen,

ink,

and paper." Without a word more
and went into that apartment as my

being said I took the hint,
own.
And there I spent the greater part of the time of my
visit.
I took a short walk with Mr. Turner,
the weather did
not allow of a long one.
We had a small party at dinner,
Mr. Brightwell, Mr. Worship, &c.
A very lively evening. I
sat up late in my bedroom.
Mr. Turner is famous for his collection of
October 27th*
autographs, of which he has nearly twenty thick quarto volumes, consisting of letters, for the greater part, of distinguished persons of every class and description. But these
form by far the smallest portion of his riches in MSS. He has
purchased several large collections, and obtained from friends
very copious and varied contributions.
Every one who sees
such a collection is desirous of contributing to it.
Some are
of great antiquity and curiosity.
I was not a little flattered
when Mr. Turner, having opened a closet, and pointed out to
me some remarkable volumes, gave me the key, with directions
not to leave the closet open. He had before shown me several

—

* See ante,

—

DAWSON TURNER.

1826.]

— YARMOUTH

CHURCH.

volumes of his private correspondence, with an intimation that
they were literary letters, which might be shown to all the.
I began to
world, and that I might read everything I saw.
look over the printed antiquarian works on Ireland, but finding so many MSS. at my command, I confined myself to them.
I read to-day a most melancholy volume of letters by Cowper,
the poet, giving a particular account of his sufferings, his
the assurance that he
dreams, &c, all turning on one idea,
In one he relates that he thought he was
wr ould be damned.
being dragged to hell, and that he was desirous of taking a
memorial to comfort him. He seized the knocker of the door,
but recollecting that it would melt in the flames, and so add to
His correspondent was in
his torments, he threw it down
the habit of communicating to him the answers from God which
he received to his prayers for Cowper, which answers were all
promises of mercy.
These Cowper* did not disbelieve, and yet
they did not comfort him.
October 28th,
I must not forget that the elder Miss Turner,
a very interesting girl, perhaps twenty-five, is a German student.
By no means the least pleasant part of my time was that which
I spent every day in hearing her read, and in reading to her
passages from Goethe and Schiller.
The only letters I had time to look over among the Macro
papers, purchased by Mr. Turner, including those of Sir Henry
Spelman, were a collection of letters to Dr. Steward, the former
preacher at the Church Gate Street Meeting, Bury. These were
all from Dissenting ministers, about whom I was able to communicate some information to Mr. Turner. Dr. Steward lived
once in Dublin, and the letters give an interesting account of
the state of religious parties in Ireland, circa 1750 - 60.
The
Lord-Lieutenant then favored the New Light party, i.e. the
Arians.
These few letters engrossed my attention. I could
not calculate the time requisite for reading the whole collec-

—

tion.

—

October 29th.
(Sunday.) I accompanied the family to the
large, rambling, one-sided church, which is still interesting. Un-

pleasant thoughts suggested by a verse from Proverbs, read by
" He that is surety for a stranger shall smart
the preacher,

—

but he that hateth suretyship is safe." It is remarkable that no enemy to revealed religion has attacked it by
means of a novel or poem, in which mean and detestable characters are made to justify themselves by precepts found in the
Bible.
A work of that kind would be insidious, and not the

for it

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

because a superficial objection.
But some share
the reproach should fall on the theologians who neglect to
discriminate between the spiritual or inspired, and the unspiritual or uninspired parts of the sacred writings.
The
worldly wisdom of the above text is not to be disputed, and if
found in the works of a Franklin, unobjectionable,
for he was
the philosopher of prudence ; but it is to be regretted that such
a lesson should be taught us as " the Word of God."
I could
not help whispering to Dawson Turner, " Is this the Word of
God 1 " He replied " All bankers think so."
October 30th.
A pleasant forenoon like the rest. After an
early dinner, left my hospitable host and hostess.
This house
No visit would be unis the most agreeable I ever visited.
pleasantly long there.
November 29th.
An hour at the
At home over books*
Temple Library helping Gordon in lettering some German
books. At four I went to James Stephen, and drove down
A dinner-party. I had a
with him to his house at Hendon.
most interesting companion in young Macaulay, one of the
most promising of the rising generation I have seen for a long
He is the author of several much admired articles in
time.
the Edinburgh Review.
A review of Milton's lately discovered
work on Christian Doctrine, and of his political and poetical
I prefer the political to the critical recharacter, is by him.
marks.
In a paper of his on the new London University, his
low estimate of the advantages of our University education,
less effective

.of

—

is remarkable in one who is himHe has a good
University training.
face?
n ot the delicate features of a man of genius and
sensibility, but the strong lines and well-knit limbs of a man
sturdy in body and mind. Very eloquent and cheerful. OverLiberal in
flowing with words, and not poor in thought.
He seems a correct as well as a
opinion, but no radical.
full man.
He showed a minute knowledge of subjects not
i.

at Oxford

self so

and Cambridge,

much indebted

—

introduced by himself.

— Dined

He had a cold and
Therefore our party broke up
At his age every attack of disease is alarming. Among
early.
those present were the Miss Tulks, sisters of the late M. P. for
He is an old
Sudbury, and Mr. Soane, architect and R. A.
man, and is suffering under a loss of sight, though he is not
He talked about the New Law Courts,* and with
yet blind.
December

was not

4th.

at all

fit

for

* The Courts

at Flaxman's.

company.

at Westminster, then just built

by Mr. Soane.

DEATH OF FLAXMAN.

1826.]

—

HIS FUNERAL.

He repudiates them as his work, being
We had a discussion on the merits
constrained by orders.
of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, he contending that,
even in its present situation, it heightens instead of diminishing the effect of the Abbey.
I was alarmed yesterday by the account I
December 7 th.
This morning I sent to
received when I called at Flaxman's.
inquire, and my messenger brought the melancholy intelligence
The. country has
that Flaxman died early in the morning
As an artist, he has
lost one of its greatest and best men.
done more than any other man of the age to spread her fame ;
as a man, he exhibited a rare specimen of moral and Chriswarmth abused them.

—

tian excellence.

He was not at
I walked out, and called at Mr. Soane's.
home. I then went to Blake's. He received the intelligence
much as I expected. He had himself been very ill during the
" I
summer, and his first observation was, with a smile
" I cannot
thought I should have gone first." He then said
consider death as anything but a going from one room to
another."
By degrees he fell into his wild rambling way of
" Men are born with a devil and an angel," but this he
talk.
himself interpreted body and soul. Of the Old Testament he
seemed to think not favorably. Christ, said he, took much
after his mother, the Law.
On my asking for an explanation,
he referred to the turning the money-changers out of the
temple.
He then declared against those who sit in judgment
" I have never known a very bad man who had
on others.
not something very good about him." He spoke of the Atonement, and said " It is a horrible doctrine
If another man
pay your debt, I do not forgive it." ...
He produced
" Sintram," by FouquS, and said
" This is better than my
:

things."

—

December 15th.
The funeral of Flaxman. I rode to the
house with Thompson, R. A., from Somerset House. Thompson
spoke of Flaxman with great warmth. He said so great a man
in the arts had not lived for centuries, and probably for centuries there would not be such another.
He is so much above
the age and his country, that his merits have never been
appreciated.

ment

He made

a design (said Thompson) for a

—

monu-

Westminster Abbey,
one of the grandest
designs ever composed, far beyond anything imagined by
Canova.
But this work, through intrigue, was taken from
him, and the monument to Nelson given him instead,
for Pitt, in

—

—
REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

work not to his taste, and in which he took no pleasure. Yet
his genius was so universal that there is no passion which he
has not perfectly expressed. Thompson allowed that Flaxman's
execution was not equal to his invention, more from want of
Perhaps there was a want of power
in his wrist.*
On arriving at Flaxman's house, in Buckingham
Street, we found Sir Thomas Lawrence and five others, who,
with Mr. Thompson and Flaxman himself, constituted the
The five were Phillips, Howard, Shee,
council of the year.
Jones, and one whose name I do not recollect.
Two Mr.
Denmans f and two Mr. Mathers were present, and Mr. Tulk
and Mr. Hart. I sat in the same carriage with Sir Thomas
Lawrence, Mr. Hart, and Mr. Tulk and Sir Thomas spoke with
great affection and admiration of Flaxman, as of a man who
had not left, and had not had, his equal. The interment took
place in the burial-ground of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, near the
Speaking of Michael Angelo, Sir
old St. Pancras Church.
Thomas represented him as far greater than Raphael.
Rem. %
Let me add now, though I will not enlarge on
what is not yet completed, that I have for several years past
been employed in fixing within the walls of University College
all the casts of Flaxman,
the single act of my life which, to
all appearance, will leave sensible and recognizable consequences
inclination than of power.

;

—

after

death.

— Dined

December 17th.

at Bakewell's, at

Hampstead.

Mr.
there, a Genevese curate, expelled from bis curacy
by the Bishop of Friburg. No trial or any proceeding whatever.
being ultra in
This is arbitrary enough.
Yet
his opinions, one cannot deem the act of despotism very
flagrant.
The oppression of mere removal from clerical functions, when the person is not a believer, does not excite much
resentment.
-r- predicts with confidence a bloody war,
ending in the triumph of liberal principles.
Rem.%
After twenty-five years I may quote a couplet from
Dryden's " Virgil "

—

December 18th.

met

—

The gods gave ear, and granted half his prayer,
The Vest the winds dispersed in empty air."

— Called upon

at Flaxman's.

His house

Soane, the architect, whom I
a little museum, almost un-

* Very lately Charles Stokes, the executor of Chantrey, told me that
Chan trey expressed the same opinion.
H. C. R., 1851.
t Mrs'. Flaxman was a Miss Denman.
J Written in 1851.
Now the Soane Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
§ Written in 1851.

—

ROLFE.

1826.]

—

pleasantly full of curiosities.

DR. DIBDIN.

Every passage as

full as it

could

be stuck with antiques or casts of sculpture, with paintings,
the
including several of the most famous Hogarths,
Elec-

—

The windows

' *

some antiques.
There are designs, plans, and models of famous architectural
works.
A model of Herculaneum, since the excavations, is
anions: the most remarkable.
A consciousness of mv having
no safe judgment in such matters lessens the pleasure they
would give me. He complained of the taking down of the
tion," &c.

are of painted glass,

double balustrade of the Treasury.
I own I thought it very
" According to the original plan of the courts, all the
conveniences required by the profession would," he says, " have
been afforded."
A morning of calls, and those agreeable.
December 20th.
First with Rolfe, who unites more business talents wT ith literary tastes than any other of my acquaintance.
Later, a long
chat with Storks, and a walk with him.
He now encourages
my inclination to leave the bar. His own feelings are less favorable to the profession, and he sees that there may be active
employment without the earning of money, or thoughts of it.
December 21st.
A call from Benecke. We began an interesting conversation on religion, and have appointed a time
I am deeply prefor a long and serious talk on the subject.
He is an
possessed in favor of everything that Benecke says.
Dined with
original thinker, pious, and with no prejudices.
Mr. Payne, and spent an agreeable afternoon. Dr. Dibdin and
Mr. D'Arblay (son of the famous authoress of " Cecilia") were
there.
Dibdin exceedingly gay, too boyish in his laugh for a
D.D., but I should judge kind-hearted.
December 22d.
An interesting morning. By invitation from
Dr. Dibdin,* I went to Lord Spencer's, where were several
other persons, and Dibdin exhibited to us his lordship's most
curious books.
I felt myself by no means qualified to appreciate the worth of such a collection.
A very rich man cannot
be reproached for spending thousands in bringing together the
earliest printed copies of the Bible, of Homer, Virgil, Livy,
Some of the copies are a most beautiful monument
of the art of printing, as well as of paper-making.
It is remarkable that the art arose at once to near perfection. At
Dresden, w e see the same immediate excellence in pottery.
My attention was drawn to the famous Boccaccio, sold at the
grand.

—

* Dr. Dibdin was employed
rare books in his libraries.

by Lord Spencer

to write

an account of the

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

sale (in my presence) to the Duke of Marlborough,
£2,665, and, on the sale of the Duke's effects, purchased
by Lord Spencer for (if I am not mistaken) £ 915.
December 24-th.
After breakfast I walked down to Mr.
Benecke's, with whom I had a very long and interesting religious conversation.
He is a remarkable man, very religious,
w ith a strong tendency to what is called enthusiasm, and per-

Koxburgh

for

—

fectly liberal in his feeling.

The

peculiar doctrine of Christian-

he says, is the fall of man, of which Paganism has no
trace.
The nature of that fall is beautifully indicated in the
allegory at the beginning of the book of Genesis. The garden
of Eden represents that prior and happier state in which all
men were, and in which they sinned. Men come into this
world with the character impressed on them in their prior
There is,
state, and all their acts arise out of that character.
ity,

therefore, in the doctrine of necessity, so

—

much

truth as this,

actions are the inevitable effect of external operations
on the mind in a given state, that state having sprung necesChristiansarily out of the character brought into this world.
all

man is to be redeemed from this fallen condiEvil cannot be ascribed to God, who is the author of
good.
It could only spring out of the abuse of free-will in
that prior state, which does not continue to exist.
To this I objected that the difficulties of the necessarian
doctrine are only pushed back, not removed, by this view. In
the prior state, there is this inextricable dilemma.
If the
free-will were in quality and in quantity the same in all, then
it remains to be explained how the same cause produces different
effects.
But if the quality or the quantity of the power called
free-will be unequal, then the diversity in the act or effect may
be ascribed to the primitive diversity in the attribute. In that
case, however, the individual is not responsible, for he did not
create himself, or give himself that power or attribute of freeity

shows how

tion.

will.

—

Bern*
To this I would add, after twenty-five years, that
the essential character of free-will places it beyond the power
of being explained.
We have no right to require that we
should understand or explain any primitive or originating powcall it God or free-will.
er,
It is enough that we must believe it, whether we will or no \ and we must disclaim all power
of explanation.
a
During this year I was made executor to a Mrs. Vardill,

—

* Written

in 1851.

DEATH OF ANTHONY ROBINSON.

1827.]

character.

She was the widow of a clergyman, an American

The will had this
Loyalist, a friend of old General Franklin.
singular devise in it, that Mrs. Vardill left the residue of her
and personal, to accumulate till her daughter, Mrs.
I mention this will, howNiven, was fifty-two years of age.
ever, to refer to one of the most remarkable and interesting
law cases which our courts of law have witnessed since the
union of England and Scotland. The litigation arose not out
of the will, but out of a pending suit, to take from her propThe question was, whether a child
erty in her possession.
legitimated in Scotland by the marriage (after his birth) of
The
his father and mother can inherit lands in England ]
case (Birtwhistle v. Vardill) was tried at York, and afterwards argued on two occasions before the Lords. Scotch lawyers held that such a child was in every respect entitled to
But, happily for my
inherit his father's estate in England.
friend, the English lawyers were almost unanimously of the
estate, real

opposite opinion.
Concluded the year at Ayrton's.
made an awkward attempt at games, in which the English do not succeed,
acting
words as rhymes to a given word, and finding out likenesses

—

from which an undeclared word was to be guessed. We stayed
till after 'twelve, when Mrs. Ayrton made us all walk up stairs
through her bedroom for good luck. On coming home, I was
alarmed by a note from Cuthbert Relph, saying " Our excellent friend Anthony Robinson is lying alarmingly ill at his
house in Hatton Garden."
:

CHAPTER

IV.

1827.

The
year
REM* —which
was

old
closed with a melancholy announcement,
verified in the course of the first month.
On the 20th of January died my excellent friend, Anthony
Robinson, one of those who have had the greatest influence on
my character. During his last illness I was attending the Quarter Sessions, but left Bury before they closed, as I was informed
that my dying friend declared he should not die happy with* Written
VOL.

II.

in 1851.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

I spent nearly all the day preceding his death
out seeing me.
Hatton Garden. He was in the full possession of his faculties, and able to make some judicious alterations in his will.
On the 20th he was altogether exhausted,
able to say to
me, " God bless you " but no more. I contributed an article,
containing a sketch of my friend's character, to the Monthly
Repository*
The day of the burial of my old dear friend
January 27th.
Anthony Robinson, which took place in a vault of the Worship
Street General Baptist Meeting Yard.
Gotzenberger, the young painter from
February 2d.
Germany, called, and I accompanied him to Blake.f We
looked over Blake's Dante.
Gotzenberger was highly gratified
by the designs. I was interpreter between them. Blake
seemed gratified by the visit, but said nothing remarkable.
It was on this occasion that I saw Blake for the
Rem. %
He died on the 12th of August. His genius as an
last time.
artist was praised by Flaxman and Fuseli, and his poems excited great interest in Wordsworth.
His theosophic dreams
bore a close resemblance to those of Swedenborg.
I have
already referred to an article written by me, on Blake, for the

—

Hamburg " Patriotic Annals.'' § My
man was first excited in 1806.

interest in this, remarka-

Dr. Malkin, our Bury
grammar-school head-master, published in that year a memoir
An engraving of a porof a verv precocious child, who died.
Dr. Malkin gave an
trait of him, by Blake, was prefixed.
account of Blake, as a painter and poet, and of his visions, and
added some specimens of his poems, including the " Tiger."
I will now gather together a few stray recollections. When, in
1810, I gave Lamb a copy of the Catalogue of the paintings
exhibited in Camaby Street, he was delighted, especially with
the description of a painting afterwards engraved, and connected with which there was a circumstance which, unexplained, might reflect discredit on a most excellent and amiable man.
It was after the friends of Blake had circulated a
subscription paper for an engraving of his "Canterbury Pilgrims," that Stothard was made a party to an engraving of a
ble

painting of the same subject, by himself.

But Flaxman con-

* Vol. I. New Series, p. 288. See Vol. I. of the present work, p. 358.
t Gotzenberger was one of the pupils of Cornelius, who assisted him in
painting the frescos, emblematical of Theology, Philosophy, Jurisprudence,
and Medicine, in the Aula of the University of Bonn.
t Written in 1852.
§ Vol. I. p. 299.
For an account of this matter, see Gilchrist's 11 Life of Blake," Vol. I. pp.
203-209.
||

BLAKE'S REMARKS ON HIMSELF.

1827.]

Stothard's work is well
sidered this as not done wilfully.
Blake's is known by very few.
Lamb preferred the
;
latter greatly, and declared that Blake's description was the
In the
finest criticism he had ever read of Chaucer's poem.
Catalogue, Blake writes of himself with the utmost freedom.

known

—

He says " This artist defies all competition in coloring,"
that none can beat him, for none can beat the Holy Ghost,
that he, and Michael Angelo and Raphael, were under Divine
influence, while Correggio and Titian worshipped a lascivious
and therefore cruel Deity, and Rubens a proud Devil, &c.
Speaking of color, he declared the men of Titian to be of leather, and his women of chalk, and ascribed his own perfection in
coloring to the advantage he enjoyed in seeing daily the primitive men walking in their native nakedness in the mountains
There were about thirty oil paintings, the coloring
of Wales.
The hue of
excessively dark and high, and the veins black.
the primitive men was very like that of the Red Indians.
Many of his designs were unconscious imitations. He illustrated Blair's " Grave," the " Book of Job," and four books of
Young's "Night Thoughts." The last I once showed to William
Hazlitt.
In the designs he saw no merit 5 but when I read
him some of Blake's poems he was much struck, and expressed
" They are
himself with his usual strength and singularity.
beautiful," he said, " and only too deep for the vulgar.
As to
God, a worm is as worthy as any other object, all alike being
to him indifferent, so to Blake the chimney-sweeper, He
is ruined by vain struggles to get rid of what presses on his
" He is like a
brain ; he attempts impossibilities."
I added
man who lifts a burden too heavy for him \ he bears it an instant, it then falls and crushes him."
I lent Blake the 8vo edition, two volumes, of Wordsworth's poems, which he had in his possession at the time

—

of his death.
They were sent me then. I did not at first
recognize the pencil notes as his, and was on the point of
rubbing them out when I made the discovery.
In the fly-leaf,
volume one, under the words Poems referring to the Period of
" I see in Wordsworth
Childhood, the following is written
:

man rising up

against the spiritual man continually ;
and then he is no poet, but a heathen philosopher, at enmity
with all true poetry or inspiration." On the lines,

the natural

—

And I

could wish

Bound each

he wrote

There

my days

each by natural piety,"

no such thing as natural piety, because

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

the natural man is at enmity with God."
On the verses, " To
" This is all in
CL, Six Years Old " (p. 43), the comment is
the highest degree imaginative, and equal to any poet,
but
not superior.
I cannot think that real poets have any competition.
None are greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It is so
in poetry."
At the bottom of page 44, " On the Influence of
Natural Objects," is written " Natural objects always did and
now do weaken, deaden, and obliterate imagination in me.
Wordsworth must know that what he writes valuable is not
to be found in nature.
Read Michael Angelo's Sonnet, Vol.
II. p. 179."
That is, the one beginning,

—

mortal object did these eyes behold,
When first they met the lucid, light of thine."

It is remarkable that Blake, whose judgments were in most
points so very singular, should nevertheless, on one subject
closely connected with Wordsworth's poetical reputation, have
taken a very commonplace view.
Over the heading of the
" Essay Supplementary to the Preface," at the end of the
volume, he wrote " I do not know who wrote these Prefaces.
They are very mischievous, and directly contrary to Wordsworth's own practice " (p. 341).
This Preface is not the defence of his own style, in opposition to what is called poetic
diction, but a sort of historic vindication of the unpopular
:

poets.

On Macpherson

(p.

364) W^ordsworth wrote with the

severity with winch all great writers have written of him.
" I believe both Macpherson and ChatBlake's comment wr as
And at the end
terton, that what they say is ancient is so."
:

"It appears to me as if the last paraof the essay he wrote
Is it the right of the whole,' (fee. was
graph, beginning,
written by another hand and mind from the rest of these
They give the opinions of a [word effaced] landPrefaces.
Imagination is the divine vision, not of the
scape-painter.
world, nor of man, nor from man as he is a natural man, but
Imagination has nothing to do
only as he is a spiritual man.
:

with memory."
A few months after Blake's death, Barron Field and I called
on Mrs. Blake. The poor old lady w^as more affected than I
expected she would be at the sight of me. She spoke of her
husband as dying like an angel. She informed us that she
was going to live with Linnell as his housekeeper. She herShe seemed to be the very
self died within a few years.
woman to make her husband happy. She had been formed
by him. Indeed, otherwise, she could not have lived with

CANNING.

1827.]

— THOMAS

BELSHAM.

Notwithstanding her dress, which was poor and dingy,
him.
she had a good expression on her countenance, and with a
She had the wife's
dark eye, the remains of youthful beauty.
an implicit reverence for her husband. It
virtue of virtues,
On one
is quite certain that she believed in all his visions.
" You know, dear,
occasion, speaking of his visions, she said
the first time you saw God was when you were four years old,
and he put his head to the window, and set you a-screaming."
In a word she was formed on the Miltonic model, and, like the
first wife, Eve, worshipped God in her husband.*

—

for

—

God

only, she for

God

him."

Went to J affray's, with whom I dined
February 2Jjth.
and spent an agreeable evening. I read to them Dryden's
translation of Lucretius on the fear of death, which gave them
It was quite a gratification to have excited so
great pleasure.
much pleasure. Indeed, this is one of the masterpieces of English translation, and, next to Christian hopes, the most delightful and consolatory contemplation of the unknown world, f
August 8th.
News arrived of the death of Canning, an
event that renders quite uncertain the policy and government
of the country, and may involve it in ruinous calamities. How
insignificant such an occurrence renders the petty triumphs and

—

mortifications of our miserable circuit

—

Eaymond took me to call
(At Brighton.)
September 8th.
on the venerable, infirm, Unitarian minister, Thomas Belsham.
He received me with great cordiality, as if I had been an old
friend.
We talked of old times, and the old gentleman w as
delighted to speak of his juvenile years, when he was the
He spoke
fellow-student of my uncle Crabb and Mr. Fenner.
Belsham retains, as
also of Anthony Robinson with respect.
usual, a strong recollection of the affairs of his youth, but he
T

now

fast declining.

was gratifying to observe so much
months of his existence. I

cheerfulness in these, perhaps, last
am very glad I called on him. J
C.

Dear

—

Lamb to H.

C. R.

Chase Side, October

1827.

hope, at Enfield.
I have
taken the prettiest, compactest house I ever saw, near to AnR.,

settled for

life, I

* For a, full account of Blake's works, as well as his life, see Gilchrist's
"Life of William Blake," 2 vols. Macmillan & Co., 1863.
f This translation was a great favorite with H. C. K., who read it aloud to

many
$

of his friends.

Key. T. Belsham died in 1829.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

thony Robinson's, but, alas at the expense of poor Mary, who
was taken ill of her old complaint the night before we got into
So I must suspend the pleasure I expected in the surprise
it.
you would have had in coming down and finding us house!

holders.

Pray apprise
Farewell till we can all meet comfortable.
Martin Burney. Him I longed to have seen with you, but our
house is too small to meet either of you without her knowledge.
!

God

bless

you

—

Lamb.

Dined with Mr. Naylor. A very agreeable
Mr. Hamilton, a Scotch bookseller, from Paternoster
Row, there ; he had all the characteristic good qualities of his
country,
good sense, integrity, and cheerfulness, with manners mild and conciliating.
He enjoyed a bon-mot, and laughed
heartily
therefore, according to Lamb, a lusus naturae.
He
was the publisher of Irving's first work, and spoke of him with
moderation and respect. We told stories of repartees. By
the by, Mr. Brass, a clergyman of Trinity College, Cambridge,
says that he heard Dr. Parr say to Barker, who had teased him
on one occasion " Sir, you are a young man ; you have read
much, thought little, and know nothing at all."
December 26th.
Having heard from Charles Lamb that his
sister was again w ell, I lost no time in going to see them. And
accordingly, as soon as breakfast was over, I walked into the
City, took the stage to Edmonton, and walked thence to Enfield.
I found them in their new house,
a small but comfortable place, and Charles Lamb quite delighted with his retirement.
He fears not the solitude of the situation, though
he seems to be almost without an acquaintance, and dreads
rather than seeks visitors.
We called on Mrs. Robinson, who
lives opposite ; she was not at home, but came over in the
evening, and made a fourth in a rubber of whist.
I took a bed
at the near public-house.
December 27th.
I breakfasted with the Lambs, and they
then accompanied me on my way through the Green Lanes. I
had an agreeable walk home, reading on the way Roper's " Life
of Sir T. More."
Not by any means to be compared with
Cavendish's " Wolsey," but still interesting from its simplicity.
October 27th.

party.

—

)

—
T

—

RECOLLECTIONS OF MRS. SIDDONS.

1828.]

CHAPTER

1828.

EBRUARY 7th, Rem* — I

read one of the most worthBoaden's " Life
books of biography in existence,
Yet it gave me very great pleasure. Inof Mrs. Siddons."
deed, scarcely any of the finest passages in " Macbeth," or
" Henry VIII.," or " Hamlet," could delight me so much as
such a sentence as, " This evening Mrs. Siddons performed
Lady Macbeth, or Queen Katharine, or the Queen Mother," for
these names operated on me then as they do now, in recalling
the yet unfaded image of that most marvellous woman, to
think of whom is now a greater enjoyment than to see any
other actress.
This is the reason why so many bad books give
pleasure, and in biography more than in any other class.
March 2d.
Read the second act of " Prometheus," which
raised my opinion very much of Shelley as a poet, and improved it in all respects. No man, who was not a fanatic, had
ever more natural piety than he, and his supposed Atheism is
a mere metaphysical crotchet, in which he was kept by the
_£~^

less

—

and real malignity of dunces.
(Good Friday.) I hope not ill spent ; it was
April 4th.
As soon as breakfast was over, I set
certainly enjoyed by me.
out on a walk to Lamb's, whom I reached in three and a quarat one.
I was interested in the perusal of the
ter hours,
The first division is
Profession de Foi oVun Cure Savoyard.
His system of natural religion is delightful,
unexceptionable.
even fascinating ; his metaphysics quite reconcilable with the
scholastic philosophy of the Germans.
At Lamb's I found
Moxon and Miss Kelly, who is an unaffected, sensible, clearWe talked about the French
headed, warm-hearted woman.
Theatre, and dramatic matters in general.
Mary Lamb and
Charles were glad to have a dummy rubber, and also piquet
with me,
April 19th.
Went for a few minutes into the Court, but I
had nothing to do. Should have gone to Bury, but for the
spending a few hours with Mrs. Wordsworth. I had last night
the pleasure of reading the debate in the Lords on the repeal
affected scorn

—

* Written in 1852.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

of the Corporation and Test Acts.*
No one but Lord Eldon,
of any note, appeared as a non-content, and the Archbishop of

York, and the Bishops of Chester (Blomfield), Lincoln (Kay),
and Durham (Van Mildert), all spoke in favor of the measure,
as well as the prime minister, the Duke of Wellington.
At
the same time the French Ministry were introducing laws in
favor of the liberty of the press.
The censorship and the law
of tendency (by which not particular libels might be the object of
prosecution, but the tendency of a great number of articles,
within six months), and the restriction of the right to publish
journals, were all given up.
These are to me all matters of
heartfelt joy.

—

April 2'2d.
Was highly gratified by receiving from Goethe
a present of two pairs of medals, of himself and the Duke
and Duchess of Weimar. Within one of the cases is an autographic inscription " Herm Robinson zu freundlichem Gedenken von W. Goethe.
Mdrz, 1828." (To Mr. Robinson, for
friendly remembrance, from W. Goethe, &c.)
This I deem a
high honor.
:

H. C. R. to Goethe.
3 King's

Bench Walk, Temple,

31st January, 1829.

Mr. Des Voeux, to forward to you a late acknowledgment of the high honor you conI had, indeed, supplied myself with a
ferred on me last year.
cast, and with every engraving and medallion that I had heard
of ; still the case you have presented me with is a present very
The delay of the acacceptable as well as most nattering.
knowledgment you will impute to any cause rather than the
want of a due sense of the obligation.
Twenty-four years have elapsed since I exchanged the study
of German literature for the pursuits of an active life, and a
During all this
the law.
busy but uncongenial profession,
time your works have been the constant objects of my affectionate admiration, and the medium by which I have kept
-

I avail

myself of the polite

offer of

—

alive

early love of

German

poetry.

The slow progress

they have till lately been making among my countrymen has
been a source of unavailing regret. Taylor's " Iphigenia in
Tauris," as it was the first, so it remains the best, version of
any of your larger poems.
* These Acts required that all persons taking any office under government
should receive the Lord's Supper, according to the usage of the Church of England, within three months of their appointment.

LETTER TO GOETHE.

1828.]

Recently Bes Vceux and Carlyle have brought other of your
and with love and zeal and
greater works before our public,
industry combined, I trust they will yet succeed in effectually
redeeming rather our literature than your name from the disgrace of such publications as Holcroft's " Hermann and Dorothea," Lord Leveson Gower's " Faustus," and a catchpenny
book from the French, ludicrous in every page, not excepting
" The Life of Goethe."
the title,

—

perceive from your Kunst und Alterthum, that you are
not altogether regardless of the progress which your works are
making in foreign countries. Yet I do not find any notice of
the splendid fragments from " Faust" by Shelley, Lord Byron's friend, a man of unquestionable genius, the perverse misI

alike lamentonly living poet of acknowledged
also a good German scholar, attempted " Faust,"

whose powers and early death are

direction of

Coleridge,

able.

genius,

who

too, the

Such an abandonment, and
but shrunk from it in despair.
such a performance as we have had, force to one's recollection
the

—

line,

" For fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

As you seem not unacquainted even with our periodical works,
you perhaps know that the most noted of our Reviews has on
a sudden become a loud eulogist.
It was understood, last year, that Herr von Goethe, your
son, and his lady were on the point of visiting England. Could
you be induced to accompany them, you would find a knot,
small, but firm and steady, of friends and admirers, consisting
of countrymen of your own as well as of natives.
They would
be proud to conduct you to every object not undeserving your
notice.
We possess the works of our own Flaxman, and we
have rescued from destruction the Elgin Marbles, and here
they
I

are.

had intended

visiting

old friend Herr

von Knebel

last

year, but having planned a journey into Italy in the autumn
of the present, I have deferred
visit till the following

when

spring,

you

hope you

will

permit

in person to

thank

your flattering attention.
have the honor to be, sir,

for
I

With the deepest esteem,
H. C. Robinson.

May

3d.

Tooke's,

— A morning

whom

I desired to

calls,

buy

for

little business at W.
a share in the Londoa

and a

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

This I have done at the suggestion of several
my brother Thomas, as a sort of debt to the
I think the result of the
cause of civil and religious liberty.
establishment very doubtful indeed, and shall not consider my
share as of any pecuniary value, f
There were to be five men executed, and I was
May 13th.
desirous to witness for once the ceremony within the prison.
At half past seven I met the Under Sheriff, Foss, at the gate.
At eight we were joined by Sheriff Wilde, when some six or
eight of us walked in procession through long narrow passages
to a long, naked, and wretched apartment, to which were successively brought the five unhappy creatures who were to suffer.
The first, a youth, came in pale and trembling. He fainted
He whispered some inaudible
as his arms were pinioned.
words to a clergyman who came and sat by him on a bench,
His name
while the others were prepared for the sacrifice.
w as Browm. The second, a fine young man, exclaimed, on entering the room, that he was a murdered man, being picked
out while two others were suffered to escape. Both these were,
Two other men were ill-looking fellows.
I believe, burglars.
They were silent, and seemingly prepared. One man distinan elderly man, very fat, and
guished himself from the rest,
He said, in a tone
with the look of a substantial tradesman.
of indignation, to the fellow who pinioned him " I am not the
first whom you have murdered.
I am hanged because I had
[I could not but think that this is, in fact,
a bad character."
properly understood, the only legitimate excuse for hanging
any one ; because his character (not reputation) is such that
his life cannot but be a curse to himself and others.] A clergyman tried to persuade him to be quiet, and he said he was reUniversity.*

friends, including

—

signed.
He w as hanged as a receiver of stolen horses, and
had been a notorious dealer for many years. The procession
was then continued through other passages, to a small room
adjoining the drop, to which the culprits were successively
taken and tied up.
I could not see perfectly what took place,
but I observed that most of the men ran up the steps and
addressed the mob.
The second burglar cried out " Here 's
another murdered man, my lads " and there was a cry of
r

* Afterwards University College.
f I shall have much to say hereafter of what, for many years, has constituted a main business of my life. Never were £ 100 better spent,
I mean
considered as an item of personal expense; for the University College is far
from having yet answered the great purposes originally announced.
H. C.

—
—

R., 1852.

1828.]

IRVING ON THE TEST

AND CORPORATION

ACTS.

u Murder " from the crowd.
The horse-stealer also addressed
I was within sight of the drop, and observed it
the crowd.
fall, but the sheriffs instantly left the scaffold, and we returned
to the Lord Mayor's parlor, where the Under Sheriff, the Ordinary, two clergymen, and two attendants in military dress,

and I, breakfasted.
The breakfast was short and sad, and the conversation about
All agreed it was one of the
the scene we had just witnessed.
most disgusting of the executions they had seen, from the want
but sympathy
of feeling manifested by most of the sufferers
was checked by the appearance of four out of five of the men.
However, I shall not soon see such a sight again.*
May 18th.
Read lately Irving's letter to the King, exhorting him not to commit the horrible act of apostasy against Christ,
the passing the Act repealing the Test and Corporation Acts,
w hich will draw down certainly an express judgment from God.
He asserts that it is a form of infidelity to maintain that the
King reigns for the people, and not for Christ and that he is
;

—

;

accountable to the people, as he is accountable to Christ alone.
In the course of the pamphlet, however, he insinuates that the
King, who has all his authority from Christ, has no power to
act against the Church ; and as he never explains what is the
Church, it seems to me to be a certain inference from his principle, that the King ought to be resisted whenever he acts
the pastor of the
against the judgment of God's minister,
church of the Caledonian Chapel.
June 18th.
An interesting day. Breakfasted with Aders.
Wordsworth and Coleridge were there. Alfred Becher also.
Wordsworth was chiefly busied about making arrangements for
Coleridge was, as usual, very elohis journey into Holland.
quent in his dreamy monologues, but he spoke intelligibly
enough on some interesting subjects. It seems that he has of
He says that he silate been little acquainted with Irving.
lenced Irving by showing how completely he had mistaken the
sense of the Revelation and Prophecies, and then Irving kept
away for more than a year. Coleridge says "I consider Irving as a man of great power, and I have an affection for him.
He is an excellent man, but his brain has been turned by the
He
shoutings of the mob.
I think him mad, literally mad."
expressed strong indignation at Irving's intolerance.
June 18th.
A grand dinner was given in Freemasons'
Tavern to celebrate a really great event. The Duke of Sussex

—

* Nor have

— H.

C. K., 1852.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

—

was

in the chair,
not a bad chairman, though no orator.
Scarcely fewer than four hundred persons were present*
I went with my brother and the Pattissons, and did not
grudge my two guineas, though I was not edified by the oraLord John Russell, as well as Lord Holland,
tory of the day.
and other great men, spoke (I thought) moderately, while a
Brougham spoke with
speech from Aspland was admirable.
great mastery, both as to style and matter, and Denman with
We did not break up till past one. Aspland 's was the
effect.
great speech of the day, and was loudly praised.

Dr.

Wurm

to H. C. R.

Hamburg, June

19, 1828.

.... Did you ever meet with Hegel, or any of his works ?
He is now the great Leviathan among the philosophical writers
He enjoys the perfect confidence of the Prussian
of his day.
government, for he has contrived to give to a strange sort of
pantheism a curious twist, by which it is constantly turned into
a most edifying Apologie des Bestehenden (Apology for things as
Marheinecke is his theological amanuensis his
they are).
motto is at least as old as the Greek mysteries, and who knows
Lasst wis Filosofen den Begriff, gibt
but it may be older still ?
dem Volke das Bild ! (Leave us philosophers the true idea, give
to the multitude the symbol.)
;

—

Rem*

—

I saw " Medea " at the Italian Opera, and
and last time in my life had an enjoyment from an
Opera singer and actor which might fairly be compared to that
which Mrs. Siddons so often afforded me. Madame Pasta gave
an effect to the murder scene which I could not have thought
possible before I witnessed it as actual.
In spite of the want
of a tragic face or figure (for she was forced to strain her countenance into a frown, and make an effort to look great, and all
her passion was apparently conscious, and I had never before
witnessed the combined effect of acting with song), still the
effect was overpowering.
What would not Mrs. Siddons have
made of the character % So I asked then, and ask now. The

July

5th,

for the first

scene unites all the requisites to call forth the powers she so
eminently possessed ; but the Grecian fable has never flourished
on the English stage.
On Thursday, August 6th, I set out on a tour to the Pyre* Written in 1852.

OMNIBUSES.

1828.]

nees, having written to

— BISHOP

Shutt,

STANLEY.

who was about

make the

journey.

(A very few extracts are all that will be given from Mr.
Robinson's Reminiscences of this tour.)
Rem.*
On the 10th August, at Paris, my attention was
drawn to a novelty,
a number of long diligences inscribed,
" Entreprise generale pour des omnibus." And on my return,
in October, I made frequent use of them, paying five sous for
a course.
I remarked then, that so rapid is the spread of all
substantial comforts, that they would certainly be introduced
in London before Christmas, as in fact they were ; and at this
moment they constitute an important ingredient in London
comfort.
Indeed they are now introduced into all the great
cities of Europe and America.
On the 25th of August, after a walk of seven leagues from
Luchon to Arreau, we had an agreeable adventure, the memory

—

Shutt and I had reconciled ourselves to dinof which lasted.
ing in a neat kitchen with the people of the house, when a
lively -looking little man in black, a sort of Yorick in countenance, having first surveyed us, stepped up and very civilly
offered us the use of the parlor in which were himself and his
" We have finished our dinner," he said, " and shall
family.

The lady was a most agreeand the family altogether very amiable. We had
a very pleasant evening.
The gentleman was a good liberal
Whig, and we agreed so well that, on parting next day, he
gave us his card. " I am a Cheshire clergyman," he said, P and
I shall be glad to see you at my living, if you ever are in my
be happy to have your company."
able person,

neighborhood,"
When I next saw him he was become Bishop of Norwich.
He did not at once recognize me when I first saw him in company with the Arnolds, on my going to see the Doctors portrait, but Mrs. Stanley did, and young Stanley, f the biographer
of Dr. Arnold, and the Bishop afterward showed me courteous
hospitality at his palace at Norwich, when the Archaeological
Institute was held there.
This kindness to us strangers in
this little adventure in the Pyrenees was quite in harmony
with his character. The best of Christian bishops, he was the
least of a prelate imaginable ; hence he was treated with rudeness by the bigots when he took possession of his bishopric.
But he was universally beloved and lamented at his death.
On this journey I fell in also with two English exquisites,
* Written in 1852.

Dean of Westminster.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

who, after seeing this district, expressed their wonder that any
Englishman who knew Derbyshire could think the Pyrenees
worth seeing ; they did not. They were going to the Alps,
and asked me what I advised them to see. I told them, in a
tone of half-confidence, that, whatever people might say, there
was nothing worth their seeing and I was not at all scrupulous about their misunderstanding me.
At Rome, I saw some
sportsmen, who took over dogs to sport in the Campagna.
They were delighted with their sport, and had been a week
there without seeing St. Peter's, and probably would leave
Rome without going in.
December 13th.
Walked to Enfield from Mr. Relph's.*
I dined with Charles and Mary Lamb, and after dinner had a
long spell at dummy whist with them. When they went to
bed, I read a little drama by Lamb, " The Intruding Widow,"
which appeared in BlackwoodJs Magazine. It is a piece of
great feeling, but quite unsuitable for performance, there being
no action whatever in it.
A great change took place this year, through my quitting
the bar at the end of the summer circuit. My object in being
called to the bar was to acquire a gentlemanly independence,
such at least as would enable a bachelor, of no luxurious or expensive habits, to enjoy good society with leisure. And having
about £ 200 per annum, with the prospect of something more,
I was not afraid to make known to my friends that, while I
deemed it becoming in me to continue in the profession till I
was fifty years of age, and until I had a net income of £500
per annum, I had made up my mind not to continue longer,
unless there were other inducements than those of mere
money-making, t
;

—

* Mr. Cuthbert Relph, of Turner's Hill, Cheshunt.
f In looking back on his life, Mr. Robinson used to say, that two of the
wisest acts he had doae were going to the bar, and quitting the bar.

1829.]

ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.

— ROYAL

CHAPTER

SOCIETY.

VI.

1829.

New Year opened on me
THE
had
an
my

at Witham, where I enjoyed
not for many years felt, beI had already commenced my
studies of the Italian language, or rather renewed what I had
begun in Holstein twenty years before and I set about reading Goldoni, a dramatist admirably suited to that object, whose
popularity showed the fallen state of the drama in Italy, as
that of his superior in the same style, Kotzebue, had, lately
properly sentimenbeen doing in Germany. But the plays
fairly exhibited the national condition and
tal comedies
feeling in the last generation.
Before eight I went to the Antiquarian
February 12th.
Society, to consummate an act of folly by being admitted an
F. S. A.
As soon as the step was taken, every one, even the
members themselves, were ready to tell me how sunken the
Society is.
They do nothing at all, says every one. Certainly
this evening did not put me in good-humor with myself. There
were about forty persons present, Hudson Gurney, M. P., in
the chair. Amyot presented me to him, when he ought to have
ceremoniously put on his hat and taken me by the hand, and
gravely repeated a form of words set down for him.
Two very insignificant little papers were read, from neither
of which did I collect a thought.
One was a genealogical
memoir, the other an extract from a catalogue of furniture in
the palace of Henry VIII.
No attempt to draw any inference,
historical or otherwise, from any one article.
After one dull
half-hour was elapsed, another still duller succeeded, and then
Amyot took me as a guest to the Royal Society. Here, indeed,
the handsome hall, fine collection of portraits, the mace, and
the dignified deportment of the President, Davies Gilbert, were
enough to keep one in an agreeable state of excitement for
thirty minutes.
But as to the memoir, what it was about I
do not know. Some chemical substance was the subject of
admeasurement, and there was something about some millionth
parts of an inch.
After the meeting the members adjourned
to the library, where tea was served.
Chatted there with Tiark§

ease I
with
ing relieved from all anxieties.
visit

;

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

others.
One circumstance was pleasant enough. Amyot
introduced me to Davies Gilbert, the P. R. S., and he invited
me to his Saturday-evening parties.
JRem*
I have since made some agreeable acquaintance
from my connection with the Antiquarian Society, and its proceedings have not been without incidents of interest.
I was engaged to dine with Mr. Wansey
February 15th.
When I arrived there I was in the greatest
^t Walthamstow.
distress,- through having forgotten his name.
And it was not
till after half an hour's worry that I recollected he was a Unitarian, which would answer as well ; for I instantly proceeded
Having been shown into a .room, young Mr.
to Mr. Cogan's.
" Mr. Cogan, I have
Cogan came
Your commands, sir f "
taken the liberty to call on you in order to know where I am
He smiled. I went on " The truth is, I
to dine to-day."
have accepted an invitation to dine with a gentleman, a recent
acquaintance, w hose name I have forgotten ; but I am sure you
can tell me, for he is a Unitarian, and the Unitarians are very
few here." And before I had gone far in my description, he
said: 'This can be no other than Mr. Wansey.
And now,
" No, thank you, I am much
may I ask your name V
obliged to you for enabling me to get a dinner, but that is no
reason why I should enable you to make me table-talk for the
" There is no use in your atnext nine days." He laughed.
tempting to conceal your name. I know who you are, and, as
a proof, I can tell you that a namesake of yours has been
dining with us, an old fellow-circuiteer of yours.
We have
just finished dinner in the old Dissenting fashion.
My father
and mother will be very glad to see you." Accordingly I went
Mr. Cogan
in, and sat with the Cogans a couple of hours.
kept a school for many years, and was almost the only Dissenting schoolmaster whose competence as a Greek scholar was
acknowledged by Dr. Parr.f
February 17th.
Dined with the members of the Lhmsean
introduced by BenSociety at the Thatched House Tavern,
son.
An amusing dinner. In the chair an old gentleman from
the country,
Present, Barrow, of the AdmiMr. Lambert.
Stokes, and, cum
ralty
Law, Bishop of Bath and Wells
multis aliis, Sir George Staunton.
I had the good luck to be
placed next the latter, who amused me much.
He is the son

and

—

;

* Written

in 1852.

t The late Premier, the Right Honorable Benjamin Disraeli, received his
education at this school, where he remained till he was articled to a solicitor.

PAUL PRY.

1829.]

— HUDSON

GURNEY.

of the diplomatic traveller in China, known by his book, and
he himself afterwards filled the situation of his father.
He
has a jifne and a jerk in his bows and salutations which give
him a ludicrous air; but he is perfectly gentlemanly, and I
He is a great traveller, a
believe in every way respectable.
adjourned early to the
bachelor, and a man of letters.
Linnsean Society, where I found many acquaintances. I can't
They rivalled
say I was much edified by the articles read.
those of the Antiquarians and of the Royal Society in dullness*
But the people there, and the fine collection of birds
and insects, were at least amusing. Lord Stanley in the

chair.

Rem*

— At

dined with Gooden.
Tom
w as there, the man whom
everybody laughed at, and whom, on account of his goodnature, many tolerated, and some made use of as a circulating
medium. He was reported to be of great age ; and Theodore
Hook circulated the apology that his baptismal register could
not be found, because it was burnt in the Fire of London.
He dealt in literary haberdashery, and was once connected with
the Mirror, a magazine, the motto of which was, " A snapper
up of unconsidered trifles. " He was also a great fetcher and
His habit
carrier of gossiping paragraphs for the papers.
of questioning was quite ludicrous j and because it w^as so
ridiculous, it was less offensive, when he was universally

February

Hill,

the

21st,

real,

six

original Paul Pry,

known.
Went with Amyot to dine with
February 28th, Rem.^
Hudson Gurney. A small party. Mr. Madden, of the British
Museum, Dr. Philpotts, and one lady from Norwich. A pleasant afternoon.
The defeat of Peel at Oxford was, perhaps,
felt by no one but Dr. Philpotts, and he was in good spirits,
and was very good company. He said his son was against him
at Oxford, and he was not sorry for it, which I recollect being
not displeased w ith him for saying. By the by, the Doctor
has recently written in defence of his conduct on this occasion,
in answer to the Edinburgh Revietv.
Had the Doctor gone on
in the same direction as Lord Palmerston, his conduct would
have been but mildly censured. It is the repeated vacillation,
the changing backwards as well as forwards, which cannot be

—

forgiven.

March

mon

—

1st (Sunday).
Heard Irving preach a furious seragainst Catholic Emancipation.
He kept me attentive for

* Written in 1852.

f Written in 1852.

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

an houy and a half. He was very eloquent, and there was
enough of argument and plan in his discourse to render it
At the same time, the extravaattractive to a thinking man.
His argument was,
gant absurdities he uttered were palpable.
Christ ordained that the civil and ecclesiasin short, this
the King is
tical government should be in different hands
his vicegerent in all temporal concerns, and we owe him imthe Church is equally sovereign
plicit and absolute obedience
:

;

The Devil

raised up the Papacy,
which, grasping both powers, possesses neither ; for, whenever
power is given to a churchman, whenever he is raised to a
magistracy, there the mystery of iniquity is made manifest
In order
hence the diabolical character of the Papal power.
to show that this doctrine is that of the Church of England,
Irving referred to a clause in the 37th Article, but that Article
merely refuses to the King the power of preaching, and of
administering the Sacraments ; it gives him ecclesiastical authority in express terms ; and what has Irving to say of the
bench of bishops ] Irving prayed against the passing of the
threatened bill, but exhorted the people to submit to the government.
If persecution should follow (as is probable), they
In the midst of a furious tirade,
are to submit to martyrdom.
a voice cried from the door " That is not true " He finished
" It is well
his period, and then exclaimed, after a pause
when the Devil speaks from the mouth of one possessed. It
shows that the truth works." When I heard Irving, I thought
of the fanatics of Scotland in the seventeenth century.
His
powerful voice, equally musical and tender, his admirable
enunciation and glorious figure, are enough to excite his audience to rebellion, if his doctrine had permitted acts of vioin all spiritual matters.

lence.

Mrs. Clarkson to H.

C. R.

March

12, 1829.

may edify you if I relate a remarkable dream of
my husband's, He dreamt that he was dead and laid out, and
Perhaps

was looking at his toes to see if they had laid him straight,
when his attention was arrested by the appearance of an angel,
who told him that he was sent from God to tell him that some
resurrection-men were coming for him that he was tb lie quite
still till they came, then take the sword, which the angel laid
down by his side, and pursue them, and that he should be
;

protected.

The angel disappeared,

— the

men

came,

— my

A DREAM BY CLARKSON.

*829.]

— RHEUMATISM.

—

seized the men one
husband did as he was commanded,
after the other, and cut off their ears with the sword.
He
awoke, laughing, at seeing them run away with their hands
holding their heads where the ears had been cut off.
As you
may suppose, this dream occurred at Christmas time, when we
had been feasting, and the papers were filled with the Edinburgh
murders. If you had heard Mr. Clarkson tell the dream, you
would never have forgotten it. It was so exquisitely droll that,
for a day or two afterwards, one or other of us was perpetually
bursting out into laughter at the remembrance of it.

H. C. R. to Wordsworth.

— After

April 22, 1829.

walking to and from Deptford,
My
on the 5th of March, returning over Westminster Bridge, I
must e'en, in the joy of my pro-popery heart, step into the
avenues of the House of Commons, to hear the details of the
Bill that night brought forward by the Home Secretary.
I
loitered about three quarters of an hour at midnight, chatting
Went to bed at two, and
with the emancipationist members.
in the morning found my left knee as crooked as the politics
of the Ministry are, by the anti-Catholics, represented to be.
After using leeches, poultices, &c. for three weeks, I went
down to Brighton, and again, in a most unchristian spirit, put
myself under the hands of the Mahometan Mahomet,
was
stewed in his vapor-baths, and shampooed under his pagan
paws. But I found it easier to rub in than drive out a devil,
for I went with a rheumatic knee, and came away with one
knee, one shoulder, and two elbows, all rheumatic.
I am now
under a regular doctor's hands, but the malady seems obsti-

dear Friend,

—

and my present indisposition, slight as it is, serves to
disturb my visions of enjoyment.
It is sad to feel one's
" animal impulses all gone by," when one is conscious of pos-

nate,

sessing the higher sensations but feebly.
Hitherto, mere
locomotion has been to me, as it was to Johnson, almost enough
to gratify me. There was a time when mere novelty of external
scenery (without any society whatever) sufficed.
I am half
ashamed of becoming more nice both as to persQns and places.

the attack of rheumatism which called forth Lamb's
and " Confession." They have already been printed
in Talfourd's work.
For reprinting here, in situ, these most
characteristic productions, the Editor feels assured that no
[This

Hoax

apology

necessary.]

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

Dear Robinson,

Lamb to H.

[Chap.

C. R.
April, 1829.

— We

are afraid you will slip from us,
from England, without again seeing us. It would be charity
to come and see me.
I have these three days been laid up

with strong rheumatic pains in loins, back, shoulders. I shriek
sometimes from the violence of them. I get scarce any sleep,
and the consequence is, I am restless, and want to change sides
as I lie, and I cannot turn without resting on my hands, and so
turning all my body at once, like a log with a lever.
While this rainy weather lasts I have no hope of alleviation.
I have tried flannels and embrocation in vain.
Just at the
hip-joint the pangs sometimes are so excruciating that I cry
out.
It is as violent as the cramp, and far more continuous.
I am ashamed to whine about these complaints to you, who
can ill enter into them.
But, indeed, they are sharp. You go about in rain or fine,
at all hours, without discommodity.
I envy you your immunity at a time of life not much removed from my own.
But you owe your exemption to temperance, which it is too
late for me to pursue.
I, in my lifetime, have had my good
yours strong as brass.
things.
Hence my frame is brittle,
You can go out at night
I never knew any ailment you had.

—

Well, I don't want to
you are inclined to a game
at Doable Dummy, I would try and bolster up myself in a
chair for a rubber or so.
My days are tedious, but less so and
less painful than my nights.
May you never know the pain
Mary, who is most
and difficulty I have in writing so much
in all weathers,

moralize.

I only

sit

all

hours.

wish to say that

kind, joins in the wish.

Lamb.

Confession of Hoax.
I do confess to mischief. It was the subtlest diabolical piece
of malice heart of man has contrived.
I have no more rheumatism than that poker,
never was freer from all pains and
aches
every joint sound, to the tip of the ear from the
extremity of the lesser toe.
The report of thy torments was
blown circuitously here from Bury. I could not resist the jeer.
I conceived you writhing, when you should just receive my
Well, it is not in my
congratulations.
How mad you 'd be
method to inflict pangs. I leave that to Heaven. But in the
His disquietude
existing pangs of a friend I have a share.

—

;

PRETENDED PALINODE.

1829.]

crowns

exemption.

the room, shooting out
this

imagine you howling, and pace across

free arms, legs,

&c,

way and that way, with an assurance

of not kindling a
I deny that nature meant us to

spark of pain from them.
Those face-contortions, retortions,
sympathize with agonies.
Nature meant them
distortions, have the merriness of antics.
not so pleasant to the actor, indeed ; but Grimaldi
for farce,
cries when we laugh, and 'tis but one that suffers to make
thousands rejoice.
You say that shampooing is ineffectual. But per se it is
good, to show the introvolutions, extra volutions, of which the
to show what the creature is
animal frame is capable,

—

short of dissolution.
You are worst of nights, ain't you ?
'T will be as good as a sermon to

receptible

night,

of,

you to lie abed all this
and meditate the subject of the day. 'T is Good Friday
1

Nobody will be the more justified for your endurance. You
'T is a pure selfish pleasure.
won't save the soul of a mouse.
You never was rack'd, was you % I should like an authentic
map of those feelings.
You seem to have the flying gout. You can scarcely screw
a smile out of your face, can you 1 I sit at immunity, and
sneer ad libitum.
'T is now the time for you to make good resolutions. I may
go on breaking 'em, for anything the worse I find myself.
Your doctor seems to keep you on the long cure. Precipitate
healings are never good.
Don't come while you are so bad. I sha' n't be able to attend
to your throes and the dummy at once.
I should like to know how slowly the pain goes off.
But
don't write, unless the motion will be likely to make your sen'

sibility

more
Your

exquisite.

affectionate

and truly healthy

friend,

Mary thought a

letter

from

Lamb.

me might amuse you

your

torment.

—

April 2Jfih.
Breakfasted with Richard Sharpe by appointment.
He gave me verbal advice about my intended tour in
Italy, and which he is to reduce to writing.
A very gratifying

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

He is commonly called " Converhas lived in the best society, and belongs
In his room were five most interesting
to the last generation.
Johnson^ Burke, and Reynolds
portraits, all of men he knew, by Reynolds, Henderson by Gainsborough, and Mackintosh
by Opie. I will not pretend here to put down any part of his
conversation, except that he mentioned the Finstermunz Pass
as the very finest spot in the Tyrol, and that he recommends
my going to Lai bach. He spoke of a philosophical w^ork he
means to publish, but I do not think he will ever have any
higher fame than that of being " Conversation Sharpe." He
two hours' chat with him.
sation Sharpe."

—

certainly talks well.*

Wordsworth

—

to H. C. R.

Rydal Mount, Kendal,

April 26, 1829.

dear Friend,
Dora holds the pen for me. A month
ago the east wind gave me an inflammation in my left eyelid,
which led, as it always does, to great distress of the eye, so that
I have been unable either to read or write, which privations I
bear patiently and also a third, full as grievous,
a necessary
cessation from the amusement of composition, and almost of
thought.
Truly were we grieved to hear of your illness, first,
from Mr. Quillinan, and this morning from your own account,
w^hich makes the case much w^orse than we had apprehended.
.... I enter thoroughly into what you say of the manner in
w hich this malady has affected your locomotive habits and
propensities and I grieve still more when T bear in mind how
active you have ever been in going about to serve your friends
and to do good. Motion, so mischievous in most, was in you
a beneficent power indeed
My sister-in-law, Miss Joanna
Hutchinson, and her brother Henry, an ex-sailor, are about to
embark, at the Isle of Man, for Norway, to remain till July.
Were I not tied at home I should certainly accompany them.
As far as I can look back, I discern in my mind imaginative
traces of Norway
the people are said to be simple and worthy,
the Nature is magnificent.
I have heard Sir H. Davy affirm
that there is nothing equal to some of the ocean inlets of that
region
It would have been a great joy to us to have seen

—

;

—

;

* He was a partner of Samuel Boddington, and had acquired wealth in busiHe once obtained a seat in Parliament, made a single speech, and was
never heard of afterwards. Wordsworth held him to be better acquainted
witli Italy than any other man, and advised me to ask his advice concerning
my journey. H. C. K.

ness.

—

1829.]

LETTER FROM WORDSWORTH.

—

DR.

YOUNG.

You talk of the
you, though upon a melancholy occasion.
more than chance of your being absent upwards of two years.
Strength must be failing \
I am entered my sixtieth year.
and snappings off, as the danger my dear sister has just escaped lamentably proves, ought" not to be long out of sight.
Were she to depart, the phasis of my moon would be robbed
Durof light to a degree that I have not courage to think of.
ing her illness, we often thought of your high esteem of her
goodness, and of your kindness towards her upon all occasions.
Dora is my housekeeper,
Mrs. Wordsworth is still with her.
and did she not hold the pen, it would run wild in her praises.
Sara Coleridge, one of the loveliest and best of creatures, is with
me, so that I am an enviable person, notwithstanding our
I have nothing to say of books
domestic impoverishment.
(newspapers having employed all the voices I could command),
except that the first volume of Smith's " Nollekens and his
Times " has been read to me. There are some good anecdotes
in the book ; the one which made most impression on me was
that of Reynolds, who is reported to have taken from the print
of a halfpenny ballad in, the street an effect in one of his pictures which pleased him more than anything he had produced.
If you were here, I might be tempted to talk w ith you about
Yet why'? for
the Duke's settling of the Catholic question.
you are going to Rome, the very centre of light, and can have
no occasion for my farthing candle. Dora joins me in affectionate regards ; she is a stanch anti-papist, in a woman's way,
and perceives something of the retributive hand of justice in
your rheumatism \ but, nevertheless, like a true Christian, she
prays for your speedy convalescence
T

W m.
t

Wordsworth.

—

Dined at the Athenaeum. Hudson Gurney
April 29th.
His friend,
asked me to dine with him. He was low-spirited.
Gurney speaks of him as a very great
Dr. Young, is dying.
man, the most learned physician and greatest mathematician
of his age, and the first discoverer of the clew to the Egyptian
Calling on him a few days ago, Gurney found
hieroglyphics.
him busy about his Egyptian Dictionary, though very ill. He
is aware of his state, but that makes him most anxious to fin" I would not," he said to Gurney, " live a
ish his work.
single idle day."

—

May 8th. -Went by the early coach to Enfield, being on
the road from half past eight till half past ten o'clock.
Lamb

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

was from home a great part of the morning. I spent the
whole of the day with him and his sister, without going out of
the house, except for a mile before dinner with Miss Lamb. I
had plenty of books to lounge over. I read Brougham's Introduction to the Library of Useful Knowledge, remarkable
only as coming from the busiest man living, a lawyer in full
practice, a partisan in Parliament, an Edinburgh Revievjer, and
a participator in all public and party matters.
Nearly the whole day within doors. I merely
May 9th.
sunned myself at noon on the beautiful Enfield Green. When
I was not with the Lambs, I employed myself in looking over
Charles's books, of which no small number are curious.
He
throws away all modern books, but retains even the trash he
liked when a boy.
Looked over a " Life of Congreve," one of

—

infamous publications, containing nothing. Also the
edition of the " Eape of the Lock," with the machinery.*

Curll's
first

It>is curious to observe the improvements in the versification.
Colley Cibber's pamphlets against Pope only flippant and disgusting,
nothing worth notice. Eead the beginnings of two
Lamb and his sister were both in a fidget
wretched novels.
to-day about the departure of their old servant Becky, who had
been with them many years, but, being ill-tempered, had been a
plague and a tyrant to them. Yet Miss Lamb was frightened
However, their new maid, a
at the idea of a new servant.
cheerful, healthy girl, gave them spirits, and all the next day
Lamb was rejoicing in the change. Moxon came very late.
All the forenoon in the back room with the
May 10th.
Lambs, except that I went out to take a place in the evening
stage.
About noon Talfourd came he had walked. Moxon,
after a long walk, returned to dinner, and we had an agreeable
chat between dinner and tea.
May 11th, fiem.j
general meeting at the Athenaeum,
at which I rendered good service to the club.
The anecdote is
worth relating, mainly because it is characteristic of a man
who played an important part in public life. I speak of the
Eight Honorable Wilson Croker, for many years regarded as
really master, though nominally the Secretary, of the Admiralty, who was one of the most active of the founders of the
Athemeum Club. He was one of the Trustees of the House,
a permanent member of the Committee, and, according to

—

—A

* The poem was first published in two cantos; but the author, adopting the
it by the machinery of sylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and salamanders, then familiar topics, enlarged the two cantos to five.
t Written in 1852.
idea of enlivening

CROKER A CLUB DESPOT.

1829.]

the officious manager and despot, ruling the
I had been told in the morning that the
Committee had meant to have a neat portico of four columns,
but that Croker had arbitrarily
the one actually erected,
changed the plan, and the foundations were then digging for a
portico of two columns, not at all becoming so broad a space
At the meeting, after the report had
as the front comprises.
been read, Dr. Henderson made an attack on the Committee,
This suited
reproaching them for their lavish expenditure.
my purpose admirably, for on this I rose and said, that so far
were the Committee from meriting this reproach, that, on the
contrary, a mistaken desire to be economical had, I believed,
betrayed them into an act which I thought the body of the
proprietors would not approve, and on wT hich I would take
I then began to state the point about the portheir opinion.
tico, when Mr. Croker interrupted me, saying I was under a
that there never was any intention to have
great mistake,
any other portico than the one now preparing. This for a moment perplexed me, but I said "Of course the chairman
meant that no other portico had been resolved on, which might
Individual men might be deterred by his opposition,
well be.
but I knew," raising my voice, " that there were other designs,
for I had seen them."
Then Mr. Croker requested me, as an
act of politeness, to abstain from a motion which would be
an affront to the Committee. This roused me, and I said that
if any other gentleman would say he thought my motion
an affront, I would not make it \ but I meant otherwise. And
then I added expressions which forced him to say that I had
certainly expressed myself most handsomely, but it would be
much better to leave the matter in the hands of the Commit" That," I said, " is the question which you will, in fact,
tee.
by my motion, submit to the meeting." There was then a cry
of " Move, move," and a very large number of hands were
held up for the motion. So it passed by acclamation.
I was
thanked by the architect, and everybody was pleased with
what I had done.
May 12th.
On the Bury coach met young Incledon, the
son of the famous singer, with whom I had a long chat.
He
is about to go on the stage, at the age of thirty-eight, having
been unfortunate in farming, and having a family to maintain.
He has accepted a very advantageous offer from Drury Lane,
and will come on the stage under the patronage of Braham,

common

report,

club at his

will.

—

who means
VOL.

II.

abandon to him
5

his

younger characters.
Q

His

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

and amounts to diseased
partakes of a moral and religious character.
Rem*
He had always avowed this horror of a theatrical
life, though it used to be said by his Suffolk friends, that his
voice was equal to his father's.
I have no knowledge of his
subsequent history, nor do I recollect hearing of his carrying
out this intention.
dislike to the profession is extreme,

antipathy

;

—

May

15th.

— Drove

with

sister

and niece to

see

Lord

new house. A fine object, certainly, even in its progress.
The only work of art it yet contains is a noble performance by Flaxman, " Athamas and Ino." f It will be the
pride of the hall when set up.
It is more massive than FlaxBristol's

man's works generally are, and the female figure more embonpoint
The proportions of the head and neck of Ino are not,
I fear, to be justified.
There is vast expression of deep passion in all the figures.
The beautiful frieze of the " Iliad " is
placed too high to be easily seen, but that of the " Odyssey
below is most delightful. There are some compartments not
from the " Odyssey," nor, I believe, by Flaxman.

CHAPTER

VII.

GERMANY.

JUNE

— Rose

at five, though I had gone to bed at
kind friends, the Colliers, made coffee for me,
and at seven I left them and proceeded to Antwerp by steamboat.
I did not on this occasion leave England with the holtday feeling which I have had for many years on beginning my
summer excursions. Now I have given up my chambers, and
I set out on a journey with no very clear or distinct object. I
have a vague desire to see new countries and new people, and
I hope that, as I have hitherto enjoyed myself while travelling, I shall be still able to relish a rambling life, though my
rheumatic knee will not permit me to be so active as I have

Hth.

two*

hitherto been.
The rich variety of romantic scenery between Coblenz and
Bingen kept me in a state of excitement and pleasure, which
* Written
\ It

is still

in 1852.

there, but looks

very cold and uncomfortable, as does the house.

TOUR

1829.]

GERMANY.

Sentiment was mingled with the perpalled not a moment.
I recollected with interest my adventured
ceptions of beauty.
on the Rhine in 1801, my walk up the Lahn valley, my night
at St. Goar, &c, &c.
I had, besides, the pleasure of interesting conversation.

—

Hofrath
I wished to see an interesting man at Mainz,
Jung.* I found him a very old man, nearly blind, and with
declining faculties.
He is seventy-six. But to me he is a
most interesting man. His family, I have since heard, would
be a source of anxiety to him, did he not live in a voluntary

dream of sentimental piety. He himself introduced me to his
daughter, who has been many years bedridden, suffering from
nervous complaints.
I was permitted to sit with her a quartet
She also interested me deeply. With him I took
a walk for nearly two hours in the avenue beyond the gates.
He is one of the cheerful and hopeful contemplators of human
life.
He believes practically that everything is for the best,
and that
that the German governments are all improving,
truth is everywhere making progress.
This progress he likens
to the travelling in penance of certain pilgrims, who go two
steps forward and one back.
They get on.
June 23d.
Arrived at Frankfort, and remained there, at
the Weidenbusch, till the 9th of July. I had the satisfaction
of finding myself not forgotten by my old friends, though so
many years have elapsed since my last visit. Souchays, Myliuses, Schuncks, Brentanos, Charlotte Serviere,
the old familiar names, and the faces too,
but these all changed.
Von Leonhardi has become enfeebled. " Philosophy," he said,
" is gone by in Germany, and the love of civil and religious!
liberty is out of fashion.
The liberty of the press the Germans are not ripe for yet." My old acquaintance Christian
Brentano has become a pietist, and all but a fanatic.
De Lamennais is his hero now.
Among the curiosities of literature I fell in with was a
treatise on medicine by a Dr. Windischmann, Ueber etwaS
das der Heilkmisl Noth thut, i. e. u Of Something that the
Art of Healing needs." It treats, first, of the ordinary modes
of cure
secondly, of magnetic cures
and thirdly, of cure*
by means of faith and prayer. The author a Professor at the
Prussian University at Bonn,
and the English suppose the
of an hour.

—

;

—

Germans
July

are all infidels

9th.

—

proceeded to Heidelberg, where I spent twelve

See Vol.

I. .p.

107.

100

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

days very pleasantly. My enjoyment was enhanced by a very
agreeable incident. My arrival having been announced, a dinner
given at the Castle, by Benecke, to our common friends, was
postponed, that I might be a partaker.
Under a shed in a
garden at this delightful spot, a party of more than a dozen
assembled and the day was not one to be forgotten with ordinary festive meetings.
Here I found my friend Benecke in his proper place. Hemoved from the cares and anxieties of commerce, he can devote himself to philosophical speculation.
His religious doc^
trines, though they have not the assent of the great body of
Christian believers, are yet such as excite no jealousy on the
part of the orthodox, and at the same time occupy his whole
soul, have his entire confidence, and nourish his warm affections.
He is conscious of enjoying general esteem.
My time at Heidelberg, as. at Frankfort, was chiefly employed in visits to old friends, which afforded me great pleasure, though I cannot here enter into particulars.
Among the eminent persons whom I saw was Thibaut, head
of the Faculty of Law, my protector and friend at Jena in 180-4.
He seems dissatisfied with all religious parties, and it is hard
I thought of Pococurante
to know what he would like.
" Quel grand homme" says Candide, " rien ne ltd plait" Thibaut
;

a great musical amateur, and all his leisure is devoted to
the art. But of modern music he spoke contemptuously. Being a Liberal in politics, he is an admirer of the political institutions of our country but as to fine art, his opinion of our
people is such, that he affirmed .no Englishman ever produced
a musical sound worth hearing, or drew a line worth looking at.
Perhaps he was thinking of color, rather than outline or sculpture. I saw also, on two or three occasions, Hofrath Schlosser,
the historian,
a very able man, the maker of his own fortune.
He is a rough, vehement man, but I believe thoroughly upright
and conscientious. His works are said to be excellent.* He is
a man of whom I wish to see more.
Benecke took me to Mittermaier, the jurist. I feel humbled
in the presence of the very laborious professor, who, in addition
to mere professional business as judge, legislative commissioner,
and University professor, edits, and in a great measure writes,
a law journal. And as a diversion he has studied English law
more learnedly than most of our own lawyers, and qualified himself to write on the subject.
is

;

—

* His voluminous " History of the Eighteenth Century" was translated into
English by the Rev. D. Davison.

TOUR

1829.]

101

GERMANY.

There
Twice I had a tete-a-tete conversation with Paulus.
something interesting in this famous anti-supernaturalist. He

is in his

by a disinterested zeal against priests
and is both honest and benevolent. He

old age inspired

and privileged

orders,

declaims against our Catholic emancipation, because the governto avail themselves of the opportunity of taking
education out of the hands of the priests.
As to the state of
religion, he says that there is little right-down orthodoxy left in
Protestant Germany. He ivas a fine strong man, of great bodily
vigor.* Both he and Hofrath Schlosser thought constitutional
liberty not in danger from the French ultras.
Jidy 22d. Returned to Frankfort. A very fine morning.
Darmstadt looked invitingly handsome as' I rode through. At
Frankfort, I had the pleasure of seeing the famous Prussian
minister, Baron von Stein, who was outlawed by Buonaparte.
A fine old man, w ith a nose nearly as long as Zenobio's, which
gives his countenance an expression of comic sagacity.
He is
by no means in favor at the Court of Prussia.
I was glad of
an opportunity of telling him that I had written in his praise
in the Quarterly Review. "\
I called on Madame Niese, the Protestant sister of Madame
Schlosser.
Though herself somewhat a zealot in religion, the
conversion of Madame Schlosser to Roman Catholicism has
By the
caused no alienation of affection between the sisters.
by, Paulus told me that he had taken pains to dissuade some
Catholics from going over to the Protestant religion.
July 24th.
Left Frankfort, and after travelling two nights
Very soon proceeded to
reached Weimar on the 26th, early.
Jena in a hired chaise. A dull drive. It used to be a delightful walk twenty-eight years ago. But I remarked, with pleasure,
that the old steep and dangerous ascent, the Schnecke, is turned,
and the road is made safe and agreeable. Found my old friend
Von Knebel but little changed, though eleven years older than
when I last saw him. His boy, Bernard, is now a very interesting youth of sixteen. I have not often seen a boy who pleases

ment neglected

—

* The Homiletische Correspondenz. in an article on Paulus's il Life of Christ,*
gives an account of his interpretation of the miracles, which is certainly as low
as anything can be imagined. He does not scruple to represent the feeding of
the 5,000 as a picnic entertainment. He refers to essence of punch in connection with the turning of water into wine. Jesus Christ, is represented as a good
surgeon, who could cure diseases of the nerves by working on the imagination.
The Ascension was a walk up a mountain on which was a cloud. Such things
are common enough among avowed unbelievers, but that they should be thought
compatible with the ministerial office, and also a Professor's* Chair at a University, and by Protestant governments, is the wonder
H. C. E.
!

t See ante, p. 16.

—

102

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

much. Went early to bed, sleeping

[Chap.

delightful old

room, from which the views on three sides are charming.
July 29th.
Set out on an interesting excursion of three
Frau von Knebel and Bernard accompanied me in a
days.
drosky to Gumperda, near Kahla, in the Duchy of Altenburg.
There Charles von Knebel is feudal lord of a Rittergut in right
of his wife, a widow lady, whom he married a few years ago.
Gumperda lies about three and a quarter leagues from Jena, in
a valley beyond Cahla, and the ride is through a very fine country. I received a very cordial welcome from Charles von Knebel.
The mansion is solitary and spacious. We had tea in a hanging wood, half-way up the sides of the mountain. I afterwards
walked with my host to the summit, from which the view is extensive and interesting.
I retired early to bed, and read Doring's very unsatisfactory " Life of Herder."
C. von Knebel farms of the Duke of Weimar
July 30th.
the chase of a forest, i. e. he has a right to the deer, &c. In this
forest a hut has been erected for the use of the foresters, and
my friends planned that we should dine there to-day, in order
that I might see the neighborhood. After a pleasant drive, we
roamed about the forest, and I enjoyed the day. Forest scenery
wearies less than any.
Interested in attending the court, of which my
July Slst.

—

sensible young man sat as judge, and
the Lord.
The proceedings were both civil
there was a sort of homage.
and criminal, and so various as to show an extensive jurisdiction.
The most important cases were two in which old people
delivered up all their property to their children, on condition
of being maintained by them.
The judge explained to the
children their obligation, and all the parties put their hands
into his.
The following were some of the punishments One
man was sentenced to a day's imprisonment for stealing a very
little wood.
Others were fined for having false weights.
One
was imprisoned for resisting gens-d'armes.
Another for going
into a court-yard with a lighted pipe.
The only act which
offended my notion of justice was fining a man for killing his
own pig, and selling the pork in fraud of the butcher. The
proceedings were quite patriarchal in their form.
A few days
of such experience as mine to-day would give a better idea of a
country than many a long journey in mail-coaches. One of the
domestics of Charles von Knebel took an oath before the judge
This court seems a sort of court of
to be a faithful servant.
The barons in Saxony, I was assured, are
premiere instance.

friend

;

TOUR

1829.]

IN GERMANY.

103

of, than to maintain, their higher
from which there is an appeal to the Ducal

rather desirous to get rid
jurisdiction,

Court.

Frau von Knebel (Jun.) related some interesting particuShe was educated at Nancy, at an esher early life.
Among the pupils were
tablishment kept by Madame la H.
princesses, and most of the young ladies were of good family
but there were a few of low birth. Not the slightest distincThey w ere taught useful things,
tion, however, was made.
And certainly Frau von
such as cooking in all its branches.
Knebel, though her life has been spent chiefly in courts, is a
most excellent manager and housewife. She was maid of honor at the Baden Court, and there used to see the members of
She was terribly afraid of Napoleon. Of
Napoleon's Court.
Josephine, on whom she attended, she spoke w ith rapture, as
Josephine w as several
equally kind-hearted and dignified.
times in tears when Frau von Knebel entered the room.
On the 2d of August I w ent over to Weimar, and had an
Goethe is so great a man that I shall
interview with the poet.
lars of

not scruple to copy the minutest incidents

and add others which

I find in

jour-

But, fearing
repetition, I will postpone wdiat I have to say of him till I
finally leave Jena.
I continued to make it my head-quarters
till the 13th.
I saw, of course, most of my old acquaintance.
considerable portion of my time was spent in reading poetry
with Knebel, and, after all, I did not fully impress him wdth
Wordsworth's power. My journal gives the following account
Rose at six, and
of the day before that of my departure
the morning being fine, I took a delightful walk up the Hausberg, and, starting on the south side by wr ay of Ziegenhain,
ascended the famous Fuchsthurm, a lofty watch-tower of great
nal,

I distinctly recollect.

has also modern celebrity, for Buonaparte went
and it was called Napoleonsberg.
This occupied me nearly three hours.
I read an essay by
Schleiermacher on the establisnment of a University at Berlin.
After breakfast I had a long chat with Knebel. He informed me
of his father's life.
He was in the service of the last Margrave
of Anspach, and was almost the only nobleman whom the
Margrave associated with after he was entangled with Lady
Craven, whom Knebel himself recollected.
He did not give a
favorable account of her.
But the Margrave wr as a kindhearted man, and a good prince.
His people loved him. I
dined with Voigt, and returned early to Knebel, with whom I
antiquity.

for military purposes,

104

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

had

in the evening a long and interesting conversation.
It is
but too probable that I have now seen for the last time one
of the most amiable men I ever knew, and one most truly attached to me. He is eighty-five years of age.
I saw on several occasions Frau von Wolzogen.
She was in
the decline of life, and belonged to the complainers.
She appeared in the literary world as the author of a novel, entitled
" Agnes von Lilien," which was ascribed to Goethe
and she
is now remembered as the author of a " Life of Schiller,"
whose wife was her sister. She belonged to the aristocracy of
Jena, and her house was visited by the higher classes, though
\

she was not rich.
During my stay at Jena I had leisure for reading, early and
late.
Among the books I read with most interest was the
" Correspondence of Goethe and Schiller."
This collection is
chiefly interesting from the contrast between the two.
delightful effect is produced by the affectionate reverence of

Schiller towards
ler

Goethe

must be deemed

;

and

below Goethe as Schiland poetical power, yet as a
Goethe seems too great to be

infinitely

in intellect

man

he engrosses our affection.
an object of love, even to one so great as Schiller. Their poetical creed, if called in question, might be thought the same,
but their practice was directly opposed. Schiller was raised
by Goethe, and Goethe was sustained by Schiller without
Schiller, Goethe might have mournfully quoted Pope's coup:

let,—
"

Condemned

in business, as in

life,

to trudge,

Without a second, and without a judge."
Schiller

was

not, indeed, a perfect judge, for that implies a

— at least one who

can overlook but his was an inGoethe was able to read himself in Schiller, and
The book will be inunderstood himself from the reflection.
superior,

spiring mind.

valuable to future historians of German literature at this its
most glorious epoch.
August 2d.
A golden day Voigt and I left Jena before
Having left our
seven, and in three hours were at Weimar.
cards at Goethe's dwelling-house, we proceeded to the gardenhouse in the park, and were at once admitted to the great
man. I was aware, by the present of medals from him, that
I was not forgotten, and I had heard from Hall and others
that I was expected. Yet I was oppressed by the kindness
We found the old man in his cottage in the
of his reception.

—

park, to which he retires for solitude from his town-house

TOUR

1S29.]

GERMANY.

105

where are his son, his daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren.
He generally eats and drinks alone and when he invites a
;

This is a wise sparing of his
Twenty-seven years ago I thus described him
strength.
" In Goethe I beheld an elderly man of terrific dignity a
the eye, like Jove, to
penetrating and insupportable eye,
a somewhat aquiline nose, and most
threaten or command,'
expressive lips, which, when closed, seemed to be making an
effort to move, as if they could with difficulty keep their hidHis step was firm, enden treasures from bursting forth.
nobling an otherwise too corpulent body ; there was ease in
Now I
his gestures, and he had a free and enkindled air."
beheld the same eye, indeed, but the eyebrows were become
thin, the cheeks were furrowed, the lips no longer curled with
fearful compression, and the lofty, erect posture had sunk
Then he never honored me with a look
to a gentle stoop.
" Well,
after the first haughty bow, now he was all courtesy.
you are come at last," he said " we have waited years for
How is my old friend Knebel ] You have given him
you.
youth again, I have no doubt." In his room, in which there
was a French bed without curtains, hung two large engravings
one, the well-known panoramic view of Rome ; the other,
the old square engraving, an imaginary restoration of the anBoth of these I then possessed, but I
cient public buildings.
have now given them to University Hall, London. He spoke
of the old engraving as what delighted him, as showing wT hat
the scholars thought in the fifteenth century.
The opinion
of scholars is now changed.
In like manner he thought favorably of the panoramic view, though it is incorrect, including
objects which cannot be seen from the same spot.
I had a second chat with him late in the evening.
We
talked much of Lord Byron, and the subject was renewed
afterwards.
To refer to detached subjects of conversation, I
ascertained that he was unacquainted with Burns's " Vision."
This is most remarkable, on account of its close resemblance
to the Zueignung (dedication) to his own works, because the
whole logic of the two poems is the same. Each poet confesses his infirmities ; each is consoled by the Muse,
the
holly-leaf of the Scotch poet being the " veil of dew and sunbeams " of the German. I pointed out this resemblance to
Frau von Goethe, and she acknowledged it.
This evening I gave Goethe an account of De Lamennais,
and quoted from him a passage importing that all truth comes
stranger,

it is

to a

tete-a-tete.

—

;

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

106

[Chap.

made known to us by the Church. He held
a flower in his hand, and a beautiful butterfly
was in the room. He exclaimed " No doubt all truth comes
There 's the point.
from God ; but the Church
God speaks
and that 's a lanto us through this flower and that butterfly
guage these Spitzbuben don't understand." Something led him
I remarked: " The taste
to speak of Ossian with contempt.
It was
for Ossian is to be ascribed to you in a great measure.
Werter that set the fashion." He smiled, and said " That s
partly true ; but it w as never perceived by the critics that
Werter praised Homer while he retained his senses, and Ossian
when he was going mad. But reviewers do not notice such
things."
I reminded Goethe that Napoleon loved Ossian. " It
was the contrast with his own nature," Goethe replied. " He
Werther was among his
loved soft and melancholy music.
books at St. Helena."
We spoke of the emancipation of the Catholics. Goethe
" My daughter will be glad to talk about it ; I take no
said
interest in such matters."
On leaving him the first evening,
he kissed me three times. (I was always before disgusted
wT ith man's kisses.) Voigt never saw him do so much to any
from God, and

at the

moment

;

other.

pressed me to spend some days at Weimar on my reand, indeed, afterwards induced me to protract my stay.
I was there from the 13th of August till the 19th.
I cannot pretend to set down our conversations in the order
in which they occurred.
On my return from Jena, I was more
aw are than before that Goethe was grown old ; perhaps, because he did not exert himself so much.
His expression of
feeling was, however, constantly tender and kind.
He was
alive to his reputation in England, and apparently mortified at
the poor account I gave of Lord Leveson Gower's translation of
" Faust " though I did not choose to tell him that his noble
;
translator, as an apology, said he did it as an exercise while
learning the language.
On my mentioning that Lord Leveson
Gower had not ventured to translate the " Prologue in Heaven,"
he seemed surprised. " How so % that is quite unobjectionable.
The idea is in Job." He did not perceive that that was the
aggravation, not the excuse.
He was surprised when I told
him that the " Sorrows of Werther " was a mistranslation,
sorrow being Kummer,
Leiden is sufferings.
I spoke with especial admiration of his " Carnival at Rome."
" I shall be there next winter, and shall be glad if the thing

turn

;

—

;

TOUR

1829.]

GERMANY.

107

half the pleasure I had in reading the description."
Lieber, but it won't do that
To let you into
a secret, nothing can be more wearisome (ennuyant) than that
I wrote that account really to relieve myself.
Carnival.
My
I stood on the balcony, and jotted
lodgings were in the Corso.

give

— " Ay, mein

down everything I saw. There is not a single item invented."
And then, smiling, he said " We poets are much more matterof-fact people than they who are not poets have any idea of
and it was the truth and reality which made that writing so
This is in harmony w ith Goethe's known doctrine
popular."
he was a decided realist, and an enemy to the ideal, as he re:

in the history of his first acquaintance with Schiller.
Speaking this evening of his travels in Switzerland, he said
that he still possessed all that he has in print called his u Actenstiicke" (documents)
that is, tavern-bills, accounts, adverAnd he repeated his remark that it is by the
tisements, &c.
laborious collection of facts that even a poetical view of nature
is to be corrected and authenticated.
I mentioned Marlowe's
" Faust."
He burst out into an exclamation of praise. "How
greatly is it all planned "
He had thought of translating
He was fully aware that Shakespeare did not stand
it.
lates

alone.

This, and indeed every evening, I believe, Lord Byron was
He said " Es sind Iceine Flickwdrter
the subject of his praise.
im Gedichte." (There is no padding in his poetry.) And he
compared the brilliancy and clearness of his style to a metal
In the complete edition of
wire drawn through a steel plate.
Byron's works, including the " Life " by Moore, there is a statement of the connection between Goethe and Byron. At the
time of my interviews with Goethe, Byron's " Life " was ac:

tually in preparation.

Goethe was by no means indifferent to

the account which wT as to be given to the world of his own relations to the English poet, and was desirous of contributing
For that purpose he put
all in his power to its completeness.
"
into my hands the lithographic dedication of " Sardanapalus
to himself, and all the original papers which had passed between them. He permitted me to take these to my hotel, and
to do with them w hat I pleased ; in other words, I was to
copy them, and add such recollections as I was able to supply
of Goethe's remarks on Byron.
These filled a very closely
written folio letter, which I despatched to England ; but Moore
afterwards assured me that he had never received it.
One or two of the following remarks will be found as signifir

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

108

[Chap.

cant as anything Goethe has written of Byron.
It was a satme to find that Goethe preferred to all the other
serious poems of Byron the " Heaven and Earth," though
it
seemed almost satire when he exclaimed, " A bishop
might have written it "
He added, " Byron should have
"And that was % " I asked.
lived to execute his vocation."
" To dramatize the Old Testament.
What a subject under his
hands would the Tower of Babel have been " He continued
" You must not take it ill but Byron was indebted for the profound views he took of the Bible to the ennui he suffered from
it at school."
Goethe, it will be remembered, in one of his
ironical epigrams, derives his poetry from ennui (Langeweile) ;
he greets her as the Mother of the Muses. It was with reference to the poems of the Old Testament that Goethe praised
the views which Byron took of Nature they were equally proisfaction to

—

;

" He had not," Goethe said, " like me, defound and poetical.
voted a long life to the study of Nature, and yet in all his
works I found but two or three passages I could have wished

to alter."
I had the courage to confess my inability to relish the serious
poems of Byron, and to intimate my dissatisfaction with the
I recomparison generally made between Manfred and Faust.
marked " Faust had nothing left but to sell his soul to the
Devil when he had exhausted all the resources of science in
vain but Manfred's was a poor reason,
his passion for
Astarte."
He smiled, and said, " That is true." But then he
fell back on the indomitable spirit of Manfred.
Even at the
last he was not conquered.
Power in all its forms Goethe had
respect for.
This he had in common with Carlyle.
And the
impudence of Byron's satire he felt and enjoyed. I pointed
out " The Deformed Transformed," as being really an imitation of " Faust," and was pleased to find that Goethe especially
:

—

;

praised this piece.*
I read to him the " Vision of Judgment," explaining the
obscurer allusions.
He enjoyed it as a child might, but his
"
criticisms scarcely went beyond the exclamations, " Too bad
" Heavenly "
" Unsurpassable "
He praised however, especially, the speeches of Wilkes and Junius, and the concealment of the countenance of the latter. " Byron has surpassed
himself."
Goethe praised Stanza IX. for its clear description.
He repeated Stanza X., and emphatically the last two lines,
!

* Byron himself denies that "Faust" suggested "Manfred."
Works," Vol. IX. p. 71.

in the "

See a note

TOUR IN GERMANY.

1829.]

he was himself eighty years of age.
declared to be sublime

recollecting that

XXIV. he

10,9

—

Stanza

" But bringing up the rear of this bright host,
A spirit of a different aspect waved
His wings, like thunder-clouds above some coast
Whose barren beach with frequent wrecks is paved;
His brow was like the deep when tempest-tossed;
Fierce and unfathomable thoughts engraved
Eternal wrath on his immortal face,
And where he gazed a gloom pervaded space."

Goethe concurred in my suggested praise of Stanzas XIII.,
XIV., XV. Indeed Goethe was in this like Coleridge, that he
was by no means addicted to contradiction. This encourages
those who might not otherwise venture on obtruding a sentiHe did not reject the preference I expressed for Byment.
"
ron's satirical poems, nor my suggestion that to " Don Juan
a motto might have been taken from Mephistopheles' speech
aside to the student who asked his opinion of medicine
:

—

" Ich bin des trockenen Zeugs doch satt.
Ich will den dcltten Teufel spielen."

Byron's verses on George IV., he said, were the sublime of
I took an opportunity to mention Milton, and found
Goethe unacquainted with " Samson Agonist es." I read to
him the first part, to the end of the scene w ith Delilah. He
fully conceived the spirit of it, though he did not praise Milton with the warmth with which he eulogized Byrqn, of whom
he said that " the like would never come again he was inimitable."
Ariosto was not so daring as Byron in the " Vision
hatred.

;

of Judgment."

Goethe said Samson's confession of his guilt was in a better
" There is fine logic in all the
than anything in Byron.
On my reading Delilah's vindication of herself, he
speeches."
" That is capital
exclaimed
he has put her in the right."
To one of Samson's speeches he cried out, " 0 the parson
He thanked me for making him acquainted with this poem, and
said " It gives me a higher opinion of Milton than I had before.
It lets me more into the nature of his mind than any
spirit

;

other of his works."
I read to him Coleridge's " Fire, Famine, and Slaughter "
his praise was faint.
I inquired whether he knew the name of
Lamb. " 0 yes
Did he not write a pretty sonnet on his
own name ? " Charles Lamb, though he always affected contempt for Goethe, yet was manifestly pleased that his name
was known to him.
!

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

1,10

[Chap.

I informed Goethe of my possession of Wieland's bust by
Schadow.*
He said " It is like a lost child found. The
Duchess Amelia sent for Schadow to do it, and when done gave
it to Wieland.
He died when the French were here, and we
were all away. Wieland's goods were sold by auction, and we
heard that the bust was bought by an Englishman.
Vestigia
nulla retrorsum."
I related to him how I had bought it at
the recommendation of Flaxman, who deemed it "a perfect
work." Goethe then said " You must be sensible that it ought
to be here.
A time will come when you can no longer enjoy it.
Take care that it comes here hereafter." This I promised.
And I have in my will given it to the Grand buke, in trust, for
the public library at Weimar.
Goethe expressed to me his
pleasure that I had retained so lively a recollection of Weimar at
its " schdne Zeit" when Schiller, Herder, and Wieland all lived.
I remember no other mention of Herder, nor did I expect it.
Goethe spoke of Wieland as a man of genius, and of Schiller
with great regard.
He said that Schiller's rendering of the
witch-scenes in " Macbeth " was " detestable." " But it was his
way you must let every man have his own character." This
:

;

was a tolerance

characteristic of Goethe.

have already mentioned Goethe's fondness for keeping portrait memorials, and can only consider it as an extreme instance of this that I was desired to go to one Schmeller to
a head in crayons, frightfully ugly,
have my portrait taken,
and very like. The artist told me that he had within a few
It is the
years done for Goethe more than three hundred.
They are all done in the same
kind of Andenken he preferred.
full-face,
I sat to Schmeller also for a portrait for
style,
Knebel,
a profile, and much less offensive.
In this way I spent five evenings with Goethe. When he
took leave of me, it was' very kindly, and he requested me to
write every three or four months, when I came to an interestBut this I did not venture to do. I went up stairs
ing place.
and looked over his rooms. They had little furniture, but
His bed was
there were interesting engravings on the walls.
I saw much of his daughwithout curtains,
a mere couch.
u Ein verruckter
ter-in-law
he is said to have called her,
Engel " (a crazy angel), and the epithet is felicitous.
Goethe, in his correspondence with Zelter, has filled a couple
He speaks of me as a
of pages with an account of this visit.
He was not
sort of missionary on behalf of English poetry.
I

—

;

* See Vol.

p. 108.

]

TOUR

1829.]

Ill

GERMANY.

had not the courage to name the poet to whom I
Wordsworth for I knew that
attached,
there were too many dissonances of character between them.
As Southey remarked to me, "How many sympathies, how
many dispathies do I feel with Goethe " *
[In 1832 Mr. S. Naylor, Jun., sent to Mr. Robinson the
following extract from a letter written by Frau von Goethe to
This extract can have no place so suitable as
himself.
aware that

was and

—

am most

;

here

—

" If it be possible that the glowing forms of Italy have not
wholly obliterated in him the pale image of a Northern, tell
him (this him is Robinson) that we all look for him with longing, and regard him as a literary missionary, who will bring
us the right articles of faith."

my arrival at Weimar, I met the ChamberDuchess Dowager (the Court were away). He
" You must call.
The Grand Duchess knows you are

The day

after

lain of the

said

* This correspondence of Goethe with Zelter continued to within a few
hours of Goethe's death. Indeed these oldest friends died within so short a
time of each other, that neither heard of the other's death. Goethe used to
give to Zelter an account of all that occurred to him in the way of gossip,
Dooks, visits, &c, and in my visit to Heidelberg, in 1834, 1 met with the extract
which I now translate. It is in the fifth volume of the " Correspondence." After
mentioning Mucewitz, the Polish poet, Goethe proceeds: u At the same time
there was an Englishman with us, who had studied at Jena at the beginning of
the century, and who had since that time pursued German literature in a way of
which no one could form an idea. He was so truly initiated into the ground's of
merit in our situation, that if I had wished to do so, and as we are accustomed
to do towards foreigners, there was no casting a mist before his eyes.
From
his conversation it resulted that, for twenty years and more, highly cultivated
Englishmen have been coming to Germany, and acquiring correct'information
concerning the personal, sesthetical, and moral relations of those who may be
Of Klopstock's Verknocherung (Ossification) he recalled our forefathers.
lated strange things. Then he seemed a kind of missionary of English literamy daughter, together and apart, single poems. Byme
and
to
and
read
ture,
ron's Heaven and Earth' it was very agreeable to become acquainted with
by the eye and ear at once, as I held a second copy in my hand. At last he
drew my attention to Milton's Samson Agonistes,' and read it with me. It is
to be remarked that in this we acquire a knowledge of a predecessor of Lord
Byron, who is as grand and comprehensive (grandios unci umsichtig) as Byron
himself.
But, to be sure, the successor is as vast and wildly varied as' the
other appears simple and stately.''
In a later letter, speaking of Handel's " Samson," Goethe remarks,
I quote
from memory,
that a literary friend had, in the preceding summer, read
Milton's " Samson " to him, and that he never before met with so perfect an
imitation of the antique in style and spirit.
I have not the slightest recollection of having mentioned Klopstock at all,
and cannot think what he referred to. Voigt says he never knew Goethe forget anything, so perfect was his memory to the last, and that, therefore, I probH. C. R.
ably did speak about Klopstock.
*

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

112

Go with me now."

[Chap.

was not dressed.
She will be sure not to see you."
And a message being sent, the Chamberlain was desired to inI was engaged with Goethe, but knew that
vite me to dinner.
Next morning a like invitathese invitations are commands.
On the last evening of my
tion came, and again on Monday.
stay at Weimar, wishing to accept an invitation to a party
elsewhere, I asked the Chamberlain how I could avoid being
" You must ask the Grand Duchess
invited by the Dowager.
for leave to quit the country," he said. Such is Court etiquette
These three dinners do not supply much matter for these
Reminiscences. The Grand Duchess Louise, a Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, was a woman highly and universally esteemed.
here.

I objected, that I

" That's of no consequence.

Of her interview with Napoleon, after the battle of Jena, I
have already given an account. She says my narrative * is
Napoleon said to
quite correct, and added one circumstance.
her " Madam, they will force me to declare myself Emperor
of the West."
She either recI was received by her with great cordiality.
She was above seventy,
ollected me, or affected to do so.
The
looking old, and I thought remarkably like Otway Cave.
One day there
conversation at table was unreserved and easy.
Vogel-Schiessen (birdwas a popular festival in the town,
shooting).
Here the Grand Duchess attended, and it was the
etiquette for all who were known to her to stand near her till
she had seen and saluted them, and then each one retired. At
these dinners there was a uniform tone of dignified courtesy, and
I left her with an agreeable impression.
Yet I could not but
feel low when I recollected the change that had taken place
since 1804, when the Duchess Amelia, Graf Einsiedel, Fr'aulein
Geckhausen, and Wieland were present. My journal refers
to but one subject of conversation,
the marriage of the Duke
of St. Albans with Mrs. Coutts.
That a duke should marry
an actress, who had preserved her character, was termed no:

—

ble at the Duchess's table.

—

August 19th.
This certainly belongs to the uninteresting
days of my journey. I was travelling through a dull country
in a close carriage with uninteresting people.
But I had been
so much stimulated at Weimar, that the change was not altogether unpleasant.
Arrived at Leipzig
I was glad to rest.
soon after five.
Went to the theatre, where was played SchlegcFs translation of " Julius Crcsar." I saw it with pleasure,
* Sec Vol.

pp. 391, 392.

TOUR

1829.]

GERMANY.

113

though the actors appeared to me by no means good. Cassius
was grave, Brutus sentimental, Csesar insignificant. But that
was not altogether the fault of the actor. Portia was petite*
I could recall the English in most of the scenes, and thought
the translation admirable.

—

Reached Dresden towards evening, and fixed
August 20th.
myself for a few days at the Hotel de Berlin. During these
days I was frequently at the famous picture gallery, but, conscious of my want of knowledge in fine art, I shall merely say
that I paid my homage to the " Madonna di San Sisto," * which
still in my eyes retains its place as the finest picture in the
world.
But for me the great attraction of Dresden was Ludwig Tieck, who was then among the German poets to Goethe
" proximus, longo sed proximus intervallo." Tieck and his wife
live in the same house with Grafinn Finkenstein, a lady of
fortune.
I was received with not only great politeness, but
much cordiality. He recognized me at once. A large party
of ladies and gentlemen came to hear him read.
He is famous
for his talent as a reader, and I was not surprised at it.
His
voice is melodious, and without pretension or exaggeration he
gave great effect to what he read.
Next day I dined with him. Herr von Stachelberg and
The conversation general and agreeable.
others were there.
In politics we seemed pretty well agreed. All friends to Greece.
A triple alliance, between England, France, and Austria,
Thank God the governments are poor. Tieck
talked of.
showed me his English books, and talked of Shakespeare. Not
only does he believe that the disputed plays are by him (most
He calls
certainly "Lord Cromwell"), but even some others.
The
Goethe's very great admiration of Byron an infatuation.
" Hebrew Melodies " Tieck likes, but not " Manfred."
In the
evening read with pleasure, in the Foreign Review, an article
!

on the German playwrights.f
August 23d,
At the Catholic Chapel from eleven till
The music delighted me beyond any I ever heard. At
twelve.
six went to Tieck again, with whom I spent four hours most
agreeably.
He read his prologue to Goethe's "Faust," which
is to be performed on Thursday, and also his translation of

—

The Pinner

of Wakefield." $

It is a sort of

dramatized ballad.

* See Vol. I p. 45.
f By Carl vie.
u A Pleasant Conceyted Comedie of George-a-Greene
The Pinner of
%
Wakefield." London, 1599. 4to. An anonymous play " sundry times acted
by the seruants of the Karl of Sussex." It has been attributed to John Heywood and to Robert Greene.
:

114

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

The Pinner is a loyal subject of King Edward, thrashes traitors
and everybody he meets with, and is* a match for Robin Hood.
We had a deal of literary gossip. Tieck's literary opinions
seem to me for the most part true. He appreciates our clasBut he likes even Smollett's
sics, Richardson and Fielding.
" Peregrine Pickle."
He loves Sterne. Of Lamb he spoke
warmly.
He expressed his great admiration of Goethe, but

He thinks Goethe's way of turning into
freely criticised him.
poetry real incidents, memoirs, &c, has occasioned the composition of his worst pieces.
August 24th.
Another charming three hours with Tieck,
with whom I dined.
I have made up my mind to stay till
but I
after Thursday.
I shall thus disturb my original plan
shall be a gainer on the whole.
Tieck is, indeed, far from being
Goethe's equal, but I enjoy his company more. Accompanied
a sort of patroness,
Bottiger to the Grafinn von der R
aged seventy-five.
The poet she patronized was Tiedge, author
of " Urania," a didactic poem.*
He wr as more like Tieck in
name than in any other respect. The Countess is a character,
and honored me with a particular account of her infirmities.
She is, without doubt, a very estimable person, and I am glad
to have seen her. At seven I returned to Tieck, and heard him
read Holbein's capital play, " The Chattering Barber," to which
he gave fall effect.
He read also a little comedy, "The

—

;

Pfalzgraf."

August 25th.

— Preparing

for sight-seeing,

for my departure.
Had no time
but in the evening heard Tieck read " Richard

Felt low at leaving the place.
The trouble of getting
the apprehended solitude, annoyances at the custom-house,
search of books, &c, all trouble me.
August 26th.
A family dinner-party at Tieck's. Returned
early to my room, where I read a most delightful Novelle by
him: "The 15th November." On that day a dike burst in
Holland, and a family were saved by a sort of idiot, who,
having suddenly lost all his faculties, except that of shipbuilding, built a ship from a kind of miraculous presentiment.
Nothing can exceed the beauty of the representation, however
improbable the story may be. W. Schlegel has said that the
only four perfect narrators he knows are Boccaccio, Cervantes,
Goethe, and «Tieck.
A large
I returned to Tieck's at six.
party were assembled to hear him read the " Midsummer
II."

off,

—

* Christopher Augustus Tiedge.

Born 1752.

Died 1841.

TOUR

1829.]

GERMANY.

115

Night's Dream," which he did delightfully. I prefer his comic
reading to his tragic.
This day terminated what I consider my
August 27th.
Dined with Tieck ; the family
preliminary German journey.
A very interesting evening. " Faust" was perall alone.
formed for the first time in Germany, in honor of Goethe's
To-morrow, the 28th, he will be eighty years old.
birthday.
The prologue, by Tieck,
I greatly enjoyed the performance.
was a beautiful eulogy on Goethe. The house was crowded.
Faust was played by Devrient. He looked the philosopher
but
well, and his rich and melodious voice was very effective
he pleased me less w hen he became the gallant seducer. Pauli
was Mephistopheles. He was too passionate occasionally, and
The scene
neither looked nor talked enough like the D
with the student wr as very well got up. In general, however,
The
the wise sayings were less heeded than the spectacle.
Margaret was renBlocksberg afforded a grand pantomime.
dered deeply affecting by Mademoiselle Gleig. After the play,
I found at the poet's house a number of friends, congratulating
him on the success of the evening's undertaking. Like performances took place in many of the larger towns of Germany
in honor of the great poet.
On the 28th of August I set out on my Italian tour. I
passed through Teplitz and Carlsbad (Goethe's favorite resort)
At Carlsbad, I ventured to introduce myself to
to Ratisbon.
the not-yet-forgotten famous metaphysician, Schelling.
I had
been a pupil of his, but an insignificant one, and never a partisan.
He talked with
I believe he did not recollect me.
some constraint during our walk in the Wandelbahn, but
meeting him afterwards at dinner, I found him communicative,
and were I remaining at Carlsbad, his company would be very
The most agreeable part of his conversation
pleasant to me.
was that which showed me I was wrong in supposing him to
have become a Roman Catholic. On the contrary, be spoke
in a tone of seeming disappointment both of Schlegel and Tieck
for their change.
He spoke of the King of Bavaria as a benev-

—

;

and w ise sovereign. Far from being,
as
was once feared he might be, the tool of the Jesuitical
party, he is aware how dangerous that party is.
He is,
nevertheless, religious, and all his ministers are Roman
Catholics
not because they are Catholics, but because his
Protestant States do not supply the fitting men. The Minister
of the Interior is a convert, but he has brought to the ministry
olent, liberally inclined,
it

;

116

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

the liberal notions of his Protestant education. Though taking
interest in public matters than Goethe, Schelling yet said
Goethe was right in disregarding politics, conscious, as he must
be, that the composition of one of his great works would be a
blessing for ages, while the political state of Germany might
Schelling regards Tieck as hardly
be but of short duration.
He spoke of Uhland and Graf
an appreciator of Goethe.
Platen, author of the Verhangnissvolle Gabel, and other
satirical works, as the best of the new generation of poets.
I
shunned philosophy, but remarked that England showed no
inclination to receive the German philosophers.
He answered
that at present nothing had appeared suitable for translation.
He spoke of Coleridge and Carlyle as men of talent, who are
acquainted with German philosophy.
He says Carlyle is certainly the author of the articles in the Edinburgh Review.
At Ratisbon, I embarked on the Danube for Vienna, passing
those fine towns, Passau and Linz. Vienna had little to attract
me.
I had a letter of introduction to the celebrated preacher
Veit, a Jesuit, whose sermons had produced a great effect upon
the Vienna populace. I called on him at the monastery, a sort
of public school, of which he was the head. He had the appearance more of a man of the world than of an enthusiast, and his

language was perfectly liberal. He said "I believe firmly in
The Church never errs, but
all the doctrines of the Church.
Churchmen do err. And all attempt to compel men by violence
His main obto enter the Church is contrary to the Gospel."
jection to the Protestants is their ascetic habits. He spoke of
Pascal as a pietist, using that word in an unfavorable sense. He
declared himself an anti-ultramontanist, and assented to a remark of mine, that an enlightened Romanist in Germany is
nearer to a pious Protestant than to a doctor of Salamanca.
Veit wishes to travel, and to learn English. It would, he says,
be worth while to learn English if only for the sake of reading
This interview was less remarkable than the
Shakespeare.
sermon I heard him preach in the crowded church of the
Rigoristen (the order of which he is the head). His manner is
singular.
He half shuts his eyes, and with little action speaks
in a familiar style, in a tone of mixed earnestness and humor.
The discourse was quite moral, and very efficient. Its subject,
He
pharisaic pride.
The style was occasionally vehement.
introduced the story of the Lord of a manor going in a plain
dress to the Hall on a rent-day, when his steward was feasting
He slipped in unperceived, and was jostled by
the tenants.
:

117

ITALY.

1829.]

When the
the greedy company to the bottom of the table.
steward saw him, he saluted him with reverence, and reThen the preacher,
proached the people with their ignorance.
"
changing his tone, exclaimed " Ihr sei die ivahren Krahivinkler
(Ye are the real Gothamites) and producing a huge crucifix
from the bottom of the pulpit, he cried out in a screaming
The
voice, " Here 's your God, and you don't know him "
manifest want of logic in the application of the tale did not
Every one seemed touched, for it
prevent its having effect.
:

;

was the upstart pride of the citizens he managed to attack.
He brought Huntington to my recollection, but wanted his
perfect style.

CHAPTER

VIII.

ITALY.

FROM Vienna
and

through Styria and Carniola, to
Fiume, to visit my old
friend Grafton Smith, entered Italy at Venice, the rich, but /
I had but a sort of feverish pleasure there,
say the romantic.
And yet the St. Mark's Place,
and have no wish to go again.
and the Duomo, built with barbaric pomp, the ducal palace, and
the Rialto, and the canals, and Palladio's churches, are worth a
pilgrimage, and I am almost ashamed of what I have written.
I
But I could not help thinking of the odious governments.
must here translate one of Goethe's Venetian epigrams " Laboriously wanders the pilgrim, and will he find the saint % Will
Time
he see and hear the man who wrought the miracles ? No
has taken him away, and all that belongs to him. Only his skull
Pilgrims are we,
and a few of his bones are preserved.
we
who visit Italy.
It is only a scattered bone which we honor
with faith and joy." This is perfect as to thought ; the magic
of the verse I cannot give.
On the 17 th of November I entered Rome.
[In the following account of Mr. Robinson's stay in Rome and
elsewhere, the extracts w ill have especial regard to what is of
personal interest, and will not include even a mention of all the
places visited by him.
It was in connection with this journey
" That thing called one's
that he wrote to Miss Wordsworth
self loses much of itself when travelling, for it becomes a mere
Trieste,

I proceeded,

after a digression to

—

;

118

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

thing with two eyes and two ears, and has no more individualthan a looking-glass."
And Mr. Robinson says in a letter
to his brother, December 1 7th, of this year " I never was more
ity

busy in my life. I have Rome as well as Italian to learn. Every
fine day I visit one or more of the curiosities of this wonderful
city.
It is itself a little world, and comprehends within its walls

—

either historical
a greater number of objects of high interest
memorials or works of fine art
than I have ever seen in all
my former journeys put together. But do not imagine that I
am going to give you an account of what there is to be seen in
the subject is so immense.
Rome,
I will, however, give you
some account of what occurs to me there."]
On the 20th I went in search of a few acquaintances whom I
I found a very obliging friend in the Wiirexpected to meet.
temberg minister, Kolle, whom I first saw at Nicolai's in
Berlin
On calling upon Alexander
I owe him a great deal.
Torlonia, to whom I had shown attentions in England, I found
he had either forgotten me or affected to do so.* I took an
opportunity, a few days after, to say to his half-brother
"I
am delighted to find that my memory is better than I feared,
at least it is better than your brother Alexander's.
We
were a week together, and I recollected him in an instant
but although he is the younger man he cannot recollect me."
I believe I was understood.
November 2J/tlu
Carried Mrs. Benecke's letter of introduction to one of the most amiable of men, Kastner, the Hanoverian Minister to the Court of Rome.
And as our English
bigotry did not permit us to have a Minister, he supplied the
office of master of the ceremonies to all the English.
He was
not at all
a man of taste, and most kind in his behavior,
a politician. He was considered to have an undignified manner,
but was loved by every one.
He was fond of talking English, and his English was very amusing, though the tales told
of him in this respect were possibly apocryphal.
It was said,
for instance, that he declared he had taken a young lady under his protection because she was so dissolute and abandoned.
He made for me a selection of plaster casts of antique gems,
of which I am proud.
He was Evangelical in his religious
views, and partook of Benecke's opinions of Goethe. But virtu
was more his pursuit than politics or speculation of any kind.
November 25th.
When I passed through Florence I was

—

;

—

* Tli is was the young Italian whom, with his tutor, Mr.
to the Wordswortlis in 1816.
See Vol. I. p. 18.

Robinson introduced

1829.]

119

ITALY.

by a stranger that he had been travelling with Miss Burhe gave a promisney, a younger sister of Madame d'Arblay
On
ing account of her, and I begged him to introduce me.
my telling her of being well acquainted with her brother, the
admiral, my vanity was a little hurt by finding that she had
never heard of me. She informed me that she had set out on
told

who had deserted her at
" I
Dover, not daring to cross the water in rough weather.
could not," said Miss Burney, " afford to lose the money I had
paid for my journey (board included) all the way to Milan.
So I ventured alone, without servant or acquaintance. My
travelling companions were all respectable, and I shall soon be
at Rome."
I said we should be sure to meet there, and offered
her my services when we should meet again, which she accepted at once. I had not forgotten her, when to-day on coming home I found upon my table a letter from Ayrton to me,
u Who brought this]" said
introducing Miss Burney.
I to
" What lady i "
" The lady."
" The lady
our landlord.
" Is she at home % "
who is occupying the rooms below."
" Yes."
I went down, and was received by her with a hearty
laugh. She told ,me that, bringing many letters from England,
she had separated them into bundles, and not opened those
Our irregular introduction to
addressed to Borne until now.
each other was now legalized, and we became well acquainted,
Our acquaintance ripened into
as will appear hereafter.
She was a
friendship, which did not end but with her life.
very amiable person, of whom I think with great respect. She
at once confessed that she was obliged to be economical, and I
made an arrangement for her which reduced her expenses considerably.
I had before this time found that the German
artists dined at a respectable, but cheap restaurant in the Corso,
Italian, not English.
and I occasionally saw ladies there,
There were several rooms, one of them small, with a single
table, which our party could nearly fill.
This I frequently
engaged, and I introduced Miss Burney to our party. She
became our pet, and generally dined with us. When I w as
engaged elsewhere, there were several proud to take her. Our
party had increased.
Mrs. Payne had given me a letter of introduction to Mr. Finch,
a character,
and to-day my old
friend Kolle offered to introduce me to him.
Mr. Finch was
married to a lady who at once claimed me for an acquaintance.
She was a Miss Thompson, who used to attend the Attic Chest
meetings at Porden's.*
She had two sisters residing with
this journey with a female friend,

—

* See Vol.

p. 376.

120

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

her, as well as a

nephew, a young M. D.,

[Chap.

— Dr. Seth Thomp-

son.

This same day was rendered further remarkable by an

in-

troduction, through the Chevalier Kastner, to one who has a
European reputation, and whose acquaintance I still enjoy.
This was the Chevalier Bunsen, a man of whom I do not think

becomes me to say more than what appertains to my perI was not at first aware of his
sonal intercourse with him.
journal describes him as "a fair,
eminent qualities.
it

smooth-faced, thickset man, who talks, though he does not
He was in the habit of receiving,
look, like a man of talents."
once a week, at his house, his German friends, and on another
day his English friends, his wife being an English lady,
a
Miss Waddington. Chevalier Bunsen very courteously said to
me, " I consider you both German and English, and shall exa privilege I did not hesitate to avail
pect you both days,"
myself of. Whatever my fears might be of feeling alone at
Rome, I felt myself, in a week, not encumbered, but full of

—

acquaintance.
On the 30th I was introduced to Thorwaldsen in his studio,
and conceived a higher opinion of him as an artist than of CaI heard him give an account of some of his works, esjjenova.
cially the scheme of a series of colossal figures, for which a church
the objection raised by
has been since built at Copenhagen,
some of the bishops that they tend to idolatry being overcome.
Before the portico and in the pediment were to be pkiced, and
probably now are, St. John the Baptist, and the various classes
of the human race receiving instruction ; in the vestibules, the
in the nave, the apostles ; Christ before
sibyls and prophets
the head altar. Many of these I possess in engravings, as I do
casts in miniature of the triumphs of Alexander. What I have
to say personally of Thorwaldsen I shall say hereafter.
On this day I first saw Eastlake, now the President of our
Royal Academy, and Gibson, the sculptor. At this time Rome
was my study as no other place could ever be. I read what I
could get,
Forsyth, one of the few books which is a voice, not
an echo, the style proving the originality and " Rome in the
Nineteenth Century," a pert, flippant book, the only claim to
originality being that, in a commonplace way, it opposes common notions but being written smartly, and with great labor,
it has a certain popularity.
A stroll in the Isola Tiberina. How filthy
December 6th.
a spot ; yet how magnificent a plate it has supplied to Piranesi

—

;

—

;

—

121

ITALY.

1829.]

" Sir," said a king's messenger to

one day, " don't believe

It is all a humbug.
Rome
what travellers tell about Rome.
" That man is
is more like Wapping than any place I know."
no fool," said Flaxman, who laughed on my repeating this. " Of

—

course he could not understand, perhaps he did not see, the anbut some of the finest are in places that resemble
;
Wapping in general appearance."
On the 7th I first saw the marbles of the Capitol. The most
noticeable part is the gallery of busts, arranged in classes. That
of the philosophers afforded a trial of skill to Miss Burney and
myself in guessing. " In general," says my journal, " each head
seemed wr orthy of its name," but not one Plato among many
there satisfied me. Had I taken my philosophy from the head
of any master, I must have been an Epicurean. Democritus is
really grinning ; I took him for a slave.
Cicero and Demosthenes express passion rather than thought.
Cicero, however,
reminded me of Goethe. The same day I saw Guido's " Aurora,"
the first picture that made me heartily love fresco painting. We
went also to the Barberini Palace. Here are the Andrea Corsini," by Guido, and a " Fornarina " by Raphael, offensive to me
in spite of myself ; and the far-famed Cenci. Kolle, a dogmatist
in art, declared it to be neither a Cenci nor a Guido. Without
its name, he said, it would not fetch £ 10.
In defiance of my
monitor, I could not but imagine it to be painfully expressive
of sweetness and innocence. What did Shelley hold the picture
to be when he wrote his tragedy ^
December 10th.
Ascended the tower of the Capitol. That
would be enough for any one day.
ancient
panoramic view,
Rome on one side, and modern Rome on the other. The same
evening I had another glorious view, from the top of the Coliseum, by moonlight. Afterwards a party at Lord Northampton's.
Having had a lesson in the forenoon from Cola, and seen the
Palazzo Doria, my journal notes this as a day of an unparalleled
variety of enjoyment, and with reason.
December 15th.
Mr. Finch related anecdotes of Dr. Parr.
At a party at Charles Barney's, being called on to name a
toast, he gave the third Greek scholar in Europe. Being called
on to explain who this might be, he said " Our excellent host.
The first Greek scholar is my friend here " (indicating Porson).
" Don't blush, Dicky. The second, modesty does not permit me
to name." Now and then Parr's rudeness was checked. Asking
a lady what she thought of his Spital sermon, she answered
" My opinion is expressed in the first five words of the sermon
tiquities

—

VOL.

II.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

122
itself,

Enough, and more than enough.'

[Chap.

He was out of humor

for the rest of the evening.

my journal

" The old year
do not know when I have
Year's eve, as I do not recollect when

At the close of the year I wrote in
dying away with enviable repose.

spent a more quiet New
I have passed a year of more intense and varied personal enjoyment.
But it has brought a great calamity into my brother's
house,
the loss of my nephew's only child, Caroline.
She
died from the effects of an attack of scarlet fever.
She was
one of the most fascinating creatures I ever saw, and was
doated on both by parents and grandfather." The sentiment
expressed in those few sentences is associated with a religious
service in the church of Gesu in the evening.
Whether owing
to the music itself, aided by the edifice, or to the power of the
Italian voice, I know not, but the choir seemed to me to express
an earnest, not a merely formal, service.

—

1830.

may

say in general of the winter season I passed in Rome,
days were divided between the not discordant occupations of studying the topography of the city, with Nibbi in
hand, and the language of Italy, with the aid of Dr. Cola ; and
The parties of the
that my evenings were seldom disengaged.
Prussian Minister and of Lord Northampton were of weekly
occasional dinners and frequent evening gatherings
occurrence
at the houses of other friends prevented my time from ever
hanging heavily.
January 7th.
This evening, at Bunsen's, I was struck by
the appearance of a tall man with lank hair and sallow cheeks.
I pointed him out to a German as the specimen of an English
Methodist.
He laughed, and exclaimed " Why, that is the
a rigid ascetic and melRoman Catholic convert, Overbeck,
ancholy devotee."
Rauch, the great Prussian sculptor, was
also there. I chatted with him, but have no recollection of his
I

that

;

—

person.

January 22cL

— Westphal, a

German

at Lord Northampton's parties, took

scholar,

whom

met

to a very interesting

—

the
which all Germans of taste should hold sacred,
Kneipe, or pot-house, in which Goethe made those assignations
which are so marvellously described in his Roman Elegies. The
spot in which I ate and drank was one of the vaults in the Theatre of Marcellus ; the stone wall was black with the smoke of

spot,

123

ITALY.

1830.]

and a wooden table and wooden benches formed all
The contrast between such a Spethe furniture of the den.
and the refined taste
Goethe's own appellation
liuica
which could there conceive and give form to creations which
will be the delight of cultivated minds in all ages, was to me a
The German artists ought here to place
lesson of humanity.
an inscription, which, though unintelligible to the many, would
centuries,

—

a new lesson, certainly, in
be most instructive to the few ;
archaeology, but in conformity with the lesson taught by Niebuhr and his followers, who delight to have that which is in
common in ancient and modern institutions. There might be
a reference to the Elegy in which Amor trims the lamp, and
thinks of the time when he rendered the same service to his
triumvirs
:

—

Amor schuret die Lamp'indess mid denket der Zeiten,
Da er den namlichen Dienst seinen Triumvirn gethan."

February 2d.

— At

Finch's.

repeated a retort uttered

by Lord Byron. Ward had been a
Whig, and became Ministerial. " I wonder what could make
me turn Whig again," said Ward. " That I can tell you,"
" They have only to re-Ward you."
said Byron.
At one of the most remarkable dinners I
February 21st.
It was at Prince Gargarin's, the Russian
ever partook of.
But it was the eye, not the palate, that was peMinister.
The apartments were splendid, and the
culiarly gratified.
dining-hall illuminated by eighty-nine wax lights.
The peculiarity of the dinner lay in this,
that there was nothing on
the table on which the eye of the gourmand could rest. In the
centre of the long table (the guests being twenty-six in numin his

(Finch's) house

—

ber) were a succession of magnificent plateaux, beautiful

ures of

nymphs

in rich stands, with sweetmeats in little golden plates,

fig-

in chased gold, urns, vases of flowers, decanters

&c, &c.

servant between each couple.
At every instant was your
servant whispering in your ear the name of some unknown
There was no harm in taking a dish at a venture, for
dish.
the moment you paused your plate was whisked away, and
another instantly offered. There was great variety, and everything was of first-rate excellence. So of the wines.
I named
my own bottle, and drank of it in a large tumbler, every kind
of rich wine being offered at the proper time.
I sat between
two Russian Princesses, with whom it was my severe task to
keep up a conversation. The company consisted chiefly of
Russian subjects, and I was the only Englishman there. Many

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

124

of the former

can

spell."

[Chap.

had names " which nobody can read and nobody
few beautiful women were there, including the

belle of the season.

—

February 23 d.
This was the last day of the Carnival,
which began on the 10th. I was pelted from the balcony of a
Palazzo, and looking up to discover my assailant, recognized
Mrs. Finch, who beckoned to me to join her.
I did so, and
took a note of passing objects, not expecting to rival Goethe
the produce of a few minutes.
in so doing.
Here they are,
A fellow with a wig of paper shavings another all paper, save
his old hat, which had candles, soon to be lighted ; a rich
a Turkish coachman lawyers with
devil, with crimson tail
paper frills and collars a conjurer a bear a man covered with
a postilion with a huge whip; several carrying men pickbells
aback, one with a machine, which on a jerk opens like a ladder,
and, rising to the first floor, conveys flowers to the ladies. The
I noticed balls with spikes, w hich, hanging on
race was poor.
the necks of the wretched horses, must have inflicted the more

—

;

The fun peculiar to the close of the
torture the faster they ran.
Carnival was the blowing out of each other's lights, with the
With exemplary obedience, at a given
cry of " Smoccolo."
signal, the Carnival ends, and the crowds disperse.
At eleven
the Theatre was closed, that the festivity should not encroach
Ash Wednesday.
on the sacred day that followed,
March 16th.
We reached Naples, and, as at Venice, found
high enjoyment on our first arrival. A walk along the noble
A view of the
street, the Toledo, passing the Royal Palace.
that bay which surpasses every other
bay from Santa Lucia,
not as a bay simply,
bay in the world, as all travellers agree,
but including its matchless islands and unique Vesuvius. Then
the line of palaces, the Chiaja, more than a mile long, fronting
To pass away the evening, after the excitement of
the bay.
seeing all this for the first time, wr e went to a popular theatre.
March 18th.
As Rome is beyond all doubt incomparably
the most memorable place I ever saw, no other rivalling it in
my imagination, so is Naples decidedly the second. And the
effect of going to the one after the other is heightened by conRome is the city of tombs, of solemn and heroic recoltrast.
lections, in which everything reminds you of the past to the
disadvantage of the present, and altogether as little sensual
and epicurean as can be in its essential character. Naples, on
as Wordsthe contrary, is the seat of voluptuous enjoyment,
worth happily designated it, " Soft Parthenope." The afflu-

—

125

ITALY.

1830.]

ent seem to have nothing to do but saunter about, sip ices,
and be gallant. I have seen it but for a short time comparatively, and would gladly in my old age visit it again.

H. C. R. to Mrs. Collier.
Florence, 30th July,

1830.

.... I reached Naples on the 1 7th of March. It has not
quite put Rome's nose out of joint, and that is all I can say.
So astonishing and so delicious a spot (a broad one though, for
it includes the environs and almost excludes the city) certainly
Vedi Napoli e muori, they say.
nowhere else exists.
They
would recommend everybody, before he dies,
And, on second thoughts,
it may be as well to come to England, and rave about this
paradisiacal hell, for seven years before he dies the death of a
philosophic hero, by throwing himself into the crater of Vesuvius.
I have told you before to read Forsyth, and it is only
in the faith that you will obey me, that I in mercy spare you
an enumeration of all the wonders of my last journey. I merely say that from my bed, without changing my position, I
could see the lurid light from the burning mountain,
that I
made the usual excursions to the Phlegrsean fields, saw the passage into hell through which iEneas went, and even beheld
Acheron itself and the Elysian fields. To be sure, that same
Would you believe it?
Virgil did bounce most shamefully.
The lake of Avernus is a round muddy pond, and the abode
of the blessed looks not a bit better than a hop-garden.
So
Cumoe, and Raise, and Ischia, and Capua are all like gentlemen's
seats, with none but servants kept there to show them to visitAll Naples
ors.
Vesuvius is but an upstart of yesterday.
and the country around betray the fire that is burning beneath.
Every now and then a little shake of the earth reminds the
are right.

just to

But

make the

circuit of Sicily.

—

Peril did I say
people of their peril.
Januarius is a sufficient protection.

— there

is aione.

St.

To Mrs. Masquerier H. C. R. writes "I have made an excursion through Salerno to Paestum, including the finest water
excursion to Amalfi.
Such
I thought of Masquerier all day.
rocks,
such ruffians
such temples,
I believe, after all,
the ruffians would have delighted him most, that is, provided
he could have found means to draw them without having his
throat cut while at the work.
Such wretches for us common
:

—

126

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

—

[Chap.

such glorious creatures for you artists
I have travI have ascended Vesuvius."
ersed Pompeii.
" Many a volume
In a letter to his brother, H. C.
says
has been written about this disinterred town (Pompeii). It
was buried by a shower of dust, and therefore without diffiThe most striking circumculty is being brought to light.
They are like baby
stance is the small size of the buildings.
houses.
But very interesting indeed is the detail of a Roman
the meanest of
The very ovens in the kitchens,
house.
the whole economy of domestic life,
conveniences,
baths,
temples, forums, courts of justice, everything appertaining to a
town of small size and rank. Not furniture only, but also
There are
food contained in metallic and wooden vessels.
My last
also fresco paintings, curious rather than beautiful.
More than half a century ago you
excursion was to Vesuvius.
read about this in the Curiosities of Art and Nature,' one of
my books. In spite of the exaggerations of school-boy fancy,
The picturesque line
the excursion surpassed my expectations.
round the rim of the outer crater, with the fine sunset views
on all sides, and, when night drew on, the rivulets of fire which
gradually brightened, or rather the vein-like currents which
diversified the broad surface, and the occasional eruptions from
the cone round the inner crater, all delighted me."
I followed the custom of the country in going to the opera
at the San Carlo Theatre, probably the noblest in the world.
The Scala, at Milan, alone produced the like effect on me. This
theatre at Naples is so placed that, on occasion when the back
is open, Vesuvius may be seen from the royal box in front.
When this mountain is the background to the dancing of the
Neapolitan peasants, the scene is incomparable,
save by a
scene which I shall soon mention, and from which, perhaps, the
idea in the present instance was taken.
Before leaving Naples, I must mention briefly the sight to
be generally beheld on the space before the sea, called the Molo,
where the Lazzaroni are fond of assembling. Here may often
be seen a half-naked fellow, who spouts or reads verses from a
MS. of unimaginable filth, and all in tatters. It is Tasso.
There is, I understand, a Tasso in the Neapolitan dialect. Or
it may be some other popular poet, to which an audience of
the lowest of the people is listening gravely.
And I do not
recollect having ever heard a laugh which would imply there
was anything by which a well-bred man would be offended.
Goethe has eloquently defended the Lazzaroni, and even eulopeople,

—

127

ITALY.

1830.]

gized them for their industrious habits ; which is by no means
Certainly, I saw nothing to
the irony one might imagine.
make me think ill of the Lazzaroni. If offended they are
ferocious, but they are affectionate, and are said to be honest
They will be praised for their piety
to an exemplary degree.
or derided for their superstition by men who would not differ
I know not whether
as to the facts they so variously designate.
the extreme poor of London, and, indeed, of any part of EngI say
land, all things considered, are not more to be pitied.
and out of this extremity of poverty
this of the extreme poor
;

for the Englishman than the
The Neapolitan professor
Neapolitan to make his escape.
of poetry receives from his pupils their honoraria in farthings.
An arrangement had been made that Richmond * and I
should accompany Von Sacken and Westphal to Sicily, on
their way to Greece ; and on the 6th of April we set out on
our journey to Sicily, which ought to be the finale, as it would
be the crown and completion of every Italian tour.

somewhat

less

difficult

H. C. R. to

dear Friends,

W. Pattisson and

— Many thanks

most acceptable joint and several
the very head of

17, 1830.

your very kind and
I must place you at
promptitude in reply

for

letter.

Sons.

Florence, July

correspondents for
and for variety of information
Go, run for the map, or
I had a delightful tour in Sicily.
you won't understand me. There, you see the northern coast,
between Palermo and Messina. Here are all the magnifiPalermo unites every
cent scenes of this most glorious island.
charm which mere nature can give. The five days' journey
a-muleback to Messina is over mountains, sea-shore, and valleys,
of which the perfume is so strong that a lady with weak nerves
would be oppressed. After two days at Messina, we proceeded
What think you of a theatre so built that, the
to Taormina.
back scenes opening, the spectators could see Mount Etna
This real fire is better than the real water at Sadler's Wells.
Then to Catania, built amid masses of black lava. Etna I did
not dare ascend.
Richmond went, and was rewarded with
noble views.
Then to Syracuse,
an awful place. This city
of two millions of men is shrunk into a mean town on a tongue
of land.
Not a spot worth seeing by the bodily eye, but to
!

—

An American

clergyman, with

whom

H. C. R. had fallen in by the way.

;

128

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

8l-

I was taken to a dirty
the eye of memory how glorious
cistern seventy women were washing, with their clothes tucked
a disgusting scene.
up, and themselves standing in a pool,
" Why, sir, this is the
" What do you bring me here for 1"
!

;

—

"
0 those rascally poets, again say
Plato did right to banish the liars from his republic. The
day before I was in good-humor with them, for I saw the very
rock that the Cyclop hurled at Ulysses.
To be sure, the cave
but yiHmporte. I saw the ear of Dionysius,
is not there now
a silly story of modern invention ; but it is the finest quarry
Continuing my ride, I came in four days to Girin the world.

Fountain of Arethusa

—

;

I must refer you to some book of travels ; enough for
to say that, having one day seen these miracles of art with
a guide, Richmond and I separated on the next, and each alone
spent two hours under the pillars of these Grecian temples, at
In front, the sea ; behind, a
least three thousand years old.

genti.

under mountains. This city had fourteen temples.
mere rubbish, but colossal those of two
Then we went on to
others consist of the columns entire.
Here lie sixty columns on the ground, like so many
Selinunte.
sheaves of corn left by the reaper an earthquake threw them
down. And then I sawSegeste, a temple in a wilderness. Not
a living thing did we see but wild-fowl. Then w^e went to
Alcamo (having omitted to go to Trapani and Marsala, which
You may serve a friend by giving him
are not worth seeing).
We were thirteen days in riding over somewhat
this account.
more than four hundred miles and we rested seven days on the
All the stories about
way.
I was, besides, a week at Palermo.

rich valley

The ruins

of two are

;

when asserted of the present times
and, except on the north coast, the accommodations are good.
banditti are sheer fable,

—

May 20th.
(Rome.) I went to my bid apartments in the
little as I liked Brunetti, I preferred to
Piazza di Spagna
bear " the ills I had, than fly to others that I knew not of."
From the Thompsons I heard an anecdote too rich and characteristic to be lost.
Mr. Severn * had sent to the late Exhibi" On a bat's back I
tion a painting of Ariel on a bat's back,
and had put over the head of Ariel a peacock's
do fly,"
feather.
It was rejected ; first, it was said, for its indecency.
At length the cause was confessed Cardinal Albani, the Secretary of State, had discovered in it a satire on the Romish
Church.
He interpreted the picture to represent an Angel
:

—

;

* The friend and biographer of Keats.

129

ITALY.

1630.]

astride over the Devil, but perceived in the peacock's feather
emblem of Papal vanity.

the

—

May 29th. An interesting talk with Bunsen about the
embarrassments of the Prussian government, pressed as it is
between the extreme liberality of Gesenius and Wegscheider,
at Halle, and the intolerance of those who support the established religion, such as Gerlich, whom, however, Neander,
though orthodox, does not support. Bunsen's remedy is,
" Let Gesenius be removed from Halle, where he does harm,
Wegscheider (who
to Berlin, where he will have his equals."
does not go so far as Paulus) w ould be hissed at Berlin, were
he to advance there what he promulgates at Halle.
With a numerous party of Germans, at a TratJune 2d.
toria beyond San Giovanni, in honor of a successful artist,
A cordial though humble supper, at
Krahl, leaving Borne.
I was touched when I heard the familsix pauls (3s.) each.
iar sounds from my Burschenzeit, when a vivat was sung to the
r

—

Scheidenden Bruder,

the

departing brother,

crown was put on his head.

Nothing

affects

&c.

laurel

much

partings.

H. C. R. to T. R.
Rome, June

26, 1830.

On the 10th of June we saw a sight, in its way one of the
the procession of the Pope at
most remarkable ever seen,
It was got up with great splenthe fete of Corpus Domini.

—

dor.

You

of course

know

that this fete celebrates the great

mystery of transubstantiation. All that is of rank in the Roman Church unites to do homage to the bread-God. The
Piazza of St. Peter is environed by a tented covering, which is
adorned with leaves and flowers and the procession, issuing
from the great door of the cathedral, makes the circuit of the
square, and re-enters the cathedral.
All the monastic orders,
canons, and higher clergy, all the bishops and cardinals,
attend, but the great object is His Holiness.
He is chaired,
and most artfully is the chair prepared. The Pope is covered
with an immense garment of white satin, studded w ith golden
stars.
His robe hangs in folds behind him, and is made to lie
as if his feet were there,
he acts kneeling.
In like manner
you see under the satin what you take to be his arms ; and
upon what look like his hands stands the Monstrance, within
which is the Host. On this the Pope fixed his eye intently,
and never once turned it aside, while his lips moved as if he
;

—

130

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

were absorbed in prayer, and not noticing the people, all of
as he drew near, threw themselves on their knees.
I
was at a window, and therefore without offence could keep my
position.
Behind His Holiness were carried two immense fans

whom,

of peacock's feathers ; and the Roman nobility followed in gala
Indeed, all were in gala dress,
spectators as well
It was certainly an imposing sight ; though placed
as actors.
as I was, I could see very clearly that the Pope was sitting

—

dresses.

most comfortably in an arm-chair, with his hands in his lap,
and no otherwise annoyed than by the necessity of keeping his
eyes fixed, as school-boys do, or try to do, without winking.
After the procession had passed I ran into the cathedral.
It
was nearly full, and it was an awful moment when the benediction was given.
I was out of sight of the chief performer,
but on a sudden the thousands who filled the cathedral, except
You might have heard a
a few heretics, were on their knees.
mouse stir. On a sudden every one rose, and triumphant
music rang out. God's representative had given his blessing
" There
of which representative Goethe says
to the faithful
is not a relic of primitive Christianity here ; and if Jesus Christ
were to return to see what his deputy was about, he would
run a fair chance of being crucified again." Mind, Goethe says
this, not I ; and I repeat it more for the point of the thing
than for its truth
On the 17 th and 18th of June I made an excursion of great
we went to Genzano
interest with a young German artist,
This is one of the most primitive,
to see the Feast of Flowers.
Genzano, as you
simple, and idyllic feasts ever seen in Italy.
will see in my account of my journey to Naples, is one of the
mountain towns beyond Albano, and under Monte Cavo. It
I went
Its situation is romantic.
is an ancient Latin city.
the first day to Aricia, also a delightful mountain town, where
We spent the
I stayed with simple-hearted excellent people.
next day in strolling in a romantic country, and in the evening
we went to the fete. Two long streets were paved with flowers.
The whole ground was covered with boughs of box, and
the centre was covered with the richest imaginable carpet of
flower-leaves.
These were arranged in the form of temples,
Also the Austrian,
altars, crosses, and other sacred symbols.
French, and Papal arms were in the same way formed, " like
Poppy-leaves, for instance, made
chalk on rich men's floors." *
;

—

* " Like forms, with chalk
Painted on rich men's floors, for one feast night"
Wordsworth's Sonnet. I. Personal Talk. Vol. IV.

p. 219.

131

ITALY.

1830.]

a brilliant red, which was the border of all the plot-grounds,
and various flowers of rich yellows, blues, &c,
or frameworks
were vised for the appropriate heraldic colors. The procession,
of course, was not to be compared with that of the Pope and
Children
cardinals on Corpus Domini, but it was pretty.
gaudily dressed, with golden wings like angels, carried the
signs of the Passion; priests and monks in abundance banners,
crosses ; and, borne by a bishop with great pomp, the MonAll
strance, before which all knelt, except a few foreigners.
not a
that was wanting to render the sight interesting was,
belief in the value of such shows, but a sympathy with the
;

;

—

feelings of others.

The great
time there

possible.

Church is to keep the
by frightening them and at the same

principle of the Catholic

faithful in subjection

;

an endeavor to make the shows as interesting as

—

June 28th.
In the evening, the Feast of the Vigil of Saint
Peter and Saint Paul.
It is much celebrated, and usually detains many foreigners in Rome, on account of the famous illuI accompanied Gotzenmination of the exterior of St. Peter's.
berger* and a Madame Louska, a German artiste with whom
he was intimate. There are peculiar ceremonies on this day,
And
all of which are noted down in the books of the Church.
I descended into the
the church itself too was in full dress.
subterranean church.
A very curious sight in this crypt.
Here are numerous low passages, only now and then open; toThere are many very old statues, some
day, to men only.
turned Christian. Among others, a
Grecian and Roman,
head of St. Peter manifestly clapped on to the body of a Roman
Senator.
After a bad supper at a Trattoria, we went to see the

—

illumination, which

first

had begun

at eight.

sight," as I

wrote to my brother, " followed, which is worth a pilgrimage,
being unforgetable."
Imagine St. Paul's blazing in the air,
graceful lines running from the Ball to the Stone Gallery, of a
pale yellow flame.
The clock strikes nine, and instantly the
illumination is lost in a blaze of lurid light.
A regular
corps of workmen are stationed at intervals about the dome,
and effect the change with marvellous celerity ; and there are
added fireworks from the adjacent Castle of St. Angelo.
My last days before I left Rome for the summer were spent in
reading Goethe about Rome.f It was when he was himself about

first

M Italianische Reise." Vol. XXIII.
Vol. XXIV.

German

artist.

Aufenthalt in Rom."

See

p. 74.

Goethes Werke.

Also "Zweiter

132

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY GRABS ROBINSON.

[Chap.

to depart that he wrote the wise sentence, " In jeder grossen

Trennung liegt ein Keim von Wahnsinn. Man muss sick hiiten
ihn nachdenklich auszubreiten und zu pflegen" *
It was when
he had written the first volume of his works,
in the opinion
that he wrote, " Wie wenig Spur
of many, his best works,
lasst man vm einem Leben zuriick;/"f
Goethe was not a vain

—

He thought little of what he actually did, compared
with the possibilities of his nature.
After spending a few days at Siena, where it is said the best

man.

Italian is spoken, and where certainly it seemed to me that
even the servant-maids had an agreeable pronunciation, we
When Mr. Finch
arrived, on the 15th of July, at Florence.
heard of my wish to spend the summer months in this favorite
" There are living, in a genteel part
place of resort, he said
of the town, two elderly ladies, highly respectable, who let
Nor are
their best apartments, but not to entire strangers.
they particularly cheap ; but there you will be at your ease.
He visits
Niccolini, the dramatic poet, is their intimate friend.
them regularly t wice a day but seldom, if ever, breaks bread
Such are Italian habits. Every evening there
in the house.
and
is a conversazione, attended by from six to ten friends
(This indeed
this particularly recommends the house to you."
Accordled me to resist all attempts to detain me at Siena.)
ingly, my first business, after taking coffee, was to go to
Mesdames Certellini, 1341, Via della Nuova Vigna and I was,
without any difficulty, at once installed, having a large sittingroom, and a bedroom beyond, in the piano secondo.
I was
pleased at once with their unpretending manners, and I had a
confidence in their integrity in which I was not disappointed.
I paid five pauls a day for my room, and the servants were to
Niccolini was with us for two hours in the evencook for me.
ing, with whom I immediately entered into discussion on German literature, of which he was as much an opponent as I was
a decided partisan.
In a lett er to my brother, dated August 15 th, I wrote " This
has been my daily life since I came here.
I spend my mornings, from six till three, in my room reading Machiavelli and
Alfieri.
Political works are my favorite reading now.
At
three I dine.
In the afternoon I lounge over the papers at
the Reading-room, a liberal institution, kept by M. Vieusseux, %
:

;

* " In every great separation there lies a germ of madness.
One must
thoughtfully beware of extending and cherishing it.'*
* kt How little trace of a life does one leave behind him."
\ Jean Pierre Vieusseux, a native of Leghorn, born of a Genevese family.

man

133

ITALY.

1830.]

at home,

whom Tuscany
and as

generally step

in.

owes much. From six to nine he is
brought a letter to him from Mr. Finch, I
There I see a number of the most distin-

guished literati in Italy, all Liberals, a large proportion of them
From nine to eleven there is
Neapolitans and Sardinians.
always a conversazione at home. Niccolini, the dramatic poet,
We talk
is the intimate friend of the house, and never fails.
on politics and on poetry, and never want subjects to dispute
about.
You will smile to hear that I am under the necessity
of defending Catholic emancipation in a country in which none
I have
but the Roman Catholic religion is legally recognized.
endured the heat very well. My breakfast throws me into a
perspiration.
At evening parties the gentlemen are allowed to
The other evening I
take off their coats and their neckcloths.
burnt my hand by heedlessly putting it on the parapet of a
I was returning from a
bridge ; yet it was then eight o'clock.
the spectators sitting in the
play performed by daylight,
open air, but in the shade."
July 22d.
I
was instructed by reading Pecchio's *
" History of the Science of Political Economy." He taught me
that the Italian writers had the merit of showing the effect of
commerce, agriculture, &c. on the moral state and happiness
of a country while English writers confined their inquiry to
the mere ivealth of nations.
Beccaria and Filangieri are their
prime writers, economists as well as philanthropists.
July 23d and 2Jfth.
I read these days a little known work
Nabucco,
being, under Oriental
by Niccolini, a tragedy,

—

;

—

He was

the founder, not only of the Reading-room above mentioned, but also
of several critital and literary periodicals of very high repute.
brief account
of him will be found in the Conversations Lexicon.
* This Pecchio I afterwards knew at Brighton. He was fortunate in marrying an estimable English lady, who survives him in retirement at Brighton.
He was a worthy man, of quiet habits, and much respected. His opinion was,
that though the science of the Italians had not supplied the want of liberty, it
had mitigated many evils: evils as often proceeding from ignorance as from the
H. C. R.
love of power and selfishness.
Giuseppe Pecchio was born at Milan in 1785. The occupation of Lombardy caused him to write a political work, in connection with his own country; and an attempt at insurrection, in which he was implicated, led to his
spending some time in Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal. He wrote works on
the latter two countries. He also visited Greece, and helped to write " A Picture of Greece in 1825."
The work to which H. C. R. refers is doubtless one
entitled Storia dell Economia pubblica in Italia, in which an account is given
of the substance of the principal Italian works on political economy. In 1823
Pecchio visited England, and, after his return from Greece, in 1825, settled in
this country.
In 1827, he married a lady at Brighton, and lived there till his
death, which took place in 1835. During his residence in England his mind
was active in observing the English people, and the results were given in several works, which were highly esteemed both for their ability and their spirit.

—

;;

134

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

names, the history of Buonaparte in his domestic relations. It
all his tragedies, declamatory, without passion or
is, like
character.
Niccolini made no secret of his liberal opinions
but he was an anxious, nervous, timid man, and unfit for
action.
His tragedy of " The Sicilian Vespers," though made
as little political as possible, being a domestic tragedy, could
not but contain passages capable of a dangerous application.
He told me that, on the publication, the French Minister said
" Monsieur
ought
to the Austrian Minister at Florence
I not to require the Grand Duke's government to suppress
it*?"
"I do not see," said the Austrian Minister, "that you
have anything to do with it. The letter is addressed to you,
but the contents are for me." Niccolini's dramatic works all
belong to the Classical school.
He is a stylist, and very
:

—

the Romantic school.
He blamed (as Paulus, at
Heidelberg, had done) our government for Catholic emancipa" Give the Romanists," he said, " full liberty
tion.
that they
have a right to ;
but political power on no account. They
will exercise it to your destruction when they can."
I confess
that T am less opposed to this opinion now than I was when I

hostile to

—

heard it.
Reading and society were the prime objects of interest during
my Florence summer I shall therefore, with one exception,
pass over journeys and sights without notice.
Among the frequenters of our evening conversazioni were a
Countess Testa and her brother Buonarotti, a judge. They
inherited this great name from a brother of Michael Angelo
and the judge possessed in his house a few graphic and literary
memorials of the great man. They were less fortunate in their
immediate ancestor. Their father was one of the very bad
;

men of the last generation. He was a partisan of the ComBut though a ferocious
mittee of Public Safety in 1794.
fanatic, he did not add to this the baseness of profiting by his
cruelty, or combine the love of gold with the thirst for blood.
He had no rapacity, and was as honest, in a certain narrow
When the French
sense of that word, as Robespierre himself.
revolution broke out, he caught the infection, abandoned his
family, and wrote to his wife that he released her from all obligations
he would be no longer an Italian, but a Frenchman,
and would have a French wife. So far, he kept his word.
He never returned, nor did he ever see his wife or children any
more.
He was in prison after the fall of Robespierre, and narrowly
;

135

ITALY.

1830.]

escaped deportation. He subsequently took part in the famous
conspiracy of Babeuf, the object of which was avowed to be
His life was spared, on the mercithe abolition of property.
ful suggestion that he was insane, and he lived many years at
Brussels as a language-master.
My political reading was interrupted by a proposal to be
one of a party in a pilgrimage to the nearest of the three TusWe set out on the 2d of August, drove to
can monasteries.
Pelago, about fifteen miles, and thence walked to the" Benedictine monastery, which has been an object of interest to English travellers, chiefly because one of our great poets has in-

troduced

its

name

into a simile
"

—

He called
who lay

His legions, angel forms,

entranced,

Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades,
High over-arched, embower." *
It must be the delight which the sound gives to every ear
susceptible of the beauty of verse, that excites a curiosity conBut as
cerning the place, the name of which is so introduced.

can only suffer disappointwith the present appearance of the
I could see
valley the description does not in the least agree.
but one little stream in it. It is by no means woody, and all
the trees now growing there (I presume that twenty years
have produced no change) are pine or fir trees, and of all trees
the least adapted to arched bowers are the fir and larch.
We reached Florence between eight and nine, and I went
far as

expectation

ment from the

raised, that

visit, for

straight to Vieusseux, impelled by mere curiosity, as if I had
a presentiment of the marvellous news I was about to hear
news, of which I wrote next day in my journal, that it had
afflicted me more than any I had heard since the fall of Napoleon ; and looking back now upon what had then occurred,
though the immediate consequences were other than I had expected, it is impossible to contemplate them without a mixture
of sorrow and shame.
One Englishman only was in the read" Any news?" I
ing-room, a language-master (Hamilton).
" None to-day."
asked.
"I have been at Camaldoli three
" Then you have not heard the great news \ n
" X
days."
•

—
—

—

" 0 " (with a voice of glee) " the King
have heard nothing."
of France has done his duty at last.
He has sent the Chamber of Deputies about their business, abolished the d
d
* " Paradise Lost."

Book

I.,

300 - 304.

;

136

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

Constitution and the liberty of the press, and proclaimed his
as absolute king."
" And that you call good
news V 9 I felt indignant, and never would speak to the man
afterwards.
I went up stairs ; Vieusseux was alone, and in evident affliction. He gave me an account of the ordinances
which Charles X. had issued ; but nothing had been heard of
what took place afterwards. " And what will the end be 1 "
" I know what the result will be," answered Vieusseux.
" It
will end in the driving of the Bourbons out of France,
perhaps in three days, perhaps in three weeks, perhaps in three
years ; but driven out they will be."
They were driven out at
the moment he was speaking, and they have not yet returned.
Are they driven out forever %
At Madame Certellini's were Niccolini, Pieri, and others of
my acquaintance, sitting in silence, as at a funeral ; all alike
confounded at the intelligence.
Heat and anxiety kept me awake at night.
August 5th.
Next day was lost to all ordinary occupations
nothing thought or talked of but what we expected to hear every
hour; each man, according to his temperament, anticipating
what he hoped, or what he feared. I had no doubt that we
should hear of bloody transactions. The reports were ludicrously contradictory.
August 7th.
Between ten and eleven I was in my bedroom,
when, hearing my name, I went into my sitting-room.
There
was Niccolini, pale as ashes. He had sat down, and exclaimed,
in sentences scarcely distinguishable, " Tutto e finito"
I was
enough master of myself to reply, Che ! finito ! Tutto e cominciato ! " for I recollected in a moment the commencement de la
He went on to inform me what he had heard from the
fin.
Austrian Minister in a few short sentences, that after three
days' fighting at Paris, La Fayette was at the head of the
National Guards ; a provisional government was established
the king had fled, nobody knew where.
Of the impression of
this news in Italy I have alone to write.
I went to the ReadAn Englishing-rooms. Both rooms were filled with company.
man came to me laughing, and said, not altogether meaning it
" Look at all these rascals
they cannot conceal their joy,
though they dare not speak out.
I would shoot them all if I
" You would have a good deal to do,
were the Grand Duke."
then," I answered in the same tone.
I came home and wrote

—

own power

—

letters to Rome, that is, to Mr. Finch and to Richmond.
Neither of them had heard of anything more than the ordi-

two

137

ITALY.

1830.]

Richmond ran about reading my letter, and was
threatened by the police with being sent to prison, as a
spreader of false tidings,
Mr. Finch drove out in his carriage,
and read my letter to all his friends. As far as he could learn,
no other information of these events arrived that day at Rome.
Such is the effect of fear. Mr. Finch wrote and thanked me
His letter was very characteristic. He said his
for my letter.
great friend, Edmund Burke, would have approved of the event,
and he blessed God that he had lived to know of this triumph
of rational liberty.
Not long after, Mayer wrote to inform me
of Finch's death, saying that the reception of the news I forwarded to him was his last pleasure in this world.
August lJjth.
Met to-day the one man living in Florence
whom I was anxious to know. This was Walter Savage Landor, a man of unquestionable genius, but very questionable
good sense ; or, rather, one of those unmanageable men,

nances.

—

Who

" Blest with huge stores of wit,
as much again to manage it."

want

Without pretending now

to characterize

him

(rather bold in

any time), I will merely bring together
the notes that I think it worth while to preserve concerning him
during this summer ; postponing an account of my subsequent
intercourse with him. I had the good fortune to be introduced
to him as the friend of his friends, Southey and Wordsworth.
He was, in fact, only Southey's friend. Of Wordsworth he then
professed warm admiration. I received an immediate invitation
This villa is within a few roods of that most classic
to his villa.
spot on the Tuscan Mount, Fiesole, where Boccaccio's hundred
tales were told. To Landor's society I owed much of my highest
enjoyment during my stay at Florence.
He was a man of florid complexion, with large full eyes, and
altogether a leonine man, and with a fierceness of tone well suited
his decisions being confident, and on all subjects,
to his name
whether of taste or life, unqualified each standing for itself,
not caring whether it was in harmony w ith what had gone beBut why
fore or would follow from the same oracular lips.
should I trouble myself to describe him % He is painted by a
master hand in Dickens's novel, " Bleak House," now in course
The comof publication, where he figures as Mr. Boythorn.
bination of superficial ferocity and inherent tenderness, so admirably portrayed in " Bleak House," still at first strikes every
stranger,
for twenty-two years have not materially changed
to attempt such a thing at

;

—

138

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

—

him,
no less than his perfect frankness and reckless indifference to what he says.
On August 20th I first visited him at his villa. There were
his wife, a lady who had been a celebrated beauty, and three
fine boys and a girl.
He told me something of his history.
He was from Warwickshire, but had a family estate in Wales.
Llanthony Priory belonged to him. He was well educated,
I forget where ; and Dr. Parr, he said, pronounced him one of
the best Latin verse writers.
When twenty-one, he printed
his Latin poem of " Gebir."
He was sent to Oxford, from
which he was expelled for shooting at the Master, Dr.
This was his own statement at a later day, when he repeated
to me his epigram on Horse-Kett, a learned Professor so nick-

—
.

named,

—

The Centaur

not fabulous,' said Young.

Had Young known Kett,
He had said, Behold one put together wrong;
'

The head

horseish

Was

never seen

The

rest

human

;

but, what yet
or beast,

man
;

or, at least,

Is Kett."

His father wished him to study the law, saying " If you
you £ 350, or perhaps £ 400, per annum. If not, you shall have £120, and no more; and I do
not wish to see your face again." Said Landor " I thanked
my father for his offer, and said, I could take your £ 350,
and pretend to study, and do nothing. But I never did deceive you, nor ever will.'
So I took his £ 120, and lived with
great economy, refusing to dine out, that I might not lose my
independence." He did not tell me then or afterwards the
:

will study, I will allow

rest of his history.

Though he meant to live and die in Italy, he had a very bad
opinion of the Italians.
He would rather follow his daughter
to the grave than to the church with an Italian husband.
No
wonder that, with this turn of mind, he should be shunned.
The Italians said, " Every one is afraid of him." Yet he was
respected universally.
He had credit for generosity, as well
as honesty and he deserved it, provided an nmple allowance
wT as made for caprice. He was conscious of his own infirmity
of temper, and told me he saw few persons, because he could
not bear contradiction.
Certainly, I frequently did contradict
him ; yet his attentions to me, both this and the following
year, were unwearied.
He told me of having been ordered to leave Florence for in;

139

ITALY.

1830.]

He asked for leave to return
solence towards the government.
The minister said a passport could
for a few days on business.
not be given him, but that instructions would be given at the
admit him, and his continuance would be overhe wished it. He has remained unmolested ever

frontiers to

looked

since.

Among

the antipathies which did not offend me, was his
Lord Byron, which was intense. He spoke with indignation of his " Satire " on Rogers, the poet and told me
which I afterwards heard at first hand from Lady
the story
of Lord Byron's high glee at forcing Rogers to
Blessington
Of
sit on the cushion under which lay that infamous lampoon.
Of Dante,
his literary judgments the following are specimens
about a seventieth part is good of Ariosto, a tenth of Tasso,
He declared alyes, one line.
not a line worth anything,
most all Wordsworth to be good. Landor was as dogmatic on
He possessed a considerable collection
painting as on poetry.
His judgment was amusingly at variance with
of pictures.
popular opinion. He thought nothing of Michael Angelo as a
painter and, as a sculptor, preferred John of Bologna. Were
he rich, he said, he would not give £ 1,000 for " The Transfiguration," but ten times as much for Fra Bartolomeo's " St.
Mark." Next to Raphael and Fra Bartolomeo, he loved PeruHe lent me several volumes of his " Imaginary Diagino.
logues," which I read with mixed feelings.
I am ready to
adopt now the assertion of the Quarterly Review on the whole
" We know no one able to write anything so ill as
collection
dislike of

—

;

—

;

the worst, or so well as the best.
Generally speaking, the
most highly polished are those in which the ancients are interlocutors ; and the least agreeable, the political dialogues between the moderns."
On the 2 2d of August I was surprised by the sudden appearance of Richmond ; and, while with him in the Hall of Niobe,
heard my name called out in German.
The voice came from
the son of Goethe, who was on his way to Rome. He and
Richmond breakfasted with me the next day. Goethe was
very chatty ; but his conversation on this day, and on the 31st,
when he took leave of me, left a very unpleasant impression
on me. I might have been rude, if my veneration for the
father had permitted me to be perfectly free towards the son.
I kept my temper with difficulty towards a German who reproached the princes of his native land for their " treachery
towards Napoleon," whom he praised. I could allow him to

140

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

abuse the marshals of France, but not the German Tugenbund
and General York, the King of Prussia, (fee, &c. The King
of Saxony alone among the princes was the object of his

he alone " kept his word."
Rome, a few weeks afterwards, I heard
that he had that day been buried, the Germans attending the
funeral seeing in him the descendant of their greatest man.
September 21st.
Read to-day a disagreeable book, only because it was the life, by a great man, of one still greater,
by Boccaccio, of Dante. I did not expect, in the voluminous
conteur, an extraordinary degree of superstition, and a fantastic hunting after mystical qualities in his hero.
He relates
that Dante's mother dreamt she lay in of a peacock, and Boccaccio finds in the peacock four remarkable properties, the
great qualities of the "Divina Commedia" namely, the tail has
a hundred eyes, and the poem a hundred cantos its ugly feet
indicate the mean lingua volgare ; its screaming voice the
"
frightful menaces of the " Inferno" and " Purgatorio \ and
the odoriferous and incorruptible flesh the divine truths of the
poem.
October 16th.
T was to have returned to Rome with
Schmidt ; but he was prevented, for the time, by the arrival
of the Spences, the parents of the lady whom he afterwards
I
married, and is now living with, in prosperity, in Tuscany.
was much pleased with the Spences, who are now in the first
We knew each other by name, having a
line of my friends.
common friend in Masquerier, of whom he spoke with great
regard.
Spence is known to the world most advantageously,
as the joint author, with Kirby, of the Text-book in English
on Entomology * and also, but not with like authority or reHis first
pute, as an ingenious writer on Political Economy.
pamphlet, which made a noise, and for a time was very popuHe
lar, was entitled " Britain Independent of Commerce."
was, and is, a man of remarkably clear head and good sense.
He rather affects hostility to metaphysics and poetry " Because," he says, " I am a mere matter-of-fact man." But, with
all that, he seems to like my company, who am ignorant of all
science,
and that shows a freedom from narrow-minded attachments.
November 16th.
(Rome.) I was at Bunsen's for the first
praise

;

for

On my

arrival at

—

;

—

;

—

* " An Introduction to Entomology; or, Elements of the Natural History
of Insects. With a Scientific Index. Ry the Rev. William Kirby and William Spence, Esq." 4 vols. Several editions of this valuable work have been
published. Professor Oken translated it into German.

141

ITALY.

1830.]

The confusion which prevailed over all Eutime this season.
rope, in consequence of the last French Revolution, had renThe accession of the Whigs this
dered everything uncertain.
winter, and the threatened changes in Germany and Italy,
made all political speculations hazardous, and diplomatists
were at fault ; but the popular power was in the ascendant,
and liberal opinions were in fashion. This evening, Bunsen
related an anecdote on the circumstances attending the " Ordinances," tending to show that very serious consequences arose
from the French Minister, Polignac, having dwelt so long in
England as to confound the English with the French sense of
In a military report laid before him, on
a material word.
which the Ordinances were issued, it was stated that the Paris
troops were 15,000 effectives ; and he understood, as it would
be in English, that these were effective. But unless the words
et presences are added, it means in French that the number
that is, the rated number.
stated is what ought to be there
The troops were not actually there, and the issue of the con\

well known.
November 29th.

flict is

—

I had been introduced to Thorwaldsen, a
not attractive in his manners, and rather coarse in perHe was at work on
Kolle had taken me to his studio.
son.
I thought it slim, and rather mean ;
his figure of Lord Byron.
but I would not set up for a judge nor was it far advanced.
The terms on which he undertook the work for the subscribers
were thought creditable to his libera thousand guineas

man

•

—

ality.

—

On the 30th of November died Pius VIIL,
December 2d.
which threw Rome into an anomalous state for an uncertain
time. I accompanied a small party to see the body lying in state,
a sight neither imposing to the senses, nor exciting to the
sensibility.
On a high bed, covered with crimson silk, lay the
corpse in its priestly robes, with gloves, and diamond ring, &c.
The people were allowed to pass through the apartment indiscriminately
and, within an enclosure, priests were chanting a
solemn service. Afterwards I saw the body in a chapel at St.
Peter's, lying in state on a black bier, dressed in the episcopal
robes and mitre.
the forehead
The face looked differently,
overhanging,
but it had then a mask of wax. The feet projected beyond an iron railing, for the faithful to kiss.
December 12th.
I was at St. Peter's again when the funeral rites were performed.
The music was solemn and affecting.
I do not recollect seeing where the body was deposited

—

;

—

;

142

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

It is placed in its last abode on the burial of
for the present.
the next Pope. This is the custom.
I must now go back to December 2d.
In the evening, about
eight, on my way to attend the weekly party at Bunsen's, I
went down a back street to the left of the Corso. I was sauntering idly, and perhaps musing on the melancholy sight of
the morning, and the probable effect of a new sovereign on the
Romish Church, when I felt something at my waist. Putting
my hand to the part, I found my watch gone, with its heavy
gold chain ; and a fellow ran forward.
I ran after him, and
shouted as loud as I could, " Stop thief " I recollected that
" Stop thief" was not Italian, but could not recollect the word
ladrone ; and the sense of my folly in calling "Stop thief"
made me laugh, and impeded my progress. The pickpocket
was soon out of sight, and the street was altogether empty.
It is lucky, indeed, that I did not reach the fellow, as there is
no doubt that he would have supported the dexterity of his finIn the mean
gers by the strength of his wrist, and a stiletto.
I walked back, and,
while, my hat was knocked off my head.
seeing persons at the door of the cafe, related my mishap, and
my hat was brought to me. At Bunsen's, I had the condolence of the company, and was advised to go to the Police
which I did the next day. I related my story and though I
gave a hint, as advised, that I was willing to give fifty or sixty
dollars for my lost property, I was listened to with gentlemanly indifference.
I could hardly get an intimation that any
concern would be taken about the matter only my card was
taken, I supposed, in case the thief should wish to restore the
watch to me of his own accord. I was told that, for a fee,
persons made it their business to take a description of the
!

;

watch

to watchmakers, &c.

money

at the office, I

;

but,

when

offered to

leave

was told I must see after that myself.
I did give a couple of
I soon saw I could have no help there.
dollars to a sort of agent, who was to make inquiries, which
profited nothing and this raised my loss to somewhat more
than £ 40.
However, this same evening, another incident took place
which was a source of great pleasure to me, not only during
my residence in Rome, but long afterwards. Madame Bunsen
said to me, " There is a lady I should like to introduce to you."
I answered, impertinently, "Do you mean me to fall in love
W ith her'? " She was certainly very plain but a tall person,
;

;

with a very intelligent countenance, and, indeed, a command-

;

143

ITALY.

1830.]

ing figure, should have secured her from the affronting ques" Yes, I do," she replied ; and she was right.
Thio was
tion.
the Hon. Miss Mackenzie, a descendant of the Earl of Seaforth,
She was of a family .long proscribed as being
in Scotland.
Her father was restored, I
adherents of the House of Stuart.
understood, to the Barony only of Seaforth, and had been GovI found, however,
ernor of one of the West India islands.
that her distinction at Home did not depend merely on her
family, but that she had the reputation of being a woman of
taste and sense, and the friend of artists.
I was, therefore,
gratified by an invitation to call on her next day.
On my call" You are come very opporing, she received me laughing.
for I have just received a letter in which
tunely," she said ;
you are named. It is from Mr. Landor.
He writes
I wish
some accident may have brought you acquainted with Mr.
Robinson, a friend of Wordsworth.
He was a barrister, and,
notwithstanding, both honest and modest,
a character I
never heard of before ; indeed, I have never met with one who
was either.' " This, of course, fixed me in Miss Mackenzie's
favorable opinion, and the intimacy ripened quickly.
Through
her I became acquainted with artists, &c, and in some measure she supplied the loss of Lord Northampton's house, which
was not opened to parties during the season, in consequence of
the death of Lady Northampton.
Among my acquaintances was a sculptor,
December 3d.
Ewing, whom I wished to serve; and understanding he originally worked in small, making miniature copies of famous antique statues, I intimated a wish to have something of that
kind from him for which he expressed himself gratefully.
He, however, ultimately succeeded in inducing me to sit for
my bust, which he executed in marble. The bust has great
merit, for it is a strong likeness, without being disgusting.*
December 25th.
To relieve myself from the unenjoyable
Italian reading, which was still a labor, I occasionally allowed
myself to read German ; and at this time Menzel's Deutsche
It is a piquant
Literatar afforded me much amusement.
work.
In a chapter on the German Religionists, he classifies
the different bodies subjectively calling the Roman Catholic
system Sinnenglaitben, from the influence of the senses
ortglaitben (word-faith) ; and the
the Lutheran scheme,
religion of the Pietists, Gefilhlsglauben (faith of the feelings).
It was thus I was employed at the close of the year at
'

—

—
;

—

* This bust

now

in the possession of H. C. R.'s niecet Mrs. Robinson.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

144
Rome,

attempt to master a language and literature
was already too old.

in the vain

which

for

[Chap.

1831.

H. C. R. to T. R,
January

27, 1831.

have been within the walls of five Italian houses at evening parties at three, music, and no conversation all, except
one, held in cold dark rooms, the floors black, imperfectlycovered with drugget, and no fire conversation, to me at least,
the topics, theatre, music,
very dull,
that may be my fault
personal slander for religion, government, literature, were genIf ever religion or goverally excluded from polite company.
ernment be alluded to, it is in a tone of subdued contempt; for
though at Florence I saw many professed literati, here I have
not seen one
and, except at one house, of which the mistress
is a German, where tea was handed round, I have never seen
even a cup of water offered
I

;

—

;

—

January 30th.
I heard, partly from Miss Denman, and
partly from the artists, where Flaxman lived when he came to
Rome, and that it was in a sort of chocolate-house, formerly
kept by three girls who were so elegant as to be called "the
Graces " ; but I was informed that they lived to be so old, that
they became " the Furies." One I had heard was dead.
I
ordered some chocolate, and inquired of one of the women
wdiether she recollected an English sculptor, Flaxman, living
" No," she did not.
with her many years before.
I pressed
my questions. At length she asked, " Was he married ? "
" Yes."
Then came the conclusive question, " Had he a

—

hump

give the strong word, for she said

Non

c/obbo?"

and on my saying, " Yes," she clasped her hands, and exclaimed:
"0, he was an angel!
they were both angels." Then she
ran to the staircase, and cried out " Do, sister, come down,
here 's a gentleman who knew Humpy"
She came down, and

—

kinds of questions followed.
Was he dead ? Was she
" He was so affectionate,
praises of his goodness.
so good, so generous,
anxious to be
never gave trouble,
kind to everybody." But neither did they recollect his name,
nor did they know anything of him as an artist. They only
knew that he was " Humpy," and an " Angel." I never heard
Flaxman mentioned at Rome but with honor. I heard there was,
in a shop, a portrait of him in oils, but I was unable to find it.

then
dead

all

Then

—

145

ITALY.

1831.]

C. R. to T. E.

January

27, 1831.

Since the incarceration of the Cardinals, the city has been
On the 12th of December,
only a little more dull than usual.
the day before their imprisonment, I went to look at their
miserable little lodgings ; very few have fireplaces, and some
not even stoves. You know that the election is by ballot, and
Twice a day the
that two thirds of the votes must concur.
And idlers
ballot papers are examined and regularly burnt.
are to be seen every day after eleven o'clock on the Monte
Cavallo, watching for the smoke that comes from an iron flue.
When it is seen, they cry " Ecco ilfumo ! No Pope to-day."
It is quite notorious that there are parties in the Sacro Collec/io,
and hitherto their bitterness is said to have gone on increasing
rather than diminishing.
The profane are, as it happens, very
merry or very wrathful at the delay,
so injurious to the city.
During the widowhood of the Church, there can be no Carnival, and that must, if at all, be now in less than a fortnight.
The leaders, Albani and Barnetti, are the objects of daily reproach.
The lampoons or pasquinades during the conclave
have been famous for centuries. I have seen several, and
shall bring a few home with me as curiosities ; but I have
found little wit in them. The most significant is a dialogue
between the Santo Spirito and the City of Eome. The Santo
The
Spirito proposes successively all the leading cardinals.
City has objections to all. At length the Santo Spirito is tired
out, and gives the choice to the City, which fixes on an old man
And he is chosen only on condition that
in a stage of dotage.
he should do nothing.
Every day the food that is carried in to the cardinals is examined, that no secret letters may be sent. Indeed all possible precautions are taken, as if the cardinals were as corrupt
as the electors of an English borough.
The other day, objecting to a sensible abbe, that I could not comprehend how the
Emperor of Austria, &c. should have a veto on the act of the
Holy Spirit (for all the pretensions of the Catholic Church, like
those of the Quakers, rest on the assumption of the direct and
immediate interference of the Holy Spirit), he answered "And
why should not Providence act by the instrumentality of an
:

—

emperor or king "
In the mean while, in consequence of this delay, the lodgings are empty, and the foreigners unusually few.
One inno*?

VOL.

II.

146

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

—

[Chap.

vation has been permitted
the theatres are open, and the
ambassadors give balls. But a real Carnival
that is, masking
would be almost as bad as a Reformation. However,
there is a current prophecy, according to which the election
ought to take place to-morrow. We shall see

—

February

23, 1831.

Four days afterwards, 31st January, 1831, while chatting
with a countryman in the forenoon, I heard a discharge of
I left my sentence unfinished, rushed into the street,
cannon.
already full of people, and ran up Monte Cavallo.
It was
already crowded, and I witnessed in dumb show the proclamation of the new Pope from the balcony of the palace.
No
great interest seemed really to be felt by the people in the
street, but when I talked with the more intelligent, I found
that the election gave general satisfaction.
Bunsen, the Prussian Minister, and in general all the Liberals, consider the
choice as a most happy one.
Cardinal Cappellari has the reputation of being at the same time learned, pious, liberal, and
prudent.
The only drawback on his popularity is his character
of monk.
This makes him unpopular with many who have no
means of forming a personal judgment. There was, however,
it
one consequence of the election, independent of the man,
The solemn
assured the people of their beloved Carnival.
procession from the Quirinal to St. Peter's presented nothing
remarkable ; but on Sunday, the 6th, the coronation took place,
a spectacle so august and magnificent, that it equalled all

—

So huge an edifice is St. Peter's that, though
imaginings.
the decently dressed people of Rome had free entrance, it
was only full, not crowded. I was considerate enough to go
early, and so lucky, that I had even a seat and elevated stand
in an excellent situation, and witnessed every act of sacrifice
and adoration. All the cardinals and bishops and high clergy
The military, the paraattended His Holiness, seated aloft.
phernalia of the Roman Church, made a gorgeous spectacle.
Nor was the least significant and affecting object the burning
tow, which flashed and was no more, while the herald cried
aloud, "So passes away the glory of the world," a truth
that is at this moment felt with a poignancy unknown to the
Roman hierarchy since it was endowed with the gift of ConThe Pope was consecrated a bishop, he administered
stantine.
mass, he received the adoration (the word used here) of the
The bishops
cardinals, who kissed his slipper, hand, and face.

all

147

ITALY.

1831.]

were admitted only to the hand, and the priests advanced no
higher than the foot.

The excitement of
scarcely subsided

this

most imposing of solemnities had

when another excitement succeeded

it,

which lasted during the remainder of my abode at Home. Almost immediately the report was spread that the Legations were

My journal, during the greater
in a state of insurrection.
part of the next three months, is nearly filled with this subIt is not possible now to recall to mind the fluctuations
ject.
I gave to my acquaintance the
of feeling which took place.
advice of my friend Bottom, " But wonder on till truth makes
In the little anxiety I felt I was perhaps as
all things plain."
foolish as the Irishman in the house afire, "I am only a
lodger."

C. R.

Pattisson, Esq., and his Sons.
Florence, 14th June,

....

1831.

Englishmen, are so absorbed in the politics of the day, and have been so for so long
a time, as to be scarcely aware of the stimulating situation in
which I have been placed, arising out of a state of uncertainYou have perty and expectation almost without a parallel.
haps heard that the larger part of the subjects of the Pope
renounced their allegiance, and that the government, being
I suspect you, with all other

worn out, subsisting only by the sufferance of the great
Catholic powers, and retaining the allegiance of the capital
merely by the subsistence it afforded to its idle population,
seemed on the brink of dissolution. Rome was left without
troops, and the government without revenue.
For weeks we
utterly

Had he come, there might have been a
expected the enemy.
of the Trasteverini (a sort of Birmingham Church-andKing mob), who live beyond the Tiber, but there would have
been no resistance.
In imbecility, however, the insurgent
government rivalled the Papal, and, as you have perhaps heard,
the Italian revolution was suppressed with even more ease than
it was effected.
The truth is, that but for the intervention of
Austria, the Italian governments (with the exception of Tuscany) had contrived to render themselves so odious to the
people, that any rebellion, supported by the slightest force,
was sure to succeed. A single Austrian regiment, however,
was enough to disperse all the revolutionists in the peninsula
riot

148
the

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBIXSON.

moment they found

chat the

[Chap.

French would not make war*

in their behalf.

an insulated incident on Wednesday, the 16th of
Breakfasting at the Aurora, and drinking milk in
my chocolate, I was requested to sit in the back part of the
room, where it could not be seen that I was drinking a prohiln
I find

February.

tied article.

—

At the San Pietro in Yinculis, I was
February 27th.
amused by seeing a sweet child, five or six years old, kiss with
a childish fervor the chains of St. Peter. The good priest, their
This led to a few words
on relics between me and him. He belonged to the honest
and simple-hearted. " Is it quite certain that these are really
" You are not called on to beSt. Peters chains 1 " I asked.
" it is no article of faith."
lieve in them," he answered
" But do you permit the uneducated to believe what you do
u We do not disbelieve. All we can
not yourselves believe
possibly know is this for ages beyond human memory, our anWe do not think they would
cestors have affirmed their belief.
have willingly deceived us. And then the belief does good.
It does no harm, surely." This
It strengthens pious feelings.
is what the priests are perpetually falling back on.
They are
utilitarians.
I coidd get no further with this priest. He asked
questions of me in return and seemed to dose all his dislike
of the Anglican Church when I told him, to his astonishment,
that we had not only bishops, but archdeacons, canons, and
minor canons. On this he exclaimed, with an amusing earnestness, " The English Church is no bad thing."
March 17th.
Mayer took me to a soiree at Horace Verthe palace of the French Acadenet's, on the Pincian Hill,
my. It was quite a new scene to me. Xothing like it had
come before me at Rome. French only was spoken, and of
course the talk was chiefly on politics and the state of Rome.
Twentv highI found the young artists by no means alarrued.
spirited, well-built young men had nothing to fear from a Roman mob in a house built, like the Medici Palace, upon an
elevation.
Horace Yemet was,
It would stand a siege well.
beyond all doubt, a very clever man ; yet I doubt whether any
picture by him could ever give me much pleasure.
He had
the dangerous gift of great facility. I was once in his studio
when he was at work. There were a dozen persons in the
custode, could not suppress a smile.

;

—

V—

;

—

room, talking at their ease.

They did not disturb him

in the

149

ITALY.

1831.]

On another occasion I saw a number of portraits about
they seemed to me execrable ; but they might be the work of
pupils.
Vernet's vivacity gave me the impression of his being
a man of general ability, destined to give him a social, but an

least.

evanescent, reputation.

H. C. R. to T. R.
Rome, April

1831.

During the last month the news of the day and Italian
reading have shared my attention.
I have had little to do
with religious ceremonies.
I did, however, witness the blessing of the palms ; and I have heard the Miserere once.
Branches of the palm are peeled, and the peel is cut, and
.

and braided, and curled into all sorts of fantastic
Each cardinal, bishop, and priest holds one, and there
is a long detail of kissing.
The solemn step of the procession,
the rich dresses of the cardinals, and the awful music, would
have made a stronger impression if I had not witnessed the
coronation.
The Miserere is unlike all other music. It is sung
without any accompaniment of instruments, and is deeply
affecting, and every now and then startling.
I was so much
touched that I should have believed any story of its effect on
those who are not nearly so insensible to music as you know
plaited,

forms.

to be.

—

A supper given to Cornelius in the Villa Albani.
April 7 th.
The eating bad ; but I sat
Gotzenberger was the impresario.
There were many persons of note, amongst
next Thorwaldsen.
others Bunsen ; and in all there were sixty present, to do honor to a man who did not afterwards disappoint the expectations formed of him.
W.

Landor to H.

C. R.
April, 1831.

It is now several days since I read the book you recommended to me, " Mrs. Leicester's School " ; and I feel as if I owed a
debt in deferring to thank you for many hours of exquisite
delight.
Never have I read anything in prose so many times
over, within so short a space of time, as " The Father's Wedding-day."
Most people, I understand, prefer the first tale,
but others could have writin truth a very admirable one,
ten it. Show me the man or woman, modern or ancient, who
tould have written this one sentence " When I was dressed

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

150
in

my new

frock, I

wished poor

mamma

was

alive, to see

was on papa's wedding-day and I ran to
How natural, in a
station at her bedroom door."

fine I

;

[Chap. &

how

favorite

little girl, is

Richardson would have
given his " Clarissa," and Rousseau his " Heloi'se," to have imagined it. A fresh source of the pathetic bursts out before us,
and not a bitter one. If your Germans can show us anything
comparable to what I have transcribed, I would almost undergo a year's gurgle of their language for it. The story is adincomparable, inimitable
mirable throughout,
Yours, &c,
this incongruity, this impossibility

—

W. Landor.

—

May Jf.th.
In the evening I was with my friend Miss
She asked me whether I had heard any reports
Mackenzie.
I said she
connecting her in any way with Thorwaldsen.
must be aware that every one in a gossiping world took the
liberty of talking about the private affairs of every one \ that
I had heard it said that it was understood that Thorwaldsen was
to marry her ; and that the cause of the contract being broken
She smiled, and desired me to
reflected no dishonor on her.
I said, simply that
say what that cause was understood to be.
he had formed a connection with an Italian woman, which he
did not dare to break.
She threatened his life, and he thought
Miss Mackenzie said she believed this to be
it was in danger.
the fact, and on that ground Thorwaldsen begged to be released.
She added, that he was very culpable in suffering the
affair to go on so long.
I left Rome early on the morning of the 6th of May.
Goethe says, in his " Italian Journey," that every one who
leaves Rome asks himself,
When shall I be able to come here
again ? "
There is great unity of effect produced by Rome.
It is the city of tombs and ruins.
The environs are a pestiferous marsh, and on all sides you have images of death.
What aged nobleman was it who preferred his dead son to any
living son in Christendom ]
Who is there who does not prefer
the ruins of Rome to the new buildings of London and Paris ]
May 24-th.
(Florence.)
I was glad to renew my acquaintance w ith W. S. Landor, which lasted with increased pleasure
during my second residence at Florence.
My evening walks
to Fiesole, and returns after midnight, were frequent and most
delightful, accompanied by a noble mastiff dog, who deserves
honorable mention from me.
This dog never failed to accom'

—

151

ITALY.

1831.]

pany me from Landor's villa to the gate of Florence and I
could never make him leave me till I was at the gate and
then, on my patting him on the head, as if he were conscious
his protection was no longer needed, he would run off rapidly.
the color of
The fireflies on the road were of a bright yellow,
I would name them
the moon, as if sparks from that flame.
;

;

—

" earth-stars," as well as " glow-worms," or " fireflies."
I made my first call on a character, whose
May 27th.
She was one
parties I occasionally attended in the evening.

—

of three remarkable Italian women mentioned by Lady MorShe was an old woman, more than
gan,
all of whom I saw.
Her antiseventy years of age, but a very fluent talker.

—

Buonapartism pleased me. This was the Marchioness Sacrati.
Her husband left her poor,
In her youth she was handsome.
and she obtained a pension from the Pope, in the character of
a vedova pericoiante (" a widow in danger ") ; it being suggestThis is a
ed that, from poverty, her virtue might be in peril.
known class perhaps, I should say, a satirical name. She
I saw men of
lived in stately apartments, as suited her rank.
rank, and officers, and very smart people at her parties, but
She herself was the best talker of the party,
very few ladies.
more frequently in French than Italian. It happened that,
one evening, I went before the usual hour, and was some time
with her tete-a-tete. It was a lucky circumstance, for she spoke
more freely with me alone than she could in mixed company ;
and every word she said which concerned the late Queen was
worth recollecting. For, though the Marchioness might not be
an unexceptionable witness, where she could have a motive to
misrepresent, yet I should not disbelieve what she said this
evening.
Something led me to ask whether she had been in
" You will not think betEngland, when she smiled and said
ter of me when I tell you that I went as a witness for your
" But you were not summoned ?"
Queen."
"O no! I
could say nothing that was of use to her.
All I could say was
that when I saw her in Italy, she was always in the society
that suited her rank
and that I saw nothing then that was
objectionable.
She requested me to go, and she was so un;

—

;

—

" You saw, then, her
I could not refuse her."
" 0 yes
Procter eur-General, Monsieur Brougham."
That
" Take care, MaMonsieur Brog-gam was a grand coquin"

happy that

—
—

—

" N'importe ;
dame, what you say he is now Chancellor."
" What makes you use such strong
e'est un grand coquin."
" Because, to answer the purposes of his ambilanguage ] "
;

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

152

[Chap.

—

" Indeed "
he forced the Queen to come to England."
The Queen told me so and Lady Hamilton confirmed it.
Why are you here 1 She
I said to her when I first saw her,
My lawyer made me come. I saw him at St. Omer,
said
and I asked him whether I should go to England. He said.
If you are conscious of your innocence, you must go.
If you
are aware of weaknesses, keep away.' "
The Marchioness
" Monsieur, quelle femme, meme du
raised her voice and said
tion,

—

;

avouera a son avocat qu'elle a des foiblesses?
C'etoit un traitre ce Monsieur Brog-gam."
I did not appear
" One day I was alone with
convinced by this, and she added
him, when I said, Why did you force this unhappy woman
He laughed, and replied It is not my fault.
to come here ]
"
If she is guilty, I cannot make her innocent.'
I also asked her whether she knew the other lawyer, MonThe change in her tone was very remarkable,
sieur Denman.
and gave credibility to all she said. She clasped her hands,
and exclaimed, in a tone of admiration "0, c'etoit un ange,
ce Monsieur Denman.
II n'a jamais doute de l'innocence de la
Reine."
Though the Marchioness herself did not, at first, intimate any opinion on the subject of the Queen's guilt or innocence, yet she spoke in terms of just indignation of the King,
and of her with more compassion than blame.
It was some weeks after this that I, being alone with Madame Sacrati, she again spoke of the Queen, and, to my surprise, said she was convinced of her innocence, but inveighed
against her for her coarseness, and insinuated that she was
mad. This reminds me that dear Mary Lamb, who was the
very contrast, morally speaking, to Madame Sacrati, once said
" They talk about the Queen's innocence.
I should not think
the better of her, if I were sure she was what is called innoThere was a profound truth in this. She, doubtless,
cent."
meant that she thought more of the mind and character than
of a mere act, objectively considered.
I heard to-day from Niccolini an account of
June 13th.
When his " Nabucco "
his dealings with the Grand Duke.
was published, by Capponi, the Emperor of Austria requested
The Grand Duke
the Grand Duke to punish Niccolini for it.
replied to the Austrian Minister " It is but a fable ; there are
no names. I will not act the diviner, to the injury of my
Niccolini was Professor of History and Mythology,
subject."
The proin the Academy of Fine Arts, under the French.
fessorship was abolished on the Restoration, and Niccolini was
bas peuple,

—

153

ITALY.

1831.]

librarian ; but, being dissatisfied with the government
administration of the academy, he demanded his dismission.
The Grand Duke said " Why so] I am satisfied with you."

made

the boldness to reply, 11 Your Highness, both must be
And he did retire. But when the professorship
satisfied."
was restored, he resumed his office.
During the latter part of my residence in Italy, I was more
And
frequent than ever in my attendance at the theatres.
one remark on the Italian drama I must not omit ; indeed, I

He had

ought to have made

before, as

was forced on me at Na-

every modern play, almost without exception,
was founded on incidents connected with judicial proceedings,
In Naples esa singular circumstance, easy to explain.
pecially, but in all Italy, justice is administered secretly, and
the injustice perpetrated under its abused name constitutes
Even when this is not
one of the greatest evils of social life.
to be attributed to the government, or the magistrate, in the
particular case, the bad state of the law permits it to be done ;
and secrecy aggravates the evil, .and perhaps even causes unNow, it is because
just reproach to fall on the magistrate.
men's deep interest in these matters finds no gratification in
the publicity of judicial proceedings, that the theatre supplies
the place of the court of justice ; and, for a time, all the plots
of plays, domestic tragedies, turned on the sufferings of the
such as the Pie voleuse ; on asinnocent falsely accused,
suming the name and character of persons long absent, like
the Faux Martin Guerre ; * the forging of wills, conflicting
testimony, kidnapping heirs, the return of persons supposed to
incidents which universally excite sympabe dead, thy.
Our reports of proceedings in courts of justice, while
they keep alive this taste, go far towards satisfying it. In
other respects, the Italian stage is very imperfectly supplied
with a Repertoire. The frigid rhetoric of Alfieri has afforded
few subjects for the stage, and Niccolini still fewer. 'Gozzi is
forgotten ; and Goldoni, for want of a better author, is still
listened to.
Rota is an inferior Kotzebue, who has been a few
times translated and imitated and French comedy is less frequently resorted to by the Italian playwrights than German
sentimentality,
much less than by the English dramatists.
So that there is not properly an Italian stage. The opera is
not included in this remark ; but that is not national.
ples.

There,

—

;

—

* " Histoire du Faux Martin Guerre. Vol. L
santes.
Recueill^s par M. Gayot de Pitaval a la

Causes C&ebres
Haye. 1735."

et Interes-

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

154

[Chap.

At this time, the sanguine hopes entertained by the friends
of liberty, a short time before, in Italy, had subsided ; and the
more discerning already knew, what was too soon acknowledged, that nothing would be done for the good cause of civil
and religious liberty by the French government.
I occasionally saw Leopardi the poet, a man of acknowledged
genius, and of irreproachable character.
He was a man of
and a scholar, but he had a feeble frame, was sickly,
and deformed. He was also poor, so that his excellent qualities and superior talents were, to a great degree, lost to the
He wanted a field for display,
an organ to exercise.
world.
To refer once more to politics. The desire to see Italy united was the fond wish of most Italian politicians.
One of the
not to mention any I was
most respectable of them, Mayer,
used to say, that he would
at that time unacquainted with,
gladly see all Italy under one absolute sovereign, national independence being the first of blessings.
But this was not the uniform opinion. A scheme of a Confederation of Italian states was circulated in the spring, according to which there was to be a union of Italian monarchies, consisting of nine states, of which Eome should be the
capital, each independent in all domestic matters, and having
a common revenue, army, customs, weights and measures,
These were to be Eome, Piedmont, Lombardy,
coins, &c.
The
Venice, Liguria, Eavenna, Etruria, Naples, and Sicily.
fortresses of the confederation were to be Venice, AlessanTo purchase the consent of
dria, Mantua, and Syracuse.
France to this arrangement, many Italians were willing to
sacrifice Savoy and Nice.
There was more plausibility, I thought, in the Abbe de
Pradt's scheme.
He would have reduced the number to three,
Could this
consisting of North, Central, and South Italy.
ever be, there would be appropriate titles in Lombard- or
Nord-Iialia, Toscan- Italia, and Napol-Italia. Harmless dreams
family,

—

—
—

these,

— that

is,

the names.

H. C. E. to Mr. Pattisson and his Sons.
Florence, June

.... I really think
am out of the country.

14, 1831.

reputation that I
I should have lost my character had
I was always a moderate Eeformer ; and, now
I stayed there.
that success seems at hand, I think more of the dangers than
it

fortunate for

155

ITALY.

1831.]

I should never have been fit for a hustings
gorge rises at the cant of the day and finding
all the mob for Reform, I begin to suspect there must be some
And it is only
hitherto unperceived evil in the measure.
when I go among the anti-Reformers, and hear the worse cant
and more odious impostures of the old Tory party, that I am
righted, as the phrase is, and join the crowd again.

the promises.

©rator.

;

To the Same.
Turin, September

13, 1831.

.... I infer, rather than find it expressly stated, that in
your family are pretty nearly all the varieties of opinion now
current in England.
Jacob appears to me to have taken for
his oracles Lord Londonderry, Mr. Sadler, and Sir R. Inglis,
William writes like a hopeful and youththe Oxford member.
ful Reformer
and you, with something of the timidity and
anxiety of old age (/ may call you old, you know, without
offence, by my six months' seniority), you are afraid of the
consequences of your own former principles. To tell the truth
I am (and perhaps from the same cause) pretty much in the
same state. Now that the mob are become Reformers, I am
Indeed, I have for years perceived this truth, that
alarmed.
it seems to be the great problem of all institutions to put
I am so
shackles as well on the people as on the government.
far anti-democratic, that I would allow the people to do very
but I would enable them to hinder a great deal. And
little
my fear is, that, under the proposed new House of Commons,
there wall be no check on popular passions.
On my way back to England, I spent nearly a fortnight at
During this fortnight, the most interesting occurrence
Paris.
by far, and which I regret I cannot adequately describe, was
;

;

—

attendance in the Salle St. Simonienne, at the service
or,
of that, the most recent subperformance ?
This was, and still remains, the
stitute for Christian worship.
last and newest French attempt to supersede Christianity. In
my journal, I speak of it as " very national, very idle, very
ridiculous, possibly well intentioned on the part of its leaders,
whose greatest fault may be unconscious vanity." I go on in
my journal " And I dare say destined to be very short-lived,
unless it can contrive to acquire a political character, and so
gain a permanent footing in France."
In this I was not a
false prophet.
But the doctrines of these fanatical unbelievers
shall I say the

—

156

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap. &

were mixed up in men's minds with the more significant and
dangerous speculations of Fourier, closely allied to politics, and
Alfieri wisely says, addressing himself to
absorbed by them.

"It is not enough to cry out, It is all a fable,' in
If it be, invent a better." The
order to destroy Christianity.
In my journal I wrote
St. Simonites could not do this.
" They have rejected the Christian Revelation, that is, its
supernatural vehicle, but their system of morals is altogether
Christian ; and this they dress out with French sentimentality,
I might have added, had
instead of miracles and prophecy."
" The German anti-superI thought of Germany at the time
naturalists substituted metaphysics, critical or ideal, in the
place of sentimentality."
It was on Sunday, the 1st of October, that I was present at
Their salle was a neat
their fonction, ecclesiastical or theatric.
theatre ; the area, or pit, filled with well-dressed women ; the
scena occupied by the members of the society, who faced the
area.
In the centre were two truncated columns ; behind these,
three arm-chairs ; in the centre one the orator, his assistants
I went early,
at his side ; in front, three rows of galleries.
and had a front seat. When the leaders came, the members
" Why so ? " I asked of a plain man near me.
" Cest
rose.
infidels

le Pape, le Chef de VEglise" he answered, with great simplicity.
His Holiness, youngish and not genteel, waved his hand, rose,
and harangued for an hour or more. I heard distinctly, and
understood each word by itself, but I could not catch a distinct
thought.
It seemed to be a rhapsody,
a declamation against
the abuses of our political existence,
a summary of the history
of mankind, such as any man acquainted with modern books,
and endowed with a flow of fine words, might continue uttering
as long as he had any breath in his body.
For the edification of
the ladies and young men, there was an address to Venus, and
also one to Jupiter.
The only part of the oration which had
a manifest object, and which was efficient, was a sarcastic portrait of Christianity, not the Christianity of the Gospel, but
that of the Established Churches.
This was the studied finale,
and the orator was rewarded by shouts of applause.
After a short pause he was followed by a very pale smockfaced youth, with flaxen hair.
I presumed that he delivered
his maiden speech, as, at the end of it, he was kissed by at least
ten of his comrades, and the unconcealed joy of his heart at the
applause he gained was really enviable. His oration was on
behalf of " La ctasse la plus nombreuse et la plus pauvre" which

—

1831.]

157

ITALY.

he repeated incessantly, as a genuine Benthamite repeats, " The
It was an exhortation
greatest good of the greatest number."
to charity, and, with a very few alterations, like those the
reader might have made in correcting the proofs at the printingoffice (such as the motive being the love of Christ, instead of
the love of one's neighbor), would have suited any of the thousand and one charity sermons delivered every six months in
Now in all this,
every great city, in all churches and chapels.
as there was nothing remarkable, so there was nothing ridiculous, save and except that the orator, every now and then,
was congratulating himself on " Ces nouvelles idees." After

Two speakers
placed themselves in chairs, in the front of the proscenium \
but they were of a lower class, and as I expected something
like the street dialogues between the quack and the clown, or,
at the best, what it seemed to be, a paraphrastic commentary
on the "novelties" of the young gentleman, I followed the example of others, and came away.
So I wrote twenty years ago.
My impression was a correct one. St. Simonism was suppressed
by the government of Louis Philippe. Its partisans were lost,
as I have already intimated, in the sturdier and coarser founders
of what has not been simply foolish but, in various ways, mischievous, namely, Communism or Socialism.
I left Paris on the 4th of October, in the morning, and,
travelling all night, reached Calais the next morning.
At
Meurice's Hotel, I heard of the death of Goethe.
At the age
of eighty-two it could not be unexpected, and, as far as the
active employment of his marvellous talents is concerned, is not
He had done his work but though not the
to be regretted.
extinction yet, to us, the eclipse of the mightiest intellect
that has shone on the earth for centuries (so, at least, I felt)
could not be beheld without pain.
It has been my rare good
fortune to have seen a large proportion of the greatest minds
of our age, in the fields of poetry and speculative philosophy,
such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Schiller, Tieck, but none that
I have ever known came near him.
On the 6th of October I crossed the Channel, and on the 7th
I reached London, too late to go to any of my friends.
Having secured a bed at the Old Bell, Holborn, and taken a late
dinner there, I went to the Procters', in Perceval Street, where
was my old friend Mrs. Collier, and the cordial reception I met
with from them cheered me.
I returned to my inn, and was
awakened in the morning by the shout of the vociferous newsmem " The Lords have thrown out the Reform Bill v
this short oration, there followed a conference.

;

158

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

CHAPTER
IN

[Chap.

IX.

ENGLAND AGAIN.

OCTOBER 10th.— For the last three days there has been

a succession of agreeable feelings in meeting with my
old friends and acquaintance.
Indeed these meetings will for
some time constitute my chief business. In the evening I
stepped into the Athenaeum to inquire the news, there being a

general anxiety in consequence of the important occurrence of
the night before, or rather of the morning.
The Lords rejected
the Reform Bill by a majority of forty-one.
The fact is in every
one's mouth, but I have not yet met with any one who ventures to predict what the Ministry will do on the occasion.
I breakfasted with William Pattisson, and accompanied him
to Westminster Hall.
He was engaged in an appeal to the
Lords, O'Connell on the other side.
I shook hands with
O'Connell, and exchanged a few words with him. I was pleased
with his speech before the Chancellor.
It was an appeal
against the Irish Chancellor's setting aside certain documents
as obtained by fraud. With great mildness of manner, address,
and discretion in his arguments, O'Connell produced a general
impression in his favor.
October 12th.
Finished the evening at the Athenaeum and
at Aders's.
I found Mrs. Aders in some agitation, as one of
her friends had been in danger of being seriously hurt on the
balcony of her house by a large stone flung by the mob in the

—

afternoon.

There had been an immense crowd accompanying

the procession with the addresses to the King on account of
the rejection of the Bill by the Lords. At the Athenaeum, I
chatted with D'Israeli and Ayrton. Ayrton says, on authority,
that a compromise has taken place, and that the Bill is to pass
the Lords, with only a few modifications to save their character.

—

October 16th.
Breakfasted at home, and late, so that it
was between one and two when I reached Lamb, having ridden
on the stage to Edmonton, and walked thence to Enfield. I
found Lamb and his sister boarding with the Westwoods,
good people, who, I dare say, take care of them. Lamb has
rendered himself their benefactor by getting a place for their

—

1831.]

159

ENGLAND AGAIN.

They return his services by atson in Aders's counting-house.
which he and his sister need but he feels the want
Both he and Miss Lamb
of the society he used to have.
looked somewhat older, but not more than almost all do whom
They were heartily
I have closely noticed since my return.
After dinner, I was anxious to leave them
glad to see me.
before it was dark, and the Lambs accompanied me, but only
Lamb has begged me to come after dinfor a short distance.
The evening
ner, and take a bed at his house ; and so I must.
The beauty of
fine, and I enjoyed the walk to Mr. Relph's.
the sky was not, indeed, that of Italy but the verdure was
English, and the succession of handsome houses, and the population of affluent people, quite peculiar to England. No other
These covered ways and
country can show anything like it.
shady roads, with elegant houses at every step, each concealed
how superior to the
except in its immediate neighborhood,
flaring open scenery of the vaunted Yale of Arno
October 17th.
Went to Highbury by w^ay of Perceval
I arrived late at Mr. Bischoff 's, having mistaken the
Street.
Of little moment this. I found a
dinner-time by an hour.
large party assembled to see the famous Brahmin, Rammohun
Roy, the Indian Rajah.
Rammohun Roy published a volume entitled " The
Rem*
Precepts of Jesus," closely resembling a work for which a
Frenchman was punished under Charles X., it being alleged
that to select the moral parts of the Gospel, excluding the
supernatural, must be done with the insidious design of recommending Deism. That Rammohun Roy was a Deist, with
He took care, however, not to
Christian morals, is probable.
lose caste, for the preservation of which the adherence to precise customs is required, not the adoption of any mode of
He died in the year 1833, and I was informed by
thinking.
Mr. Crawford, wTho was acquainted with the Brahmin's manservant, that during the last years of his life he was assiduously employed in reading the Shasters,
the Holy Scriptures of
his Church. Voltaire says somewhere, that wT ere he a Brahmin,
he would die with a cow's tail in his hand. Rammohun Roy
did not deserve to be coupled with the French scoffer in this
way.
He was a highly estimable character. He believed as
much of Christianity as one could reasonably expect any man
would believe who was brought up in a faith including a much
larger portion of miraculous pretensions, without being trained

tention,

;

•

—

* Written

in 1851.

160

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

or even permitted, probably, to investigate and compare eviHe was a fine man, and very interesting, though
dence.
He had a broad laughing face.
different from what I expected.
better than most foreigners.
He talked English very well,

—

when

saw him, he talked on European politics, and gave expression to no Oriental sentiment or opinion.
Not a word was said by him that might not have been said by
Unfortunately,

This rather disappointed me ; so after dinner I
a European.
played whist, of which I was ashamed afterwards.
October 22d.
At the Bury Quarter Sessions, I was invited
to dine at the Angel by the bar, but I refused the invitation,
and only went up in the evening ; then, however, I spent a few
hours very agreeably. Austin was the great talker, of course.
Scarcely anything but the Reform Bill talked of much. Praed,
the M. P., and new member of the circuit since my retirement,
was the only oppositionist. He spoke fluently, and not ill of
the bill.
Bern.*
Praed died young. In one particular he was superior to all the political young men of his time,
in taste
and poetical aspirations. His poems have been collected. I
am not much acquainted with them, but they are at least
works of taste. Praed had the manners of a gentleman.

—

Landor to H.

C. R.

Florence

[received October, 1831].

Miss Mackenzie tells me that she has lost some
money by a person in Paris. If she had taken my advice, she
would have bought a villa here, and then the money had been
saved.
It appears that she has a garden, at least ; and this,,
in my opinion, is exactly the quantity of ground that a wise
person could desire.
I am about to send her some bulbs and
curious plants.
Her sixty-two tuberoses are all transplanted
by the children I have not one of these delightful flowers. I
like white flowers better than any others ; they resemble fair
women. Lily, tuberose, orange, and the truly English syringa, are my heart's delight.
I do not mean to say that they
supplant the rose and violet in my affections, for these are our
first loves, before we grew too fond of considering, and too
fond of displaying our acquaintance with, others of sounding

....

titles

W.
* Written

in 1852.

Landor.

1831.]

ENGLAND AGAIN.

161

—

Read the papers at the coffee-house. Sad
November 1st.
account of a riot at Bristol. It is to be feared very bloody,
a proof that the mob are ready to shed blood for the bill.
For what would they not shed blood ]
I rode to Ipswich by an early stage, a new
November 5th.
one to me. I found the Clarksons as I expected. Mrs. Clarkson thinner, but not in worse health than three years ago
and Clarkson himself much older, and nearly blind. They received me most kindly, and we spent the whole afternoon and
evening in interesting friendly gossip.
November 6th.
It
I did not stir out of the house to-day.
was wet, and I enjoyed the seclusion. I sat and read occasionally, and at intervals chatted with Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson.
Mr. Clarkson gave me to read a MS., drawn up for his daughter-in-law, containing a summary of religious doctrines from
the lips of Jesus Christ.
The chapter on future punishments
particularly interested me ; but I found that Mr. Clarkson had,
contrary to his intention, written so as to imply his belief in
the eternity of future punishments, which he does not believe.
He was anxious to alter this in his own hand, and with
great difficulty made the necessary alteration in one place.
November 10th.
Read this morning, in the July Quarterly
Revieiv, a most interesting, but to me humiliating, article on
Herschel's " Discourse on the
the inductive philosophy,
Study of Natural Philosophy" supplying the text. It is an
admirable and, even to me, delightful survey of the realms of
science ; the terra incognita appearing, if possible, to be the
most curious. It is remarkable that the more there is known,
the more it is perceived there is to be known.
And the infinity of knowledge to be acquired runs parallel with the infinite
faculty of knowing, and its development.
Sometimes I feel
reconciled to my extreme ignorance, by thinking, if I know
nothing, the most learned know next to nothing.
Yet,

—

;

—

On this thought I will not brood,
.... it unmans me quite."

man

of science, but it is something to have a
and a pleasure in the progress
which others make in it. This is analogous to the baptism of
desire of the liberal Catholics, who give the means and possibility of salvation to those who, though, not actually baptized,
desire baptism, and would, if they could, be members of the
Church in which alone salvation is to be found.
November 15th.
Took tea with Miss Flaxman and Miss
I

never can be a

disinterested love of science,

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

162

[Chap.

in low spirits.
Mr. Thomas Denman is
and Miss Flaxman has had a bad fall.
However, we fell into interesting conversation, and they
showed me Flaxman's notes written in Italy. His criticisms
on the works of art in Italy are a corroboration of the common
opinion but he speaks of a great work by one Gaddi as one
that, with a little less hardness and deeper shade, would have
been far superior to any of Raphael's Holy Families.

Denman.

They were

very dangerously

ill,

;

Landor to H.

C. R.

November

....

1831.

though I never
knew him. I hope he may recover for Death will do less
mischief with the cholera than with the blow that deprives
I grieve at the illness of Coleridge,
;

the world of Coleridge.
yearly, are blighted with

million blades of grass, renewable

less'

injury than one rich fruit-tree.

Wordsworth, and
Southey as three towers of one castle j and whichever tower
falls first must shake the other two
Since I saw you, I
have read in the New Monthly Magazine the papers signed
I

in the habit of considering Coleridge,

" Elia."

mirable

;

Mr. Brown lent me the book.
The papers are adthe language truly English. We have none better,

When

" sorry " that Charles Lamb
is not an idle or a faint
one.
I feel deep pain at this intelligence,
pain certainly not
disproportioned to the enjoyment I have received by their
writings.
Besides, all who know them personally speak of

new

or old.

and

his sister are suffering, the

I say, I

word

—

them with much affection. Were they ever in Italy, or are
they likely to come % If so, I can offer them fruits, flowers,
horses, &c.
To those who are out of health, or out of spirits,
than England. I love green
and once loved being wet through, in the summer or
spring.
In that season, when I was a boy and a youth, I always walked with my hat in my hand if it rained and only
left off the practice when I read that Bacon did it, fearing to
be thought guilty of affectation or imitation.
I have made my visit to Miss Burney, and spent above an
hour with her. She is one of the most agreeable and intelligent women I have met abroad, and spoke of you as all who
know you must speak.
I look forward with great desire to the time when you will
come again amongst us. Arnold, who clapped his hands at
this surely is a better country
fields,

;

1831.]

ENGLAND AGAIN.

163

" But
hearing I had a letter from you, ceased only to ask me
My wife and Judoes not he say when he will come back % "
lia send the same wishes
W. S.'Landor.
:

Miss Wordsworth to H.

C. R.

Friday, December

Had

1831.

a rumor of your arrival in England reached us before

letter of yesterday's post, you would ere this have received a welcoming from me, in the name of each member of
this family ; and, further, would have been reminded of your
promise to come to Rydal as soon as possible after again setting
When Dora heard of your return,
foot on English ground.
and of my intention to write, she exclaimed, after a charge
" He
that I would recall to your mind your written promise

your

must come and spend Christmas with us. I wish he w ould
Thus, you see, notwithstanding your petty jarrings, Dora was
I am sure I need
always, and now is, a loving friend of yours.
not add, that if you can come at the time mentioned, so much
the more agreeable to us all, for it is fast approaching but that,
whenever it suits you (for you may have Christmas engagements
with your own family) to travel so far northward, we shall be
rejoiced to see you; and, whatever other visitors we may chance
to have, we shall always be able to find a corner for you.
We are thankful that you are returned with health unimpaired,
r

;

—

may

—

amended,
for you were not perfectly
England. You do not mention rheumatic
pains, so I trust they have entirely' left you.
As to your
being grown older, if you mean feebler in mind,
my brother
" No such thing
your judgment has only attained
says
autumnal ripeness." Indeed, my dear friend, I wonder not at
your alarms, or those of any good man, whatever may have been
his politics from youth to middle age, and onward to the decline
of life.
But I will not enter on this sad and perplexing subject ; I find it much more easy to look with patience on the
approach of pestilence, or any affliction which it may please
God to cast upon us without the intervention of man, than on
the dreadful results of sudden and rash changes, whether arising from ambition, or ignorance, or brute force.
I am, however, getting into the subject without intending it, so will conclude with a prayer that God may enlighten the heads and
hearts of our men of power, whether Whigs or Tories, and that.
.

well

say, indeed,

when you

left

—

;

—
164

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

the madness of the deluded people may settle.
This last
effect can only be produced, I fear, by exactly and severely
executing the law, seeking out and punishing the guilty, and
letting all persons see that we do not willingly oppress the
poor.
One visible blessing seems already to be coming upon
us through the alarm of the cholera.
Every rich man is now
obliged to look into the by-lanes and corners inhabited by the
poor, and many crying abuses are (even in our little town of
Ambleside) about to be remedied. But to return to pleasant
Eydal Mount, still cheerful and peaceful,
if it were not for
the newspapers, we should know nothing of the turbulence of
our great towns and cities ; yet my poor brother is often heartsick and almost desponding,
and no wonder ; for, until this
point at which we are arrived, he has been a true prophet as
"
to the course of events, dating from the " Great Days of July
and the appearance of " the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing
but the Bill."
It remains now for us to hope that Parliament
may meet in a different temper from that in which they parted,
and that the late dreadful events may make each man seek
You
only to promote the peace and prosperity of the country.
He is certainly thinner,
will say that my brother looks older.
and has lost some of his teeth but his bodily activity is not
at all diminished, and if it were not for public affairs, his spirits
would be as cheerful as ever. He and Dora visited Sir Walter
Scott just before his departure, and made a little tour in the
Western Highlands ; and such was his leaning to old pedestrian habits, that he often walked from fifteen to twenty miles
in a day, following or keeping by the side of the little carriage,
They both very
of which his daughter was the charioteer.
much enjoyed the tour, and my brother actually brought home
a set of poems, the product of that journey.

—

;

—

My morning was broken in upon, when
December 5th.
reading Italian, by calls from Jacob Pattisson, Shutt, and Mr.
Rogers spoke of two artists
Rogers the last stayed long.
Gibson, now in Rome, a
whom he knew in great poverty,
rich man, and sculptor of fame, my acquaintance there, and
Chantrey, still richer, and of higher fame in the same art,
Chantrey, not long since, being at Rogers's, said, pointing to a
" You probably do not recollect that being brought
sideboard
" Certainly not."
to you by the cabinet-maker's man]"
" It was I who brought it, and it is in a great measure my
work."

—

;

—

;

1831.]

Rem*

165

ENGLAND AGAIN.

— Rogers

is noted for his generosity towards poor
have often heard him relate anecdotes which ought
not to be forgotten, and will not. They will be told more
elaborately, as well as more correctly, than I can pretend to
One only I set down here briefly. I heard it
relate them.
One
first, a few years since, and several times afterwards.
night he found at his door Sir Thomas Lawrence, in a state of
alarming agitation, who implored him to save the President of
Unless a few thousands could be
the Academy from disgrace.
he had
raised in twenty-four hours, he could not be saved
good security to offer drawings he would give in pledge, or
Rogers next day went to Lord
sell, as might be required.
Dudley Ward, who advanced the money, and was no loser by

artists.

;

the transaction.

—

Accompanied Masquerier to a
(Brighton.)
December 7th.
which afforded me really a great pleasure. I heard
Paganini.
Having scarcely any sensibility to music, I could
not expect great enjoyment from any music, however fine
and, after all, I felt more surprise at the performance than enjoyment.
The professional men, I understand, universally
He is
think more highly of Paganini than the public do.
His appearance announces somereally an object of wonder.
His figure and face amount to caricathing extraordinary.
ture.
He is a tall slim figure, with limbs which remind one
of a spider his face very thin, his forehead broad, his eyes
gray and piercing, with bushy eyebrows, his nose thin and
His
long, his cheeks hollow, and his chin sharp and narrow.
His hands the oddest imaginaface forms a sort of triangle.
ble, fingers of enormous length, and thumbs bending backwards.
It is, perhaps, in a great measure from the length of
He
finger and thumb that his fiddle is also a sort of lute.
came forward and played, from notes, his own compositions.
Of the music, as such, I know nothing. The sounds were
wonderful.
He produced high notes very faint, which resembled the chirruping of birds, and then, in an instant, with a
startling change, rich and melodious notes, approaching those
concert,

;

of the bass-viol.

was

difficult to believe

that this great va-

from one instrument. The effect
was heightened by his extravagant gesticulation and whimsical
attitudes.
He sometimes played with his fingers, as on a harp,
and sometimes struck the cords with his bow, as if it were a
drum-stick, sometimes sticking his elbow into his chest, and
riety of sounds proceeded

* Written in 1852.

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

166

[Chap.

sometimes flourishing his bow. Oftentimes the sounds were
sharp, like those of musical glasses, and only now and then
really delicious to my vulgar ear, which is gratified merely by
the flute and other melodious instruments, and has little sense
of harmony.

—

Accompanied the Masqueriers to a Mr.
December 13th.
Rooper's, in Brunswick Square, a nephew of Malone. We went
One of
to look at some paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Dr. Johnson greatly delighted Masquerier.
He thinks it the
The Doctor
best he has ever seen of Johnson by Sir Joshua.
His
is holding a book, and reading like a short-sighted man.
There is no gentility, no attempt
blind eye is in the shade.
at setting off the Doctor's face, but no vulgarity in the portrait.
That of Sir Joshua, by himself, is a repetition of the
one so frequently seen. He has spectacles as broad as mine.
There is also a full-length of the Countess of Sutherland, a
fine figure and pretty face.
Mr. Rooper showed us some interesting books, and volunteered to lend me a very curious collection of MS. letters, all written by eminent persons, political

and literary, all addressed to Mr. Malone, and a great many
on occasion of his Life of Windham.* There is one by Dr.
Johnson, a great many by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Kemble, Lord
Charlemont and notes by an infinity of remarkable people.
It interI have yet merely run over one half the collection.
;

ested

greatly.

—

December lJfih.
I was employed in the forenoon looking
over Mr. Rooper's MS. letters belonging to Malone some by
Lord Charlemont curious. Some anonymous verses against
Dr. Parr were poignant.
The concluding lines are not bad as
an epigram, though very unjust. They might be entitled
:

A
To half of Busby's

RECIPE.
mood and

skill in

—

tense,

Add

Bentley's pedantry without his sense;
Of Warburton take alf the spleen you find,
And leave his genius and his wit behind
Squeeze Churchill's rancor from the verse it flows in,
And knead it stiff with Johnson's heavy prosing;
Add all the piety of Saint Voltaire,
Mix the gross compound, Fiat Dr. Parr.
1

—

Spent the evening pleasantly at Copley Fielding's, the
water-color painter, a man of interesting person and very prepossessing manners.

He showed me some

delightful draw-

ings.

* "

Biographical

Windham.

Memoir

of the Life of the Right Honorable William

London, 1810, 8vo."

1831.]

December 16th.

ENGLAND AGAIN.

— To-day

167

I finished Hazlitt's "

Conversations

do not believe that Boswell gives so much
good talk in an equal quantity of any part of his " Life of
Johnson." There is much more shrewdness and originality in
both Northcote and Hazlitt himself than in Johnson yet all
my friend Amyot, for instance would
the elderly people
think this an outrageous proof of bad taste on my part. I do
believe that I am younger in my tastes than most men. I can
of Northcote."

—

—
;

relish novelty, and'

—

not yet a laudator temporis

acti.

December 20th.
Went to the play, to w hich I had not
been for a long time. It gives me pain to observe how my
relish for the theatre has gone off.
It is one of the strongest
indications of advanced age.
Hem.*
It was not altogether, however, the fault of my
middle age. I believe that, even now, could Mrs. Siddons or
Mrs. Jordan revive, my enjoyment w ould revive too.
Power,
however, gave me more pleasure than Johnstone ever gave me,
though Johnstone was thought perfect in Irish characters.
December 26th.
I found my way to Fonblanque's, beyond
Tyburn Turnpike, and dined with him, self-invited. No one
but his wife there, and the visit was perfectly agreeable. Indeed he is an excellent man. I believe him to be not a mere
grumbler from ill-humor and poverty, as poor Hazlitt was to a
great degree, but really an upright man, with an honest disgust at iniquity, and taking delight in giving vent to his inHis critical opinions startle me. He is
dignation at wrong.
going to introduce me to Jeremy Bentham, which will be a
T

—

great pleasure.

—

At half past one went by appointment to
Jeremy Bentham, at his house in Westminster Square, and
walked with him for about half an hour in his garden, when
he dismissed me to take his breakfast and have the paper read
December Slst.

see

His perI have but little to report concerning him.
son is not what I expected.
He is a small man.f He stoops
His
very much (he is eighty-four), and shuffles in his gait.
hearing is not good, yet excellent considering his age. His eye
is restless, and there is a fidgety activity about him, increased
probably by the habit of having all round fly at his command.
He began by referring to my late journey in Italy, and, by

to him.

* Written

in 1852.

should have said otherwise from the impression he left on me, as well as
effect produced by his skeleton, dressed in his real clothes, and with
a waxen face, preserved by his own desire.
H. C. R., 1852. [It is now located at University College, London.]
t I

from the

—

168

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

10,

putting questions to me, made me of necessity the talker.
He seems not to have made Italian matters at all his study,
and, I suspect, considers other countries only with reference
to the influence his books and opinions may have had and
have there. He mentioned Filangieri as a contemptible writer,
who wrote after himself ; and said he had the mortification of
I gave
finding him praised, while he himself was overlooked.
him my opinion as to the political character of the French
Ministry, and their purely selfish policy towards Italy, which
he did not seem to comprehend. He inquired about my professional life
lect seeing

;

and spoke of the late Dr. Wilson (whom I recolI was a boy) as the first of his disciples.

when

CHAPTER XL
1832.

January 28th. — A dinner at Stephen's. Thia
REM.*
party was chiefly remarkable for my seeing Senior, the
Oxford Professor of Political Economy, and Henry Taylor, then
under Stephen in the Colonial Office. Taylor is known as literary executor of Southey, and author of several esteemed
dramas, especially " Philip van Artevelde." He married Lord
He is now one of my most respected
Monteagle's daughter.
His manners are shy, and he is more a man of
acquaintance.
letters than of the world.
He published a book called " The
Statesman," which some thought presumptuous in a junior
clerk in a government office.
Amyot told me that Henry
Taylor proposed to the committee of the Athenaeum to open
the club-house as a hospital in the time of the cholera
February 9th.
On my way to Hampstead I read an account of the celebration of Goethe's Goldener Jubeltag, being
the 7th of November, 1825, fifty years after his entrance into
Weimar in the service of the Duke. The narrative is interesting even to pathos.
February 12th.
Carlyle breakfasted with me, and I had an
interesting morning with him.
He is a deep-thinking German scholar, a character, and a singular compound. His voice
and manner, and even the style of his conversation, are those

—

* Written in 1853.

—

1832.]

CARLYLE.

—

MILL.

— DUKE OF SUSSEX.

169

of a religious zealot, and he keeps up that character in his
declamations against the anti-religious. And yet, if not the
god of his idolatry, at least he has a priest and prophet of his
church in Goethe, of whose profound wisdom he speaks like an
But for him, Carlyle says, he should not now be
enthusiast.
He owes everything to him But in strange union with
alive.
such idolatry is his admiration of Buonaparte. Another object
Cobbett, whom he praises for his humanity
of his eulogy is
Singular, and even whimsical, combinaand love of the poor
tions of love and reverence these.
March 3d,
I had received an invitation to dine with Fonblanque, and Romilly being of the party, I agreed to walk with
him from University College, where we had been at a meeting
of the Council.
were joined by John Mill, certainly a
young man of great talent. He is deeply read in French politics, and spoke judiciously enough about them, bating his, to
me, unmeaning praise of Robespierre for his incomparable
talents as a speaker,
and the
being an irresistible orator,
respect he avowed for the virtues of Mirabeau.
Romilly, too,
talked interestingly on the same subject.
Mirabeau was the
friend of Sir Samuel Romilly, as well as of the Genevan Du!

—

mont.

March

8th.

—

— walked
— not high

to Enfield,

excellent state,

and found the Lambs in
what is far better,

health, but,

quiet and cheerful.
Miss Isola* being there, I could not sleep
in the house ; but I had a corflfortable bed at the inn, and I
had a very pleasant evening at whist. Lamb was very chatty,
and altogether as I could wish.
March 2Jfth.
Yesterday I had a melancholy letter from
Wordsworth. He gives a sad account of his sister, and talks
of leaving the country on account of the impending ruin to be
apprehended from the Reform Bill
I dined with Amyot.
Ayrton and Ellis (of the Museum)
there.
An agreeable dinner. In the evening, John Collier
joining us, we all drove to Kensington Palace, where the Duke
of Sussex gave his second conversazione this season, and where
I was more amused than I expected.
There were opened some
eight or ten rooms, generally small, and all filled with books.
No gilding or other finery of a Court, but the air of a gentleman's house,
unostentatious, comfortable, and elegant.

—

* Granddaughter of Isola, a language-master at Cambridge.
She was a
kind of adopted daughter of Charles Lamb, who left the residue of his property
to her after Mary Lamb's death.
She is now the respected wife of Moxon.
H. C. R., 1852.
VOL. II.
8

170

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

10.

The only
a short chat.
of Flaxman,
but not of his lectures, and regretted that they should have
been accompanied by such bad stone drawings. I had a talk
with the Bishop of Chichester (Maltby).
He spoke of Phillpotts's late speech on the Irish Education question as a very
I saw also Rammohun Roy and Talleyrand,
able one.
the
and Sir Robert Peel, and many eminent men of
other stars,
science, noblemen, and Members of Parliament.
We came
away between eleven and twelve.
There were probably several hundred persons there.

man I looked for was Schiegel, with whom I had
He spoke with love of Goethe, and with esteem

—

Naylor, Jun., to H. C. R.
Oxford, March

"Faust"

24, 1832.

Madame Goethe

has listened
to it, as delivered by the mellow tones of the mighty poet
himself, and says it is " extraordinarily fine, and full of the
glow of youth." I will not offer you any alloy with this metal
from the mine.
Goethe

finished

—

I read a canto of Dante early.
and brought the news of Goethe's death.

April 2d.
called

nephew
Though at

his age the event could not be far

off, the departure of the
mightiest spirit that has lived for many centuries awakens
most serious thought. I had lying by me three letters for
"Weimar and Jena, and resolved not to alter them, but put
them in the post to-day. They were addressed to Madame
Goethe, Voigt, and Knebel.
April 12th.
Saw Coleridge in bed. He looked beautifully,
and he talked as eloquently
his eye remarkably brilliant,
as ever.
His declamation was against the Bill. He took
strong ground, resting on the deplorable state to which a
country is reduced when a measure of vital importance is acceded to merely from the danger of resistance to the popular

—

opinion.

—

April lJfth.
Quayle, the nephew, Mr. Gunn, who came unhad
expectedly, and W. Pattisson breakfasted with me.
heard the news.
The Reform Bill carried by nine seven were
votes by proxy ; therefore of these only two a real majority.

* The actual writing of "Faust" began in 1773 or 1774, though it had
already been for some time in Goethe's mind. The second part was not completed till the summer of 1831. This great work occupied its author, from time
to time, through a period of fifty-seven years.

1832.]

GOETHE'S WORKS CATALOGUED.

—

HIS DEATH.

171

But even of the majority, many must be of the class who avow
themselves enemies to the Bill, and declare they mean to vote
And yet the Morning
against many of its chief provisions.
This is being grateful for small
Chronicle calls this a triumph
!

favors.

Rem*

— Early

an occupation was found me, which
and which nattered me with the notion
I received an application
that I was not altogether useless.
from William J. Fox, then editor of the Monthly Repository,
now M. P. for Oldham in Lancashire, to furnish him with a
paper on Goethe.
I was nattered by the application, though
accompanied by the intimation that the editor could not afford
to pay.
I gladly undertook the task, and made the offer,
readily accepted on his part, to furnish a catalogue raisonne
of all Goethe's works.
A few of the more celebrated of the
works are characterized at some length but as these papers
About the time
are in print, I need not write of them here.f
they were finished, Mrs. Austin was engaged in compiling a
translation of several pamphlets, under a title I suggested to
in April

lasted about a year,

;

her, of " Characteristics of Goethe."
This also I reviewed in
the Monthly Repository. %
After the completion of these
papers, I was applied to by Bellenden Ker to supply an article
of biography for the Lives to be published by the Useful
Knowledge Society \ and I, in consequence, wrote the article
"Goethe," in Vol. IV., an abridgment of the Monthly Repository articles.
It was followed by a like paper on Schiller.
I may find no better opportunity for stating that all
the anecdotes inserted in the notes to the Goethe papers
have a reference to myself, I being the friend who supplied
them.

Professor F.

Dear Robinson

—

Voigt to H. C. R.

(Translation.)
Jena, 19th April, 1832.

....

Goethe's death has especially filled my thoughts for
some weeks. I visited him for the last time in the past year
in his garden (where you and I saw him together three years
ago), and as I left him, and returned through the meadow-land,
I watched him for a long time going up and down his terrace
* Written in 1853.
f These Papers appeared in nine numbers of the Monthly Repository, beginning in May, 1832, and ending in April, 1833.
% Monthly Repository, March, 1834.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

172

10.

—

an old shrunken man, in good spirits
in his dressing-gown,
indeed, but with a body bowed down by years ; and I thought

how many an English

lady,

who perhaps has

pictured

him

an Apollo or a Jupiter, would be shocked at this sight. I cannot refrain, my dear friend, from giving you a passage from a
letter of his, dated January 9, 1831.
A short time previously
he had been very ill, and I had congratulated him on his reThereupon he wrote to me about my literary work
covery.
(an edition of Cuvier's Eegne Animal), and about his own
desire to take part in the controversy, between Cuvier and
and then he closed, as follows, his long
Geoffrey St. Hilaire
letter " With your dear wife, my worthy countrywoman, retain
your kindly feelings towards a friend, who rejoices in himself
that it was permitted him for this time to turn his back to the
;

wild ferryman."
On the quiet, though public, ceremony of his funeral, I shall
You will, doubtless, read of it in extenso in
write nothing.
the newspapers, which on this occasion have given a very
All was in the highest degree solemn.
faithful account.
At
In the last
the lying in state he was in a half-sitting position.
hours of his life, when he was no longer able to speak, he
composedly formed letters in the air. His physician says he
could twice distinctly recognize the letter W, which I interpret
to be " Weimar."

When

was at Frankfort

in 1834, Charlotte Serviere told

Madame

[a blank in the MS.],
a woman of great intelligence, was in Goethe's house at
the time of his death, and that she and others heard sweet
music in the air. No one could find out whence it came. In
the eyes of the religious Goethe was no saint, but rather a
Belial, or corrupt spirit, who was rendered most dangerous
by his combination of genius and learning with demoniacal

me, with apparent

influence.

—

faith,

that

May Jfth.
I continued at home till it was time to go to
the King's College, where Lyell delivered his introductory
lecture on Geology, of which I understood scarcely anything,
Before he himself
but I liked what I did understand.
made the observation, he had led me to the conclusion that
There is, as far as anything
the science teaches no beginning.
can be inferred, a constant succession of operations by fire and
He took care to limit this remark to inorganic matter,
water.
asserting that there are proofs of a beginning of organic sub-

—

LANDOR.

1832.]

stances.

— REFORM

BILL PASSED.

;

173

decorously and boldly maintained the propriety

of pursuing the study without any reference to the Scriptures
and dexterously obviated the objection to the doctrine of the
eternity of the world being hostile to the idea of a God, by

remarking that the idea of a world which carries in

itself the
seeds of its own destruction is not that of the work of an allwise and powerful Being.
And geology suggests as little the
idea of an end as of a beginning to the world.
May 13th. Paynter * breakfasted with me. He was scarcely
gone before Landor called. He arrived from Florence yesterday.
A long and interesting chat on English politics. He had
nothing to communicate on foreign matters. When he left
me, I went to the Athenseum.
It seemed the universal opinion
and yet I cannot believe it
that the Duke will, as
Prime Minister, continue the very measure which he protested
against in such strong terms but a few day* ago.
This I am
unwilling to credit.
The Ministry are not yet declared, and the
King has postponed till Thursday the answer to the address of
the Commons, and also of the City of London.
To-morrow

—

something

May

will

be known.

—

I went to the Athenaeum, and read in the
Standard an elaborate justification of the Duke, assuming that
he was about to pass the Bill. Now I believe in the fact. Late
at night I was told of the conversations in the House of Commons, from w hich it appears by no means improbable that the
Paynter coming in
old Ministry will return to place. [N. B.
lJftli.

—

at this

moment

Times.]

confirms this, as the representative of the

—

Going to Jaffray's, I found them in high spirits
May 15th.
on account of the declaration in Parliament this evening that
the King had sent for Lord Grey, which leads every one to consider the return of the

— This

Whigs

as certain.

evening the Parliamentary Reform Bill
passed the Lords, and wT as the same evening taken to the
" Is the dead done, my lord -1" said I to Bishop
Commons
He said " Yes " ; and with great good-humor
Phillpotts.
talked on the subject.
He even praised the speech of Lord
Grey this night as a very good one.
This day will form an epoch in the history of
June 7th.
England. The Royal Assent was given to the Reform Bill
Juyie

Jfth.

—

on H. C. R.'s circuit, and afterwards a police magistrate.
of an ancient Cornish family. He was a valued friend of H. C. R.
saw a great deal of each other, and were frequent correspondents.
barrister

He was
They

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

174

dear Friend

Wordsworth.

C. R. to
2

—

10.

Plowden

Buildings, July

13, 1832.

.... Thinking of old age, and writing to you, I am, by a
natural association of ideas, reminded of the great poet lately
dead in Germany. As one of his great admirers, I wished but
that he
for one quality in addition to his marvellous powers,
had as uniformly directed those powers in behalf of the best
Deeply interested
interests of mankind as you have done.
in your welfare, and fully aware that your continued health
and activity of mind are the concern, not only of your private
friends and family, but also of the country, and of the literature of our language, I have no other desire than that you may
Goethe began his study of
retain your powers as he did his.
Oriental literature .and wrote his " West-Eastern Divan " in his

—

sixty-fourth year!

died in his eighty-third, in the full

possession, not of his imaginative powers, but of his powers of

thought and he interested himself in all the current literature
of Europe to the last. He was very animated in the discussion
of some points of natural history the evening before his death,
and died with a book in his hand. His last words were an expression of his enjoyment of the sunshine, and the return of
spring.
When Ludwig Tieck was in England, some eight
years ago (he is incomparably the greatest living poet in Germany), I read to him the two sonnets, " On Twilight," and
" On Sir George Beaumont's Picture."
He exclaimed, " Das
(That is an English Goethe.)
ist ein Englischer Goethe!"
July 23d.
I walked to Enfield to see Charles Lamb.
I
had a delightful walk, reading Goethe's " Winckelmann," and
reached Lamb at the lucky moment before tea. Miss Isola
was there. After tea, Lamb and I took a pleasant walk
;

—

He was in excellent health and in tolerable spirits,
and was to-night quite eloquent in praise of Miss Isola. He
says she is the most sensible girl and best female talker he

together.

knows.
July 24-th.

moned

—

read Goethe in bed.

to breakfast at eight,

and

I was, however,

after breakfast read

sumsome

Italian with Miss Isola, whom Lamb is teaching Italian without knowing the language himself.
September 24th.
I went with Landor to Flaxman's. La.ndor
was most extravagant in his praise,
would rather have one
of Flaxman's drawings than the whole of the group of Niobe.

—

LANDOR AND THE LAMBS.

1832.]

— LADY BLESSINGTON.

175

Indeed, " most of those figures, all but three, are worthless,"
and Winckelmann he abuses for praising this sculpture, and
Goethe, he says, must be an ignoramus for praising Winckelmann.
Landor breakfasted with me, and also
September 28th.
After an agreeWorsley, who came to supply Hare's place.
able chat, we drove down to Edmonton, and walked over the
fields to Enfield, where Charles Lamb and his sister were ready
We had scarcely an hour to chat with
dressed to receive us.
them but it was enough to make both Landor and Worsley

—

;

express themselves delighted with the person of Mary Lamb \
and pleased with the conversation of Charles Lamb, though I

thought him by no means at his ease, and Miss Lamb was
quite silent.
Nothing in the conversation recollectable.
Lamb gave Landor White's "FalstafFs Letters."* Emma
Isola just showed herself.
Landor was pleased with her, and
has since written verses on her.
Between nine and ten, I went by Landor's desire to Lady
Blessington's, to whom he had named me.
She is a charming
and very remarkable person and though I am by no means
certain that I have formed a lasting acquaintance, yet my two
interviews have left a delightful impression.
Lady Blessington is much more handsome than Countess
Egloffstein, but their countenance, manners, and particularly
the tone of voice, belong to the same class. Her dress rich,
and her library most splendid. Her book about Lord Byron
(now publishing by driblets in the New Monthly Magazine),
and her other writings, give her in addition the character of a
Landor, too, says, that she was to Lord Blessington
bel esprit
the most devoted wife he ever knew.
He says also, that she
was by far the most beautiful woman he ever saw, and was so
deemed at the Court of George IV. She is now, Landor says,
about thirty, but I should have thought her older. She is a
great talker, but her talk is rather narrative than declamatory,
and very pleasant.
She and Landor were both intimate with
Dr. Parr, but they had neither of them any mot of the Doctor
;

match several that I told them of him ; indeed, in
of bons mots, I heard only one in the evening worth copy-

to relate to

the

way

* One of the earliest of Lamb's friends was his school-fellow James White.
the author of a small volume entitled " Original Letters of Sir John
FalstafT and his Companions."
These letters are ingenious imitations of the
style and tone of thought of the Shakespearian knight and his friends.
The
book was published in 1786. Lamb reviewed it in the Examiner after White's
death.

He was

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

176

10.

should have said, there were with Lady Blessington her
a Countess Saint Marceau, and a handsome Frenchman,
of stately person, who speaks English well,
Count d'Orsay.
He related of Madame de Stael, whose character was discussed,
that one day, being on a sofa with Madame Eecamier, one who
" Me voila entre la
placed himself between them exclaimed
beaute et l'esprit " she replied " That is the first time I was
Madame Recamier was
ever complimented for beauty "
thought the handsomest woman in Paris, but was by no means
ing.

sister,

—

famed for esprit.
Nearly the whole of the conversation was about Lord Byron, to whose name, perhaps, Lady Blessington's will be
attached when her beauty survives only in Sir Thomas Lawrence's painting, and in engravings.
She, however, is by
no means an extravagant admirer of Lord Byron. She went

Hunt gave, in the main,
account of him.
Not that she knows Leigh Hunt.
The best thing left by Lord Byron with Lady Blessington
is a copy of a letter written by him in the name of Fletcher,
giving an account of his own death and of his abuse of his
friends ; humor and irony mingled with unusual grace.
She
says Lord Byron was aware that Medwin meant to print what
he said, and purposely hummed him.
I walked out with Landor, in search of
September 29th.
a conveyance to Highgate. We came eastward, took soup at
Groom's, and then hired a cab, which took us to Coleridge's.
We sat not much more than an hour with him. He was horribly bent, and looked seventy years of age ; nor did he talk
with his usual force, though quite in his usual style. A great
part of his conversation was a repetition of what I had heard
him say before,
an abuse of the Ministry for taking away
his pension.
He spoke of having devoted himself, not to the
writing for the people, which the public could reward, but for
The stay
the nation, of which the King is the representative.
was too short to allow of our entering upon literary matters.
He spoke of Oriental poetry with contempt, and he showed his
memory by alluding to Landor's juvenile poems. Landor and
Landor spoke in his dashing
he seemed to like each other.
way, which Coleridge could understand.
October 2d.
A day of great trouble. I shall not soon, I
By the post arrived a letter
trust, suffer such another.
from Jacob Pattisson. His brother and the bride had been
drowned in the Lac de Gaube. near Cauterets, in the Pyrenees.
so far as to say that she thinks Leigh

fair

—

177

BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM DROWNED.

1832.]

This sad news had arrived through a Mr. Alexander, a gentle-

man

accidentally on the spot.
William Pattisson, the eldest son of

Rem.*

—

old friend,

having been called to the bar,f married the sister of a partner
Before the marriage, he inin Esdaile's Bank, a Miss Thomas.
formed me that his future wife wished that their marriage excursion should be to the Pyrenees, and he asked me for an

He showed it to the
I lent him my journal.
who attended them, and said that he had resolved to

itinerary.

courier

follow in the course pursued in that book, in a reversed order,
His intentions, howbeginning where I ended, at Pau.
He and his lady proceeded
ever, were awfully frustrated.

through the South of France to Pau, and slept for the last
time at Caterets. On arriving at the Lac de Gaube, they saw
a broad boat lying by the shore ; the fisherman who usually
rowed the boat had died a few nights before, and there was no
one to take the oars.
They had no servant
Pattisson and his bride stepped in.
He rowed into the middle of the lake. Then
with them.
some spectators on the shore saw him standing up, and a shriek
was heard, and he fell back into the water. His wife, rushing'
towards him, fell over also. About the middle of the day, an
English barrister, a Mr. Alexander, coming down the mountain, on the opposite side, saw something white on the water,
and sent his guide to see what it was, while he was taking his
luncheon.
The guide came back saying that an English mi
lor and mi ladi were drowned.
Alexander went to the shore, and was there when Mrs. Pat.tisson's body floated to the bank.
He gave directions to some
peasants to prepare a sort of raft, on which it was taken to the
hotel.
There he learned who the deceased were. He gave directions to have the body embalmed, and sent the fatal news
to England.
The distracted father spared neither trouble nor
cost to obtain the other body, which, however, was not recovered till several weeks afterwards, when it rose to the surface. A
monument is erected on the spot whence they embarked, and a
marble mural bas-relief in Witham Church. My friend and his
son J acob came up to London when the fatal news arrived.
I
accompanied Mr. Pattisson on his return to Witham, and when
the bodies arrived, I attended the funeral.
The whole town
manifested their sympathy with the unhappy family of survivors.

* Written

in 1853.

See Vol.

I. p.

295.

178

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

10.

—

October 8th.
Looking over Lawrence's Life. The criticism
on the picture of William and Jacob Pattisson does not appear
The heads are exquisite, but the composition I
to me unjust.
There were amusing anecdotes accomalways thought bad.
panying the taking of the portrait, one of which I have been
Jacob being restless, Mrs. Pattisreminded of this morning.
son said, " I fear, Mr. Lawrence, Jacob is the worst sitter you
" 0 no, ma'am, I have had a worse."
" Ay,
ever had."
you mean the King," said the boy (Lawrence had been speak"0 no," said Lawrence,
ing of George III. as a bad sitter.)
" it was a Newfoundland dog "
The boy was not a little

—

affronted.

Landor to H.

C. R.

Frankfort, October

.... At Bonn
a

pot-bellied

little

20, 1832.

met Mr. William Schlegel. He resembles
pony tricked out with stars, buckles, and

ribbons, looking askance from his ring

and halter in the maran apple from one, a morsel of bread from another, a
Among
fig of ginger from a third, and a pat from everybody.
other novelties, he remarked that Niebuhr was totally unfit for
a historian, and that the battle of Toulouse was gained by the
French a pretty clear indication that he himself will never
rise into the place which (he tells us) Niebuhr ought not to
occupy.
He must surely be an admirable poet w ho can flounder in this way on matters of fact. The next morning I saw
the honest Arndt, who settled the bile this coxcomb of the
To-day I passed before the house of your
bazaar had excited.
I lifted off
friend Goethe,
the house where he was born.
my hat and bowed before it.
ket, for

•

—

December 28th.
I called on the Countess of Blessington.
Old Jekyll was with her. He recognized me, and I stayed in
consequence a considerable time. I am invited generally to
go in the evening, which I shall sometimes do, but not soon or

The conversation wr as various and anecdotic, and
several matters were related worth recollecting, but I made

frequently.

Lady
other calls afterwards, so that all have escaped me.
Blessington spoke of Lord Byron's poem on Rogers, which is
It begins,
announced.
It will kill Rogers she says.

—

With nose and chin that make a knocker,
With wrinkles that def}' old Cocker.
1 '

1833.]

A BYRON MONUMENT.

— MISS

179

KELLY.

And

his whole person is most malignantly portrayed. It conIt being asked by what he is known,
cludes with a sneer.

—

Why, he made a

pretty poem."

Lady Blessington says Lord Byron spared no one,
It was enough to raise his bile to

wife, or friend.

— mother,
praise

any

He would instantly fall abusing the
one in his presence.
Lady Blessington read a most ludicrousfriend that left him.
ly absurd letter from an American, giving an account of a
Byron monument to be formed of brass and flint, and covered
Lady Blessington was solicited to contriwith great names.
bute an Andenlcen, and was promised that her name should
have a prominent place.

CHAPTER XL
1833.

JANUARY 31st — I had a pleasant few hours in the Strand
Miss Kelly gave a performance by herself of
Theatre.
She looked old and
dramatic recollections and imitations.
almost plain, and her singing was unpleasant, but some parts
I am sure
of the performance were very agreeable indeed.
that the prologue and a great part of the text were written by
Other parts, especially a song, I believe to be
Charles Lamb.
by Hood. What I particularly enjoyed were the anecdotes of
John Kemble, and his kindness to her w^hen a child. Her
eulogy of him was affecting. Her admiring praise of Mrs.
Jordan was also delightful. Less cordial and satisfactory her
mention of Mrs. Siddons. She related that when as Constance
Mrs. Siddons wept over her, her collar was wet with Mrs. Siddons's tears.
The comic scenes were better, I thought, than
the sentimental. I lilted particularly an old woman, a Mrs. Parthian, who had lost her memory, and spoke of Gentleman Smith,
whom she had known in her youth. " His name was Adam
Smith.
He wrote some pretty songs on political economy, and
people used to whisper about his addresses having been injected,
I forget by whom ; but it was some one at Drury Lane."
This I thought like one of Lamb's jokes ; as well as another,
in which the keeper of a caravan of wild beasts asks for orders,
as being of the profession.
She condescends to notice Miss

—

180

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

Kelly as the best in her line, but makes a comparison of her
"beasteses" with actors in favor of her own. Is not this

Lamb's 1 *

Wordsworth to H.

C. R.

February

....

1833.

am come

to that time of life when I must be prepared to part with or precede my dearest friends ; and God's
I

You mistake in supposing me an antinever was, but an anti-Bill-man, heart and
soul.
It is a fixed judgment of my mind, that an unbridled
democracy is the worst of all tyrannies. Our constitution had
provided a check for the democracy in the regal prerogative,
influence, and power, and in the House of Lords, acting directly through its own body, indirectly by the influence of individual peers, over a certain portion of the House of Commons.
The old system provided, in practice, a check both without
and within. The extension of the nomination boroughs has
The House of Lords
nearly destroyed the internal check.
have been trampled upon by the way in which the Bill has
been carried
and they are brought to that point that the
peers will prove useless as an external check, while the regal
powar and influence have become, or soon will, a mere shadow.
In passing through Soho Square, it may amuse you to call
in upon Mr. Pickersgill, the portrait-painter, where he will be
gratified to introduce you to the face of an old friend.
Take
Charles and Mary Lamb there also.
will be done
Reformer that
;

;

February

24-th.

— At the

Athenaeum, where

had an

inter-

esting conversation with Hudson Gurney.
He talks freely of
himself, and I am not betraying confidence in writing down
the following minutes.
His mother was a Barclay, and his

grandfather a grandson of the famous author.
By him he was
brought up a Quaker, and his first opinions or feelings were
High Tory. His grandfather, though a Quaker, had inspired
him with a great hatred of the Presbyterians. His favorite
pursuit, rivalled only by a love of leaping over five-barred
gates, was heraldry ; and his first hatred of the French Revolution was probably more stimulated by the decree abolishing
liveries and arms than anything else.
His great delight in
London, when a boy, was looking at the carriages going to the
* It is afterwards mentioned that Reynolds, and not
of the text of" Miss Kelly's Recollections."

Lamb, was the author

1833.]

ETYMOLOGY OF MASS.

181

But he never saw the people within ; he
levee or drawing-room.
looked only at the panels. However, about the year 1794 -5,
when at Norwich, he had for about sixteen months an interlude of Jacobinism and infidelity, inspired by the violent
men of the day. From Jacobinism he was driven by observing what tyrants, without exception, all the heroes of the
He was cured of his infidelity by ButLiberty party were.
He had read before a great deal of metaler's "Analogy."
He has
physics.
Butler showed him how far he could go.
made, he says, no advances ever since. He then forswore all
metaphysics, and has kept his oath ; but he still has a great
He conlove for everything in the shape of an experience.
curred with me in the praise of John Woolman, of whose writings he says he has thought of publishing an edition, with
notes ; " But now," he added, " my mind is gone."
In spite
of his early religious education, he never liked the " Pilgrim's
Progress," disliking allegory.
March 7 th (Rem. ) *
At the Society of Antiquaries this
evening, Lord Aberdeen President, an incident occurred which
greatly interested me at the moment, and which is worth be-

—

ing related in detail, if anything be which concerns myself. A
few weeks before this time, John Gage, the Director of the
Society, calling on me, I incidentally remarked to him that I
found he had, in a late paper in the Archozologia, adopted the
vulgar error that the Latin Missa, and all the cognate words,
Mass, Messe, Ite, missa est ; I
the mass dismissing the congregation,
pointed out the absurdity of deriving a very important word
from an insignificant part of a formal instrument ; the essence
of the sacrament being the bread and wine, as be had himself
acknowledged to be the fact. And I interested him by informing him how I first came to perceive this, by being told in
Germany that Kirmess, a parish festival, was an abridgment
of Kirchmess, or church feast, being the feast day of the patron saint.
It flashed upon my mind at once that Messe must
mean feast ; and I cited Michaelmas as proving it, being the
feast of St. Michael, Christmas the feast of Christ, &c. From
this moment I had but to seek for formal evidence to prove
what was manifest. Mr. Director on this begged me to throw
the matter of this new etymology into a paper, which, he said,
the Society would be glad of.
And this evening it was read.
There is no doubt it was flippant in style, and it was read very

—

* Written

in 1853.

182

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

badly ; but it gave offence, not because it was dull or obscure,
but because it was said to be irreverent. Lord Bexley and the
Bishop of Bath and Wells were there. Perhaps the evil was
aggravated by there being an audible laugh at the closing
words of the paper, " Ite, missa est"*
March 10th.
I went on reading " Hermann and Dorothea,"
which I have just finished. I hold it to be one of the most
Not one of his philosophical
delightful of all Goethe's works.
works, which the exclusives exclusively admire, but one of the
most perfectly moral as well as beautiful. It realizes every
I shed tears over it repeatedly,
requisite of a work of genius.
but they were mere tears of tenderness at the perfect beauty

—

of the characters and sentiments.
Incident there is none.
I reached the Lambs at tea-time.
April 9th.
I found
them unusually well in health, but not comfortable. They
seem dissatisfied in their lodgings ; but they have sold all their
furniture, and so seem obliged to remain as they are.
I spent
the evening playing whist ; and after Lamb and his sister
went to bed, I read in his album (HolcrofVs " Travels " pasted
with extracts in MS. and clippings out of newspapers, Lamb says that he can write acrostics and album verses, and
such things, at request, with a facility that approaches that of
the Italian Improvisatori ; but that he has great difficulty in
composing a poem or piece of prose which he himself wishes
should be excellent. The things that cost nothing are worth

—

He says he should be happy had he some literary
Hay ward has sent him his " Faust." He thinks it well

nothing.
task.

How inferior to
done, but he thinks nothing of the original.
Marlowe's play One scene of that is worth the whole What
has Margaret to do with Faust 1 Marlowe, after the original
story, makes Faust possess Helen of Greece
April 16th.
Mr. Denman called with the news that Miss
Flaxman died this morning about three o'clock. I was not
!

—

by this intelligence. Life had lost all its charms for
and her constitution was entirely broken. An easy death
was all her friends could wish for her, and that she seems to
have been blessed with. She was an excellent person, and I
surprised

her,

sincerely regret her loss.
* The paper, which had really no value whatever, as actually read, appears
All the
to more advantage in the' " Archseologia," Vol. XXVI. p. 242.
evidence was collected after the paper was read and the collateral remarks
from
the
taken
great
scholar
Italian
origin
of
Italian
words,
on the German
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Muratori), and the incidental
Scarcely a
proofs cited, render the paper amusing as well as instructive.
H. C. R.
page is now what it originally was.

now

;

—

ROYAL ACADEMY.

1833.]

— MALIBRAN.

183

—

I did not rise till it was time to dress to go
April 25th,
It is worthy of notice that, in
to Miss Flaxman's funeral.
consequence of the mortality of the season through influenza,
it was with great difficulty that a mourning-coach could be
The burial took place in St. Giles's Churchyard.
procured.
It was a ceremony I felt to be a comfort in the respect shown
to the very relics of humanity.
May lJfth.
Went with Mrs. Aders to the Exhibition.
monk
Only three or four pictures which I wish to recollect.
marvellous expression, singuconfessing to another monk.
lar contrast of feeling, in spite of similarity of dress and a like
emaciation.
The fingers of both skinny and cramped, all agitation and compression, but still most dissimilar.
One of the
most striking pictures I ever saw. This is by Wilkie. He
has also a portrait of the Duke of Sussex,
a good likeness.
No man comes near Wilkie this year, though both Uwins and
Eastlake have fine pictures.
Uwins tells very clearly the tale
of a nun taking the veil, and Eastlake has a beautiful group
of trembling Greeks on the sea-shore,
Turks hastening to

—

massacre them, an English boat advancing to their rescue.
There are some delightful landscapes by Callcott.
May 80th. I went with Mrs. Aders to PickersgilPs, to see
his portrait of Wordsworth.
It is in every respect a fine picture, except that the artist has made the disease in Words-

—

worth's eyes too apparent.
The picture wants an oculist. In
the evening, being unsettled, I went to Drury Lane Theatre at
" La Sonnambula."
half price.
An opera,
I saw Malibran.
Her acting in the scene in which, after a sleep-walking (which
was very disagreeable), she awakes and sees her lover or husband, was exquisite.
Her love and joy were expressed by admirable pantomime.
Such artless fondness I never saw on
the stage.

—

May

31st.

—

accompanied Mrs. Jaffray to the Marquis of

Westminster's to

see his pictures.
The pleasure
them was rather -enhanced than diminished by ray

of seeing
better ac-

quaintance with the great masterpieces in Italy.

There are

some delightful specimens of Claude here, which are equal to
any on the Continent. There are also capital Rembrandts and
Rubenses. It is true there are but few of the great Italian
masters, yet Guido's " Fortune " (a duplicate) is one of the
most beautiful pictures I know.
Westall was with George
Young there, and I could hear him giving the preference in
coloring to Sir Joshua's Mrs. Siddons over every picture in the

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

184
room.
ing.

11.

" The Blue Boy " of Gainsborough is a delicious paintWilkie was in the room,
a thorough Scotchman in his

—

appearance.

—

June 9th.
(Liverpool.)
At twelve I got upon an omniand was driven up a steep hill to the place where the

bus,

steam-carriages start.

travelled in the second class

There were five carriages linked together, in each
of which were placed open seats for the traveller, four and four
facing each other ; but not all were full ; and, besides, there
was a close carriage, and also a machine for luggage. The
fare was four shillings for the thirty-one miles.
Everything
went on so rapidly, that I had scarcely the power of observaThe road begins at an excavation through rock, and is
tion.
to a certain extent insulated from the adjacent country.
It is
occasionally placed on bridges, and frequently intersected by
carriages.

ordinary roads.
Not quite a perfect level is preserved. On
setting off there is a slight jolt, arising from the chain catching each carriage, but, once in motion, we proceeded as
smoothly as possible. For a minute or two the pace is gentle,
and is constantly varying. The machine produces little smoke
or steam.
First in order is the tall chimney then the boiler,
a barrel-like vessel ; then an oblong reservoir of water then a
vehicle for coals
and then comes, of a length infinitely exIf all the seats had been
tendible, the train of carriages.
but
filled, our train would have carried about 150 passengers
a gentleman assured me at Chester that he went with a thou;

;

There must have been two ensand persons to Newton fair.
gines then.
I have heard since that two thousand persons and
more went to and from the fair that day. But two thousand
only, at three shillings each way, would have produced £ 600
But, after all, the expense is so great, that it is considered uncertain whether the establishment will ultimately remunerate
the proprietors.
Yet I have heard that it already yields
!

the shareholders a dividend of nine per cent. And bills have
passed for making railroads between London and Birmingham,
and Birmingham and Liverpool. What a change will it produce in the intercourse
One conveyance will take between
100 and 200 passengers, and the journey will be made in a
forenoon
Of the rapidity of the journey I had better experience on my return but I may say now, that, stoppages
included, it may certainly be made at the rate of twenty miles
!

;

an hour
I

should have observed before that the most remarkable

SOUTHEY ON POLITICS AND MORALS.

1833.]

185

movements of the journey are those in which trains pass one
The rapidity is such that there is no recognizing the
another.

On several occasions, the noise of the
features of a traveller.
passing engine was like the whizzing of a rocket.
Guards are
stationed in the road, holding flags, to give notice to the drivers
when to stop. Near Newton I noticed an inscription recording the memorable death of Huskisson.
June lJftlu
(Ambleside.)
I reached the Salutation Inn
by a quarter after five in capital spirits, took tea in the com-

—

mon room, and then strolled up to Rydal Mount, where I met
with a cordial reception from my kind friends; but Miss
Wordsworth I did not see. I spent a few hours very delightfully 5 enjoyed the improved walk in Mr. Wordsworth's garden,
from which the views are admirable ; and had most agreeable
conversation, with no other drawback than Miss Wordsworth's
absence from the state of her health.
June 27th.
Went to Southey's, where I passed a very
agreeable evening,
a compensation for the bad weather of
the forenoon. I had a cordial reception from the Laureate,
and found the whole family very amiable. There was a large

—

party,

— that

is,

—

for the country.

With Southey I had a long and amicable chat on

all

kinds of

he was, if anything, rather more vioHe spoke with indignation of the old
lent than Wordsworth.
Tory branch of the administration, such as Lord Palmerston,
&c, and declared Stanley * to be the most dangerous man
amongst them. On the whole, I could not greatly differ from
him his greatest fault being that, like almost all, he is onesubjects.

politics,

;

sided.

—

June 28th.
Went to Southey's, and had a long and agreeable desultory chat with him. He read me copious additions to
" The Devil's Walk," only too earnest.
His articles in the
Quarterly Review would make twelve such volumes as the two
of moral and political essays already published.
went over

many interesting subjects
I am now looking over

of discussion.

Miss Wordsworth's Scotch journal.
She travelled with her brother and Coleridge. Had she but
filled her volume with their conversation, rather than minute
description

One saying of Coleridge is recorded.
Seeing a steamengine at work, Miss Wordsworth remarked that it was impossible not to think it had feeling,
a huge beam moved

—

* The present Lord Derby.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

186
slowly

one

up and down.

idea.

Coleridge said

was

like a giant

11.

with

—

Spent an agreeable evening again with Southey.
June 30th.
read German, and had the same sort of political and moral
Southey is a most amiable man, and
conversation as before.
everything I see in him pleases me. Speaking of the possibility of punning with a very earnest and even solemn feeling,
he mentioned a pious man of the name of Hern, who, leaving
a numerous family unprovided for, said in his last moments
" God, that won't suffer a sparrow to fall to the ground unheeded,
will take care of the Herns?
Jtdy Jfih.
Southey read me a curious correspondence between himself and Brougham, soon after the latter became Chancellor.
Brougham (who, by the by, signed " H. Brougham")
begged Southey to give him his opinion on the sort of patronage which, usefully and safely, might be given by the governcutting,
ment to literature. South ey's answer was very good,

—

the forms of courtesy. Alluding to the new order,
which was given at the time to some distinguished men of
" Should the Guelphic order be made
science, Southey wrote
use of as an encouragement to men of letters, I, for my part,
should choose to remain a Ghibelline." This was repeated,
as a good joke, by Sydney Smith to a friend of Southey's.
Brougham probably, therefore, took the letter in good part.
He is, in fact, a good-natured man. He did not reply to
Southey's letter.

with

all

—

July 7 th.
Lord Egremont, having lately set about making
a preserve of the mountains, a petition was sent to him by the
inhabitants, alleging (among other objections) that this would
produce a race of poachers. Southey told me that he added to
" Who never carries a gun and who thinks that
his name
;

this

leges

;

not a time

when

expedient to stretch feudal priviespecially in countries where they have never been exit is

ercised."

H. C. R. to Miss Wordsworth.
October

....

Bath

my feelings.

16, 1833.

In one of the most
delicious spots imaginable, fronting the glen, at the upper end
of which is the uncongenial and ostentatious Prior Park, where
Pope's Allen lived, but out of sight of the deforming ornament,
is Whitcomb Churchyard.
And there, more than forty years
ago, were deposited the remains of my dearest, earliest, and,
is

sanctified to

INSOLENT HEALTH.

1833.]

— SCOTCH JOURNEY.
187
— my mother, an admirable

affections, latest of kindred,

woman, whose image

as fresh

now

was when I

took leave of her in January, 1793.

H. C. R. to Masquerier.

Plowden

Buildings, 19th October, 1833.

I heard applied to you, the other day, by an invalid (George
Young), very coarse words of abuse, which I ought, perhaps, to
have resented. He said you were insolent or impudent in your
health, I

forget which.

overlooked the affront.

are the natural enemies of the rich
fellows.

portion of

we must

The poor

therefore pardon

they vent their ill-will on us hearty
swaggering with health,
some
picked up in that blessed land

the aged and the diseased

young

;

Where

too,

all,

—

whom

hunger spares, of age decay.

was absent more than four months. It would fill up my
paper were I to enumerate all the famous places I saw. ThereI

fore,

take

my account in the form of a school lesson in geography.

My journey

was bounded by Peel Castle, in the Isle of Man to
the west, by Inverness to the north, and Aberdeen to the east.
You cannot accuse me of hurrying this time through the
country.
I did not meet with a single unpleasant incident on
the journey, and had a vast deal of enjoyment.
First, I spent
several weeks in Westmoreland and Cumberland.
And Wordsworth accompanied me to Man, Staffa, and Iona. I copy you
a sonnet, which even you and your Scotch wife (on account of
the subject) will feel the beauty of.* It is, I think, the most
perfect sonnet in the language.
Every word is as a gem, from
the pathetic light in the first, to the soft Parthenope in the last,
line.
It is composed with that deep feeling and perfection of
style united that bespeak the master.
After seeing Staffa, and the Caledonian Canal, and wearying
myself on the east coast of Scotland,
a frightful country,
I went down the Deeside to Braemar, an interesting country.
And from Perth made a pedestrian tour through the Perth
Highlands, t
I stayed nine days at Edinburgh.
In variety

—

* " On the Departure of Sir Walter Scott for Naples."
t A guide told me of the Marquis of Breadalbane's castle, that it was to
have been built on a height, but an old woman remonstrated with the laird
against the folly of choosing so cold and dreary a spot, where her own peat
hut was. Being asked where, then, it should be, she answered: " Build where
you hear the thrushes sing." The advice was taken.
H. C. R.

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

188

11.

—

of interesting objects, I know no place equal to it,
not even
Naples, though there is an intensity of feeling raised by the
Italian cities, which the cold climate of Auld Reekie at once
represses.
There was no great feat in transporting the holy
house from Palestine to Loretto ; but it would be something
to clap Edinburgh on the shore of the Adriatic or Mediterranean, per Bacco
professors and all, with their political economy and all other economies. The poor Italian would stand no
chance with so acute and prudent a people.
The south of Scotland has also its beauties. Wordsworth's
poems, " Yarrow Unvisited and Visited," made me quite long
!

to see that district.
laird

on the Tweed,

chase

—

Accordingly, after visiting a hospitable
went over the mountain on a cygnet

The swan on

Saint Mary's Lake
swan and shadow."

still

Floats double,

But, alas
there were no swans to be seen.
Wordsworth
says they ought to have been there.
But I did recognize the
!

lines,

What 's Yarrow but
Gliding the dark

hills

river,

bare,

under ? "

I ought not to omit saying that, when at Edinburgh, I witI never heard antinonessed a manifestation of the spirit.
mianism so outrageously and mischievously preached. It was
in effect and tendency an exhortation not to be deluded by
the folly of supposing that God liked any one the better for
" So you think (do you ?) that you can get God's
being moral.
peace by wrapping yourself up in the filthy rags of your own
Eh " This was a fellow named Carrighteousness, do you %
lyle, and he was interrupted by a maniac, who screamed out,
" There HI be burnings I " and he stamped with his feet, and
put himself into the attitude of the fighting gladiator. And
this lasted for a quarter of an hour
21st.
I must close this letter in a tone very different from
its commencement.
Dear
I have sustained another loss.
Mrs. Collier died yesterday.
I was not unprepared for the
event.
She died, as Mary Flaxman died, without any suffering whatever.
She was one of the most amiable and estimable women I ever knew.
Her crowning virtue was, that she
lived for others ; therefore all others loved her.
Towards me
she was all kindness I owe years of comfort to her care.
Her last years were the happiest of her life. She was perfectOnly the day before her death,
ly satisfied with her children.
!

—

—
1833.]

THE ISLE OF MAN WITH WORDSWORTH.

189

said, " T hope my mother will live long to plague me ;
cannot do enough for her. No one ever had such a mother."
Mrs. Collier had often said to me, " My children are too good."

Mary
I

These are consolations under

affliction.

—

(Isle of Man.)
At Bala-sala we called on Mr.
July lJfth.
and Mrs. Cookson,* esteemed friends of the Words worths (vide
" Yarrow Revisited," p. 205). I had seen Mrs. Cookson at
Kendal formerly there is something very prepossessing in
her person and manners. At Bala-sala are the remains of an
ancient abbey (Rushen Abbey), a stream, and many trees,
Here
a contrast to the nakedness of the adjacent country.
we lounged more than an hour.f We arrived at dusk at Casbut it is a poor little
tletown, the legal capital of the island
village in a bay, much less beautiful than Douglas
Turned over a book of the Mona Statutes, which much amused
me,
the style original.
Some expressions are worth record:

;

—

It is ordered that persons outlawed shall not be inlawed
without the King's permission, whose title at one time was,
" The Honorable Sir Thomas Stanley, Knight, Lord and King
The isle is divided into " sheddings " (German,
of Man."
Scheidungen,
boundaries or separations).
The judges are
called "deemsters," that is, doomsters, or pronouncers of
The title of the King is " our doughtful Lord."
judgment.
The place of proclaiming the law is the " Tinwald." " Tin "
is said to mean " proclamation," and " wald," "fenced round."
This, too, is German ; so that the Manx language seems to
have some Teutonic affinities.
ing.

—

* Parents of the executor of both Wordsworth and H. C. R.
f And as the poet thought of his friend, and looked on the scene
"

Where ancient trees this convent-pile enclose,
In ruin beautiful,"

the Sonnet, No. XX., of
was suggested,

—

Poems connected with
"

And when

a tour in the

summer of

1833

I note

The old tower's brow yellowed as with the beams
Of sunset ever there., albeit streams
Of stormy weather-stains that semblance wrought,
I
*

thank the
Shine

so,

and say,
aged brow, at all hours of the day! "

silent monitor,

H. C. R. had pleasure in recollecting that he was present at the conception
of this sonnet, for on the spot Wordsworth likened the color on the " old

tower"

to perpetual sunshine.

;

190

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.
Mrs. Clarkson to H.

11.

C. R.
October 23, 1833.

Miss Hutchinson tells me that Coleridge was at Cambridge
at the late assemblage of wise men, and, though not able to rise
till the afternoon, he had a crowded levee at his bedside.
Before I left home I had been reading over heaps of old
Dear Dorothy Wordsworth's contain the history of
letters.
What a heart and what a
the family, and of her exertions.
What puffs we hear of women, and even
head they discover
of men, who have made books and done charities, and all that,
but whose doings and thinkings and feelings are not to be
compared with hers
Yet one man deserves all the incense
which his memory has received,
good Mr. Wilberforce
Chatted at the Athenseum with Hare, who
October 24th.
He preached a sermon that made a
is returned from Rome.
noise there, on the text,
What went ye out for to see ] " which
was thought absurd by many. It was an attack on the numerous visitors there for their idle conduct. He laughed at the
who overheard a
anecdote I related to him from Mrs. D
" What did you
couple of bloods going out of the church.
!

—

come for]"

—

" 0,

damme,

—

came

for snipe-shooting

"
!

(Cambridge.)
My Italian friend, Mayer
December 2d.
whom I have been showing some of the videnda of
Cambridge), had an opportunity to-day of seeing what was
to him more interesting, perhaps, than the College prayers at
Trinity Chapel, at which Handel's music was performed.
This
was a row occasioned by an assault on the anatomical theatre.
A body for dissection had been brought in, and the mob
have not yet learned, even here at a University, to respect
anatomy. They were driven out of the field by the gownsmen, who would not suffer any superstition but their own
for an Oxford Don and a Cambridge Soph alike adopt the
motto, Tarn Marti quam Mercurio, and are not apt to let devotion to intellectual pursuits interfere with exercises of a
robust description.
The spirit of our undergraduates must
have seemed to Mayer quite as natural, if not as laudable, as
their piety, supposing the latter to be genuine,
and far better if it be conventional.
(to

—

1834.

January
invitation.

6th.

— Breakfasted with

With them was Stuart

Rogers and his

sister

Rose, a deaf and rheumatiG

1834.]

ROGERS.

— THOUGHTS

ON THEOLOGY.

191

old.
He talks low, so I should
Rogers was verynot have guessed him to be a man of note.
He is famous for being a good talker. I can recivil to me.
but still his
cord nothing, perhaps, that deserves notice
His most solid remark
conversation was pleasant to recollect.
was on literary women. How strange it is, that while we men
are modestly content to amuse by our writings, women must be
didactic
Miss Baillie writes plays to illustrate the passions,
Miss Martineau teaches political economy by tales, Mrs. Marcet sets up for a general instructor, not only in her dialogues
but in fairy stories, and Miss Edgeworth is a schoolmistress in
her tales. We talked chiefly of literary and public men.
Rogers praised Lord Liverpool for his liberality, which he
learned, late in life, of Canning and Huskisson. When young,
he was the butt of his companions. At Christ's College, Cambridge, there being a party at some gownsman's (I believe
Canning), he broke in, "I am come to take tea with you."
" No, you are going to the pump ,?
And the threat was
carried out.
Yet he who suffered such indignity became
Prime Minister. Rogers made inquiries about Wordsworth
with obvious interest.
He related an anecdote I never heard
of,
that Wordsworth had an accident which drove entirely
out of his head a fine poem, of which Mrs. Wordsworth unluckily at the same time lost the copy.

man, who looks prematurely

;

—

H. C. R. to Mr. Benecke.
January

26, 1834.

have read your work* with mixed feelings of satisfaction
and uneasiness, but in which the agreeable largely predominate.
I have never attempted to conceal from you that my
mind is very unsettled on the great points of religion, and
that I am still what the Quakers call a seeker.
I was very
ill educated, or rather I had no regular instruction, but heard
what are called orthodox notions preached in my childhood,
when I, like other children, believed all tljat I heard uncontradicted.
But before I was twenty years old, I met with antireligious books, and had nothing to oppose to sceptical arguments.
I sprang at once from one extreme to another, and
from believing everything I believed nothing. My German
I

studies afterwards
* Probably

made me

sensible of the shallowness of the

Der Brief Pauli an dieRomer

Heidelberg, 1831.

erlautert von

Wilhelm Benecke."

192

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

—

whole class of writers whom I before respected,
one good efthey wrought on me they made me conscious of my own
ignorance, and inclined me to a favorable study of religious
doctrines. After this, your conversation awakened my mind to
It occurred to me
this very important and salutary doubt.
that it might possibly be, that certain notions which I had rejected as absolute falsehoods were rather ill stated, erroneously
Or rather,
stated, and misunderstood truths, than falsehoods.
that possibly there might be most important truths hidden, as
Now this impression
it were, behind these misrepresentations.
has been greatly advanced and improved by your book, and I
am in consequence most anxious to pursue this inquiry, in
which I natter myself that you will kindly give me your aid,
and for that purpose I mean, if you will permit it, to come
over and take up my residence for the summer in Heidelberg.
I will, however, advert to one or two of the main points,
both in the history of my own mind, and of your book. Having originally heard the popular doctrines concerning the fall
and the
of man,
the sin of Adam,
justification by faith,
eternal damnation of all mankind except a few believers,
merely on account of their belief, stated in the most gross
way, the moment the inherent absurdity of such notions was
made palpable to my mind, I rejected them without hesitation.
Now it has been a great consolation to me, the finding in your
work such a statement of the real import of the doctrines of
the gospel as is entirely free from all those rational objections
by which I was so strongly influenced in my youth, and the
effect of which still remains.
Your views concerning the fall
of man may be true
the popular doctrine must he false. Your
view concerning the ultimate purpose of the scheme of redemption is worthy the purest conceptions of the Divine nature.
The popular doctrine of heaven and hell is Manicheism, with
fect

;

—

;

is more powerful
few are to be saved, after all.
your explanation of the nature

this worst of additions, that the evil spirit

than the good

spirit

;

for only a

Not less satisfactory to me is
of faith,
as expressive of a purification of the heart (Reinigung der Gesinnung). The vulgar notion really represents the
Supreme Being as actuated by feelings not very different from
the pique and resentment of vain people, who punish those
who disbelieve what they say. In a word, there is no one
topic which as treated by you is repugnant to my feelings and
wishes.
The one doctrine which forms at present an insurmountable

—

;

DOCTRINAL DIFFICULTIES.

1834.]

— GOETHE'S BOTANY.

193

—

the doctrine of
is that of the atonement,
through the merits of Jesus Christ. Now, I am
not without hopes that I shall hereafter receive from you explanations as reasonable as on other points ; and that I shall
find here, too, that though you talk with the vulgar, you do
But do not mistake my object in writnot think with them.
And it is not
I do not ask you to write me a book.
ing this.
but whenever I
in a letter that such a subject can be treated
take my residence for a time near you. I shall request your
aid in not merely this matter, but generally in the study of
the great Christian scheme in all its bearings, about which I
and talking very idly, and sometimes very
have been talking
I
all my life, without ever studying it as I ought.
lightly
am anxious, as I said before, to remove this reproach from me
for, whether true or false, it is sheer folly on my part to have
given it so little attention, or rather to have attended to it in
so desultory a way. I ought to add that I find no impediment

stumbling-block
justification

;

—

common notion of the Divine nature of Jesus Christ, as
I
conscious of being both Soul and Body and yet One.
can see nothing incredible even in the notion of the Divine and
human nature of the Redeemer, as he is called ; but in what
does that redemption consist 1 That is the great difficulty.
Here, again, the vulgar doctrine expressed in such phrases as
" the precious blood " of Christ,
the
his infinite sufferings,
in the
I

atoning

sacrifice,

you have

— &c, &c, —

—

which
but disgust for the
that you may be able to

these, like the doctrines

so well explained, excite nothing

present.
My w ish and hope
throw light on these also.
T

are,

—

April Jfth.
Dined at Gooden's, where I met among others
Dr. Lindley, the Secretary of the Horticultural Society.
He
surprised me by saying he knew Goethe only as a botanist, in
wT hich character he thought most highly of him, he being the
author of the New System of Botany ; and that this is now the
opinion of the most eminent botanists both in France and
England.
I rejoice at this unexpected intelligence.
July 7 th.
Went to Miss Denman, with wT hom I had a
long chat on business.
She wishes that Mr. Flaxman's remaining works should be preserved together,
a reasonable
and honorable object of anxiety.
July 9th.
In the evening at the Athenaeum, where I
found everybody agitated by the news of the day.
The Ministry is broken up.
I am far from thinking it certain that the

—

vol. n.

194

REMINISCENCES' OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

Tories will come in.
It may end in the re-establishment of
the Ministry as before the Reform Bill passed.
The Irish
Church Bill is the rock on which the weak administration has
split.
In fact the Ministry want courage to give up the Irish
Church, and they are at the same time against the Irish Repealers.
Between the two parties, they strive in vain to steer
a middle and safe course.
I accompanied Miss Mackenzie, with Lady
July 10th.
Charlotte Proby, to Wilkie's, where we saw the very interesting beginning of a painting, " Columbus showing his Plans to
two Monks." Only the philosopher's head and the figure of
an interesting youth were finished. It is a very promising beginning.
But Wilkie is more interesting than his picture. A
mild and sickly man, with an expression rather of kindness
than of elevation of character ; his gray little eyes are not
without an expression of slyness.
July 25th.
Heard with sorrow of the death of a great
man, Coleridge
Mrs. Aders brought the intelligence.
He
died with great composure, and fully sensible of his condition.
Wordsworth declared to me (in 1812) that the powers of Coleridge's mind were greater than those of any man he ever
knew.
His genius he thought to be great, but his talents still
greater.
And it was in the union of so much genius with so
much talent that Coleridge surpassed all the men of Wordsworth's acquaintance.

—

W.
[No

date,

Landor to H.

but on the outside

C. R,
written, "

Summer,

1834/']

— What

a dismal gap has been
made within a little time, in the forest of intellect, among the
Byron and Scott put the fashionable
plants of highest growth
world in deep mourning. The crape, however, was soon thrown

Friend

my Friend

aside, and people took their coffee, and drew their card, and
These
looked as anxiously as ever at what was turning up.
deaths were only the patterings of rain before the storm.
Goethe, your mighty friend, dropped into the grave. Another,
the dear good Colenext to him in power, goes after him,'
Little did I think, when we shook hands at parting,
ridge.
that our hands should never join again.
Southey is suffering from a calamity worse than death, beHow is Wordsworth 1
fallen one dearer to him than himself.
It appears as if the world were cracking all about me, and

—

leaving

me no

object on which to fix

eyes.

TO HEIDELBERG.

VISIT

1834.]

— ARNDT.

195

Visit to Heidelberg.
Left

—

home August

On my way

Returned November 10th.
1st
stopped at Bonn (August 3d), and spent an

hour with Arndt.

had seen

this distinguished patriot

—

and

at Stockholm, twenty-seven
popular writer only once before,
I found him in
yet he recognized me at once.
years ago,
affliction; he had recently lost a fine boy, by drowning, through
the unskilfulness of a servant. When he had disburdened himself of this sorrow, he talked with great animation on the pubArndt was a violent hater of Buonalic concerns of the day.
When the restoration
parte, and fled from his proscription.
was complete, he became obnoxious to the sovereigns he had
so warmly served (not for their own sakes, but for the people),
and was not suffered to lecture at Bonn, where he was a proUnder these cirfessor, though his salary was allowed him.
cumstances, I talked of all countries but Prussia ; but he
seemed to have forgotten the injustice done him by the gov-

—

He was greatly altered in his political feelings, and
through the effect of one speculative opinion, and that

ernment.
chiefly

It
character and race.
the ordinary rules of justice.
According to it, nations are doomed to a certain course by a
sort of fatality superior to the influence of opinions or moral
He loved the Prussian character, and spoke slightingcauses.
I suppose under the influence of this fixed
ly of the Poles,
opinion.
He considered the Poles incapable of fidelity, and
Compared with them, he spoke highly of
therefore of union.
On the same ground, he justified the predomithe Russians.
is,

the great

influence of national

seemed to break

upon

all

—

The Irish, he said, have no
nance of England in Ireland.
they cannot colonize, and are incapable
foresight, no prudence
They are brave, but cannot make use of
of self-government.
Of France he said, in spite of Napothe effects of bravery.
leon's famous cry, " Ships, commerce, and colonies," it cannot
become a colonizing state. The English would have already
Neither the Russians nor the
settled matters in Algeria.
French could, he thought, ever be a great naval power. He as;

German

serted that the

the government

character resists slavery.

Even when

form absolute, the administration cannot
In nothing that Arndt said could I more agree
is

be arbitrary.
Some of his other assertions are perwith him than in this.
haps fanciful ; but there was a youthful vigor in a man of
sixty-five which it was delightful to contemplate.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

196

11.

—

At a party at Madame Thomas's I met,
other old friends, Ludwig Tieck, his daughter, and the
Countess.
He is more bent, but with a fresher complexion,
than when I saw him at Dresden, in 1829. He spoke of Coleridge with high admiration, and heard of his death with great
apparent sorrow. I spoke of his Dramatnrgische Blatter, and
complained of his tone of depreciation towards the English
he who talked the most
stage.
The most prominent person
and the best
was Grimm,* one of the Gebrilder Grimm, the authors of the Volksm,ahrchen, and of the famous " German
Grammar."
He is a lively talker, with a very intellectual
countenance, expressive rather of quickness than depth.
He
declaimed vehemently against the cheap literature of the day,
not merely on account of its injuring the trade, but because it
gives only imperfect knowledge, excites pride, and draws people out of their proper sphere.
He is not the correspondent
August 11th.

among

—

of Hayward.

During
with

Stift.

stay at Heidelberg

much

time was spent

old college acquaintance, Frederick Schlosser of the

Here (says

my journal

had a very
and also from

of the 17th August) I

friendly reception from Schlosser

and

his wife,

Senator Brentano, his wife, &c, &c. By the presence of so
acquaintances I was put into high spirits, and I have
not for a long time been in a more delightful frame of mind.
To this the singular beauty of the spot contributed not a little.
The views up and down the Neckar, from the platform before
this ex-monastery, are exquisite, and the amiable occupiers
seem fully to enjoy them.
On a subsequent occasion Schlosser showed me a valuable
collection of MSS. and old pamphlets, of and about Goethe.
September 2d.
An interesting afternoon. I dined with
Madame Niese. The Beneckes and Schlossers there, and with
them Gorres, Professor of History at Munich, his wife, daughter, and grandchild.
Gorres has the wildest physiognomy,
looks like an overgrown old student.
A faun-like nose and
lips, fierce eyes, and locks as wild as Caliban's.
Strong sense,
with a sort of sulky indifference towards others, are the characteristics of his manner.
I had little or no conversation with

many

—

* Mr. Hcnvitt tells me that H. C. R. gave to the brothers Grimm the capital
story of " The Fisherman and his Wife."
Mr. Howitt says: "I had heard this
was the case, and therefore asked H. C. R. whether it was true. He said
Yes,' and told me how he found it.
I think he had it from an old woman,
but I cannot now precisely recollect. Of the fact, however, I am certain, that
he said he discovered it somewhere in Germany."
Ed.
1

—

—
KIRCHENRATH SCHWARZ.

CHARLES KEMBLE.

1834.]

197

The gentlemen went up to the vineyard, while I stayed
him.
with the ladies, and except a little talk, at last, about Jena and
the Brentanos, I had no chat with him. I was in high spirits,
and talked more than with such persons I ought. Gorres is a
He was once a sort of Radical, but is now a
rigid Catholic.
His books are distinguished for their obscurity ;
Conservative.
his work on the Volksbucher is such as the Yolk would never
Of his later works I know nothing. He found
understand.
a philoin me a strong resemblance to Franz von Baader,
sophic mystic *
Walking home early I met Charles Kemble and his wife. I
joined them, and chatted with them for an hour on the walk
He talked of German literature sensibly,
towards the Stift.
and in a gentlemanly tone. He said he was very happy that
he had now nothing to do with the stage. Charles Young has
I went one evening to the
also been staying at Heidelberg.
theatre with him, to see Goetz von Berlichingen.
He soon
became tired. He has since dined at our table-d'hote, and I
have had a walk with him.
In the morning I had a call from the KirSeptember 19th.
chenrath Schwarz, a conscientious, good old man, who sent me
a letter lately to apologize for having contradicted my citation
of Kant's distribution of the Tree of Knowledge among the four
to the French the blossom, the
polished nations of Europe,
Italians the crown, the English the fruit, and the Germans the
His letter contains less apt citations from Kant, but is
root.

—

worth preservation.
In the evening I went to the Kirchenrath Schwarz, to tea
and supper. A small party of serious persons, whom Benecke
I was against the field in vindication of Goethe.
greatly likes.
And we had also religious talk. One circumstance was remarkall the party, i. e. Uhlmann, with our host and Benecke,
able,
were against rationality in religious sentiment, and yet they all
persisted that the government had no right to remove even
Paulus, having once appointed him. Who shall be judge in
such cases of what is, or is not, a true interpretation of the
still

—

* I have since read Gorres' account of his persecution by the Prussian
government in 1819. This book is neither mystical nor Jacobinical, but is
high moral feeling. I translate one sentence, because I recollect that
when very young I had the same thought: " He (i.e. Gorres) bore this
Zuriicksetzung (setting back or check) with cheerful resignation, because he
always deemed it a vain presumption in any individual, a member of a large
and complex state, that he should be rewarded according to his deserts: considering merit, even when undisputed, as but a gift which is to be gratefully
accepted, without asking, on that account, for an additional reward."
H. C. B.

full of

—

198

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

Gospel ? Paulus does not in terms reject the Gospel ; he says
We can only make spiritual advance on the road Jesus Christ
has pointed out,
his Gospel we accept,
that is enough for
us." Whether he believes in miracles, as we do, is not essential.
The Reformation was not closed when the Protestant churches
were founded, and we will not shut the door to further reforms.
We are not bound to any creed One of the party was for putting Herder above Goethe. This I did not allow, though I was
willing to admit that an unconscious suspicion that Herder was
in religious matters above Goethe might operate on the latter
so as to make him feel unfriendly to Herder. Undoubtedly between these men there was no love lost.
September 20th.
Finished the fourth volume of Goethe's
" Correspondence."
Many most delightful things in these
volumes.
I was surprised by Goethe's favorable judgment of
Walter Scott's " Life of Napoleon." He calls Scott the best
narrator of the age
and speaks of him as an upright man who
has tried to get rid of national prejudices. He concludes by the
shrewd remark, that " such books show you more of ihe writer
than the subject."
Dined with Madame Herder. I talked with her about her
great father-in-law.
She declares him to have been a Unitarian, and says he spoke the language of orthodoxy without
being orthodox.
I left before four, and then went to Schlosser.
Looked over
some pamphlets about Goethe,
his correspondence with Klopstock.
Klopstock admonished him for letting the Duke get
drunk. Goethe answered rather coldly, but respectfully, and
begged to be spared such letters. Klopstock thereon replied
that Goethe was unworthy such an act of friendship.
They
probably never met again.
Goethe nowhere alludes to this.
The best answer to the charge is, that Goethe lived to the age
of eighty-three, and the Duke to more than seventy. No ruinous sensuality could have been practised by them.
September 21st
Read with Benecke, and afterwards walked
with him and Mrs. Benecke to Madame Niese.
The Schlossers
came there. An interesting chat with Fritz Schlosser about
the men of the last age,
He said that F. Jacobi
our youth.
anxiously wished to be a Christian, and would hail him as a
benefactor who should relieve him from his doubts.
In fact,
Jacobi was a Sentimentalist and a Theist.
He hated Kantianism because he thought it wanted life and feeling. He loved
Spinoza's character, but thought himself wronged in being
:

4 1

—

—
;

—

199

STUDIES IN RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY.

1834.]

He was

treated as his follower.

fond of quoting Pascal and

Hemsterhusius.

Two subjects of frequent talk were the strange story of
Kasper Hauser, about whom many pamphlets had been written and opinions had widely differed and Goethe's " CorreThere was a great deal of cant about the want
spondence."
of respect shown to the public in giving to it Goethe's insigA story by Zelter is applicable in this innificant letters.
" There goes Fritz," said one soldier to another, as the
stance
King went by. " What a shabby old hat he has on "
" Bummer Junge" said the other, " you do not see what a fine
head he has."
I had some conversations with Geheimerath Schlosser of the
Stadt, the historian and also with Paulus. The latter, in his
Sophronizon, relates an anecdote which he had from my old
and very honest friend Jung, of Mainz. The latter saw a poor
old woman at a station of a Calvary in Bavaria.
She was
She told her story. A rich
crawling on her knees up the hill.
lady who had sinned was required by her confessor to go on her
knees so many times up the Calvary; but she might do it by deputy.
She paid this poor woman 24 kreutzers (8 d.) for a day's
journey on her knees, " which," said the woman, " is poor
wages for a day's hard labor and I have three children to
;

—

;

maintain.
And unless charitable souls give me more, my
children must go with half a belly full."
My object in making this stay at Heidelberg was to become
sufficiently acquainted with Benecke's speculative philosophy,
in which, certainly, I did not succeed.
As one of the means
of making that philosophy known to the English liberal public, he was desirous that I should translate the preface to his
" Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans."
I made

a translation, with which he was moderately satisfied, but I
never attempted to print it.*
In my journal of October 17th, I wrote After dinner I was
again with Benecke.
He is very poorly ; but we had an interesting conversation.
He dwelt on two ideas which he
deems of great importance,
the distinguishing thoughts of
Necessity and Liberty the one being such thoughts as are
bound by, and altogether have their character from, that Ne:

—

;

* Now, after twenty years, not only that preface, but the whole work, has
been translated and given to the public by his son William.
H. C. R. " An
Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. By William Benecke.
Translated from the German." Longman, 1854.

—

200

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. IChap.

cessity of

which man partakes.

Such are

arising out of the contemplation of Nature.

all

11.

the thoughts

And the

thoughts

of Liberty are those which arise out of that self-determining
power in man which constitutes his moral nature. To this
class belong all moral ideas.
Of Liberty he further explained,
that this being a faculty liable to be abused,
and this inevitably,
the purpose of our being is so to improve this facul-

—

it, that at least it is no longer capable of erring.
once man cannot abuse his freedom,
when he voluntarily and spontaneously does what the moral law requires,
then there is that synthesis or union of Liberty and Necessity
which is the characteristic of God, and by attaining to which
man partakes of the Divine nature,
the problem of human
existence to be ultimately solved by all
Let me connect with this a strange saying of Goethe's, being
the ne plus ultra of progress,
"If there be not a God now,
there will be one day."
I shall take no notice of my walks with Benecke in this
glorious country, nor of my intercourse with his admirable
One of
wife who still survives, but refer only to his opinions.
these, more remarkable than that on Liberty and Necessity,
he gave me on the 19th of October, when he read to me something he had written on the Lord's Supper. He explained the
meal as a symbol of the union of the Christian with God. It
that is, the union of the
is by food that life is sustained,
body and soul, or spirit. But had not the food a spirit, it
The nutritive power of the
could have no effect on the mind.
And so St.
food is distinct from its coarse material nature.
Paul speaks of a spiritual body. Benecke did not succeed in
making me comprehend his explanation of Christ's words
" This is my body."
This reminded me of a fine saying by
Coleridge, in the Quarterly Review, that "the Calvinists had
the Romanists ossified
volatilized the Eucharist to a word,
Benecke added, that, living in a Christian
it to an idol."
country, he should not be satisfied without partaking of the
Of
Lord's Supper, though he attaches no importance to it.
course, the Roman Catholic idea of the reception being necesAnd he added, what
sary to salvation is gross superstition.
my journal remarks had occurred to me before, that the text
which says that he that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved, and that he that believeth not shall be damned, does
He
not say, "and he that is not baptized shall be damned."
approved of immersion as the primitive form of baptism.

ty, or exert

—

When

—

1834.]

Bern*

GOETHE'S

CORRESPONDENCE WITH A CHILD."

201

— Of my admiration

for Goethe, Benecke says, in his
f " I agree with you in the judgment you
He who so
express of what Robinson has thought of Goethe.
admires Goethe " (a just admiration, I think) " shows that fie
does not miss in him that without which there can be no true
And he who does not perceive where it is not, cangreatness.
not feel it where it really is." This is not altogether true in
If, by not missing, Benecke meant that
its application to me.
The
I did not perceive where it was not, he did me injustice.
real difference between us lies in this, that I could perceive an
excellence where the higher was not.
I met Frau von Arnim, and had a long talk
October 24th,
" Goethe's Correspondence with a
with her about her book,
Child."
She is highly and unreasonably dissatisfied with what
has been done, or rather not done, in England. She had diffi-

published letters

—

culty in getting

—

introduced in a

way

satisfactory to herself;

was so dissatisfied with the translation an
English acquaintance had made for her, that she printed a
This might be worth keeping in a
translation of her own.
cabinet of literary curiosities, but it never became sufficiently
known to be an object of ridicule or censure. She told me
that Gorres declares this book will be the noblest monument
yet erected to Goethe's memory.
At six I went with Charlotte Serviere to see the painter
Veit, with whom and Madame von Schlegel I spent a very
pleasant evening.
Madame von Schlegel was the daughter of
Moses Mendelssohn. She is the mother of Yeit, and married
as her second husband Friedrich von Schlegel.
She is old, and

and even

at last she

has the appearance of a sensible woman.
I talked with her
chiefly on personal matters.
She spoke with regret of Wilhelm
Schlegel's having become so much of a Frenchman in his literary opinions.

Certainly the learned Professor's affected disreis not the least of his coxcombicali-

gard of German literature
ties.

By the by, I should have mentioned that the conductor of
the diligence by which I came from Heidelberg, a well-looking
man, though somewhat of a braggart, said that he had a brother on the Frankfort stage, who had been offered a salary of
" But," said he,
several thousand dollars to go to Stuttgart..
" my brother will not go to Stuttgart,
at Stuttgart there is
no public, there is only a Court " A genuine Imperial free-

—

* Written in 1854.
f "Wilhelm Benecke's Lebenskizze und
9

Briefe."

Dresden, 1850.

202

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

He said his father and family for a hundred
city speech.
years had been conductors of a diligence.
Passing through Dunkirk, I strolled into the large church,
where there were three priests engaged in catechizing boys and
I understood
girls.
It was by no means an edifying sight.
only a little, but enough not to lament that I could understand
no more. I heard who was the first man, and to the answer
" Had Adam
as to who was the first woman, I heard a " Bon"
a father ] " seemed a puzzler to the boy, and how he answered
I could not hear ; neither did I hear the answer to a question
which would have been a puzzler to me,
why man was made
To
of the limon de terre, and not of some other espece de terre.
a question which I could guess was, " Why was Eve said to
have been made of Adam's rib I w I did catch the reply of

—

" C'est pour /aire voir que la
the teacher, not of the boy,
femme est en dependance sur Vhomme. " And then the dirty fellow grinned with a leer and a wink to the Messieurs les etrangers.
And some women grinned too. And this, says my journal, is
religious instruction, and so Christians are taught
I might
have added,
and so is society formed. This incident made
such an impression on me that I have a vivid recollection of it

—

now.

—

December lJfth.
I dined with the Baldwins,* and had, as
an agreeable evening. He is in high spirits at the
He seems to think that the Duke
change of the Ministry.
and Sir Robert Peel will be reforming Ministers,
a good sign

usual,

—

The

supposed, will take place immediately. I had no difficulty in treating lightly, and as suits
an after-dinner conversation, these serious matters. Feeling,
as I do, so little of a partisan, if I could by a wish determine
the character of the new House of Commons, it should contain
a few Radicals,
merely enough to enable the party to say all
they wish, and the Whigs should be just strong enough to resume their places, but with so very powerful a Tory Opposition
In
as to be restrained from measures of destructive violence.
" There is such an equipoise
a letter to my brother I wrote
of honor, integrity, and intelligence distributed among the
conscientious Conservative alarmists on the one hand, and the
generous and philanthropic Reformers on the other, that I
have no strong feeling in any contest between them.
I feel a
passionate hostility against none but the Radicals.
The old
Tory party, if not dead, is forced to sham death."
certainly.

dissolution,

it is

—

* See Vol.

p. 278.

ROBERT HALL.

1834.]

— BONS

MOTS.

203

—

(On a visit to my friends the Pattissons at
December 27th.
I took a walk with the Pattissons in the grounds.
They have been planting trees near the rivulet in the meadow,
To-day I planted three
as suggested by me two years age.
Perhaps, as Jacob Pattisson
limes in a triangular position.
half said, these trees will keep alive my memory longer than
Yet no child was present to witness
any other act of my life
the planting.
At night I read Gregory's " Life of Robert
Hall."
The only passages that attracted me were the mots.
His religious character had nothing peculiar in it. He had fine
taste and great eloquence, but after all was not first-rate,
that is, not equal to Jeremy Taylor or Burke.
But he was
Of
facile princeps of all the Dissenting preachers of the day.
his sayings, here are a few
1. Being told that the Archbishop of Canterbury's chaplain
came into the room to say grace, and then went out, he said
" So that is being great
His Grace not choosing to present
his own requests to the King of kings, calls in a deputy to
take up his messages.
A great man indeed "
2. "In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best ;
in
matters of prudence, the last"
" Poor man
3. Of Bishop Watson's life,
He
I pity him.
married public virtue in his early days, but seemed forever
afterwards to be quarrelling with his wife."
4. A lady saying she would wait and see, when asked to
" She is watching, not to do good, but to escape
subscribe,
from it."
" The battle and its results ap5. Battle of Waterloo,
peared to me to put back the clock of the world six de-

Witham.)

—

grees."
6. Of Dr. Magee's mot about the Catholic Dissenters, that
the Catholics had a church and no religion, and the Dissenters
" It is false, but is an exa religion and no church, he said
cellent stone to pelt a Dissenter with."
7. " The head of
[a minister] is so full of everything
:

but

religion,

day

soul,

one might be tempted to fancy that he has a Sunwhich he screws on in due time, and takes off every

Monday morning."
8. Being told that his animation increased with his years,
" Indeed
Then I am like touchwood, the more decayed,
the easier fired."
!

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

204

11.

1835.

—

January 1st.
(At Witham.) The New Year's post brought
me a letter from Talfourd announcing the death of that " frail
" a good man if a good man ever was," to use
good man/'
Charles Lamb,
Wordsworth's affectionate expression,

—

Talfourd to H.

—

C. R.

Temple,

31st December, 1834.

I am very sorry that I did not know
dear Robinson,
where you were, that I might have communicated poor Lamb's
death to you before you saw it in the newspaper but I only
judged you were out of town by not having received any
answer to a note (written before I was aware of Lamb's illness),
asking you to dine with us on Saturday next.
I first heard
of his illness last Friday night, and on Saturday morning I
went to see him. He had only been seriously ill since the
preceding Wednesday.
The immediate disease was erysipelas * but it was, in truth, a breaking up of the constitution,
and he died from mere weakness. When I saw him, the disease had so altered him that it was a very melancholy sight
his mind was then almost gone, and I do not think he was
;

;

conscious of

any

pain, nor

presence

was he

;

but he did not,

I believe, suffer

Ryle saw
was perfectly sensible talked of
common things, and said he was only weak, and should be
well in a day or two.
He died within two hours after I saw
him
I doubt whether Mary Lamb will ever be quite

him the day

before

;

at all conscious of danger.

then he

;

herself again, so as to feel her loss with her natural sensibility.

She went with Ryle yesterday to the churchyard, and pointed
out a place where her brother had expressed a wish to be
buried and that wish will be fulfilled.
The funeral will take
place on Saturday, from the house where he died, at one
o'clock.
It will be attended by Moxon, Ryle, who is executor
with me, a gentleman from the India House, who witnessed
the will, and was an old companion there, Brock, Allsop, and,
I believe, Carey.
If you had been in town, we should, of
course, have proposed it to you to attend, if you saw fit ; but
this is no occasion which should bring you to town for the purpose, unless for the gratification of your own feelings, as there
;

* Caused by a fall, which took place on Monday, and which made some
wounds on the face.

slight

MARY LAMB.

1835.]

205

will be quite sufficient in point of number, and Miss Lamb is
not capable of deriving that comfort from seeing you which
I am sure she would do if she were herself. .... Pray act
exactly as you think best.*
I resolved to-day to discharge a melanJanuary 12th.
choly duty, and went down by the Edmonton stage to call on
poor Miss Lamb. It was a melancholy sight, but more so to
A stranger would have seen
the reflection than to the sense.
little remarkable about her.
She was neither violent nor unhappy nor was she entirely without sense. She was, however,
out of her mind, as the expression is but she could combine
ideas, although imperfectly.
On my going into the room
where she was sitting with Mr. Waldron, she exclaimed with
great vivacity, " Oh here 's Crabby.
She gave me her hand
with great cordiality, and said " Now this is very kind,
not
merely good-natured, but very, very kind to come and see me
in my affliction."
And then she ran on about the unhappy
insane family of my old friend
It would be useless to
attempt recollecting all she said
but it is to be remarked
that her mind seemed turned to subjects connected with insanity as well as with her brother's death.
She spoke of
Charles repeatedly.
She is nine years and nine months older
than he, and will soon be seventy. She spoke of his birth, and
said that he was a weakly, but very pretty child.
I have no
doubt that if ever she be sensible of her brother's loss, it will
overset her again.
She will live forever in the memory of her
friends as one of the most amiable and admirable of women.

—

;

—

;

Landor to H.

C. R.

[No

The death of Charles Lamb has grieved me very
Never did I see a human being with whom I was more

date.]

bitterly.

inclined

There is something in the recollection that
you took me with you to see him which affects me greatly
more than writing or speaking of him could do with any other.
When I first heard of the loss that all his friends, and many
that never were his friends, sustained in him, no thought took
possession of my mind except the anguish of his sister. That
very night, before I closed my eyes, I composed this
to sympathize.

—

* After long vacillation Mr. Robinson determined to stop at Witham, and
not go to London for the funeral,
a determination which he always after-

—

wards regretted.

;

206

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

TO THE SISTER OF CHARLES LAMB.
Comfort thee, 0 thou mourner yet awhile
Again shall Elia's smile
Refresh thy heart, whose heart can ache no more.
!

What is it we deplore ?
leaves behind him, freed from griefs and years,
Far worthier things than tears.
The love of friends, without a single foe

Unequalled lot below
His gentle soul, his genius, these are thine
Shalt thou for these repine V
He may have left the lowly walks of men;
Left them he has what then ?
Are not his footsteps followed bv the eyes
Of all the good and wise ?
Though the warm day is over, yet they seek,
:

Upon the lofty peak
Of his pure mind, the roseate

light, that glows
O'er death's perennial snows.
From the Spirits of the Blest
He speaks he bids thee rest.

Behold him

If you like to send these to Leigh Hunt, do it.
He may be
pleased to print in his Journal this testimony of affection to
his friend,
this attempt at consolation to the finest genius
that ever descended on the heart of woman

—

March 3d.
This was a busy day.
I breakfasted with Mr.
and Mrs. Wordsworth (who are staying in town) Sir Robert
Inglis called
something highly respectable in his appearance ,
benevolence and simplicity are strongly expressed in his coun;

tenance.
Mr. Rogers also called he invited me to dine with
the Wordsworths at his house to-day.
I then walked with the
Wordsworths to Pickersgill, who is painting a small likeness of
the poet for Dora. We sat there for a couple of hours, enlivening by chat the dulness of sitting for a portrait. At six o'clock
I returned to the West, and dined at Rogers's with Mr.
and Mrs. Wordsworth. The very rooms would have made the
visit interesting, without the sight of any person.
The pictures and marbles are delightful.
Everywhere the most perfect taste imaginable.
March Jfih.
A chat with Sheil
Dined at the Athenaeum.
and the Bishop of Exeter together,
an odd trio, it must be
owned.
The Bishop was the most of a courtier of the three.
We all told anecdotes, I, of the Irish padre in the mail with
Sheil and me. Talking afterwards with Sheil alone, I declared
to him my conviction that the Irish had a moral right to rebel
if the continuance of the Anglican Church were insisted on.
;

—

PARTY AT LADY BLESSINGTON'S.

1835.]

207

—

It is certain that Fonblanque now writes for
March 8th.
the Chronicle. But this week there is in the Examiner no
it is
symptom of exhaustion. One sentence I must copy,
admirable " The pretence of the Tory Ministry that it is big
with reforms, is like the trick of women under sentence of
but in
death, to procure a respite by the plea of pregnancy
these cases the party is kept under bolt and bar during the
period for proving the falsehood of the pretence and so must
it be with our lying-in government."
March 14th.
I called on Wordsworth, by appointment, at
PickersgilPs. The small picture of Wordsworth is much better
than the large one. From Moxon I heard the gratifying intelligence that the Trustees of the India House Clerks' Fund have
This I have
resolved to allow Miss Lamb £ 120 per annum.
written to Talfourd. All anxiety about her future subsistence

—

;

—

now at an end.
March 30th.
At

—

half past seven, went to Lady BlessingThe amusing man of the party was a
young Irishman,
Lover,
a miniature-painter and an author.
He sang and accompanied himself, and told some Irish
tales with admirable effect.
One of King O'Toole, and one
of an Irish piper.
In both, exquisite absurdities, uttered in
ton's,

where

I dined.

—

a quiet tone and yet dramatically, constituted the charm.
the other guests were Chorley and the American
Willis.
Count D'Orsay of course did the honors. Did not
leave till near one, and then went to the Athenaeum, where I
stayed till past two, chiefly talking politics with Strutt.* The
issue of the debate on the Irish Church very doubtful.

Among

Miss Burney to H. C. R.
22

Henrietta Street, Bath, February

—

dear Friend,

18, 1835.

you of a journey

to town
which I meditate undertaking towards the middle or latter end
of May.
I want to see my sister D'Arblay, and certain other
old friends, and I had purposed applying to my niece, Mrs.
Payne, for a little house-room during my London sojourn.
I will talk to

But, behold my charms, either bodily or mental, or both,
have captivated the fancy of a gay gallant, aged only eighty,
a Rev. James
uncle to Miss C
He has a snug
bachelor's house in Pimlico, and has so set his heart upon
having me under his roof, that when I at first declined the

—

Now

Lord Belper.

;

208

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

like an unhappy Strephon,
tender womanish heart was softened, and I
promised him three weeks or a month of my engaging comThis has revived him, and he left Bath ten days since,
pany.
Meanwhile, of all the birds
the happiest of expectant lovers.
in the air, who do you think is actually boarding with me in
my present residence, and subscribing to all the ways and
Why, Miss C
herself,
doings of a Bath boarding-house ]
Since that time she
the one you dined with at Mr. King's
has been residing again with her father, near Liege but longing and sighing for the pleasure of becoming a Carmelite nun,
Something or other, however,
an' please you
I cannot well
has put her off from this very judicious plan
make out what,
for the present ; yet, so excited had been her spirits, and so
shaken her health, both of body and mind, that it was thought
desirable for her to spend a few months in her own country, and
amidst persons and scenes that might take off her thoughts from
what had so long exclusively engrossed them. To Bath, then,
she came, a little before Christmas, partly attracted perhaps by
me, and still more by a certain Catholic Bishop Bains, residing
at Prior Park, and her great friend. And a good friend too, for
he is wholly averse to her becoming a nun ; and, moreover, as
she has been advised here by a medical man to observe a more
nourishing diet, he (the Bishop) has given her a dispensation,
whereby she may abstain from killing herself by fasting rigorously throughout the approaching Lent.
I return your Italian volumes, my dear friend, with many
thanks, owning honestly that I have never looked into them
for the thread of my interest in Botta's " History " having be£n
interrupted by my leaving Florence, I could not for the life of
me connect it again ; and I got hold of other books,
read no
Italian for ages,
and at last pounced one fine day upon a good
clear edition of Ariosto, and have been and am reading him with
even more delight than when he first fell into my hands. Here
and there he is a bad boy ; and as the book is my own, and I
do not like indecency, I cut out whole pages that annoy me,
and burn them before the author's face, which stands at the
beginning of the first volume, and I hope feels properly
ashamed. Next to Ariosto, by way of something new, I treat
myself now and then with a play of one William Shakespeare,
and I am reading Robertson's " Charles V.," which comes in
well after that part of Botta's " History " at which I left off,
viz. just about the time of the Council of Trent.
And as I

invitation,

he looked so mortified, so

that finally

;

—

DINNER AT ROLFE'S.

1835.]

209

modern reading, I was glad to find myself possessed of a
very tidy edition of a biographical work you may perhaps have
If you should ever meet
Plutarch's " Lives."
heard tell of,
with it, I think I might venture to say you would not dislike it.
I am with good and worthy people, who took much care of
me when I was ill ; and I like Bath better than Lonnon, as
you cockneys call it ; and, except once more to revisit the
dear interesting Rome, I never desire to see Italy again in all
my born days. Of Florence I had much too much. Adieu,
dear friend.
Yours ever truly,
S. H. Burney.
love

—

April 5th.
At seven I dined with Rolfe. An interesting
in all twelve.
Among them were Jeffrey, once editor
party,
of the Edinburgh Review, now Lord Jeffrey, a Scotch judge \
Rand, an American lawyer, Empson, Sutton Sharpe, Duckworth,* Milne, a young barrister, &c.
Jeffrey is a sharp and
clever-looking man, and, in spite of my dislike to his name, he

—

did not on the whole displease me.
His treatment of Wordsworth would not allow me to like him, had he been greater by
And therefore when he said, " I was always
far than he was.
an admirer of Wordsworth," I could not repress the unseemly
remark, " You had a singular way of showing your admiration."

H. C. R. to Benecke.

—

Plowden

Buildings, 27th April, 1835.

convinced that whenever the attempt is made to introduce into England such a scheme of
theology as you have ausgedacht (thought out), the greatest
difficulty of its being made accessible to English understandings will arise more from the neglect of the faculty of severe
thought in this country, than from a want of sympathy in religious feeling.
I believe that you would have found a "fit
audience, though few," among the Puritans of the seventeenth
century.
Perhaps, too, among such Churchmen as Barrow,
Cudworth, Hooker, Jeremy Taylor. By the by, I shall be
anxious to know your opinion of the " Holy Dying."
Perhaps
Taylor is the least profound of all the great men I have mentioned.
As an orator, he stands at the head. I will seek
some other specimen of his composition. Eminent writers not

dear

Sir,

* One of the Masters in Chancery.

210

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

clergymen of the Established Church are Baxter, Howe, Law
(the translator of " Jacob Boehme ").
But the most awfully
tremendous of all metaphysical divines is the American ultraCalvinist, Jonathan Edwards, whose book on " Original Sin
I unhappily read when a very young man.
It did me an irrep-

But it is a work of transcendent intellectual
sure you will find it has been translated.
Its
object was to display the Calvinistic scheme in all its intensity
and merciless severity. The strict justice of punishing all
men eternally for the sin of one man was insisted on as a consequence of the infinite justice of God ; the possibility of salvation was deduced from the sovereignty of God's grace ; and
the absolute and invincible predestination to eternal suffering
of all on whom that grace was not freely conferred (for whom
alone the atoning sacrifice of Christ was performed) was most
barbarously maintained.
I should like to know what is thought of Jonathan Edwards ;
I do not say by yourself,
for on a portion of that subject I
arable mischief.

power.

—

am happy

—

that you have explained yourself satisfactorily,
but by the reputed orthodox of the modern Evangelical Church.
The other books, which I sent rather to Mrs. Benecke than
yourself, have, I dare say, pleased you.
I wish Mrs. Benecke
would amuse herself, or procure some friend to do so, by translating Mrs. Barbauld's " Essay on Inconsistent Expectations."
I hold it to be one of the most exquisite morsels of English
And it had the most salutary effect on
prose ever written.
me. When a young man I met with it, and so deeply was
I impressed with it, that I can truly say I never repined
at any one want or loss, or the absence of any good that has
befallen

You will have sympathized with us during the recent conflict
between the Reformers and anti-Reformers. The Reformers
have gained a temporary victory, but the battle is not yet over.
There has been, certainly, a reaction towards Toryism. But
to that degree is Toryism vanquished, that Sir Robert Peel
could only gain a hearing by professing to be himself a Reformer.
So that now it is a question, not of Reform and no
Reform, but of how much Reform
My opinion is that great
caution is requisite, in order to enable the Whigs to retain their
very small majority. I believe that both Whigs and Radicals
have seen their former error. Though that enormous abuse
the Episcopal Church in Ireland must ultimately be sacrificed,
yet the Whigs have for the present contented themselves with

1835.]

WORDSWORTH ON

211

HIS CRITICS.

asserting the right to apply the surplus of the Church revenue
to the education of the Catholic poor of Ireland.
And so much

The Kadicals will be wise enough to
the Lords must yield.
press for no more at present

—

I wrote to Miss Denman to tell her of my
April 28th.
having spoken to Spring Rice, the Chancellor of the Excheqhe says that
uer, about her collection of Flaxman's remains
the suggestion that the whole should be deposited in the
National Gallery is worth consideration. I am to remind him
;

of this by letter.
April 30th.
Read the dedication to "Don Juan." Byron's
wit and satirical talent of the highest order.
Some of his
small poems
the stanzas written on his birthday, just before
his

—
—
death — show

that he was not wanting in true feeling,
it a perverted and diseased sensibility.

though there was with

Wordsworth to H.
[No

date,

C. R.

but 1835 written on the outside.]

At breakfast this morning we received from some unknown
late
friend the Examiner, containing a friendly notice of
It is discreditable to say that these things interest me
volume.

but as they may tend to promote the sale, which, with
the prospects of unavoidable expense before me, is a greater
object to me, much greater- than it otherwise would have been.
The testimonies, which I receive very frequently, of the effect
of my writings upon the hearts and minds of men, are indeed
very gratifying, because I am sure they must be written under
pure influences, but it is not necessarily, or even probably, so
with strictures intended for the public. The one are effusions,
the other compositions, and liable in various degrees to intermixtures that take from their value.
It is amusing to me to
have proofs how critics and authors differ in judgment, both
as to fundamentals and incidentals
as an instance of the
latter, see the passage where I speak of Horace, quoted in the
Examiner. The critic marks in italics, for approbation, certain
passages, but he takes no notice of three words, in delicacy of
" He only listenfeeling worth, in my estimation, all the rest
ing."
Again, what he observes in praise of my mode of dealing with nature, as opposed to my treatment of human life,
which, as he said, is not be trusted, would be reversed, as it
has been by many who maintain that I run into excess in my
little

;

212

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

pictures of the influences of natural objects, and assign to them
an importance that they are not entitled to \ while in my treatment of the intellectual instincts, affections, and passions of mankind, I am nobly distinguished by having drawn out into notice

the points in which

men

resemble each other, in preference
upon those in which
it will, I myself be-

to dwelling, as dramatic authors must do,
they differ. If my writings are to last,
lieve,

be mainly owing to this characteristic.

They will

please

for the single cause,
" That

we have

all

of us one

human

heart."

Farewell

C. E. to

Wordsworth.

2 Plowden Buildings, May 4, 1835.
was I who sent you the Examiner. The article
was written by Forster, the sub-editor. I sent it because it
was written manifestly in a spirit of honest love. The praise
was not grudgingly given. Indeed, it is pleasing to remark
I
this everywhere
I have not yet heard of a hostile review.
Among Goethe's
quite assent to your remarks on criticism.
significant poems, having much of the enigma in them, there
is one called Geheimnisse (Secrets), in which there is a line
that I have applied equally to his works and yours,

....

;

—

"Das-ganze Lied

kann doch niemand kennen."

(No one can know the whole song.) Portions are enjoyed
variously by readers in their several stages of refinement.
who
not even an Edinburgh Reviewer,
There is no one,
Who can presume to think he has comcannot enjoy some.
prehended all ? I have only one wish as far as you are conthat you would condescend occasionally to assist in
cerned,

—

the parturition, as Socrates said he did, borrowing the art
from his mother.
My personal enjoyment of these new poems has been great,
even beyond hope. You have all the peculiar graces which
distinguish your early works ; and you, at the same time, have
been making inroads on the walks of others.

—

June 26th.
The post brought me a very sad letter from
Wordsworth. Miss Hutchinson * died on the 23d. She was
their stay under
thought to be the healthiest of the family,
the dangerous illness of Miss Wordsworth and of Dora.

—

* Mrs. Wordsworth's

sister.

213

ON MACKINTOSH.

1835.]

—

I went in the morning to Miss Denman, and
June 27th.
introduced her and Miss Edgar to the London University.
Brougham delivered the prizes in the Faculty of Arts ho
very interesting to the
made one of his naming speeches,
He went over the old
general public, but rather prosy to me.
about the not having religion taught, and the inuground
very satisfactorily, remarking that a
tility of subscriptions
university of infidels would not scruple signing any articles
Lord
whatever.
The speech was rapturously received.
Brougham, in the council-room, asked me to look over the
proof-sheets of the German translation of his " Natural The

—

ology."

H. C. B. to Wordsworth.
2

Plowden

Buildings, July

31, 1835.

.... This brings Mackintosh and his recent " Life " to my
Surely Mackintosh's letter to Hall is a masterpiece
mind.
That is not the word ; for it is not a work of art, it is a maniThe book, on the whole,
festation of very fine moral tact.
raises Mackintosh, not with respect to his powers of mind, but
The index will enable you to get at the
in point of morals.
His humility is remarkable.
interesting matter easily
I was astonished to read two
His journals must be sincere.
thoughts, which, though I have often uttered them myself, I
did not think any one ever did before, or would again.
He
" I
says that some one had a great dislike to him ; and adds
think it more likely that I should have disreputable and disashould have taken an ungreeable qualities, than that
He adds elsewhere " I
reasonable prejudice against me "
should not respect my own character in another person. " ....
!

— Took

He read me a letter from
being elected at that place.
and perhaps secure me many
of the second votes of Twiss's party ; while, of course, I should
have the second votes of Warburton's party in preference to
Twiss.
So that were here only Twiss, Warburton, and my
But I would not stand
self, I should have a fair chance.
against Bomilly ; and Strutt, to whom I spoke after leaving
Jaffray's, says he believes an offer will be made to bring in
Romilly free of expense. If so, the idea must be given up.
November 22d.
I went to Sergeant Talfourd, with whom I
had a long and friendly chat about Mary Lamb, Charles Lamb's
July 7 tlu

tea at J affray's.

Bridport, about the chances of
He would assist me personally,

—

—
:

214

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

correspondence, &c.
lightful,

Talfourd says the letters are most de-

though many of them cannot be published.

letters, as well as writings, far superior to

to Manning, Charles

"
says
he had a mind,

Lamb

Shakespeare if
wanting but the mind?
like

November 29th.

—

I breakfasted

—

The

later

the earlier. Writing
says he could write

you

see nothing is

with Mr. Rogers

tete-a-tete,

him from ten till one o'clock. A very agreeable
morning, and I left him with feelings of enhanced respect.
staying with

little of that severity of remark for which he
Candor and good sense marked all he said.
reproached.
talked about Wordsworth, Byron, and Goethe.
He seems
sufficiently prepossessed in favor of Goethe, and I have lent him
Of Lord Byron he spoke freely, especialMrs. Austin's book.
ly of his sensitiveness as to what was said of him.
He spoke
very highly of Wordsworth, but with qualifications which
would not satisfy Wordsworth's admirers. He thinks he is
likely now to be over-lauded, as he was before to be underrated.
I was least prepared for his affirming that Wordsworth
he thinks his blank verse better than
is a careless versifier,
his rhymes.
On moral subjects and religion Rogers showed
much seriousness. He spoke of the much greater distinctness
with which he could recollect his faults than his kind actions
" Every man has his kind moments ; of course I, as well as

There was very

—

— and

—

it is distressing I cannot recollect them."
"A
would," I replied, "and surely it is better notP
Eogers produced a small volume, which he praised greatly,
" Clio on Taste, by J. Usher."
December 3d.
Went in the evening to Moxon's. With him
was Miss Lamb. She was very comfortable,
not in high
spirits,
but calm, and she seemed to enjoy the sight of so
many old friends. There were Carey, Allsop, and Miss James.
No direct talk about her brother. Wordsworth's epitaph she
disapproves.
She does not like any allusion to his being a
clerk, or to family misfortunes.
This is very natural.
Not
even dear Mary can overcome the common feeling that would
conceal lowness of station, or a reference to ignoble sufferings.
On the other hand, Wordsworth says " Lamb's submitting to
that mechanical employment placed him in fine moral contrast
with other men of genius,
his contemporaries,
who, in
sacrificing personal independence, have made a wreck of moralTo
ity and honor, to a degree which it is painful to consider.
me, this was a noble feature in Lamb's life, and furnishes an
admirable lesson, by which thousands might profit.

others,

Pharisee

—

ON GIVING UP CHAMBERS.

1835.]

215

— At night

began Allsop's " Letters of Coleodd things. Coleridge is shown more unreservedly than by his nephew. A capital expression, which will
" I asked Clarkson whether
be misunderstood, is to this effect
he ever thought of the fate of his soul hereafter. He said he
had no time, he thought only of the slaves in Barbadoes. Wilberforce," it is added, " cared nothing about the slaves, provided he saved his own soul." (This was grossly unjust to WilberDecember 16th.

It is full of

ridge."

there is a worldliness, or too much care for this
another worldliness, or other worldliness, equally
hateful and selfish with this worldliness."
This is admirable.
One sentence in Allsop's book, given as Coleridge's, is worth

force.)
life,

so there

" By priest I. mean a man who, holding the scourge
of power in his right hand, and a Bible translated by authority in the other, doth necessarily cause the Bible and the scourge
to be associated ideas, and so produces that temper of mind
that leads to infidelity,
infidelity which, judging of revelation by the doctrines and practices of established churches,
honors God by rejecting Christ"
December 19th.
I spent the evening at the Athenaeum,
and was industrious, for I wrote letters to Mrs. Clarkson, giving her an account of the Wordsworths, also of Coleridge's
" Letters."
I am going to send Mrs. Clarkson a present of
a memorial that I owed my acquaintance
Lamb's Works,

quoting

—

with

Lamb

to her.

From H.
2

C. B. to

Plowden

Mr. Masquerier.

Buildings, Temple, December

22, 1835.

that I ought to communicate to you any incident of
I have at length relucimportance in my unimportant life.
tantly, and against my own judgment, yielded to my friends
and resolved to give up my chambers at Lady Day. You have
contributed to bring me to this determination, for you, like
others, have said, " How uncomfortable you must be, living
alone in chambers "
Now, in fact, I have never been uncomfortable, but have enjoyed myself, and only yielded to
others under a notion that perhaps I should soon feel what
others suppose I already feel.
It is curious to recollect that I
have always been troubled at every change in my mode of liv" I shall never be so well ^ff as I
ing.
I have always said
have been " ; and yet, in fact, when settled, I have generally
been better than before. So was it when I went to Germany,
1 feel

BEMD0SGENCE6 OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

216

—

when

—

came back,
when I went

when

[Chap.

11.

connected myself with

and retired from the bar, fcc.,
And yet I cannot help fearing still,
I have this in
&C.
common with Rousseau (we have nothing else in common),
that, as he says, he never regretted the past, but was always
I have three months to prevery anxious about the future.
That 's one comfort. And part of that time
pare myself.
will be spent in trying to impart amusement and receive profit
from the society of my friends in the North. I set out for
Wordsworth's on Wednesday morning. I shall remain with
him a few weeks and I shall take advantage of the being
Walter,

—

;

the last, probhome to make another foreign trip,
I mean to go to Barron Field * in April, and after acably.
companying him into Spain, I mean to go either to Italy or
Greece.
I do not intend being absent more than a year. And

without a

— why,

grand climacteric

be approaching,
if I can
call up any,
if not, summon patience to endure pain.
In
the mean while let us hope that you and Madame will, like me,
be meeting the approach of years with all practicable cheerful" An impertinent fellow " I hear Madame exclaim, "to
ness.
compare me with himself. We are chickens to him, love We
"
are not between sixty and seventy, nor anything like it
That is trne, and ought to enter into all calculations concerning the probabilities of life.
It is equally true that hitherto
I have had less cause of complaint.
By the by, I am just now
become again rheumatic. I am like Mother Cole, full of aches.
My journey to Rydal Mount will do me no good, I fear. But
then, if the disease continue, it will furnish an additional reason for travelling southward. I lost my former and worse
rheumatism there. Why should I not also lose the new one?
Adieu, and a merry Christmas to you both
With my best
compliments to all those who honor me by recollecting me.
then,

and

then,

must try

—

ward

off

the

will

enemy by

strength,

—

December 23d,
Travelled to Manchester in the " Telegraph " coach. Travelled more rapidly than ever before,
going about 180 miles in one day.
The great rapidity of the
motion had, I believe, an effect on my spirits, for I felt no
ennui, although the coach was ill built, and did not allow of
my taking a comfortable nap. I had no companionable fellowtraveller, and the cold was so intense, that the breath of the
passengers, being congealed on the glass, formed a blind which

—

* Then Judge at Gibraltar.

FIRST CHRISTMAS

1835.]

WITH WORDSWORTH.

217

We left Lonperpetual wiping could not effectually remove.
at half past five, and at half past eight were safely lodged
at the Star, at Manchester.
Having breakfasted, I set out (from KenDecember 25th.
dal, which I reached yesterday evening) at eight, and arrived
I was set down at a small
at Rydal at about half past ten.
Here
house at the foot of Rydal Hill, kept by a Mrs. Atkins.
I was exI found a fire in the sitting-room intended for me.
Mrs. Wordsworth had left tea and sugar
pected last night,
and I saw an omen of comfort in these lodgings in
for me
Without waiting
the agreeable countenance of my landlady.
to dress, I ran up to the Wordsworths, from whom I had a
They approve of my plan of spending
very kind reception.
my mornings alone. We dined as they do usually here
very early.
One is the dinner-hour. The rest of the day was
spent within, except that Wordsworth and I took a walk beyond Dr. Arnold's house with the Doctor himself.
Rem.*
This year's visit to Wordsworth, at a season when
most persons shun the lakes, was succeeded by many others.
Indeed there were few interruptions until old age and death
The custom
put an end to this and other social enjoyments.
began in consequence of a pressing invitation by Mrs. Wordsworth, who stated
and I have no reason to doubt her perthat she believed it would promote his health,
fect sincerity
my " buoyant spirits," to borrow his own words, having a
cheering effect on him.
I gladly accepted the invitation, but
insisted on this condition,
that lftdgings should be taken for
me in the neighborhood of Rydal Mount. In these lodgings I
was to sleep and breakfast ; the day I was to spend with the
Wordsworths, and I was to return in the evening to my lodgings and a fire and a milk supper.
I soon became known in
the neighborhood, and was considered as one of the family.
The family then consisted, besides themselves, of Miss Wordsworth (Dorothy,
the sister " Emily " of the poems, and our
companion in the Swiss tour) ; but already her health had
broken down. In her youth and middle age she stood in
somewhat the same relation to her brother William as dear
Mary Lamb to her brother Charles. In her long illness, she
was fond of repeating the favorite small poems of her brother,
as well as a few of her own.
And this she did in so sweet a
tone as to be quite pathetic.
The temporary obscurations of a noble mind can never
don

—

;

—

* Written in 1853.

VOL.

II.

—

218

REMINISCENCES OF HENKY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

11.

obliterate the recollections of its inherent and essential worth.
There are two fine lines in Goethe's " Tasso," which occur per-

petually to niy mind, and are peculiarly applicable here.
can give them only in this shape
:

—

" These are not phantoms bred within the brain;
I

know they

are eternal, for they are."

—

Dorina, as I called her by
Wordsworth's daughter Dora *
was in somewhat better health than
way of distinction
usual, but generally her state of health was a subject of anxiShe was the apple of her father's eye. Mrs. "Wordsety.
worth was what I have ever known her and she will ever be,
I have no doubt, while life remains, perfect of her kind.
I
did not know her when she was the " phantom of delight."
But ever since I have known her she has been
" A perfect woman nobly planned,

—

;

To warn,

to comfort,

and command."

Because she is so acmiirable a person, there is little to say of
her in detail.
The servants have been generally the same since I have

known
James,

the family.
The females excellent. One man-servant,
I shall be able to characterize with more effect here-

after.

[The feeling with which Mr. Bobinson's visit was looked for
year after year at Rydal Mount is shown in many letters, from
All look fortwo of which a few words may be given here
ward to your arrival/' writes Quillinan, " as to the holly-branch,
"I always
without which no Christmas will be genuine."
But you will
no Crabb, no Christmas
sing the same song,
come about the 18th of December. That is settled."]
What I have to say of to-day will probaDecember 26th.
I
bly be an anticipation of my days during my stay here.
I sat
read in bed for a couple of hours, for I awoke early.
within,
not till dinner-time, as it happened, for about twelve
Mrs. Wordsworth, passing in a gig, proposed my taking Wordsworth out. I called on him, and we had a fine dry walk about
Grasmere Lake, crossed the stream at the head, and returned
on the western side. I stayed at Rydal Mount, as I generally
shall do, the rest of the day, and in the dark hour I walked
the excuse, to ask for a
out with Wordsworth to Ambleside,
We returned to our tea at six, and at nine I came
paper.
home, having ordered a fire in my bedroom, at which I sat till
Such will probably be
twelve, and then read in bed till one.
' ;

—

—
—

—

* Afterwards Mrs. Quillinan.

1835.]

LAMB'S LETTERS TO WORDSWORTH.

219

my life for the next few weeks. My kind and agreeable landlady makes me excellent toast ; I have my own tea ; and a
ham has been provided by Mrs. Wordsworth. In the evening
I take a morsel of bread and ham, to keep off the foul fiend.
Such is my home life. I have a small, rather dark sittingroom, near the road ; it has the advantage of the stage to
Keswick passing three days a week (it came five minutes ago).
A cottage-like apartment, very comfortable a similar bedroom
behind.
For this I am to pay, Mrs. Wordsworth says, 10 s. a
week, and 3 s. 6 d. for fire.
I must not, however, forget that
I spent two hours this morning in looking over those letters of
Charles Lamb's which Wordsworth did not choose to send to
Talfourd for publication.
There are several most delightful
letters, which one regrets not to be able to print immediately.
There are also some which Wordsworth will allow me to
copy in part, and some from which notes may be taken.
December 28th.
A day of uninterrupted quiet enjoyment.
I read in Southey's " Cowper," and continued Lamb's letters
till one.
After dinner I chatted with Wordsworth de omnibus
rebus, and between three and four we set out for a walk, notwithstanding the bad weather, for it had rained all the morning, and threatened to rain again.
We left a message at Dr.
Arnold's house, and strolled on to the shore of Windermere.
The angry clouds left Langdale Pikes a grand object,
more
grand, perhaps, surrounded by black stormy clouds, than illumined by the sun.
;

—

December 29th.
I woke early and read in bed Crabbe's
" Life."
It did not much interest me.
I take no pleasure in
Crabbe's unpoetical representations of human life. And though
no one can dispute that he had a powerful pen, and could
truthfully portray what he saw, yet he had an eye only for the
sad realities of life.
As Mrs. Barbauld said to me many years
ago, " I shall never be tired of Goldsmith's Deserted Village,'
6
I shall never look again into Crabbe's Village.'
Indeed,
this impression is so strong, that I have never read his later
works, and know little about them."
'

—

220

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

CHAPTER

12,

XII.

1836.

JANUARY Sd. — At church.

Dr. Arnold preached an impreswhich excited feelings in me too serious to
be more than adverted to here. The subject was a reconciling
of the seeming contradictions of passages implying that God
will listen, and will not listen, to the prayers addressed to him.
But he could not unravel the knot which no divine has ever
unravelled, that without grace no one can pray, and yet grace
That is,
is to be imparted to those only who duly ask for it.
grace is granted only to those who have it already.
How I
should prize the CEdipus that would solve this riddle.
January 7 th.
After an early luncheon I walked partly,
and partly drove, with Wordsworth to Elleray, the residence
of Lady Farquhar and Mr. Hamilton, the property of ProfesIt stands above Windermere, and enjoys a very
sor Wilson.
wide view of the lake, which I next morning saw, though disWe had a very agreeable
advantageously, through a mist.
afternoon. On our walk Wordsworth was remarkably eloquent
and felicitous in his praise of Milton. He spoke of the " Paradise Regained " as surpassing even the " Paradise Lost " in
perfection of execution, though the theme is far below it, and
demanding less power. He spoke of the description of the
storm in it as the finest in all poetry and he pointed out
some of the artifices of versification by which Milton produces
so great an effect,
as in passages like this
sive discourse,

—

;

—

" Pining atrophy,

Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.

In which the power of the final rheums is heightened by the
atrophy and pestilence.
Wordsworth also praised, but not
equally, " Samson Agonistes."
He' concurred, he said, with
Johnson in this, that it had no middle, but the beginning and
end are equally sublime.
January 8th.
An agreeable forenoon. Mrs. Wordsworth
came at twelve, and with her I drove home. I dined with Dr.
Arnold.
I like him more the more, I see of him.
The Hardens there, also Mr. and Mrs. Harrison.
Some of the party

—

1836.]

SHELLEY.

— AUTOBIOGRAPHY

221

SUGGESTED.

were Tories, but they did not restrain the rest of us in the exWe talked freely. The Doctor
ercise of Whiggish habits.
certainly talks more freely than I ever heard a D. D. talk and
from the head-master of so great an establishment as Rugby
School (where, I believe, there are 300 pupils), this is a significant sign of the times. The Doctor is to be one of the examHe has, however, required
iners in the London University.
that he shall be at liberty to refer to Christianity as a system
But he
of divine truth, not a mere scheme of philosophy.
says Christianity shall be referred to in a way that shall offend
no sect whatever. The Doctor expressed (but that was on
Sunday) an opinion against the Satan of Milton. He thinks
the Satan too good a character he is not enough of a devil,
not the personification of Evil. And the fight between the
rebellious and obedient angels resembles too much the war of
the Giants in Greek Mythology.
January 10th.
Read the notes to Shelley's " Queen Mab,"
His atheism is
as well as, here and there, bits of his poetry.
very repulsive.
The God he denies seems to be, after all, the
God of the superstitious. I suspect that he has been guilty
of the fault of which I find I have all my life been guilty,
though not to the same extent as he, of inferring that there can
be no truth behind the palpable falsehoods propounded to one.
He draws in one of his notes a picture of Christianity, or
rather, he sums up the Christian doctrines, and in such a way,
" This I disbelieve as
that perhaps Wordsworth would say
much as Shelley, but that is only the caricature and burlesque
There is much very delightful poetry in
of Christianity."
;

—

;

—

Shelley.

—

January 13th.
It may be worth mentioning, that Wordsworth has himself intimated, what many other friends have
done, that I ought to leave in writing, if not myself publish,
some account of my life. He is a severe and fastidious judge,
and his recommendation is by far the most encouraging I have
received.
It has the more weight, because he has very restraining opinions on the limits to be set to the repetition of
anecdotes and the publication of letters.
He has, however,
praised my anecdotes of Wieland, and says I should do well to
give an account of Goethe.
Wordsworth's conversation has been very interesting lately,
and had I not so bad a memory, that a few hours suffice to
obscure all I have heard, I might insert many a remarkable
opinion, if not fact
He gave an account of "The Ancient

;

222

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

12.

Mariner" being written in Devonshire when he and Coleridge
It was intended for the Monthly Magazine,
were together.
and was to pay the expenses of a journey. It was to have
been a joint work, but Wordsworth left the execution to Cole-

much of the plan. The idea of the
crime was suggested by a book of travels, in which the superstition of the sailors with regard to the albatross is mentioned.
Wordsworth wrote many of his lyrical ballads at the same
Coleridge wrote the first four lines of " We are Seven."
time.
ridge, after suggesting

— Having

had no walk yesterday, Wordsmorning to walk to Ambleside,
in spite of the snow, and I found a snow scene quite pleasant
At five I accompanied Wordsin this mountainous country.
worth to Dr. Arnold's. I had sent the Doctor Professor Maiden's address of the Senate to the Council of the London
Wordsworth had also
University, which he warmly praised.

January

15th.

worth was with

spoken well of

—

January

it.

early this

After church to-day an agreeable chat with
Dr. Arnold.
The following are some notes of what he said
" The atonement is a doctrine which has its foundation in that
17th.

consciousness of unworthiness and guilt which arises from an
upright self-examination.
All the orthodox doctrines are warranted by a humble spirit, and all that is best in our moral
nature.
There is internal evidence for all these doctrines,
which are a source of happiness. And the difficulty of comprehending the mysteries of the Gospel is no sufficient reason
for rejection.
It is not necessary to define with precision the
doctrines thus received, and the Church of England has encumbered itself by needless and mischievous attempts at explanation.
The Athanasian Creed is one of these unhappy
excrescences.
Nor does the idea of the personality of the
Spirit come with such authority, or claim so imperiously our
adoption, as the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. The thought
that an infinitely pure being can receive satisfaction from the
sufferings of Jesus Christ, and accept them as a satisfaction for
the sins of the guilty, is declared by Coleridge to be an outrage on common sense.
It is a hard saying, nor can I explain
it to my satisfaction.
I leave this as an awful mystery I am
not called on to solve.
Coleridge used to declare that the belief in miracles is not a necessary part of a Christian's creed
but this is contrary to the express and uniform declaration of
the Scriptures.
And I have no difficulty in believing in miracles, since I consider as superstition the imagined knowledge

WORDSWORTH ON THE SONNET.

1836.]

223

and certainty which men suppose they have as to the laws of
Nature."

January 26th.
Wordsworth has

—

wish

could here write

down

all

that

said about the Sonnet lately, or record here
the fine fourteen lines of Milton's " Paradise Lost," which he
says are a perfect sonnet without rhyme, and essentially one in

unity of thought.
Wordsworth does not approve of uniformly
closing the second quatrain with a full stop, and of giving a
turn to the thought in the terzines. This is the Italian mode ;
Milton lets the thought run over.
He has used both forms inWordsworth does not
differently.
I prefer the Italian form.
approve. of closing the sonnet with a couplet,* and he holds it
to be absolutely a vice to have a sharp turning at the end with
an epigrammatic point. He does not, therefore, quite approve
of the termination of Cowper's " Sonnet to Romney,"

—

While

January

27th.

Nor couldst thou sorrow see
was Hayley's guest and sat to thee."

— Dined

at Mr. Parry's, at Grasmere.

The

Arnolds, Lutwidges, Captain Graves, &c.
At night the Doctor
accompanied me back. We walked over Old Corruption,
for so the Doctor has christened in derision the original road
between Rydal and Keswick. The first new road he has named
" Bit-by-bit Reform,"
and the beautiful road by the lake,
" Radical Reform."
We found Old Corruption here, as elsewhere, perilous ; and by night might have broken our necks in it.
January 29th.
I am sorry to recollect that the next page,
if ever filled by me, will probably record my departure from
this most delightful residence.
By the by, I overheard Wordsworth say last night to the Doctor, that I had helped him
through the winter, and that he should gratefully recollect it
as long as he had any memory
Wordsworth speaks highly
of the author of " Corn Law Rhymes."
He says " None of
us have done better than he has in his best, though there is
a deal of stuff arising from his hatred of existing things. Like
Byron, Shelley, &c, he looks on much with an evil eye."
Wordsworth likes his later writings the best, and mentioned
the " Ranter " as containing some fine passages.
Elliott has
a fine eye for nature.
He is an extraordinary man.
January 31st.
It occurs to me that I have not noticed as
I ought Wordsworth's answer to the charge that he never
quotes other poems than his own.
In fact, I can testify to
the incorrectness of the statement. But he himself remarked

—

* Yet several of Wordsworth's sonnets close with a couplet.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

224

12.

" You know how I love and quote not only Shakespeare and
Milton, but Cowper, Burns, &c; as to some of the later poets,
I do not quote them because I do not love them.
Even as
works of mere taste there is this material circumstance,
they
came too late. My taste was formed, for I was forty -five when
they appeared, and we cannot after that age love new things.
New impressions are difficult to make. Had I been young, I
should have enjoyed much of them, I do not doubt."
February 1st.
I left Eydal about eleven o'clock.
Of all
my friends I took leave with feelings of great tenderness, my
esteem for them all being greatly raised during this most
I will here add a note or two of Wordsworth's
agreeable visit.
Talking of dear Charles Lamb's very strange
conversation.
habit of quizzing, and of Coleridge's incorrectnesses in talk,
Wordsworth said he thought that much of this was owing to
Lamb's veracity was unquestionable in all mata school-habit.
ters of a serious kind
he never uttered an untruth either for
profit or through vanity, and certainly never to injure others.
Yet he loved a quizzing lie, a fiction that amused him like a
good joke, or an exercise of wit.* In Coleridge there was a
sort of dreaminess, which would not let him see things as they
were.
He would talk about his own feelings and recollections
and intentions in a way that deceived others, but he was first
" I am sure," said Wordsworth, " that he
deceived himself.
never formed a plan of Christabel,' or knew what was to be
its end, and that he merely deceived himself when he thought,
as he says, that he had had the idea quite clearly in his mind.
In my childhood," continued Wordsworth, " I was very wayward and moody. My mother, who was a superior woman,
used to say she had no anxieties about any of her children exShe was sure he would turn out an extraordicept William.
and she hoped a good man, but she was not so
nary man,

—

;

—

sure of that."

—

From Kendal I proceeded through Skipton
February 2d.
where I spent two evenings w ith my Yorkshire
friends.
It was at this time that I first saw Wlcksteed, the
T

to Leeds,

—

Unitarian minister there,
a man I at once took a fancy to.
the only
is the son of an early friend of William Hazlitt,
home acquaintance I ever heard Hazlitt warmly praise. Of
Wicksteed I have heard Archdeacon Hare* speak in terms of
warm praise, calling him a Christian, whether or not a Uni-

—

tarian.
* See his

letter to

Manning, Vol.

"
p. 254,

Lamb's Works."

1836.]

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHILOSOPHIES.

225

H. C. R. to Benecke.
2

Plowden

Buildings, March

1836.

Every sentence of your letter is weighty, and would allow
But the result of your various
of a distinct notice from me.
remarks on our English theologians is the renewal of a very
old impression of the inherent and essential diversity in our
English and your German modes of contemplating the great
I say modes, not substance.
matters of religious philosophy.
For, since there is nothing national in the great topics which
such philosophy involves, it would seem that there ought not
to be so great a difference in the works of the several authors,
I do not at all
the great authors of the two languages.
wonder that you do not relish any of our writers, even of the
It is ascribable to the same cause that
highest reputation.
renders the great masters of German thought unenjoyable by
English readers. It is remarkable, that since the great change,
introduced only by Kant, in your philosophical studies, not one
single book has yet attracted the attention of our scholars or
soi-disant thinkers. Of the metaphysicians, scarcely a book has
even been translated. A few congenial minds (Coleridge, for
instance) have announced that there is a something worth
knowing ; but the mass care little about it. It is only in connection with religion that an attempt has been made to draw
attention to your great men.
I have heard of a translation of
the first volume of Neander'a " Church History w ; and also of
a work of Schleiermacher on St. Luke ; but I believe both have
fallen dead-born from the press. It is asserted by our Churchmen, that German theology is either crypto-infidelity, or mysEvery attempt to recommend the Gospel to
tical fanaticism.
thinkers by the slightest departure from the authorized interpretation is received with scorn.
Probably you have heard of
the very recent clamor raised by the Tory High Churchmen at
Oxford against a Dr. Hampden, on the ground of his being a
Now, I have been informed by a young clergyman,
Socinian.
whom I know to be a serious believer in the orthodox doctrines,
that his Bampton Lectures, which profess to treat of the relation of the scholastic philosophy to the Scripture, contain the
most explicit and solemn assertion of the Doctor's belief in the
doctrine of the Trinity ; but he admonishes the clerical student
to study the Scriptures more than the school-men.
He insinuates his regret that Churchmen have presumed to be wise beyond what is written, and, instead of leaving the awful mys10*
o

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

226

12.

they are, objects of reverential faith and adoption,
have tried to define and ascertain exactly what they infer must
have been meant, thongh it has not been expressed. By the
by, did I ever mention to you the famous Oxford Convocation
a year ago, on the subject of matriculation'? If I did, excuse
me the repetition ; if I did not, you will be interested by what
On a matriculation at Oxford, the young
I have to mention.
teries, as

man
and

is forced to declare his " unfeigned assent to every matter
thing contained in the Thirty :Nine Articles." This has long

been a theme of reproach and derision, and therefore a proposal
was made to substitute a declaration to this effect That the
subscriber is a member of the Church of England, as far as he
yet understands its doctrines ; that he will obey its precepts,
and conform to its rites, during his period of study at the University ; and that he will labor to understand its doctrines, that
he may become an intelligent member of the Church. This was
rejected with angry violence by five out of six; all the country
And these are the people who
clergymen coming up to vote
really feel contempt for German theology and German philosophy .... To return to the great difference between our English and your German habits of thought.
I am most deeply
impressed with the conviction, that your profounder thinkers and
writers are beyond the comprehension of us, because the thinking faculty is left with us in a half-uncultivated state.
Whatever lies deeper than ordinary logic is out of our reach. Where
we even concur in the result, the intellectual process is very different.
And I never meet with a German book of the highest
order in which I do not find a something at which I stand at
a loss,
a thought I cannot be sure I thoroughly comprehend.
It was so in the study of your preface, in which there
was at the same time so much that I heartily relished because I fancied I understood it
Herr von Raumer,
who was here last year, said everywhere that the pretensions
of the English clergy to retain their Church in a country
where they barely formed a tenth of the population was a subject of astonishment to all the thinking Protestants in Ger:

—

many
gratified by your obliging proposal to me to repeat my
Heidelberg.
Be assured that if my health continues I
shall not delay many years a renewal of the pleasure
Of all the friends I have, there is no one from whom I hear
religious doctrines asserted with so strong an impression on my
part that they deserve adoption
I

visit to

LANDOR ON ART.

1836.]

227

—

I dined at the Athenaeum with Sheil, and
March 12th.
accompanied him to the Lyceum, where Liston afforded us a
He also played capitally an old coachman in
hearty laugh.
another piece, but hardly better than young Mathews did a
young coachee. This young man, whom I saw for the first
time, promises to rival his father.
His activity in dancing and
singing is marvellous.
The Tarantella dance and a Neapolitan
song were delightful.
May 5th.
An interesting day. Landor and Kenyon breakfasted with me, and they enjoyed each other's company, and I
that of both.
They are very opposite characters. We did not
break up till past two, and yet of a long-continued and varied
conversation, I cannot now recollect a word.
This is the water
spilled that cannot be gathered.
Yet water so spilled often
fructifies.
But not when it falls on exhausted soil
Heigh-ho
I walked out with Landor, and, pour passer le temps, we went
into the National Gallery.
There he amused me by his odd
judgments of pictures. A small Correggio, with the frame, he
values at 14 s.
The " Lazarus " would be cheap at anything
below £ 20,000,
May 6th.
Went to the play at Covent Garden. The pit
is reduced to 2 s., and the audience are reduced in like manner.
I enjoyed Power more than any actor I have seen for a long
time.
Except Farren, I know none so perfect. He is the most
delightful Irishman imaginable.
He contrives to be the Irish
a droll, affectionate, rattling,
peasant with perfect truth,
drunken creature, and yet there is an air of gentility about
him which distinguishes him from every other comic actor

—

acquainted with.

man

of talents too.

America are exceedingly well written,
and show a spirit of observation and sagacity, and a power
of description, creditable to an established writer.
He played
this evening Teddy the Tiler, and in " 0 'Flanagan and the
told

his

Fairies."

travels

—

May 8th.
In the evening called at Talfourd's. He was
gone to dine with Lord Melbourne. I knew Talfourd when he
was a young man studying the law, unable to follow the profession but by earning money as a reporter, and in other ways.
He has now so risen that he dines with the Prime Minister.
I must add that a more upright and honorable man never existed.
A generous friend, and on public matters a sound and
judicious thinker.

•

228

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

12.

H. C. R. to Wordsworth.
8th May, 1836.

of my former
I do not mean to revert to the subject of the relative
letter.
merits or demerits of Dissenters, but I deem a Dissenting eduI felt

much

obliged

by your kind reception

cation highly favorable to integrity and veracity.
I should
say decidedly (speaking of the lower classes especially), that,
though less amiable, they are more honest than those of their
own class of the Establishment. In regard to this a very efficient lesson was taught me in my youth, while a sort of mild
persecution
that of contempt
was in universal perpetra" Father, why are you not a Cortion in our country towns.
poration-man ]
You are richer than Mr. Jackson."
"My
dear, I cannot ; nobody can be of the Corporation who does
" Well, and why do you
not take the sacrament in church."
refuse ?
Should you do any harm to any one by taking the
except to you, persacrament
"To nobody but myself,
" How to me?"
" People would say,
He 's the
haps."
son of a man who pretended to believe what he did not believe,
merely to get a vote for a member of Parliament, and so, per"
haps, get a place.'
I am quite sure of the salutary effects of the habit of integThe Test and Corporation
rity forced on Dissenters formerly.
Acts forced the Dissenters into a sort of hostility against the
Church.
The repeal of those laws has already produced a
formal separation of the three bodies amongst the Dissenters.
They would be quite annihilated by their admission to the
Universities.
The worst enemies to the Church are those who
have no religion whatever, and pretend to belong to it, merely
from political motives. What with the fanatics of faith,
the Calvinistic evangelicals (to whom belongs my friend and
your admirer) and the fanatics of High-Church formalism,
the persecutors of Dr. Hampden, for instance,
and the people who want to save their pockets and plunder the Church,
merely from mercenary motives, the wise and conscientious
Churchman will recognize conscientious and liberal Dissenters
as enemies far less dangerous.
Indeed, they ought not to be
enemies at all
May 16th. A party at Miss Rogers's in the evening.
Among those present were Milman, Lyell, and Sydney Smith.
With the last-named I chatted for the first time. His faunlike face is a sort of promise of a good thing when he does

—

V—

—

—
—

SYDNEY SMITH.

1836.]

229

but open his lips. He says nothing that from an indifferent person would be recollected. .The new British and Foreign
Review was spoken of as being set up by a rich man,
Beau" Hitherto," said Sydney Smith, " it was thought that
mont.
The Edinburgh
Lazarus, not Dives, should set up a Review.
Review was written by Lazzaroni." He added, " It has done
good."
I said I disliked it for its persecution of Wordsworth.
" By the by," said Sydney Smith, " I never saw Wordsworth
look so well,
And yet one fancies that a poet
so reverend."
should be always young. Wordsworth w as present this evening.
I noticed that several persons seemed to look at him askant, as
if the poet were some outlandish animal.
May 26th.
Wordsworth, LanWith a party of friends,
dor, my brother, the Jaffreys, &c, &c,
I attended the first
performance of Talfourd's " Ion," at Covent Garden. The
success complete.
Ellen Tree and Macready were loudly applauded, and the author had every reason to be satisfied.
After the performance he gave a supper, largely attended
by actors, lawyers, and dramatists. I sat by Miss Tree, and
" Talfourd's health " was given by
near Miss Mitford.
Macready, whose health Talfourd proposed after returning

—

—
—

—

thanks.

—

May SI st. Wordsworth introduced me to Strickland Cookwhom I saw many years ago, but had forgotten.
Rem*
I now place him in the very first line of friends.

son,

—

one of the most able and safe counsellors, and shares

with Edwin Field the confidence of the religious body to which
they belong.
Cookson wr as nominated by Wordsworth as his
executor,
lences he

desire

has, in

and

place.

estimation, this,

Among

other excel-

— a due veneration

for

Wordsworth, without any superstitious fondness. In judgment among our common friends, I do not know his equal.
In matters of law reform he takes an active part, as well as

Edwin

Field.

—

June 24th.
I rose early, and copied some curious marginal
notes by Coleridge in Lightfoot's works.
They are pious and
reverential in thought, though sometimes almost comic in ex-

He regrets that Lightfoot should paw the sacred
mysteries,
an admirable expression, and one that came from
Coleridge's heart, and might well continue to be employed.
Rem.lf
It was at the very commencement of the Bible
pression.

Societies,

—
—

and just

* Written

in 1853.

after

Dr.

Wordsworth had published a
f

Written in 1853.

230

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

12.

pamphlet about them, that I heard a word fall from Coleridge,
more profound and significantly true than any I have since
" Ay, sir, there can be no doubt that these are good
men, very good men, who are so zealous in widely spreading
these societies.
It is a pity they want sagacity enough to
foresee that in sending the Bible thus everywhere among the
uninstructed and the reprobate, they will be propagating, inheard.

stead of the old idolatry, a new bibliolatry.
Will the forthcoming volume of the " Table-talk " contain a
wiser word than the above % Perhaps not an acuter than
those in the following " That is not goodness," said Coleridge
:

presence, to

some one who was urging rather a com-

monplace and sentimental morality,
but should be called goody ness?

—

" that is not goodness,

proposal was made to me by my friends, the Masqueriers,
them in a tour in Wales. This I gladly accepted, and
I set out on the 19th of July, and returned on the 6th of

to join

September.
August 28th.
(Bristol.)
After an hour's stroll, I found
myself at the Lewin's Mead Chapel. A most respectablelooking building and congregation. Dr. Lant Carpenter performed the devotional part of the service with great effect.
His countenance, voice, and manner quite saintlike. Mr. Acton, of Exeter, preached the sermon.
I called on Joseph Cottle, residing in a neat
August 29th.
house with his maiden sister. I was expected, and the Cottles
were prepared to show me every attention. I declined an inAnd I
vitation to dinner, but spent the evening with them.
rendered him a service by strengthening him in his resolution
to disregard all objections to his printing in his forthcoming
" Recollections of Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth, &c," the
letter of Coleridge to Mr. Wade, giving an account of his sad
habit of opium-eating.
This letter was given to Cottle by
Coleridge, with the express injunction to publish it after his
death as a warning. Equally clear was it to me that Cottle
had not a right merely, but that it was his duty, to make
known that De Quincey, in the generosity of youth, had given
Coleridge £ 300.
But I advised him to give the facts as they

—

were, without the account he had drawn up respecting obmore than a
jections.'
He afterwards published a work,
mere copy of the first,
and in this he published a letter of
Southey's respecting Coleridge, by which the family of Coleridge were justly displeased. Cottle mistook his vocation when

—

JOSEPH COTTLE.

1836.]

—

he thought himself a poet.
Hills," that, in 1808,

—

SIR H.

hills,

BULWER'S FRANCE.

was from

Amyot and

ascent of one of these
lines

amused

his poem, "

231

Malvern

fatigued with the steep
ourselves by quoting the

" It needs the evidence of close deduction
To know that I shall ever reach the top."

But, notwithstanding this weakness, Joseph Cottle was a
For his poem entitled
worthy, and indeed excellent, man.
" King Alfred" his friends called him the regicide.
Rem.*
On a subsequent visit to Cottle, I was shown a letter by Coleridge on the future state, with a strong bearing
Cottle also read one
against the idea of eternal suffering.

—

from Coleridge, in which Wordsworth's Tragedy is called " absolutely wonderful."
The publication of this Tragedy in the
last volume of Wordsworth's works did not justify this judgment in public opinion. It has not been noticed by any critic,
so far as I know.
Here too
was living a man I became
that is, at Bristol
Edgar. A man of acacquainted with through Flaxman,
complishments and taste. A merchant once, enjoying wealth.
He was the patron of Flaxman when little known. Adversity
befell him, and then, though he was a Conservative, and the
Eadicals were in power, they behaved, as he himself said, with
generosity towards a political adversary, allowing him to retain
the office of sword-bearer on terms more liberal than could
have been required. He was an F. S. A., and possessed an
unusual degree of antiquarian knowledge.
September 16th.
Eead with no great pleasure the Wasse?*mensch, a dialogue among L. Tieck's Novellen.
The most interesting part was an exposure of the folly of the German

—

Radical youth.
September 21st.
Read H. Bulwer's "France," which I
thought wise and instructive. I copy two sentences respecting
" Every man is under the
the government of Louis Philippe
influence, not of the circumstances which placed him in a particular situation, but of the circumstances which resulted from
it."
He then pointedly remarks that, owing his throne to the
people, Louis Philippe would be incessantly called on to yield
to the people, and that it would be difficult to know when to
yield and when to resist.
This original blemish in his title
would remain ; but Bulwer adds " There is a scar on the rind
of the young tree, which, as it widens every year, becomes at

—

* Written in 1853.

232

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.
'

once more visible and more weak
July, the time

which

;

12.

and, in the monarch of
which expands, ob-

displays, destroys,

—

literates its defects."

—

A special meeting at the London Universifrom Lord Brougham a curious communication.
An old lady, upwards of eighty, has announced her intention
of giving £ 5,000 to the University.
She declares her object
to be the support of civil and religious liberty.
She herself is
Her name is Flaherty. Lord Brougham
a Roman Catholic.
said, that having ascertained to his satisfaction that she was
in the full possession of her faculties, and that' she had no
near relations having a moral claim on her, he felt no scruple
in accepting the gift.
He had learned also that she spent very
little on herself and devoted a handsome income mainly to
November

1st.

ty, to receive

acts of beneficence.

—

heard afterwards that when she went to the Bank
went in a hackney-coach, and was to
return so or walk, I forget which. On being remonstrated with
for not being more attentive to her own comfort, she said she
spent no money on herself, and hence it was that she was able
now and then to help others, f

Rem.*

to transfer the stock, she

H. C. R. to H. N. Coleridge. $
November

dear

—

17, 1836.

you the second volume

of the
" Table-talk," which I have looked over again with renewed
pleasure and sorrow. Born among the Dissenters, and reckoning among them many highly esteemed friends, I regret that
you should have given permanence to so many splenetic effuSir,

I return

As to the single passage which you send
underlined, as if it did not justify my construction, you will
pardon my saying, which I do most conscientiously, that I
Mr. Coleridge says
found it worse than I had imagined.
" The only true argument, apart from Christianity, for a discriminating toleration, is that it is of no use to attempt to stop
"
heresy or schism by persecution, unless, perhaps, by massacre
"
"
Mr.
that
implies
no
means
Now, apart from Christianity by
sions against them.

Coleridge meant that Christianity
* Written

opposed to this discrimi-

in 1853.

" Flaf The use made of this benefaction was to establish the well-known
herty Scholarships."
" one of the few he wished
% 'Mr. Robinson particularly marked this letter as
to preserve."

ON SUPPRESSING RELIGIOUS ERROR.

1836.]

nation, but rather, " independently of the

233

arguments

You must

for it

from

be aware that he who recommends
" a discriminating toleration " rather recommends the discrimination than the toleration ; and, of necessity, must approve of
Now, what is
that being persecuted which is not tolerated.
that 1
In the preceding page, he insinuates that it is the imperative duty of the magistrate to punish with death the teachers of damnable doctrines.
If so, the Romanists did no more
than their duty in putting the Protestants to death ; for they
As to
conscientiously think that damnation follows schism.
the only true argument against persecution, that it is of no
66
" Of no use " a Spaniard would truly say
for three
use,
hundred years the kings of Spain have found it effectual in
saving the souls of millions under their care."
There are, in this same article, equally palpable errors. Mr.
Coleridge says, " A right to toleration is a contradiction in
terms."
If so, a right to liberty is a contradiction ; for the
famous formulary, "Civil and Religious Liberty," merely
means that in certain personal matters of civil concern and
But the
conscience, the State must let the individual alone.
most marvellous sentence is that in which Mr. Coleridge
affirms that the Pope had a right to command the Romanists
of England to separate from the National Church, and to rebel
against Queen Elizabeth. I thought that the liberal and intelligent in all Christian churches were agreed in disclaiming this
latter right, and conceding the former.
" The Romanist, who acknowledges the Pope as the Head of
his Church, cannot possibly consider the Church of England as
any Church at all." Mr. Coleridge, when he uttered this, forgot his own admirable and subtle distinction, that we ought not
Mr. Coleto say the Church of, but the Church in, England.
ridge refers to the necessary criterion, but does not go on to
state what it is.
Yet, surely, he would not have denied, what
Warburton so ably maintains, that Church Establishments are
framed for their utility to the State, not for their truth.
I will relate an anecdote, which will show that a Roman
Catholic priest will acknowledge what, it seems, Mr. Coleridge,
on the 3d of January, 1834, had forgotten. I met with one in
the Yale of Lungern, wTho, I afterwards found, was popular for
his benevolence and liberality, being an anti-ultramontanist. I
" All I contend for is, that a man has a right to
said to him
be damned if he pleases, and that, therefore, no magistrate has
He started ; but, after a
a right to interpose to prevent it."
Christianity."

—

;

234

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBIXSOX. [Chap.

12.

pause, smiled and said, " If you mean this in a legal sense (in
I replied
"I cannot
einem juristischen Si/me), I concede it."
mean it otherwise. It is the duty of the father, the friend, the
philanthropist, and, above all, the Christian, to labor for the
but the sovereign, the magistrate, has
salvation of souls
:

nothing to do with it for, if he can interfere, there will be
nothing but persecution and murder everywhere.
It is an
accident what each sovereign believes, and every one will
"It is very true," he exclaimed. I
claim the same power."
rejoined, " When will you get his Holiness to subscribe to the
" Not yet," he said, " but we shall in time. We
doctrine ? "
are on the way of Reform more than the Protestants imagine."
;

—

December 8th,
I finished and sent off a letter to Landor respecting a most unwarrantable publication sent to me by him,
and entitled, "
Satire on Satirists and Admonition to Detractors."
The greater part is an attack on Blackwood, and other

satirists ; but the detracter admonished is Wordsworth, who is
represented as an envious and selfish poet. Goethe and Southey
are represented as the objects of his ill-feeling, and he is introduced as present at the representation of " Ion," when, wdiile
every one else was affected,

—

Amid the mighty storm

that swelled around,

Wordsworth was calm, and bravely stood

his ground."

thought it right to remonstrate with Landor.
I was present
on the occasion."' There was no sign of ill-will then, nor want
I

of cordiality

among

the literary candidates for praise.

H.
2

dear

Sir,

C. R.

Plowden

— On

Landor.

Buildings, Temple, December

return from

summer's

1836.

tour,

proceeded to Gore House to inquire about you.
I there heard
of your rapid transit through town, and soon after received, or
suspected I received, an amusing memorial of your enviable
faculty of contemplating the follies of life with a free and
cheerful aspect.
For this I have to thank you ; as also (more
certainly) for your Satire, which I found at the Athenaeum
last night.

many parts of this little poem are, I
me pain. I hope I shall not be
too much on your unvaried kindness to

Beautiful as

must say that

has given

found to have relied

* See

ante, p. 229.

ONE-SIDEDNESS OF GENIUS.

1836.]

me
as

235

why. This I may do with the less impropriety,
myself personally connected with some portion of the

in stating

I feel

Among my obligations to Wordsworth is
owe to him the honor of your acquaintance. Since
then I have had the pleasure of enjoying the company of both
of you together, when I remarked nothing but cordiality between you and now I receive from you a very bitter attack,
not upon his writings, but upon his personal character,
a
offending matter.

this, that I

;

—

portion of the materials being drawn, unless I deceive myself,
from opinions uttered by him in the freedom of unpremeditated conversation in my presence. Wordsworth is admonished
as a detracter, because he does not appreciate other poets as
they deserve. I could admit the fact without acknowledging
the justice of its being imputed to him as a crime.
It seems
to me that the general effect of a laborious cultivation of talent in any one definite form is to weaken the sense of the
worth of other forms. This is an ordinary drawback, even on
genius.
Voltaire and Rousseau hated each other
Fielding
despised Richardson ; Petrarch, Dante ; Michael
Angelo
There is nothing in which Goethe is more
sneered at Raphael.
the object of my admiration than in being utterly free from
this weakness.
He felt and acknowledged every kind of excellence
I have no doubt that Lord Byron intended to cause a breach
between Southey and Wordsworth by what Coleridge happily
terms " an implement, not an invention, of malice " ; hitherto,
•

without any effect.
as to the imputed plagiarism. #
Had Wordsworth
published the passage recently, since he became acquainted
with you, without making a due acknowledgment of your having supplied the fine fancy of which he made a serious application, I should have thought this unjust on his part, and your
anger very reasonable.
But he wrote this some twelve or
fifteen years ago ; and you, with a full knowledge, I presume,
of the wrong, consented to overlook it, and to associate with
him on terms of apparent cordiality. But with your feeling,
I would either not have met him, or I would have told him
what I thought.
December 8th.
I was interrupted last night.
On perusing
my letter, I think I have done injustice to Wordsworth. I
I believe,

One word

—

* That Wordsworth had borrowed from Landor's " Gebir " the image of the
shell in the very beautiful passage in the fourth book of " The Excursion,"
p. 147: " I have seen a curious child," &c.
Wordsworth denied all obligation to " Gebir" for this image.
See post, p. 240.

236

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

12.

seem to admit, much more than

I intended, or ought, the
charge so powerfully brought against both Wordsworth and
Southey by Lord Byron in his admirable and infamous dedication of " Don Juan " to Southey, and which charge you have
echoed.
I do not think there is any unworthy vanity, or envy,
His moral and
in Wordsworth towards his contemporaries.
religious feelings, added to a spice of John Bullism, have
utterly blinded him, for instance, to the marvellous talent of
[Your hint on French literature is very just.] But
Voltaire.
I have heard him praise Elliott quite as warmly as you do.
It
is at his urgent recommendation that Southey is now coming
out with a complete edition of his poems.
Let me remark,
too, as to censure, that I do not believe I ever heard him speak
against any one (except Goethe), whom I have not heard you
attack in much more vehement language.
Indeed I thought I
had remarked a general concurrence in your critical opinions.
Begging your pardon for the freedom of this letter, for which I
implore a kind construction, and which I thought it my duty

to write,
I

am, with sincere regard,
H. C. R.

—

This was a remarkable day.
(Brighton.)
December 26th.
So much snow fell, that not a coach either set out for or aran incident almost unheard of in this
rived from London,
Parties were put off and engagements broken without
place.

—

The Masqueriers, with whom I am staying, excomplaint.
Neverthepected friends to dinner, but they could not come.
less, we had here Mr. Edmonds, the worthy Scotch schoolmaster, Mr. and Mrs. Dill, and a Miss Robinson ; and, with
the assistance of whist, the afternoon went off comfortably
enough.
Of course, during a part of the day, I wT as occupied
in reading.

—

The papers to-day are full of the snowThe ordinary mails were stopped in every part of the

December 28th.
storm.
country.

—

December SOth.
Read in the Quarterly an article on
Campbell, in which the nail is hit on the head in the saying,
a felithat he has acquired " an immortality of quotation,"
citous expression.
His works are not distinguished by imagination, sensibility, or profound thought ; but posterity will
know him through happy expressions, such as " Coming events

—

cast their

shadows before."

AT LADY BLESSINGTON'S.

1837.]

—

—A

237

MISER.

and when the year
December Slst.
I sat up late, as usual
a significant occupaI was reading Dibdin's " Life,"
tion, for in idle amusement and faint pleasure was the greater
Such are my frivolous
part of the now closing year spent.
habits, that I can hardly expect to live for any profitable purpose either as respects myself or others.
Rem.*
My
I wrote this sincerely in my sixty-first year.
life has been more actively and usefully spent since I have been

—

expired

;

—

an elderly man.

CHAPTER

XIII.

1837.
dwell on
reminiscences and the incidents
THESE
ularly tend to show that what concerns one's
I

partic-

self other-

wise than as a motive for action would form a difficult test of
Excepting my journey
is properly one's own interest.
with Wordsworth, almost all the objects of my active exertions this year were quite indifferent to me personally.
Yet
such are the incidents which chiefly dwell on my memory, and
find a written record in my journal, and in the letters I have
preserved.
Jamiary 5th.
Being too late for the omnibus at Kew, I
walked on, and reached Lady Blessington's after ten. With
her were D'Orsay, Dr. Lardner, Trelawney, Edward Bulwer.
stranger, whose conversation interested and pleased me, I
found to be young Disraeli.f He talked with spirit of German
literature.
He spoke of Landor's " Satire " as having no sa-

what

—

tire in

The chat was an amusing

it.

— (At

one.

Bury.)
My brother related to me a
curious incident, such as one reads of occasionally.
There is
a man living in the Wrangling Street, named
for whom
my nephew made a will. The man was supposed to be at the
point of death, and he produced from under his bed, in gold
and silver, upwards of £ 300. My brother sent for a banker's
clerk, and the money was secured. When the old wife of
found out what had taken place, she scolded him with such
fury that she went into a fit and died.
My brother was sent

February

9th.

* Written
t

in 1854.

Afterwards the Right Honorable Benjamin DisraelL

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

238

13.

and the man, in great agitation, produced an addiBut this he insisted on giving away absolutely
to some poor people who were near him, and had served him.
After this was done, his mind seemed more easy.
He has
even rallied in health, and has made a judicious distribution
The money was tied up in old stockings and
of his property.
When he was informed of his wife's death, he
filthy rags.
eagerly demanded her pockets, and took from them a few shilThe accumulation was the result of
ings with great avidity.
for again

life

;

£ 208.

tional

of continued abstinence.

—

An agreeable day. I breakfasted with
February 23d.
Samuel Rogers. We had a long and interesting chat about
Landor, Wordsworth, Southey, &c. Rogers is a good teller of
He spoke with great affection of Mrs. Barbauld.
anecdotes.
Of Southey's genius and moral virtues he spoke with respect
not a friend to the improvebut Southey is anti-popular,
ment of the people. We talked of slander, and the truth
blended with it. A -friend repeated to Rogers a saying by
Wilkes " Give me a grain of truth, and I will mix it up with
a great mass of falsehood, so that no chemist shall ever be able
to separate them."
Talking of composition, he showed me a
note to his " Italy," which, he says, took him a fortnight to
write.
It consists of a very few lines.
Wordsworth has amplified the idea of this note in his poem on the picture of Miss
Quillinan, by Stone.
Rogers says, and I think truly, that the
prose is better than the poem.
The thought intended to be
expressed is, that the picture is the substance, and the beholders are the shadows.*
February 2Jfth.
Dined with Paynter to meet Valentine
Le Grice, famous in his youth for his wit and talent. I found
him to-day very pleasant and lively as a companion. He has
the reputation of being a religious man, and a popular

—

preacher.

Bem.f

—A

vantageously

character.

known

diocese of Exeter.

whom
father

now a Cornish clergyman,

ad-

as being prohibited preaching within the
He was the son of a Bury clergyman,

I heard of in my boyhood as a persecuted man.
The
was certainly not well off, and for that reason obtained

for his son Valentine

a presentation to the Bluecoat School,

* The note referred to is among the additional notes at the end of "Italy,"
and is on the words, ''Then on that masterpiece" (Raphael's "Transfigura" Poetical Works," 18mo edition, p. 366.

tion " ).
f

Written in 1855.

H. C. K.

1837.]

ON PERSONAL ECONOMY.

239

London. And here he was the companion of Charles Lamb
and Coleridge. He was a wit and a scholar. Taking orders,
he became tutor to a young man who suffered under a strange
an ossification of the body. The mother of this
malady,
young man married the tutor. Le Grice was notorious for his
free opinions. Hearing my name and place of birth, he sought
me out, saying my family had been his father's friends, as were
all the Dissenters.
His father was suspected of heresy. I
w ill here note down two anecdotes of Valentine Le Grice which
I heard from Charles Lamb, but which seem to me to have in
them more impudence than wit. They used to go to the de-

—

bating societies together.
On one occasion the question was,
" Who was the greatest orator,
Pitt, Fox, or Burke "
Le
Grice said, " I heard a lady say, in answer to the question,
Which do you like best,
Pork.'
beef, veal, or mutton V
So I, in reply to your question, say, Sheridan.' " Another
time he began thus " The last time I had the honor of addressing the chair in this hall, I was kicked out of the room."

—

[The following extract has its proper place here, for, though
dated 1836, it had in view the Italian tour with Wordsworth
in the present year.]

H. C. R. to Wordsworth.
*

....

glad you have made a remark about expense,
Be under no apprehenas this enables me to explain myself.
sion that you may think it right to incur more expense than I
should like. The fact is that I have contracted habits of parsimony from having been at one time poor, and because I have
no pleasure in mere personal, solitary indulgence ; but I am
pleased when I am called on to spend at the suggestion of others.
Unselfish economy has, I hope, been my practice as well
as my maxim.
I recollect being strongly impressed, at a susceptible age, by a passage in Madame Roland's Memoirs. Giving an account of her life in prison, she says "I spent very
little, but I paid all the servants liberally, so that I made
friends while I lived sparingly." My personal expenses are perhaps smaller than those of most men, but I have no objection
to double them, when the comfort of my companion requires it.
I once travelled with Seume, the well-known German author,
and with Schnorr, the painter. I recollect the former laid
down the rule,
The strongest of the party must accommoI

240

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

date himself to the weakest, and the richest to the poorest."
If I am stronger than you in body, acting on Seume's princi*
pie, I shall not subject you to any inconvenience.

Italian Tour with Wordsworth.

—

Bern:*
I shall content myself with very brief notes of the
country we passed through, which was already familiar to me.
I felt unable to record the interesting remarks which Wordsworth was continually making. It was his society that distinguished this journey from others ; and to accommodate him I
He could not bear night
altered my usual mode of travelling.
I theretravelling ; and in his sixty-seventh year needed rest.
fore at once yielded to his suggestion to buy a carriage, and I
It w as a
obtained one from Marmaduke Robinson for £70.
barouche which had been considerably used ; but it was
Moxon accompanied us as far as Paris.
effectually repaired.
The passage from London to Calais (March 19th) was about
On our landing we had to pay 400 francs duty
twelve hours.
on the carriage, but we were to receive three fourths of that
sum when we left the country. Posting to Paris, we arrived
on the third day sleeping the first night at Samer, and the
second at Grandvilliers. Very little on the way to excite inWith Wordsworth I did not fail
terest ; yet I felt no ennui.
We spoke of poetry
to have occasional bursts of conversation.
and of Landor. It may be not unworthy of mention that
Wordsworth first heard of Landor's " Satire " from Quillinan,
who was in Portugal. He said he regretted Quillinan' s indiscretion, and felt much obliged to his London friends for never
having mentioned the circumstance to him.t He had not read,
and meant never to read, the " Satire." He had heard that a
depreciation of Southey's genius was imputed to him but as
he had a warm affection for Southey, and an admiration for
his genius, he never could have said he would not give five
shillings for all Southey had ever written.
Notwithstanding
his sense of Landor's extreme injustice, he readily acknowledges
his ability.
As to the image of the sea-shell, he admitted no
obligation for it to Landor's " Gebir."
From his childhood
the shell was familiar to him and the children of his native
T

;

•

* Written in 1855.
t Quillinan noticed this "Satire" in " Blackwood,'* in 1843, in an article
entitled, " Imaginary Conversation with the Editor of Blackwood."
Kenyon
told me that Landor said: " I understand a Mr. Quillinan has been attacking
me. His writings are, I hear, Quill-inanities."
H. C. R.

—

PETRARCH.

1837.]

— HUMAN INTERESTS

UPPERMOST.

241

place always spoke of the humming sound as indicating the
sea, and of its greater or less loudness as having a reference to
The " Satire " seemed to
the state of the sea at the time.
In our talk about poets,
give Wordsworth little annoyance.
Wordsworth said Langhorne * was one of those who had not
had justice done them. His " Country Justice " has true poetic feeling.

In our way to Italy we passed through Lyons, Avignon,
Nismes, St. Remi, Marseilles, Toulon, &c. Wordsworth was
prepared to find the charm of interest in Vaucluse, and he was
not disappointed.
a dreary and
From Avignon we drove into the valley,
uncomfortable scene. Arid rocks, with a very little sprinkling
of shrubs and dwarf trees, affording no shade, constitute nearly
the whole of a scene which, from Petrarch's delicious verses,
every one would imagine to be a spot of perpetual verdure. Our
guide pointed out to us the reputed" neighborhood of the poet's
house.
It is said to have been once a forest ; now it is a mere
mass of buildings. There is still, however, a very clear stream,
and as it runs over cresses, it is of a green more delightful
than I ever before saw. This " closed valley" (yallis clausa)
derives its character from a spring of water which rises immediately under a perpendicular rock, 600 feet high.
A plain column is erected to the memory of Petrarch. The
only sensible homage to his memory would be the destruction
of the uncongenial workshops.
Wordsworth made a lengthened ramble among the rocks behind the fountain ; f and in
consequence we were not at our hotel till after the table-d'hote

—

supper.

At Nismes (April 6th) I took Wordsworth to see the exterior
of both the Maison Carree and the Arena.
He acknowledged
their beauty, but expected no great pleasure from such things.
He says " I am unable, from ignorance, to enjoy these sights.
:

I receive

and can

an impression, but that

is all.

have no science,

was, on the other
hand, delighted by two beautiful little girls playing with flowers near the Arena ; and I overheard him say to himself, " 0
you darlings
I wish I could put you in my pocket, and carrefer nothing to principle."

ry you to Eydal Mount."
* Langhorne, Rev. John, D. D. Born 1735, died 1779.
t " Between two and three hours did I run about, climbing the steep and
rugged crags from whose base the water of Vaucluse breaks forth." Wordsworth's note at the beginning of the " Memorials of a Tour in Italy." " Poetical Works," Vol. III. p. 180.
VOL.

„

242

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

At Savona

13.

is a fort., and before it a greensward just
which greatly delighted Wordsworth,
more
than objects more extraordinary and more generally attractive.
After breakfasting and rambling through the town, which is
nicely paved with flagstones, and is agreeable to walk in, having a sort of college air about it, w^e ascended to a couple of
monasteries, the one of Capuchins, with an extensive view of
the sea, the other formerly Franciscan, but now desecrated.
Wordsworth took a great fancy to the place, and thought it a

there

—

at this season,

fit

residence for such a poet as Chiabrera,
u

who

lived here.

How

lovely, robed in forenoon light and shade,
Each ministering to each, didst thou appear,
Savona, Queen of territory fair

As aught that marvellous" coast through
Yields to the stranger's eye " *

all its

length

—

We entered Rome in good spirits. We were
April 26th.
driven to the Europa, where, till we procured lodgings, we contented ourselves with two rooms on a third story.
Before
sunset we took a walk to my favorite haunt, the Pincian Hill,
where I was accosted by my name. It was Theed, who informed us of the pine-tree referred to in Wordsworth's poem
Here, too, we met with
as the gift of Sir George Beaumont. f
As soon as I had fixed
Mrs. Collins, the wife of the R. A.
Wordsworth at a cafe, I called on Miss Mackenzie, from whom
She is very desirous to
I had a most cordial reception.
give Wordsworth the use of her carnage.
This has been a very interesting day. To
April 27th.
Wordsworth it must have been unparalleled in the number
and importance of new impressions. He was sufficiently imThe Pantheon seemed to him
pressed with the Coliseum.
In the afterhardly worth notice, compared with St. Peter's.
noon Miss Mackenzie took us in her carriage to St. Peter's, by
which Wordsworth was more impressed than I expected he
inwould be. To me it is, as it always was, an unequalled,
deed an incomparable sight. We took only a cursory view of
it, and then drove to the Villa Lante, whence there is a fine
view of Rome, nearly, if not precisely, that of my engraving.
The beauty of the evening rendered the scene very attractive.
We looked also into the Church of St. Onofrio, where Tasso lies

—

Wordsworth is no hunter after
buried also Guidi, the poet.
sentimental relics. He professes to be regardless of places that
have only an outward connection with a great man, but no influ;

* " Memorials
t

11
:

Musings near Acquapendente," Vol.

Vide " Memorials," No.

II.

III. p. 190.

SISMONDI.

1837.]

— BUNSEN. — KEATS.

243

ence on his works. Hence he cares nothing for the burying-place
of Tasso, but has a deep interest in Vaucluse. The distinction
is founded on just views, and real, not affected sympathy.
drank tea with Miss Mackenzie. She had sent messages to Col-

On the other hand, by
lins and Kastner, but neither came.
mere accident seeing a card with Mr. Ticknor's name, I spoke
of his being a friend of Wordsworth on which she instantly
sent to him, and, as he lived next door, he was soon with us,
and greatly pleased to see Wordsworth, before setting off tomorrow for Florence.
The Sismondis were passing through Rome,
April 28th.
and took a hasty dinner with Miss Mackenzie Wordsworth
and I joined them. Sismondi has the look of an intelligent
man, but our conversation was too slight to afford room for ob;

—

servation.

—

Bunsen
May 4th.
I introduced Wordsworth to Bunsen.
talked his best, and, with great facility and felicity of expression, pointed out to us from his own window monuments from
I never heard a more instructive and dethe history of Rome.
lightful lecture in ten times the number of words.
May 6th.
We rose too late for a long walk, but, unwilling
to lose the morning freshness, took a short lounge before breakLooked at some pleasing pictures, recommended by Colfast.
lins, in an obscure church adjoining the fountain of Trevi. After
breakfast we made a call on Severn, who had a subject besides
art to talk on with Wordsworth,
poor Keats. He informs us
that the foolish inscription on his tomb is to be superseded by
one more worthy of him.
He denies that Keats's death was
hastened by the article in the Quarterly.
It appears that
Keats was by no means poor, but considerably fleeced.
May 7th. This forenoon was devoted to an excursion,
which, though not perfectly answering my expectation, was yet
a variety in our amusement.
Mr. Jones had engaged to dine
with a rich Campagna grazier in the neighborhood of Rome,
and invited Wordsworth and me to be of the party. In fact
we three were the party, for others who were to have joined us
were prevented from doing so.
We hired a vettura, and spent
from half ,past eight to six on the excursion, alighting at the
tomb of Caecilia Metella. The most amusing circumstance
was our locale. The hut where these wandering shepherds
live is a sort of tent of reeds,
a rotunda (really an elegant
structure in its form), poles meeting in the centre.
I suppose
about forty paces in circumference. Around are about twelve

—

244

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

recesses, in each of

which two men

room were hanging hams

sleep.

13.

Against the slanting

in abundance, saddles,

and

all sorti

In the centre was a fire, with no
of articles of husbandry.
chimney, but the smoke escaped through the reeds.
pot,
spacious but not inviting, hung over the fire, and near it sat
an old man with a fine face, in a very large arm-chair. He did
the honors of his tent with a kind of patriarchal dignity. And
the numerous servants, or rather companions, seemed to mix
respect with a sort of cordial equality in their tone towards
him.
After a few words of half-intelligible chat, we took a
stroll, witnessed a sheep-shearing, and then walked to one of
the aqueducts, enjoying a fine view of these interesting remains. The mountains of Albano, and the plain of the CamOn our return there was a
pagna, were in agreeable verdure.
They took no notice of us, but,
party of shepherds at dinner.
when they had done, a clean cloth and napkins were placed for
No food was offered but two kinds of sausage. Bicotta,
us.
which we asked for, was excellent. But Mr. Jones had providHe expected a regular
ed bread, cheese, and excellent wine.
dinner, but I was satisfied with this luncheon.
The day was
splendidly fine, and our return drive was delightful.

—

May 8th. Went to the Vatican. Gibson, Severn, and Mr.
Jones accompanied us. We saw the marble antiques of the
Vatican to great advantage, for Gibson pointed out to Wordsworth all the prime objects,
the Minerva, Apollo, young
Augustus, Laocoon, Torso, and a number of others, the names
of which I cannot now recollect.
We did not attempt to see a
picture, or, indeed, to enter all the rooms.
May 10th.
We rose early, and had a delightful walk before
breakfast.
We ascended the Coliseum. The building is seen
to much greater advantage from above.
Wordsworth seemed
fully impressed by its grandeur, though he seemed still more
to enjoy the fine view of the country beyond.
He wishes to
make the ascent by moonlight. Certainly no other amphitheatre (and I have seen all that still exist) leaves so deep an
impression.
Meeting Dr. Carlyle, Wordsworth and I took a
drive with him to the Corsini Palace, which we found very rich in
paintings.
There are a few which are the most delicious with
which I am acquainted. Above all, " A Mother and Child," a
peasant girl, by Murillo.
The custode had the rare good sense
not to call this picture a Virgin and Child.
The next is a
" Holy Family," by Fra Bartolomeo.
The " St. Joseph " has
wonderful beauty.
There are a greater number of excellent

—

SIXTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY.

H. C. R.'S

1837.]

245

pictures here than, perhaps, in any other palace. I dined with
Dr. Carlyle at Bertini's.
I found the dining at Ave Maria
(quarter past seven) in this season not unpleasant ; and it is

recommended by the Doctor

as a healthy practice, because

and just after the setting of the sun
that in summer the dews fall, when it is peculiarly unwholesome to be in the open air.
is

precisely just before

—

May

12th.
An agreeable chat with Gibson. He pleased
the account he gave of his professional life.
He said
" I could gain more money in England by making busts and
funeral monuments ; but I would rather spend my life in reading the poets, and composing works of imagination.
And I
have been so fortunate as to sell all I have done. I do not
submit to dictation, or make any alteration, except where my
judgment is convinced." He said, in explanation, that he was
not unwilling to execute an order for a specified subject, when

me by

has been in Rome twenty years, and
where he can do works which would
not be required in England.
May 13th.
My birthday was most agreeably spent. I
have now entered my sixty-third year. I shall hardly ever
spend a birthday again in the enjoyment of such pleasure, i. e.

he approved of
finds himself

it.

happy

here,

—

in kind,

A few

though

may

The day was most pleasant.
tempered the heat. Both mornnot cold.
Nor could any circum-

in degree.

clouds, during midday,

ing and evening were cool,
Dr. Carlyle joining us, we
stance be changed for the better.
set out at six a. m. precisely, and drove through the Campagna
after sunrise.
Our first important stopping-place was Adrian's
After an
Villa, which delighted Wordsworth by its scenery.
hour and a half there, we went on to the Sibilla. After ordering dinner, we took the guide of the house, and inspected the
old rocks among which the cascade fell, and the new fall, which
The change was necessary, but
has been made by a tunnel.
The new fall is made formal by
has not improved the scene.
the masonry above.
It runs in one mass, as in a frame, nearly straight ; and but for the mass of water, which is considerable, would produce no effect.
The old fall had the disadvantage of being hidden by projecting rocks, so that we could
only see it by means of paths cut out, and then but imperfectThis of itself would have been a great disappointment to
ly.
Wordsworth ; but he was amply compensated by the enjoyment the Cascatelle afforded him from the opposite side of the
valley, from which you see two masses of what are called the

246

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

Little Falls (or, as "Wordsworth called them, " Nature's

13.

Water-

and, at the same time, the heavy mass formed by the
body of the river. After dining, at five, we went to the Villa
d'Este, but hardly allowed ourselves time to admire the magEnjoyed the Campagna on our return ; I
nificent cypresses.
was rather sleepy, but the Doctor warned us against sleeping
there, even thus early in the season.
May 15th.
Had a most agreeable chat with Dr. Carlyle,
who read me some excellent memoranda of a conversation with
Wordsworth and I took tea with the Bunsens, who
Schelling.
were very friendly indeed. Wordsworth was in good spirits,
and talked well about poetry. I can see that he made an impression on Bunsen, for whom I copied the " Antiquarian Sonnet." *
On politics and Church matters there is not the same

works

"),

—

harmony between them.

May

— We dined

Mayer there. The
with Bunsen.
become an Englishman, and take
orders, and accept a living in England.
Bunsen supposes that
alone will serve to naturalize him ; but even if an alien can
accept a living, which I doubt, it certainly cannot give him the
rights of a native.
Bunsen took us to the Tabularium, and
explained to us the Forum, as seen from this the ancient Treasury and Record Office of the Capitol. A very interesting exhibition to us.
When this was over he dismissed us as sovereigns do.
Instead of asking us to return, he told Mrs. Bunsen he was going to show us our way home.
May 17th.
This morning spent in preparations for our
journey.
With Severn looked into Thorwaldsen's studio. He
has a very fine statue of Gutenberg,
fine for its significance.
That of Byron has no value in my eyes. It is pretty rather
than elegant.
I am told it has been denied admittance into
Westminster Abbey. It is too late to be particular on such
an occasion. Surely a memorial to so anti-religious a poet as
Byron may be admitted where the inscription is allowed to
16th.

Minister's eldest son

—

stand,

—

is a jest, and all things show it,
thought so once, and now I know it.

Life
I

Bunsen told Wordsworth that Lord Byron had an impression
he was the offspring of a demon. In a morbid moment such
a thought may have seized him.
May 22d.
A busy day. Preparing for departure. Dined
and took tea with Miss Mackenzie. Nothing can exceed her

—

* Probably "

How

profitless the relics that

cull."

Vol. IV. p. 119.

1837.]

DR. CARLYLE.

—

TERNI.

— THE

247

ARNO.

kindness to Wordsworth and me. She seems to feel for WordsAnd he is much pleased
affection of a daughter.
But for her house, his evenings would have been
with her.
He needs the cheering society of women. He has indull.
vited her to Rydal, and I have no doubt she will accept the
We paid a farewell visit to the Vatican and the
invitation.
The Minister
Capitol, and made a short call on the Bunsens.
No diplomatic reserve in his mancordial and in high spirits.
Dr. Thompson was with
I went late to Dr. Carlyle.
ners.
Dr. Carlyle is a
him.
I had an interesting chat with them.
man whom I much like, and I have written to him what I
strongly feel, that it would give me pain to think our acquaintWe leave Rome to-morrow.
ance should now cease.
May 2Jfth. (Terni.) This has been a day of great enjoyment, in spite of bad weather. We had to walk between two
and three miles to Papigno, because no ass-keeper is allowed
I had seen
to let out an ass on the Terni side of Papigno.
the famous cascade before, but not to so great advantage. Then,
however, I thought it the very finest waterfall I had ever seen,
and Wordsworth also declares it to be the most sublime he has
From the mass of water, and the great extent of the
seen.
fall, the rebound of the water produces a cloudlike effect, so
that the well-known proverb, applied to a wood, may be lite"You cannot see the cascade for the water."
rally parodied
The upper fall may be seen to advantage from various places.
The two lower falls are of less importance. But there is one
point from which a succession of falls may be seen, extending
to more than a thousand feet.
The last view from a cabin,
which does not include the lowest fall, is the most beautiful.
May 25th, (Assisi.) We looked into the famous church
built over the house in which St. Francis d' Assisi lived.
I saw
it in 1831 with pleasure.
The sacred house had then been
recently painted by Overbeck, in fresco.
It was a beautiful
and very interesting object. Few of the sentimentalities of
the Catholics have pleased me so much.
But a few months
afterwards an earthquake destroyed the interior of the church.
It is now under repair.
The old house seems uninjured, except that the greater part of Overbeck's painting is destroyed.
May 27th.
Left Arezzo about eight.
Turning soon out
of the high road to Florence, we were driven on good crosscountry roads into the very heart of the Apennines, and especially into the Yal d'Arno,
superiore, as I suppose at least
we soon came in sight of the Arno, and we had it long after-

worth the

—

;

248

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

wards, to the great joy of Wordsworth.
It is not unqualifiedly
true that the rose would smell as sweet by any other name,
at least not the doctrine which that famous expression is used
to assert.
do feel the pleasure enhanced when, in a beautiful spot, we find that that spot has been the theme of praise
This Vale of Arno
by men of taste in many generations.
which we saw to-day is more beautiful than the rich lower
and broader vale near Florence.
went through a fine succession of mountain scenes till we reached the miserable little
town of Bibiana, where, in a dirty and low wine-house, we consumed a portion of the cold provisions we had brought from
Arezzo.
Wordsworth mounted on a horse, and I accompanied
him on foot, up a steep hill, through a dreary country, to the
famous Franciscan convent of Laverna.* Laverna is a lofty
mountain, on the. top of which St. Francis built his house.
On entering, we were courteously received by the poor and
humble monks. I .thought it was Friday, and therefore did

—

not venture to ask for animal food, but requested accompaniments to the tea and sugar we had brought. While our meal
was preparing, we strolled through the chestnut forest to a
promontory, whence we had a wild and interesting country at
our feet.
A monk we met in the forest told us some of
the legendary tales that abound in a region like this ; such as,
that the rocks, which are separated from the great mass, were
shaken into their present position by the earthquake at the
He showed a stone insutime of our Saviour's crucifixion.
lated from the mass, at a spot where a fierce chief of banditti
confined and murdered his prisoners who wer£ not ransomed ;
and told us how this chief was converted by St. Francis, and
became first a saint in the convent, and then a saint in heaven.
We chatted with several monks, all dull-looking men and very
They gave us hot water, and
dirty, but humble and kind.
bread and butter and eggs, and we enjoyed our tea. Our cells
were small and cold, and our beds hard, but we slept well.
May 28th.
Continued our journey, with a diversion to the
monastery of Camaldoli. X
Here again Wordsworth took a

—

and I walked. The monastery lies delightfully in a secluded valley of firs, chestnuts, &c. ; and there is a mountain
torrent.
As we entered some men were singing, with Italian
The monks
gesticulation, a song or hymn in praise of May.
horse,

* La Vernia, or Alvernia.
u The Cuckoo at Laverna," Vol.
f Vide " Memorials," XIV.
" Memorials," XV., XVI., XVII.
Vol. III. p. 209.
X

III. p. 205.

FLORENCE.

1837.]

— BOLOGNA. — MILAN.

249

were looking on. I regretted that I could not comprehend
more than the animated looks and vigorous attitudes of the
We were received by a very different kind of monks
singers.
from those of yesterday. They were dressed in white garments,
in fact they were Benedictines,
and had shoes and stockings,
While our dinner was
the gentlemen of the monastic orders.
We enpreparing, Wordsworth and I strolled up the forest.
tered the Hermitage, where a few monks reside with greater
When they grow old, they come down
severity of discipline.
Six years ago there was a painter here,
to the monastery.

—

with

whom

ture by
to see

I chatted.

in the monastery now.

pic-

him was shown to us. I made inquiries, and expected
him in the evening. But perhaps it was one of his

silent days.

brary, from

which

had a good dinner, and looked into the liI borrowed a book, to amuse myself in the

evening.

—
June
— a church
1st.

Mayer took us to the Santa Croce,
(Florence).
of great interest, from the noble characters whose
adorn it,
Galileo, Dante, Michael Angelo, &c.

—

monuments
The general appearance of the church is fine. Wordsworth
Going out by the Croce
afterwards walked out by himself.
gate, he crossed the Arno by a suspension bridge, and then had
From this eminence
a delightful walk up to the San Miniato.
there is a very fine view of the city, and the vale beyond. The
old church in its solitude is an affecting object.
primitive churches in the Lombard style.
June 7th.
(Bologna.)
I spent the day

—

than Wordsworth.

length of the streets.
the country.

It is

one of the

more pleasantly

has been uncomfortable owing to the
He is never thoroughly happy but in

—

One of the most agreeable days we have had.
June 12th.
Wordsworth enjoyed it more than any other. Yet we had to
encounter fatigue.
We were called up a little after two, and
at three were in an omnibus-shaped diligence, which was to
take us (from Milan) to Como.
A few loud talkers kept us
awake.
By the by, I think the lower class of Italians are
greater talkers than the French ; yet the beauty of the Italian
sounds makes the talking less offensive.
Just before we
reached Como the scenery became very grand.
On our arrival
I had just time to run to the cathedral, but all other feelings
were for the time overpowered by the pleasure of meeting the
Ticknors.
very fortunate occurrence, quite unexpected.
They too were going up the lake by the steamboat, and thus

11*

—

250

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

united the pleasures of the scenery with the gratification
Perhaps on this account I
of chat with a very clever family.
saw too little of the lake. Its beauties were not unknown to
me. At all events, the day was a most agreeable one.
The
view of this most beautiful of lakes was a great delight.
Wordsworth blended with it painfully pleasing recollections of
an old friend, with whom he made the same journey in 1790,
and who died a few months ago. He had also a still more
tender recollection of his journey here in 1820 with his wife
and sister, when he twice visited this place. Returned to
Milan in the evening. As long as the light lasted I read
Lockhart's " Life of Scott," which Ticknor had lent me.
Accompanied Wordsworth up the cathedral.
June 13th.
small sum of a quarter of a Kopfstiick is required of each
An excellent
person, and no one accompanies the traveller.
arrangement. And, as WordswT orth truly observed, the cheapest
of all sights for which anything is paid.
The view7 of the surrounding country is not to be despised ; but that is the least
part of the sight.
Far more singular and interesting is the
effect produced by the numerous pinnacles on the roof of the
building itself.
Three rows on each side, each surmounted by
a figure, and all of marble. WordswT orth has thus described
them, as seen by Fancy

—

" Awe-stricken She beholds the array
That guards the Temple night and day;
Angels she sees,
that might from heaven have flown,
And virgin-saints, who not in vain
Have striven by purity to gain

—

The

beatific crown,
Sees long-drawn files, concentric rings,

—

Each narrowing above each;
the wings,
The uplifted palms, the silent marble lips,
The starry zone of sovereign height,*

—

All steeped in this portentous light! " f

looked into the crypt of the cathedral, to see the
of the crystal coffin of St. Carlo Borromeo.
A
gaudy sight, not worth the Zwanziger (8 d.) given to the
priest.
Gold and silver, sculptured, and seen by torchlight,
make but a sorry spectacle, though they may impose on the
outside

imagination.

—

June lJjth.
(Bergamo.) This day to Wordsworth one of
the best of our journey. At least it partook most of that
* Above the highest circle of figures is a zone of metallic stars,
u Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820." "
The Eclipse of
f Vide
the Sun," XXVII., Vol. III. p. 159.

BERGAMO.

1837.]

— LOVERE. — LAGO

DI GARDA.

251

A day of adventure
character which suits his personal taste.
We arose early, and had a few minamidst beautiful scenery.
utes' conversation with the Ticknors, who left Bergamo at six.
We then rambled up to the old town for our inn was only in
the suburbs below.
I was much pleased with the walk.
I
have seldom seen a more pleasantly situated provincial town
in Italy,
or, indeed, in any country.
We left our inn between ten and eleven, and drove through a pleasant country
;

—

little town of Iseo, at the foot of the lake of the same
name. The day being intensely hot, we kept in-doors after
our arrival till evening, when a lad of the house took us to
the lakeside.
The view very grand. Several ridges of lofty
mountains.
The latter streaked with snow. Finding a conveniently retired spot, I had the luxury of a bathe.
Wordsworth did not return till after dark, having enjoyed his solitary

to the

ramble.

—

June 15th.
Voyage to Lovere. Our boat the humblest
vehicle in which gentlemen ever made a party of pleasure.

four-oared broad boat, with a sail.
The company consisted of
about four sheep, one horse, one ass, one cow, about ten steerage passengers, and four or five cabin passengers, besides
had the shelter of an awning
Wordsw orth and myself.
near the helm ; but so ill-contrived as to allow of no comfort,
The day inour posture being between lying and sitting.
tensely hot.
At one time we were becalmed ; but there was
w-ent near twenty miles in
no attempt to use the oars.
On our arrival at Lovere, the country
four and a half hours.
was so inviting that we resolved to explore the neighborhood,
and we did so till dark. The views of the lake exquisitely
beautiful.
At twelve p. m. we re-embarked in our boat with
It was about three a. m. when we
bipeds and quadrupeds.
arrived at Iseo, and we were glad to get to bed.
reached Desenzano at dusk, and were put
June 16th.
long slip of land
into good rooms facing the Lake Garda.
which runs into the water divides the lake into halves, and
ends in a knoll. This is the promontory of Sermione (Sirmium),
where Catullus had a villa. Wordsworth had a strong desire
to visit this point \ but the sight of it hence will probably satisfy him.
fine view towards the head of the lake determined
us to make use of a small steamboat, which to-morrow morning
goes to Riva.
June 18th.
day to saunter about in.
(Riva.)
walked out before breakfast, taking the road to Arco above

— We

—

252

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

This lake is exposed to storms, of which Virgil has
the lake.
Wordsworth soon left me, as he was anwritten alarmingly.
noyed by the stone walls on the road. I sauntered on, and
found, on inquiry, that I was now in the Tyrol ; but in this
remote district no one asked for passport. On my return I
breakfasted, and read Lady Wortley Montague, which formed
my resource to-day ; but I at length became anxious at WordsI remained in my room till half past
worth's non-appearance.
one, and still he had not returned, though he said he should
I became very uncomfortable, for I
be back to breakfast.
I could no longer rest,
feared some accident had occurred.
and went forth in search of him, feeling sure that, in case of
accident, I should be informed of it, as I was dressed so much
like him, that it would be taken for granted we were fellowThinking he would be attracted by a village and
travellers.
castles on the mountains, I took my direction accordingly, and
after proceeding some distance, the sound of a waterfall caught
my ear, and I felt sure that, if it had caught his, he would have
Acting upon this clew, I came to a mill where I
followed it.
gained tidings of him.
He had breakfasted there, and had gone
I followed on, and found a man who had seen him
higher np.
This relieved me of all apprehension. On my renear Riva.
A slight tempest on
turn to the inn, he had already arrived.
the lake in the evening.
Our drive to Verona was, like all the drives in
June 19th.
this upper part of Lombardy, pleasing from the vicinity of the
Of Lombardy I ought to say, that the nearly entire
Alps.
absence of beggars, except very old people, speaks well for the
Austrian government. On the other hand, however, we were
told by a German, on the steamboat to Eiva, that there had
been very recently two highway robberies in the neighborhood
of Bergamo.
June 23d.
-Venice impresses me more agreeably than it
did seven years ago.
The monuments of its faded glory are
deeply affecting.
We called on the Ticknors, and Wordsworth

—

accompanied them to hear Tasso chanted by gondoliers.
Jane 24-th.
We rose early, and our first sight was a view
of the city, from the tower of St. Mark's, one of the most remarkable objects here. The ascent is by an inclined plane,
and therefore more easy than by steps.
June 26th.
Among the pictures we saw to-day two especially delighted me, perhaps because they were not new to me.
The Four Ages of Man, a favorite of dear Lamb's. He valued

—

AMONG THE GERMANS.

1837.]

253

an engraving of it. The second, a Deposition from the Cross.
It is remarkable for the graceful curved line made by the body
And the red drapery of
of Christ, under which is a sheet.
one of the men taking the body down, casts a light on it in a
very striking manner. St. John, while he looks on the body
with deep feeling, has his arm tenderly round the mother to
and, by the by, all the paintsupport her.
Deep humanity,
ings of most pathos on this subject are those that keep the
Divinity out of sight.
Who can feel pity for God ?
June 28th.
Left Venice, and took the new road to Germany, sleeping the first night at Lengarone, and the second at
Sillian.
The second day's journey one of the most delightful
we have had for scenery. In the evening, while at our meal
at Sillian, there was in the house a sort of religious service.
One voice led, and the rest chanted a response. The words
were unintelligible, but the effect of this little vesper service,
which lasted some minutes, was very agreeable.
June 30th.
Wordsworth overslept himself this morning,
having for the first time on his journey, I believe, attempted
composition.
In the forenoon, I wrote some twenty lines, by
During the preceding,
dictation, on the Cuckoo at Laverna.
as well as this day, I was rendered quite happy by being
among Germans. There is something about the people, servants, postilions, &c, that distinguishes them from the grasp-

—

ing Italians.

—

At the grand little lake,
the Konigsee,
near Berchtesgaden, I left Wordsworth alone, he being engaged in composition.
The neighborhood of Berchtesgaden and Salzburg greatly
delighted him.
He was enchanted by a drive near the latter
place, combining the most pleasing features of English scenery
with grand masses and forms. At Salzburg he wr andered
about on the heights, greatly enjoying the views, while I was
attending to accounts, and reading a packet of the Allgemeine
Zeitung.
The fashionable watering-place of Ischl was not at
all to his taste, and I soon found him bent on leaving it.
The peasantry of the Salzkammergut are exemplary in their
manners, and, except in the frequent goitres, have the appearance of comfort.
On one occasion, I perceived that I had left
behind my silver eye-glass and a camel's hair shaving-brush.
On returning to the place a day or two later, I inquired of the
waiter whether he had found them.
He knew nothing of
them ; but when I came to the bags, which had been set aside
for us, I found the eye-glass carefully tied to my bag, and the

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

254

13.

brush so fastened into a leather strap that I could not fail to
The most I should have expected would have been a
see it.
careful delivery

of the articles, for the sake of thanks,

and

perhaps some gratuity.
We visited one very singular place, the town of Hallstadt,
on the lake of the same name. There is nothing like a street,
nor indeed is there room for a street. The houses are built
on the narrow shore and up the mountain-side, without order
and with little regularity. Xot a horse or carriage is to be
seen, for the place is accessible only by water.
Yet it has one
thousand inhabitants. A rich salt mountain lies at its back,
and on the height resides the Bergmeister. A very comfortable inn received us on the shore.
And I liked much the peoI had as nice a bedroom as could be desired, and
ple I saw.
we were supplied with excellent coffee. In the evening, Wordsworth being out for a walk, I got into an agreeable chat with
the family.
Jdy 12th.
In the only little opening like a square, in this
curious town, I noticed a fountain.
The forni not unpleasant.
The inscription I thought worth copying, as a sort of digest of
Catholic orthodoxy, as to the person of the Deity and the Virgin Mary.*
God the Father, having on a sort of tiara, is sitThe Holy Ghost is also
ting and in his lap he holds Christ.
Below, in relief, the Virgin, crowned, stands on
represented.
The inscription is as follows
the moon.

—

DEO
TER OPT MAX
TRINO ET UNO
:

—

*AA<£a Kai *Qjieya

PATRI IXGEXITO
FILIO UXIGENITO

EX
UTROQUE PROCEDEXTI
SP1RITUI SAN'CTO

MARLE
VIRGIN I MATRI

IMMACULATE
FILLS PATRIS

MATRI

FILII

SPIRITUS SAN'CTI SPOS.S

TER ADMIRABILI
* July

2Qih.

— Gorres says that Dante sanctions the idea given of the Virgm

in this inscription.

MUNICH ARTISTS.

1837.]

255

SIT SEMP1TERNUM
LAUS GLORIA ET HONOR.
EX VOTO
EREXERAT ETC., ETC.
:

[Initials of the

Founders.]

—

July 15th.
Read the decree of the King of Hanover, in
which he said that he was not bound either in form or in substance by the Grund-Gesetz (the Constitution) ; that he would
take into consideration whether he would utterly abolish or
modify it that his people were to have confidence in him, and
obey him and that they were bound to submit to the old system of government under which their ancestors were happy,
&c, &c. The King had not caused the decree to be signed by
his Ministers, except one, who had taken the oath of allegiance
to him, leaving out that part of the oath by which the Minister was bound to adhere to the Grund-Gesetz, &c, &c.
All
comment is superfluous. Wordsworth related to me an anecdote that on one occasion, when the King, then Duke of Cumberland, intimated to the Duke of Wellington his intention to
do a certain act, the Duke replied, " If so, I will impeach
your Royal Highness."
(Of what remains of the diary of this tour two extracts in
reference to Munich, and a concluding one, are all that need be
;

;

given.)

—

July 17th.
My acquaintance Mr. Oldenburg took Wordsworth and me to the studio of Kaulbach, at which we saw
a cartoon of great power, though not easily to be judged
of at once, being a vision from the writings of Chateaubriand.
This picture was recommended to us by Spence as one of the
Videnda.

—

July 20th.
At the new church of St. Ludwig we were so
fortunate as to find Cornelius, the designer of the great work
which is being executed there. He was working at the great
picture of " The Last Judgment."
He recognized me civilly.
Several of his pupils were at work in different parts of the
church.
By means of scaffolding we could go from one part to
another.
The artists were painting, sitting conveniently in
arm-chairs.
The pupils were of course executing the designs
of their master, and he was enabled to judge of the effect from
below.

August

7th.

— We embarked

the custom-house in the

two

a. m.

from

Thames about three

Calais,
p. m.,

reached

and had

]

BEMEsISCEXCES OF HEXRY CRABB BOBDsSOX. [Chap.

256

13.

our baggage all passed within two or three hours. After dining at the Athenaeum, and taking tea at Janray's, I called on
Wordsworth at Moxon's. I found him in good spirits, and certainly in as good health as when he set out
I think even better.
And so ends this interesting tour. It will probably be
not altogether unproductive, though the poet has for the present composed only part of a poem on the Cuckoo at Laverna.*
[As the reader is aware, the tour was not unproductive, Mr.
Wordsworth having published " Memorials of a Tour in Italy."
These poems were dedicated to his fellow-traveller in these
words
:

—

Companion by whose buoyant spirit cheered,
Lit whose experience trusting, day by day.
Treasures I gained with zeal that neither feared
The toils, nor felt the crosses of the way.
These records take, and happy should I be
Were but the Gift a meet ntan to thee
For kindnesses that never ceased to flow,
A:.;; y:\^~ selr-sacrlflce to which I owe
Far more than any heart but mine can know."
!

TV. S.

Laxdob to H.

C. E.

[No

date.]

Do you

take any interest in the battle royal of Whigs and
I wish it were a less metaphorical one, and would
Tories !
Peel, I think, is the
tenninate like the soldiery of Cadmus.
The Stanleys,
only man on either side who can do business.
lire, etc.. are jennets that have mane and tail enough, and only
want bodies. Poor Parigi J looks old. He often snaps at his
* The foregoing account of this tour may have disappointed the reader.
Wordsworth repeatedly said of the journey, It is too late.'
1 have matter
It is remarkable
for volumes.* he said ooce. had I but youth to work it up.*
how in that admirable poem. 'Musings near Acquapendente (perhaps the
most beautiful of the Memorials of the Italian Tour), meditation predominates
M

over observation. It often happened, that objects of universal attraction
served chieflv to brins back to his mind absent objects dear to him."*
H. C. R.s letter to Dr. Wordsworth. Vide u Memoir 'of Wordsworth.** Vol.

—

p. 329.

t Wordsworth originally wrote the second line of the dedication. M To whose
experience trusting/* &rc." Mr. Robinson susrgested the substitution of K In "
M My dear Friend.
I trust in Provifor " To." on which Wordsworth wrote:
dence, I tru-t in your or any man's integrity, but in matters of inferior importance, as companionship in a tour of pleasure must be reckoned, I prefer
saying 4 to/ But. when the lines are reprinted, I shall be most happy to defer
to* your judgment and feeling.
Let me say, however, that my ear is susceptible of the clashing of sounds almost to disease; and in and '"trusting,* unless
4
the g be well marked in pronunciation, which it often is not, make to me a

—

;

disagreeable repetition."
| The dog who u^ed to escort H. C. R. as a body-guard from his master's
house to the gates of Florence.

;

THE POET OF HUMANITY.

1887.]

257

two sons, as old people are apt to do. He and Powers are on
Unhappily, they have both taken a fancy
the best of terms.
to cool their sides upon my white lilies, so that where I expected at least two hundred flowers I shall hardly have
Take the whole plant together, leaves and all, the
twenty.
white lily is the most beautiful one upon earth ; and her odor
gives a full feast, the rose's only a dejeilner.
It goes to my
heart to see the tricks Powers and Parigi have been playing.
It is well I am not a florist ; but, on recollection, your florists do not trouble their heads about roses and lilies ; they
like only those stiff old powdered beaux the ranunculuses, &c.
I have bought a few pencillings by Vandyke,
a boy's head
and a very fine Allori, three Cupids.
on an account-book,
Allori is as fresh after three centuries as after the first hour.

—

Adieu
August 17th.

—

I breakfasted

with Rogers this morning

Empson went with me. Wordsworth there. A very interesting chat with him about his poetry.
He repeated emphatically what he had said to me before, that he did not expect or
desire from posterity any other fame than that which would

be given him for the way in which his poems exhibit
his essentially

human character and

—

relations,*

—

man

as child, par-

the qualities which are common to all men as
husband,
opposed to those which distinguish one man from another. His
Sonnets are not, therefore, the works that he esteems the most.
Empson and I had spoken of the Sonnets as our favorites.
He said, " You are both wrong." Rogers, however, attacked
the form of the Sonnet with exaggeration, that he might be
ent,

I regret my inability to record more of Wordsworth's conversation.
Empson related that Jeffrey had lately
told him that so many people had thought highly of Wordsworth, that he was resolved to reperuse his poems, and see if
he had anything to retract. Empson, I believe, did not end
his anecdote ; he had before said to me that Jeffrey, having
done so, found nothing to retract, except, perhaps, a contempEmpson says, he believed
tuous and flippant phrase or two.
Jeffrey's distaste for Wordsworth to be honest,
mere uncongeniality of mind.
Talfourd, who is now going to pay Jeffrey
a visit, says the same. Jeffrey does acknowledge that he was
less offensive.

—

wrong

in his treatment of

Lamb.

* Dr. Charming spoke of him as " the "poet of humanity."
Vide, " The
Present Age an Address delivered before the Mercantile Library Company
;

of Philadelphia,

May

11, 1841."

258

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

August

—

13.

must mention that

this morning an act of
chambers in great peril. I
had sealed a letter in my bedroom, and used a lucifer to light
the candle.
Some time after, Tom Martin called. He smelt
fire ; and on my going into the bedroom, I found it full of
smoke. My black coat and silk waistcoat were both on fire,
though not in flames. The cane chair was burnt ; had the
chair been in flames, the bedclothes would have caught. And
then 1 I rejoice and am grateful for the escape.
I hope it will
be a caution and a warning to me.
August 23d.
I went down to Edmonton, and found dear
Mary Lamb in very good health. She has been now so long
I took a walk
well, that one may hope for a continuance.
with her, and she led me to Charles Lamb's grave.
Rem* Though my journey this year abroad was so con21st.

carelessness

part put

—

siderable, yet

terminated

much

closing journeys of pleasure.

before the ordinary time for

I therefore gladly availed

myself

of a proposal made by my late companion, that I should join
him in a short journey to the West. Wordsworth's daughter
was our lively and most agreeable companion.
September 9th.
On our arrival at Hereford, young Mr.
Hutchinson took his uncle and cousin to his father's house at

—

And John Monkhouse, hearing of my arrival, came
me, and took me to his farm-house at Whitney, sixteen
I spent three days with this excellent
miles from Hereford.
man, and had an opportunity of observing how native good,
moral, and practical sense can enable a man to extract comfort, if not happiness, in a condition seemingly affording few
He was blind he had no educated
sources of. enjoyment.
neighbors, and was forced to bear the reading aloud of uneduHis sister, Mrs. Hutchinson, lived fourteen
cated persons.
miles off.
He found occupation in the management of his
Brinsop.

for

farm, and in books.
He had the consolations of religion,
and was interested in theological controversies.
had too
much matter for talk to feel in the least tired of each other's

society.

Of the scenery of the place Wordsworth remarked
too

much wood

" There

thinly peopled a country."
" Solitude in a
It was one of his striking observations
waste is sublime, while it is purely disagreeable in a cultivated country." Here the wanderer sees neither houses nor
is

here

for

people.
* Written in 1855.

THE YOUNG QUEEN.

1837.]

— WILLIAM

259

FREND.

—

This was a memorable day, being the sol9th.
Between
entry of the Queen into the City of London.
ten and eleven o'clock, I walked down to the Athenaeum. The
streets were already full, the windows filled with company, and
the fronts of houses adorned with preparations for the illumination.
I took my station at the south corner of the balcony,
from which, after an hour's waiting, I saw the train of carhorse
riages.
It was long, and, with the numerous guards,
formed a splendid sight, more especially as Waterand foot,
but I
loo Place was filled with decently dressed spectators
could not see a single person, not even in the Queen's state
carriage.
As soon as she had passed, I ran up to the roof of
the house, and had thence a full view of the long train of car-

November

emn

—

;

riages in Pall Mall.
told Amyot, that when the Bishops
presented to the Queen, she received them with all
She passed through a glass
possible dignity, and then retired.
door, and, forgetting its transparency, was seen to run off like
Mr. Quayle, in corroboration of this, told me
a girl, as she is.
that lately, asking a maid of honor how she liked her situation,
and who of course expressed her delight, she said " I do think
myself it is good fun playing Queen." This is just as it should
If she had not now the high spirits of a healthy girl of
be.
eighteen, we should have less reason to hope she w^ould turn
out a sound sensible woman at thirty.
November 17th.
While making a call on Mrs. Dan Lister,
Frend came in. He related some interesting anecdotes of his
famous trial at the Cambridge University, for his pamphlet
entitled " Peace and Union."
I had always understood' that
this academical persecution ended in his expulsion from the
University and his fellowship. But it appears that he retained
Six voted against its being
his Fellowship until his marriage.
taken from him, and only four on the other side.
They feared
a bad precedent. He wT ould have been expelled the University,
for it was thought there was an ancient law authorizing expulsion on conviction of a libel
but he demanded a sight of the
University Roll, and on reference to the original documents, it
was discovered that there was an informality about the law in
question, which made it invalid.
The sole effect of the judgment against Frend w as that he was rusticated. He might
have returned to his college.

The Bishop of London

were

first

—

•

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

260

13.

H. C. B. to Wordsworth.

—

Athenaeum,

11th December, 1837.

dear Friend,
Miss Martineau informs me that it being objected in America (when the proposal was made to give
copyright to English writers) that no English writers had manifested any anxiety on the subject, a petition or memorial was
prepared and signed by very many English authors, for presentation to Congress

that only three writers of note refused
had never asked a
favor of any one, and never would ; Lord Brougham, because,
first, he was a member of another legislature (no reason at
all), and, secondly, because he was so insignificant a writer,
which many will believe to be more true than the speaker
himself seriously thinks ; and W. W., Esq., whose reason is
not known, but who is thought to have been misinformed on
the subject.
Notwithstanding these three blanks in the roll
of English literati, the petition produced an unparalleled imA bill was brought
pression on the House of Representatives.
into the House, and passed by acclamation unanimously, just
as the similar measure of Sergeant Talfourd was received here.
The session was a very short one, and the measure must be
brought forward again. But Miss Martineau is assured that
no doubt is entertained of its passing both Houses without
She could not find the printed bill when I was
difficulty.
The
with her, but she says the privilege extends a long time.
only obligation laid on English authors is, that their claim
must be made within six months of the publication in Engto subscribe,

— Mrs.

Shelley, because she

land.

Wordsworth

to H. C. E.
December

We were

15, 1837.

glad to see your handwriting again, having often
To take the points of your letter
regretted your long silence.
in order, Sergeant Talfourd did forward to me a petition, and
I objected to sign it, not because I was misinformed, but because allegations were made in it, of the truth of which I knew
nothing of my own knowledge, and because I thought it impolitic to speak in such harsh and injurious terms of the
American publishers who had done what there was no law to
prevent their doing. Soon after this I had the pleasure of
seeing a very intelligent American gentleman at Rydal, whom
you perhaps have seen, Mr. Duer, to whom I told my reasons

1838.]

— SAMUEL SHARPE.

261

he approved of them, and said
;
that the proper way of proceeding would have been to lay the
case before our Foreign Secretary, whose duty it would be to
open a communication with the American Foreign Secretary,
and through that channel the correspondence would regularly
I am, however, glad to hear that the
proceed to Congress.
When I was last in
petition was received as you report.
London I breakfasted at Miss Kogers's, with the American
Minister, Mr. Stephenson, who reprobated, in the strongest
terms of indignation, the injustice of the present system.
Both these gentlemen spoke also of its impolicy in respect to
America, as it prevented publishers, through fear of immediate
underselling, from reprinting valuable English works. You may
be sure that a reciprocity in this case is by me milch desired,
for not signing the petition

though far less on my own account (for I cannot encourage a
hope that my family will be much benefited by it) than for a
love of justice, and the pleasure it would give me to know that
the families of successful men of letters might take that station
as proprietors which they who are amused or benefited by their
writings in both continents seem ready to allow them. I hope
you will use your influence among your Parliamentary friends
to procure support for the Sergeant's motion. I ought to have
added, that Spring Rice was so obliging as to write to me upon
the subject of the American copyright, which letter I answered
at some length, and, if I am not mistaken, that correspondence
was forwarded by me to Sergeant Talfourd

1838.

January

28th.

— At

agreeable chat with

Mr. Peter Martineau's

Samuel Sharpe.*

I had a very
One must respect a

banker who can devote himself, after banking hours, to the
study of Egyptian hieroglyphics, although he is capable of saying that " every one of Bacon's Essays shows him to be a knave."
Had he said that those Essays show him to be merely a man of
intellect, in which neither love, admiration, nor other passion is
visible, I could not have disputed his assertion.
* Nephew and partner of Mr. Rogers, and author of " The History of Egypt,"
" Historic Notes on the Books of the Old and
Testaments," and other works in connection with the Scriptures. Mr.
Sharpe has also translated the Old and New Testaments. A new work by him
is just published, entitled " The History of the Hebrew Nation and its Litera-

" Egyptian Hieroglyphics," &c.

New

ture."

;

262

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

—

Fern*
He is now one of the friends in whose company I
have the greatest pleasure, though I still think him a man in
whom the critical faculty prevails too much. I once expressed

opinion of him to himself in a way that I am pleased with.
" Sharpe," I said, " if every one in the world were like you,
nothing would be done ; if no one were like you, nothing would
be well done."
Read an article by Dr. Pye Smith, who has
February 5th.
ventured to apply a little common sense to the Bible, by denying the spiritual character of the Epithalamium in the Old TestaHe quotes from Robert Boyle a
ment,
" Solomon's Song."
shrewd saying " We must carefully distinguish between what
the Scripture says, and what is said in the Scriptures." Pye
Smith also quotes one Stowe, an American, who said " In-

—

just that measure of divine influence afforded to
the sacred speakers which was necessary to secure the purpose
spiration

intended, and no more."
This is good sense.
I will here add an anecdote, though I cannot precisely say
when it occurred. Seeing Milman, the Dean of St. Paul's, at
the Athenaeum, I related to him how an orthodox minister had
threatened Pye Smith with a resolution at a meeting of Congregationalist trustees, that he should have no share in distributing charity money, because he had assailed the entirety of the
Holy Scriptures. And I asked the Dean whether the Doctor's

His answer was worth
interpretation was a novelty to him.
" In the first place, I must caution you
putting down
against putting such questions to us clergymen.
It is generally thought we are pledged to maintain the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. It is not true, by the by. However, as
you have put the question, I will say that I never knew a man
with a grain of common sense who was of a different opinion."
A few j^ears have greatly changed men's feelings on this point.
February 6th.
To-day, at the Athenaeum, Milman quoted
Sydney Smith, in regard to "a capital hit" with the squires
in his parish
when any one is charged with Unitarianism,
they think it has something to do with poaching.
"To be
sure, and so it has," I answered, "in all true Churchmen's
eyes ; for what is poaching but unqualified sporting without a
license on the Church's manor ]
February 17th.
I went early to the Athenaeum to introduce Professor Ewald, as I have procured an invitation for him
for three months.
His person and manners please all. His
:

—

* Written in 1855.

1838.]

politics

GEORGE YOUNG.

make him

— MAURICE ON SUBSCRIPTION.

acceptable to many.

pale face interests me,
learning.*

His

fine

who can know nothing

263

thoughtful

of his Oriental

—

I was nearly all the forenoon reading
February 21st.
Ewald at home and at the Athenseum, where I went for the
day and dined. I spent a couple of hours with Mr. George
Young. I took courage to relate to him an anecdote about
himself.
Nearly forty years ago, I happened to be in a HackA stranger came in, it was
ney stage-coach with Young.
On a sudden the stranger struck
opposite Lackington's.

—

Young coolly put his head
a violent blow on the face.
out of the window and told the coachman to let him out. Not
a word passed between the stranger and Young. But the latter
having alighted, said in a calm voice, before he shut the door,
" Ladies and gentlemen, that is my father."
Young perfectly
recollected the incident, but not that I was present.
I at first
scrupled about relating the anecdote, lest it should give him
pain ; but, on the contrary, he thanked me for telling it him.
He confessed that no one could have acted better. He said his
father, who, like himself, was a surgeon, was a man of ability,
and, had he been industrious, would have been a very distinguished person.
March 13th.
Read at the Athenaeum a remarkable pamphFrederick Maurice's " Subscription
let by a remarkable man,
no Bondage." Admirable thoughts with outrageous paradoxes.
Fine reflections on the disposition which takes in all things on
the positive side, and disregards the negative and polemical.
Those who take this view are the truly religious. The opposite
class are the fanatical partisans of doctrine. He insinuates that
all parties may be content to unite, each firmly adhering to his
own positive doctrine, and overlooking the opposite doctrine.
Some one affirming that the title of this pamphlet had no
" 0 yes, it certainly has a sense, intelligible
sense, I said
" Why, it may
" What do you mean 1 "
enough too."
mean, Subscribe ! you are not bound by it."
April 29th.
I went with Mr. B. Austen f to call on Mr.
He has some
Broderip, a wealthy solicitor and man of taste.
curiosities which are worth a journey to see,
among other
works of art a marble bust of Voltaire. Imagine the old
Frenchman in a full-bottomed wig, as natural as wax-work.
Such an eye, such wrinkles, such curls
When the influence
Young

—

—
—

—

* Professor of Hebrew
f.

at the University of Gottingen.

A solicitor, uncle of the Right Honorable Austen H.

Layard.

;

264

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

of his name was added to that of the work, it was impossible
not to be filled with strong emotions of wonder, though not of
admiration,
of fear, but not awe.
It is one of the most remarkable objects
not of fine art, but of consummate skill
on a subject, like the work, not of delight, but of intense,

—

curiosity.

May

20th.

as far as talk

—

— My breakfast-party went

and Sergeant Talfourd.

off

very well indeed,

had with me Landor, Mimes,
great deal of rattling on the part of

was concerned.

Landor.
He maintained Blake to be the greatest of poets
and
that Milnes is the greatest poet now living in England
that Scott's " Marmion" is superior to all that Byron and
Wordsworth have written, and the description of the battle
better than anything in Homer
But Blake furnished chief
matter for talk.
May 2 2d. A delightful breakfast with Milnes, a party
of eight, among whom were Rogers, Carlyle,
who made him^
self very pleasant indeed,
Moore, and Landor. The talk very
good, equally divided.
Talleyrand's recent death and the poet
Blake were the subjects.
Tom Moore had never heard of
Blake, at least not of his poems.
Even he acknowledged the
beauty of such as were quoted.
•

—

Wordsworth

—

to H. C. R.
May,

1838.

have written to you some time since, but I expected a few words from you upon the prospects of the Copyright
Bill, about which I have taken much pains, having written
(which perhaps I told you before) scarcely less than fifty letters
and notes in aid of it. It gives me pleasure that you approve of my letter to Sergeant Talfourd from modesty, I
sent it to him with little hope that he would think it worth
while to publish it, which I gave him leave to do.
He tells me
as you do, that it was of great service.
If I had been assured
that he would have given it to the world, that letter would
have been written with more care, and with the addition of a
very few words upon the policy of the bill as a measure for
raising the character of our literature,
a benefit which,
Heaven knows, it stands much in need of. I should also have
declared my firm belief that the apprehensions of its inj urious
effect in checking the circulation of books have been entertained
without due knowledge of the subject.
The gentlemen of
I should

;

—

WORDSWORTH ON LITERARY COPYRIGHT.

1838.]

your quondam profession, with their

fictitious rights, their

pub-

sentiment, and so forth, and the
Sugdenian allowance of seven years after the death of the
authors, have indelibly disgraced themselves, and confirmed
the belief that, in many matters of prime interest, whether
with reference to justice or expediency, laws would be better
made by any bodies of men than by lawyers. But enough of
My mind is full of the subject in all its bearings, and if
this.
I had had any practice in public speaking, I would have grasped
at the first good opportunity that offered to put down one and
Not that I think anything can come up to
all its opponents.
the judgment and the eloquence with which the Sergeant has
rights, their sneers at

lic

265

treated

it.

H. C. E. to Wordsworth.
August

....
for

10, 1838.

beginning to breathe in comfort, after being

some weeks employed

in getting

up a writing

in defence of

It will be out
our friend Clarkson against the Wilberforces.
in a few days.
Clarkson has ordered a copy to be sent to you;
otherwise I know not that you would have had one.
I have heard of a lady *by birth being reduced to cry " muffins to sell " for a subsistence.
She used to go out a-nights
with her face hid up in her cloak, and then she would in the
faintest voice utter her cry.
Somebody passing by heard her
u Muffins to sell, muffins to sell
cry,
0, I hope nobody
hears me." This is just my feeling whenever I write anything.
I think it a piece of capital luck when those whose opinion I
most value never chance to hear of my writing. On this occasion I must put my name ; but I have refused everybody the
putting it in the title-page.
And I feel quite delighted that I
shall be out of the way when the book comes out.
It is remarkable how very differently I feel as to talk and writing.
No one talks with more ease and confidence than I do ; no one
writes with more difficulty and distrust.
I am aware, that,
whatever nonsense is spoken, it never can be brought against
me ; but writing, however concealed, like other sins, may any
day rise up against one

—

August 16th.
The book came out to-day. And now I have
the mortification before me, probably, of abuse, or more annoying indifference. Hitherto I have not had much of either
to complain
VOL. II.

of.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

266

August

21st.

— Received a

and grateful

in a satisfied

letter

spirit.

13.

from Mrs. Clarkson, written

praise for fine writing or

—

but apparently perfect satisfaction,
Clarkson, after a
second perusal, returning his very best thanks, and saying he
considered me to have redeemed his character.
This is indeed
the best praise ; and Mrs. Clarkson concluded by saying that
she felt it almost worth while to have undergone the martyrdom for the sake of the representation I have given of what
Thomas Clarkson's services really were. This is all I wanted.*
ability,

—

The publication of Clarkson's " Strictures " relieved
Bem.f
mind from a burden. It was to a great degree my own
work, and I was glad to have my attention drawn to other sub-

And

jects.

at this time the state of Southey's health afforded

an excellent occasion. It was thought by his physicians that
he might be benefited by an excursion to Paris, and I, with
others, was glad to accompany him.
Our party consisted of
my friend John Kenyon $ his friend Captain Jones,
N., an
active, intelligent man, by birth a Welshman, who kept us in
good-humor by his half-serious, half-j ocular zeal for the honor of
his countrymen the Welsh, and their poor relations the has

Bretons ; Robert Southey, Poet Laureate, dignitatis causa; his
friend Mr. Sennhouse, senectutis causa*, a very gentlemanly man,
Cuthbert Southey, Jun.,
of great good-humor and good taste
juventutis causa (being a sort of hobbledehoy, and Oxford
It would be invidious to call these last the
undergraduate).
drones of the party, yet certainly we, the other three, were the
•

laborers.

resolved that Southey should be our single
we would comply with his wishes on all
occasions, and we never departed from this $ but none of us, on
setting out, were aware to how great a degree the mind of the
Laureate was departed.
In jest, we affected to consider the three north-country
gentlemen as a princely family, while we, the others, distributed among us the Court offices. Kenyon hired the carriages,
ordered the horses, and did all that belonged to the Master of
the Horse.
Jones was Chamberlain, and, having examined the
consequently he
apartments, assigned to each of us his own,
managed always to take the worst himself. I was Intendant,

From

the

first

object of attention;

—

and paid the

* Vide Note
t

bills.

our journey from Boulogne to Paris, we went slightly out
at the

Written in 1855.

end of the chapter,
J

See post.

COURTENAY AT TABLE.

1838.]

267

of our way, in order to gratify the curiosity of the author of
" Joan of Arc," who wished to see Chinon, where are the ruins
of a castle in which, according to the legend, Joan recognized

the King.

During our stay in Paris, I believe Southey did not once go
to the Louvre ; he cared for nothing but the old book-shops.
But with this inThis is a singular feature in his character.
difference to the living things around him is closely connected
his poetic faculty of beholding the absent as if present, and
creating a world for himself. .... Southey read to me
part of a pleasant letter to his daughter, in which he said " I
would rather live in Paris than be hanged, and could find rural
spots to reside in in the neighboring country. The people look
comfortable, and might be clean if they wouLJ ; but they have
They use water for no
a hydrophobia in all things but one.
:

other purpose than to mix with their wine ; for which God forIn this letter he said that the tour had been
give them."
made without a single unpleasant occurrence ; and that six
men could not be found who agreed better.
One day, whilst we were in Paris, I dined with Courtenay.
He is undoubtedly a man of strong natural sense, but applied
There are many epicures in the
in a manner quite new to me.

—

many rich men who spend a fortune in their kitchens ;
world,
but Courtenay is the only man I ever met with who, prides
himself on his knowledge of good eating and drinking, and
who makes

a boast of his attainments in this science
wonderful," said Courtenay, " how slowly science
makes its way in the world. I was thirty-nine years old
before I knew how to boil a fowl, and forty-five before I
"
Shame on me, I have forgotten what this
could
" It

which he became late wise. " Among my earliest friends,"
said Courtenay, " was Major Cartwright,
a fine old aristocrat
When he was dying, I went to take leave of him. My
boy,' said he,
I have a great affection for you, but I have no
money to leave you. I will give you two recipes.' One of
these I have forgotten.
The other was, Always roast a Rare
with its skin on it is an invaluable piece of knowledge.' "
Rem* During this year I was elected a member of the
Committee of Management of the Council of University College.
My colleagues were Romilly (now Sir John and Master
of the Rolls) William Tooke Goldsmid (afterwards Sir Lyon,
and a Portuguese Baron) and Dr. Boott, M. D.

was

—

(

—

;

* Written

in 1855.

268

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap. 1&

Wordsworth to H.

C. R.

December, 1838:

.... As to my

employments, I have, from my unfortunate
attacks in succession, been wholly without anything of the kind,
till within the last fortnight, when my eye, though still, alas
weak, was so far improved as to authorize my putting my brain
Accordingly, timid as I was, I undertook
to some little work.
to write a few sonnets upon taking leave of Italy.
These gave
rise to some more, and the whole amount to nine, which I
shall read to you when you come, as you kindly promised before
you went away that you would do, soon after your return. If,
however, you prefer it, the four upon Italy shall be sent you,
upon the one condition, that you do not read them to verse

—

writers.

had a

are

all,

in spite of ourselves, a parcel of thieves.

droll instance of

this morning, for

w hile Mary was
T

writing down
me one of these sonnets, on coming to a certain line, she cried out, somewhat uncourteously, " That 's a
plagiarism."
"From whom*?"
"From yourself," was the
answer.
I believe she is right, though she could not point out
the passage ; neither can I
Have you heard that
a proposal was made to me from a committee in the University
of Glasgow, to consent to become a candidate for the Lord
for

—

Rectorship on a late occasion, which I declined ] I think you
must be aware that the University of Durham conferred upon
me the degree of D. C. L.* last summer it was the first time
that the honor had been received there by any one in person.
(You will not scruple, therefore, when a difficult point of law
;

These things are not worth adverting
but as signs that imaginative literature, notwithstanding
the homage now paid to science, is not wholly without esteem.
But it is time to release my wife, this being the second long
letter she has written for me this morning.
occurs, to consult me. )

to,

NOTE.f

The

many friends were
indignant, by references to him in the rt Life of Wilberforce," which appeared during the present year; and he was still more hurt by an article in the
Edinburgh Review, in which it was expressly stated that he was remunerated
the fact being that a sum of money
for his services in behalf of the slaves,
was given to him by way of reimbursement. This article was soon known to
sensibilities of

Clarkson were painfully excited, and

made

—

* In another
f See ante.

letter

by Wordsworth, the degree

spoken of as LL. D.

1838.]

WILBERFORCE AND CLARKSON CONTROVERSY.

269

have been written by Sir James Stephen.* Clarkson immediately set about to
prepare a full statement of facts, though he was in his seventy-ninth year, and
in very infirm health.
H. C. R. visited Playford while this answer was being
prepared, and rendered all the assistance he could, and proposed himself to
write an Appendix. Lord Brougham suggested that H. C. R. should also relieve Mr. Clarkson of the trouble of bringing out the work.
This Clarkson at
once assented to, and the work was published under the title " Strictures on
a Life of William Wilberforce, by the Rev. W. Wilberforce and the Rev. S.
Wilberforce. By Thomas Clarkson, M. A.
With a Correspondence between
Lord Brougham and Mr. Clarkson: also a Supplement, containing Remarks on
the Edinburgh Review of Mr. Wilberforce's Life, &c. London, Longman &
:

Co. 1838.
In the following year, two volumes of " Wilberforce's Correspondence " were
published, and in this work there was a note so disrespectful to Mr. Robinson,
that he could do no otherwise than reply to it. This he did in a work entitled
" Exposure of Misrepresentations contained in the Preface to the Correspondence of William Wilberforce. By H. C. Robinson, Barrister at Law, and
Editor of Mr. Clarkson's Strictures.' London, Moxon, 1840."
Both the " Strictures " and the 44 Exposure " called forth warm expressions
of sympathy and approval from many of the most prominent men in literature
and in politics; among others, Lord Denman, Wordsworth, and Talfourd.
Macaulay, meeting H. C. R., requested him to tell Mr. Clarkson that he disavowed all participation in what had been said of him in the 44 Life." Lord
Brougham said in his letter to Mr. Clarkson {vide page 13 of the 14 Strictures "):
44
Any attempt to represent you as a person at all mindful of his own interest
would be much too ridiculous to give anybody but yourself a moment's unk

easiness."
But the sequel renders it unnecessary to enter into the merits of this controversy, for the wrong done to one of the best of men was undone by those
who alone could undo it. The Edinburgh Review f contained an article highly
appreciative of Clarkson from the pen of Lord Brougham. And in Sir James
Stephen's collected articles,:]; the one on Wilberforce's Life was much altered,
and everything was left out of which Mr. Clarkson's friends could reasonably
complain. So completely satisfied was H. C. R. with this amende honorable,
that he invited himself to Sir James's house, and was received with a cordiality

which put an end

to all

estrangement between them.

The Editors of the 44 Life," the Rev. W. Wilberforce, and the present Bishop
of Oxford, wrote the following letter to Mr. Clarkson
:

The Editors of the

—

Life of Wilberforce " to Thomas Clarkson, Esq.

November

Dear

15, 1844.

—

Sir,
As it is now several years since the conclusion of all differences
between us, and we can take a more dispassionate view than formerly of the
circumstances of the case, we think ourselves bound to acknowledge that
we were in the wrong in the manner in which we treated you in the Memoir
of our father.
desired, certainly, to speak the strict truth in any mention of you (nor
indeed, are wr e now aware of having anywhere transgressed it), but we are
conscious that too jealous a regard for what we thought our father's fame led
us to entertain an ungrounded prejudice against you, and this led us into a
tone of writing which we now acknowledge was practically unjust.
It has pleased God to spare your life to a period far exceeding the ordinary
lot of men; and amidst many 'other grounds for rejoicing in it, we trust that

* Son of James Stephen, Esq., Master of Chancery, and the earnest and
Mr. Stephen married a sister of Mr. Wilberforce.
f Edinburgh Review, April, 1838, p. 142.
44
Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography."
I

efficient abolitionist.

270

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

you will allow us to add the satisfaction which it is to our own minds to have
made compensation for the fault with which we may be charged, so far as it
can be done by its free acknowledgment to the injured party.

remain, dear

sir.

With much

respect,
Very sincerely yours,

(Signed)

Thomas

J. Wilberforce.
Wilberforce.

Robert"
S.

Clarkson, Esq.

of November, in the same year, the present Bishop
And in a letter dated 17th
a The object of that " (the former letter) " was the
wrote to Mrs. Clarkson:
satisfaction of our consciences by the simple acknowledgment to the party injured of what (on full consideration of all which had been urged) appeared to
us to have been the public expression on our part of an unfair judgment
We have no wish that our letter to Mr. Clarkson should be secret; rather it
would be a satisfaction to us that it should be included in any Memoir of Mr.
Clarkson."
H. C. R., in his zeal for his friend, criticised some expressions in the letter;

but in Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson it produced warm feelings of satisfaction. That
the sons of such a man as Mr. Wilberforce should, out of their very love and
reverence for their father, have been led to see his labors in a light which
threw the labors of others too much into the shade, can be easily understood;
and, on the other hand, were it not for the known singleness of heart and genuine philanthropy of Clarkson, exception might have been taken to his " History
of the Abolition," on the ground that honored names were left somewhat in
the background, through the prominence given to those things on which he
could speak from personal knowledge. Indeed, Southey said: "I wish that
instead of writing the History of the Abolition,' he had written that part of
his own biography which relates to it."
As to the public, they steadily refused to separate the names of the two men
who stood foremost in the cause of the slave. Southey* s lines expressed the
general sentiment of this country
'

—

" Knowest thou who best such gratitute may claim ?
Clarkson, I answered, first: whom to have seen
And known in social hours may be my pride,
Such friendship being praise and one, I ween,
Is Wilberforce, placed rightly at his side."
;

And let it not be forgotten in what high estimation these two great and good
men held each other. Incidental expressions of Mrs. Clarkson' s, which have
already appeared in this work, may be regarded as conveying her husband's
sentiment as well as her own. " One man deserves all the incense which his
memory has received,
good Mr. Wilberforce."
1 remember a beautiful
saying of Patty Smith's, after describing a visit at Mr. Wilberforce' s: 'To know

—

him all he is, and to
" God bless him! "

—

see him with such livelv childish spirits, one need not say,
he seems already in the fulness of every earthly gift.' "
Southey said: "It is not possible for any man to regard another with greater
affection and reverence than Clarkson regarded Wilberforce-"
And Wilberforce wrote to Clarkson " I congratulate you on the success of your endeavors
to call the public voice into action.
It is that which has so greatly improved
Dur general credit in the House of Commons, for it is your doing, under Providence." And again: " I shall assign it" (a copy of the " History of Abolition,"
presented by Clarkson) " a distinguished place'm my library, as a memorial of
the obligations under which all who took part in the abolition must ever be to
you, for the persevering exertions by which you so greatly contributed to the
final victory.
That the Almighty may bless all your other labors of love, and
inspire you with a heart to desire, and a head to devise, and health and spirits
to execute them and carry them through, is the cordial wish and prayer of
your faithful friend, W. Wilberforce."

—

MISS FENWICK.

1839.]

—

CHAPTER

DR. ARNOLD.

271

XIV.

1839.

EM* — My winter visit to

the Words worths commenced
One agreeable circumstance
December.
28th
of
on
the
JL\.
which marked it was my becoming acquainted with Miss Fenwick, an excellent lady. She is of a good family in Cumberland,
and devotes her affluence to acts of charity and beneficence.
She is warmly attached to the Wordsworths, and esteemed by
them as their very dearest friend. She occupied a house at
Ambleside, and Wordsworth, Dr. Arnold, and many others, made
this house a frequent end of a walk. I found her enjoying good
Her catholic taste
books and clever people of various kinds.
enabled her to admire the writings of Carlyle, whose " French
She dined at Rydal Mount on New
Revolution " she lent me.
Year's Day.
I lost way with her by stating that I occasionally
visited Lady Blessington, but none by declaring Kehama to
be John Calvin's God.
We had all sorts of literary gossip.
Wordsworth talks well with her, and she understands him.
Harriet Martineau says " Wordsworth goes every day to Miss
Fenwick, gives her a smacking kiss, and sits down before her
fire to open his mind.
Think what she could tell if she survives him
His conversation can never be anticipated. Sometimes he is annoying, from the pertinacity with which he dwells
on trifles at other times, he flows on in the utmost grandeur,
:

;

leaving a strong impression of inspiration
Another significant circumstance of this visit was my improved acquaintance and more frequent intercourse with Dr.
Arnold, though he had since my last visit done an act which
!

—

had brought more reproach on him than any other,
his resigning his place in the senate of the London University, because Jews might be members of the University.
January 2d,
Dined with Dr. Arnold. Wordsworth, being
afraid of the cold, did not accompany me.
Sir Thomas Pasley
there.
The Doctor was very friendly, though he is aware that
He
I wrote against him in regard to the London University.
said " I am no longer a member of the University so we are
no longer enemies. He talked freely about the religious con-

—

;

* Written in 1855.

2/2

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

troversies of the times

14.

does not like the Oxford Tract men.

Wordsworth rather friendly to them.
Rem.*
During one of my visits Mrs. Arnold gave me some
On the first day of the year
account of the family habits.
the father and mother dined with the children in the school-

—

room, as their guests, the children sitting at the head of the
On that day also appeared the For How Miscellany,
table.
each member of the family contributing something to it.

January
called.

3d.

— Remained

lodgings

then went to Miss Fenwick's.

Wordsworth

till

spoke of poetry.
At the head of the natural and sensual school is Chaucer, the
greatest poet of his class.
Next comes Burns Crabbe, too,
has great truth, but he is too far remoyed from beauty and reThis, however, is better than the opposite extreme.
finement.
I told Wordsworth that in this he unconsciously sympathized
with Goethe.
January Jfth.
Reading before six in bed, haying a great
deal of reading on my hands, t seyeral yolumes of i; The Doctor,"
among other things. Wordsworth acknowledges this work to
be by Southey.
The fourth yoliune is better than the third.
It contains at least a beautiful account of the pious Duchess of
I
Somerset, and an interesting character of Mason the poet.
was engaged in reading this yolume on my way to Harden's,
a snowy walk. I gaye sweet Jessie a lesson in German. I had
pleasure, too, in hearing good old Mr. Harden utter liberal
:

—

and religious.
Dr. Arnold preached ayery sensible sermon.
January 6th.
All the Wordsworths are suffering from cold. In the eyening I
read part of Gladstone's new book on the connection between
Church and State. He assumes a moral duty on the part of
the goyernment to support what it deems the truth but here
What right has the goyernment
a great difficulty is inyolyed.
to compel a minority either to concur in or support a Church in
which it does not believe ? The State, as such, has no organ
by which to distinguish between spiritual truth and falsehood.
opinions, political

—

;

assertion of infallibility leads to ciyil war.
Wordsworth sent for me at about two,

January 7 th.

—

and

* Written in 1856.
t During this Rvdal visit H. C. R. read, by no means in a skimming manner,
a Physical
Carlvle's 3 French Revolution,** Arnold's "'Rome,*' Isaac Taylor's
Theorv of Another Life.** "Spiritual Despotism,*' and "Natural History of
Enthusiasm," Gladstones" Church and State/' some part of Cicero's "Letters
to Atticus." several things from " Ben Jonson," besides German with Miss
Harden and some of the Arnolds.

273

ARNOLD ON RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS.

1839.]

remained at Rydal Mount all day. Dr. Arnold called. A very
short walk with him, to see the ravages of last night's high
wind. We had an agreeable evening, divided between whist,
There are an infinity of relations as
Carlyle, and Gladstone.
well as of modes of viewing things, and all in their place and

way may be true. It is a great defect when the mind begins
to ossify, and to be so confined to certain fixed ideas as not to
be able to shift its position, and see things from all sides.
Finished Isaac Taylor's " Physical Theory of
January 8th.
Another Life." It strengthens belief in a future life by help-

—

It does not leave heaven to
ing the imagination to realize it.
be thought of as a spot for ecstatic enjoyment in the love and
worship of God, which to cold natures like mine gives no
warmth ; but a field is open on which the mind can rest with
hope.
0, how earnestly do I hope that I may one day be able
But I feel the faith must be given me ; I cannot
to believe
!

but I doubt my power energetiand elevated. I went to Wordsworth this forenoon. He was ill in bed. I read Gladstone's
book to him. A heavy snow still falling. Dined with the
Harrisons. The Arnolds there. An agreeable afternoon. The
The storm of last Sunday (the
conversation light and easy.
6th) appears to have been very severe, and calamitous in many
Within a circuit of a mile round Ambleside two thouplaces.
sand trees were blown down.
January lJfth.
Walked to Ambleside in search of the Edinburgh Revieiv, and on my return found at the Mount Miss
Fenwick and Dr. Arnold. He challenged me to a walk up the
mountain, behind the grounds of Lady Fleming. Held a serious talk with him on the subject of grace and prayer, and the
dilemma in which we are placed. To him I put the difficulty
raised so powerfully by Pascal's " Letters."
Grace is given if
prayed for, but without grace there can be no prayer.
Therefore they only can ask for it who have it already.
The Doctor
denied the difficulty.*
I was pleased both with his spirit and

gain

for myself.

I will try,

cally to will anything so pure

•

—

He asserted the doctrine that the history of the Fall is to be interpreted mythically.
He spoke
also of the worth and importance of the prophetical writings
of the Old Testament.
The hortatory parts are valuable,
even independently of the prophetical. The afternoon and
his liberal sentiments.

* Surely grace enough for us to pray may be given, without our supposing
we have no need to seek more; just as strength of body enough for activity is given us, though by exercise we may increase it.
Ed.

that

—

12*

274

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

14.

—

whist and Gladstone.
evening spent as usual,
Wordsworth
still laid up by a very bad cold.
To-day the Wordsworths all went to Miss
January 15th.
Fenwick's for a few days' visit. I have accepted her invitation
to dine with her as long as the Wordsworths are at her house.
Southey, who was also to be her guest, came in the afternoon.
We had but a dull dinner, partly owing to Southey' s silence.
He seeemed to be in low spirits, occasioned perhaps by his

—

daughter's state of health.

—

Having a morning to myself, I called early
January 16th.
on Dr. Arnold on my way to Ambleside. A short chat only.
Mrs. Arnold lent me a letter in a provincial paper (The Reformer), signed F. H. (Fox How), on Church Government, in
which the Doctor maintains that all who profess any form of
Christianity should be allowed to be of the Church, quoting as

an authority the contemporaneous baptism of many converts,
on the ground that the admitted Christians might make adNot satisfied with this by any
vances when in the Church.
means, but better pleased with his doctrine that he who wishes
to believe is rather to be considered weak in faith, than an unbeliever.*
The Arnolds dined at Miss Fenwick's. The Laureate in better spirits.
antly.

Altogether the dinner passed

off pleas-

—

January 18th.
On going early to Bydal Mount, I found
the family returned. Miss Fenwick had taken Southey back
to Keswick.
My usual reading was interrupted by the newsThe argument in the Queen's Bench on the Canada
papers.
prisoners of rare interest, but. yet unfinished.
I walked out
with Wordsworth. We met with Dr. Arnold. We talked of
Southey. Wordsworth spoke of him with great feeling and
affection.
He said " It is painful to see how completely dead
Southey is become to all but books. He is amiable and obliging, but when he gets away from his books he seems restless,
and as if out of his element. I therefore hardly see him for
years together." Now all this I had myself observed. Rogers
also had noticed it.
With Wordsworth it was a subject of sor" What
row, not of reproach.
Dr. Arnold said afterwards
was said of Mr. Southey alarmed me. I could not help saying
to myself,
I in danger of becoming like him ]
Shall I
:

* " Mourning after an absent God is an evidence of love as strong as rejoicRobertson's Sermons, Vol. II. p. 161. "Since I
cannot see Thee present, I will mourn Thy absence because this also is a
proof of love."
The Soliloquy of the Soul, by Thomas a Kempis, Chapter
ing in a present one."

aX.

— Ed.

—

;

BEN JONSON.

1839.]

— DINNER

AT FOX HOW.

275

ever lose my interest in things, and retain an interest in books
" If," said Wordsworth, " I must lose my interest
only V"
in one of them, I would rather give up books than men.
Indeed I am by my eyes compelled, in a great measure, to give
up reading." Yet, with all this, Southey was an affectionate
husband, and is a fond father. I find that his distaste for London is as strong nearly as his dislike to Paris. He says he
does not wish to see it again.
I read at night, in my room, the " Masque
January 20th.
of the Gypsies metamorphosed," and several other things, by
"rare Ben Jonson." He is a delightful lyric poet.
Great
richness mixed up with grossness in his masques, makes even
these obsolete compositions piquant.
But poetry produces a
slight effect on me now.
Wordsworth says Ben Jonson was a
great plagiarist from the ancients.
Indeed I remarked in one
masque, " Hue and Cry after Cupid," the charming Greek idyl
wholly translated and put into a dialogue without any ac-

—

knowledgment.

—

January 22d.
I spent the whole forenoon reading, and
went at four to Dr. Arnold's, to read German with his daughShe fully enjoys Goethe's odes and
ter, before dining there.
epigrams, and it is pleasant to explain the few things she does
the Pasleys and Harnot understand. A party at dinner,
dens.
The afternoon went off very agreeably. I amused myself with Miss Arnold, while Wordsworth declaimed with Dr.
Arnold and Sir Thomas Pasley. Wordsworth seems to have
adopted something of Coleridge's tone, but is more concentra-

—

I am glad to find that neited in the objects of his interest.
ther he nor Dr. Arnold can accompany Gladstone in his AngloIndeed, of the two, the Doctor is the
papistical pretensions.
less of a Churchman. I find that he considers the whole claim

of apostolical succession as idle.
January 24th.
A violent storm of wind last night, more
disastrous in its effects than any that has occurred in this

—

Twenty thousand trees blown down
Lord Lonsdale's estate. Dr. Arnold, Wordsworth, and I
walked to Brathay Wood to witness the ravages there. In the
country for generations.

blind force of the elements there is a sort of sublimity, when
Kant accounts for the pleasit overpowers the might of man.
ure which such a spectacle affords by the unconscious feeling,
" If this be great, the mind that recognizes it must be
greater still."
January 25th.
I had an agreeable walk to Field Hall, to

—

276

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

Mr. Harden's, " that good old

man

14.

with the sunny face," as

Wordsworth happily characterized him.

He had

lately lost

His beautiful daughter, Jessie, is a charming creature.
Miss Arnold was there.
I read Schiller to the young
Mr. Harden
ladies, and Carlyle aloud to the whole family.
enjoyed Carlyle, as did the young ladies.
I slept at Field
his wife.

Hall.

—

A day of very varied enjoyment. After
January 26th.
prayers (read by Jessie) and breakfast, I stole out alone, and
had a delightful walk to Coniston Lake, i. e. to the mountain
The day was fine, and I very much enjoyed
that overlooks it.
The wild scenery of the bare mountains was imthe walk.
proved, not injured, by the clear wintry atmosphere.
February 1st.
Read pamphlets written by Wordsworth
They were on the general elecagainst Brougham in 1818.
tion, and are a very spirited and able vindication of voting for
the two Lowthers, rather than for their radical opponent.
They show Wordsworth in a new point of view. He would
have been a masterly political pamphleteer. There is nothing
It is full of phrases such as these,
cloudy about his style.
" Whether designedly, for the attainment of popularity, or in
" Indepenthe self-applauding sincerity of a heated mind."
dence is the explosive energy of conceit making blind havoc
with expediency."
February 2d.
Left my excellent friends, after a visit of
pleasure more abundant than any I recollect, though I have
been able to preserve only these few memorials.

—

H. C. R. to T. R.

Rydal Mount,

19th January, 1839.

meant to stay here only a month, but the Words worths
seem so unwilling to let me go, that I foresee I shall not get
away till the end of five weeks. In addition to Wordsworth
and the ladies, from all of whom I receive almost overwhelming expressions of kindness, I have had the great additional
pleasure afforded by Dr. Arnold's family.
The Doctor, though
he knows I wrote against his scheme of forcing scriptural examinations on the London University, is more attentive to me
in every way than three years ago.
I dine with him now and
then alone when we can riot unrestrained in Whig politics,
and he talk freely on Church Reform. Besides, I have a plenty of
new and very interesting books. There was a time when I used
I

;

ON SEVERAL BOOKS

1839.]

277

letters (and you too) with an account of one's reading.
have both left off the idle practice. I feel disposed to resume it on this occasion, as I really have some information to
I have
give you which you may probably be interested in.
read to the family Gladstone " On the Relation of the Church

fill

to the State."

It will delight

the High-flying Anglo-papistic

Oxford party, but only alienate still further the conscientious
Even WordsDissenters and displease the liberal Churchmen.
worth says, he cannot distinguish its principles from RomanWhilst G. expatiates w^ith unction on the mystic characism.
ter of the Church, he makes no attempt to explain what is the
Church of England ; though, to be candid, even Dr. Arnold is
not able to make that clear to me.
I have read the third, fourth, and fifth volumes of Southey's
" Doctor."
A very pleasant, but a very unsubstantial book.
There is a graceful loquacity in it, resembling the prose of
Wieland, and, bating occasional bursts of Tory and HighChurch spleen, very pretty literary small talk, with most amusthe sweepings of his rich liing and curious quotations,

—

brary.

slowly reading Carlyle's " French Revolution,"
not a history.
Some one
And provided I take
said, a history in flashes of lightning.
only small doses, and not too frequently, it is not merely agreeable, but fascinating.
It is just the book one should buy, to
muse over and spell, rather than read through. For it is not
English, but a sort of original compound from that Indo-Teutonic primitive tongue which philologists now speculate about,
mixed up by Carlyle more suo. Now he who will give himself
the trouble to learn this language will be rewarded by admiraW^ordsworth is intolerant of innovations. Southey
ble matter.
both reads Carlyle and extols him ; and this, though Carlyle
characterizes the French noblesse, at the Etats Generaux, as
" changed from their old position, drifted far down from their
native latitude, like Arctic icebergs got into the equatorial sea,
and fast thawing there " ; and the French clergy as an anomalous class of men, of whom the whole world has a dim understanding, that it can understand nothing
I should
have mentioned, before this book, Dr. Arnold's " History of
Rome." A popular history, combining an interesting narrative
taken from the legends ; and from Niebuhr an exposition of the
fabulous character of the History of Livy and other romance
writers.
I long for the continuation.

Then

which should be called rhapsodies,

—

278

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

14.

But the works which have most interested me are the writings of a man whose name you have, perhaps, not yet heard of,
indeed the books are all anonymous,
Isaac Taylor, of
Ongar.
Yet they are precisely of the kind that most interest
you ; and unless years have too hardly ossified your mind (to
use a favorite image of Goethe), will renew the pleasure which
Priestley's metaphysics afforded you forty years ago.
At least,
as for myself, I can say that they have delighted me as much as
Godwin and Hume delighted me forty years ago, notwith-

—

standing their highly religious and even orthodox character.
His first work was entitled " The Natural History of Enthusiasm."
I am reading the seventh edition of it, 1834.
All
his other writings are more or less popular ; and yet he has
been very little reviewed or talked about by other than his admirers.
I think I can account for it.
His great scheme was
successively to develop the aberrations of the religious sentiment or character. And he has published volumes on " Fanaticism," " Spiritual Despotism," " Superstition," and means to
write on the " Corruption of Morals," and on " Scepticism," as
the aberration of the intellectual faculty.
Now, in the course
of this cycle, he avows himself dissatisfied with all parties. A
Dissenter by education, he declares himself convinced of the
Scriptural truth of Episcopacy, and utters a prayer for the
perpetuity of the English Episcopal Church \ but then he asserts his conviction that in that Church a second reformation
In his
is as necessary as the first was in the sixteenth century.
book on " Superstition," he professes to show which of the superstitions of the Roman Church still survive in the Anglican.
And in his " Spiritual Despotism," he says that while the Anglican Ritual retains before its Articles the declaration of the
King, the Episcopalians have no right to reproach the Romanists
with despotism. Of this series, I have read with great pleasure
the " Spiritual Despotism."
It involves most of the questions
discussed by Gladstone and Warburton and without saying that
I concur with him in any of his great conclusions, I can say that
I have read the whole with great pleasure.
I am now reading,
with more mixed feelings, his first work on " Enthusiasm," which
shows, I think, an intellect less uniformly sharpened by exercise.
But the book which has most pleased me, and which I
" Physical
particularly recommend to you, is a recent work,
Theory of another Life." It is a work of jtmre speculation, but
rich in thoughts and in imaginations, which are not given presumptuously as truths ; he does not reason from Revelation,
;

—

ARNOLD SITTING FOR HIS PORTRAIT.

1839.]

279

but to it ; that is, shows that all he imagines as possible is
compatible with it.
He says it will not please those who think
of heaven as a place where angels are engaged in ecstatic contemplations of God, for he supposes, in the other life, analogous occupations, and a scheme of duties arising out of an expansion of our powers. The leading thought of the whole
book is contained in St. Paul's expression, there is a spiritual
body and a natural body. He declares the whole controversy
concerning matter and spirit to be idle and worthless, which
men will soon cease to discuss. In the other world, we shall
have still a body, but a spiritual body ; and the whole specuYou, who love
lation is a development of the distinction.
metaphysics as I do, will enjoy this. Others, who think the
present life affords sufficient matter for our investigation, may
be better pleased with his " Spiritual Despotism," &c, &c.
He has also written on " Home Education," and a work of a
more devotional kind, called " Saturday Evening." Whenever

you answer

this letter, I

wish you would tell

says of that famous passage in

the

me what Priestley

Corinthians about the

spiritual body.
I wish you would write to me, but do not delay above three
or four days, lest I should have left my present quarters.
Can you tell me anything about the Clarksons ] I am glad to
have found Wordsworth quite pleased with the " Strictures."

February

8th.

— An interesting rencontre

in the

studio of

where Dr. Arnold was sitting for his portrait.
Bunsen was reading Niebuhr to him. Mrs. Arnold, Prof.
Lepsius,* and Mrs. Stanley, wife of the Bishop of Norwich,
Phillips,

Pv,.

A.,

came afterwards.
March 2d.
Called

—

at Francis Hare's.
Only Mrs. Hare's
Mrs. Shelley came in with her son.
If talent
descended, what might he not be 1
he, who is of the blood
of Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Shelley, and Mrs. Shelley
What a romance is the history of his birth
sister at

home.

—

April 15th.
A busy day. At two o'clock I accompanied
the Clarksons to the Mansion House, where he received the
freedom of the City. It was a delightful scene, and even

The mover and seconder of the resolution, Wood
and Laurie, Richard Taylor, Sydney Taylor, Dr. Barry, Sheppard and his father, Haldane, and J. Hardcastle, and several
ladies, with Mrs. Clarkson, were of the party.
Short and neat
pathetic.

* The distinguished Egyptologist.

280

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

14.

made by

the Lord Mayor and Chamberlain (Sir
Clarkson's reply was admirably delivered.
There was a
tone of voice so sweet as to be quite pathetic.
graceful timidity mingled with earnestness.
An evident satisfaction, very distinguishable from gratified vanity.
Everyadjourned to the Venetian room and
body was pleased.

speeches were

John Shaw).

took luncheon.
April 26th.
This morning Aders's pictures were sold.
Among my purchases were a Holy Family by Perugino,
so
W. S. Landor says it is by Credi, but Raphael
said, at least.
I like it much.
did not paint better.
A St. Catherine by
Francia, which I like next.
Landor praises it. A copy of the
Annunciation at Florence, a miracle picture. A Descent from
the Cross, by Hemling, genuine German. A Ruysdael, and a
Virgin and Child, on gold, by Van der Weyde.
The last two
were liked by Wordsworth, and I gave them to him.
I heard Carlyle's first lecture on " Revolutions."
May 1st.
It was very interesting, though the ideas were familiar to me.
A great number of interesting persons present, Bunsen, Mrs.
Austin, Lord Jeffrey, Fox, &c, &c.*
Called at John Taylor's,
where I found his aunt, Mrs. Meadows Taylor, who was Miss
Dyson fifty-five years ago, and used to come to my mother's.
She recollects that Henry was a lively boy.
JRem.'f
My recollection was rather of her blue sash than
She was at Miss Wood's school, at Bury. She has
of her.
now been long dead. Not many years ago, passing through
Diss, I called on a daughter, Miss Taylor, who was then living
in the house in which her father and his ancestors had practised
as attorneys more than 130 years
June 11th.
A most interesting party at Kenyon's. The
lion of the party was Daniel Webster, the American lawyer
and orator. He has a strongly marked expression of countenance. So far from being a Republican in the modern sense, he
had an air of Imperial strength, such as Caesar might have
had.
His wife, too, had a dignified appearance. Mr. and Mrs.
There were
Ticknor alone resembled them in this particular.
present also at Kenyon's, Montalembert, the distinguished
Roman Catholic author, Dickens, Professor Wheatstone, the
Miss Westons, Lady Mary Shepherd, &c., &c.
In the evening went to a party at the LindJune 27th.

—

leys\

went to meet Mrs. Daniel Gaskell.

* H. C. R. sedulously attended the whole course,
t

Written in 1858.

She drew upon

MRS.

1839.]

GASKELL.

281

herself a great degree of notice from the leading part she took
She was unquestionably a character.
in public matters.

—

In her youth she was a disciple of Godwin, as I
Bern*
was in mine and he was among the objects of her especial
interest in his old age.
He was frequently at her house. She
was also very kind to John ThelwalFs daughter, and not the
less so for her becoming a Roman Catholic.
Indeed, it was
said that any deviation from the ordinary rules of conduct was
to her a recommendation rather than otherwise.
A lady,
being asked whether Mrs. Gaskell had called on her, said
0
no she takes no interest in me. I have neither run away
from my husband, nor have any complaint to make of him."
Of her Liberal opinions she was proud, and she was generous
and warm-hearted. One who had been speaking of her zeal in
all matters of education and in public institutions, added,
" She gets up regularly every morning at five o'clock to misinform herself." Mr. Gaskell was once in Parliament. He was
universally respected and liked.
;

;

Wordsworth

to H. C. R.

•

Rydal Mount,

7th July, 1839.

....

Relieve the people of the burden of their duties,
and you will soon make them indifferent about their rights.
There is no more certain way of preparing the people for slavery than this practice of central organization which our philosophists, with Lord Brougham at their head, are so bent upon
I should have thought that, in
importing from the Continent.
matters of government, an Englishman had more to teach those
nations than to learn from them

—

Melvill, the
Dined at Joseph Hardcastle's.
July 9th.
popular preacher, there, and F. Maurice and others. John
Buck, too, was there. I had not seen him for a long time. He
" I can read your smile. It
smiled when he saw me.
I said
" I took my place
means,
What, Saul among the prophets
at the bottom of the table.
The top was occupied by the
Reverend Stars. One incident is worthy of mentioning. Some
"Ay,"
one spoke of the American sect called C%r^-ians.
said one of the divines, "it is safer to lengthen a syllable than
a creed " This as a mot is excellent. I could not distinguish
from whom it came.

—

* Written in 1858.

282

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

14.

Rem* — I

lately taxed Maurice with it.
He disclaimed it.
disapprobation, he said. Yet I was told it was hardly
likely to be Melvill's.
But my journal speaks of him as cheerful and agreeable, and not at all Puritanical.
And therefore
let it be ascribed to him, if he likes to have it.
July 17th.
I joined my friends the Masqueriers at Leamington, and remained with them a fortnight.
Rem*
This excursion has left several very agreeable recollections.
Among these, the most permanent was my better
acquaintance with the Field family.
I then knew Edwin Field
chiefly as the junior partner of Edgar Taylor, who was at that
time approaching the end of an honorable and a useful life. Mr.
and Mrs. Field, Sen., were then living in an old-fashioned country house between Leamington and Warwick.
He had long
been the minister at Warwick, and also kept a highly respectable school.
He was known by a " Life of Dr. Parr," whose inti-

Not from

—

mate friendship he enjoyed. His wife was also a very superior
woman. I had already seen her in London. I heard Mr. Field
preach on the 21st.
His sermon was sound and practical, opposed to metaphysical divinity. He treated it as an idle queshe might have said a mischievous subtlety,
whether
works were to be considered as a justifying cause of salvation,
or the certain consequence of a genuine faith.
August 8th.
Breakfasted at Sam Bogers's with W. Maltby.
There came in a plain-looking man from the North, named Miller, of free opinions and deportment.
He had risen by his talents ; and Bogers told us his history. " He called on me lately,"
said Bogers, " and reminded me that he had formerly sold me
some baskets,
his own work,
and that on his showing me
some of his poems I gave him three guineas. That money enabled him to get work from the booksellers, and he had since
written historical romances,
Fair Bosamond,' Lady Jane

tion,

—

Grey,' " &c.

—

August 29th.
After an early dinner, I walked to Edmonton,
where I stayed more than two hours.
Poor dear Mary Lamb
has been ill for ten months and these severe attacks have produced the inevitable result. Her mind is gone, or, at least, has
become inert. She has still her excellent heart,
is kind and
considerate, and her judgment is sound. Nothing but good feeling and good sense in all she says but still no one would discover what she once was.
She hears ill, and is slow in concept
;

—

;

* Written in 1858.

CLARKSON.

1839.]

283

She says she bears solitude better than she did. After
tion.
a few games of piquet, I returned by the seven-o'clock stage.
Left my chambers in Plowdcn Buildings,
September 25th.
I am
and went to my apartments in Russell Square, No. 30.
to pay for this, my new domicile, .£100 per annum. It gives me
I have no reason to comno vote, subjects me to no service.
Fellows* has the second floor.
plain of my surroundings.
A delightful drive to Ipswich, where Mr. ClarkOctober 7th.
I reached Play ford between
son's servant was waiting for me.
twelve and one. Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson seemed much better in
During a three days' stay I enjoyed
health than they were.
much of their company. Mr. Clarkson gave me to read a little
" Essay on Baptism " he had written for his grandson. In this
little tract he maintains, with great clearness, and, at least, to
my perfect satisfaction, that Christ's commission to baptize was
a commission to convert and make proselytes from other religions, and that it was not intended to baptize the children of
Repentance is the condition of salvation baptism
Christians.
Without prea mere formal, and not an esssential, condition.
tending to have an opinion on a question of history, ignorant
as I am, I would merely say this, that there is nothing unreasonable in combining with a spiritual change a symbolic act ; but
it is most unreasonable to maintain that the effect of baptism
partakes of the nature of galvanism.
October, 20th.
Dined with the Booths. A very pleasant
man there, a Mr. James Heywood, from Manchester, said to
be munificent towards Liberal institutions. A sensible man,
too ; so* that I enjoyed the afternoon.
I was perfectly at my

—

;

—

ease.

—

He afterwards became the representative in ParliaBem.'f
of one of the divisions of Lancashire.
He studied at
Cambridge; but, not being able to sign the Thirty-nine Articles, could not take his degree.
This gave him a sort of right
to take up the question of University Reform, which he did
boldly.
He was the first to bring the matter before the House
of Commons.
October 21st.
I dined at the Athenaeum, where I heard
ment

—

from Babington Macaulay a piece of news that
*

will excite -sen-

Sir Charles Fellows, the well-known traveller and antiquarian discoverer
in Asia Minor.
The Lycian Saloon in the British Museum is filled with theremains of ancient art, which he brought with him from Lycia. He had the valuable help of Mr. George Scharf in making drawings of the works of art discovered among the ruins of the ancient cities which they visited.
t Written in 1858.
.

284

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

14.

sation all over Europe.
Lord Brougham has been killed by
killed on the spot
the breaking of a carriage,
I never
remarked a more general sentiment of terror. Such power
extinguished at once
I was accosted by persons who had
seldom, or never, spoken to me before.
Lockhart, son-in-law
of Sir Walter Scott, &c, &c. Some of us had doubted whether
his political change would not take away his interest in our
College, but Eomilly said " No, he would never have left us
he was strongly attached to the College. Death, for the present, at least, quits all scores.
The good only will be remembered."
October 22d.
0, what a lamentable waste of sensibility
On my going to the Athenaeum, Levesque accosted me with
" It is a hoax, after all.
Brougham is not dead." I fear this
is not an indictable offence.
Those who had mourned most
conspicuously were ashamed to rejoice.
November 11th.
A party at Masquerier's. Robert Thompson, an old man, an octogenarian, was the attraction.
He was
more than the publisher of Burns's Songs,
he occasioned the
composition of many.
He is a specimen of Scotch vitality.
He fiddled and sang Scotch songs all the evening. A daughter
attended him, the wife of an M. D., Dr. Fisher, older than her
This sturdy vitality, bred in Scotland, is characterisfather.
tic of the people.
Rem*
As Froude says in his history " Whatever part
the Scotchman takes, he is anything but weak." But, by way
of comment, I add, that the fierce devotional character of the
Scotch is purely national. They are the same in all things.
To continue the subject of national character. Some years
after this, when the Dissenters' Chapel Act was under discussion, and Mr. Haldane and I tolerated each other, I met by
chance, in his chambers, Sir Andrew Agnew, to whom I remarked " I think an infidel Radical a mischievous character,
but a Radical saint is more dangerous." He said, " Ay, he
is more in earnest."
But, in the same conversation, Sir Andrew showed a want of presence of mind. Not disputing the
pure motives of the Scotch Sabbatarians, of whom Sir Andrew
was -the head, I said that I thought it fortunate that their society had no existence in the time of our Lord, " for they
certainly would have persecuted him."
He was silent. Perhaps he saw that I was incurable.
December 28th.
Read an admirable article on Voltaire, by

—

* Written

in 1858.

;

285

MISS MACKENZIE'S DEATH.

1840.]

Voltaire's good qualities are
vulgar reviling.
but he is represented in the inferior character
;
of a persijieur, with dexterous ability in carrying out the conclusions of his mere understanding.
In the course of this year I called on Lord Brougham, and
He informed me of
explained myself fully about Clarkson.
Quite unprintable in their
having received Clarkson's MSS.
I told him of my wish to write Clarkson's life
present form.
and he at once said no one else should have the MSS. Next
day I wrote an account of this to Mrs. Clarkson, and I hope,
therefore, that the result will be as I wish.*

Carlyle.

acknowledged

1840.

—

March 11th.
I was distressed by a letter this morning, from
Miss Mary Weston, announcing the death of Miss Mackenzie,
She was an excellent person, for
at Rome, on the 26th ult.
warm-hearted, and endowed
whom I had a sincere regard,
She had a love of all excellence, and was
with fine taste.
grateful to me for having enabled her to make Wordsworth
happy for a month at Home. I wrote to Wordsworth to-day,
informing him of her death.
He will deeply lament this.

—

Wordsworth

to H. C. R.
March

16, 1840.

Poor dear Miss Mackenzie
I was sadly grieved with the unthought-of event and I assure you, my dear friend, it will be
lamented by me for the remainder of my days. I have scarcely ever known a person for whom, after so limited an acquaintlimited, I mean, as to time, for it wfts not so as to heart
ance,
and mind,
I felt so much esteem, or to whom I have been
more sincerely attached. I had scarcely a pleasant remembrance connected with Rome in which her amiable qualities
were not mixed, and nowT a shade is cast over all. I had hoped,
too, to see her here, and that Mrs. Wordsworth, Dora, and
Miss Fenwick would all have taken to her as you and I did.
How comes it that you write to us so seldom, now that postage is nothing ? Letters are sure to be impoverished by the
change and if they do not come oftener, the gain will be a
loss, and a grievous one too.
!

;

—

;

* For some reason, which does not appear,

this plan fell through.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

286

14.

H. C. E. to Wordsworth.
March

You
one,

ask

why

and you

make

The answer

I write so seldom.

will give

19, 1840.

an obvious

credit for being quite sincere

when

but seldom that I dare to think that I have
anything to say that is worth your reading. The feeling is
not so strong as it was, because I have for some years been
aware of a part of your character which I was at first ignorant
Rogers, a few mornings ago, took up your " Dedication to
of.
Jones " to read to me. " What a pity it would have been had
" Every man who reads this
this been left out " he said.
must love Wordsworth more and more. Few know how he
I

It is

it.

loves his friends

Now

"
!

cannot charge myself of late with having omitted to
write whenever anything has occurred to any friend of yours,
or, indeed, any one in whom you take an interest.
To others
I frequently write mere rattling letters, having nothing to say,
but merely spinning out of one's brain any light thing that
one can pick up there.
I need not say why I cannot write so
to you.
Formerly, and even now in a slight degree, I used to be
checked, both in writing and in talk, by the recollection of the
four sonnets, so beautiful, and yet beginning so alarmingly,
I

not one

To season

Now,

after

all,

who mnch

my fireside

a letter

or oft delight

with personal talk."

— a genuine

letter

—

but personal

talk

—

April 2d.
I had invited Mr. Jaffray to meet me at the
I never presided at any dinner
Non-cons, w^here I presided.
in my life before. In delivering the toasts, I playfully laughed
at our having symbols of any kind, being Non-cons.

H. C. R. to Wordsworth.

.... Our
of the

three standing toasts are,

Two Thousand."

And then

first,

was that

by declaiming, as impressively

surprise,
"

Nor

The second

shall the eternal roll of

toast

is,

Fame

The Memory

took the club

as I could,

reject,"

&c*

John Milton."

* " Wordsworth's Poetical Works," Vol. IV.

p. 62.

THE NON-CON. CLUB.

1840.]

— CARLYLE.

287

this I recited,
"

Yet Truth

keenly sought

Our third toast is, "
World over."
Having unhappily no

Civil

for,

and the wind,"

&c*

and Religious Liberty

third sonnet, I

made

all

the

a speech, and

took the opportunity to inveigh against the Parliamentary
privilege, which I introduced by pointing out the vulgar error
of confounding popular power with civil or religious liberty ;
showing that, though sometimes the power of the people is a
means for securing liberty, yet often the people and their representatives are mere odious tyrants, hence privilege I
.
.

—

May 8th.
Attended Carlyle's second lecture. It was on
" The Prophetic Character," illustrated by Mahomet.
It gave
great satisfaction, for it had uncommon thoughts, and was delivered 'with unusual animation.
He declared his conviction
that Mahomet was no mere sensualist, or vulgar impostor, but
a real reformer.
His system better than the Christianity current in his day in Syria.
Milnes there, and Mrs. Gaskell, with
whom I chatted pleasantly. In the evening heard a lecture
A perfect experiby Faraday. What a contrast to Carlyle
Within his sphere,
with an intellect so clear
mentalist,
un uomo compito. How great would that man be who could
be as wise on Mind and its relations as Faraday is on Matter
May 12th.
Went to Carlyle's lecture " On the Hero, as a
Poet."
His illustrations taken from Dante and Shakespeare.
He asked whether we w ould give up Shakespeare for our Indian Empire 1 f
May 22d.
This day was rendered interesting by a visit
from one of the most remarkable of our scholars and men of
science, Professor Whewell.
He breakfasted with me and my
nephew. The occasion of his visit was, that I might look over
his translation of " Hermann and Dorothea " with the original,
with a view to some suggestions I had made.
His pursuits
are very, multifarious.
To some one who said, " Whe well's
" Yes," said Sydney Smith, " and his foible
forte is science,"

—

omni-science."

Wordsworth to H.

C. R.

June
•

Hartley Coleridge

come much nearer us

* " Wordsworth's Poetical Works," Vol. IV.

1840.
;

and

p. 61.

f H. C. R. attended the whole course ; but it is not necessary to
extracts, as the lectures themselves are familiar to the reader.

make any

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

288

probably you might see as much of him as you liked.
genius he has not a little ; and talent enough for fifty

14.

—

I went out early, to breakfast with Rogers.
December 22 d.
most agreeable chat. He was very cordial, communicative,
and lively and pointed out to us his beautiful works of art,

;

and curious books.
come of them T"

What is to beauctioneer," he said, " will find out

could not help asking, "

— " The

the fittest possessor hereafter. He who gives money for things
Put in a museum, nobody sees them." I alvalues them.*
lowed this of gold and silver, but not of books ; such as his
" Chaucer," with the notes Tooke wrote in it when in the
Tower, with minutes of the occurrences that then took place.
So Tooke's copy of the " Trial of Hardy," &c, with his notes.
" Such books you should distinguish with a mark, and say in
All my books with the marks set out, to So-a'nd-so.'
he will not pay attention to this.
It is strange
December 23d.
I called on Lord Brougham.
that, in his presence, I forgot all my grounds of complaint
against him.
My tour this year was to Frankfort. On the bridge there,
on the 7th of October, I last saw my old friend Voigt and his
amiable family. He always showed me great kindness, and I
sometimes felt ashamed of myself for being too sensible of his
harmless vanity. I must not forget to mention one fact, which
he related to me in our last cosey talk, and which does honor
" When I
to one of the first-class great men in Germany
wr ent first to Paris I was a young man, and had little money,

your

will,

I fear

—

was forced to economize. A. Humboldt said to me
You must w ant to buy many things here, which
you may not find it convenient to pay for immediately. Here,
take a thousand francs, and return it to me some five or ten
years hence, whenever it may suit you
Voigt accepted the
money, and repaid it.
so that I

one day

* H. C. R.'s feelings were exactly the reverse. He had the greatest anxiety
that nothing which had belonged to him should be sold.

28y

SOUTHEY'S LIGHTER RHYMES.

1841.]

CHAPTER

XV.

1841.

R. to Masquerier.

Rydal, 18th January,

1841.

Instead of telling you of him (Southey) in this sad condition,
I will copy a pleasant jeu $ esprit by him when pressed to write
something in an album. There were on one side of the paper
One
several names ; the precise individuals I do not know.
was Dan O'Connell. Southey wrote on the other side, to this
effect.
I cannot answer for the precise words,

—

Birds of a feather
Flock together,
Vide the opposite page;

But do not thence gather
That I'm of like feather
With all the brave birds in this cage, &c,

&c*

Surely good-humor and gentle satire, which can offend no
This reone, were never more gracefully brought together.
minds me of another story. It is worth putting down. A
lady once said to me, " Southey made a poem for me, and you
shall hear it.
I was, I believe, about three years old, and used
He took me on his knee, fondled me, and
to say,
1 are.'
would not let me go till I had learned and repeated these
6

lines,

—

A cow's daughter is called a calf,
And

a sheep's child, a lamb.
must not say / are,
But should always say I am."

Little children

Now

a dunce or a

common man would

for children, such graceful levities.

not throw off, even
repeated this poem to

Southey. He laughed and said " When my children were infants, I used to make such things daily.
There have been
hundreds such forgotten."
:

In the spring of this year,
* H. C. R. often

nephew, who had long exhib-

told this story, with the concluding line,

Or sing when

'm caught

The point was Southey's unwillingness
13*
VOL. II.

—

in a cage."

to write at all in

an album.
%

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

290

15.

pulmonary consumption, became much worse.
was recommended, and Clifton was the place
selected. I went down on the 19th of April and returned on the
4th of May. Wordsworth was at the time staying with Miss
Fenwiek, at Bath, and I went over to see him. My nephew
was placed under the care of Mr. Estlin, one of the most excellent of men, independently of his professional reputation.
Dr. Bright preferred him to any other medical man in the
place.
My nephew returned to Bury, and on the 16th of June
he died. The last few weeks were a salutary preparation, and
ited signs of

Change of

air

he declared them to be among the happiest of his

life.

H. C. R. to T. R.
June

1841.

One thing is quite certain, that the older we become, and the
nearer we approach that end which we, with very insignificant
reach, our speculations
about religion become more earnest and attractive. Hence
the interest we feel in theological discussions of any kind.
These supersede even the politics of the day.
diversities of age, shall certainly soon

H. C. R. to T. R.
Athen/EUM, 17th

July, 1841.

My presentiment becomes stronger every day that I shall die
suddenly, without previous illness, and not live to be very old.
The repose with which
I often think of dear Tom's last weeks.
he looked forward to death, and the unselfishness of his feelDining the
ings, add greatly to my esteem for his memory.
day before yesterday at a clergyman's, I related some anecdotes
of my nephew's last days, and ventured on the bold remark
that I thought his conduct evinced a more truly Christian
feeling than that diseased anxiety about the state of his soul
which certain people represent as eminently religious. My
host did not reprove, but echoed the remark ; and he said the
" If I found Calvinism in the Bible, it would
same day
prove, not that Calvinism is true, but that the Bible is false."
:

— During Wordsworth's stay

at Bath, he wrote to me
have attended, along with Mary,
Whitcomb Church, where, as I have heard from you, your
I was there also the day before yestermother's remains lie.
day and the place is so beautiful, especially at this season of

Rem.

(April 18th)

)

" This

day

1842.]

DEATH OF MANY OLD

FRIENDS.

291

verdure and blossoms, that it will be my favorite walk while I
remain here ; and I hope you will join us, and take the ramble
Some time before Mary and I left home, we inscribed
with me.
your name upon a batch of Italian memorials, which you must
allow me to dedicate to you when the day of publication shall
come."
On the 3d of March died my old and excellent friend J. T.
Rutt, the earliest, and one of the most respected, of my friends.
He was in his eighty-first year. About the same time died
also W. Frend and George Dyer, " both," says my journal, " of
That is, they acquired note when I was
the last generation."
My journal adds " The departure of these men makes
a boy.
me feel more strongly that I am rapidly advancing into the
ranks of seniority."
I wrote this when I was nearly sixty-six
years of age.
I copy it when I am in my eighty-fifth year.
Alexander Gooden also died during this year. He was second
son of James Gooden, of Tavistock Square, and one of the most
remarkable and interesting young men I have ever known. He
died suddenly, on the Continent, from inflammation, occasioned
by rowing on the Rhine. His attainments were so extraordinary, and so acknowledged, that when Donaldson, of the University College, was a candidate for the mastership of Bury
School, Alexander Gooden, then an undergraduate, was thought
fit to sign a testimonial in his favor.
His modesty and his
sensibility were equal to his learning.
:

CHAPTER

XVI.

1842.

H. C. R. to

J. J.

Masquerier.

Rydal Mount,

5th January, 1842.

.... Did you

ever see this country, or district, in winter ?
If not, you can have no idea of its peculiar attractions ; and
yet, as an artist, with a professional sense of color, you must
feel, far more intensely than I possibly can, the charm which
the peculiar vegetation and combination of autumnal tints
produce.
Dr. Arnold* said, the other day " Did you ever
:

* During this visit I had, for the last time, the pleasure of seeing Dr.
But there was no apprehension of his health giving way, and no

Arnold.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

292

;

?
There are none like it
had I have ascertained that the manufacturers of
the East have broken up their old frames, and got new pat-

see so magnificent a Turkey-carpet

now

to be

;

Here, on the mountains, there is such a union of light
yellow, with an intermingling of green, as
Both, of all artists, comes the
produces a delicious harmony.
nearest
Berghem is too fond of the lilac. It would be absurd to say that this lake district is more beautiful in winter

terns."

brown and dark
;

than

summer

;

but this

most

certain,

— that

— and

have said

winter
season that the superiority of a mountain over level country
I brought down Mrs.
is more manifest and indisputable.
Quillinan,* and we arrived here on Christmas eve and I shall
This railway travelling
take her back about the 16th or 17th.
is delightful, and very economical too.
We made the journey
for four guineas each, and in between sixteen and seventeen
hours.
A few years since, it was usual to be two nights on
the road, and incur nearly double the expense
it

to you,

believe, repeatedly,

in the

;

—

Took a walk, with Wordsworth, under
January 6th.
Loughrigg. -His conversation has been remarkably agreeable.
He held Pope to be a greater
To-day he talked of Poetry.
poet than Dryden ; but Dryden to have most talent, and the
strongest understanding.
Landor once said to me " Nothing
was ever written in hymn equal to the beginning of Dryden's
Religio Laid,
Genius and ability
the first eleven lines."
Wordsworth distinguished as others do. He said his Preface
on poetical language had been misunderstood. " Whatever is
addressed to the imagination is essentially poetical but very
pleasing verses, deserving all praise, not so addressed, are not
:

—

;

poetical."

—

January IJfth.
Read, at night, Dix's "Life of Chatterton " a poor composition. It contains some newly discovered
poems.
taut pis pour moi, I
I never could enjoy Chatterton
have no doubt but so it is. This morning I have finished
the little volume.
I do feel the beauty of the " Mynstrelles
Songe in ^Ella " and some of his modern poems are sweetly
written.
I defer to the highest authority, Wordsworth, that
:

;

He was a delightful man to
special attention was given to his conversation.
walk with, and especially in a mountainous country. He was physically
and
boyish in his intercourse
strong, had excellent spirits, and wns joyous
with his children and his pupils.
H. C. R.
* Dora Wordsworth married Mr. Quillinan, of whom see ante, p. 240, and

—

hereafter.

ON CHATTERTON.

1842.]

— CLAKKSON.

293

he would probably have proved one of the greatest poets in
I must therefore think he was not a monster
our language.
of wickedness but he had no other virtue than the domestic
affections very strongly.
He was ready to write for both
political parties at once.
I think Horace Walpole has been
Chatterton was not the starving genius
too harshly judged.
he afterwards became, when Walpole coldly turned his back
upon him. But certainly H. Walpole wanted generosity. He
was a courtier and showed it in his exceedingly polite letter,
written while he knew nothing of Chatterton's situation.
He
showed no sagacity in the appreciation of his first communicaand the tone of his " Vindication " (against exaggerated
tion
censure) is flippant and cold-hearted.
I asked Wordsworth,
this evening, wherein Chatterton's excellence lay.
He said his
genius was universal he excelled in every species of composiso remarkable an instance of precocious talent being
tion
quite unexampled.
His prose was excellent; and his power
of picturesque description and satire great.
;

;

C. R. to

Wordsworth.
30

....

left

Russell Square, 22d

April, 1842.

on Monday, after spending
The old gentleman maintains an
He is busily employed writing

Mrs. Clarkson

nearlv a week at Playford.
admirable activity of mind.
notes on the New Testament, for the benefit of his grandson.
And though these are not annotations by which biblical criticism will be advanced, yet they show a most enviable state of
mind.
With this employment he alternates labor on behalf

He wrote lately a letter to Guizot, which
of his Africans.
has been circulated with effect in France.
Never was there a man who discharged more completely the
duty of hoping. As I said in the Supplement to the 'Strictures," as soon as he is satisfied that any measure ought to
succeed, it is not possible to convince him that it cannot.
Enviable old man for this is not the habit of age.
'

23d April, 1S42.
I

very busy to-day. but over

tea I read one poem
surely become a great

(but one), so beautiful, that it must
It illustrates
the " Musings at Acquapendente."
His anticipations of unseen
happily the poet's peculiar habit.
Rome occupy him quite as much as the reflections on the
favorite,

—

29-1

REMINISCENCES OF HEXBY CRAEB ROBINSON. [Chap.

16.

What a delightful intermingling
already seen Northern Italy.
of domestic affections, friendship, and the perception of the
beauties which appertain to home as well as to the country
The poet's mind blends all, and allows
visited as a stranger
!

of no insulation.

I called

He read
discriminating

on Kenyon this morning.

a charming letter from Miss Barrett,

full of

adjniration.

—

Breakfasted with Sam Rogers, with whom I
April 29th.
He was as amiable as ever, and spoke
stayed till twelve.
" It is all
with great warmth of Wordsworth's new volume.

The least precious is still gold." He said this, accompanying a remark on one little epitaph, that it would have
been better in prose. He quoted some one who said of
Burns
He is great in verse, greater in prose, and greatest in
conversation."'
So it is with all great men. Wordsworth is
gold.

•*

This

greatest in conversation.

not the

first

preferring prose to verse.
May 12th.
Called on the Wordsworths.

—

time of Rogers's

had an

in-

Wordsworth said that
teresting chat about the new poems,
the poems. " Our walk was far among the ancient trees." then,

"She was a phantom of delight," * next. *• Let other bards of
To a Painter 19 in
angels sing," and. finally, the two Sonnets
the new volume (of which Sonnets the first is only of value as
leading to the second ), should be read in succession, as exhibiting the different phases of his affection to his wife.
Stayed at the Athena?um till I came to dress for dinner at
I went to meet Mr. Plumer Ward. Found him
the Austins'.
He
a very lively and pleasant man, in spite of his deafness.
related that, soon after his M Tremaine " appeared, he was at a
party, when the author (unknown) was inquired about. Some
one said, ** I am told it is very dull" On which Ward said :
" Indeed why. I have heard it ascribed to Mr. Sydney Smith."
" 0 dear, no," said Sydney, " that could not be ; I never
;

wrote anything very dull in my life."
May 2Sth.
Dinner-party at Kenyon's. Wordsworth was
quite spent, and hardly spoke during the whole time.
Rogers
made one capital remark it was of the party itself, the ladies
being gone.
He said " There have been five separate parties,
every one speaking above the pitch of his natural voice, and
therefore there could be no kindness expressed ; for kindness
consists, not in what is said, but how it is said."

—

• The poet express! y

told

that these rerses were on his wife.

— H.CB.

DR. ARNOLD'S DEATH.

1842.]

— MENDELSSOHN.

295

—

At Miss Coutts's party. "There were," says
Jane 13th.
I had acthe Post, "two hundred and fifty of the haut ton.
Wordsworth, Otway, Cave, Harquaintances to talk with,
The great singers of the day, Lablache,
ness, and Milnes.
But the sad information of the
Persiani, &c., &c, performed.
evening rendered everything else uninteresting. Milnes informed me of the death of Dr. Arnold, which took place yesterday,
a really afflicting event.
June 14-th.
After breakfast called on the Wordsworths.
They were all in affliction at the Doctor's death. He is said
to be only fifty-two. What a happy house at once broken up
Bunsen's remark was, " The History of Borne is never to be
1

—

finished."

—

June 26th.
I met at Goldsmid's, by accident, with the famous musician Mendelssohn, and his wife. She at once recogme. She was the daughter of Madame Icanrenaud,
and granddaughter of the Souchays. The conversation with
him w as very agreeable. He said he had been inconvenienced
by the frequent mention of him in the " Correspondence between Goethe and Zelter." He had been Zelter's pupil. It
was a curious coincidence, that this day I brought from Sir
Isaac's a volume of the Monthly Magazine, containing a translation by me of a correspondence between Moses Mendelssohn,
the musician's grandfather, and Lavater,
the Jew repelling
with spirit the officious Christian, who wanted to compel him
nized

—

to enter into a controversy with him. I wished the Goldsmids
to know how early I embraced liberal opinions concerning Judaism.

—

" When I have been
Rem.*
I once heard Coleridge say
asked to subscribe to a society for converting Jews to Christianity, I have been accustomed to say,
I have no money for
any charity ; but if I had, I would subscribe to make them
first good Jews, and then it would be time to make good Chris:

tians of them.'

H. C. R. to T. R.

.... Now

as to

dinner,

but, being purely personal,

—a

May

much humbler

21, 1842.

concern,

admits of a more copious statement. It went off very well.
The parties were, primo, the
host.
Secondly, he himself (avrbs), as one at the feast insisted
on so referring to Homer, thinking, after the fashion of the
it

* Written

in 1849.

REMINISCENCES OF HEXEY CRABB BOBK50X. [Chat. ML
w

—

that the name ought net; to be profanely pronounced.
4. two reverend dir^es^ both anti-E-an^dieaL both
1 -"^

:xj

—

lf
?

—- -

5.
s

:r":W-g

-iTfriT'irf.

—

c-n: in

'-"-rrs

ixrr^ifs

••

z_ :^:crs

iis-

nz-Tzrr :^s:f is n:re Siii.-arRex. T. Mai^e. a lover of

^ C::^-

Esq.. arcor-

By the by, I must go back

idgefa.

again to 3 and i.
11T
f
"-^-^ the Rev. W.
s. author of " Welcome and Farewell" and 4 being the
r

>eter Fraser.
-7

~-~

"-'

whom you may
~~

M-

v:n

recollect
al

J :-nn s

by a M&riqvtf
^iniirrrand,

cod.

and

—

miked

We kit

a card at lie rVrtere.
I tLen called on the
ib at Hoofs.
>k lea. and Lad a pleasant chat about
contentions matters,
do mm to Bnry. an account of my

aaed to be apcptertki

ON A YOUNG POET.

1842.]

297

—
—

Read in bed at night, and finished in the
October 9th.
morning, an old comedy by Porter, " The Two Angry Women
a very pleasing thing, the verse fluent, and
of Abingdon,"
Charles Lamb ventured to prefer it to the
the spirit kept up.
" Comedy of Errors " and the " Taming of the Shrew," which
I should not have dared to do.
H. C. R. to Mr. James Booth.*

Dear Booth,

—

tion about your

November
I shall not

young

be able to write to

friend's

poems

•

18th.

satisfac-

and therefore

I de-

layed writing.
He has at all events secured my good-will by
manifesting that he has studied in the schools that I like best.
His sonnets show that he has accustomed himself to look at
nature through Wordsworthian spectacles, and the longest
poem that he has given a specimen of was probably planned
after an admiring study of Coleridge's " Christabel."

But whether, after all, he has in him an original genius,
which ought to be nourished to the rejection of all lower pursuits, or whether he has (the common case) confounded taste
with genius, liking and sympathy with the instinct of conscious power, is more than I can venture to say after a perusal
of these specimens.
I do not see proof of the genius and
power but I would not dogmatically say that he has them
;

not.

The rhythm

very pleasing to

in this

poem

after " Christabel " is often

but then the form of the verse is,
after all, the easiest and most seductive to young composers,
and some of the best lines are shreds and fragments of recolear

;

lected verse.

—

There is more pretension in the sonnets,
perhaps I should
say more ambition in the attempt.
Wordsworth's sonnets are
among the greatest products of the present day; but then
they are perfectly successful.
There is no allowable medium
between the carrying out the idea and utter failure. Wordsworth has been able to exhibit already that harmony in nature
and the world of thought and sentiment, the defection of
which is the great feat of the real poet. To take one single
illustration.
In his poem on the Skylark, he terminates his
description of the bird mounting high, and yet never leaving
his nest over which he hovers, with
" True to the kindred points of heaven and home."

* This

letter,

somewhat

which has only just come

earlier

time

;

13*

but

its

into the editor's hands, belongs to a
interest does not depend on the date.

298

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

16.

Such a line as this is an acquisition ; for here is admirably insinuated the connection between the domestic affections and
the religious feelings, which is important in moral philosophy,
coupled with the fanciful analogy to an instinct in the bird,
Wordsworth's poems abound in these beauties. Xow, reading
your friend's sonnets, one fancies he might have h aci some miperfect thought of the same kind, and regrets that one cannot
If I were his friend, I would ask
find it clearly made out.
him what he supposes the sonnet Xo. 1 to have taught, for he
It is a fact that
calls the leaves " spirit-teaching garlands.''
what then ?
the leaves fall gently in autumn,
Xo. 2 is a laborious attempt to show an analogy between
the rising, the midday, and the setting sun, and the tree in
Xow, I fear the analogies are
spring, summer, and autumn.
far fetched, and if clearly made out,
what then ] It is not
enough to find an analogy between two things ; they must
harmonize in a third. And here there is no attempt at that.
I can at least find out what was attempted in two ; but I canThe theme is the repose arisnot find out so much in Xo. 3.
That is
ing out of certain combinations of light and shade.
the heading or title, but the thing itself is wanting.
Xo. 4
will serve to illustrate the difference between success and failure, if you will trouble yourself to compare it with WordsFor the thought is (as far as
worth's sonnet on " Twilight.''
I can find a thought) the same.

—

u Hail Twilight, sovereign of our peaceful hour."

HI. 64.

Xo. 5, " On the Hawthorn," is one of the best.
The poet
has looked steadily on his object, and told us what he saw.
But I do not understand the twelfth line. Xo. 6 is in the
Italian taste, a mere conceit ; but a young poet, if any one,
has a right to conceits.
Xo. 7 has the merit of thought ; and it must be owned that
to attempt such a sonnet as this, even when not successful, is
better than success in mere trifles.
This, and also the last,
show a sincere and honorable love of nature, and a faculty, if
not of finding, at least of looking for analogies and harmonies
with the moral world.
The two songs are easier and more pleasing compositions.

—

December 6th.
The only incident of the day was my adSir H. Ellis in the chair,
mission to the Antiquaries' Club.
Sixteen present,
senior member ; Pettigrew, treasurer, vice.

—
TALK WITH FABER.

1842.]

299

—

Hardwick the magistrate. The
of whom one was a visitor,
only formality on reception was the stating one's birthday,
except subscribing the book of laws, which are
the year also,
The club was founded in 1774. The
few and insignificant.

—

number

limited to twenty-four.
Engaged last night and this
(Rydal.)
morning reading again Dr. Arnold's " Church Reform," in

December 30th.

—

which I was interrupted by a call from Faber, with whom I
The wind high,
took a very interesting walk to Easdale Tarn.
ground wet ; the Tarn
the sky overcast, but no actual rain,
more grand, from the gloom of the day, for the magnificent
On our return we called on Mrs.
wed I of rock to the west.
Luff, and chatted half an hour with her.
So our walk occuI was fatigued.
pied four hours.
Had a good nap after dinner, but enjoyed my rubber of whist, and sat up till near one.
reading two Evening Meals and four Times papers. During
the long walk of the morning we were engaged in a most interesting conversation, during which Faber laid down the most

—

essential parts of his religious opinions.
I

can

da.

recollect,

I will set

without any attempt at order in

Our conversation began by

declaring

down what

my memoranmy strong ob-

He maintained
jection to the persecuting spirit of his book.
that I had misunderstood the drift of the passage in which the
Stranger declares it to be the duty of the State to put to death
He, of
the man whom the Church declares to be a heretic.
course, adverted to the great distinction between error, and
which, in fact, is
the wilful and malignant assertion of it,
and affirmed strongly his personal anno distinction at all,
tipathy to all penal statutes in support of religion. He affirmed
the right of the Church to excommunicate, but thought that
no civil consequences ought to follow. Persecution is the inevitable consequence of the union of Church and State, and
the first thing he should wish to see done would be their separation but whether practicable, under present circumstances,
He thought that the Church would gain,
is a hard question.
even by the sacrifice of its endowments, and could maintain
In the mean while, he disclaimed
itself by its inherent power.
all right to assume authority over those who are out of the
Church. He thought there ought to be a University for Dissenters alone, though he would not have a College (which I
He
suggested) of Dissenters in either Oxford or Cambridge.
incidentally declared his indifference to Whigs, Tories, and
Radicals, having no predilections ; and so far from being hostile

—

;

—

300

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

to born Dissenters, as such,

16.

he thought any serious orthodox

Dissenter ought to pause, and consider well what he did, before
he departed from "the state into which Providence had called
him " ; and he exonerates all born Dissenters from the sin of
This same regard to the will of Providence influences
schism.
him in his feelings towards the Church of Rome. He is certain he will never go over to Rome, though he rather regrets
He believes both
not having been born in that communion.
the Roman and Anglican churches to be portions of the CathOn my objecting to the manifold corruptions of
olic Church.
the Romish Church, he admitted these, but held that they did
They are trials of the faith of
not invalidate its authority.
This same idea of the trial of faith he applied
the believer.
to other difficulties, and to the seeming irrationality of certain

orthodox doctrines.
A revelation ought to have difficulties.
It is one of the signs of its Divine origin that it seems incredible to the natural man.
On this topic, I confessed that I
agreed with him, so far as obvious mysteries are concerned.
As to the nature of Christ, for instance. I am no more repelled from belief in his double nature as God and man, by
its inconceivableness, than from a belief in my own double
nature, as body and soul ; but I could not extend this to those
pretended revelations, which are repugnant to my moral sense.
Did I find, for instance, in the Scriptures, the eternal damnation of infants, this would, in spite of all evidence in their favor, make me reject the Scriptures ; that is, I would imagine
any falsification, or corruption of the text, rather than believe
they contained a doctrine which blasphemed against God. To
this he declared, that were even this doctrine in the Scriptures
(but the contrary of which is there), he would believe it, because what God affirms must be true, however repugnant.
I
conceded the last position, but observed that it begged the
question to say the Scriptures must, even in that case, be beAnd as to the Scriptures, Faber's own nolieved to be true.
tions should lead him to agree in this
for one of the most remarkable parts of his system is his placing the Church above
the Scriptures. Coleridge, in a well-known passage in his " Confessions," exhibits them in a sort of scheme as thesis and antiemanation but Mr.
thesis, being one
essentially one
Faber declared that, without the Church, the Scriptures would
he should be an unbeliever and
not suffice to convince him,
By the
he declared Bibliolatry to be the worst of idolatries.
by, it is curious to remark how both parties in the Church
;

—

;

FABER ON THE REAL PRESENCE.

1842.]

301

concur in offering an apology for the unbeliever. These Puseyites, or Faberites, must consider the infidels as better logicians
than the Dissenters, who deny the Church, and yet are Chrisand the Evangelicals must think the unbelievers better
tians
logicians than those who rest their faith on the Church, and
according to whom the Scriptures are only a record of that
which had been established, that is, the Church itself. On
this subject Mr. Faber said " This is the essence of my reMan fell, and became the object of
ligion in a few words,
God's wrath ; but God, in his mercy, willed his redemption.
He therefore became man, and made himself a sacrifice for
man. But this alone would be nothing, for how is the indiHow is it put in his
vidual man restored to God's favor 1
power to be a participator in this redemption 1 This is effected
by the Sacraments. By the Sacrament of Baptism, the individual is purged of his Original Sin, and becomes a member
of the Church of Christ.
He is still obnoxious to the consequences of actual sin." But though he did not happen to say
this, yet of course he would have said, if it had been called
for, that preservation from sin, and from the fatal consequences, is to be secured only by Confirmation, and the participation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
He did, in fact, in
emphatic terms, assert the Real Presence, and that the Sacrament could only be validly administered by the clergy legitimately appointed by Episcopal ordination, in Apostolic succession.
He also said " I do not presume to declare all those to
be lost w ho have not been partakers of these Sacraments.
I
say that those who have, have an assurance, which the others
have not, concerning whom I affirm nothing." This, of course,
is but a small part of what he said, and I would not be confident of having accurately reported everything.
Nothing
could be more agreeable than his manner, and he impressed
me strongly with his amiability, his candor, and his ability.
But I could agree with very little indeed.
;

—

302

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

CHAPTER

XVII.

1843.

—

SUNDAY,

January 1st.
The day was fine, and, after au
early dinner, I had a delightful walk with the poet to the
church lately erected on the road leading to Langdale,
a pic

—

turesque object in a splendid situation, but, within, a naked and
A very interesting conversation, which 1
barn- like building.
regret

inability to record.

was on his own poetry, and

again pressed on me the draw
ing up of reminiscences of the great men I have seen in Germany; and, by the earnestness of his recommendation, has made
me more seriously resolve to execute my long-formed purpose.
He approved of the title, " Retrospect of an Idle Life," to which
I object only because it seems to embrace my whole life
and
I think it is only abroad that I can find fit materials for a piu>
lication.
He thinks otherwise.
January 5th.
A walk with Wordsworth and Faber. Theit
Faber"
conversation I was not competent altogether to follow.
attempted
to make clear to my mind the difbut failed

on Goethe and

his poetry.

;

—

between transubstantiation, which he rejects, and
Wordsconsubstantiation, which he still more abominates.
worth denied transubstantiation, on grounds "on which," says
Wordsworth declared, in
Faber, "I should deny the Trinity."
strong terms, his disbelief of eternal punishment which Faber
did not attempt to defend.

ference

;

C. R. to T. R.

Rydal (Ambleside), January

You

29, A. M., 1843.

my goings-on here, but I
My faculty of noticing and

will expect a sort of history of

find I have very little indeed to say.
recording good things is very poor ; nor is the great poet I now
see every day a sayer of good things. He is, however, in an excellent frame of mind, being both in high health and good spirits,
and not over-polemical in his ordinary conversation ; but we
have no want of topics to dispute upon. The Church, as you
are aware, is now, much more than Religion, the subject of
general interest
and the Puseyit.es are the body who are now
pushing the claim of Church Authority to a revolting excess.
;

FABER A FANATIC.

1843.]

303

The poet is a High-Churchman, but luckily does not go all
lengths with the Oxford School. He praises the Reformers (for
they assume to be such) for inspiring the age with deeper reverence for antiquity, and a more cordial conformity with ritual
observances, as well as a warmer piety \ but he goes no further.
Nevertheless he is claimed by them as their poet and they
have published a selection from his works, with a preface, from
which one might infer he went all lengths with them. This
great question forms our Champ de Mars, which we of the Liberal
party occupy to a sad disadvantage.
Last year we had with us an admirable and most excellent
man,
Dr. Arnold, whom the poet was on doctrinal points
forced to oppose, though he was warmly attached to him. Instead of him, we have this year a sad fanatic of an opposite
;

—

doubt whether I have mentioned him to you on
This is Faber, the author of a strange
" Lights, &c. in Foreign Lands." He
a flaming zealot for the new doctrines, and, like Froude, does

character.

any former occasion.
book lately published,
is

—

not conceal his predilection for the Church in Rome (not of
Rome yet), and his dislike to Protestantism.
In his book of
travels, he puts into the mouth of a visionary character a doctrine which in his own person he indirectly assents to, or, at least,
does not contradict,
that whenever the Church declares any
one a heretic, the State violates its duty if it hesitates in putting him to death
This is going the whole hog with a witness.
This Faber is an agreeable man; all the young ladies are
in love with him, and he has high spirits, conversational talent,
and great facility in writing both polemics and poetry. He and
I spar together on all occasions, and have never yet betrayed ill-

—

humor, though we have exchanged pretty hard knocks. I think
I must have mentioned him last year.
We have met but once
yet at a dinner-party, when we had not fighting room. He dines
with us again to-day, and we shall be less numerous. You are
aware that here I am considered as a sort of Advocatus Diaboli.
29th, p. m.

have had a very pleasant chat with Mr. Faber, who, in spite
of everything in his book, protests that he can never by any posI

sibility

become a member of the Church of Rome.

takes

having rescued a considerable number of persons
standing on the brink of the precipice from tumbling down.
But to introduce Popery into the Church of England is, I think,
a much greater evil than joining the Church of Rome. Adieu
credit for

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

304

H. C.

17.

to Miss Fenwick.
30

Russell Square, 6th March,

—

1843.

he is now at Oxford.
have seen Mr. Faber here,
He
desired his very best remembrance to his Rydal and Ambleside
I got up a small dinnerfriends, and especially named you.
party being a little put to it whom to invite, as my connections do not lie among the apostles of religious persecution or
the Anglo-papistical Church. But I managed to bring together
a very small knot. And there was but one sentiment of great
liking towards him, in the four I asked to meet him. They conI

;

sisted of

—

clergyman with Oxford propensities, and a worshipper
of the heathen Muses as well as the Christian graces,
[Har1.

—

ness].
2. A Unitarian Puseyite, an odd combination, but a reality
notwithstanding,
[Hunter]:
3. A layman whose life is spent in making people happy, and
whose orthodoxy is therefore a j ust matter of suspicion ; but
he has no antipathies to make him insensible to the worth of
[Kenyon].
such a man as Faber,
And, 4. A traveller in the East, who professes that among
the best practical Christians he has met with are the followers
[Fellows].
of Mahomet,

—

H. C. R. to T.

R
llth March, 1843.

most interesting of my last week's adventures
has been the attending the first two lectures of Lyell on GeolHe is a crack man, you probably know. I am proogy.

far the

foundly ignorant of the subject, but, nevertheless, take a
strong interest in his lectures, which will be continued twice a
week till the 31st. They are rendered intelligible, even to me,
The one
by the aid of prints, diagrams, and specimens.
thought which characterizes Lyell among the Geologists is
That the ccmses which have produced all the great revothis
:

lutions in the earth are in incessant operation.

pretty pros-

But then the operation is not alarmingly rapid.
These speculations look back so many, many thousands of
years, that one cannot help asking, " How came man so late
pect this

— only yesterday — into the

•

field of existence

"
%

THE CHURCH ABOVE THE GOSPEL.

1843.]

305

H. C. R. to T. R.
April

7, p. M.,

1843.

the malignant passions of our nature are
now called into action by Church questions. Even doctrinal
points are thrown into the background, and only come into
play to strengthen a point of Church authority and discipline.
The advocates of the Church do not hesitate to affirm that its
existence as a body acting with power and authority is the
great argument for Christianity, and that without it the evidence for the truth of revelation would be altogether inadeThis Coleridge maintained.
quate.
It is a plausible position,
but a dangerous one, it must be owned.
I have just been looking over a book on Church discipline
which Archdeacon Wilberforce has published. Its object is to
show the necessity and duty of the state's abandoning all
legislating on Church matters, and restoring the Convocation
It is but fair to my venerable friend to tell you, that he is
willing to give up something for this
that while he would
have the Church exercise the power of excommunication, he
quite approves of taking from that act all civil consequences
whatever. And this principle he consistently carries out by
avowing his approbation of the repeal of the Corporation and
Test Acts, inasmuch as those Acts led to a desecration of the
holy rite.
So it is that extremes meet, and that we Non-cons
are in accord with the High Church divines. The great points
of High Church doctrine now urged with such vehemence are,
the Power of the Keys given to the Episcopal body, and
the exclusive power it possesses of bringing men within the
pale of Christianity by the sacrament of baptism, and keeping
them there by the administration of the sacrament. Even
It

seems as

if all

;

the atonement, and original sin are, compared with
pushed very much out of sight. Now, sad as such a
state of religion is, which makes of Christianity a sort of
animal magnetism, yet it is still, to my apprehension, less
and I own I find much to admire,
frightful than Calvinism
and even to assent to, in the sermons of Newman on the naNewman, you know, is
ture of belief, which Faber gave me.
the real head of this party hence Sydney Smith's joke, that

the

trinity,

those,

;

the doctrine should be called "

C. R.

Newmania

on Theological Polemics.
17th May, 1E43.

return you your book, which I have, in discharge of

306

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

IT.

promise, read with serious and painful interest.
It is long
I had almost said so
since I have fallen in with so stern
a statement of high Calvinistic doctrines. The author
fierce
is a worthy descendant of the old Covenanters, a race of men
I have always looked up to with mingled reverence and fear.
I will not attempt to do so unprofitable an act as try to state
why I cannot concur in the doctrine so ably laid down. 1 am
both unable to do justice to the subject and unwilling to endanger the continuance of the kind feelings which induced you
to put the book into my hands ; but I will state why I think it
inexpedient, generally speaking, to put works of such a class
After
into the hands of those who are of an opposite opinion.
a little consideration, and calling back to your mind how you
have been affected by controversial writings, perhaps you will
agree with me, that they for the most part seem composed to
deter the unstable from going over to the other party, rather
than to seduce and bring over the adversary. On the one they
operate like the positive pole of the magnet, on the other like
the negative.
It attracts the one, it repels the other.
Suppose, for instance, that a believer in Calvinistic doctrines
should be disturbed by the strong declaration of so good a
man as Mr. Wilberforce, that he deemed them utterly antiscriptural, and by the avowed hostility of so large a proportion of the Anglican bishops and clergy,
such a person would
He would be told that
be successfully met by a book like this.
the hostile notions were " prompted by the enmity of fallen
men towards God " ; that these were the suggestions of the
" natural man," &c, &c.
But the same line of argument, and
the very same texts, if directly addressed to the opponents,
would appear to them mere railing,
a mere taking for granted
the thing to be proved.
There is another reason why a good polemical is a bad
didactic book.
It is impossible not to distrust, I do not mean
the honesty of the writer, but the fairness and completeness of
his representation of the adversary's notions.
You have occasionally been in a court of justice, and may have heard a
speech on one side and not heard the other side; and you may
have wondered how, after so plausible an argument, a verdict
should be given against the orator
There is one other sad, most sad, effect of such fierce controversial writing,
it generates feelings of uncharitablenesa
among the disputants. They begin by pitying their adversaries ; with pity contempt is blended, and finally hatred, un-

—

CONTROVERSIAL DIVINITY PROVOKES INFIDELITY.

1843.]

be taken to avert so dreadful a result.

less infinite pains

307
Even

this consequence does not follow, the very object of the
controversial writer, which is to make his opinions fully known,

where

him to conceal nothing but he brings prominently forward the most offensive and repulsive particulars. I was forciblv reminded of this in the perusal of the present book.
We are told of certain doctrines being stumbling-blocks, and
and we hear of strong meat
of certain hard sayings, &c, which is not fit for children's stomachs. Now it has seemed
to me as if the author of this book labored to pile up the
stumbling-blocks and yet I am sure he would not wish to
impede the progress of any one in the right path. This is
leads

;

of the polemical feeling; and, therefore,
Persons
such books are dangerous to two classes of readers.
of weak nerves and timid, anxious natures have been driven
into despair by such books, and they have destroyed themOthers, of little faith,
selves, or perished in a madhouse.
have lost that little, and been driven into infidelity. That
you had none but the kindest feelings in putting this book
into my hands I am well aware, and I have none but the
most respectful feelings towards you. I have confidence in
your benignity, or I should not have ventured to write to you
thus frankly.

the natural effect

— Went

But how
to see dear Mary Lamb.
Deafness has succeeded to her other infirmities.
She is a mere wreck of herself. I took a single cup of tea with
her, to while away the time
but I found it difficult to keep
up any conversation beyond the mere talking about our com-

March

19th.

altered she

;

mon

acquaintance.

May 2Jfth.

—

Looked over some letters of Coleridge to Mrs.
Clarkson.
I make an extract from one of a part only of a
" Each,
parenthesis, as characteristic of his involved style
I say (for, in writing letters, I envy dear Southey's power of
saying one thing at a time, in short and close sentences, whereas my thoughts bustle along like a Surinam toad, with little
toads sprouting out of back, side, and belly, vegetating while
:

crawls),

June

—

Jfth.

—
— Breakfasted,
each, I say,

Thomas Moore was

there.

by appointment, with Rogers;
The elder poet was the greater

but Moore made himself very agreeable.
Rogers
showed him some MS. verses, rather sentimental, but good of
the kind, by Mrs. Butler.
Moore began, but could not get on.

talker,

308

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CBABB ROBLXSOX. [Chap.

17.

He laid down the MS., and said he had a great dislike to the
" You mean new," Rogers said.
" Xo, I
reading of poetry.
mean old. I have read very little poetry of any kind-"
Rogers spoke very depreciatingly of the present writers.
Moore did not agree. He assented to warm praise of Tom
Hood by me. and declared him to be, as a punster, equal to
Swift.
But the article (poetry) is become of less value, because of its being so common. There is too much of it.
H. C. R. to T.

SEL

Paris, 29th June, 1E43.

quietly sinking into the old man, and comfortably at
I have told you the anecdote of Rogers's solthe same time.
emnly giving me the advice and it was just five years ago, and
here in Paris), w Let no one persuade you that you are growI

(

ing old.'
And the advice is good for certain persons, and as a
guard against premature indolence, and a melancholy anticipation of old age.
But it is equally wise and salutary to impress the counsel, "Know in time that you are growing old."
and that the knowledge is wholesome is proved
I do know it
by this, that I feel quite as happy as when I had all the consciousness of youth and vigor.
?

;

QuiLLLVAN to H.
Belle

....

Isle,

C. R.

Wlndermeee, July

23, 1843.

Fenwick is more than a favorite with Mr.
and Mrs. Wordsworth, and I do riot think they can now live in
2s o wonder; she is a trump.
There
perfect ease without her.
is more solid sense in union with genuine goodness in her than
goes to the composition of any hundred and fifty good and
Miss

Mr. A\ ordsworth
ought to have l>een at Buckingham Palace, at the Queen's
" The Lord
Ball, for which he received a formal invitation
Ho is commanded by
Chamberlain presents his compliments.
her Majesty to invite Mr. William Wordsworth to a ball at
ten o'clock.
Buckingham Palace, on Monday, the 24th July,
To which he pleaded, as an apology for non-atFull dress."

sensible persons of every-day occurrence

—

tendance, the non-arrival of the invitation (query command?)
He dated 'his answer from this place, " The Island,
in time.
Windermere," and that would explain the impossibility ; for
the notice was the shortest possible, even if it had been re-

1843.]

QUILLINAN AND HIS LIBERAL ROMANISM.

309

ceived by first post.
But a man in his seventy-fourth year
would, I suppose, be excused by Royalty for not travelling 300
miles to attend a dance, even if a longer notice had been given,
though probably Mr. Wordsworth would have gone had he
had a fortnight to think of it, because the Laureate must pay
his personal respects to the Queen sooner or later
and the
sooner the better, he thinks.
I have been lately reading many
of the old New Year and Birthday Odes, and nothing struck
me so disagreeably as their idolatry. The Royal personage is
not panegyrized, out idolized the monarch is not a king, but
a god.
It has occurred to me that Mr. Wordsworth may, in
his own grand way, compose a hymn to or on the King of
kings, in rhymed verse, or blank, invoking a blessing on the
Queen and country, or giving thanks for blessings vouchsafed
and perils averted. This would be a new mode of dealing with
the office of Laureate, and would come with dignity and propriety, I think, from a seer of Wordsworth's age and character.
I told him so
and he made no observation. I therefore think
it likely that he may consider the suggestion
but he certainly
will not, if he hears that anything of that sort is expected
from him. So do not mention it ; he may do nothing in any

—

;

case

QUILLINAN TO H. C. R.

The

Your

Island, Windermere, near Kendal, August

25, 1843.

Ambleside, would have come to me
through Bowness to-day, had I not chanced to pass through
Ambleside last evening, and to call at Mrs. Nicholson's, on my
way to Rydal with my daughter, and a bride and bridegroom
(who were married only a week ago, near Dover, and have come
all this way on purpose to see us
not the lakes
previous
to their departure for India).
They start for Marseilles next
week, go by steam to Alexandria, traverse the desert, &c.
The bride is a very handsome person of twenty. Well, I rowed
them yesterday to the Waterhead walked then to Rydal, getting your letter by the way, and read your epistle, every word
of it, to Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth, who were much pleased
by the first part, and not a little entertained with most of the
rest.
Your friend, Mr. Paynter, I once breakfasted with at
your chambers in the Temple. Of Mr. Faber we have heard a
good deal. He has written several times to Miss Fenwick, and
the Benson Harrisons
and the other day came a long yarn to
Mr. Carr, in Italian, from Naples, which Faber abuses as utterly
letter, directed to

—

;

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

310

17.

uninteresting and detestable in climate, and far over-rated even
the bay being a very fair bay, but
as to beauty and position,

—

He sighs for his Cam Roma, which he
nothing incomparable
left by medical advice, and so changed climate for the worse.
From his Cava Roma, the first letter he sent to Miss Fenwick
was dated Rome, and that one word was all the mention made
of Rome not another allusion to the Eternal City ; it might as
well have been penned from Geneva. But it was full of himself
for his parish in England.
He,
and his religious enthusiasm,
however, got afterwards much among the cardinals, and seems
This between
to have been all but converted to the true faith.
ourselves, and more of this hereafter but he has rather retrograded ; the Devil pulled him back a step or two from the Pope,
and he stands again on the old new ground, if a man can be
said to stand on a quicksand. What say you, who stand on the
n, on the farther shore, the indisputadamantine rock of d
There is a little Popery
able territory of his Satanic Majesty
for you, to pay you off for your heretical irreverence towards the
Infallible Pontiff*
What do you mean by my fierce mention of Macaulay, you
Cross-Examiner of Gentleness you Advocate of Paradox you
Gordian-knotter of Simplicities you Puzzler of Innocence
Or does my protesting against the moral character of Pope being placed in invidious comparison with Addison's imply " hate
of every one who differs in opinion "1 &c., &c.|
0 ye Powers
!

;

—

of Justice, listen to this cruel libeller of

patient, placable

him, but you cannot
Your thunderbolts will
avenge me. I will not enter upon the comparative moral worth
of Pope and Addison.
It is the very comparison by Mr. Macaulay at this time of day,
the begging of so ugly a question,
that I
the lifting the skirts of one of his literary fathers,
object to,
that I should consider even odious, if my tender
heart could, egg-like, be boiled hard.
I will not reveal to you,
for you could not comprehend, my idolatry of Pope from my
boyhood,
I might almost say from my infancy ; for the first
book that ever threw me into a rapture of delight was Pope's
" Iliad." I loved " The Little Nightingale," " The Great Alexander," from that day, and made everything concerning him
my study and I have never learned to unlove him, though
there is not, I believe, any published particular of his history,

spirit

;

—

I forgive

—

—
;

* Mr. Quillinan belonged to the Church of Rome.
Elsewhere Macaulay
f Vide article " Leigh Hunt." in Macaulay's Essays.
speaks of " the little man of Twickenham " in a tone which would naturally
rouse the

ire

of Pope's ardent admirers.

MACAULAY'S CRITICISM ON POPE.

1843.]

311

whether discussed by friend or foe, that I have not read. My
love of Pope was so notorious among my school-fellows, that
when any malicious boy chose to put me into a fever for fun, he
would point his popgun at Pope. When Lisle Bowles made
money of Pope's brains, by publishing (in my boyhood) an
edition of him, in which he had the face to deny that Pope was
a poet of a high order, I thought the same Lisle a mean cox-

comb. #

had been almost as much dissatisfied with Joseph
volume of his Essay but Dr. Joe's feeble
elegance as a versifier was in some sense explanatory of

Warton

for the first

;

his principles of taste, as well

of the

mediocrity of his

I
own talents (for poetry).
had written " genius," but
thumbed it out, for he had none. My admiration of Pope, the

man, the

son, the friend, as well as the poet, in no degree
diminished as I grew older, and is as vivid now as ever.
The
living presence of Mr. Rogers at his breakfast-table hardly more
charms me than the Roubiliac bust, that is one of his precious
Lares Urbani. Eight or nine and twenty years ago, at Malvern,
I used often to visit the house of Sir Thomas Plomer's widow,
in her absence, solely to gaze on an excellent original oil-portrait
Little more than
of Pope, that hung in her drawing-room.
two years since, on the day before my marriage, the late Bishop
Baynes, at Prior Park, pleased me much by his civilities, but
most by showing me the little pencil sketch (often engraved)
taken by stealth in that very house when it w^as Allen's, as Pope
was standing talking carelessly, unconscious of the virtue that
w as stolen from him to make a little bit of paper a venerated
relic.
Pope, sir, taught me to read Montaigne, at an age when
I found much of the matter far more difficult to my comprehension than its antiquated vehicle. (By the by, that need not
deter any Englishman from making intimate acquaintance with
him, w hile there exists so capital a translation as Cotton's, with
copious notes.)
Pope also taught me to read Chaucer and the
" Fairy Queen," not in his indecent juvenile imitations, which
I was unacquainted w ith in my youth, and would gladly cut
out now. All this, which I know is utterly unimportant to any
one but myself, I inflict upon your notice, that you may, in some
slight measure, understand why I ought to hate Macaulay, or
r

any

flippant, flashy, clever fellow

who demeans

his abilities to

Why,
the services of the Dunces in their war against Pope.
I ought to hate him (mind, I say), and should, but for the meek
* This

edition of Pope by
at Mr. Abbott's,
street.
E. Q.

my holidays
then a

new

—

Bowles came into

my hands

father's partner, in

while

Gowcr

was passing
London;

Street,

;

312

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

17.

milkiness of my nature.
Pope's character is as sacred to my
estimation as the best and wholesomest fruit of his genius
both his moral worth and literary merit are bright enough to
make me blink at his faults. His nature was generous. If,
through " that long disease, his life," he was often more impatient of flies than a philosophical Brahmin, who can wonder if
his high-bred Pegasus was impatient of them too, and flapped
them down with his tail by dozens 1 What do you think his
That so
tail was given him for, if not to flap away the flies ]
sweet a bee as Addison, a honey-maker, whose Hybla murmurs
are fit music for the gods, should have come in for a whisk of
that formidable tail is lamentable ; but why, then, did he insinuate his subtle sting into the fine flank of the soaring
" If you scratch not the Pope, you may fairly and
steed ]
brawly claw Brother Addison, Statesman Macaulay." (By the
by, though there cannot be a greater contrast in style than
between Macaulay's and Addison's, for Mr. Macaulay's is fussy
and ambitious, I did and do very much admire his notice of the
" Life of Lord Olive."
He put more true and genuine stuff, I
think, into those few pages, than was contained in the whole
work that suggested the essay.) I cut out of the John Bull a
letter which I have this moment fallen upon by chance.
On
Thursday last, the day after I had written to you, two letters
came, one from Elton, the other from Brigham the first alarming Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth, who were with us, as to the
state of Miss Hutchinson ; the second, a summons for Dora.
These disconcerted our plan of going to the Duddon, &c. Professor Wilson, and his daughter, Miss Wilson, dined with us on
that day, and we found them very agreeable company ; but the
cheerfulness of the Professor, I fear, is rather assumed.
I
understand that he has never recovered the shock of his wife's
death.
He was in this country a few days only. He is no
Bacchanalian now, if he ever were so.
He drinks no wine, nor
spirits, nor even beer,
nothing but water or tea or coffee.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth were very glad to meet so old
a friend. Mrs. Wordsworth has always been an admirer and
lover of Wilson.
Don't be jealous ; her husband is not. On
Friday, Mr. Wordsworth accompanied Dora and me by water
to Low Wood, whence Dora went to Rydal in a car, and thence
She went to
to Brigham with James, in her father's phaeton.
take care of her brother's children, according to promise, while
John and his wife are absent, or such part of the time as may
be arranged. Very inconvenient and desolate for me is her
;

—

—
POPE'S PLACE

1843.]

AMONG THE

KANKE.

POETS.

313

Had she
absence, but it was a duty that called her away.
been here, I should have thought I could not find time to write
you such a " lengthy " prose.
H.

C. R. TO

QUILLINAN.
August

30, 1843.

very entertaining letter reached me just as
I was in the act of nibbing my pen to write to Mrs. Words-

Your

last

worth

You have amply apologized for the seemingly contemptuous
language you used towards a man who is on no account to be
despised.
If he has wounded you in your hobby, you have a
only, feel the
right to your revenge, and I allow it to you
truth of Montaigne's fine saying, and keep within bounds.
I
want no more.
After all, Pope is, or rather was, as great a favorite with me
as any one English poet.
Perhaps I once knew more of him
than of any other English classic.
Referring to an early period of my life, before I had heard
of the Lyrical Ballads, which caused a little revolution in my
taste for poetry, there were four poems which I used to read
incessantly ; I cannot say which I then read the oftenest, or
loved the most.
They are of a very different kind, and I
mention them to show that my taste was wide. They were
" The Rape of the Lock," " Comus," " The Castle of Indolence," and the " Traveller."
Next to these were all the Ethic
Epistles of Pope
and with respect to all these, they were so
familiar to me, that I never for years looked into them,
I
seemed to know them by heart. I ought, perhaps, to be
;

—

;

to confess that at that period I was much better acquainted with the Rambler than the Spectator.
But warm
admiration of Johnson has been followed by almost disgust,
which does not extend to the Johnson of Boswell.
But I must not forget to say what I wanted to hear from
Mrs. Wordsworth, and which in fact you will be able to tell
me quite as well as she can, though neither of you can do
more than state an intention and a probability. When are
the Wordsworths likely to be again at Rydal ] I have been
asked by two persons to make the inquiry.
One of these
is a man of some rank in the world of German literature,
Ranke, the historian. It is a proof of eminence, certainly,
that one of his great works, the " History of the Popes," has

ashamed

—

VOL.

II.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

314

17.

been twice translated into English, and one of the translations
(Mrs. Austin's) has gone into a second edition ; and yet this
popularity has not been obtained by any vulgar declamation.
He is a cool thinker, and much more temperate than religionI find, on chatting with him, that he
ists like writers to be.
is seriously an alarmist on the occasion of the progress of the
Papal power; but it is rather a secular than a spiritual
feeling.
It is not from a fear that the Protestant religion
would be undermined, so much as that the Protestant states
would be disturbed by the usurpation of the priestly authority

Your account

Do you know

of a tour to the Duddon quite fidgets me.
have never seen the Duddon ] Another

is, that of Wordsworth making a
journey was in that country I must
go again, for I had not then learned to see. I fear I have not
learned yet but I have learned to enjoy, which I know on
the highest authority is better than understanding.
To go back to Macaulay. Of course you have read his artiThere
cle on the very book of Ranke I have been writing of ]
is one passage not above a page in length, which I have among
my papers, and will send you if you are not already familiar
with it.
It begins with the remark (I quote from memory),
that the Church of Rome alone knows how to make use of
fanatics whom the Church of England proudly and foolishly
repels
and he concludes with a sarcastic summary. In Rome,
John Wesley w ould have been Loyola ; Joanna Southcott, Saint
Theresa Lady Huntingdon would have been the foundress of
a new order of Carmelites ; and Mrs. Fry presided over the
" Sisters of the Jails." ....
I must own, however, that in this very article Macaulay conRomanist, Anglican, and Genetrived to offend all parties,
van a proof of his impartiality at least.
Thanks for your account of Faber; it amuses me much.
But what right has he to abuse the second city in Italy 1 Certainly not more than Macaulay has to fall foul of one w ho, you
will acknowledge, is far from being the second poet of Eng-

fidgets-producing thought

tour in Wales.

first

;

—

land.

But Naples is an uncomfortable place, with all your admirait
you never feel at home in it the sensations it

tion of

;

produces are all centrifugal, not centripetal.
There is no accounting for the accidental feelings of men ;
Herder, a great thinker, as well as a pre-eminently pious and

315

MARTINEAU'S SERMONS.

1843.]

devout man, and no contemptible poet, could not be made to
If I
love Rome, but wished to live and die in Naples
have a pet in the South, it is Sicily.' To speak again of Faber,
and the like, I never feared that they would go over to the
Church of Rome, but that they would do a much worse thing,
bring over the Church of Rome, or rather the Papacy, into
England's Church import all its tyranny and its spirit of per-

—

;

and, without the merit of consistency, claim the
same prerogatives. The Archbishop of Dublin (Whately) said
to a friend of mine, " If I must have a Pope, I would rather
have a Pope at Rome than at Oxford " ; and I heartily join in
secution,

this

QUILLINAN TO H.

The

Island, Windermere, September

.... You may propose
He is so fond of travelling
Brinsop, he would say "

Rydal now.

C. R.
1,

1843.

a Welsh tour to Mr. Wordsworth.
with you that I dare say, once at

Done

Dora
your offer.
go on Saturday next

" to

Jemima, Rotha, and

—

;

and

I mean this
very reluctantly shall I leave this perfect island,
island that has no imperfections about or on it except ourEven Rydal Mount is not so charming a " locality,"
selves.
a
as the Yankees say ; and the house here is excellent,

—

mansion

Any friend of yours travelling in these regions, who, in the
absence of the poet, considers it worth his while to look at his
house and haunts, will be received with all kindness by the
poet's daughter, for your sake ; " a man of Ranke,"
your
like the historian of the Popes, for his
pun, not mine, sir,
own sake, as well as yours. But he will scarcely climb the hill
to look at the nest among the laurel-bushes whence the bird is

—

flown.

H. C. R. to T. R.
Athenaeum,

9th September, 1843.

glad you have mentioned as you did Martineau's
Sermons. They delight me much ; we seem to entertain precisely the same opinions of them.
In consequence of your
praise, I read out of their turn the two on the " Kingdom of
God within us." They fully deserve your eulogy. If possible,
there is another still better, at least it has more original and
striking thoughts ; it is VII., " Religion on False Pretences."
Page 94 is especially noticeable. What a crushing remark is

....

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

316

17,

that founded on the difference between restraining others ancj

Equally significant is p. 98, its comforts of
self-submission !
religion, and " insurance speculations," on God's service
In p. 99, Martineau must have thought of Brougham, perhaps unconsciously of whom else could strange gambols have
been written ] The Economists get a rap on the knuckles in
;

the same page.
" Every fiction that has ever laid
Sermon III. begins
strong hold on human belief is the mistaken image of some
great truth, to which reason will direct its search, while halfreason is content with 'laughing at the superstition, and unI have been in the habit of sayreason with disbelieving it."
ing, and I dare say I have written to you, " When errors
make wT ay in the world, it is by virtue of the truths mixed up
with them." The interpretation of the doctrine of incarnation,
which follows (p. 33), is in the same spirit, and most excellent.
.... I was not aware that John Wesley had ever said anything so bold as your quoted words, that " Calvin's God was
worse than his Devil.". •.
In the yesterday's papers there was a long account of a very
excellent and eminent person, with whom I lately became acquainted, Canon Tate,
a very liberal clergyman.
He was a
residentiary cf St. Paul's, a great scholar, and a zealous abolitionist.
He professed great esteem for Mr. Clarkson. By
the by, that reminds me that I have made a purchase of a
portrait of our old friend, which I believe is an original,
a
repetition of the one now at Playford, and which wT as engraved
in aquatint in 1785.
It was taken when he was in his work,
and therefore will be to posterity more valuable than the portrait of him in old age.
I do hope you
I gave £10 for it.*
:

—

will

come and

see

this

autumn

H. C. R. to T. R.
15th September, 1843.

Miss Aikin gave me a little MS. poem, by Mrs. Barbauld, in
answer to one by Hannah More. It is a severe attack on the
Bishops.
Hannah More had, in Bonner's name, affected to
61
abuse the Bishops for no longer persecuting heretics.
Much
thanks for little," say the Bishops, in this their answer to
Bishtfp

Bonner

;

we would

stanzas contain the pith of the
* Bequeathed by H. C. R.

we
w hole

could."

—

The following

to the National Portrait Gallery.

;

A POEM BY

1843.]

MRS. BARBAULD.

317

not to us should be addressed
Your ghostly exhortation;
If heresy still "lift her crest,
The fault is in the nation.

The State, in spite of all our pains,
Has left us in the lurch
The spirit of the times restrains
The spirit of the Church.
3.

Our
Is

spleen against reforming cries

now, as ever, shown;

Though we can't blind the nation's
Still we may shut our own.

eyes,

Well warned from what abroad befalls,
We keep all light at home;
Nor brush one cobweb from St. Paul's,
Lest it should shake the dome.
5.

Would it but please the civil weal
To lift again the crosier,
We poon would make those yokes of
Which now are bands of osier.

steel

Church maxims do not greatly vary,
Take it upon my honor;
Place on the throne another Mary,
We '11 find her soon a Bonner.

a very religious
I took advantage of the day to call on
person, who invites me, though she must hold me to be a suspicious character at least.
But she was evidently pleased with
the attention.
I have long remarked that the saints are well
pleased to be noticed by the sinners.
,

H. C. R. to Mrs. Wordsworth.
30 Russell Square, 24th October, 1843.

.... I met yesterday Strickland Cookson, who informed
me of the sudden death of Jane,
a new and very serious

—

fear,

The death of an

and attached servant of her
is one of a very serious character indeed, and I
a degree, irreparable.
It shows the vanity of our

calamity.
description

old

318

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

17.

of society.
How indignant you would
were any one to say, by way of consolation or remark on
your sorrow, that she was only your servant
You have been sadly and often tried of late. Let us hope
that you will, for a time, be spared any fresh attack on your
spirits and domestic comfort.
You are not, you cannot be, so selfish as not, amid your own
I
sorrow, to be pleased to hear good news of your friends.
was yesterday startled by a letter from my brother, announThis
cing his intention to come up to London next Monday.
is a better proof of the state of his health than a doctor's certificate.
He cannot travel without his servant, and that serBut the illness is not thought to be
vant has been taken ill.
serious.
The loss of his Edward would be to him what the
These constantly occurring events
loss of your Jane is to you.
artificial classifications

feel

feel so insecure, that I am habitually making that
reservation to myself which, as a mere form of words, has become almost ridiculous, in the shape of a "Deo volente." But
so it is ; the veriest of forms originate in earnest feelings.

make me

Only one cannot always tell when the sentiment degenerates
form and, what is worse, the form is apt to become
the hypocritical substitute for the feeling. But, as Mr. Wordsworth exclaims in his part of your letter, " Such is poor huinto the

man

;

nature!"

....

—

November 18th.
An idle day. Continued reading, as usual,
and took a short walk with Mayer, and another with my
brother.
The single incident was dining with Miss Meredith,
at Miss Coutts's."
There I met Charles Young, who made
himself very agreeable.

has great comic talent

;

took off

Scotchmen admirably ; and told anecdotes of the actors of his
day with great spirit. I found that we agreed on all matters
of taste as to the Drama,
Mrs. Siddons, Kemble, Kean,
Miss O'Neil, &c, &c,
no difference whatever.
The conversation was very lively.
With her I
Miss Costello also there.
chatted pleasantly enough about France but she rather expects too much, for she wants us to read all her writings,
novels and travels.

—

;

QUILLINAN TO H.

C. R.

Ambleside (Saturday

....

night),

December

1843.

have been dining at Rydal, after walking about a
considerable part of the morning, through the waters and the
I

;

"LIFE IN THE SICK-ROOM."

1843.]

319

mists, with the Bard, who seems to defy all weathers, and who
called this a beautiful, soft, solemn day ; and so it was, though

was hardly proof
and in great vigor
He has just completed an epitaph on Southey, writof mind.
ten at the request of a committee at Keswick, for Crosthwaite

somewhat

insidiously soft, for a mackintosh

against

insinuations.

its

in great force,

think it will please you.
Mr. Wordsworth, Mrs. Wordsthe Rydalites,
worth, and Miss Fen wick, have been quite charmed, affected,
and instructed by the Invalid's volume, sent down by Moxon,
who kept his secret like a man. But a woman found it out,
Mrs. Wordsworth,
found you out, Mr. Sly-boots
for all that,
after a few pages were read, at once pronounced it to be Miss
and concluded that you knew all
Martineau's production
In some of its most
about it, and caused it to be sent hither.
eloquent parts it stops short of their wishes and expectations
but they all agree that it is a rare book, doing honor to the
head and heart of your able and interesting friend. Mr. WordsI may say, with more
worth praised it with more unreserve
The serene and heaventhan is usual wT ith him.
earnestness
But
ly minded Miss Fenwick was prodigal of her admiration.
She said,
and
Mrs. Wordsworth's was the crowning praise.
" I wish I had read exactyou know how she would say it,
ly such a book as that years ago
I ought to add, that they had not finished the volume,
had only got about half through it,
as many interruptions
occur, and they like to read it together
one, of course, reading aloud to the rest.
It is a genuine and touching series of
meditations by an invalid, not sick in mind or heart
and
such, they doubt not, they will find it to the end.
When I
said all the Rydalites, I ought to have excepted poor dear Miss
Wordsworth, who could not bear sustained attention to any
book, but who would be quite capable of appreciating a littlo
at a time

Church.
They,

—

all

—

;

—

—
!

—

;

H. C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 9th December. 1843.

....

your congratulations about my University
College occupations as you offer them.
It is a satisfaction to
me that I am conscious of growing more sympathetic, instead
of becoming more selfish, as I grow older. And this is a happy
circumstance, for what otherwise would life be ? You have
I receive

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

320

17.

me quote a fine motto by Goethe to one of the volumes
" What in youth we long for, we have plenty of
of his Life
in old age " ; and he explains this by the remark in the volume, that in his youth he loved Gothic architecture, and stood
In the advance of life he found the rising
alone in that taste.
" So it would always be if
generation had the start of him.
we attached ourselves to objects 'zmselfish, and which concern
society at large. We should then never be disappointed
I have had a most interesting letter from Harriet Martineau,
which I mean to send you next week
She has published anonymously a most admirable book, " Life in the SickRoom." I mean to bring it with me when I come down next.
It unfolds the feelings of those who are condemned to a long
seclusion from the world by sickness.
It does not apply to
persons who, like you, have had sharp but short diseases.
Nevertheless, it will excite you to comparisons between yourheard

and her. It has me, I am conscious.
have seen Miss Weston again.
She inquires very kindly
She is living in St. John's Wood
after you.
Have you not remarked how much the style of the Times is
changed now from what it was ] One no longer sees those fierce
declamations which caused Stoddart to get the name of Doctor
Slop, and the paper the title of The Thunderer. It has become
mild, argumentative, and discriminating. I wrote lately to Walter, to tell him that I thought the paper better than it has been
He has
ever since I have known it, that is, thirty-six years.
thanked me most warmly for my encouragement and commendaself
I

tion.

....

—

It was
I made a visit to Rydal Mount this year.
Jiem*
Lodgings were taken for me
uneventful, with one exception.
On the
in a neat cottage, where an old man and his wife lived.
very first night, December 24th, just as I was on the point of
I
getting into bed, I missed a volume I had been reading.
stepped to the landing-place to call to Mrs. Steele, when, being
I had a severe blow on
in the dark, I slipped down the stairs.
the left side ; then I fell head-foremost, and rolled down several

—

one on my
was stopped by two severe concussions,
the other on my heart, or as near as may be to it.
The good old couple were too much frightened to render me any
assistance. I was in severe pain, and, they say, as pale as death.
I managed, however, to get up to my bed, and would not allow
stairs.

left shoulder,

* Written in 1859.

H. C. E.

1844.]

NURSED AT RYDAL.

321

any message to be sent to the Mount. I had a light in my room,
and passed a night of pain and watchfulness.
I sent for James early he came, gave notice
December 25th.
I had
to Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth, and they followed soon.
from them every consolation that friendship and kindness can
They had sent for Mr. Fell, and with him came
administer.
Dr. Davy (the brother of Sir Humphry, and son-in-law of Mrs.
Mr. Fell felt my
Fletcher), who was by accident with him.
That may be,
body, and declared there was nothing broken.
but I am by no means sure that I have not received a very serious injury.
I had a call from Quillinan in the evening, as well
My second night was not better
as several from Wordsworth.
than my first, except that, by James's aid, I managed to have
my pillows laid more comfortably.
December 26th.
In the forenoon Mr. Fell came again, and
he induced me to allow James to dress me, and then I was put
into Miss Wordsworth's carriage, and drawn up to the Mount.
A room was given me adjoining James's sleeping-place. He is
an excellent nurse, and here I have felt myself infinitely more
comfortable than in the cottage, where the kind-hearted but
feeble old couple only made me more sensible of my own helplessness. During the day I have found it difficult to talk. Mr.
and Mrs. Wordsworth have therefore been short in their visits.
I have learnt the practical meaning of what hitherto has been
only a phrase,
smoothing the pillow. He who does it as James

—

;

—

does

a benefactor.

December 30th.

had

— This was, comparatively, a busy

day.

my room

from Miss Fenwick, then from Mrs. Quillinan, and Mrs. and Miss Fletcher ; and, in the evening, hearing that Mrs. Arnold was below, I got James to dress me, and
surprised them at their tea. I was cordially greeted, and in excalls in

cellent spirits.*

1844.

H. C. R. to T. R.
Rydal Mount,

must

19th January, 1844, 3 A. m.

you something about James.
He is forty-five
years of age, and is really a sort of model servant for a country
situation like this, as he is very religious and moral, as well as
an excellent servant (Wordsworth's man-servant). He is a great
I

tell

* H. C. R. did not continue his " Reminiscences" beyond this year; but he
wrote a Diary till within a few days of his death.

14*

322

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

and

17.

dare say, never leave them.
in a workhouse,
and at nine years of age was turned out of the house with two
When without a sixpence, he was
shillings in his pocket.
picked up by a farmer, who took him into his service on condition that all his clothes should be burnt (they were so filthy),
and he was to pay for his new clothes out of his wages of two
pounds ten shillings per annum. Here he stayed as long as he
was wanted. " I have been so lucky" said James, " that I was
never out of place a day in my life, for I was always taken into
I never got into a scrape, or was drunk
service immediately.
So that I have often
in my life, for I never taste any liquor.
This is
said, I consider myself as a favorite of fortune ! ! ! "
equal to Goldsmith's cripple in the Park, who remarks of his
" 'T is not every
you will recollect what it was,
own state,
man that can be born with a golden spoon in his mouth." But
James has acquired his golden spoon. He has saved up £150,
which he has invested in railroad shares.
He can both read
and write, plays on the accordion, sings, has a taste for drawing, paints Easter eggs with great taste, and is a very respectable tailor.
"I never loved company," said James, "and I
cannot be idle ; so I am always doing something."
He is not
literate, though he can read and write, for he seems hardly to
know that he is in the service of a poet though he must know
something of song- writing.*
favorite with the family,

told

his history.

will, I

He was brought up

—

QUILLINAN TO H.

C. R.

Ambleside. March

19, 1844.

going to write you a short letter about nothing for Mrs.
Wordsworth, who has it on her conscience that she has not lately
written to you, though she has nothing to say except what you
know, that a letter from you is one of the most acceptable things
her post-bag ever contains. How are you and your brother 1
Both well, we hope ; and we never fancy you quite well when
your brother is otherwise. We have had a roaring storm of
wind here, which lasted two or three days, and did mischief
among trees, but most at Eydal Mount. The two largest of
those fine old cherry-trees on the terrace, nearest the house,
were uprooted, and spread their length over the w all and
I

* When I took leave of liim on this visit, I hung round his neck a silver
watch. He was so surprised that he was literally unable to thank me.—
H. C. R.

1844.]

QUILLINAN'S LETTER.

323

orchard as far the kitchen-garden ; two fir-trees also, both ornamental from their position, and one especially so from its
With proper appliandouble stem, have been laid prostrate.
ces, these might be set up again, but the expense here and inconvenience would be greater than the annoyance of their removal. Such losses will sound trivial at a distance, but they
Those cherry-trees were old servants and
are felt at home.
Dora and the birds used (in her younger days) to
companions.
perch together on the boughs for the fruit
Mr. Wordsworth has been working very hard lately, to very little purpose,
to mend the versification of " The Excursion," with some parts
of which he is dissatisfied, and no doubt justly
but to mend it
without losing more, in the freshness and the force of expression, than he will gain in variety of cadence, is, in most cases,
I believe, impracticable. It will do, in spite of my Lord Jeffrey
and its occasional defects in metrical construction, j

QUILLINAN TO H.

C. R.

Ambleside, April

7, 1844.

.... As

to Article 3 in the Prospective Review on " Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation." it is about as bad as
I wish wicked people (like you)
the wretched book itself.
were not so clever, or clever people (like you) were not so
wicked.
That volume of " Thoughts on the Vestiges of Creation " is a book of hypotheses grounded mainly on the modern
a grand and solid foundation, on which
discoveries in geology
free-thinkers build nebulous towers that reach the skies, and
from those airy observatories pry into the Holy of Holies, peruse the inner mind of the Almighty, and look down with pity
on the ignorant multitudes who have nothing to help them in
their heavenward aspirations but blind faith in the truths of
" Leave me, leave me to repose "
revealed religion.
;

Wordsworth

to H. C. R.
14th July, 1844.

....

Dr. Arnold's " Life " Mrs. Wordsworth has read diliThe first volume she read aloud to me, and I have
gently.
more than skimmed the second. He was a truly good man ;
of too ardent a mind, however, to be always judicious on the
great points of secular and ecclesiastical polity that occupied
his mind, and upon •which he often wrote and acted under

324

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

17.

But the
strong prejudices and with hazardous confidence.
book, notwithstanding these objections, must do good, and
His benevolence was so earnest, his life so indusgreat good.
domestic and social, so intense, his faith
and his endeavor to regulate his life by it so
constant, that his example cannot but be beneficial, even in
How he
quarters where his opinions may be most disliked.
0 that on
hated sin. and loved and thirsted after holiness

trious, his affections,

warm and

firm,

this

path he were universally followed

— (Bury.)
— that

Began a task which I set myself
of looking over a few years' letters.
I find difficulty in determining which I should preserve, and
which destroy. Sometimes the friend is dead, and sometimes
August

for

:28th.

my Bury

visit,

the friendship.

H. C. B. to Mrs. Wordsworth.
30

Russell Square, 18th September,

.... My month

1844.

there (at Bury) was broken in upon by a
Old Clarkshort visit to Playford, Yarmouth, and Norwich.
son is really a wonderful creature, were he only contemplated
There he is, in his eighty-fifth year, as laborias an animal.
ous and calmly strenuous in his pursuits as he was fifty or
By the by, I am afraid I am writing nonsixty years ago.
I meant to
sense ; for this is not an animal habit or quality.
refer to that strength of bodily constitution, without which
all the powers of the mind are insufficient to produce the
I have
effects by which a great mind or character is known.
often applied this remark to your husband, in connection with
that I believe all the first-rate geniuses in poetry,
another,
the fine arts, might have been good laborers ; while it is only the secondrate geniuses who are cripples, or deformed, or defective in
their bodily qualities.
What a digression this is
You '11
think I can have nothing to say. However, to go on Clark son
was busy during the three days I was there, writing letters
assiduously both to private friends and for the press, and all
for his " Africans."
He is happy in this, that he cannot see
difficulties, or dangers, or doubts in any interest he has emNo one ever more faithbraced, or in any act he has to do.
fully discharged the duty of hoping which the poet has laid
down. He does not believe that Texas will be united to the

—

States.

325

ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.

1844.]

all in their

will not see that

power to get

France and America are doing

rid of their reciprocal obligations to

However difficult the hill may be to
annul the slave-trade.
climb, he toils on, and has no doubt of reaching the summit.

I returned to London on the 4th of this month, and was
very soon pressed to join the British Archaeological Association, which was to hold its first solemn meeting or sitting at
Canterbury on the 9th. What a pity it is, that I cannot tell
whether you, in fact, know anything about this learned body
or not, or whether you in your, be it ignorance, or be it knowlYou know, that is, you
edge, care anything about it or not.
will in a second, that this is an imitation of the Scientific Association, which, in defiance of the penal statutes against vagrants, goes from place to place annually, haunting the great

towns successively, and inflicting on the inhabitants tremenor rather papers, worse than speeches
dous long speeches
on matters appertaining to Natural History and Science. The
Antiquaries, on the other hand, discourse on antiquities and
their journeys will have a local propriety or object, because

—

;

the Association assembles for the purpose of investigating the
antiquities of the spot.
They began very wisely with Canterbury, for this city and its immediate vicinity abound in almost
every variety of antiquity and the Association had the cordial
co-operation of all the local authorities.
The Dean and Chapan
ter opened their cathedral to us without any restriction,
act that had never been done before
and every part of that
glorious structure was open to the freest inspection, without
the annoying fee-exacting companionship of verger or attendThe M^ayor, in one of his speeches in
ant, male or female.
public, declared that there are thousands of the citizens of
Canterbury who have never seen the interior of the Cloisters.
change, there is no doubt, will now take place.
I never
saw any religious edifice to so great an advantage before. In
every part it is a marvellous building.
On the second day we made a sort of supplemental pilgrimage. We explored barrows at two places,
one in Bourne
Park, the seat of our President, Lord Albert Conyngham, who
very hospitably entertained us at his mansion. I had now
what in one's seventieth year is not to be lightly prized
new
impressions.
Some half dozen barrows were opened, and
most of them were productive. Standing round the diggers
;

—

;

—

326

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

17.

—

into the chalk soil, my attention was revived by a cry,
M Take care there 's something/'
I looked and distinguished
a reddish spot in the chalk. The operator very carefully dug
with his fingers all around, and shortly brought up a whole
!

filled, as such are, really, with ashes and bones.
There
had been before picked up teeth, fragments of glass, probably
lachrymals, bits of metal which the learned alone can properly
describe or even name.
Another barrow revealed to us a skeleton lying on its

urn,

back.

Among

our leaders at this meeting was an old acquaintance
Dean of Hereford. He presided over this very
class of what is called the " Primeval Section," and finding
that he was going to preside on one of the mornings, I bethought myself that I might contribute to the enjoyment of
the audience, in the degree of their accessibility to such impressions.
I wrote down from memory one of my favorite sonnets,
of yours, the

and took
it

How

profitless the relics that

to him.

with effect.
On the Thursday

cull,"

heartily thanked

accompanied a

for

it,

select party, led

arid read

by Lord

A. C, to look over the Castle of Dover, where we were admitted into the recesses of that living fortification (most of
such building's are mere antiquities) by the governor, who
feted us into the bargain.
The entertainment of another day consisted, among other
things* in the unrolling of a mummy,
so that you will allow
there was no want of a variety of objects to interest us ; and we
had a number of pleasant men. Dr. Buckland combines so much
good-humor with his zeal, and mixes his .geological with his
antiquarian researches with so equal an interest, as to be quite
The whole went
unique among scholars and men of science.
off very pleasantly, and I have no doubt wherever we go we
shall spread the love of antiquities.

—

Barron Field to H.

C. R.

Meadfoot House, Torquay,

You do me no more than justice

I
without interruption to my books.
time, got my portion of my father's
was deacon of an Independent church, and am

unhappy by being
have here,
library,

for the

who

21st October. 1S44.

in saying that I shall not be

left

first

BARRON

1844,]

FIELD.

— ROGERS'S

BANK ROBBED.

327

devouring Baxter's " Life and Times." What a liberal though
Why was not the Church reorthodox Christian was he
formed by him and the rest of the London ministers at the
Restoration] Nothing has been done since, for now nearly
two hundred years. What a noble passage is the following
" Therefore, I would have had the brethren to have offered
the Parliament the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Decalogue alone as our essentials or fundamentals, which at least
contain all that is necessary to salvation, and hath been by all
And
the ancient churches taken for the sum of their religion.
whereas they still said, A Socinian or a Papist will subscribe
So much the better, and so much
all this,' I answered them,
But if you
the fitter it is to be the matter of our concord.
are afraid of communion with Papists and Socinians, it must
not be avoided by making a new rule or test of faith which
!

—

they

by forcing others to subscribe to
by calling them to account when-

will not subscribe to, or

more than

they can do, but

ever in preaching or writing they contradict or abuse the
This is the work of
truth to which they have subscribed.
government, and we must not think to make laws serve instead of judgment and execution ; nor must we make new
laws as often as heretics will misinterpret and subscribe the
old ; for, when you have put in all the words you can devise,
some heretics will put their own sense on them, and subscribe
them. And we must not blame God for not making a law
that no man can misinterpret or break, and think to make
such a one ourselves, because God could not or would not.
These presumptions and errors have divided and distracted the
Christian Church, and one would think experience should save
us from them.'

H. C. R. to Mrs. Wordsworth.
November

30, 1844.

Rogers said after his loss * "I should be ashamed of myself
if I were unable to bear a shock like this at my age.
It
would be an amusement to me to see on how little I could
live, if it were necessary.
But I shall not be put to the experiment.
Let the worst come, we shall not be ruined."
[In a letter written about the same time, H. C. R. says :]
" Rogers loves children, and is fond of the society of young
people.
When I am old and bedridden,' he says, I
shall be read to by young people,
Walter Scott's novels,
:

—

perhaps.'
* The Bank robbery.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

328

CHAPTER

18.

XVIII.

1844.

Dissenters Chapels Act, 7

8 Vict. ch. 45.

[Mr. Robinson used often to say that, during his life, he had never done
anything of the slightest use to his fellow-men, except in the cases of the
Dissenters' Chapels Act, the Flaxman Gallery, and the establishment of the Hall
(University Hall) in Gordon Square, for residence of students of University
College, London.
He had collected and set apart large bundles of papers
and letters relating to these subjects, meaning, no doubt, to use them if he
should feel able to continue his Reminiscences. The passing of the Chapels
" My interest in this
Bill was to him the most interesting event of his life.
Bill rises to anxiety"; "It is the single subject in which I take a warm interest " and similar expressions now occur in almost every page of his diary and
letters. Though not expecting that the subject can excite much general interest,
the Editor still feels it his duty to give a few extracts from the papers so collected
by Mr. Robinson, on a subject so very dear to him. To the end of his life, it
was to him a matter of anxiety and perplexity to whom his papers should be
intrusted, and it is believed that such anxiety arose mainly from a fear that
all mention of his share in affairs such as those now coming under relation, and
of his views on them, and on other matters not of popular interest, might be
;

suppressed.
The debates on the passing of this Bill through Parliament, with a number
of illustrative documents, were published in a separate volume. Mr. Robinson was one of its editors. The first of the extracts about to be given from
Mr. Robinson's collections are from a paper, possibly of Mr. Robinson's composition, which seems to have been intended for an introduction to this vol-

ume:

—

" Before this act was passed, the Law Courts had refused to recognize the
possibility of men meeting for religious exercises, each unfettered as to
his individual ideas of dogmas.
They insisted that the mere words, worship of
God, used by any religionists in their deeds, must essentially mean the annunciation of some peculiar metaphysical views of faith, and that the duty of the
Law Courts was to find out and define these views, and to confine such reliThis act recognizes,
gionists and their successors within them for all futurity.
in the clearest manner, the full Protestant liberty of private judgment, unfettered by the accident of ancestral creed, and protected from all inquisitorial
1

interference.'
" By the effect of the legal decisions in the cases of the

Lady Hewley Trust

Fund,^ and of the "Wolverhampton Chapel, the Nonconformists of England and
Ireland, who held religious opinions at variance with the doctrinal Articles of
the Church of England, found that the title to the chapels, burial-grounds, and
religious property which had been created by their forefathers, and upheld and
added to by themselves, was bad."
" Though its invalidity had never been previously suspected, those decisions
showed that it had been bad for nearly, if not quite, a century."
As it had been made illegal by the Toleration Act, and continued illegal
until 1813* to impugn the doctrine of the Trinity, no Unitarians could be
entitled to retain possession of a chapel built before that time.]

* In

this

year Mr. Smith's Act passed, 53 Geo.

3, c.

160.

BILL INTRODUCED.

1844.]

ARCH 12th. — I

— BISHOP

329

BLOMFIELD.

learned to-day that the

Bill lately

-LVX brought into the House of Lords for the relief of Dissenters by the Chancellor is intended for the benefit of Unitarians.
It is hardly conceivable that the orthodox will not
have power to throw it out.
How strange, that I should have actually forMarch 23d.
gotten till now a very remarkable incident
I was requested
by Edwin Field * to accompany him and Mr. Thornley f on a
deputation to Lord Brougham to secure his interest on behalf
of the Unitarian Relief Bill.
This, I believe, the Unitarians
will have \ but I have not the slightest hope of ultimate sucThe orthodox will be too powerful. But I shall have
cess.
opportunities of reverting to this subject, as I am requested on
Tuesday to go to the Bishop of London.
March 26th.
A busy day and a memorable one, inasmuch
as I found myself, mirabile dictu, in the study of the Bishop
of London, % as one of a deputation to discuss with him the
Unitarian Bill.
There wT ere nine of us.

—

The Bishop began by being strongly against us in principle.
The only point made by the Bishop was the injustice of holding property intended for the promotion of one set of opinions,
and maintaining the very opposite. At the same time, he allowed the utility of a limitation on litigation, and that it was
not right to make orthodoxy the subject of litigation in secular
courts.

[On the 25th of
on

April, a very long

this subject, signed

and able

letter of

H. C. R's

Barrister," appeared in the Times.

the last sentence only shall be extracted. Many other
and papers of his were published, but space will not
allow any enumeration of them.]

From

letters

" The Unitarians maintain, certainly, very obnoxious opinions,
and thereby expose themselves to obloquy while their adver;

the professed principles of dissent,
are striving to turn a penny by means of their pretended orthodoxy ; and that after a silence, an acquiescence, a fellowship,
an acting in concert with those they seek to plunder, of more
"
than a century's duration. Is this to be permitted
There
I went as early as four to the Commons.
June 6th.
saries, in violation of all

—

* A solicitor under whose charge the Bill was chiefly placed, and afterwards
one of H. C. R.'s executors,
f M. P. for Wolverhampton.
See Vol. I.
j Bishop Blomfield, son of H. C. R.'s old Bury schoolmaster.
p. 3.

—
330

EEMMSCEXCES OF HENRY CRABB BOB1XSOX.

[Chaf.

18.

most
I stayed till twelve, when I came home with Cookson.
For the Bill,
interesting debate, but a sadly one-sided one.
Macaulay eloquent
Attorney-General * admirably luminous.
a want of
and impressive, but still not quite what I liked,
an unMonckton Milnes ingenious and earnest,
delicacy.
Gladstone historical and elaborate.
Sheil
expected speech.
wild, extravagant, and funny, especially in an attack on Sir
Sir Robert Peel very dignified and conscienEobert Inglis.
not much in his speech, beyond
Lord John Russell,
tious.
Contra.
Such a set!
his testimony to the merits of the Bill.
They consisted of Sir
Isot a cheer elicited the whole night.
Robert Inglis, Plumptre, Colquhoim, and Fox Maule. Lord
Sandon spoke, but it is not clear on which side he meant to
speak.
On the whole, it was an evening of very great excitement and pleasure, and I shall have now a few days of pleasure in talking over this business.
July 6th.
I went to carry papers to the Bishop of Norwich, on whom Mark Phillips and I had previously called. He
received me with great personal kindness, but said i; I shall
take no part in the measure.
I cannot oppose a Bill which is
to extend religious liberty, but I cannot assist a Bill which is
to favor Unitarianism"
I gravely said, 'I should have a
M How do you
very bad opinion of any bishop who did/'
i:
mean that " he asked.
Thus, my Lord. This bill will
merely extend to Unitarians the same protection which all
other Protestant Dissenters enjoy.
To be relieved from perse'*
cution is a great blessing, but surely not & favor."
Ceru Your
tainly not.
And is that all that your Bill does ? "

—

•

—
—

—

lordship shall judge.
I then put into his hands several
papers, which, as I was the next day informed, kept him up all
night, and ultima telv he voted for and spoke in favor of the
BilL

H. C. R. to Wordsworth.
llth May, 1844.

....

never felt so strong an interest in any measure of
legislation.
Xot, if I know my own feelings, from any great
interest I take in Unitarians, as such, but because they are
standing in the breach in a case of religious liberty.
Surely,
if there be such a thing as persecution, it is that of saying that
people are to be robbed of their own property because they
have thought proper to change their opinions, or, be it, their
faith.

* Sir William FoUett.

1844.]

WORDSWORTH ON THE

—

BILL.

—

H. C. R. IN

REPLY.

331

wrote to Mrs. Fletcher, giving her an account
ventured to remark on the single defect of
Wordsworth's character. He has lost his love of liberty, not
his humanity, but his confidence in mankind.

June

of the

2Jfih.
Bill.

Wordsworth to H.

C. R.
14th July, 1844.

wrote to you at some length immediately on receipt of
your last to Airs. Wordsworth, but as my letter turned mainly
I
the Dissenters' Chapels Bill,
on the subject of yours,
could not muster resolution to send it, for I felt it was reviving
matter of which you had had too much.
I
I was averse to the Bill, and my opinion is not changed.
do not consider the authorities you appeal to as the best judges
in a matter of this kind, w hich it is absurd to treat as a mere
question of property, or any gross material right or privilege,
say a right of road, or any other thing of the kind, for which
usage may be pleaded. But the same considerations that prevented my sending the letter in which the subject was treated
at length forbid me to enter again upon it ; so let it rest till
we have the pleasure of meeting, and then if it be thought
I

—

worth while, we

may

revert to

H. C. R. to Wordsworth.

Bury

St.

Edmunds,

24th July, 1844.

was delighted to receive a letter in your handwriting,
though that pleasure was lessened by its bearing marks of being
I

I am not going to tease
written with uneasiness, if not pain.
you by discussing a subject you wish to avoid, and therefore I
shall leave entirely unnoticed the topic involved in your emphatic declaration that you dislike the Bill which has been the
subject of my unremitted exertions for the last twT o, or rather
three, months, and w-hich exertions have been rewarded by a
triumphant victory.
I perfectly agree wuth you, that the great
lawyers are no authority whatever on any other than a question
of property, and of a gross material right.
I shall therefore
merely try to convince you, that you are under a mistake altogether about the other question which you allude to, and
which you and I very wT ell understand ; that is, we know what
is meant by it, and can allude to it without further statement.
Your friend, Sir Robert Inglis, declared expressly, that he con-

332

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

18.

sidered the Bill merely as a question of property, and the prowent almost altogether on the
ground that the law of trusts was violated by it. This was
treated by the law lords with something like scorn, and you
will allow that they are, on such a question, absolute authority.
But the other question which you have in your mind has for
thirty years ceased to be a question arguable either in a court
of law or in a legislative body ; for, by Mr. Smith's Act, which
test of the Bishop of Exeter

passed in 1813, Unitarianism is put on a perfect equality with
all other varieties of Protestant dissent.
And in the Lady
Hewley case, it was declared unanimously by the judges that,
since that Act, Chapels for preaching Unitarianism maybe legally

endowed, and, by this declaration, all that stuff is at once disposed of which such men as Mr. Plumptre, Lord Mountcashel,

&c, are continually repeating, that the assertion of anti-Trinitarianism (that is, Arianism as well as Socinianism) is an offence
at

common

lature

was

law.

called

The only question, therefore, which the legisupon to answer, had a reference merely to

the material and gross interest in the old chapels built before
Mr. Smith's Act.
The right to preach Unitarianism being ascertained by the
statute law and the declaration of the judges on that point,
viz., the mere question of property, Lord Lyndhurst, and every
other law lord, with the concurrence of the Attorney-General
(and Mr. Gladstone on High-Church principles), held that it
was a monstrous injustice to take from the Unitarians, merely
on a law fiction, the property they had held for several generations ; that because, before 1813, Unitarianism was not tolerated, therefore it must be inferred that Trinitarianism was
intended, the fact being beyond all contradiction, as Mr. Gladstone asserted, after a long historical investigation, that while
the Independents (of William's and Anne's time) inserted in
their foundation deeds a formal declaration of their doctrines,
the Presbyterians, though the Arian controversy was then
carrying on, refused to bind themselves to any faith whatever.
In this they acted consistently, as Dissenters (the first principle of Dissent is self-government) ; and having left the Church
because they would not submit to her dictation, neither would
they call upon others to submit to theirs. Nor would they
deprive themselves of the power to change, if they thought
proper.
Whether this was right or wrong in itself is not the
question, but whether, they reserving to themselves the
right, utter strangers, and even enemies (such as Independents

333

THE QUESTION NOT ONE OF HERESY.

1844.]

were), ought to have the power to strip them of their property
what they liked in the exercise of that right, even
I do not at all
after CFnitarianism had become perfectly legal.
wonder that you, and other orthodox Christians (before you
for doing

troubled yourselves to learn what the facts were as to the
present state of the law, as well as the history of Nonconformity, before and after the Act of Toleration), should be averse
but I have met with very few indeed who, after
to the Bill
investigation, did not declare themselves satisfied with the
;

Bill.

If you had lived when the writ de hasretico comburendo was
abolished, I am sure you would not have resisted the abolition
on the ground that it favored heresy ; though, certainly, it
was a great gain to heretics that they were no longer liable to

be burned

Whether or not it is right to allow Unitarianism as a form
and this would be fairly
of Christianity is another question,
met by a motion to repeal Mr. Smith's Act and re-enact the
And as you say you dislike this Bill, you
old penal statutes.
ought in consistency to like such a Bill, which I am sure you

—

would

not.

H. C. R. to T. R.
27th December, 1844.

Yesterday I went down to Ambleside.
There I called on
Dr. Davy, and also on Mr. Carr, a very sensible man, whose
company I like. He is, however, as well as the poet, a sturdy
our Bill.
enemy to the Bill,
I shall punish him for this iniquity, by making him read my articles in the Times on the
You may call this a cruel punishment, but he desubject.
I have had a little sparring with the poet
serves no better.
on the subject. He has not thrown any light on it and, indeed, his erroneous conclusion arises from unacquaintance with
On one point I agree with him, that no dissenter
the facts.
ought to be allowed to make endowments for the maintenance
of particular opinions, that may make it their interest not to
return to the Church.
This, in fact, is quite in conformity
with the view taken by the Unitarians in support of the Bill.
Wordsworth, like most others of the orthodox, has an unreasonable dislike to Unitarians, but really knows very little
I have, however, told him that I am now a
about them.

—

;

334

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

member

19.

and he receives this
And though
he has Puseyite propensities, he by no means approves of the
excess to which such ecclesiastical firebrands as
and
of the Unitarian

Association,

kindly, for he really has no bitterness about him.

He thinks that if there be
are now driving their adherents.
not some relaxation, and if the Pusey or Popery party persist,
a civil war is likely to be excited, and that it would break out
This would be a sad prospect, if it were not
in Scotland.
pretty certain that these high Prelatists have already excited
a reaction that will crush them.

CHAPTER

XIX.

DECEMBER 26 — (Rydal.)

th.
Slept in the room in which,
was nursed last year by that excellent servant, James. Last night heard Wordsworth read prayers from
Thornton's collection with remarkable beauty and effect.
He
told me, that the Duke of Wellington, being on a visit, w as
informed by his host that he had family prayers in the morn-

after

fall, I

Would he attend ? " With great pleasure," said the
" What you
Duke. The gentleman read out of this book.
use fancy prayers?"
The Duke never came down again. He
expected the Church prayers, which Wordsworth uses in the
morning.
Dined at Mrs. Fletcher's.* A party of eight only. Among
those present were Mr. Jeffries, the clergyman, and Hartley
Coleridge.
Young Fletcher, the Oxonian, and future head of
the house, also there,
a genteel youth, with a Puseyite tendency.
H. Coleridge behaved very well. He read some verses
on Dr. Arnold which I could not comprehend,
he read them
so unpleasantly
and he sang a comic song, which kept me
very grave. He left us quite early.
ing.

—

* Mrs. Fletcher was formerly a lady of great renown in Scotland. Her
husband was a Scotch Whig reforming barrister, counsel for Joseph Gerrald in
His
1793, the friend of Jeffrey, Horner, and Brougham in their early days.
lady was an English beauty and heiress. Brougham eulogizes her in his collected speeches. I knew her thirty years ago at Mrs. Barbauld's.
There are
letters to her in Mrs. Barbauld's works.
She retains all her free opinions; and
as she lives three miles from Wordsworth's, I go and see her alone, that we may
talk at our ease on topics not gladly listened to at Rydal Mount.
She is excellent in conversation,
unusually so for a woman at seventy-six. Her
daughters arc also very superior women. One of them has married Dr. Davy,
brother to Sir

Humphry.

—
— H.

C. R.

;

DINNER WITH

1S45.]

ROGERS.

335

1845.

January

5th.

— Dined and took tea with the

Fletchers.

very agreeable young man, a Swiss, son of a refugee, with
them ; also Mrs. Fletcher's grandson, the Oxonian. I was
amused by a playful denomination of the Oxford parties.
They consist of Hampden and the Arians, Newman and the
Tractarians, Palmer and the Retractarians, and Golightly and
the Detractarians.
In other respects, it gives me no pleasure
to see that the pro-Popery spirit is stirring in the young men
at Oxford.

C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 31st January, 1845.

dined this day with Rogers, the Dean of the poets. We
had an interesting party of eight. Moxon, the publisher,
Kenny, the dramatic poet (who married Mrs. Holcroft, now
become an old woman), himself decrepit without being very
old, Spedding, Lushington, and Alfred Tennyson, three young
men of eminent talent belonging to literary Young England
the latter, Tennyson, being by far the most eminent of the
young poets. His poems are full of genius, but he is fond of
the enigmatical, and many of his most celebrated pieces are
He is an admirer of Goethe, and I had
really poetic riddles.
We waited
a long tete-a-tete with him about the great poet.
who, Rogers said, was coming on
a lady,
for the eighth,
He made
purpose to see Tennyson, whose works she admired.
a mystery of this fair devotee, and would give no name.
It was not till dinner was half over that he was called out
of the room, and returned with a lady under his arm. A lady,
neither splendidly dressed nor strikingly beautiful, as it seemed
A whisper ran along the
to me, was placed at the table.
company, which I could not make out. She instantly joined
our conversation, with an ease and spirit that showed her quite
used to society.
She stepped a little too near my prejudices
by a harsh sentence about Goethe, which I resented. And we
had exchanged a few sentences when she named herself, and I
then recognized the much-eulogized and calumniated Honorable Mrs. Norton, who, } ou may recollect, was purged by a
jury finding for the defendant in a crim. con. action by her
husband against Lord Melbourne. When I knew who she
was, I felt that I ought to have distinguished her beauty and
grace by my own discernment, and not waited for a formal anI

—

336

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

You

nouncement.

19,

are aware that her position in society was,

to a great degree, imperilled.

Barron Field to H.

C. R.

Meadfoot House, Torquay,

16th February, 1845.

your great friend's "Railway Letters " and
How can the man who has been constantly
"Sonnets.".
publishing poetry for the last forty years, and has at last made
that poetry part of the food of the public mind, call himself a
man of "retirement," if he means to include himself? And,
if not, how can he complain that he has at last, by his Lakeand-Mountain poetry, created a desire for realizing some of
I

thank you
.

for

those beautiful descriptions of scenery and elements in the
inhabitants of Liverpool and Manchester, which may possibly
My objecbring them in crowds by railway to Windermere ]
tion to the reasoning of the " Letters " is that,
1. There is
no danger. 2. It would be a benefit to the humbler classes,
greater than the inconvenience to the residents, if there was
any danger. Lastly, I have a personal argument against Mr.
Wordsworth, that he and Rydal can no more pretend to "retirement " than the Queen.
They have both bartered it for
fame. As for Mr. Wordsworth, he has himself been crying
Roast meat all his life. Has he not even published, besides
his poems which have made the district classic ground, an
actual prose " Guide'"?
And now he complains that the decent clerks and manufacturers of Liverpool and Manchester
should presume to flock of a holiday to see the scene of " The
Excursion," and to buy his own " Guide-book " For I utterly

—

deny that the holders of Kendal and Bowness excursion railway tickets would require " wrestling-matches, horse and boat
races, pothouses, or beer-shops."
If they came in crowds
(which I am afraid they would not), it would be as literally to
see the lakes and mountains as the Brighton holiday-ticket ers
go to see the

sea.

—

March 13th.
Talked with Rogers of Sydney Smith, of
whose death we had just heard. Rogers said, in answer to the
question, How came it that he did not publicly show his
powers 1 " He had too fastidious a taste, and too high an idea
of what ought to be."
But to that I replied " He might have
written on temporary subjects as a matter of business
he
might have written capital letters." Rogers spoke highly of
:

;

—

337

ON WISE CHARITY.

1845.]

Mrs. Barbauld, and related that Madame D'Arblay said she
peated every night Mrs. Barbauld's famous stanza,

—

" Life,

we 've been

re-

long together."

—

Called on Wordsworth at Moxon's.
The Poet
April 25th.
Laureate is come on purpose to attend the Queen's Ball, to
which he has a special invitation, and for which he has come
up three hundred miles. He goes from Rogers's this evening
with sword, bag-wig, and court-dress.
May 2d. My second breakfast. Wordsworth was kept
away by indisposition. I had with me Archdeacon Robinson,
our new Master of the Temple, Quayle, S. Naylor, Dr. Booth,
The last mentioned a mot of one Sylvester: "When
&c.
people tire of business in town, they go to retire in the coun-

—

try."

— This

day I attained my seventieth year, and
consider old age is commencing ; and I hope I
shall be able to keep the resolution I have formed, from henceforth to be more liberal in expense to myself, and not fear indulgences which I may practise without harm to myself or

May

13th.

from this

others.

far as others are concerned, I less

need this admo-

nition.

H. C. R. to a Friend.

dear Friend,

—

30 Russell Square, 2d June, 1845.

would be an abuse of the privilege
of friendship were I to say a w ord in reply to your letter as
far as it is an explanation of your conduct \ of that, indeed,
It would be inconsistent with
all explanation is superfluous.
my sincere regard for you, to suppose for a moment that you
do not precisely what you ought to do. But, in perfect consistency with this feeling, I am anxious to say a word on a
suggestion in your letter, which seems to imply a general
rule of conduct, which I should deprecate as tending to disturb all our notions of right and wrong, and even the relations
It

life.

It is this

That a person
enables

him both

guished place in

—

enjoyment of a large income, which
and hold a distinforming, in fact, one of the arissociety,

in the

to accumulate a fortune,

—

and allowing himself all the indulgences of that class,
and having at the same time considerable family claims on
tocracy,

him,

—

is warranted in considering the consequent expenditure, not as deductions from his income, but as the objects of
VOL. II.
15
Y

338

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. LChap.

19.

that charitable fund which, in some proportion to their income,
personal expenditure, and accumulation, all men set apart, as
This has been the sense of the beta self-imposed social tax.
ter part of mankind ever since there have been rich and poor,
which sense Moses first, among legislators, formalized by instituting tithes,

Now

and

changed

its

character.

wealthy men encourage such
an idea as this, they may be led to stand aloof from their fellow-citizens in works of beneficence, even those of a local description which seem to be most imperative ; and these they
I feel strongly this, that if

may

allow persons infinitely their inferiors in station, and of
means, to perform alone. In a word, with them,
charity would not only begin, it would end, at home.

far smaller

I could not be comfortable until I had put
thought into clear language ; begging you again to be
assured that I say this, not as bearing on the particular occasion of my former letter, but simply as an earnest protest

dear friend,

this one

against the general idea as a rule of conduct.

H. C. R. to Paynter.
30 Russell Square, 11th November, 1845.

.... Of

your London friends I have very little to say.
I shall breakfast to-morrow with Mr. Rogers, and I hope have
But she is bea tolerable account of Miss Rogers to report.
coming very feeble. Last week I called, and was at first told
she was out ; but the old German butler could not lie in German, whatever he could do in English, and confessed that it
was her power of enjoying her friends' company that was not
at home.
[Reference has already been made to Robert Robinson, of
Cambridge, noted in his day, not only as a writer and a
" I can testify,"
preacher, but also as a sayer of good things.
says H. C. R, "that, half a century ago, in all Dissenting
circles, the bons mots of Robinson formed a staple of after-dinner conversation, as now do in all companies the facetiae of the
Rev. Canon of St. Paul's, against whom Episcopal ill-will has
been unable to produce any retort more pungent than the
During the year 1845, H. C.
character of a facetious divine."
R. put on paper a few anecdotes, which had been " floating in
his memory between forty and fifty years," and they- were
printed in a monthly periodical

entitled

the Christian Re-

ROBINSONIANA.

1845.]

— THE

WAGER

339

LOST.

did not pledge himself for their authenticity, nor
The Editor has been repeatedly urged
not on any account to omit these characteristic stories.]

former*

their verbal accuracy.

When Eobinson first occupied the pulpit of the Baptist
meeting at Cambridge, he was exposed to annoyances from the
younger gownsmen. They incurred no danger of rustication,
being put out of sizings, or even suffering an imposition, for
kind.
He succeeded, however, in the
coarse of a few years, in effecting a change, and, Mr. Dyer
says, became popular with a large class.
It was soon after
his settlement there that a wager arose among a party of undergraduates.
One of them wagered that he would take his
station on the steps of the pulpit, with a large ear-trumpet in
his hand, and remain there till the end of the service.
Accordingly, he mounted the steps, put the trumpet to his ear,
and played the part of a deaf man with all possible gravity.
His friends were in the aisle below, tittering at the hoax ; the
congregation were scandalized but the preacher alone seemed
irregularities of that

•

The sermon was on God's
mercy,
or whatever the subject might have been at first, in
due time it soon turned to that, and the preacher proceeded to
insensible to

—

this effect

what was going

on.

—

my Christian friends, does the mercy of God
extend to the most enormous of criminals, so that none, however guilty, may not, if duly penitent, be partakers of the divine grace ; but also there are none so low, so mean, so worthless, as not to be objects of God's fatherly solicitude and care.
Indeed, I do hope that it may one day be extended to "
and
then, leaning over the pulpit, he stretched out his arm to its
utmost length, and placing it on the head of the gownsman,
" to this silly boy "
finished his sentence
The wager was lost, for the trumpet fell, and the discomfited
"

Not

only,

—

stripling bolted.

A well-known member of the Norfolk Circuit, Hart, afterwards Thorold, related to me, that he once fell in with an
elderly officer in the old Cambridge coach to London, who made
inquiries concerning Robinson. " I
" in this very coach when I was a

met him," said the stranger,
young maty and when my
tone of conversation was that universal among young officers,
and I talked in a very free tone with this Mr. Eobinson. I
* Then under the editorship of the Rev. R. B. Aspland.

;

340

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

19.

did not take him for a clergyman, though he was dressed in
black ; for he was by no means solemn ; on the contrary, he
But there was one very odd thing
told several droll stories.
about him, that he continually interlarded his stories with an
This seemed so strange, that
exclamation, Bottles and corks !
I could not help at last asking him why he did so, saying they
Don't they %
did not seem to improve his stories at all.
said Mr. Robinson ; I 'm glad to know that, for I merely used
Experiment
said I
those words by way of experiment.'
Why, I will tell you. I rather
how do you mean that V
pride myself on story-telling, and wish to make my stories as
good as they can be. Now, I observed that you told several
very pleasant stories, and that you continually make use of
B t me &c, &c.
such exclamations as, G d d n it
Now, I can't use such words, for they are irreverent towards
the Almighty, and I believe actually sinful ; therefore I wanted
to try whether I could not find words that would answer the
purpose as well, and be quite innocent at the same time.'
All this, " said the officer, "was said in so good-humored a
tone, that I could not possibly take offence, though apt
enough to do so. The reproof had an effect on me, and very
much contributed to my breaking myself of the habit of profane swearing."
'

—

(

—

Eobinson was acrimonious against the supporters of what he
deemed the corruptions in the Church and State, and especially
intolerant of dulness.

Arguing awhile with a dull adversary,

who had nothing better

to allege against Robinson's reasonings
" You do
of, / do not see that,

than the frequent repetition

—

" do you see this % " taking
not see it " retorted Robinson,
" Of
a card out of his pocket and writing God upon it.
course I do," said his opponent; "what then'?"
" Do you
see it now i " repeated Robinson,
at the same time covering
" I suspect not."
the word with a half-crown piece,
!

—
—

Among

—

Robinson's most eminent qualities were his didactic
He was a great favorite with children.
It is many years since I heard the
following relation
" I went one morning into the house of a friend.
The
ladies were busy preparing a packet for one of the children
at school.
Betsy, a little girl between five and six years old,
was playing about the room. Robinson came in, when this

talents, as well out of as in the pulpit.

—

1845.]

341

CHILD'S LETTER.

Well, Betsy, would not you like to send a
B. Yes, I should.
B. Why don't you ?
B. 0 yes
R. Shall I write for you ]
B. I can't write.
R. Well, get me some pen, ink, and
I wish you
The child brought them.
R. Now, it must be your
paper.
I give you the use of my hand ; but you must tell
letter.
R. You don't know
B. I don't know.
me what to say.
though you love your brother so much. Shall I find somepray do.
B. 0 yes
thing for you
R. Well, then, let 's
Last night the house was burnt down from
see Dear Tommy,
don't say that.
B. No
top to bottom.
R. Why not i
B.
R. What
'Cause it is n't true.
you have learned you must
I am glad you have learned so
not write what 's not true.
much. Stick to it as long as you live. Never write what is
not true. But you must think of something that is true.
Come, tell me something.
B. I don't know.
R. Let 's see
The kitten has been playing with its tail this quarter of an hour.
B. No,, don't write that.
R. Why should not I write that 1
I have seen that myself.
B. 'Cause that 's silly ;
It 's true
Tommy don't want to know anything about the kitten and its
Why, my dear \ I see you know a
R. Good again
tail.
It is not enough that a
good deal about letter-writing.
thing is true ; it must be worth writing about. Do tell me
R. Shall I write this
B. I don't know.
something to say.

dialogue followed

—
—
would. —

Tommy

letter to

—

—
—
—

—

;

—

You

—
—

—

—
—
—
—
—

—

HI be glad to hear that

Sammy

—
—
is

quite recovered

from

B. 0 yes
do write
B. 'Cause Tomthat ?
my loves Sammy dearly, and will be so glad to hear he 's got
R. Why, Betsy, my dear, you know how to write
well again.
a letter very well, if you will give yourself a little trouble.
the small-pox

that.

— R.

and come down

And why

should

stairs ?

I write

—

Now, what next 1

This is part of a story told after dinner at the table of the
late Mr. Edward Randall, of Cambridge, an old friend of Mr.
I have repeated as
Robinson, and one of his congregation.
much as suits a written communication.* A pretty long
letter was produced, and the little girl was caressed and
praised for knowing so well how to write a letter ; for she was
made to utter a number of simple truths, such as an infant
mind can entertain and reproduce. I recollect it was re j
marked by one of the company, that this little dialogue was
* In repeating the story, H. C. R. represented one of Robert Robinson's suggestions to be " Brother
has been very naughty, and would not leam
his lessons." To which the little girl objected that it would be unkind. So the
:

letter

was

to include nothing unkind.

342

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

19.

in the spirit of Socrates and it was added by another, what
no one disputed, that such an anecdote, embodying such a
letter, and found in Xenophon, would have held a prominent
;

place

among the Memorabilia.

In the days when Robinson flourished, an imputation of
scepticism as to the existence of a personal Devil influencing
It was at
the actions of men was fatal to religious character.
a meeting of ministers that Robinson once overheard one of
them whisper to another, that on that essential point of faith
he was not sound. " Brother brother " he cried out, " don't
How do you think I can dare to look you
misrepresent me.
in the face, and at the same time deny the existence of a
Devil 1 Is he not described in Holy Writ as the accuser of the
!

brethren ?
On another occasion, a good but not very wise man asking
him, in a tone of simplicity and surprise, " Don't you believe
in the Devil % "
Robinson answered him in like tone, " 0
"
don't you %
dear, no
/ believe in God,
!

—

Mr. Robinson was in the habit of delivering an evening
and on such occasions, after the service,
enjoyed a pipe in the vestry, attended by a few of his hearers.
It was from one of these, then present, a young aspirant to
the ministry, that the following anecdote was derived.
One
evening the party was broken in upon by an unexpected
visitor.
A young Church divine, who had just descended
from his own pulpit, came in full canonicals, in a state of excitement.
He said he was threatened with a prohibition of
his lectures by his bishop, on the ground that they led to acts
of immorality ; and he wanted to know from Mr. Robinson
whether he had any cause, from his own observation in his
own chapel, to think that there was any foundation for the
pretence.
Robinson, having answered his inquiry, took the
opportunity of expatiating on the obstruction thus threatened
against the preaching of the Gospel, and went so far as to exhort the young divine to relieve himself from such oppression
and come out from among the ungodly pointing out to him
that the means would not be wanting
among the persons
then present were those who would assist in procuring a piece
of ground and. erecting a building, &c, &c.
The seed, however,
was cast on stony ground and produced no fruit. The young
divine departed, exclaiming as he left the room, The Lord will
lecture on a week-day,

;

1846.]

SIMEON.

— SOCIETY

AT RYDAL.

343

provide ! And, whether it came from the. Lord or not, in the
end there was an ample provision. In a few years he became
the founder of an
the most popular preacher in Cambridge,
Evangelical and Low Church party, which was for many years
triumphant, but is now threatened with discomfiture by the
successful rivalry of a youthful Arminian and High Church
The young divine
party, known by the name of Puseyites.
was Charles Simeon.

—

Robinson was desirous of repressing the conceit which so
often leads the illiterate to become instructors of their brethren ; yet on one occasion, in opposition to wT hat seemed to him
" I have in my
a disposition to undue interference, he said
:

The other morning,
pigsty ten white pigs and one black one.
as I passed by, I heard the black pig squeaking away lustily,
and I thought to myself, that 's pig language I don't understand it, but perhaps it pleases the white ones they are quiet
:

enough."

CHAPTER

XX.

1846.

H. C. R. to T. R.

Rydal Mount, January

....

It would answer no purpose to tell

1846.

you day by day
it would be but

with whom, and where, I ate and drank, for
the Wordsworths,
ringing the changes on the same names,
Fletchers, Arnolds, and Martineaus, in a variety of combinations.
And were I to tell you of my several walks between
Ambleside and Grasmere, as you unluckily do not know the
country, the names would not bring to your mind the images
which they raise in the minds of all who do know it.
On Wednesday, H. Martineau dined here to meet Moxon,
who has been on a week's visit, and leaves us to-day. She

—

was very communicative on Mesmerism. On Monday, I took
her to Mrs. Fletcher's.
The friendship of these ladies ought
to be strong, for it is tried as well by politics as by physics.
Though both are Whigs, they embrace different sides on the
last question of public interest.
H. Martineau swears by her

344

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

20.

friend Grey ; Mrs. Fletcher is an out-and-out admirer of Lord
John, and therefore cannot forgive the young Earl for breaking
up the new-born Cabinet. Miss Martineau says, the Spectator's account of the breaking up is the true one.
I hope you
read the admirable article on Sir Robert Peel in last week's
Examiner. If not, go to the Pigeons to read it. Even Wordsworth applauds it, because, he says, there is a substratum of
serious truth in the midst of a profusion of wit and banter.
H. Martineau, as well as H. C. R, is a sort of a Peelite, but
the Wordsworths are utterly against him. However, you
know that my love and admiration of the poet were never carried over to the politician.
He is a Protectionist, but much
more zealously of the Church than of the land. I go to London with great expectations of what the revived Ministry will
effect.
The Whigs will to a man support Sir Robert. The
agricultural party will not succumb tamely.
It will be the
country against the town, and the contest will be to the full

much an

affair of interest as of principle.

—

January 7th.
(Rydal.) This evening Wordsworth related
a pretty anecdote of his cookmaid. A stranger who was shown
about the grounds asked to see his stud?/. The servant took
him to the library, and said, " This is master's library, but
he studies in the fields."
February 18th.
I spent an agreeable afternoon at Edwin
Field's.
A very rising and able man was there, just beginning
His name is
to be one of the chiefs of the Chancery Bar.
Rolt.
He has been employed by Edwin Field in the Appeal in
I have seldom
the Irish case coming on before the Lords.
seen a more impressive person.
I walked from Hampstead to
town with him.
April 5th.
I went to the Essex Street Chapel, and heard a
sermon on the sin against the Holy Ghost. I enjoyed it
much, and thought with regret how much I have lost by not

—

attending before.*
April lJf.th.
(Bury.)
I had a three hours' walk with DonWe walked
aldson, the head-master of the Grammar School.

—

* H. C. R. became after this a regular attendant at Essex Street Chapel, and
frequently expressed the great pleasure he had in the services of the Rev. T.
Madge, the successor of the Rev. T. Belsham. Mr. Madge was at one time minister at Bury St. Edmunds, H. C. R.'s native place; and another ground of sympathy between the two was a warm admiration of Wordsworth, in the days
when the appreciators of Wordsworth were few. When H. C. R. was on circuit at Norwich, he frequently used to call on the Rev. T. Madge, then minister
of the Octagon Chapel, to talk about the productions of their favorite poet.

NON-CON. DINNER.

1846.]

345

round by the Fornham Road, and back by the East Gate.
Our talk was on religion. His liberality surprised and deHe showed me the proof of his forthcoming artilighted me.
cle on Bunsen's " Egypt " in the Quarterly Review.
He goes
beyond Kenrick in liberality. He wishes Kenrick to know
hereafter that the article was written last September, and
finished and in print before the appearance of Kenrick's work
on primeval history. In this article he has expressed himself
strongly against plenary inspiration.

declares himself to

Church doctrines, but avails himself of the
glorious latitude which the Church allows. He maintains that
only the Calvinist and the Romanist are excluded from the
Church the Calvinist on account of the doctrine of election
and denial of baptismal regeneration.
He referred to a
be a believer in

all

)

Bampton Lecturer, Archbishop Lawrence, in proof that the
He says many of the
Anglican Articles are not Calvinistic.
Anglican Articles are in the words of Melanchthon, whom
Calvin hated.
He declares himself a Trinitarian, but in his
explanation he does not deny what is called Sabellianism; and
regeneration is not sanctifi cation.
He blames Dissenters for
needlessly leaving the Church.
June Jftlu
I took the chair at a dinner, at which there
were many of our friends. I must have spoken* too much, for
scarcely any one else spoke.
I had at my right Booth and
Field, at my left Robberds and James Heywood.
I gave the
Queen and Prince Albert with becoming brevity, and then the
three toasts,* all at some length.
I began by joking on requiring conformity to Non-con. toasts, and on our name according to Goethe, the Devil being the old original Non-con. I
eulogized the 2,000, not for their theology, but for their integrity alone.
I was most at length on Milton.
I stated
why we had elected him to be our patron saint, not for his
great poems (characterized), but for his labors for liberty.
In

—

;

the third toast, " Civil and Religious Liberty," &c, I asserted
that liberty had nothing to do with popular power.
June 13th.
I dined at Raymond's f with a singular variety of notabilities, viz. Macready, Talfourd, Madge, Forster
of the Daily News, Pettigrew, Ainsworth, Pryce, and, at the
bottom, Sir Thomas Marrable, or something like it.
What a
mixture
representatives of the stage, the bar, Unitarian
preaching, the periodical press, and Newgate school of romance ;

—

* See

—

ante, pp. 286, 287.

15*

Author of " Life of

Elliston."

346

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

20.

but, before that, I should have said, antiquarian and medical
literature.

—

An interesting day. I breakfasted early, and at
June 16th.
ten was at the White Horse, Piccadilly, and went by an omnibus before eleven, which set me down near Mr. Field's.* I
I was delighted with his menage
spent seven hours with him.
and his account of himself. He is living in a small house
under the Duke of Northumberland, and leads a life of study.
He has improved his income by making colors for painters,
and all his philosophy has sprung out of his perception of the
He calls
a triplicity in color as in sounds.
law of nature,
himself a Trinitarian, but his doctrine is perfectly philosophical.
He gives no offence by explaining himself to those who
could not but misunderstand him.

—

T. R. to H. C. R.

Bury

St.

Edmunds, Thursday, June

10, 1846.

have now passed another night, and fully believe that I am
stronger, but still liable any moment to a seizure, out of which
I contemplate death, and all its conseI shall never recover.
quences, with perfect composure, and have certain conceptions
of a f uture existence, which I imagine would not have arisen in
my mind without foundation. I read with pleasure, unknown
before, such sentiments as are expressed in the Psalms and
I

other devotional parts of the Holy Scriptures.
But still I feel
no disposition to build any hopes of a hereafter upon a booh ;
and without the experience of what has passed of a sort of
revelation in my own mind, I should not think much of any
written words.

H. C. R. to T. R.
30

The tone
ous, that I

Russell Square, 12th June.

you has been so serifew letters have been
ought not to have dwelt so

of the last three letters from

am now

sensible that

last

of too light a character, and that I
exclusively as I have done on the amusements of the current

* George Field is an elderly gentleman, a character, living in retirement at
He is a metaphysician of the
Isleworth, where he writes philosophical books.
Greek school, and is a sort of unconscious partisan of the German philosophy,
of which he in fact knows nothing. He has written practical works on Chromatics, and has earned an independence by preparing colors for artists. He ia
H. C. R.
a man of simple habits, and lives a sort of hermit life.

—

•

GRAVE THOUGHTS

1846.]

week.

OLD AGE.

347

Whether this be so or not, I ought not certainly to go
same way, without answering especially your last

in the

You remark on the serious convictions which, with
unusual strength, have of late forced themselves on your
mind, and add that, without these personal convictions, the
truths or facts stated in a mere booh could not produce any
such effect.
Now, I believe that what you here state as a personal feeling is a general impression and that, in almost all cases, those
ultimate impressions which have obtained the name of faith,
or belief, are to be ascribed to the correspondence of the evidence or doctrine stated in revelation with the moral or religious sentiments which have grown up in each individual, and

letter.

;

which constitute his personal character. And this fact it is
which serves to explain the great diversity of opinion that
arises in individual minds contemplating the very same external thing, be it called doctrine or proof of doctrine.
It is
otherwise quite incomprehensible how it has happened that so
great a variety, amounting even to a contrariety, of 6pinion

has been formed concerning the doctrines contained in the
same work or book. All the Christian sects maintain that their
peculiar doctrines are at least not at variance with the Scriptures ; some confess that their opinions are founded on the
decision of the Church, in which are found doctrines that are
developments of what exists only in a seminal or rudimental
state in the Scriptures ; but most sects assert that all their
Now it seems
opinions and doctrines -are in the Scriptures.
at first very strange that two systems so opposed as Calvinism
and Unitarianism should be founded on the same Scriptures.
that the Calvinist
This can only be explained in this way,
and Unitarian alike bring a mind strongly imbued with preconceived sentiments, and a predisposition to certain notions,
which it is not dfficult for a pliant, active, and predetermined
mind to find in the Scriptures. In no case whatever can any
book carry conviction, unless there be a correspondence or harmony between the book and the mind of the recipient. A
man believes because his own heart beats in sympathy with
the annunciations of the teacher ; and where this sympathy is
strong and complete, the believer does not ask for evidence or
The doctrines prove themselves and hence that curiproof.
ous fact, that the most pious and devout of believers are those
who never ask for evidence. To inquire for it is in itself the
sign of an unbelieving or sceptical mind.

—

;

348

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap,

20.

[In the autumn of 1846, H. C. R. made a tour to Switzerland and North Italy.
The only extracts which will be made
from his journal of this tour are two, in reference to the Rev.
F. W. Robertson, wT hom he met at Heidelberg, and with whom
he afterwards became intimately acquainted.]
October 23d.
(Heidelberg.)
I had an interesting companion at the table-dlwte, in a young clergyman, Robertson,
who has a curacy at Cheltenham, and, not being in good health,
has got a few months' holiday.
He is now earnestly studying
German literature. We were soon engaged in a discussion on
the character of Goethe, as a man, and of most points of moHe intimated a wish to take a
rality connected therewith.
walk with me next day, and we have since become quite cordial.
He is liberal in his opinions ; and though he is alarmed
by the Puseyites, he seems to dislike the Evangelicals much
more.
I like him much.
October 25th.
(Sunday.) Went to the English chapel,
a
room in the Museum, where I heard an admirable sermon from
Mr. Robertson ; one much too good to be thrown away on a
congregation of forty or fifty persons.
The subject was the
revolution in Judasa, when the people required a king, being
He actired of the theocracy, or government of the Judges.
counted for this offence ; and showed that the people were
drawn to the commission of it by the corruption of the priests
(who appropriated to themselves a portion of the sacrifice,
which belonged to God), the injustice of the aristhe fat,
tocracy, and consequent degradation of the people.
All this
he applied to the Irish, and ascribed their peculiarly oppressed
condition to the English government, for enacting the penal
laws.
The picture he drew of the poverty even of the English was very striking, and even affecting.
I was led to give'
twice what I intended.
December 15th.
(Bury.)
In the afternoon took a walk by
appointment with Donaldson and Donne to Horringer. A
most entertaining walk for we all three emulated each other
in the narration of good things, epigrams, &c.
But what I
consider of real importance, enough certainly for a note in this
book, is that I consider this day as the commencement of an
acquaintance with Mr. Donne. (Cowper's mother was a Donne.)
The following witticism was related by the latter. Being one
day at Trinity College, at dinner, he was asked to write a motto
for the College snuff-box, which was always circulating on the
dinner-table. " Considering where wT e are," said Donne, " there
*
could be nothing better than Quicunque vult

—

;

1846.]

DONALDSON AND DONNE.

—A

349

LIST OF CLASSICS.

Prince
I will add two or three anecdotes by Donaldson.
Metternich said to Lord Dudley " You are the only Englishman I know who speaks good French. It is remarked, the
common people in Vienna speak better than the educated men
" That may well be," replied Lord Dudley.
in London."
" Your Highness should recollect that Buonaparte has not been
" There is no middle
twice in London to teach them."
course," said Charles X. to Talleyrand, " between the Throne
" Your Majesty forgets the Post-chaise."
and the Scaffold."
A German professor gave this etymology of the terms liberates
and serviles among the German politicians. The one party
will sek?' viel haben (have a great deal); the other "lieber
:

—

alles " (rather everything).

— Among my

brother's papers I found a MS.
words, a very characteristic writing
" Rousseau, Euripides, Tasso, Racine, Cicero, Virgil, Petrarch,
If I had five millions of years to live upon this
Richardson.
earth, these I would read daily with increasing delight.
C. L.
January 4, 1807."

December 20th.

by Capel

Lofft, in these

—

H. C. R. to T. R.
Athenaeum, London, 26th December,

Though

this is the season of festivity, yet

1846.

you must not

ex-

pect a gay letter* or an account of parties of pleasure.
This
will not be a melancholy, and yet it will be a grave letter, and
I will give it the form of a diary, and so I shall bring in all I
have to tell you.
Monday.
This was not a very disastrous journey (Bury
to Cambridge), but still it was not one of prosperity ; Beeton
and the proprietor at Newmarket thought proper, in spite of
remonstrances, so to overload the " Cornwallis " with turkeys,
&c, that the horses could not get on, and we did not reach
Cambridge till a quarter of an hour after the two o'clock train
had left.
set off again at 3 p. m. ; but as to what then
occurred,
are they not written in the Times newspaper of
the following Thursday 1 and would it not be a waste of good
paper, good ink, and a good pen, to repeat for your private ear
what is there recorded for the public %
Tuesday.
I called this morning at young John Walter's,
who has taken a house on the opposite side of Russell Square,
and I was induced to accept an invitation to join a family party
there in the afternoon.
In consequence of Alsager's death, it

—

350

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

20.

has been necessary to make new arrangements in Printing
House Square.
The next day I dined alone with John Walter, Sen., and
his wife, in Printing House Square.
I am sorry to say that
Mr. Walter is visited by a very alarming malady,
a swelling
under his chin. He has had the advice of several of the most
eminent surgeons. It is a favorable circumstance that his
sister some years back had a similar attack, and recovered
from it. Walter reminded me of his having known me now
w ithin a few weeks of forty years, and intimated in a flattering way that he had had a confidence in me wT hich he had
not had in any other of his numerous literary acquaintance.
Mrs. Walter thanked me w armly, and begged me to go and
dine with them in the same manner next week, which I mean

—

to do.

Walter and

of an age.
Should this complaint
be another memento arising from the rapid
falling off of one's contemporaries.
But I will. now vary with a cheerful subject this gloomy remark. You will receive with this letter a paper signed by my
friend Dr. Boott, which he gave me to send to a surgeon at
When you have read it, I will thank you to put it unBury.
der a cover, and send it to Messrs. Smith and Wing. Assuming, what Dr. Boott seems to have no doubt of, that the discovery the paper gives an account of fulfils alf that at the first
appearance it seems to promise, this discovery will be felt by
you, as it has been by me, to be a personal gain ; for, it would
seem that, by so simple an expedient as the inhaling of ether, a
person may be put into a state of stupor or intoxication, in which
the most serious, and otherwise the most painful, of operations
may be performed without any suffering to the patient. But
I have done wrong in
read the paper and then forward it.
keeping it, for perhaps the news may have already reached
the members of the faculty at Bury.
Yesterday passed very agreeably. My breakfast went off
very well, though the omelette which my niece advised me to
have was a failure ; I had a partie quarree.
To meet Donaldson, I had Sir Charles Fellows, the traveller, and Samuel
Sharpe, the historian of Egypt.
Fellows and I modestly retreated, and left the field to the two scholars.
I could not bear the idea of dining at my club on Christmas
day, and therefore I invited myself to dine with Bobert Procter and contribute my share to the doing justice to the turkey,

prove

I are just

fatal, it will

—
THE COLLIERS AND PROCTERS.

1847.]

which was

all

one could wish.

dinner, consisting of Procter
and children.

351

ROBERTSON.

We had a party of eighteen at
and John Collier, and their wives

is no family not allied to me by blood that I feel so
attached to as that of the Colliers and Procters, and
they deserve it. John is an excellent man, an enthusiast for
He labors for nothing, that is for no money, in the
literature.
Shakespeare Society, of which he is the chief.

There

much

CHAPTER XXL
1847.
[During the present and following years, two subjects especially occupied
the time and thoughts of H. C. R. One was the foundation of some memopassing of the Dissenters' Chapels Bill. An institution for college
residents, which should be connected with University College, and at which
the free study of theology should be promoted, seemed to be a fitting memorial of such a triumph of civil and religious liberty.
On the 30th of January
H. C. R.'s Rydal visit was cut short in order "to join Edwin Field in a miswhole week was spent between Liversion in favor of a projected college.
pool, Manchester, and Birmingham."
visit to the West of England for the
same purpose, and in the same company, was made later in the year. H. C. R.
was on the committee to form and carry out the plan, and when trustees and
council were appointed, he was included in both. The diary frequently has
notes of conferences which took place.
Only such extracts, however, will be
given as are necessary to indicate the chief steps in the progress of the scheme.
The other object of especial interest was the carrying out of Miss Denman's
wish to have Flaxman's collected works preserved and exhibited to advantage
in some public building.
An application was made to the government, and
communications took place on the subject with the Hon. Spring Rice but the
project fell through.
The idea of having a Flaxman Gallery at University
College, London, originated with H. C. R., and by his exertions chiefly, from
beginning to end, was carried into effect. Nor was the undertaking by any
means a light one. Before the offer to the college could be made there were
some legal difficulties to be overcome and after the offer had been made and
accepted, a considerable sum of money
much larger than was at first expected
had to be raised to make the necessary arrangements at the college
for the reception and proper exhibition of so fine a collection of art treasures.
Not to weary the reader with details, the extracts given in this instance also
will be simply such as will serve to report progress.]
rial of the

;

—

JANUARY

—

— Robertson, my Heidelberg

acquaintance,
long and pleasant
chat,
very pleasant indeed.
He has given up his curacy
at Cheltenham, but not renounced the Church as a profes-

took

—

Jfth.

me by

surprise at breakfast.

sion.

had at breakfast with

W. Newman, Empson, Don-

352

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

21.

It was one of the most agreeable breakever had.
Newman I was much pleased with, and
proud to have at my table. He is an unaffected man, and has
a spirituality in his eye, which his voice and manner and conversation confirm.
I feel that Donaldson and I are forming a

aldson,

fasts

and Kenyon.

friendship.

C. R. to T. R.

Rydal Mount, 23d

You make

my words were

little

mistake in quoting what

January, 1847.

had

said as if

that I preferred the Church to Dissenters.

What

—

The

meant,
and I have said the
was, I prefer Dissent to the Church, but I
same to Milman,
He laughed, and said,
like Churchmen better than Dissenters.
" I believe that is the case with many." *
I make a similar
point

lost

distinction

this.

—

between the parties in the Church.

opposed

to the pretensions of the High Church, but I like the PuseyIn this respect also I have
ites better than the Evangelicals.

no doubt you feel as I do ; and this distinction between persons and principles is of great moment, and very sad mistakes

We are perpetually misled
are made when it is disregarded.
when we suffer our dislike to persons to influence our conduct
with respect to the principles which such persons profess.
When I say we, I mean all men. I suspect that your dislike
to the low-bred Rads of Bury, and mme to the intolerant Calvinistic Dissenters, has had somewhat more effect than it
ought on both of us. Cookson, Grey, and the Fletchers constitute the liberal party here.
They have had a casual reinforcement of two young clergymen of the Whately and Arnold
school
one of whom has made this very remarkable declaration, that when he was about to receive ordination he told the
bishop that he had difficulties. To me he made the declaration that he did not believe in the Athanasian Creed.
The
bishop said, he had only two questions to ask him " Did he
approve of an established Church as the means of training up
" Did he prefer any other
men to be Christians % " He did
" That was enough."
Church to the Anglican ? " He did not
To this I said that I could on those terms be myself a clergyman. We Dissenters are in the habit of abusing the laxity
of principle that allows of this.
Now, though I could not
;

* The saying of Charles II., that Presbyterianism was not the religion of
a gentleman, has done more for the Established Church than a whole library
of polemical writings.
H. C. R., 1852.

—

ON HALLAM.

1847.]

—

WALTER.

—

DR.

BRABANT.

353

on such terms take orders, yet I rejoice that others can.
I mean the
Were all men rigidly scrupulous on such points,
the Church would be filled by
points of heretical notions,
corrupt or infatuated men, who would alike profess orthodoxy,
and the best men would be the most mischievous.

—

30th.
(Kydal.)
I learned from
that when
* took orders in the Church, he delivered into the hands
of the bishop who ordained him a protest, declaring his disbelief in the Athanasian Creed, to which no objection was
taken.
This morning I had more talk with Wordsworth than on
any day since I came. He had his usual flow of conversation.
We spoke of literature. He delivered an opinion unfavorable
to Hallam's judgment on matters of taste and literature in his
great history.
I have, to-day, read an equally low estimate
of Hallam's judgment of Martin Luther, in a note in Hare's
" Mission of the Comforter."

January

H. C.

to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 25th February.

who has had no slight effect on my course
John Walter, the conlying dangerously ill,
He suffers
troller rather than the proprietor of the Times.
under a complication of complaints. He is an amiable man.
I never saw any act that I could justly characterize as unprincipled.
And as to the vulgar notion of bribery, that proves
only a low state of moral feeling in those who, without evidence, are so ready to account for what they disapprove of.

old friend,

life, is

—

now

—

Mr. Murch's introduction has
March 18th,
(Devizes.)
proved a very great pleasure,
I should say, is proving ; for
I am in the middle of the day, having spent a delightful morning, and being in expectation of an equally delightful evening.

—

That introduction was to Dr. Brabant, a retired physician.
After breakfasting, and taking a walk by the canal, dug since
my school-days, I left my letter at Dr. Brabant's. I then
walked to the Green, which brought to my mind seeing my
mother on the stage-coach in the summer of 1788, and thinking her altered, and being for a moment pained, f
In my
* A gentleman who
England,
f See Vol. I. p. 8.

now

holds a distinguished position in the Church of

354

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

21.

walks about the town I did not fail to notice the old houses in
which Mr. Fenner and Mr. Crabb lived. Though everything
seemed less to my eye, they are probably even better in reality.
It was about ten when I called a second time, and introduced
myself to the Doctor with whom I have become acquainted,
in four hours, more intimately than with any other man in so
He is about sixty-six years of age,
a slight
short a time.
man, with a scholar-like, gentlemanly appearance, and talks
well.
He followed my example, and gave me an account of
himself. At fifty-six years of age he retired from his profession
After that he went to Germany, having, by
as a physician.
He seems
Coleridge, been induced to study German theology.
We talked freely on many into have known Coleridge well.
teresting subjects.
Theology has been his study. In Germany
he became acquainted with Strauss, of whom he speaks highly.
April 7 th.
A day sadly spoiled by my growing infirmity,
absence of mind.
After going to University College Committee, I went to J. Taylor's, to exchange hats, having taken
I took an omnihis last night ; but he had not mine there.
bus to Addison Road, drank tea with Paynter, and then went
to Taylor's to restore his hat ; and then I found that I had
a second time blundered by bringing Paynter's old hat and I
lost an hour in going to and from Addison Road, and from and
to Sheffield House.
Is this infirmity incurable ?
I fear it is ;
though I record it here to assist me in becoming more on my
guard.
It is a wise saying of Horace Walpole's, " There is
no use in warning a man of his folly, if you do not cure him
of being foolish."
April 10th.
I had a day of exertion,
I might say fatigue.
I went at ten o'clock, with Field and Davison,* to
Donaldson,f and we had a conference about our College
scheme. %
Donaldson's account of the expense has, I see, a little damped Davison's hopes.
Nothing can extinguish Field's,
so sanguine is he.
April Hih.
Called on the Miss Aliens, and then on Mrs.
Coleridge, with whom I had a long chat about her father's
poetry, philosophy, &c. Read Green's recent Hunterian Oration,
which has been so much admired for its eloquence, and which is
a more luminous exposition of some of Coleridge's principles than
has been yet given to the world. I have been writing to Green
;

—

;

—

* Translator of Schlosser's " History of the Eighteenth Century."
t Professor of Architecture at University College.
| Scheme of building University Hall.

1847.]

FLAXMAN GALLERY.

— MARY LAMB'S FUNERAL.

355

to-day, congratulating him on the work, and the prospect of
public opinion in favor of the Master's notions.
I went early to Wordsworth, at his nephew's,
April 26th.
in the West Cloisters, and sat with him while young Wyon
took a model of his head, for a bas-relief medallion.
May 16th. My brothers were together great part of the
day.
They are both old men in appearance, but Hab looks
What strangers may think of me, in company
the oldest.
with them, I cannot tell.
Our united ages are 225 years, viz.
an unusual family life.
77, 76, 72,
May 25th. This day devoted entirely to Miss Denman's
sad affair with her brother's creditors.
I early received a

—

—
—

note from her, stating that Flaxman's casts, &c, must all be
sold.
I went to her, and found her in a state of great distress.
On this I accompanied Captain Sinclair to Erskine Forbes. I
then went to Edwin Field, who took up Miss Denman's case
with warmth.
He took me to Mr. Bacon,* Q. C, who, as well
as Field himself, from pure love of fine art, will, without fee
or reward, do all that can be done for Miss Denman, or rather
to preserve Flaxman's works for the public.

H. C. R. to T. R.
29th May, 1847.
I attended the
Yesterday was a painfully interesting day.
funeral of Mary Lamb.
At nine a coach fetched me. We
drove to her dwelling, at St. John's Wood, from whence two
coaches accompanied the body to Enfield, across a pretty
country but the heat of the day rendered the drive oppressive.
We took refreshment at the house where dear Charles
Lamb died, and were then driven to our homes. I was fatigued
and glad to rest before going to a feast. The attendant
mourners (a most unsuitable word, for we all felt that her
;

—

departure was a relief to herself and friends) were,
1, Talfourd; 2, Ryal and Arnold (East India clerks), Charles Lamb's
two executors
3, Moxon, whose wife is residuary legatee of
the property, which will consist of a few hundreds, perhaps a
thousand pounds and 4, H. C. R. (we four occupied the first
carriage) ; 5, Martin Burney, a very old friend ; 6, Forster, the
clever writer of the critical articles in the Examiner, and author of " The Lives of Cromwell and other Republican Heroes
of the Seventeenth Century " ; 7, Allsop, author of two vol;

;

* Now Commissioner

of Bankrupts.

356

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

umes on
Lamb,

21.

and Charles
worthy enthusiast and injudicious writer. The
eighth place was intended for Procter, alias Barry Cornwall,
but he failed to attend. His place was filled by a person I
Moxhay, the person
never saw before, an uninvited guest,
who has built the Commercial Hall near the Bank, an institution I have not space to write about.
There was no sadness
assumed by the attendants, but we all talked with warm affection of dear Mary Lamb, and that most delightful of creatures,
Coleridge, an old crony of S. T. Coleridge

—a

—

of all the men of genius I ever knew
her brother Charles,
the one the most intensely and universally to be loved.

Mrs. Arnold to H.

C. E.

June

1st.

Dear Mr. Wordsworth comes forth occasionally to see his old
friends, and yesterday morning, when I saw him slowly and
sadly approaching by our birch-tree, I hastened to meet him,
and found that he would prefer walking with me around our
garden boundary to entering the house and encountering a
larger party.
So we wandered about here, and then I accompanied him to Rydal, and he walked back again with me,
through the great field, as you can so well picture to yourself.
This quiet intercourse gave me an opportunity of seeing how
entirely our dear friends are prepared to bow with submission
No one can tell better than yourself how much
to God's will.
they will feel it, for you have had full opportunities of seeing

completely Dora was the joy and sunshine of their lives ;
by her own composure and cheerful submission and willingness to relinquish all earthly hopes and possessions, she is
teaching them to bear the greatest sorrow which could have

how
but,

befallen them.

—

June 5th.
Denman's bankruptcy case came on before ComIt was agreed that the
Field there.
missioner Goulburn.
casts, moulds, &c. should be delivered up to Miss Denman on
the payment of £120 (or £130) to the official assignee, to
abide the decision of the Commissioner. I paid the money.
The official assignee behaved very kindly, said he thought the
question of law very doubtful, and that the creditors would be
well off if they got £120.
Had a call from Watson,* the sculptor, about
June 10th.

—

' * "Watson's statue of
Gallery.

Flaxman

now

at the

entrance of the Flaxman

357

ON THE LAKE-POETS AND LAMB.

1847.]

casts.
I went with him to University College,
and showed him the things there. He is a zealous admirer of
Flaxman, and has made a statue of him, and would be glad to
have it placed with the works of the master.

Miss Denman's

H. C. E. to T. R.
18th June, 1847.

....

have spent more time than usual in reading at the
Athenaeum and the book which is now interesting me is Mrs.
Coleridge's new edition of her father's "Biographia Literaria."
It has many additions, and is well worth reading by all the adWhoever admires one
mirers of Coleridge and' Wordsworth.
The criticism on Wordsworth's style is elaboadmires both.
rate, and by no means unqualifiedly in favor of the poet but it
Coleridge and Wordsworth ought never
is, in the main, just.
to have been coupled in a class as Lake-poets. They are great
poets of a very distinct, and even opposite, character. Southey,
Lamb had more genius
as a poet, was far below them both.
than Southey, and, as a prose-writer, was even superior to the
two great poets ; for he wrote three styles, or rather, as I
heard Dr. Aikin say, he excelled equally in the pathetic, the
humorous, and the argumentative. Of that knot of great men
only Wordsworth lingers, and he will not attempt to write any
more.
But there is an unpublished poem of great value.
I

;

—

Talking of Archdeacon Hare, Mrs. T
June 19th.
in
answer to my remark that he is prone to idolatry, said " 0
He says he has five Popes,
yes he acknowledges that.
Wordsworth, Niebuhr, Bunsen, F. Maurice, and Archdeacon
Manning." But how when the Popes disagree ]
The most interesting occurrence of the day was
June 30th.
one not looked for I had an intimation that Mr. Walter was
willing to see me. I called at John Walter's, and accompanied
him to Printing House Square and there I saw my poor old
friend on a sofa in the drawing-room, his voice inarticulate, Mrs.
Walter repeating what he said.
He wished me to speak with
Mrs. Walter, so that he could hear.
He said he did not feel
devout enough ; my answer was that his fear proved him to be
devout. I did not stay many minutes. I have a satisfaction in
having had this kind leave-taking, for«I have a very friendly feeling towards him,
indeed, towards the whole family. Went to
a Non-con. meeting, held at the Star and Garter. It was a thin
,

;

—

;

—

358

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

—

21.

—

ten members and four visitors,
but it was agreeMadge was in the chair he said but little, but that little
was good. E. Taylor brought with him the German composer,

meeting,
able.

;

Spohr,

—

lively,

and he professed

a burly

man

in appearance,

but his conversation was

liberal principles.

—

July 1st.
By eleven I was at Dr. Williams's Library, where
a meeting was held of the subscribers to the proposed College,
which takes the name of University Hall The meeting was a
successful one, inasmuch as all the resolutions proposed were in
substance adopted, and there was very little speechifying. The
actual subscriptions were announced to be eight thousand three
A council nominated, and trustees
or four hundred pounds.
appointed for receiving subscriptions and buying land.
I am
both a trustee and in the council.
July 10th. This morning I received a short note from Quil-

—

my precious Dora
Hardly a word more.
July loth.
I was gratified by a call from J. E. Taylor,
who brought with him the Danish romance-writer, Hans

" At one a.
dated yesterday
your true friend
breathed her last."
linan,

—

Christian Andersen, to see

—

Wieland.

July 19th.
Between two and three at Field's, where we
were till six. An important meeting. We signed the contracts with the Duke of Bedford and the builder, for the hiring
of the land (in Gordon Square) and erecting the University
Hall.
The signers were Mark Phillips, James Hey wood, M. P.,
myself, James Yates, Le Breton, Busk, Cookson, E. Field, tfec.
July 30th.
Read in the Times a long eulogy of my friend
John Walter, who died on the preceding day. The article was
eloquently written with some exaggeration in the tone, pardonable on the occasion but not widely deviating from strict
truth.
The topics were judiciously chosen his integrity
affirmed his humanity eulogized his active energy not unjustly represented to have been the source of the unexampled
prosperity of the concern.
Neither his age, nor any of the
ordinary details of a life, mentioned.
I certainly would add
my testimony to his sincerity and his benevolence.
August 22cL
(Bury.) After dining with my brother, I took
a long walk with Donaldson and Donne they are two capital
One mot Donaldson retalkers, both scholars and Liberals.
peated, which I recollect.
Some one peevishly complaining,
" You take the words out of my mouth," Donaldson replied,
" You are very hard to please would you have liked it better
w
if I had made you swallow them 1

—

;

—

;

LAMB'S

1847.]

NEW VOLUME OF

359

LETTERS.

—

I walked from Kew to Mortlake, where I
September 30th.
I dined with her and
found Miss Fenwick half expecting me.
Mrs. Henry Taylor, and had a very interesting chat with her,
She spoke with great kindness of Mr.
partly a tete-a-tete.
Quillinan, to whom she is going to give the notes on Wordsworth's poems which he dictated to her, for she had promised

them

to Mrs. Quillinan.

—

Heard an excellent sermon from Madge. It
was the more remarkable to me, because the sermon was the
expansion of a thought which I had extracted from Bunsen, so
well expressed and so significant that it deserves to become an
axiom: "Let it never be forgotten that Christianity is not
thought, but action ; not a system, but a life"
October 3d.

H. C. R. to T. R.
October

....

14, 1847.

have been closeted with Sergeant Talfourd, both
yesterday and to-day, preparatory to his bringing out a new
volume of Lamb's letters. They will include those he wrote
to Coleridge, both before and after the dreadful act of his sisThey will enhance our admiration
ter's killing his mother.
and love of the man. It appears, from these letters, that
Lamb was himself once in confinement for insanity, which lastTalfourd has doubted whether it is right to
ed a few weeks.
I have given a strong affirmagive publicity to these letters.
tive opinion, and I have no doubt they will soon appear.
October 20th.
Met to-day my Heidelberg acquaintance,
He is as
Mr. F. Robertson, and had a most interesting chat.
but he
liberal as ever, and has already made himself popular
has become the object of denunciation by the High Church
party.
He told me of his having been engaged to preach at a
church at Oxford but having the offer of a chapel at Brighton,
he, with permission of the Bishop, gave up his Oxford incumThe Bishop acted liberally in regard to the Oxford
bency.
church.
Before undertaking it, Robertson frankly told him
his views on the question of baptism, and the Bishop took no
umbrage, but said he liked a difference of opinion on some
I

—

;

points.

—

October 21st.
I had a letter from Edwin Field, informing
that he had succeeded in buying off the claim of Denman's
creditors to Flaxman's works.
The sum to be paid £50. This

me
I

think an admirable compromise, and

did not grudge paying

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

360
for

him

6 to the official assignee.

21.

wrote to Field, to thank

for his successful exertions.

—

I had this morning a letter from Miss Denalmost out of herself with joy at the idea of having
her casts, her I would endeavor to effect.

October

24-th.

She

man.

H.
10

.... Your

C. R. to T. R.

Western Cottages, Brighton,

22d October.

was not written in your usual good
There is no arguing against low spirits. They
spirits
so you must e'en
are very illogical, and never listen to reason
let them have their way ; that is, you must not scold, or bully
them there is no use in that. The best thing is to laugh
them out of countenance but then that 's not my forte, as you
" Henry, you are always
once said of my forensic exertions
as unsuccessful when you are jocular as Storks is when he is
serious."
Not that I perfectly assented to your criticism.
What poet, or orator, ever did to censure of any kind? ....
letter

;

pleasure to hear that Mrs. Clarkson is in such
must not forget that good spirits are a better
test of health than low spirits are of illness.
There is frequently a low state of the spirits, without a really bad state of
health \ but good spirits
different from hysterical high
spirits
are a sign of health not to be disregarded.
It gives

good

spirits.

—

23d October.

.... The

only incident belonging properly to Brighton has
been my finding settled here, as incumbent of one of the
Chapels of Ease, the Mr. Robertson of whom you will find an
account in my letters written from Heidelberg when I was last
there,
the eloquent preacher, who delivered a remarkable
discourse in favor of the Irish.
He is a most liberal man so
liberal that I must apply to him the words he has used of Dr.
Channing, of whose writings he is a great admirer "I wonder
how he can believe so much, and not believe more " only substituting " disbelieve " or " doubt " for "believe."
I repeated
to him yesterday words which I had uttered to Dr. Arnold
" I am as convinced as a man can be on any matter of speculation, that the orthodox doctrines, as vulgarly understood, are
false ; but I have never ventured to deny that possibly there
is an important truth at the bottom of every ono of those doc-

—

;

GARRISON.

1847.]

—

361

W. ROBERTSON.

which they are a misrepresentation." He interposed
between the first and second part of this assertion, " And so
am I " ; and he said nothing when I concluded. He might
have said, and I am perplexed that he did not " I go further
than saying it is possible ; I have no doubt that they are all
This Robertson has alsubstantially true " but he did not.
He says his popularready made a sensation, and is popular.
He has already driven away some High
ity cannot last.
and he preached last Sunday in
Church ladies,
no men,
favor of the Irish, and against the Protestant English, in a
way that must have given great offence. He will be a powertrines of

;

—

ful rival to Sortaine.*

Mr. Estlin to H.

C. R. f
Bristol, October

....

27, 1847.

very glad to learn from you Dr. Boott's opinIn the infallibility of Mr.
ion upon the slavery question.
Garrison's judgment I certainly do not place full confidence,
but unlimited in his singleness of purpose, his noble disinterestI
edness and his indefatigable zeal in the anti-slavery cause.
am, however, compelled to confess that, as regards his judgment
on this subject, what he has effected by his fifteen years of
labor ought to plead for his wisdom ; and those friends who
have longest and most minutely watched his course are very
accordant in their decision that his views have evidenced a proI

phetic sagacity

H. C. R. to T. R.
28th October, 1847.

On Sunday I heard Mr. Robertson preach, and I was very
much pleased with him. He has raised quite a religious tumult here. He is fully aware that his Liberalism will make
many enemies but he ought to rely on it, that for every
;

enemy

he will gain two friends. His eloquence is
such as to seduce a large class who will be neutral on all points
so raised

of doctrine that require consideration and intelligence.

has been several times to see me, and there

no abatement of

his cordiality.

*
very popular and eloquent preacher in Lady Huntingdon's Chapel at
Brighton.
" One of the best of
f On the outside of this letter H. C. R. has Avritten
the Abolitionists, being a very able surgeon, besides an exemplary man in discharge of the common duties of life as well as the special obligations imposed
by the possession of superior abilities in public matters. Son of Dr. Estlin, of
Bristol, a Unitarian minister."
:

VOL.

II.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

362

21,

C. R. to T. E.
5th November, 1847.

On Tuesday there

dined at Masquerier's a clergyman, a man
of family and fortune.
He was connected with old Plumer,
the Herts M. P., whom he visited as a boy, when he played
with Charles Lamb, whose grandmother was the housekeeper.*
I found him familiar with the name of Fordham, as that of a
large Whig family, and in connection with one of whom he
related a good electioneering anecdote. There was a Fordham
who kept a shop, and who, being canvassed, stiffly refused his
And why? " Because you voted against the Repeal of
vote.

the Corporation and Test Acts."
It happened there was
standing in the shop a journeyman with a pimply nose.
Plumer called to him "How long have you been here'?"
" More than twenty years "
" Tell me, don't you like a
" 0 yes "
" And every now and then take a
drop i "
" 0 yes, now and then "
little more than is quite prudent ? "
" See, now," cried out Plumer, "how much better your
:

—

master treats you than he does me ; he has kept you for
twenty years who every now and then have done what you
ought not, and he turns me off for a single fault " The
appeal with either its equity or its humor was successful, and
Plumer got forgiveness from the Non-con. My other acquaintance at Brighton you already have heard enough of. By far
the most remarkable is the Mr. Robertson I have already
named to you. Who would credit such a thing of me ]
I
I went in the evening
heard three sermons last Sunday
to hear Sortaine.
In the morning and afternoon I stood in the
!

—

gallery of Robertson's church.

The morning discourse was one of the best I ever heard. It
was on the deterioration of character, evidenced in the life of
His showy and popular
Saul, and excellently developed.
virtues, which made him the people's favorite at first, had not
their origin in any genuine and pure motive, and therefore
they all left him. It was delivered without any apparent note,
and was full of striking thoughts. The afternoon sermon w as
on the Prodigal Son. A good sermon, but in every respect
T

morning.
I have, as emphatically as I
to adopt the practice of writing his second

inferior to that of the

could, advised

him

sermon

ground

again

serious

on the
;
contract a

* See " Blakesmoor in

chiefly
illness

that otherwise he will
from over-labor, and also

shire," in the " Last Essays of Elia."

;

FLAXMAN GALLERY AGREED

1847.]

ON.

363

because he must not neglect the power of composing with
he
cultivates that of immediate composition without the aid of

rigid propriety, in conformity with the rules of art, while

pen.

November

6th.

—

attended a University College

council

The Flaxman remains were mentioned by others,
was therefore led to speak of Miss Denman's intended

meeting.

and

There was but one opinion as to the -value of the works.
I attended a University College CommitNovember 17th.
tee this morning, and there presented Miss Denman's letter,
offering to the College Flaxman's works in sculpture, which
we had agreed on. The offer was well received by the Comgift.

—

mittee.

—

November 18th.
I found occupation in the forenoon, in
putting papers in order and in drawing up resolutions of the
council accepting Miss Denman's gift.

C. R.

to T. R.

30 Russell Square, 20th November, 1847.

.... On Wednesday
gift

I carried to

the University College

from Miss Denman, making an absolute
of Flaxman's works to the College, imposing no condition

Committee a

letter

though, as she states that her object is the preservation of
these works, and the keeping them together, an implied condition arises of carrying out this intention to the best of the
power possessed by the College
I breakfasted yesterday with Sam Rogers, who has promised,
to be with me at two to-day, in order to see the works, as they
are now warehoused in the College, that he may give an opinion
how this warehouse may be converted into a gallery of exhibition.
This done, our next and final step will be to raise, by
subscription, the sum requisite for adapting the apartments to
the reception of the works, and repairing them to be fit for
the rooms.

On Thursday I attended the other body of functionaries of
the College, that is, the Senate, being the Professors. You
know that the Senate cannot legally meet but under the presidency of a member of Council.
I am the first Vice-President nominated by the President, who, now that he is a member of the Cabinet, very seldom attends.
I was detained late,
and, as on this day the Professors dined together in the Coun-

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

364

21.

though not as a
had a very pleasant day. Our Vice-President was
Dr. A. Todd Thompson, whom Sarah knows, the President being Newman,* whose lecture you read and liked.
One day recently I dined with Kenyon. A partie quarree
more agreeable than one larger or more genteel. Moxon and
cil-room, I invited myself to be of the party,

guest.

Hall, the Librarian of the Athenaeum, were our companions.

One mot was reported, so significant that I think it worth reSome one at a party abusing Mahometanism in a

peating.

" Its heaven is quite material."
commonplace way, said
He w as met with the quiet remark, " So is the Christian's
hell " ; to which there was no reply.
:

November 20th.

— Attended a Council meeting

at University

Flaxman works. The
vote accepting the works passed without opposition, and the
College, with draft resolutions about the

resolutions also, except that a few passages were struck out,
and verbal alterations made, which I quite approved of. The

business went off to

my satisfaction.

After taking a hasty din-

went to Miss Denman to inform her of the
But I am afraid I shall
proceedings, and she was delighted.
have some difficulty in raising the money (i. e. for adapting the

ner at home,

College to the reception of the works).
November 2Jfth.
I went early to Lord Brougham, and told
him the history of the Flaxman remains, and Miss Denman's

—

exertions to have

them duly preserved.

feeling about these works,

College.

expressed a strong
to the

and the value they would be

signed the resolutions.

—

November 80th.
Went with E. Field to Miss Denman's to
tea, and there, with Atkinson, f we had a very pleasant evening in looking over Flaxman's drawings, and the casts, the house.
I need not say that both Field and Atkinson had
great enjoyment.
At the same time we had a talk about the
future wT ork of putting up in the University College the things
already given to the College, which is to be our immediate
business, if possible.

C. K. to T. E.

Rydal Mount, December

31, 1847.

have to state to you a fact which is worth knowing. Miss
Arnold tells me that Madame Bunsen assured her that the
I

W. Newman.

t Secretary to the College.

1847.]

DK.

HAMPDEN.

— A PAMPHLET

SOCIETY.

365

Archbishop had distinctly told her that ho had read the
Bampton Lectures, in consequence of the charge against Dr.
Hampden, and that he had found no heterodoxy in them. He
found only a good deal of charity, and he did not think that
Now, if you compare this
could do a great deal of harm.
anecdote with what the Dean stated to the Chapter, that he
knew the Archbishop had written a remonstrance against the
appointment, you will find there is no inconsistency whatever.*
The Archbishop might very well say " I see no heterodoxy,
and I do not approve of the charge, which may have its source
but still there is a charge brought by a very
in party spirit
powerful body in the Church, and it is very indiscreet to make
enemies of so pugnacious a set as the High Church clergy have
in all ages shown themselves to be."
The Dean was very manifestly wrong in considering a remonstrance as equivalent to a protest. They are obviously
very different in their character. You will have seen in the
papers, that more than 700 members of Convocation have addressed Dr. Hampden very respectfully.
And Julius Hare,
Archdeacon of Surrey, has written a pamphlet in his favor,
which I am in the midst of, and only laid down to write to
It is admirable
you.
By the by, there is nothing of which you stand more in need
Pamphlets are things of the
at Bury than a pamphlet society.
day, of the greatest interest at the moment, and yet of so
transient an interest that one does not like to encumber himI think you might have a circulating subself with them.
scription pamphlet society, not extending to books, which the
When at Bury I will mention this
public library may supply.
to Donaldson and Donne.
If there must be an absolute power somewhere, I would
much rather it should be in the King's Ministers than in the
clergy or Churchmen (commonly, by a mischievous misnomer,
:

;

called the Church).

We have more to fear for the liberties of the country from
the clergy (and the more pious they may be in their habits,
and the more orthodox in their pretensions, the more dangerous they are) than from any other body in the community.
* Dr. Hampden, whose appointment to the Bishopric of Hereford, at this
The
time, met with the disapproval of a considerable party in the Church.
greater part of the episcopal bench joined in a remonstrance against it, and
Dr. Merewether, the Dean of Hereford, went so far as to memorialize the
Queen against it, and even to vote against him in the Chapter; but he afterwards withdrew his opposition.

366

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

What

a blessing

Church as

it is

22.

that there should be such a schism in the

to neutralize their efforts at dominion

You

will,

understand that, when thus characterizing the
clergy, I would comprehend among them the leaders of the
Scottish Free Church, and give a prominent place to Jabez
Bunting and other Methodistic and Congregational leaders.
of course,

[The visit to Rydal this Christmas was a melancholy one.
Mrs. Wordsworth was anxious that it should not be omitted,
At the Birthas she hoped it might have a cheering effect.
waite platform, H. C. R. fell over the side of a turn-table and
was stunned, but suffered no serious injury. The poet seemed
hardly able to bear the society even of those friends of whom
he was most fond. One brief extract, showing James as a
comforter, is all that will be given from the journal.]

—

January 8th,
I rose early and packed my things, before
James brought me the hot water. Talked with him about his
He was
master's grief.
James said " It 's very sad, sir.
moaning about her, and said, 0, but she was such a bright
creature/
And I said But don't you think, sir, that she is
brighter now than she ever was ?
And then master burst
into tears." Was a better word ever said on such an occasion?
:

CHAPTER

XXII.

1848.

H. C. R. to Mrs. Wordsworth.
30 Russell Square, London, 15th January, 1848, a. m.

I must either suffer the whole week to
elapse without writing at all, and you to suppose that
there is something wrong at all events, either in what has occurred to me, or in me, or I must hastily write a few lines in

bed

in a strait.

for I must instantly set out on a melancholy journey, to
attend the funeral of one of the oldest of my friends, whose
name may possibly be recollected by you, William Pattisson of
Witham. He was of my own age, an amiable man, and my
attached friend ; he was the father of the bridegroom who,
with his bride, met with the sad accident in the Pyrenees on
;

their

wedding

tour.

CONSECRATION OF

1848.]

DR.

HAMPDEN.

367

It will give me pleasure to learn that your son William, and
his wife, have been able to communicate some cheerfulness to
your sad abode. It quite vexed me, I came away without any

leave taken of you, and from Mr. Wordsworth with one of
Let us hope that the strong nature which
tears, not words.
Providence has blessed him with, both in his body and mind,

him to endure an infliction imposed on him by a
Being he equally loves and venerates.
I have not heard what the Londoners say on the Hampden
but the last act I read a report of, by the actual confarce
I have seen Murray, the Bishop's
firmation in Bow Church.
The scene was quite ludicrous.
secretary he was present.
After the judge had told the opposers that he could not hear
them, the citation for opposers to come forward was repeated,
at which the people present laughed out, as at a play.
And this is the legal system which we Dissenters are reproached for attempting to reform at all events, such monstrous absurdities can be no longer endured. The Times speaks
of Dr. Hampden's " mission to expose the Church."
But
will enable

;

surely exposure

January

the necessary step to reform.

—

24th.
I went early to Talfourd's, where was a
not large, but including Lord Campbell, Kelly, and
Storks, who were met to see a performance of " Ion."
A neat
little theatre was formed in the large drawing-room.
Talfourd's eldest son played Ion with a good deal of grace, and
one Brandreth played the King very well indeed. Afterwards
The same Brandreth
a " Macbeth " travesty was performed.
played Macbeth, and made good fun of the character. Talfourd, Jim., played Lady Macbeth.
February 5th.
Called on Talfourd, and gave him all those

party,

—

Lamb

Wordsworth, &c, which I thought might
I found Talfourd at work
on Lamb's papers, and I believe he will complete his publication of Lamb's letters with the love with which he began
letters of

without giving offence be printed.

it.

—

February 8th.
Had at breakfast with me Professor Newman, James Hey wood, and Edwin Field. They came to talk
about our proposed University Hall.
We obtained from Newman the declaration that he was willing to accept the office
of Principal of the Hall, discharging as such the duties of a
tutor at Oxford or Cambridge.
He would require a dwellinghouse.

368

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

22.

H. C. R. to T. E.
February

12, 1848.

....

Lately hearing a young man declaim very vehemently in favor of liberal notions, uttering all the commonplaces of the day, and he appealing to me, I quietly said, " I
should have thought so fifty years ago, and I like you the better for not thinking as I do now " \ and I evaded further explanation.

You and I must both smile and sigh, when we recollect with
what ardor we looked forward in our youth to the great blessing that was about to be showered upon mankind by means of
the free States of America,
glorious and happy land, without kings and lords and prelates,
the curses of mankind
A new era was to commence, perfect equality and peace and
" Let thy servant depart in peace, for he has seen
justice.
thy salvation." Then the next glorious event was the French
Revolution; which made me blush for being an Englishman,
in the face of an enlightened and w ise nation, above all our
vulgar and brutalizing superstitions, social, political, and re-

—
—
—

do not view the relative character of the Englishas I did fifty years ago
and yet I am
not so old, after all, as to be entirely without hope that the
apparently approaching crisis in the South and West of Europe
may have a favorable issue. It may end well (I can use only
the optative mood) I am by no means sure that it will.
If
Austria and France should dare to combine their forces, I fear
England, Prussia, and Russia would look on, and laisser /aire.
But Austria may be deterred by the fear that the people of all
and that Hungary and
Italy would be united against them
Bohemia would avail themselves of the opportunity to reassert
their claims.
France may be deterred by the universal unpopularity of the King, and the fear that the army would not
be stanch Prussia might not be sorry to see her old rival dismembered and Russia might think it prudent to leave the
distant states to themselves, and attend to Turkey.
Our
Ministry would, I hope, be prudent enough to keep aloof ; and
they would have good reason, being assured that, in case of a
war, Ireland would be in immediate rebellion.
There 's a dish of politics for you, all arising out of a rather
low-spirited old-man-ish view of human life and society.
ligious.

man and Frenchman

;

February 25th.

— At

the Athenaeum, I found political ex-

AFFAIRS ON THE CONTINENT.

1848.]

369

citement stronger than any I have witnessed for years. YesTo-day the
terday it was known that Guizot had resigned.
report was general, and affirmed in a third edition of the
Chronicle, but not in the Times, that Louis Philippe had abdicated ; and there were various other reports, not worth repeating.

—

During all this day the French Revolution
February 28th.
The Moniteur of the
has nearly monopolized my attention.
day announces all the proceedings of the Provisional Government as in the name of the Republique Francaise, and the narrative of the last day of the Chamber of Deputies reads like
a continuation of the proceedings of the National Convention,
It seems that the late
as if fifty years were annihilated.
nomination of the Provisional Government was the work of
the mob.

C. R. to

Mrs. Wordsworth.
7th March, 1848.

You

are not to expect

any news of

to-day, in the stricter

sense of the word ; for I am not aware that this day's post
But the present state of
brings any new fact of importance.
I may partake too
things on the Continent is tremendous.
largely of the cowardice of old age; but I cannot without
Yet
intense anxiety look forward to what is likely to occur.
It
it is not a fear altogether, without an accompanying hope.
does seem that the great powers of the Continent have learnt
that they will not attack France ; which, in
this lesson,
The difficulty
case of attack, would be united as one man.

—

be to keep the French people from attacking the other
As far as I can learn from several acquaintances,
who allege a personal knowledge of the members of the Provisional Government, they are not bad men.
In their personal character, they are respectable
that is, they are honest
men. That may be true but they may not therefore be the
less dangerous.
A fanatic, both in religion and politics, may
be the more dangerous on account of the perfect integrity of
his character, and the purity of his motives.
In all these
cases, as Goethe says of speculative theology, " The poison
and the antidote are so much alike, that it is not easy to distinguish them."
I recoHect once hearing Mr. Wordsworth say, half in joke,
" I have no respect whatever for Whigs, but
half in earnest
I have a great deal of the Chartist in me."
To be sure he has,
16*
x

will

states.

;

370
His

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.
earlier

poems are

full of

22.

that intense love of the people,

as such, which becomes Chartism when the attempt is formally
made to make their interests the especial object of legislation, as of

deeper importance than the positive rights hith-

erto accorded to the privileged orders

—

heard two sermons by my acquaintance,
in the morning was on the TemptaIt was admirably practical.
He held
tion in the Wilderness.
the Temptation to be a vision addressed to Christ's inner, not
His doctrine is substantially that of
his external sense.
Hugh Farmer. As he expressed a wish to see that discourse,
T have sent him that and the one on the Demoniacs, as well
as Madge's two sermons on the Union of Christ with God.
Robertson unites a very wide liberality in speculation with
warm piety and devotional eloquence. He is very popular.
His second sermon, being one of a series on the life of Samuel,
was on the abdication of his government, and consequent
Very decorously, and in a highly religious
choice of a king.
tone, he alluded to the abdication which still fills us with
anxiety, and spoke of it with great earnestness, and with ardent Christian aspirations for liberty and peace and order.
In this sermon he exhorted the rich and great to the discharge
of their duties towards the lower orders.
And I have no
doubt that many thought he went too far ; but I thought his
sermon excellent, though not like that of the morning in felicity of application and in power of expression.
I spoke to
him in the vestry, and accepted his invitation to take tea with
him.
I had a very agreeable chat, both with him and Mrs.
Robertson.
I thought him looking thin, and again urged him
to spare his strength, in which Mrs. Robertson joined.
He is
still very popular, and as liberal as ever.
March 15th.
The interesting call of the day was on Bun-

March

12th.

The one

Mr. Robertson.

—

me most kindly, and expects me in future
attend Madame Bunsen's Tuesday evening soirees.
He
quite comforted me by the assurance that Germany is in a
healthy state as respects reform and revolution,
that there
is no disposition to unite with France, but a strong determination to have political reforms.
It is a pity that princes do
not concede till the concessions are demanded by the masses.
When the people demand no more than what is right, one
cannot blame them.
March 22d.
In the evening at Madame Bunsen's first
sen,

who

received

—

;

EMERSON IN ENGLAND.

1848.]

of "

got into

soiree.

whom

371

a disagreeable talk with an American,
defence of slavery, he spoke

I left abruptly, because, in

Our Saviour."

this I bolted,

saying, " There

use continuing the subject " ; and I added, loud enough, I fear,
to be heard, " This is disgusting."
I breakfasted with Rogers, and met there, by
March 26th.
my introduction, Layard, and also Moxon and Carrick, who
has been making the most striking likeness I have yet seen of
Wordsworth,
a miniature full-length ; but it is too sad in

—

—
—

expression.

March 30th.
I found " The Life of Erskine " one of the
most agreeable of Campbell's lives, because it brought to my

recollection

who shared my

early admiration of that wonderful creature
love with Mrs. Siddons.

C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 22d April, 1848.

....
had the

was with a

feeling of predetermined dislike that I

Emerson at Lord Northampton's, a
when, in an instant, all my dislike vanished. He
has one of the most interesting countenances I ever beheld,
a combination of intelligence and sweetness that quite disarmed
me. I was introduced to him
curiosity to look at

fortnight ago

May

—

;

—

dined at the anniversary dinner of the AntiI took Emerson with me, and found he was.
known by name. I introduced him to Sir Robert Inglis, and
The evening passed off with great
afterwards to Lord Mahon.
cordiality.
There was mention of Amyot's retirement from
the Vice-Presidentship.
When, therefore, the Vice-President's
health was given, I rose to respond, and, saying I had been his
friend fifty-two years, delivered a short eulogy on him. Collier
took the chair when Lord Mahon retired, and we were merry
good-natured sparring between Disney and myself Dwarris
took part.
I gave the law to him.
He was very civil. Emerson retired early, after responding to his health briefly and well.
2d.

quarian Society.

;

H. C. R. to T. R.
6th May, 1848.

particularly pleased with your illustration of the value
of anecdotic letters, by imagining our enjoyment had we found
I

a family record of that glorious old Non-con.

Foe, sharing

372

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

22.

with Bunyan the literary honors of the sect, and acknowledgThe extreme facility of
ing no other chief than John Milton.
printing, and consequent habit of making everything known in
this age, will place our posterity in a dilferent state from our
They will be oppressed by the too much, where we suffer
own.
from the too little.

May 6th.
When they

—

had at breakfast Robertson and Joseph Hutton.
I was deeply concerned
me, I called on Boott.
at the opinion he expressed of Robertson's state of health.
I had a very agreeable breakfast this morning.
May 13th.
My friend E. Field accompanied Wilkinson and Phillips (housemate with Wilkinson), and they stayed with me a considerable
Wilkinson developed his Swedenborgianism most inoftime.
It is strange
fensively ; and his love of Blake is delightful.
that I, who have no imagination, nor any power beyond that of
a logical understanding, should yet have great respect for reI

left

—

ligious mystics.

H. C. R, to T. R.
30 Russell. Square, 9th June, 1848.

....

heard Emerson's first lecture, " On the
Laws of Thought " one of those rhapsodical exercises of mind,
like Coleridge's in his " Table Talk," and Carlyle's in his Lectures, which leave a dreamy sense of pleasure, not easy to
analyze, or render an account of. .... I can do no better than
tell you what Harriet Martineau says about him, which, I think,
" He is a man
admirably describes the character of his mind.
so sui generis, that I do not wonder at his not being apprehended till he is seen. His influence is of a curious sort. There is a
vague nobleness and thorough sweetness about him, which move
people to their very depths, without their being able to explain
The logicians have an incessant triumph over him, but
why.
their triumph is of no avail.
He conquers minds, as well as
hearts, wherever he goes
and without convincing anybody's
reason of any one thing, exalts their reason, and makes their
minds worth more than they ever were before."
Tuesday,

;

—

I heard a lecture by Emerson on domestic
His picture of childhood was one of his most successful
sketches.
I enjoyed the lecture, which was, I dare say, the
most liberal ever heard in Exeter Hall. I sat by Cookson, and
also by Mrs. Joseph Parkes.
Those who have a passion for

June 27th.

life.

FIRST STONE OF UNIVERSITY HALL.

1848.]

373

" clear ideas," shake their heads at what they cannot reduce to
propositions as clear and indisputable as a sum in arithmetic.

The frightful massacre at Paris has confirmed our worst fears.
The government has succeeded, at a much larger expense of
blood than it would have cost Louis Philippe to succeed
How well Shakespeare has said the thing
:

—

also.

" We but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return

To plague

July 20th.

the inventors."

— This was a busy and

Were

interesting day.

forty or thirty years younger, it would be most interesting for
there are grounds for hoping that it will be a memorable day.
•

began to me by Madge, his wife, the two elder Miss Stansand Miss Hutton breakfasting with me. At half past
twelve, we all repaired to Gordon Square, where the first stone
The actors were Mark Philips
of University Hall was laid.
and Madge on the ground. Then an adjournment to University
College, where Newman delivered an inaugural address, which
seems to have conciliated every one. It will be printed. It
resembled, as I told him, the egg-dance of Mignon, in " Wilhelm
Meister."
I was so impressed by the speech, that I moved the
thanks of the meeting for it and though what I said had
nothing in it, and was very short, yet the warmth of my manner obtained it applause.
There were several hours between
the meeting and our dining, that is (about thirty of us) at the
Freemasons' Tavern, and this time I spent at the Athenaeum.
The dinner was also very agreeable. I was placed next
Newman, who was next the Chairman, Mark Philips Madge,
and John Taylor, opposite and next me, Busk. The dinner
went off well, as, indeed, everything did, from the beginning to
the end.
The Chairman in his opening address at the ground,
and Madge in his short address, and particularly in the prayer,
were both what they ought to be, so that no one seemed to be
It

felds,

;

The excellence of Newman's address lay in the
with which he asserted, without offence, the power of
forming an institution open to all opinions whatever, even Jew
and Mahometan. It will be curious, when the speech is printed, to look more closely at this than can be done when one only
listens.
At the dinner, I was called upon to propose the health
of the Chairman ; and that I did also feelingly.
We had
several visitors at the dinner, Madge, Newman, Davison, Atkinson, Donaldson, and Jay (builder).
Dr. A. T. Thompson
was also present. The speech-making was not wordy. I bedisappointed.
skill

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

374

Iieve the general impression was, that the

augury.

22.

opening was a good

— While

I was at dinner, Robertson from Brighton
on his way to the lakes. I have given him a
line to Quillinan, and shall write to Mrs. Wordsworth about
him.
Having engaged him to take tea with me, I also asked
him to bring with him Mr. Roscoe, and two of the young ladies,
which he did and we had a pleasant cup of tea together. I
like the conversation of Mr. Roscoe.*
We talked of old times
and when they left me, I wr ent to Hunter's, with w hom I sat
up late. He talks candidly about the University Hall. He,
of course, thinks that our hall will be patronized only by the
He and Robertson differ much.
centrifugal Unitarians.

July

21st,

called.

;

C. R. to T. R.

Lincoln, 28th July, 6 a. m.

.... We

and w ere
These rapid movements have already
My drive was pleasant enough I
had companions I knew,
Britton, the author of " Ecclesiastical Antiquities "
Hawkins, of the Athenaeum
and Hill,
brother of the Sheriff of London, a bustling, good-natured man,
a service
who has taken the labor of managing off my hands,
left

London

here, at Lincoln, at five.f
ceased to excite wonder.

at half past eleven, a. m.,

—

•

;

—

I gladly receive.

on w hich the glorious cathedral
stands, the west front of which is much praised ; but I have
had pleasure in learning that it was to have been pulled down,
This Norman
if a reforming bishop had not died prematurely.
front

the

walked up the

hill

quite incongruous, considered as one with the rest of

edifice.

Tuesday was the day of initiation, and of long speeches we
had only too much of them. The Bishop of Norwich resigned
his post to the Earl Brownlow, as President, and the Marquis
of Northampton was a frequent and very respectable speaker
and also the Bishop of Lincoln (Kay). These four were the
;

matadores of the whole meeting.
There was also a public dinner, at which were 240 ladies and
gentlemen.
Here the same noble and prelatical orators. The
Bishop of Norwich sis playful as a school-boy, with a kindheartedness and social benignity that pleased me infinitely more
* See Vol.
t

p. 455.

attend a congress of the Archaeological Society.

EXCURSION TO GAINSBOROUGH.

1848.]

375

than the religious tone of an after-dinner speech from the
whose speech at such a
would-be Bishop, the Dean of
time and place was cant.
On Tuesday the business of the meeting began. We had
very learned and most interesting lectures on this marvellous
cathedral, and these lectures will spread a taste for antiquarian
studies, which will do good.
Yesterday we made our first excursion, viz. to Gainsborough,
an ugly uninteresting town on the Trent. But it has an old
mansion, famed in history for certain visits to it by Henry
VIII. of which Hunter gave us an account in a paper.
But we had a double attraction first, in a very interesting
and on our return we were entertained
old church on the road
at the seat of Sir Charles Anderson with a capital cold colla,

;

tion or luncheon.
riage

;

had a merry party in a four-horsed carby no means dry and pedantic

for these excursions are

you may imagine. I confess to all I meet, I make
these journeys merely on account of the social pleasure I receive ; and I perceive that it is because I give as well as take
in this respect that I am well received, though certainly one
of the least learned of the Archaeologians who attend these
parties, as

meetings.

H. C. R. to Talfourd.
30

Russell Square, 3d August,

1848.

" Final Memorials " were sent to me as I was setting
out on the Archaeological excursion to Lincoln, and I packed
them up. But I thought it a profanation to expose them to a

The

busy crowd. It was after I had spent hours in the
cathedral that I first ventured to look into them, and I have
read them through, in nearly entire solitude, with an enjoyment not weakened, but chastened, by tender recollections.
Every page of your own composition exhibits the congeniality
of spirit that qualified you to be the biographer of Charles and

noisy,

Mary Lamb.
Of your characterizations, I was especially pleased with those
of George Dyer, Godwin, and Coleridge.
In this part of your
work, I thought I perceived a subtlety of discrimination which
did not jar with that flow of sentiment in which you elsewhere
indulge when brooding over the objects of your attachment.
Even when I could not respond to all the praise, I loved you
the more for the toill to praise ; and recollected that you wrote
on the principle which characterizes all Goethe's critical writ-

376

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

22.

—

ings,
that of expatiating on the good, the positive, and of
passing over in silence the defective, or the mistaken, as if it
was a nonentity,
a mere negation

—

QUILLINAN TO H. C. R.
Loughrigg Holme, August

....

12, 1848.

devour newspapers with uncomfortable appetite.
I wish Smith
France, Italy, Germany, Ireland what a mess
O'Brien had run away and escaped, for though he deserves to
suffer the extremity of the law (if he is not of unsound intellect), it is not wise, if it can be avoided, to make Lord Edward
I

;

Fitzgeralds,

Emmets,

Hanging in Ireland
and endears the martyr
happened to be on the terrace

&c. of Irishmen.

for political offences is a great glory,

to the millions.

Yesterday, as

Rydal Mount, no less than fifty or sixty (I counted fortyeight, and then left off ) cheap-trainers invaded the poet's premThey walked about, all over the terraces and
ises at once.
garden, without leave asked, but did no harm
and I was
rather pleased at so many humble men and women and lassies
having minds high enough to feel interest in Wordsworth.
I
retreated into the house
but one young lady rang the bell,
asked for me, and begged me to give her an autograph of Mr.
Wordsworth. I had none. " Where could she get one? " I
did not know.
Her pretty face looked as sad as if she had lost
a lover.
Excuse great haste, for I am very busy working at
Camoens ; and though I do little, the day seems too short,
at

;

—

there are so

many

visitors.

— When you

see Mrs. Clarkson, tell her, if you like,
that I remember well that week when she went more than
once to sit by the bedside of the dead mother of my children.*
It was a fancy of hers which touched me greatly.
P. S.

—

August 2Jfth.
Took a walk wT ith Donaldson. An interesting chat on religion, he striving to reconcile conformity with
extreme liberality of opinion.

know no man who more inhim is harmless as

geniously explains the Trinity, which from

insignificant doctrine.

September 2d.

— In

the afternoon

was taken a drive by

* Quillinan's first wife was a daughter of Sir Egerton Bridges, and a few
weeks after giving birth to her younger daughter,
" She died
Through flames breathed on her from her own fireside."

;

1848.]

DE MORGAN'S INAUGURAL LECTURE.

377

Donaldson, I riding with him on the box, Mrs. Donaldson, &c,
The more I see of him, the more liberal I find him
and of his talents, my estimate rises. His book on the
Greek Drama was written when he was twenty-four ; he is now
Yet he lost five years in a lawyer's
thirty-seven years old.
within.

from fourteen to nineteen.
September 27th.
I heard a lecture on digestion (part of a
course on the physics of human nature), by Wilkinson at the
Whittington Club. I was very much pleased with him his
voice clear, manner collected, like one who knew what he was
about ; his style rich, a good deal of originality in his metaphors and a little mysticism, tending to show that there is in
the universe a digestive or assimilative process going on,
which connects man with nature, and the present with the
other life.
October 9th,
I went out early and breakfasted with
Rogers > a small and agreeable party,
only Samuel Sharpe,
Harness * and sister, and Lord Glenelg. Samuel Sharpe said
office,

—

The recent conbut what he said was very good.
Smith O'Brien was a matter of doubt, but most
thought an execution necessary, though Samuel Sharpe
thought it would lead to murders of landlords.
October 17th.
I heard an admirable inaugural lecture from
De Morgan, worth a more elaborate notice than I can take of
it.
Its object was to repress the system of carrying on college
education by the aid of rewards, as only one degree less bad
than the exploded system of punishments and he represented
as mischievous the system of studying for an examination.
The students should be directed to the specific study by their
sense of its worth, without the aid of fellowships, scholarships,
or rewards.
He affirmed that the best rule for a student would
The
be, to disregard any expected or probable examination.
spirited style, the striking illustration, altogether rendered this
a most remarkable exhibition.
I whispered to Newman at the
close, " Though the cholera is not contagious, yet boldness is."
The lecture gave general satisfaction.
October 30th.
(Brighton.)
I called on Robertson, Sen.,t
but

little,

viction of

—

;

—

* The first time I dined with Harness was in 1839, and I met Babbage.
Harness was preacher at Regent Square Church. In youth he was a friend of
Lord Byron, and has himself written some elegant poems. He was and is a
man of taste, of High Church principles, and liberal in spirit. Among our
common friends were John Kenyon and Miss Burdett Coutts. H. C. R.
f Formerly a lawyer in the West Indies, where he made his fortune.
H. C. R.

—

3 78

REMINISCENCES OF HEXEY CRABB BOBIXSOX. [Chap.

22.

and Miss Levesque, and I had a long and very agreeable walk
We talked to-day on religion ; he
with Rev. F. Robertson.
spoke of the happiness he felt in being able freely to be a
member of the Church of England, which implies a harmoniHow he can be this, and yet
ous consent to all its doctrines.
entertain such liberal opinions, and, what is much better, liberal feelings, I cannot comprehend ; but this is not, perhaps,
He was as cordial as ever, and seemed not
of much moment.
In this
at all offended bv the freedom of my expressions.
respect there is a correspondence between him and Sortaine,
who is also quite liberal but then Sortaine refuses to read the
Athanasian Creed, and on baptism entertains opinions contrary
I should
to the Church.
Still, Robertson is as liberal as he,
think even more so.
I am not at all anxious to reconcile these
seeming incompatibilities,
November 2d.
I called on Miss Goldsmid (the Baron being
from home). An interesting chat with her. On my objecting
to her that I could not respect a national God and a system
of favoritism, her reply was, that the vocation of the Jews was
to be the teachers of the unity of the Godhead, but the lesson
was to be taught for the benefit of the whole world. There is
no favoritism for the sake of the individual chosen to be the
;

—

instructor.

H. C. R. to

T. R.

Brighton, 3d November,

1848.

.... You

have been led by the annual borough elections
to express regret at the abandonment of the old system of selfelection.
Now in this I can by no means agree with you.
Whatever inconveniences follow from the present system, it
has at least the merit of inducing a large proportion of the
people to give some attention to public matters, who would
otherwise be absorbed by practices of the intensest and grossest selfishness, far exceeding in malignity all the evils that arise
out of the present system.
This visit to Brighton has been somewhat shorter than
usual,
of only nine days ; but it has been quite as pleasant
as ever.
My time has been fully occupied. My kind host,
Masquerier, is in very good health, though not quite so active
as he once was.
He is very much devoted to his wife,
whose health he watches with anxious care, and who has
shown the power of a strong constitution in resisting severe
and dangerous chronic diseases*

—

SORTAINE.

1848.]

Friday

—

made some

W. ROBERTSON.

interesting calls,

379

— one on the very
—

clever preacher Sortaine, in Lady Huntingdon's connection,
a great favorite with the Haldanes, and at the same time with

me. He combines zeal with liberality in an eminent degree.
To-day also I called with Masquerier on Sam Rogers, who is
She is wonderfully recovered from
here with his sister.
paralysis that is, she can receive visits in her chair, and is
amused by hearing though she is scarcely able to hold a conversation.
Rogers is very friendly, though he retains his powers
It has been said of him that he is the man of
of sarcasm.
generous actions and unkind words.
On Sunday morning I heard Sortaine, and in the afternoon
that very remarkable man, Mr. Robertson, of whom I have
He is an admirable preacher, and
written frequently of late.
While he gives great offence
every seat in his chapel is taken.
to High-Churchmen and Conservative politicians, he has lately
delivered an address to the Workingman's Association,* remarkable for the boldness with which he avoided all courting
of the people, while he advocated their cause.
He attacked
I shall take to town
the ballot and other popular delusions.
some copies of his address. I spent one evening with him,
and had several long walks. I have urged him in vain to
give up his church, and go to Madeira.
Dr. Watson, however,
and Dr. Hall, say his lungs are not affected and though his
friends wish it, he will not go while he thinks he is able to do
good.
I used the strongest persuasive
I told him frankly
I thought his sermons unequal in power to those I heard
\

;

formerly.

H. C. R. to T. Paynter, EsQ.f
Athenaeum, 12th December,

1848.

awoke early this morning, and thought at once of the
Times article on Prison Discipline. I mused for a time on
what I recollected of the paper, and brought myself to the
conviction (confirmed by the perusal of the whole article),
that, well written as it is, and well put as one or two points
are, still as an investigation of the subject the whole thing is
altogether worthless,
and that because the one or two leading ideas, of which the rest of the composition is a mere
amplification, are left unproved, being mere assumptions and
I

—

* " An Address delivered at the Opening of the Workingman's Institute,
on Monday, October 23, 1848." See "Lectures and Addresses," p. 1.
See ante, p. 173.
f A police magistrate.

380

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

22.

not going to the bottom of the subject.
The one thought,
indeed, on which everything turns, is that it is not prevention,
or correction, which is the main rule or guide in the measure
of punishment, but a sense of justice ; and no attempt is made
to ground this sense of justice on any law of nature, any abstract rule of right derived from the will or law of God but thia
;
moral sense, or conscience of society, is in terms declared to be

determined through regular legislative and judicial institutions/
This is either very foolish or very monstrous.
I will take one
palpable example or illustration.
In America, a Christian
country, it is proclaimed by their " legislative and judicial institutions " that it is a crime to receive stolen goods, knowing

them

to be stolen
and therefore a man is sentenced to capital
punishment who robs a slave-owner of his property by assisting
the slave- in stealing himself from his lawful owner.
The law
;

of the land declares that a
at the mother's breast, and

man

has a right to buy the child
as soon as it is a valuable
commodity ; and the master punishes with cruel tortures the
woman who will not breed children for his service, he having
a right to the fruit of her body ; though, when he bought her,
he knew that she or her ancestor had been stolen.
I take this example, because it shows the extreme absurdity of resting the principle or measure of punishment on
sell it

law.

We have, in our own country, enormously unjust laws, though
this.
But we have atrocities of our own,
more directly bearing on the subject of Prison Discipline,
which show the worthlessness of the rule laid down by this

none so atrocious as

writer.

To go back to the question. The writer maintains that we
have a natural sense of justice; where there is guilt, there
ought to be retribution, and we are more anxious for this than
for either correction or prevention.
For the sake of argument, let it be granted but then the author of this rule
ought to show us in what guilt consists, and how it is ascertained.
What is the measure of the guilt of a poor child
bred in a night-cellar, who has from his infancy lived only with
thieves and prostitutes ]
Sympathy and imitation are instincts appertaining to our common nature.
Your son was
made happy by your and his mother's praises, when he brought
home the certificates of his good character at school. A child
such as I have mentioned, at his age, being sent out by his
parents to beg or steal, is flogged if he comes home at night
;

1848.]

PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME.

— THE REAL

CRIMINALS.

381

without anything, and rewarded by their praises, or perhaps a
dram or other luxury, when he brings home plunder. He
has never heard property spoken of but as something which
gentlefolks have got, and which he ought to get from them if
he can. Of law and magistrates, and right and wrong, he
knows nothing but what he has heard from thieves and prosIt is sheer cant and nonsense to say that his natural
titutes.
The natural conconscience should have taught him better.
science of the clerical and legal slaveholder has not taught him
the iniquity of slavery, which is a much greater iniquity than
the thefts of the poor boy, and more opposed to natural
Yet the writer in the Times would condemn the boy
justice.
to punishment, as just, and he would perhaps honor the
American slaveholder. I say " perhaps," because I know not
how he thinks. I know that I have heard you often apologize
for and apparently justify, slavery, while you abuse abolitionists ; and yet, in other respects, I believe you to be a conTherefore, I say, I cannot admit
scientious and upright man.
the force of the argument, that the child ought, in spite of his
lamentable education, to be sensible of the wrong he does in
thieving.

on the contrary, say, that whether the child be guilty or
he must be stopped in his thievish habits, both for his
own sake and the sake of society. In a case like that I have
not a fancy case, but one which you know to be of
stated,
I do not consider the child as at all guilty.
daily occurrence,
The act is culpable, but the guilt is to be imputed to the mass
The real
of society, which has not given him an education.
criminals are the legislators and the magistrates, who have
made no provision for the masses.
I do not deny that cases may be imagined, in which we have
a right to require a moral sense, even in the uneducated. Recollect, however, that property is a creature of the law, not
founded on any natural sense, but on the experience of its
necessity for the well-being of society.
The law of nature is
I,

not,

—

that of

—

Rob Roy

—

" That they should take

And

they should keep

who have the
who can."

power,

Society steps in, but it shamefully neglects its duty when it
proclaims a law, and makes no provision for its being known,
in order to its being obeyed.
The individual in whom a moral sense has never been generated (for it is not innate, at least it does not extend to the

382

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

22.

rights of property) ought not to be tortured because he has
not what he could not give himself, and society has neglected
to give him.

The question of responsibility is the most difficult that is
ever forced on our consideration ; but the interests of society
require that men should provide for the emergencies of life,
and not wait till metaphysical problems are solved. In correcting the criminal, society does but supply a duty it had
neglected before, when it permitted or caused him to become
criminal.
In preventing crime, it attains one of the great
We put a maniac into a straitends of social existence.
waistcoat, though we know him to be morally innocent.
We
restrain a wilful offender, without troubling ourselves to answer
the question, how far his offence has been an act of necessity
or free-will.
And we ought to persevere in the correction of all offenders,
for the sake of themselves and of all mankind.
As to retribution, we may safely leave that to the only perfectly wise Judge.
He judges not according to appearances.
He who made the distinction between the many stripes and the
few stripes, would, I am sure, not at all sympathize with the
.

Times reviewer.
I have written with great rapidity, and have not time to
read what I have written.

H. C. R. to T. R.

Rydal Mount, December

On Tuesday

came

Westmoreland by

rail.

28, 1848.

dull but

mild day.

Riding in a first-class carriage, I was, as usual,
nearly alone.
But I had sufficient amusement in lounging
over the " Life of William Collins, R. A.," the landscapepainter, whose acquaintance I made in Italy, when I was with
Wordsworth. I was at Ambleside soon after nine the next
morning, and rejoiced to find my friends far more cheerful than
a year ago. In the two days I have spent here already, I
have had more conversation with Wordsworth than I had during the whole of my last visit and at this moment that I am
writing, he is very copiously discoursing with a neighboring
clergyman on the Irish character, as he found it on a visit to
Ireland.
I found him and all others deeply excited by the
supposed danger of Hartley Coleridge, who was thought to be
dying of diarrhoea ; and we went to Grasmere to inquire about
;

The

him.

and

— HARTLEY

EUTHANASIA.

1849.]

rest of the

have seen nearly

Fox How

day
all

COLERIDGE.

spent for the most part in

383
calls,

old friends

the head-quarters of Whiggery in this corner,

I am held to be a
as Rydal Mount is of High-Churchism.
sort of anomaly among the varieties of goodness here, with
the licentia loquendi which is given to the fool of the drama,

or the old bachelor and self-willed opinionist of the novel.
The firm handwriting of your letter does not permit me to
ascribe its being only half its usual size to weakness.
In
regard to what you say of health, I should, in your place, feel

vexed at the announcement that I should survive my comThe
I know none on the whole less painful.
euthanasia of the Greeks
the beautiful death, that is, of
is not in the catalogue of maladies in any of
mere old age
our modern bills of mortality. Therefore I should well like to
come to a compromise with the old enemy, and bargain for
submitting to him, after your fashion, about five years and

plaint.

—

three months afterwards.*

CHAPTER

XXIII.

1849.

JANUARY 2d. — I

spent my night well by writing a long
Henry after I was left alone, f It was my first
letter to him, and I have given it an extraneous value by asking Wordsworth to add his autograph.
January 6tlu
After finishing Clough's poem in hexameters,} I heard from Dr. Green that Hartley Coleridge was just
dead.
He died between two and three o'clock. He was in his
fifty-second year.
Everybody in the valley pitied and loved
letter to

—

him.

Many

a one would echo the words,
"

could have better spared a better man."

—

11th.
The funeral of Hartley Coleridge took
His brother Derwent, Wordsworth, Quillinan, and
Angus Fletcher were present, besides the medical men.

January

place.

* H. C. R. was about
Thomas.

five years

and three months younger than his brother

t H. C. R.'s great-nephew.
% "The Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich."

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

384

23.

C. K. to T. R.

Athenaeum,
I took leave of the poet yesterday

12th January, 1849, p. m.

morning

at twelve,

when

he attended the funeral of Hartley Coleridge. During the
performance of the ceremony I sat with dear Mrs. WordsI
worth, and had more than two hours' quiet chat with her.
It
barely caught a glimpse of Wordsworth on his return.
rained while the solemn service was read, and I shall be glad
I had obto know that the attendance did him no harm.
served before that his spirits were not, as I feared they would
be, affected by the occurrence, and I left Rydal with the comfortable assurance that his grief is now softened down to au
endurable sadness.*
I have no anecdotes worth reporting of my last week at
Rydal.
I made the round of calls and visits.
The last day I attended a grand party at Mr. Harrison's, the magistrate and
squire of Ambleside.
I am known generally there, and on
the great poet's account noticed.
But how soon will this end
how soon will everything end at least everything of which
we have definite knowledge. The infinite sphere belongs to our
aspirations
the also infinite circles of our hopes, wishes, and
feelings, certainly of higher character and deeper importance
than our knowledge
!

;

QUILLINAN TO H. C. R.
Loughrigg Holme, January

12, 1849.

You were

unluckily gone before I returned to Rydal Mount
after Hartley Coleridge's funeral.
It was a bitter day.
I
hope you got home without accident or inconvenience. I
dined at the Mount, and your cheering presence was much
missed by your host and hostess, as well as by myself.
But I write to you now merely to thank you for having
given me a great and unexpected pleasure, by leaving with
me " The Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich," which Mrs. Arnold,
too, had recommended me to read.
I was very unwilling to
commence it, for I detest English hexameters, from Surrey's
to Southey's
and Mr. Clough's spondaic lines are, to my ear,
detestable too,
Yet I am really
that is, to begin with.
charmed with his poem. There is a great deal of mere prose
;

—

* This was H. C.

R.'s last visit to

Rydal during Wordsworth's

life.

;

QUILLLNAN ON CLOUGH.

1849.]

385

being prose upon stilts
more freshness of heart and
soul and sense in it than it has been my chance to find and
perhaps I ought to say
feel in any poem of recent date,
than in any recent poem of which the author is not yet much
known for I have no mind to depreciate Alfred Tennyson,
nor any other man who has fairly won his laurel.
Mr. Wordsworth, to-day, came to me through snow and
Some
sleet, and sat for an hour in his most cheerful mood.
in

it,

and the worse, to

but, take

taste, for

for all in all, there is

—

;

talk about his grandchildren led him back to his own boyhood,
and he related several particulars which it would have done
you good to listen to ; for some of them were new to me, and,

He talked, too, a good
probably, would have been so to you.
If I had
deal about the Coleridges, especially the S. T. C.
been inclined to Boswellize, this would have been one of my

He was particularly interesting.
days for it.
I hope all the Flaxmans will soon be lodged to your mind.
You should tell your brother to make a bequest of the marble
bust of yourself to the London University, to be placed in the
same room with them, as a record that it was you who were
mainly instrumental in securing them for the said University,
The bust is excelor in getting them worthily installed there.
lent as a likeness, and more than respectable as a work of art,
though it is not by a Flaxman.
H. C. R. to Miss Fenwick.
30

Russell Square, 15th January,

1849.

have to give of our friends is so much better
than that of last year, that I should certainly have sent it,
even if I had not received a friendly intimation of your wish
to hear from me.
I found Mr. Wordsworth more calm and composed than I
expected.
Whatever his feelings may be, he appears to have
them under control. I feared that the visit to the churchyard
last Tuesday with Mr. Coleridge, to fix on the spot where
Hartley might be interred, would overset him but, on the
contrary, I returned with him alone, and he talked with per-

The account

;

fect self-possession.

ways was

Dear Mrs. Wordsworth

what she

al-

no change in her, but that the wrinkles of
her care-worn countenance are somewhat deeper. Poor Miss
Wordsworth I thought sunk still further in insensibility. By
the by, Mrs. Wordsworth says that almost the only enjoyVOL. II.
17
Y
;

I see

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

386

23.

ment Wordsworth seems

to feel is in his attendance on her,
and that her death would be to him a sad calamity. I
thought our friend James a shade younger and more amiable
than ever. He had an opportunity of rendering himself very
useful, by his attendance on poor Hartley, during all my stay
at Bydal.
Derwent Coleridge spent a great part of his time
with us at the Mount, and helped to keep off the sadness
which seemed ready to seize its inmates. He has this advan-

—

tage over his brother,
and, to a degree, over his father
also,
that he has full power over his faculties.
Quillinan was, as usual, quietly poring over his laborious
work, his version of Camoens's epic, from which he never can
gain emolument or fame.
Dear Mrs. Arnold is supplied with daguerreotype representations of her three wandering boys,
the soldier, the
sailor, and the colonist,
and seems to have an anxious

—

enjoyment in dreaming over the

possibilities

of their con-

the varieties of their adventurous lives.
Mrs.
Fletcher is as lively as ever, and seems quite happy in her
dition

children.

Miss Martineau makes herself an object of envy by the
success of her domestic arrangements. She has built a cottage
near her house, placed in it a Norfolk dairy-maid, and has her
poultry-yard, and her piggery, and her cow-shed ; and Mrs.

Wordsworth declares she is a model in her household economy,
making her servants happy, and setting an example of activity
to her neighbors.
She is at the same time busy writing the
continuation of Knight's " Pictorial History of England," and
has just brought out a small volume entitled " Household
Education," which has proved successful, and probably with
good reason.

February

7th.

— Finished Macaulay's

delightful volumes to-

One sentence I must here copy, as the wisest in the
work.
Commenting on the famous declaration of the Convention Parliament that the throne was vacant by the abdication
of King James the Second, he says: " Such words are to be
day.

considered, not as words, but as deeds.
If they effect that
which they are intended to effect, they are rational, though
they may be contradictory.
If they fail of attaining their
end, they are absurd, though they carry demonstration with
them. Logic admits of no compromise. The essence of politics
is

compromise."

BURKE.

1849.]

— TALFOURD

A JUDGE.

QUILLINAN TO H.

387

C. R.

Loughrigg Holme, June

....

am much amused

20, 1849.

you have

with the
Two or three
Southey's " Commonplace Book."
months ago at a missionary charity sermon in a church in this
neighborhood, I heard the preacher (a good and worthy man
he is too) advocate the cause of the mission on the ground
that if we did- not Christianize the rising generation in the
East, eight hundred millions of Oriental babies would infallibly
What would Southey have
be doomed to eternal perdition
sent

extract

me from

said to this startling

announcement

•

— (Bury.)

A break in the uniformity of my
read to the ladies at Sir John Walsham's Burke's
I read
letter on the Duke of Bedford's motion on his pension.
It
it with the same delight I felt more than fifty years ago.
is unequalled for the union of wisdom and eloquence, pathos
and sublime satire, and is as fascinating as it was when written
I then
I believe my party of ladies enjoyed it too.
in 1756.
accompanied Lady Walsham to Hardwicke House, and took a
dinner-luncheon there.
I read early in bed Wordsworth's " Waggoner," with great
pleasure.
Donne had praised it highly. It used not to be a
favorite of mine
but I discerned in it to-day a benignity and
a gentle humor, with a view of human life and a felicity of
diction, which rendered the dedication of it to Charles Lamb
July 19th.

Bury

life.

peculiarly appropriate.

—

July 26th.
I wrote a letter of congratulation to Mrs. T&lnews having arrived that her husband had been
appointed judge,
an appointment that seems to give general
satisfaction.
My ground of felicitation was, that the repose of
judicial life harmonizes better than the wrangiings of the bar
with the temperament of the poet.
Talfourd is a generous
and kind man, and merits his good fortune.
August 11th.
I concluded the evening by a late call on
Hunter.
He was pleasant as ever, and his notions as odd.
This evening he asserted, in the most absolute terms, that he
considered baptism to be the only test of a Christian, and that,
whatever the privileges were, they were conferred by the mere
formal act.
What is not Christianity made by such formalism 1
August 28th.
I rose early, and packed up my few things
fourd, the

—

388

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

23.

short journey (to Bear Wood), and then I breakfasted
small, agreeable party,
Luttrell, Dyce,
Samuel Sharpe, and Moxon, all in good humor. To-day, or
about this time, Eogers told us that Sydney Smith said to his

for

with Rogers.

—

eldest brother, a grave

and prosperous gentleman

" Brother,

you and I are exceptions to the laws of nature. You have
risen by your gravity, and I have sunk by my levity." I went
by the Southwestern Railroad to Farnborough, where I arrived before five, expecting to go off in a few minutes ; but I
had to wait there two hours and a half. I lounged into a
gentleman's park, and took a luncheon at a small inn.
I went
by rail to Oakingham, and then had three miles to walk. I took
the walk without inconvenience, and had a cordial reception
from Mrs. Walter. She had almost given me up, not being
aware of the change of hour for the train.
I spent the whole of the forenoon strolling
August 29th.
about the grounds, which have been greatly improved by opening the woods, &c.
I was engaged reading the " Summer in.

—

the Country," by the incumbent, Mr. Wilmott,
of whom
hereafter,
a book of sentimental criticism.
I also read part
of Mr. Wilmott's " Life of Jeremy Taylor," also a book which
I read through with interest.
He came to dine with us. I
had formed a very favorable opinion of him from his works.
He and I were engaged in full talk all the afternoon. There
were, besides, a Captain Ford and his lady at the house,
genteel people and agreeable ; but Mr. Wilmott was the object

—

of interest on this

—

visit.

August 30th.
This day, like the preceding, I kept upon
Mrs. Walter took me into the very
the Bear Wood grounds.
pretty church.
The funeral sermon by Wilmott, on Mr.
Walter's death, which I am now reading, is in a tone of exemplary hope and cheerfulness.

H. C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 7th September, 1849.

.... Now

to answer both your letters at once.

I entertain no fears of the cholera, and do not think that here in
Russell Square I am exposed to any greater danger than you
It is only in especial quarters that this epidemic
are at Bury.
But, in truth, there is no assignable reason why the
rages.
calm
cholera should visit one district rather than another.
submission to the will of Providence seems to be the frame, of

1849.]

mind most
tack,

and

NEWMAN AND CLOUGH.

389

favorable even to a successful endurance of an atwhat is called for by reason as well as religious

That in your eightieth year your mind is in so
convictions.
calm and happy a state, I rejoice. Those who have been
brought up in a more gloomy creed, or who, trained in a happier school, have sunk into that wretched faith, would rather
We may regret these
pity than envy you this state of mind.
diversified feelings, but it were unwise to mourn over them.
In every age this variety of sentiment has prevailed. And
this, as well as the more material and physical evils which
afflict men, also belongs to the inscrutable dispensations of that
Supreme Being in whom we believe, while we awfully re'cognize our incapacity to fathom his will.
Submission to that
will is our duty, not to attempt to comprehend it
30 Russell Square, 15th September, 1849.

....

had a chat with Gallenga

last night.

spairingly, as I do, of the affairs of the Continent.

thinks deIt is

—

hard

to say where they look worst,
in France, Germany, or Italy;
or who have acted worst, the French, German, or Italian Liberals.
Enthusiasts still say, " 0, in the end the people will be

the good cause will triumph "
Two follies lie hid
first, in supposing that the cause of
and the good cause, mean
the people,
that is, the masses,
the same thing, which is a violent presumption ; the other is, referring to the end, as if the end were ever to be contemplated in
our speculations. In our considerations of the past we look in
vain for a beginning, of which we know nothing in our anAll
ticipations of the future, we can take no care for the end.
we can do practically is to provide for that which is to follow
immediately,
on which the remotely future must depend.
All that we can ever know historically of the past, with any
degree of certainty, is how the present has sprung out of the
immediately preceding.
victorious

;

in this pious sentiment

—

October J/th.
I walked to Westbourne Terrace, and dined
with Gibson.
Only his father and mother, Newman and
Clough, were there.
Clough
I enjoyed the afternoon much.
is modest and amiable, as well as full of talent, and I have no
doubt that in him we have made a very good choice of a Principal for the University Hall.

390

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.
QUILLINAN TO H.

C. R.

Sunday Night,

Froude has been here

summer.

23.

October

14, 1849.

He was

lodged, as I was
for I did not see him,
at a farm-house at or near
informed,
Mrs. Gaskell, the author of "Mary Barton/'
Skelwith Bridge.

—

this

—

was also, for some weeks, in that neighborhood, and I got Mr.
Wordsworth to meet her and her husband (a Unitarian minister at Manchester). She is a very pleasing, interesting person.
I cannot lay my hand, at this moment, on your former letter,
to which I have only delayed replying for want of leisure, for
we have been much occupied with taking visitors walks, and
climbs interminable (as some of them seemed), ascents of Helvellyn, &c, &c.
I wanted to talk to you on the subject of
sonnets and sonndeers.
What do you mean by that fling, Mr.
Sneer % A sonneteer, you will answer, means a writer of sonnets.
And you will not argue on high politics with a sonIndeed yet it is just possible that a man may write
sonnets, good or bad, and yet be as able as his neighbors to
give, in plain prose, a reason for the political faith that is in
neteer.

him.
But do you
at a sonnet.
That

down, friend Crabb, and try your hand
the punishment I should like to inflict
on you for your sauciness. But we will talk over the art and
mystery of sonneteering at Christmas, the best season for
cracking hard nuts.
You are expected here,
due here as a
matter of course. Mrs. Wordsworth has two or three times,
and to-day again, charged me to remind you of this. As to
me, I always sing the same song (for I, too, have my constancy),
No Crabb, no Christmas
But you will come about
the 18th of December,
that is settled.
Mrs. Arnold, since
her return from the seaside, has had several visitors
Poor Johnny Harrison (whose name was John Wordsworth Faber), poor child was seized with his last convulsion on Monday
morning, the 8th instant. Mr. Wordsworth and I attended his
funeral at Grasmere, on Friday. He is buried close to Hartley
sit
is

—

Coleridge.

Who

would not wish to be as fit to die at any moas that sinless Johnny ?
Faber used to call him one of
God's blessings to that house of Green Bank, and he was right.
He kept their hearts alive to love and pity and tenderness.

ment

His work was done, and he was removed.

You will find your
and faithful friend, the poet, pretty much as he was on
your last visit. The same social cheerfulness,
company cheerfulness,
the same fixed despondency (uncorrected). I esteem
old

—

him

391

QUILLINAN ON CHANNING.

1849.]

for

both \ I love him best for the latter. I have put up a
headstone to Dora's grave. I wonder if you will

beautiful
like

it.

God

bless you, friend

Crabb

—

A busy day. It began with an interesting
October 16th.
The University Hall was
rather than important occurrence.
i. e. he read
opened with a religious service by Dr. Hutton,
It was not a public occhapters from the Bible, and prayed.
Mrs. Follen and
casion ; but some dozen ladies were there,
her sister, Miss Cabot, young men. Eichard Martineau made a short opening address.
James Yates, Gibson, Cookson, Le Breton, Charles
Bischoff, &c. were present.
Many, complained afterwards
that they had no notice of what was going to take place.

—

QUILLINAN TO H.

B,.

Loughrigg Holme, October

22, 1849.

....

All well, though some of us are sad enough. There is,
however, a gracious melancholy about autumn.
I wish you
could see our golden woods just now.
The country was never
more beautiful

—

November 5th.
I was led to give Mrs. C. for Mrs. S. ten
pounds.
I doubt whether I did right
and have since recollected a saying I heard Kenyon repeat of some one who said he
could not afford to give in a hurry I
;

QUILLINAN TO H.

C. R.

Loughrigg Holme, November

.... Some

12, 1849.

somewhere heard, that Dr.
Channing was a weak man.
I know little of him and of his
works but by his biography and the memoirs of his life, and I
find him a strong, and sometimes almost a great man. I mean in
intellect and in character, for he appears to have had but a feeble frame, and that makes his mental energy the more admirable.
I hug to my heart such a Unitarian as that.
More of
my inconsistency, you will say. But though you and I have
known each other so many long years, and though I trust we
are long friends, you know me but cursorily,
by snatches, as
it were,
or you would not think me so inconsistent.
I am
not the less nor the more a Papist for my cordial admiration of

—

one told me, or

—

392

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

23.

Channing. He was really what he called himself, a liberal Chrisand thoroughly consistent, according to his views, from the
commencement of his ministry to the end. The phrase uttered
or written by him at a late period of his life, " I am little of
a Unitarian," is but another proof of his consistency, though it
It merely meant that
has been interpreted to his prejudice.
as he grew older he grew wiser in charity, that he was still
more liberal than before to sincere Christians of all denominanot that he was the less a Unitarian in his theology.
tions,
From him I have at last learnt what is meant by a Christian
Unitarian. I am not going over to you, though. On that rock

tian,

•

—

(of Pope Peter) my faith was built, and there it stands.
But I
owe you the above admission for a bigoted remark that I once
made to you, which your good-nature will have forgotten.
Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth well, and the better for expecting
you soon.

—

December 25th.
I know not that I ever spent a Christmas
day before as an invalid, yet it has not been an unhappy one,
but the contrary. Invalids constitute a privileged class of
I have been
Charles Lamb called them " kings."
society.
deeply impressed with the blessings I have enjoyed in life,
compared with which its evils have been very few and insignificant.

[Towards the close of the year H. C. R. had a swelling on
the back, which his medical attendant, Mr. Ridout, said would
very likely become a carbuncle, if not attended to at once. Accordingly" on the 9th of December, the lancet was used, H.
C. R. having taken chloroform, the beneficent effect of which
He had accepted the usual
he was never weary of lauding.
invitation to Rydal, but his health was not regarded as in fit
state for

him

to undertake the journey.]

C. R.

to T. R.

30 Russell Square, 29th December, 1849.

It was a great relief to me to read in Sarah's letter that your
And then
hand was still too shaky to allow of your writing.

her letter contained the agreeable notice of there being two,
instead of one, of the third generation in your house, which
Your mansion is large
gives me a lively image of your home.
enough to permit the young ones to be on occasion somewhat
obstreperous. I did not forget dear Henry on his birthday. I

THOUGHTS

1849.]

IN SICKNESS.

393

wished him heartily a long and happy series of them. And
I have now certainly not a wish only, but a trustful hope, that
he will have them. I celebrated my twelfth birthday at Devizes,
0, what a difif a school birthday could be a celebration.
In all points but one, how
ferent boy he is from what I was
!

much my

portion of that superiority appertaining
superior
And
to the age, unquestionably, more than to the individual.
yet my niece, I have no doubt, would rejoice to exchange a
But
quantity of his mental gifts for my bodily advantages.
!

she must comfort herself with the recollection that it is not in
the order of Providence that all blessings should be heaped on
one favored head.
I hope I am duly grateful for those I enjoy, though I am
My Pharisaism does not go
sensible they are of a low order.
I thank God that my body is not as other
beyond the body.
men's bodies are, and yet here am I at the end of an almost
three weeks' seclusion, owing to a bodily ailment ; and that
does not look like an exemption from ordinary infirmities.
Now, it seems strange to myself, on reflection, that, on looking
back on these three weeks, they have none but agreeable remiThey have been weeks of average enjoyment
niscences.
That carbuncle is a frightful word ay, it is the name of a fatal
Now, it has caused me no pain, owing to California,
malady
as the modern Mrs. Malaprop has it.
But it is not the absence of pain that surprises me so much
as that I have had no malaise. I have felt well. So that when
my friendly visitors look decorously grave, and begin, " I was
"I cannot help stopping them by laughvery sorry to hear
Nor have I felt the least impatience at the
ing in their faces.
seclusion. It is true that I have had the Times sent me for an
Could I have sat up,
hour every morning. I expect it now.
instead of being forced to lie down, I should have gone on with
my Reminiscences
Paynter, who said, on my observing
how well the people of the house had conducted themselves, and
what a happy prospect it opened of our future bearing towards
" Yes," he said, "it has converted what was a lodgeach other,
!

—

ing-house into a

home

This day, however,

unknown

privity of Dr. Boott, I stole to No. 4

surgeon, but with the
Bloomsbury Street.

[In comes the Times.]

Here

dined with Mylne,* one of the Lunacy Commis* Son of Professor Mylne, of Glasgow.

17*

394

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

24.

sioners.
small party.
Dr. Arnott, the stove-inventor ; a
pleasant talker, whose social warmth I like better than his arI lay for most of the time on a sofa.
tificial heat.
Christinas day,
I conferred pleasure on Atkinson's children * by giving them a book each, which their father had
And the family enjoyed their dinner oft' the turkey,
chosen.
w hich wT as highly praised. And I can bear witness to the excellence of the other turkey, of which I partook at Dr. Boott's.
No party beyond the Doctor, his wife, and mother (amiable
women), four daughters, the husband of one, and the pretendu
Here I was allowed to lie down and have my nap.
of another.
Now, that these escapades have done no harm is evident from
this, that Ridout dates the rapidity of the healing from the

—

Monday

CHAPTER

XXIV.

1850.

H. C. R. to T. R.
January

LET

26, 1850.

congratulate you on your having entered a
new decennium. Your eighty years are now completed.
This is a rare privilege,
considered as such by the popular
sentiment,
though soi-disant philosophers, some called holy
It is true
also, treat length of years as length of sorrow.
first

—

that, as years advance,
"

rapid blast or slow decline
social comforts die away."

Our

But is not the residue still a good 1
by my own experience, and adding
others,

should say it is, judging
observation of you and

seniors.

H. C. R. to T. R.
20 Russell Square, 2d February, 1850.

your reflections on our old age, and
on the alleviations, for which I trust we are duly grateful. Of
its ordinary evils, I trust that in our latter days we shall all find
that, though life must inevitably become less, it does not be*
I agree with

you

in all

* Children of the house.

INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUALS.

1850.]

395

come worse. Our senses must become more obtuse, but what
we still feel may be as agreeable notwithstanding. This I have
said before, but

it is

one of the truths that will bear repetition.

thank you for the communication of the paragraph on
Donne's lecture I wish I had been there to hear it. It has
more than once occurred to me that I might be easily induced,
myself, to deliver a lecture on Wordsworth but I fear I am
now too old and too indolent. By the by, what is often called
I

;

indolence is in fact the unconscious consciousness of incapacity \
the importunity to overcome it is often as injudicious as to
force an unwilling player to the whist-table, to the great annoyance of his partners
You mention having read with pleasure Channing's Memoirs.
I possess the book, but it is in constant requisition, and I have
scarcely had time to look into it.
Dr. Arnold would not for a moment have hesitated in receiving Channing within the fold of his Christianity.
The
great influence of individual men in determining public taste
and opinion is a remarkable fact. This is an unpleasant fact
to those who cannot combine with it an assurance that the existence of these individual men is itself an arrangement of a
special Providence, because accident ought not to have a wide
influence over the welfare of nations and humanity at large.
Imagine one single change, viz., that Goethe had been an
Italian instead of a German.
The literature of those two
countries would have been at this day very different from what
it now is \ perhaps the nations also

H. C. R. to Paynter.
Bury

St.

Edmunds,

12th April, 1850.

should have had great pleasure in going with you
He is a man from whom you are sure to
to hear Mr. Scott.
hear unusual matter.
He is always suggestive ; and his orthodoxy is never offensive. Amongst his constant hearers is
Newman, the arch-heretic, who joins in the singing, and seems
The audience consists of a very select few.
most devout.
You truly say " The great defect of his views was that they

....

for evil, and offered no means of
adjective " truly " to the first member
of the sentence.
For, though he did not in his sermon elaborately bring forward his means of escape, it must have been

seemed to have no place

escape."

I confine

implied.

The Gospel scheme

of redemption (which he never

396

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

repudiates) constitutes such means.

to the

24.

want of " a place

It is the puzzle
of puzzles, from which no scheme of faith and no variety of
Evil must be a part of the Divine
denial of faith is exempt.
economy, or God cannot be the perfect Being we assume him
But if it be, then the good and the bad alike are fulto be.
But I am unwilling to complete the sentence,
filling

for evil," that is not peculiar to his scheme.

—

.... To

recur again to Mr. Scott, your remark, founded on a
simple sermon, seems as if you expected, in that one sermon,
If you lived
to have a riddle at once propounded and solved.
in his neighborhood you would, I have no doubt, seek his acperhaps I should rather
quaintance.
I have a high opinion
I cannot think
concerning him.
say a strong impression
that he is a stranger to those feelings of pain which you deEvery man must have had them at one time or anscribe.
other ; though the frequency, as well as the intensity, of such
feelings, is often, I suspect, the mere result of physical organiBut I doubt whether any life can be so blameless, or
zation.
any mind can be so pure, as to justify any one's fancying himWould
self exempt from evil and inaccessible to temptation.
not such a one belong to that Pharisaic class whom Christ
seems to have ranked below publicans and sinners ? It is
against such self-righteousness that the Evangelicals seem successfully to oppose themselves
but, unfortunately, they ruin
their cause by the opposite extreme, into which they are ever
that of Antinomianism.
in danger of falling,
I protest
solemnly against the imputation of being rendered " insensible
to the want of any healing or purifying process " from any
Pharisaic self-esteem.
It is one thing to be conscious of evil
as inherent ; it is another to be apprehensive, in consequence
of that consciousness, of becoming the associate of devils to
In other words, I am equally unable to imagine
all eternity.
among mortals a fitness for heaven and for hell. The classification is too coarse, and consequently imperfect.
It provides
only for the ideal extreme. It leaves the great mass of
the imperfect without a settlement.
I am half angry for suffering myself to be drawn into so unprofitable a discussion.
The accounts from Rydal are alarming. I fear that the
great poet is approaching to what will be the commencement
For there seems an unwillingness to
of his fame as a poet.
acknowledge the highest merit in any living man

—

;

—

April 23d.

— This day

will

have a black mark in the annals

WORDSWORTH'S DEATH.

1850.]

397

of the age, for on this day died the greatest man I had ever
Wordsworth.
the honor of calling friend,
Next day I received a letter from Quillinan, announcing the
His
death of my great friend the poet, only an hour before.
sons were with him, and Mrs. Wordsworth had the comfort of
having her nearest relations with her. Every consolation which
death admits of was here, of which the chief was the full sense
that the departure was after a long life spent in the acquisition
the reward of a life devoted to the
of an immortal fame,

—

service of mankind.

Several of the newspapers have excellent articles on the
by far is that of the Times, which is ad-

poet, but the best

mirable.

—

April 30th.
A letter had come from Quillinan informing
Mrs. Wordsworth herself had attended,
of the funeral.
and I was expected. I regret much I did not go, for in genEvery one
eral it seems that it was thought I was there.
speaks as he ought of Wordsworth.
May 3d,
I read early a speech by Robertson to the
Brighton Working-Class Association, in which infidelity of a
His speech shows great
very dangerous kind had sprung up.
practical ability.
He managed a difficult subject very ably,
but it will not be satisfactory either to the orthodox or the
T
ultra-liberal.
I went to Mr. Cookson, w ho is one of the executors of Mr. Wordsworth, and with whom I had an interesting conversation about Wordsworth's arrangements for the
He has commissioned Dr. Chrispublications of his poems.
topher Wordsworth to write his Life, a brief Memoir merely
And in a paper given to the Doctor,
illustrative of his poems.
he wrote that his sons, son-in-law, his dear friend Miss Fenwick,
Mr. Carter, and Mr. Robinson, who had travelled with him,
" would gladly contribute their aid by communicating any facts

—

within their knowledge."
May 10th.
At the Athenaeum, I fell in with Archdeacon
Hare, who wished for my concurrence in a- committee meeting,
to concert a plan for a monument to Wordsworth, perhaps
on Monday, at the Bishop of London's. Talked afterwards
with Arthur Stanley and Dr. Whewell on the same subject.

—

H. C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 11th May, 1850.

.... You

speak so strongly about the pleasure which

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

398

24.

history gives,* that I begin to think that the narrative gives
as much pleasure as the passing through the events narrated.

You may

recollect that, once on a time, a German prince pensioned a literary man, to enable him to live at Paris among
the philosophers and men of letters of the witty and profligate
capital ; and in return, the pensioner sent a long letter every
day, giving an account of his parties, retailing all the bons
mots and scandal of the day. Hence Baron Grimm's letters,
the best and most instructive account of French society in ex-

—

istence.

The Duke of Gotha, perhaps, did not think
he was

collecting,

— nor Grimm

either,

of the treasure
of the

— and the buyer

had as much pleasure as the writer.
I was accosted by Archdeacon Hare, who said
he had been looking out for me several days. He has asked
me to attend at a preliminary meeting on Monday, at the Bishop
of London's, in order to deliberate on the means of doing fit
honor to the great poet by a public manifestation,
that is,
a monument of some kind or other.
It is wished to have a
representative of every class, and I suppose I am to represent
the Liberals. It is remarkable that the most zealous of Wordsworth's admirers have been the Unitarians and High Church.
The Evangelicals within and without the Church have been
letters

Yesterday,

—

his despisers, in couple with the Rationalists of the Scotch
school.
I shall from time to time tell you how things go

—

May 13th.
Attended a meeting at Mr. J ustice Coleridge's,
to consider of a monument for Wordsworth. I made the thirteenth.
Present, Bishops of London and St. David's, Archdeacons Hare and Milman, Mr. J. Coleridge, Rogers, Professor
It was
Scott, Boxall, and four whose names I did not learn.
agreed that there should be a bust in Westminster Abbey, and
a suitable memorial in Grasmere Church ; and if there should
be a surplus of subscriptions (not likely), it is to be considered
what is to be done with that. The Bishop of LlandafF suggested a scholarship at St. John's College for a native of the
Lakes. The Bishop of London wished for something connected
with literature.
Rogers was uncomfortably deaf, and understood little of what was going on.

*
part of H. C. R.'s letters to T. R. consisted generally of an account of
his doings since the last letter, and this part frequently began with, " Now to
history."

1850.]

RYDAL

IN MOURNING.

— MEMORIAL PROJECTS.

399

H. C. R. to Miss Fenwick.
30 Russell, Square, 20th May, 1850.

a sad imperfection in language, after all that men
of genius and thought have done.
We want a distinct set of words, by which we may express
our feelings at an incident by which pain is assuaged and sufferI felt this
ing relieved, and an approach made to enjoyment.
when I sat down just now, to address a few lines to you, for I
felt the impropriety of saying that I was glad or rejoiced to

There

hear of your arrival at Rydal Mount.
A considerable time must elapse before joy or gladness can
be associated with Rydal Mount; yet I have at the same
time felt, that the grief at the departure of the husband, the
brother, the father, and friend, is, if not overpowered, yet modified by a sense of his greatness, and of the imperishability of
such a mind
!

" For

when the Mighty pass away,
What is it more than this,
That man who is from God sent forth
Doth yet again to God return? "

H. C. R. to

T. R.

May

24, 1850.

There will be conflicting opinions and tastes about the monument.
One set of committee men would willingly make
Wordsworth's name available for their sectarian purposes.
This man says, " Devote the surplus to a Church " "A School"
says a second; " An Almshouse" says a third ; " A Scholarship
in an old University," says a fourth.
Against all these my
" I would give largely
friend Kenyon protests with warmth
to do Wordsworth honor, but nothiiig to a Wordsworth
;

institute."

H. C. R. to T. R.

May

am now

24, 1850.

going to startle you, by informing you of a scheme
or project which has been formed by Masquerier and me ; and
if his and his wife's and my health all remain as they at
present are, we hope to carry it into execution in about a
week's time.
And this scheme is to engage not more than
eight or nine days of our time.
It is to take a trip
the final visit of both of us, probably
to Paris.
Masquerier, you know, is of French origin, and
I

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

400

24.

is more of a Frenchman in speech, and intimate knowledge of
the country, than any other friend of mine, though he has no
near friends or acquaintance there. He has survived most of
his old associates ; yet he feels an interest in the country, and
And it has been for
wishes to see it in its Republican state.
nearly a year the design of Masquerier and myself to take this
journey, leaving Mrs. Masquerier in the mean while at Dover
or Folkestone, where she is to be joined by Masquerier's niece,

Fanny.

And lately Mr. Brown, the husband of Miss Ooutts's former
I suppose I am exgoverness, has agreed to join our party.
pected to supply animal spirits, and he, by implication, I presume, undertakes to wr atch over our bodies and health, and do
And, without a joke,
his best to set us right if we go wrong.
it is really agreeable, in one's seventy-sixth year, to have a
medical travelling companion
[This visit to Paris wT as made the party set out on the 4th
few extracts are all
of June and returned on the 21st.
that will be given from the journal.]
;

June 7 ill.

— Visited the Louvre.

ance, but nothing

saw many old acquaint-

new that was remarkable, excepting the

Nineveh remains, which the French consul sent

over.

size

superior to our importations.
They are quite
colossal, and throw ours into the shade.
I speak only of the
I dare say Layard brought what the confirst importation.

they are

far

—

w ould have

despised,
small articles, remains in metal,
Layard's last excavations may have been more productive.
I remarked with surprise the almost entire absence of
English visitors.
This was noticeable also in the streets.
At
our restaurant in the Rue St. Honore, Poole, the comic writer,
was pointed out to me but he looks a wreck.
June 8th.
On breakfasting in the Tuileries gardens, I
learned that Mr. Brown had procured us tickets for the National Assembly, to which we were to go between one and two.
We therefore did nothing but lounge over our breakfast, and
saunter to the Assembly.
We found a back place in the gallery, and sat there till past four.
The Hall is spacious, and
It was an interesting
the spectator sees the whole at once.
sight, and merely a sight, for, though I could distinguish a
few sentences, I in fact understood nothing. A great deal of
business was done.
The Speaker (M. Dupin), a busy, active
sul

&c.

—

;

401

ENTHUSIASTS INTOLERANT.

1850.]

The house was not full, and the memdo.
bers were running about, though each had his seat and desk.
Many were writing, and some reading the papers. The President was on an elevated seat or throne, and five or six persms
were with him. Some notables were named, but I could disThe question under discussion was whether
tinguish no face.

man, had much to

The speech we
the electoral law should be retrospective.
heard was read from the tribune, which was under the President's seat, as a clerk's desk is under the pulpit
and the
received slmkes of the
reader of the speech, a General
hand from his friends on descending from the tribune. On a
later occasion (the 10th) I heard Emile Barrot.
It is worth mentioning, that on my inquiring
June 11th.
for two of the most popular of George Sand's late works, I
was told "they were not wanted now in a time of revolution
no one had leisure to read novels." This was repeated, and
very gravely.
Yet Paris was still the old Paris. The gayety
of the Champs Elysees was quite exhilarating.
Jane 13th.
I went to the Theatre Franeais and saw " Andromaque." I have no doubt Madame Rachel deserved all
Her recitation may
the applause she received in Hermione.
be perfect, but a Frenchman only can be excited to enthusiasm
by such merits. She wants the magical tones, and the marThe
vellous eye, and the majestic figure of Mrs. Siddons.
forte of Eachel, I dare say, is her expression of scorn and indignation.
It was in giving vent to these feelings that she
;

—

drew down thunders of applause.
This journey afforded me the pleasure of meeting some of
two ladies,
the most agreeable Americans I have ever seen,
who are well known in connection with the antislavery movement, Mrs. Follen and Mrs. Chapman, both friends of Harriet
Mrs. Chapman is an enthusiast and there is this
Martineau.
drawback in the society of all enthusiasts, that they are discontented if you do not go all lengths with them, and they
will seldom allow themselves to talk on any other than their
own special topic. Mrs. Follen is going to Heidelberg, and I
have given her a letter to Mrs. Benecke.

—

;

Thursday, 15th of August, I set out on a visit to Rydal,
I remained a week.
I went to see Mrs. Wordsworth,
whom I found admirably calm and composed. No complaint
or lamentation from her.
I went also to talk with Dr. Words-,
worth about the. Memoir he is writing.

where

402

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

—

24.

Miss Denman informed me of the death of
September 2d.
George Young. He
one of the most esteemed of my friends,
was one of the very best talkers I ever met with. His good sense
and judgment were admirable. Without imagination or lively
I enjoyed his company,
abilities, his judgment was perfect.

—

I have sustained an irreparable loss.
At Mortlake took a luncheon-dinner with
September 16th.
Mr. Aubrey de Vere, a very
the Taylors and Miss Fen wick.
gentlemanly as well as superior young man, was there ; the

and

—

De Vere
conversation was of a very interesting character.
a poet and liberal, a thinker and a man of sentiment.

H. C. R. to T. R.
October

11, 1850.

break through all order, by relating what I
have heard since I began to write on this second side of my
" What is
paper.
I asked Babington Macaulay, the historian
the fact as to the reputed secession of Henry Wilberforce from
Macaulay
the Anglican to the Roman Catholic Church ? "
answering, " I believe he has gone over," another gentleman
said, " He has announced it himself to the Archbishop of
Canterbury." Macaulay then added " I can tell you this,
the Bishop of Oxford wrote to the Archbishop to inquire how
he should behave towards his brother. The Archbishop answered, Like a brother.'
for once

I will

—

C. R. to T.

November

There was a time when

1850.

could not comprehend how it could
be possible for a length of time to feed on one's own thoughts,
without any aid from books or conversation. I find that I have
now a faculty of so amusing myself, of which I had formerly
no conception. Thus much I will say, that I do not consider
it so certainly a good thing to be able, without ennui, to pass
hours and days in a dreamy and musing state. In a young
man it would be evidence of an inert and torpid state of the
mind, which is opposed to all useful labor and salutary energy.
But there is a period in life at which when a man is arrived he
may without reproach allow himself to indulge in this, which
has been called a fool's paradise.
And if it be allowed to fix
an age, surely it may be settled to be that age, viz., threescore
and ten, which the ancient Scriptures declare to be the boundI

PAPAL AGGRESSION.

1850.]

403

So I have
ary of human life, or rather of human activity.
comforted myself, when I have been on the point of reproachand so it is that I am inclined to
ing myself for inactivity
I
consider all that I now do as a sort of posthumous activity.
should hold forth this doctrine with more satisfaction, if I could
fall back on the recollection of an active life in youth.
:

—

attended the University College Council.
to the Flaxman Gallery, and were warm
in its praise. Indeed, the casts look very beautifully ; and 1 shall
not be reproached hereafter, I am sure, for having drawn the

November 3d.

The members went up

College into this scrape.

H. C. R. to T. K.
30

Russell Square, 30th November,

1850.

very retired, and hqar very little of what is
going on in the world, yet I own I did expect you would tell
something of
me or if not you, that Sarah would tell me
w hat is doing and saying in your town about the Papal aggression [that is the term].
What do the Evangelicals say who
worship under the auspices of Mr. Kemp % and what the High
and dry old Church of England, w ho follow the soberer counsels
of Mr. Hasted or Mr. Pelew?
I am curious in these matters,
not on account of the individual men, but because they are the
representatives of classes.
For the same reason I should like
to know whether your orthodox Non-cons follow the sterner
Presbyterians of the North, who have lost none of their antipathy to the Pope or whether they join the Anti-State-Church
Association party, who avow that they see little or no difference
between the Roman and the Anglo-Catholic Churches. To my
judgment, this is the most mischievous of the sects now busy,
as the most foolish is that of the men who think that an insignificant matter is made too much of.
I confess myself to be
an alarmist, and a very serious alarmist too. The Ministry are
in a fix,
to use the Yankee phrase,
a pretty considerable
and they have an adversary who will not fail to take adfix
vantage of any mistake.
Now the Scylla and Charybdis between which the helmsmen of the state have to steer are, on
the one side, the triumph which would be given to the Papal
government by submitting to its assumption and, on the other
side, the sympathy which would be excited by seeming persecution.
Yet surely thus much might be done with safety,
an

Though you

live

—

;

—

;

—

404

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

24.

absolute prohibition of any territorial title taken from any part
of England and Yv'ales.
Lord Beaumont, the Roman Catholic,
has pointed at this as the gist of the complaint.*
The Flaxman Gallery will at least shed a ray of beauty oyer
It will be in its way the most beautiful thino- to
the College.

be seen, perhaps, anywhere, and I shall not grudge the cost,
whatever it may be to myself.
I dare not hope that you will
eyer recover sufficiently to come up and see it.
But I flatter
myself that, some forty or fifty years hence, when you and I
shall be dead and forgotten, except by a very few, Henry will
look at the beautiful gallery and say
"It was an uncle of
mine that was the prime mover in founding this gallery. It
:

was through

his influence that Miss
College accepted, a gift of the casts."

Denman

offered,

and the

C. R. to T. R.

December

•

1850.

have agreed with Mr. Eyre,f
rather than with Dr. Donaldson, on the subject of Papal aggression for I am an alarmist, and fear that the Doctor is not sumciently aware of the extent of the danger in which the country
You also seem to me to belong to the class of inis placed.
I have begun an article on this subject, which
different ists.
has been on my mind for the last few days, almost to the exI

incline to think I should

;

clusion of

all others.

Dear Charles Lamb once wrote to me, inquiring whether he
had not a clear right of action against a certain C. L. for sending very stupid articles to the Monthly Magazine, signed C. L.,
because they were injurious to C. Lamb's literary reputation.
I was forced to opine that, according to the English law, a fool
does not, by being a fool, lose the right to the use of his own
name, however obnoxious that use may be to a wise man having
the same, and that this applies to initials.
* On this subject H. 0- R. felt very strongly, find wrote a Ions letter, which
was published in the Christian Reformer, Vol.' VII. New Series, p. 9: " Protest
against Unitarian Advocacy of Non-resistance to the Pope's Bull " In this
what none but a lawyer
letter H. C. R. says: "I do not presume to say
what precise measure of prohibition the government should
could dictate

—

adopt. I rejoice to find that the Duke of Norfolk has adopted the wise declaration of Lord Beaumont, who, with admirable propriety, has asserted the important difference between appointing a bishop to rule over the Romanists
dwelling within a given district, and erecting Sees within her Majesty's dominions; which these Catholic Peers acknowledge to be an insolence to which the
Queen of England ought not to submit."
t

Bury clergyman.

A SAD CHRISTMAS AT

1851.]

405

RYDAL.

Mrs. Wordsworth to H.

C. R.

December

30, 1850.

—

Finding from an affectionate letter
very dear Friend,
I have just received from our common friend, now Lady Cranworth, that you are in town, I cannot let this, to me, year of
affliction pass over my head without expressing how much you
have been in my thoughts at this season, which used to be
for I
I did not, as heretofore,
cheered by your presence.
claim a right to your company at our
had not the wish,
you would unChristmas board. I need not explain why,

—

But, dear friend, I trust it may not be
derstand the feeling.
very long before we may see you again as one of us, who for a
time remain.
I have often said this last year has done more to make a real
old woman of me than all the preceding eighty years of my life
put together. However, I have good cause to be thankful for,
in other respects, the enjoyment of perfect health and a multitude of blessings in this, my bereaved state.
God bless you, dear friend, for all your kindness to me and
mine, and believe me ever to be sincerely yours.

1851.
this year my brother Habakkuk died.
He had lost both his sight and his
died without pain.
power of walking. Still, when I saw him, he was apparently
happy. It is a subject for grateful satisfaction that we are able
to accommodate ourselves to such deprivations.
A chief gratification with him must have been musing.
I have this faculty
also in an eminent degree, and exercise it in a way that no
one could imagine. And I believe it will be my resource

At the beginning of

hereafter.

the

funeral.

11th

—

went

Bagshot to be present at the

January 15th.
I was detained in town by the wish to atIt
tend a meeting of the committee of the Flaxman statue.
took place at half past two at Watson's studio. Peter Cunningham, Sir Charles Eastlake, Dr. Darling, and one or two others,
were there. A gentleman, in the name of the executor, accepted the offer of the money raised, and to be raised, though
it should amount to not much more than £ 300.
Sir C. Eastlake produced an address to the public, soliciting further sub-

406

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

24.

scriptions, and stating that the statue would be presented to
the University College, in order to be united to the works in
the Flaxman Gallery.
This was objected to by Dr. Darling.
He thought that should be left open. On this I interposed,
and expressed a wish that the Doctor would see the gallery ;
and it was agreed that we should go there. The moment he
entered the gallery he declared his scruples to be at an end.
He expected nothing so beautiful. He only hoped it would be
open to the public.
January 18th.
The business of the Wordsworth monument was gone into, but not much done,
£1,100 subscribed;
and the secretaries are to address to artists a circular request
The party was not large. The most interesting
for designs.
person was Ruskin, who talks well and looks better.
He has
a very delicate and most gentlemanly countenance and manners.
We talked about the Quarterly review of Southey, and the
demerit of the article.

—

C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, January

18, 1851.

....

Mr. and Miss Rogers are returned from Brighton.
Both she and he are able to drive out every day. He gives up
his numerous breakfast-parties, but wishes to have every morning one or two friends to come at half past ten.
I am going
to him to-day.
His clever lad Edmund manages everything
for him.
Yesterday I had at breakfast Dr. Donaldson, Dr. Boott,
Sharpe the Egyptian, and Edwin Field. The morning went
off exceedingly well.
Dr. Donaldson made himself most
agreeable.
Boott said he had not for twenty years seen a
man with such brilliancy and depth combined. Field I have
not seen since, but he looked charmed. It is really a great
advantage to have such a man to show to one's friends.
He
is a greater treat than pdte de Perigord.
But it is time to get

up and

dress.

Athenaeum,

have had an interesting two hours with Rogers. There
were four of us the others were Henry Sharpe and Moxon.
Rogers talks as well as ever.
I am glad to find that you felt in harmony with my " Protest."
Donaldson praises it. The difference of opinion on all
I

writings (almost)

a subject of curious observation.

It occurs

QUILLINAN.

1851.]

— ROBERTSON.

407

to me, however, that the opinion of the book is generally more
influenced by the sentiment towards the writer than is genthink that our opinion of literary men is
erally supposed.

formed by our estimate of their works. But we often mistake
in this.
As to myself, I think I can trace both praise to liking,
and censure to dislike. Of course I would not establish this
into a rule.

January 22d.

— Amused

myself by reading Godwin on

the old pleasure.
The gross
materialism is an incurable blot.
How monstrous to affirm
that every particle of mould has once thought, and that the
ashes are the real man
This is as bad physics as metaphysics.
Sepulchres.

It did

not give

QUILLINAN TO H.

C. E.

Monday, February

....

1851.

have some hesitation in sending you the enclosed,
one of many unsuspected suspiria of mine * for such things
I

;

almost- too sacred for the light in one's own lifetime.
These stanzas flowed into and out of my mind yesterday morning of their own accord, as, on looking out when I got up, I
found our vale and mountains, as I have occasionally observed
them before, a very miniature of the plain of Grenada and the
Sierra Nevada, though Ambleside is but a poor substitute for
You will hardly have
the Saracen city with its Alhambra.
time to look at such things now, at the opening of Parliament,
when your head is full of war against the Pope.f ....
are

—

I had a three hours' chat with
February 15th (Brighton).
A very interesting talk, of course. He said " J
feel myself more comfortable in the Church of England than I
did.
I feel I have a mission, and that, if I live a few years, it
will not be in vain.
That mission is, to impress on minds of
a certain class of intellect, that there is a mass of substantial
truth in the Church of England, which will remain when the
vulgar orthodox Church perishes, as probably it soon will."
He used expressions very like those of Donaldson, and I have
no doubt he is with perfect sincerity, and without any con-

Robertson.

* These suspiria were the stanzas in p. 262 of " Poems by Edward QuiUinan." The stanzas are very beautiful, especially in the references to the death
of Dora and her father.
f Quillinan tells me Landor's witticism about " Quillinanities (see p. 240)

was not

original.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

408

straint, a firm believer in the doctrines he professes.
It is true
that he understands almost every orthodox doctrine in a refined
sense, and such as would shock the mass of ordinary Christians.
I told him of my notions on Papal aggression, and he so far agrees
that he thinks the government does right in resisting the assumption of titles.
(At Masquerier's, Brighton. )
February 18th.
We had
The one to be mentioned was that
calls soon after breakfast.
of Faraday, one of the most remarkable men of the day, the
very greatest of our discoverers in chemistry, a perfect lecturer in the unaffected simplicity and intelligent clearness of
his statement ; so that the learned are instructed and the ignorant charmed.
His personal character is admirable. When
he was young, poor, and altogether unknown, Masquerier was
kind to him ; and now that he is a great man he does not forget his old friend.
We had a dinner-party, and an agreeable
evening ; Dr. King, Dr. Williams, Miss Mackintosh, &c.
The
interesting man of the party was Ross, the Presbyterian
minister, with whom I had much talk on theology, more, indeed, than would seem right ; but I am told that we interested
the company.
Ross is learned in German theology, and a great
admirer, as well as friend, of Julius Hare.
Therefore liberal
beyond the ordinary measure allowed to the ministers of the

—

Scotch Church.*

—

March

2d.
Heard Robertson twice. In the morning exbut his language too liable to be mistaken. For in" That men were not to believe on authority,
stance, he said
nor because the speaker was confirmed by miracles, or announced by prophecy, but because what Christ said was true
that Christ did not claim to be listened to but for his word's
sake that what he said was not true because he said it, but
he said it because it was true." The point to be established
was, that it is the habit of obedience and the will which give
the power to know, not the understanding ; that is, in spiritcellent,

;

ual concerns.

April 11th.

—

of Wordsworth."

respects

received last night a copy of the " Memoir
I have as yet read no part but that which

my journey

March

J+th.

— At

with him.f
the Athenaeum with Dr. Boott and Dr.

* Mr. Ross is now a clergyman of the Church of England.
f Mr. Robinson contributed to the Memoir a letter giving a brief account of
account of which has already-

his tour with Wordsworth in 1837, a fuller
been given in this work.

BUNSEN.

1851.]

— AGE

AND INTELLECT.

409

Donaldson. The term sound Divine being used, I said
not know what is a sound divine," quoting Pope,

—

" Dulness

" But

I do," said

" I do

sacred in a sound divine."

Donaldson

;

a divine

who

vox

proeterea nihil"

—

I made several agreeable calls, one on ChevlJfth.
Bunsen, who was even kind, and talked with deep feeling
on the sad events of the times. He is zealous in favor of German religion and philosophy and while he honors the practical
philosophy of the English, deplores that their religion is withmore, I suspect,
out ideas. He thinks highly of Kenrick,
than of Donaldson ; though he thinks, with Donaldson, that
the root of the evil, in vulgar orthodoxy, is in the false notions
He quite frightened a poor
of inspiration and bibliolatry.
Evangelical archdeacon by telling him that the Book of Daniel
could not have been written earlier than the second century
before Jesus Christ.

March

alier

;

—

H. C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 6th April, 1851.

.... I never felt myself stronger, and polite people say I
never looked better, than now but it is continually occurring
to me that one of these days the Times " obituary " may con" On the
tain one of its minion paragraphs
th instant,
after a few hours' indisposition, of a congestion of the brain,
aged 7-, H. C. R., You won't consider this as a melancholy paragraph, I am
sure.
The only part of it that I should wish to have otherwise is the substitution of the figure 8 for 7.
You have already secured the eight neither of us wishes for the 9 in his
obituary.
My attention is now naturally drawn to the condition, and particularly the mental condition, of my seniors ; and
I am led to observe a distinction between that weakening of
the faculties which is universal and inevitable,
such as the
loss of memory and slowness of comprehension, which are not
particularly distressing, because not very mischievous nor
humiliating, and which you and I are conscious of, without
being saddened by it,
and those aberrations and obliquities
of intellect which are by no means peculiar to old age, and
from which indeed old age is generally free. They are a great
affliction when they occur.
May we be spared the endurance
;

—

;

—

VOL.

II.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

410

of them, or (frequently the
in those we love

them

24.

worse calamity) the witnessing

There

is another incident frequent in old men, which I hope
not quite so bad, and that is the being prosy and longwinded in their talk and letters. I hear Sarah exclaim,
" He gives us the specimen and the observation at the same
time."
And an impudent scamp at your elbow roars out,
" Ay that he does."

—

April 8th.
At three o'clock Prince Albert inspected the
Flaxman Gallery. There were some half-dozen in attendance.
The architect,* Wood, the Baron, Wyon, Cockerell. E. W.
Field was there as honorary secretary.
The Prince showed a

and with Flaxman. He
afterwards went into the library, chemical laboratory, &c.
At
first there were few, as he wished ; but his presence gradually
became known among the students. They all rose in the
library
and when he left, they set up a shout. All went off
well.
This is the most agreeable incident that has occurred to
familiar acquaintance with the works,

;

us.

—

May 12th. At the festival given to Kiss, Von Hofer, and
other foreign artists, the P. R. A. gave the Flaxman Gallery as
a toast, and my name with it, and asked me to make a little
speech to the artists in German. I had a very agreeable talk
with the great sculptors I have named.
Kiss, from Berlin, is
In my
a fine fellow, sturdy and vigorous, like O'Connell.
speech I addressed some remarks in German, on the reproach
My praise of Flaxman
against the English as utilitarians.
was well

received.
[In 1851 Mr. Robinson made a tour with his friends Masquerier and Brown to Berlin, Dresden, Leipsic, Frankfort, &c.
At Berlin he saw Jacob Grimm, Ludwig Tieck, and Pro-

fessor

Ranke

but the passages which w ill be given relate
with the Savigny family, " Bettina,"
T

;

chiefly to his interviews

and the Arndts.]
June 8th.
Between twelve and one o'clock I
(Berlin.)
was at Savigny 's, the great lawyer and Minister of Justice. I
had written a short note to Frau von Savigny but she being
from home, I gave it to the servant, and in a few minutes he
returned.
Most cordial was my reception from Savigny,
u Sind Sie der alte Robinson ? Ich hielt Sie
(Are
filr starker.
you the old Robinson] I thought you were stronger.) And

—

;

—

* Professor T. L. Donaldson.

THE SAVIGNYS.

1851.]

— BETTINA. — KUNIGUNDA.

411

concluding words were, " Hire AnJcunft
Ueberraschung" (Your arrival is a joyful surFor more than half an hour, inquiries were exchanged
prise.)
and family histories related. Frau von Savigny said at night
I was not altered in the least, and such I could honestly asAs she has marks from the
sure her was the case with her.
small-pox and is plain, she has been a gainer by old age, as is
After a talk of between
the case with all of us ugly people.
one and two hours, I was invited to come in the evening, and
on leaving at night was told that at nine they take tea, and I
This is a most
should be always expected at that hour.
In the evening came the celebrated
agreeable arrangement.
Bettina.
I had an impression that she would not feel very
friendly towards me, but she gave me her hand cordially.
as her
those of a self-willed person,
Her manners are odd,
She is plain,
opinions are those of one who thinks for herself.
She lives in constant
as plain as one so intellectual can be.
But
opposition to the Savignys in all matters of controversy.
they avoid controversy. I observed that when Bettina expressed herself strongly, "die Gundel," that is Kunigunda,
was silent. And so when " die Gundel" spoke first, no direct
contradiction came from Bettina, though opposite opinions
were expressed. Frau von Savigny is a Conservative, holds
Lord Palmerston in abhorrence, and thinks that he is the
source of all the calamities of the time.
Essentially her husband entertains the same opinion, but with a becoming modThe Minister thinks that the state of Prussia is not
eration.
so bad as we imagine ; but his wife was unable to defend the
King against the charge of abandoning the Schleswig-HolsteinBettina is an oppositionist, and thinks the King misled.
ers.
All represent him to be a well-intending man.
Frau von
Savigny speaks of Bettina's works with admiration.
In spite
of their differences of opinion, she has pride in her sister.
Bettina says that the family are Italian, and that " die Gundel " is an apostate for not espousing the Italian cause.
Italy
" Die Gundel " says Bettina
will yet rise and become great.
is misled by her humanity,
she thinks the oppressed always
in the right.
On my admitting that England treated Ireland
ill, Bettina said, " No nation can reproach England on that
ground all have their Ireland." I recollect an eloquent de-

when
ist

I left at night, his

tine

fvolte

—

;

fence of the Tyrolese by Bettina.
Bettina's daughters are charming

girls.

The

refused to marry one of the Princes of Prussia, a

eldest,

who

nephew of

;

412

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

Chap.

24.

the King, is a most interesting girl. And one of them has
the Savignys' house with original paintings.
They may
have merit, but the coloring is not agreeable. I saw three of
these daughters,
all interesting.
I find them admirers of Macaulay and Dickens. They probably share more of their mother's
than their aunt's opinions. I saw Savigny 's eldest son. He is a
handsome young man, as Savigny is a fine man approaching old
age.
Fran von Savigny, especially in the evening, appeared
very agreeable, and revives my youthful impression of her.
filled

—

Her good-humor and

vivacity are attractive.

And Savigny

the same dignified person he was in youth.
I should state
that he resigned office as Minister of Justice at the Revolution,
and would on no account resume it. He must, therefore, be
discontented with the state of things, though rejoicing in the
reaction, which indeed, he said, is the salvation of Germany.
He praised the conduct of the soldiers. The day after he
resigned his place he began again to write,
and in that he

—

great.

—

June 12th.
Between eight and nine o'clock at the Savignys'.
There came Jacob Grimm and others amongst them the Yon
Arnims.
June 13th.
I called at Professor Ranke's, and first saw Mrs.
Ranke, the sister of Graves, who lives near Ambleside, and also
of our ex-Professor of Law at the University College, who married a daughter of William Tooke.
Soon afterwards her husband came in, but I saw him for a few minutes only, as he had
to give a lecture. I stayed a long time with Mrs. Ranke. She
is a very superior woman. She praised with warmth Mrs. WordsShe is
worth, thinking her almost greater than her husband.
now a lover of Wordsworth's poetry, being a convert from Lord
Byron. She is in religious matters very liberal, praising warmly
Martineau's sermons and so little of a bigot that she allowed
And what
Frau von Savigny to be godmother to her child.
she said on this matter was confirmed by Herr von Savigny, viz.,
that in baptism the Roman Catholics and Protestants become
godfathers and godmothers indiscriminately.
In spite of the
;

—

;

strength of their assurance that this is the practice of the
Catholics everywhere, I believe this would not be permitted by either party in England.
Madame Ranke praised Savigny as warmly as he praised her
but she sees them seldom, owing to her ill health. She lives a
recluse life, and therefore my visit was quite an enjoyment to

Roman

her.

LUDWIG TIECK.

1851.]

— AT

413

DRESDEN.

—

Called on Ludwig Tieck.
His memory put
June 18th.
mine to shame, though he is more than eighty, and only just
He was on his sofa. He
recovering from an alarming illness.
goes to bed very early, and would have received me in bed, which
I should have allowed him to do in the evening, had I not pro-

cured the postponement of our journey.
I went again to Savigny's, walking first into the forest or
pleasure-grounds (beyond the Brandenburger Thor), of which
They seem
I had never heard, but shall, I expect, see more of.
to be the Kensington Gardens of Berlin. At Savigny's the same
that is, the Yon Arnims.
party,
I am charmed with the
young ladies, but the mother is as odd as ever. Frau von Savigny is too ill to go away to-day, as was intended, but I have
formally taken leave.
June 15th.
I had a very interesting lounge and gossip with
the second of the young ladies (Von Arnims), to whom I have
promised to send a book under cover to Lord Westmoreland.
Her mother came down with her hands covered with clay.
She is, with the assistance of Schonhauser, working on the
model for Goethe's monument, to be sent up at Frankfort. I
saw a large painting of hers in the house.
Of the merits of
these works I do not pretend to have an opinion but she is unquestionably a woman of a great variety of talents.
(At Dresden.) Took a short walk after dinner,
June 16th,
and found that I remembered much of the city, though a great
part of it seems new, and not quite so gay as I had fancied it.
Schlegel's Shakespeare's
In one respect we were' very lucky.
" Twelfth Night," called Was Ihr ivollt, was played, and greatly
to our satisfaction. The only mortification was, that I had such
a faint recollection of Shakespeare. But Brown, who recollected
more, could follow the translation throughout. It seemed to us
admirably given. Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and
Malvolio, all seemed to us quite in conformity with the English
conception of the characters. A Madame Baier Biirck played
both Viola and Sebastian and, when personating the latter,
she gave a mauliness to her voice and step which would have
almost deceived us as to her identity. There was, of necessity,
a change in the text at last. Another person, who managed to

—

;

—

;

conceal his face, came in as Sebastian.
July 6th.
(Bonn.)
A fortunate day. Walked to Arndt's
house there I was met by his son with a smiling countenance.
The father was detained from home on business. Arndt, Jun.,

—

;

returned with

to the Star Hotel,

and we met the old gentle-

414

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

24.

near the gate.
He engaged me to come and take coffee
Accordingly at that time I returned to the Professor's,
and had a most delightful talk with them till seven. Our conversation was diversified by the presence of two Schleswig
clergymen, who have been banished because they refused to
preach in Danish, and teach the Danish language, which the
This is a barpeople will not learn, and they cannot teach.
barism worthy the ally of Russia, and which the Times has not
Our three hours' talk was in an arbor
censured as it ought.
fronting the Rhine, and affording a view of the Siebengebirge,
We had a second confab of two
especially the Drachenfels.
There were present two other sons of the
hours in the house.
Professor, his wife, an agreeable, unpretending old lady, and
her only daughter,
a very pleasing girl.
I know not when I have had such a treat as in listening to
Arndt, who, being eighty-two years of age, has a youthful vigor
and animal spirits which are quite marvellous. The character
of his mind is as youthful as his voice and physical qualities.
He really inspires me with hope which I had lost for the
human race. He acknowledges the sad condition of Germany
at the present moment, owing to the follies and misconduct of
the people, who abused the power of which they lost possession
very soon.
And he is not blind to the attempts made by a
party to crush the struggling liberties of the people but he
holds it impossible that this should be carried out, and is a
most firm and zealous asserter that the civilized world is in a
state of progress.
He says that he can recollect between sixty
and seventy years, and knows that in that interval, in Germany,
men eat and drink, and in all respects live, better than they
did.
They are better dressed, are cleaner, and less corrupt
and vicious in their lives. The higher classes cannot oppress
the lower as they used to do, and humanity has advanced.
This I rejoice to believe, and I try to think that it is all strictly
correct, and not to any great degree the delusion arising out

man

at four.

—

;

of Arndt 's peculiar temperament.

Arndt

upon his favorite topic, the original diverwhich he attaches so great an importance, and
which goes far towards reconciling him to certain enormities
in the history of civilization as inevitable and therefore paralso dwelt

sity of races, to

donable.

He asserted at the same time his firm belief in God, immortality, and thje essential truth of Christianity.
He does
not shrink from the language of orthodoxy, but

it is

clear that

— ON LANDOR.

ARNDT ON THE RHINE PROTESTANTS.

1851.]

415

he cares nothing for orthodoxy. Yet he feels the necessity of
He conorder, and holds the freie Gemeinde in contempt.
firmed what I had heard before, that no one is questioned as
to his creed, and all who contribute to the maintenance of the
Church have a voice in the election of the minister. It is not
necessary to take the Sacrament in order to be allowed to vote ;
and none but an open and scornful enemy would be excluded.
Here on the Rhine, where the Protestants are a small minority,
there is a legally established Presbyterian form of government.
In the other provinces of Prussia, there are superintendents,
another name for bishops, who, as the leaders of a clerical
but not as a distinct class. These
body, are acknowledged,
Arndt speaks as conare merely each primus inter pares.
temptuously as Arnold himself did of the supposed Apostolic

—

succession.

conversation.

from Luther

may

hereafter, perhaps, recollect

I will
:

of his

merely now repeat a mot which he quoted

He who

not handsome at twenty, strong at
rich at fifty, will not be handsome,

and

thirty, learned at forty,

strong, learned, or rich in this

w orld."
T

Other notes of Arndt's conversation
Calling on him in the autumn of 1847,

may
I

be given here.
found him reading

Julius Hare had sent him a copy, as well as
Landor's works.
Arndt
two volumes of his own sermons, lately published.
was full of admiration of Landor's j ust perception of the Italian
life and character, and w as as enthusiastic as ever in his talk. I
r

enjoyed highly the hours spent with him.
A bust of Schleiermacher led to the information that Arndt's wife is SchleierArndt
macher's sister. We spoke of the state of religion.
said " No good, except indirectly, will come of the new German
Catholic Church but a freer spirit is now stirring among the
German Protestant clergy. They take the Bible as their Norm,
but every man puts his own sense on it. So do I.
I am a
Christian.
I believe in a sort of Revelation,
einer Art von
I do not believe that the Maker of heaven and
Offenbarung.
earth was crucified, nor that the Holy Spirit is a person.
I
worship Christ as a holy person. He is the purest and highest
form of humanity ever known but I do not pretend to know
anything of the mystery of his nature. That is no concern of
mine.
But I take the Scripture as the guide of life and if I
could only act up to one half of what it teaches, it would be
well.
I am for the Bible, and against the priests.". ... On
politics he spoke hopefully.
He thinks the world improving.
" We have no Volker-recht in Germany, but we have a Prinzen:

;

—

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

416

24.

This Danish succession question concerns the
and thev take it up and it happens that the people
and the princes are on the same side. The people won't let
Germany be separated that is all they care for.
not who is
Duke of Holstein and Sehleswig."
In 1S56. when I was again in Bonn, old Arndt was living at 34
I was recognized
in the Cohtenzer Stra^. a handsome suburb.
by Mrs. Arndt. The old patriot was attending a funeral It
suited all parties that I should be left to my after-dinner nap,
from which he awoke me. He was the same as ever, and the
more remarkable because of his age (eighty-seven).* His flow
of talk, or declamation, was in quantity equalled only by Coleridge the tone different.
Arndt having a sharp, loud, laugh-

prirat-recht.

princes,

—

ing voice
:i

::-r

his topics always recurring.

s:ie^:e of ethnology.

— the

difference of race

lover of liberty and justice,

He
yet conscious of the necessity of submitting to power.
hopes for the future, but expects nothing firm governmentAfter a long and most interesting talk on these subjects, he
in fact a
proposed r.-.-r
cir-;i living them on a tea-visit,
supper like those of my youth. The hostess was a widow lady
of the name of Hirt.
an excellent set of people of the middling class. Arndt talked incessantly, and was listened to with

—

apparent admiration.

—

Called at Moron's* where I heard of the death
July 10th.
of Quillinan, which Mrs. Wordsworth's note had made me
This k a severe blow to dear Mrs. Wordsworth,
apprehend.!
after her other losses.

* Ernest Maurice Arndt
f

died Januarv 30. 1£60.
QuiBinan, from the pen of H. C.
some
li-51. ?•
r Aucr.st

A short obituarv of Mr.
Rf

CI
will interest the reader?
" Julv Sth, at Longhrigg
'

•

—
:"

appeared in

Edward

Qcilllxax,

•

rr:c:

wh;ch

Holme, Ambleside, aged 5&,
Mr. QvOlinau was of Irish birth, and educated in the Roman Catholic
Church. His father was a wine-merchant, resident in Portugal, where his
younger brother still carries on the business. He entered the army early, but
withdrew on hi* fir*t marriaee with the daughter of the late >ir E^erton
Bridges- On the marriage of Mr. Qniflinan with Miss Bridges, he entered into
an engagement (at one "time generailv. and still occasionally practised) that
the daughters should be educated in the faith of the mother, and the sons in
that of the father. And that engagement he most honorably fuelled. After
the death of his wife, Mr. Q. mo*t scrupulously discharged hi* promise to Sir
E. B.. and never snrTered a priest of his own church to enter his doors. When
hi? daughter* were of a suitable age. he insisted on their punctual discharge
of the n-ual duties of social worship: and when he could not find elsewhere a
To a
fit companion. Mold him*elf accompanv them to the parish church.
friend who, half in jest and half in earnest, treated this as an act of unwarrantaMe, because incontinent, liberality, he replied in a letter: If I had
though; the salvation of my daughters endangered by such an education, no

R=q.

LETTER TO PAYNTER.

1851.]

417

H. C. E. to Payxter.
Bury

St.

Edmunds, August

1851.

pleasure to hear from you, whatever you
have to say, and very great pleasure if you can give me, or I
can infer, a good account of your health, both of body and
mind. For instance, I shall infer that you are in a more sound
and sane state if I hear that you have seen and enjoyed the
Crystal Palace,
one of the few consolatory and redeeming
I am not sure I should
spectacles in this otherwise gloomy age.
be quite pleased had you attended the festival of the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in our colonies.
I should be
in danger from
alarmed, as at a person in too high health,
plethora.
But do tell me how you are and have been. I will
set you an example.
I was six weeks on my trip to Berlin and
Dresden ; and I should have come back in despair if I had not
an internal conviction which I am not able by reasoning to
justify, that in spite of the triumph of the regal and military
protectionists of Austria and Prussia, and of the ecclesiastical
protectionists of Rome and Exeter, there is something imperIt will give

—

ishable in civil

and

religious liberty,

and

humanity.

But

a dark cloud which is covering the whole
political horizon in Saxony.
Men are imprisoned for not sending their children to be baptized, and newspapers suppressed
for making extracts from Gladstone's letter to Lord Aberdeen.
And the worst of all this is, that of late the popular party,
certainly there

scruples originating in false notions of honor
But should any priest dare to insinuate to

women

with

whom

has been

my happiness

would have weighed with me.

me
to

that either of the excellent
in a state of
member of our Church,

be united was

perdition because she had not been an acknowledged
I should reply, in the indignant language of Laertes,

—

" 'I tell thee, churlish priest,
ministering angel shall my sister be

When
"

Had

thou

liest

howling.

sudden and unexpected death not interposed, he would, probably,
have undertaken the editorship of Mr. Wordsworth's Convention of Cintra
and other prose writings, for which he would have been eminently qualified
he possessed considerable critical talent, and excelled in the epigram, and iu
the familiar parlor style of fugitive poetry. He did not scruple to compose a
satiric poem on the late Papal aggression,' in which neither the Cardinal nor
his opponents were spared for he" was one of a body, more numerous than is
generously supposed, who thought the Papal movement impolitic in its consequences, as well as offensive in its manner. The freedom of his opinions
being shackled by no restraints beyond those imposed by his kindlv disposition, his shrewd common sense and good taste rendered him a universal favorite.
He was a man of leisure, of lively social habits and activity of spirit he
was a medium of communication between those who were otherwise strangers
to each other.
H. C. R."
his

—

REMINIS CENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

418

whenever they have had power, have acted so

make one dread even

the destruction of the

24.

foolishly as to

tyranny they

resist

no ennui, for I find full employment in my Reminiswhich make me live over again my very inactive and
and home is home, be it
inert life
but still it is my life,
I see scarcely any one here
ever so homely.
I feel

cences,

—

;

H. C. R. to Paynter.
Athenaeum, 14th September,

1851.

Whenever you go to your club, inquire for the letter
from the Duke of Argyll to the Bishop of Oxford, entitled
" The Double Protest."
It is a gem
He is an extraordinary
man, this Duke of Argyll, being a duke, a Scotchman, and a
.

—

Presbyterian, and yet a very able man, and still young,
an
anomaly.
I am setting off for Mrs. WordsSeptember 18th, a. m.
worth.
If this does not cure you
This fine weather is marvellous.
that 's your grandmother's name for the disof the spleen,
ease,
I dare say it is hereditary, and therefore no fault of
yours.
Talking the other day with Sam Sharpe on the complaints of the land-owners now, he made me a wise answer
"We all have it in our turn. A few years ago an Act of
Parliament took away one half of our income by legalizing
joint-stock banks.
There was no use making a fuss about it.
We submitted then the squires must submit now. In the
end everybody is the better. Individuals must suffer when
the public gain."
Sharpe is by no means an optimist, and on
the Papal question is a great deal worse than you.

—

H. C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 15th November, 1851.

As long

you continue

to tell

that

letters give

you

have the use of my fingers, and my
memory suffices, I shall go on writing, though a third mind,
looking over what has been done, might wonder at the patience
of both writer and reader.
I do not mean to say that this remark is altogether applicable to my present letters but this

pleasure,

and

I continue to

;

the course of things.
Of us seniors, I am the one who retains the most of youthful strength \ but still the effects of
is

LOSS OF MEMORY.

1851.]

— FORTHCOMIXGXESS.

419

My loss of memory becomes
and coupled with this is the additional
evil, that instead of not being aware of it, I imagine it to be
Lately I thought I had lost several stamped
worse than it is.
receipts, which were to entitle me to considerable sums of
money from Baring's. One of the clerks there is a lover of
Charles Lamb's works, and I have secured his attentions by
giving him autographs.
So I revealed my infirmity to him,
and begged his assistance. He found that the receipts had
At this moment I am in trouble,
never been delivered to me.
from not being able to find between twenty and forty volumes
age on

daily

my habits

are as manifest.

distressing

;

of the Shakespeare Society publications.
They are someivhere,
but where t I have no fear of their being lost but what we
cannot find when we want it is practically lost, though we may
be quite sure that it will be found again. This is what Jeremy
Bentham, in writing of evidence in law, calls forthcoming ness,
and he would make provision for it in his juridical institutions.
With me nothing is forthcoming, and I am perpetually in danger of forgetting the most important and necessary things.
;

—

Heard Robertson
(Brighton.)
November 30th, Sunday.
preach an extraordinary sermon, reconciling philosophy with
His subject was the
piety in a remarkable w ay, 1 St. Peter i.
resemblance between the revelation that had already appeared
and that which is to appear. In the course of the sermon, he
r

uttered a

number

of valuable philosophical truths, which I

cannot reconcile with Church doctrines, though I have no
doubt he does so with perfect good faith. He spoke of a divine system of education, in the same way as Lessing speaks
And
in his works on " the Education of the Human Race."
his definition of inspiration and prophecy is precisely such as
is contained in the Prospective Review, in an article by J. J.
Tayler.
I know not when I have heard a discourse so full of
admirable matter ; and this was the impression of others apI have been
parently. Yet he was full of Scripture allusions.
He is greatly improved in health,
walking with him to-day.
as his sermon showed, and does not appear to be materially
He acknowledges that he is surprised
altered in his notions.
at being so long permitted to preach ; he is aware how much
he must be the object of distrust.
December 7th.
After breakfast an agreeable call from Dr.
He is a free-thinker
King, a sort of philosophical enthusiast.
in the best sense of the word, but a conformist.
He is a con-

—

420

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

stant attendant and a great admirer of Robertston, and calls
himself a Churchman; yet to-day he spoke of the English
clergy as men who had five millions per annum given them to
misrepresent Christianity.
December 9th.
I heard Robertson both morning and afterMy
noon, and had a conversation with him in the evening.
astonishment at this man increases every time I see him. This
He conmorning's discourse was a continuation of the last.
tinued his illustration of the doctrine that Judaism indirectly
taught what Christianity afterwards directly taught ; that the
teaching that one day in seven was to be holy, was not to intimate that the other days were to be unholy, but to lead to the
As he interrecognition that all time was to be the Lord's.
prets even the words " without blood there is no remission of
sins," they become inoffensive, for it means no more than this,
Christ died to exhibit the perfectest Christian truth, that
It is the Divine
the essence of Christianity is self-sacrifice.
principle ; God and man are united wherever this principle
reigns.
I have told him that on Trinity Sunday, if possible,
I will go to Brighton, to hear him expound, in his way, the
Trinity.
He considered the Christian and Atheistic ideas of
progress to differ in this,
Christianity teaches that man
could not be progressive of himself, i. e. without Divine aid,
whereas the Atheistic doctrine is, that man could do it of him-

—

self,

and requires no

aid.

CHAPTER XXV.
1852.

H. C. R. to T. R.

WHEN

30 Russell Square, London, 10th January, 1852.

you write

that, next to the pleasure I

have in

that you have in reading about them,
you remove all temptation to abstain from writing an account.
This feeling of yours proves that in whatever way the old age,
to which you have arrived, beyond that of any of our known
ancestors, may affect you, as it must, in one way or other, all
of us, it does not affect your moral feelings, which are, after

paying

visits, is

421

POINTS OF HAPPINESS COMPARED.

1852.]

It shows that you are free from
the best part of man.
It never occurs to you, as it might, and the like does
envy.
" There is my brother, younger by only five
to others,
years and four months, able to go into company continually,
without any apparent injury, while I lead a life of comparative
When this does occur to me, there occurs to me at
solitude."
the same time, in the spirit of Mrs. Barbauld's famous essay,
all,

—

which Henry cannot too soon have impressed on him, that I
and you chose diverse courses, each having its advantages and
disadvantages. You have through life had the comforts of dounion for nearly thirty years with a very supemestic life,
And you
rior woman, by whom you were tenderly beloved.
have had a son who, though it pleased Providence to deprive
you and his family of him, while still young, yet lived long
enough to be the object of general esteem, dying without an
enemy. And he too was united to an affectionate and beloved

—

wife

To think of all this is no slight pleasure, dear Thomas and
have nothing to set off against it but these inferior pleasures,
And I am
of which I from time to time give you an account.
not without an occasional apprehension, that, whenever infirmity assails me, I may be without any other aid than the voluntary assistance of friends on whom I have no claim.
So on the balance of accounts we are more nearly on a par
than might be thought besides, what may not five years and
;

;

four

months bring forth

H. C. R. to T. R.
Athenaeum, London, 24th January,

You

1852.

on your birthday, I trust and hope in
good spirits. And if you are fully conscious of being insensible to many of the lower enjoyments of life, I hope you will
at the same time not be forgetful of this, that you, on entering your eighty-third year, have attained an age which few live
to reach, and with still fewer of the deductions from full vitality than are generally seen among the few octogenarians.
I should have added to the above an expression of my good
will receive this

—

wishes in the established form,
many returns of this day,
if I had not thought that you would probably protest against so
undesirable a wish.
This reminds me of my leave-taking of
Mrs. Barbauld on my going to France, anno'182-, &c. She was
" I hope I shall
Buffering from a severe cold with a cough.

KEMLMSCEXCES OF HENRY CEABB ROBIXSOX.

422

you better on

find

return."

—

"Why

—

[Chap.

25.

" That seems

—

" Xot
a foolish question * health is better than sickness."
always ; I do not wish to be better.
But don't mistake me.
I am not at all impatient, but quite ready.''
She was, I believe, a couple of years older than you are
now, when she died,
a few weeks after my leave-taking.
It was her brother who wrote the couplet she might have
written, and which I make no apology for repeating as a pious

—

wish

—
"

From the banquet of Life rise a satisfied guest,
Thank the Lord of the Feast, and in hope go to

rest."

H. C. K. to T. R.
30

.... My

last

Russell Square, London, 14th February,

week has not been so gay
has had its full variety of

1852.

as the visiting-

week was but it
incidents of an
amusing and relatable quality.
On Saturday we had a Council meeting of the University
Our prospects are not bright, nor are they very
College.
gloomy we have taken our place
humble indeed, but it is
still a place
among the institutions of the country, and
more in harmony with the principles you and I were trained
in when young, and have not abandoned in age, than any
other.
And I am pleased that, in this respect, we have
showed more constancy than most of our contemporaries. In
the evening, after taking dinner and tea at home, I stepped
in to Sergeant Byles's, and had a pleasant chat with them.
I dined in Regent's Park with Mr. Bishop, one of our Uni;

;

—

versity College Council, the patriotic patron of astronomy, in

whose private observatory on his own grounds several planets
have been discovered.
What an age of discovery this is
As many planets as were known in the firmament before.
The primitive bodies in nature infinitely multiplied. AntiquiAnd both the natural
ty acknowledged but four elements
history of the earth and the civil history of mankind acquir!

ing
I

new

features of marvellous interest perpetually
cannot help wishing I had been born a little later in the

world's everlasting progress.
I had at breakfast Dr. Boott, Edwin Field, PaynRolleston (Miss Weston's cousin), and Nineveh Layard,
whom the others came to meet. You perhaps, and certainly
Sarah, will recollect your son's having spoken of this high-

Tuesday

ter,

1852.]

A. H.

LAYARD.

— UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE.

423

whom he once dined with, and used to meet in
I
His uncle accused me of misleading him.
chambers.
believe I did set his mind in motion, and excited in him tastes
and a curiosity which now will not be matter of reproach,
His
seeing that the issue has already been so remarkable.
adventures in Asia terminated in his discovery of the " Nineveh Antiquities," which have given him a place in the future
But, more than that, he has had the means
history of art.
of developing such personal qualities, that he has been put
into a place which may lead to his one day occupying a prime
He has been appointed
position in our political institutions.
he will now
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
show what is in him. This is a start that, of course, delights
On Tuesday I
his hopeful, and alarms his timid, friends.
congratulated him on his then appointment to the office of
Attache to the Minister at Paris, which was first offered him.
On Wednesday I dined with F. Goldsmid, the Baron's eldest
And in the evening was at the Graphic Society, which
son.
gives eclat to, and receives eclat from, our University College,
in combination with the Flaxman Gallery
spirited lad,

—

February 25th.
I attended the general meeting of the
Unusually interesting.
proprietors of University College.

motion was made very ably by Quain, an M. D. of the London
University, in favor of graduates being admitted to a share in
the government of the University, and assented to universally,
Sir
with the exception of Samuel Sharpe and James Yates.
James Graham filled the chair both here and at the previous
meeting of the council, and very ably. Richard Taylor brought
the Lord Mayor Hunter, and into his hands was put the resolution thanking the Miss Denmans for the gift of the Flaxman Gallery. He did it decently, considering he knew nothing
about the subject, and the motion was very well seconded by
Joseph Hume. It was carried by acclamation.
On this I
rose to return thanks for Miss Denman, which I did so-so.
I
praised Miss Denman warmly for her attachment to Flaxman's
name ; and, referring to the mover, mentioned the group of
Athamas at the Marquis of Bristol's, near Bury, and I eulogized Mr. Hume for not being a vulgar utilitarian.
After this,
Tagart rose and said that, if it were not indecorous, he would
move thanks to me for having assisted Miss Denman in her
work.
There was a cry of " Move " on this, and he made
the motion.
It was seconded very kindly by Samuel Sharpe.
!

424:
I

was

REMINISCENCES OF HEXRY CRABB ROBIXSON. [Chap.
gratified

few words.

March

by the circumstance, and returned thanks

—

25.

in a

dined with Miss Coutts ; a most agreeable
man, with the figure of an
alderman, but a strong face (I should not have guessed him
to be the fighter he is) ; Gleig, Chaplain-General to the Forces,
a much finer countenance, with his Peninsular ribbon with
three stripes ; Babbage, the militant man of science ; Barday.

1st,

Sir Charles Napier, a burly

low, &c.

March

—

I dined with Miss Coutts ; a large and very
party twenty-two at table, and in the evening
At the dinner-party were Sir
there came a great number.
James Graham * (I told him of Lamb's legacy to our hospital) ; Bunsen, who said he had three doses of comfort for me,
but I could not catch his ear afterwards ; Lord and Lady Edan interesting young man, were it only on
ward Howard,
account of his having induced his wife to marry him, and so
Sidney Herbert was there, and
saved her from the convent.
Dr. Brewster, and the Earl of Devon, cum multis aliis.

11th,

interesting

;

—

H. C. R. to T. R.

May

1850.

.... On this day died Mrs. H. N. Coleridge, aged fortynine. An excellent woman, whom I highly esteemed. She was
the poet's only daughter, and the larger portion of his spirit
descended on her.
She retained her composure of mind to the
last.
She borrowed of me, in her last illness, a large-print
edition of Shakespeare.
She had no scruples of conscience on
that point.
Her head and heart were both better than her
creed
On Wednesday I went to a soiree at Professor De Morgan's,
at Camden Town.
Mrs. De Morgan was a daughter of Frend's.
His son was there, and he heard me relate with great pleasure
what Sergeant Rough told me, that he, together with Copley,
afterwards Lord-Chancellor Lyndhurst, and a future bishop
(name forgotten), was chased by the Proctors at night, in the
"
The
streets, for chalking on the wall, " Frend forever
future bishop alone was caught.
Even High Church Tories are
not ashamed of the liberal freaks of their youth

—

August
* Sir
College.

Jfth.

—

walked this morning to

James Graham was an

active

member

and found

of the Council of University

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

1852.]

—

425

MRS. BROWNING.

I find her quite consistent in her
C. very agreeable.
on stating that there are three tests in Christhose of the sacraments, creed, and character,
she
tianity,

Lady

liberality, for,

—

This is
exclaimed, " The last is the only one I care about."
the really essential doctrine. On matters of taste she is firm.
She has also had the courage to declare, in company, that she
sees nothing to be frightened at in the book imputed to Dr.

Donaldson.

C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, September 25, 1852.

....

His death (the Duke of Wellington's) has occasioned
an expression of national sentiment which does the country
honor ; and the public funeral is not wanted to prove the sincerity of the universal language. In spring, when I last dined
with Miss Coutts, he did not come to dinner, but w as there in
He held the arm of his hostess as he walked up
the evening.
and down the drawing-room ; and it was difficult to determine
which supported the other. Dr. Boott has been telling me that,
since I saw him, he was at the American Minister's, when the
Minister introduced the Doctor's mother to him as, in one reT

spect, his (the Duke's) superior, being several years older.

Duke

cordially shook

hands with Mrs. Boott.*

The

....

—Dined

at home, and at eight dressed to go to
found an interesting person I had never
not the invalid
seen before, Mrs. Browning, late Miss Barrett,
she has a handsome oval face, a fine eye, and alI expected
She had no opportunity of display,
together a pleasing person.
and apparently no desire. Her husband has a very amiable
expression.
There is a singular sweetness about him.f Miss
Bayley and Mrs. Chadwick were there.
October 22d.
After dining at home, I went to Mrs. Bayne's,
meaning to go to Mrs. Reid's afterwards ; but Kenyon was
coming later, and this seduced me to stay till eleven. And a
very pleasant evening we had, telling bons mots and repeating
epigrams.
The following is from Kenyon " What is dogmat" Puppyism full
ism V' asked some one of Douglas Jerrold.
grown."
October 23d.
Heard a mot of Donaldson's. Lady C

October 6th.

Kenyon.

With him

—

;

—

* Mr. Leslie painted about this period the Duke as he appeared
ing party. The picture, it is believed, was for Miss Coutts.
t Mr. Browning was a relation of Mr. Kenyon' s.

an even-

426

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

" A feather
offering a wager, was asked what it should be.
" I would recomfrom one of my wings when I am an angel."
mend your ladyship," said Donaldson, " to abstain from such
There is great danger, if you do not, that you may
wagers.
be plucked"
Called on Boott.* He reproached me with
November 8th.
inconsistency, because I was intolerant of those Avho upheld
slavery in order to save the Union, and yet was tolerant towards the governments of Europe who kept the people in
slavery.
I love Boott, and must avoid the subject, if it endanger our friendship.

—

H. C. R. to T. R.
20th November, 1852.

This day week I dined with Mrs. Bayne. A table of
six persons cannot be said to hold a party. They consisted of
he 's
Mrs. Bayne, our hostess, a Mr. and Mrs. Whitbread,
the great-nephew of the great brewer who, fifty years ago, was,
with Grey and Burdett and Lambton what Cobden and Bright
and Hume are now,
Kenyon, whom you know, and Thirlwall,
the Bishop of St. David's.
The Bishop was the bosom friend of
Dr. Bayne, and is one of the liberal and most learned of his
order ; with Archdeacon Hare, one of the patrons of the German school of philosophy in the study of biblical criticism, and
author of a voluminous " History of Greece." He abandoned
the law for divinity, and when at the bar went the Chelmsford
Sessions with William Pattisson he is one of the half-dozen
who, at different times, have honored me with a touch of the
holy hand, though not for the purpose of consecration.
A very

....

—

;

agreeable afternoon
I believe I should have stayed at home on the Thursday, if
I had not read the first volume of Thackeray's new novel,
" Esmond," which has greatly interested me ; and I humbly
recommend it to the novel-reading portion of your household.
It is far more pleasant than " Vanity Fair," and does not exhibit in disproportion all the parties honteuses of our mixed
nature.
The female characters are well contrasted. I had
read little more than one volume, and, meaning to go to
Brighton to-day, I wished to finish it.
I breakfasted by candlelight, and was at the Athenaeum soon after eight.
This being
the day of the Duke's funeral, the house was already nearly
occupied ; seats had been erected for the ladies in front.
The
* Boott himself was an American.

;

ROBERTSON.

1852.]

— LADY

427

BYRON.

having not even a side-view of the procession, was
till towards two, when, all being passed, company
came in till their carriages could be brought to them. I sat
reading by the library fire from half past eight till near six.
Once or twice I took a peep from the drawing-room window,
enough for me ; but
and had a glimpse of the tawdry car,
the noble troops, and the mourning-coaches, and the banners,
had an imposing effect
library,

nearly empty

—

— (Brighton.)

heard a sermon from Robhe speaking of imputed righteousness as the righteousness to be obtained in an
advanced state of excellence, and of man being reconciled to
Samuel Sharpe
God, and therefore God reconciled to man.
told me that people here complain that he unsettles men's
minds. Of course, no one can be awakened out of a deep sleep
An eloquent eulogy of the Duke,
without being unsettled.
He concluded with
as exhibiting a perfect devotion to duty.
the declaration that he was proud of being an English-

November

ertson,

21st.

marked by

man.
November 28th.

his usual peculiarities,

— The wet weather continued and

kept

was at Robertson's, and heard a
sermon full of striking thoughts, on the relation of Christianity to Judaism,
being abolition by expansion, as the Judaic Sabbath is abrogated when every day is devoted to the

within to a great degree.

—

Lord.

—

November 29th.
I went to Robertson's, and had two hours
of interesting chat with him on his position here in the pulpit
also about Lady Byron.
He speaks of her as the noblest woman he ever knew.
December 27th.
A singular and unexpected occurrence took
place to-day, which is the more remarkable because my first occupation was to write a long letter to Mrs. Clarkson, giving her
an account of my visit to the Haldanes.
At the Athenaeum, Milman, the Dean of St. Paul's, came up
to me and said " Mr. Crabb Robinson, the Bishop of Oxford
wishes to have the pleasure of being introduced to you." I
had scarcely time to say, " The Bishop does me honor," before
the Bishop presented his hand, and said "I have long wished
to have the pleasure of being known to you.
Long ago there
was one subject on which we differed, but that has been long
forgotten on my part." *
I, of course, took his hand and said,

—

* See

ante, p. 269.

428

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

in a tone which implied acquiescence
"I hope your Lordship
knows that T was led to take the part I did by being in my
:

childhood very intimate with Mrs. Clarkson.

oldest friend."

said he

was aware of

am now

that.

her
then spoke

about her health, &c.
1853.

—

January Jfih.
Continued at home, reading till- past one,
I went to Hampstead.
I could only leave a card at
Mrs. Hoare's, and then had a long and agreeable chat with
He was in good-humor, as, indeed, he always is and
Tagart.
he and I think alike on the Popery question. He seemed
heartily to enjoy " The Bridge of Sighs," by Tom Hood.
Tagart's residence, called Wildwood, is a charming spot.
February Jfth.
My first reading was " Loss and Gain,"
since finished,
a book admirably adapted to its purpose an
insidious picture of the several states of mind of one possessing natural piety, living at Oxford, and finding no comfort till
he is received into the bosom of the Church. But one thought

when

—

touched

easier to believe in the authority of

—

the

Yet I could answer it. What
is incredible and indescribable.
What I
understand the Scriptures to teach is most desirable and,
It carries with it its own auif not true, it ought to be.

Church than of the
the Church affirms

Scriptures.

;

thority.

March
was

— Dr. Donaldson repeated a pun

5th.

said at table

" If you can give

of fish after soup, I
trine," said Dr.

want no more."

Donaldson.

of his own.

at dinner a good dish

— " That

not

such a theme

doc-

content

to be held siqierficial"
April 6th.
After breakfast I discharged a debt of long
standing, and carried to Archdeacon Hare, at Kingston, a
drawing of his sister, by Miss Flaxman, sent him by Miss Denman. He is recovered from a long illness, and returns to
Hurstmonceaux.
I was glad to receive a few words of kindness from a man I much like.
He is consistent, to a degree I

—

envy, in his faith that all will end well.
April 7th.
I read to
an excellent article on Wordsworth's life, by Lady Richardson, in Sharpens Magazine ; only
Lady Richardson praises the written life by mistake, when she
ought to have eulogized only the actual life.
I had a narrow escape in the evening, on my way
May 3d.

—

1853.]

MRS.

STOWE.

— LADY

BYRON.

— LORING.

429

by Kinkel ; as I was crossing the top of Torrington Square, with my umbrella up, I was knocked down by
I fell
a cab-horse, and, luckily, was knocked out of his path.
flat, and was not run over \ so that I may venture to say no
The splinters of my umbrella have
serious injury has arisen.
I was stunned, but
cut my hand \ and my knees are bruised.
I went on to the University Colin a few minutes recovered.
heard part of the lecture ; but was conscious of being
lege
to hear a lecture

;

very muddy, so I stole out again.

—

At Mrs. Eeid's between three and four. There
May 2Jf.tk.
were assembled, Mrs. Beecher Stowe and some twenty or thirty
of Mrs. Eeid's acquaintance, to be introduced to the object of
general curiosity.
She looks young, and quite unpretending.
She had been with Mrs. Clarkson. Lady Byron was also present, to whom Mrs. Jameson introduced me, and with whom was
Dr. King.
Lady Byron echoed my praise of Robertson, who
has consented to take a curate. A special subscription of
£200 has been raised and the subscribers force him to promMrs.
ise that he will give the curate only £ 100 per annum.
Bayne was there, as well as Estlin, and the most intelligentlooking negro I ever saw.
It was Craft, whose escape from
slavery has been before the public.
June 24-th.
An interesting evening at Boott's. The star
was Loring,* the friend formerly of Webster. Loring broke
with Webster on account of his conduct respecting slavery.
The pro-slavery party flattered him, and made him hope for
the Presidentship, on which he had set his heart, and represented that, by supporting the compromise, he would be as
;

—

great a benefactor to America as Washington had been, for
otherwise the Union would be broken.
Ultimately, however,
they abandoned him ; and it was remorse that killed him.
Still, Loring thinks that Webster has been harshly treated.
I
have seen no one who judges seemingly with so much candor
as Loring.
My interest in the conversation was increased by
finding that his wife, an interesting woman, was the widow of
the brother of my old acquaintance, Goddard.
August 17th.
Dr. King wrote to me, informing me of the
death of Robertson, of Brighton. Take him for all in all, the
best preacher I ever saw in a pulpit ; that is, uniting the
greatest number of excellences, originality, piety, freedom of

—

* He rose to the head of the bar at Boston; his death took place in 1867.
During the late American war he published a correspondence with H. C. R.'s
executor, E. W. Field, on the English feeling and conduct respecting the war.

430

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

thought, and
scriptural.

warmth

of love.

He combined

His style colloquial and

light of the intellect with

25.

very-

warmth

of the affections in a pre-eminent degree.
I had thought of
continually, reading Maurice's " Essays " ; and when I
wrote to Dr. King, inquiring about Robertson, I asked whether
Robertson could read works requiring thought, meaning to
send Maurice's " Essays " to him.

him

Dr. King to H. C. R.
August

....

17, 1853.

Robertson's theology had an air of grandeur and
truthfulness about it, which won all hearts,
the hearts of all
who filled his chapel ; while he had to pay the common price
of following truth which his Master paid, viz., to endure envy,
jealousy, and malignity.

—

Paynter to H.

C. R.

Kensington, 7th September,

.... For my own

1853.

have for some time come to the
firm conviction that the Church of England is a mere secular
institution, highly valuable to the government as an instrument for the preservation of peace, order, and decent morals,
but having no more necessary connection with Christianity and
our
real religion than the hare has with the currant jelly
Church may, indeed, be auxiliary to the spread and maintenance of the Gospel ; but so may all churches which acknowledge the Bible as an authority, as the Roman, the Greek, the
Presbyterian, &e. ; but such is not the real end and essence of
such institutions.
Ignorant people often speak with similar
inaccuracy of a window, as being made to let in the light; but
we put in the window, both frame and glass, not to let in the
light, which would come in more freely without either, but to
keep out the wind and the rain. And so a Church, though it
render little help to Christianity, which wants not such aid,
may serve to keep out the cold blasts of infidelity and the
damp pestilential vapors of dissent but it is in Spain only
that these objects have been effectually attained.
part. I

;

—

September 13th.
Dr. King called, and in
(Brighton.)
evening I called by desire on Lady Byron,
a call which I
Recollecting
joyed, and which may have consequences.
history, as the widow of the most famous, though not

—

the
en-

her
the

—
LADY BYRON AND ROBERTSON.

1853.]

431

greatest, poet of England in our day, I felt an interest in going to her \ and. that interest was greatly heightened when I left

From all
women of

have heard of her,

consider her one of the
good-will both
" She lives to do good," says Dr. King, and I believe
great.
She wanted my opinion as to the mode of
this to be true.
doing justice to Robertson's memory. She spoke of him as
having a better head on matters of business than any one else
She said " I have consulted lawyers on matshe ever knew.
ters of difficulty, but Robertson seemed better able to give me
advice.
He unravelled everything and explained everything at
once as no one else did."
her.

best

Her means and her

the day.

H. C. R. to

T. R.

London, 30 Russell Square, 17th September

....

[1853].

was informed that Lady Byron wished me to call
on her which I did last Tuesday. She had seen me at Mrs.
Reid's, and wished to consult with me about the forthcoming
biography of Robertson. We had a long talk and as I was
on the point of leaving Brighton the next morning, she wrote
to me, proposing that the " Life " of her friend should be published in the same form as that of Margaret Fuller d'Ossoli,
the American philosopher, to which some writers of eminence
and she wishes me
Emerson being one,
have contributed,
to add my contribution.
She is a very reI was much pleased with Lady Byron.
markable woman, and is most generous and high-minded
She places Robertson, as I do, at the head of all the preachers
we have ever known. He does not, I dare say, differ essentially from Maurice and other liberal Churchmen in his opinions.
I

;

—

is one of the men who, in this stirring age, have been giving a shake to opinions and systems, which w ill be sorely tried
T

thereby

Lady Byron to H.

C. R.

Esher, October

1853.

endeavor to circulate as many copies as possible of the article you have so kindly sent me ; * and allow me
to suggest that it should be printed on a separate sheet of letIt will be

ter-paper for that purpose.
sal

appears to

The good

effects

which the peru-

likely to produce are,

* An obituary of the Rev. F. W. Robertson, written by H. C. R., and
printed in the October number of the Christian Reformer for this year, p. 661.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

432

25.

To enlarge the views both of Churchmen and Disand to expose the folly of making, as it were, a brazen
horizon to any Christian Church, instead of a soft, melting,
(1st.)

senters,

aerial

boundary.

To show by the example, even of one whose ministry
was so short, and under many unfavorable circumstances, the
power of such expansive charity to obliterate sectarian distinctions,
a power we cannot suppose separable from Truth.
You will see the argument better than I could state it. These
are consequences apart from the personal object, with reference
to which I can only say that, as a friend of Robertson's, I
thank you.
(2d.)

—

September 28th.
Edward Dighton * is dead
one of the
men I ever saw; a sort of cross of the Hercules and Apollo.
Let me supply an omission. At Talfourd's some months
ago, I met C. Kemble.
In my anecdotes of old times and my
love for Mrs. Siddons he expressed great pleasure.
He spoke
of his brother as a greater artist than his sister.
!

finest

Dr. King to H. C. E.
23

Many
sure,

thanks

— the

Montpellier Road, Brighton,

for

your two

letters

;

19th October, 1S53.

with the enclo-

first

have lent

to several,

in the perusal of

it.

It says as

notice of Robertson.

who have had great pleasure
much as can be said of him

the

compass. You say, Be
minimis non curat lex ; I say, JDe minimis curat rex. If he did
not care de minimis, how could I exist
your memoir raises doubts rather than
I agree with you,
satisfies them ; but that is all that can be done at present.
We are tired of the old, and looking for the new. Time is an
element in all human changes. A church is a stepping-stone
in the great ladder which men are climbing, to answer the primeval question, What is God ] All the systems from the beginning are the answers to this question in their generations.
When Dr.
proclaims a hell of eternal punishment, that
in that

—

his answer.

it is

thinks

his conception of

it is

the Gospel,

his gospel

God

Dr. Parr was a step in advance.

He thought

the Unitari-

—

* A painter, who died young, shortly after his return from the East,
a man
who had, in a most remarkable degree, the faculty of winning the love of all
who came under his influence. One of his later works will be found highly
praised in Ruskin's "

Modern Painters."

Vol.

II.

pp. 223, 224.

433

ROBERTSON'S WORK.

1853.]

He deans might be saved, but they must be scorched first.
lighted in drinking hob-a-nob with a man who was sure to be
The fact is,
scorched before he could be fit company for him.
we conform the Gospel to our minds, and not our minds to the
That is Churchdom
Gospel.
I think the time has gone by for considering whether Bobertson would be injured in the opinion of any one.
If anything he wrote or thought could make others think, that would
do good. The opinion of any one in this world, except the
who
wise and good, who do not aspire to be even tolerant,
are too modest to be tolerant, since toleration implies superioris of little consequence.
The only true " Toleration
ity,
Act " is that of God, who tolerates all. But yet, God does
not tolerate, he educates. The educator expects his pupil to be
imperfect.
He professes to cure imperfection. So God, as
educator, professes to cure sin; and, as a means, he sends
his Son, the model man, to explain what he means by human
perfection and he says, " This is what I mean to bring all

—

;

mankind

to.".

It appears to

that the intention of Providence is to elevate the people,
the million.
But this is a work of time,
and we are too impatient. We want all to be done in our life-

time

;

—

but we forget that a thousand years

Then

are

with him

that the despotic form of
government is most suited to savage life and early civilization,
and the constitutional form to a more advanced state. But if
the despot was enlightened, that would be the simplest form
as a day.

appears to

for all states.

Then again, I think that moral improvement is the real end
of man, and that all society is really contrived for that
but
this is far more difficult to attain than intellectual improve•

ment.

How

this end is to be brought about is hidden from us.
look upon the first promise, however made or supposed,
" Thou shalt bruise his head," i. e. sin shall
as prophetic,
ultimately be abolished.
When this period arrives, it will be a demonstration that
the credit is to be given to God, and not to man.
This was
the object for which Christ died.
This made Paul despise all
things in comparison with Christ

But

—

October 26th.

Stephen.
VOL.

II.

— At the Athenaeum.
had a
19

satisfactory

A
chat

talk with Sir

about

the

James
charge

434

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

brought against Maurice by

25.

which, though hardly credia doubt raised
Stephen spoke highly of RobertAnd more significant was the unJelf,

ble, is really, as far as is definite, confined to

about the eternity of hell.
son.
Maurice praised him.
intended praise of another, who said, " Robertson made
sad ; his words seemed a message from God to myself."

Dr. Kixg to H. C. R.
23 Montpellier Road, Brighton, 27th

October, 1853.

.... The

proper question is, not why Christianity has
done so little, but why have not men attained to common
But then that would resolve itself into other quessense ?
why are not all men mathematicians or chemists, tfcc. ?
tions
to which the answer is supposed to be very simple.
But it is
easier for a man to be a great astronomer than a great ChrisIt is easier to be a learned man than a good man. Why
tian.
morals should be so difficult stirs another and a deeper question
for we must suppose that there is a wisdom in the fact.
A question of creeds is but a petty question at any time. The
real question lies deeper
.:

;

Donaldson to H.
Bury

Many thanks

St.

C. R.

Edmunds,

31st October, 1853.

your interesting letter, and the little
sketch of Mr. Frederick Robertson, which is to be counted as
a testimony worth thousands of those memoirs of insignificant
piety with which the religious press has been teeming. What"
ever conclusion may be arrived at by the " pauvre homme
and his assessors, the principles of the " broad Church," so
well propounded in the last Edinburgh Review, will, I am sure,
for

The
If not, Christianity is in peril.
longer permit the most ignorant class of
theologians to invest their own opinions with sacrosanct, infallibility.
Above all, I do hope that the pernicious hypothesis of mechanical inspiration is beginning to be felt untenable.
We have just had a notable proof of this in a book on the
Genealogies, published by Lord Arthur Hervey, who used to
be strong for the Low Church view of this matter.
He has
been induced to make a great number of conjectural emendations of the sacred text, and has come to the conclusion that
biblical chronology is full of blunders
What will the Recordites say to this 1
prevail in the long run.

world will not

much

435

DR. KING S SPECULATIONS.
1

1853.]

Dr. King to H. C. R.
Montpellier Road, Brighton,

4th November, 1853.

.... have come to a conclusion with respect to the existence of evil which is somewhat different, or appears to be
so, from what I have anywhere seen, but which, perhaps, is
that, with
It is this
only stating the same thing differently.
suph a being as man, he can only be convinced of sin or folly
by suffering its consequences. He is not an a priori being
(which the Deity is), but a being of experience. We see in
every action, from the cradle upwards, that he takes little or
He must make his experiment, and prove
nothing upon trust.
No sooner has one generathat the fruit is bitter by its taste.
tion done this and satisfied itself, than another arises which
must be satisfied in the same way. Thus the effect of the
experience of one generation upon the next is an infinitesimal
one ) but it is something and so after many ages, even in
and as to the next, the cirthis life, sin may be conquered
cumstances will probably be so changed that it is impossible
to reason about them at present.
I

Dr. King to H. C. R.
Montpellier Road, Brighton,

dear Sir

—

8th November, 1853.

.... I hear Maurice is excommunicated. Now I honor
I hear some one at
him.
I shall criticise him no more.
Oxford of the name of Gibert has pronounced the funeral
oration of the Church of England i. e. I suppose, of the
The last dying speech and confession
intolerant party in it.
Then new Robertsons and new Maurices
of Intolerance
Novits sceclorum nascitur ordo.
will arise.
These things must
be done gradually ; we must not pull her down before we have
something better to put in her place, " lest a worse fate befall
I admire, that fixedness in England.
us.''
We have made
wonderful progress in fifty years
!

—

November 7th.
It is seldom, if ever, I have written in
these journals after so long a delay.
The cause will appear,
and it will be justified by the circumstances. My dear old
friend, Mrs. Clarkson, had often expressed a wish to see Mrs.
Wordsworth, were it possible ; but her paralytic attack put it
out of her power to travel.
And Mrs. Wordsworth, after the

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

436

25.

death of her husband, had resolved not to come to the South
again though she repeatedly said that, were she to be in
London, she should hope to go as far as Playford. They did
not write to each other, but I every now and then communicated to the one letters from the other to me, and so the wish
was kept alive ; and when it was resolved by Mrs. Wordsworth
to come to Miss Fenwick's, I took care to press on her, that
now she should go to Playford. And to render that practicable, I promised to accompany her.
The result of all was,
that this morning I met Mrs. Wordsworth and her son John's
daughter, Jane, at the Shoreditch Station, and we proceeded
When we arrived there, to our annoyance, there
to Ipswich.
was no carriage from Playford ; and I began to fear that I had
omitted to write, which it turned out was really the case.
After waiting a quarter of an hour, to make sure that the absence of the carriage could not be through any slight mistake
as to time, I took a fly, and about a mile and a half before
reaching Playford, we met Mrs. Clarkson and Mrs. Dickenson.
They were taking a drive. I was in confusion, and the two
Mrs. Clarkson said she would
ladies were also agitated.
come into our fly, forgetting that she could not move, and
Mrs. Dickenson got out to speak to us*; but she was a stranger
When I had accompanied the ladies into the
to the ladies.
dining-room, I returned to see the luggage taken out, and pay
;

the postilion.
On my going into the room again, the two old friends had
recognized each other, and were in all the imperfect enjoyment
of a first interview after melancholy privations on both sides.
I saw at once that Jane and I were only in the way ; I thereIn a few
fore proposed to her that we should take a walk.
minutes Mrs. Dickenson followed our example, and we walked
out for more than an hour, looking at the gardens, parsonage,
&c, Mrs. Clarkson keeps an excellent table, and the Words worths
care less than most people for creature comforts, so that Mrs.
Dickenson declared that the want of notice really was a great
relief to Mrs. Clarkson, and I was forgiven for my omission.
mistake arising from anxiety is a very different offence from
We dined between four and
the forgetfulness of indifference.
I hardly spoke to Mrs.
five
the evening passed off rapidly.
Clarkson, leaving the two ladies as much as might be to themThey remained below, and Jane, Mrs. Dickenson, and
selves.
I went up stairs, where we were joined by Mr. Dickenson, and

;

GENTEEL AND EVANGELICAL.

1853.]

437

we drank

tea together, the two old ladies taking theirs below.
went down a short time before they retired, between ten
and eleven, and I sat up a little time longer alone.
November 16th.
Before we left Playford this morning, Mrs.
Clarkson sent for me into her bedroom. We had an interesting chat.
I rejoiced to find that both the dear old widows
felt grateful to me for having brought about this interview.
I
have promised to take Jane to Playford next spring, and then
on to Rydal.

—

Mrs. Clarkson to H. C. R.

dear Friend

December

—

20, 1853.

.... You

never before gave so much pleasure (though the
life has been spent in acts of kindness),
as in bringing Mrs. Wordsworth here, and I believe she feels
it as much as I do

greatest part of your

—

November 23d.
A heavy fog, and consequently a remarkaReturning from a meeting of the Senate of University College, Professor Key and another professor very kindly
took me in charge.
I should, otherwise, have had a difficulty
in crossing the New Road. They also accompanied me to John
Taylor's.
I thought he, as well as myself, might be going to
After staying with him a few minutes
dine at Mrs. Sturch's.
I went on alone to Mrs. Sturch's and dined with her tete-a-tete.
Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Tayler, Mr and Mrs. Gibson, Miss Lee, and
Miss Knight were all unable to keep their engagement, owing

ble day.

to their inability to find a conveyance.

Dr. King to H. C. R.
Brighton, December

....

15, 1853.

have read Maurice's letter to Jelf. I admire the
spirit of the man much.
There is an indescribable sweetness
in some of his expressions, especially about the love of God,
which go to the heart
except of a theologian.
I

—

H. C. R. to T. R.
December

31, 1853.

Mr.
I never heard of.
There was a gentleman at
Brighton of the same name, who was rich and saintly, and
whom I once visited. I would not go again. Of all the combinations, the

Evangelicism.

most unreal and spurious is that of gentility and
I hope you are aware of this, for I hold it to

;

438

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

I shall never forget
be an important fact at this moment.
hearing from a fine lady, in such a rapid manner that the two
members of the sentence could with difficulty be separated
"We never omit having family prayer twice a day, and I
have not missed a drawing-room since the King came on the
:

throne."

Lady Byron to H.

Dear Mr. Crabb Eobinson

....

C. E.

December

—

31, 1853.

have an inclination, if I were not afraid of trespass(but you can put my letter by for any
leisure moment), to enter upon the history of a character
which I think less appreciated than it ought to be. Men, I
observe, do not understand men in certain points, without a
Those points, of course, relate to
woman's interpretation.
I

ing on your time

feelings.

Here is a man, taken by most of those who come in his way
either for Dry-as-dust, Matter-of-fact, or for a " vain visionary."
There are, doubtless, some defective or excessive characteristics
which give

rise to those impressions.
acquaintance was made, oddly enough, with him twentyseven years ago. A pauper said to me of him " He 's the
poor maris Doctor." Such a recommendation seemed to me a
good one ; and I also knew that his organizing head had formed
the first District Society in England (for Mrs. Fry told me she
could not have effected it without his aid) yet he has always
I felt in him at once the curious
ignored his own share of it.
combination of the Christian and the cynic,
of reverence for
man, and contempt of men. It was then an internal war, but
one in which it was evident to me that the holier cause would
be victorious, because there was deep belief, and, as far as I
could learn, a blameless and benevolent life.
He appeared
only to want sunshine.
It was a plant which could not be
brought to perfection in darkness. He had begun life by the
most painful conflict between filial duty and conscience,
a
large provision in the Church secured for him by his father
but he could not sign. There was discredit, as you know, attached to such scruples.
He was also, when I first knew him, under other circumstances of a nature to depress him, and to make him feel that
he was unjustly treated. The gradual removal of these called
Still, the old
forth his better nature in thankfulness to God.

;

—

;

AN OLD MAN'S BIRTHDAY.

1854.]

439

misanthropic modes of expressing himself obtruded themselves
This passed in '48 between him and Robertson.
at times.
Robertson said to me, "I want to know something about
Ragged Schools." I replied, " You had better ask Dr. King
"It" said Dr. King. " I take
he knows more about them."
care to know nothing of Ragged Schools, lest they should
make me ragged." Robertson did not see through it. Perhaps I had been taught to understand such suicidal speeches
by my cousin, Lord Melbourne.
The example of Christ, imperfectly as it may be understood
by him, has been ever before his eyes ) he woke to the thought
of following it, and he went to rest consoled or rebuked by it.
After nearly thirty years of intimacy, I may without presumpThere is something pathetic to me in
tion form that opinion.
Even the other medical friends
seeing any one so unknown.
of Robertson, when I knew that Dr. King felt a woman's
tenderness,* said on one occasion to him, " But we know that
you, Dr. King, are above all feeling"
If I have made the character more consistent to you by
putting in these bits of mosaic, my pen will not have been ill
employed, nor unpleasingly to you.

—

Yours

truly,

Noel Byron.

1854.

January

— At

the Athenaeum, and had an agreeable
talk with Talfourd.
I also chatted with Layard, about politics.
I came home, to dine at Samuel Pett's.
I was able to
walk there and home, in spite of the imperfect thaw and I
had an agreeable afternoon. I was in spirits, though I felt
old
and now my friends treat me as if I were an old man
but, on the whole, their intentions are gratifying as evidence
rather of just feelings than of any particular respect for me.
A party of ten Mrs. Sturch, Tagart, Wansey, Hunter (of
5th.

;

Wolverhampton), &c.
H. C. R. to T. R.
London,
I did

Russell Square, 27th January,

not forget you on Wednesday.

1854.

knew that that was

* The Editor happened to know an aged lady at Brighton who, for many
was bedridden, and whose declining life 'was cheered by the unfailing
Sunday afternoon visits of Dr. King. His long, friendly talks were looked
forward to as the event of the week.

years,

440

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

your birthday, and that you would then enter on your eightyI was then dining with Henry Foss and his
fifth year.
I drank your health
brother Edward, a magistrate for Kent.
in silence, giving the toast in a whisper ; but I varied from the
ordinary birthday language, and instead of saying, " Many reMay all his future days be days of enturns of them,"
joyment, or comfort, at least, be they fewT or many." If I
live to the 13th of the next May I shall, in like manner, enter
my eightieth year. I wish for no other birthday congratula'

tion.

You ask for an account of my second dinner ; confessing
that you are not entitled to the account, having neglected to
acknowledge the first. Had this dinner been a failure, I might
have been glad to avail myself of this excuse for not recording
my disappointment. The second was more successful than the
first, though it w^as
or perhaps I should say because it was
one of those dinners more creditable to the guests than the host,
that is, there were more good things said than eaten
This was the party the host, Sergeant Byles, Dr. Donaldson,
Edwin Field, John Kenyon, Samuel Sharpe, J. J. Tayler, J.

—

W. Donne.
The Sergeant has repeated

this evening

what he

said

before to his wife, that since he has known London he has
never enjoyed a company dinner so much as he has done this,
in

London

itself.

said at parting, " I won't say, It has been a
has been a glorious afternoon." Of course, one
makes a reasonable allowance for compliment in all such cases.
Donaldson talked his very best, and was delightful. Kenyon also charmed Byles ; and probably the pleasure and liking
On the whole,
were reciprocal, as they generally are

And Kenyon

good party

;

everybody seemed

satisfied

Dr. King to H.
23

C. R.

Montpellier Road, Brighton, 2d February,

1854.

She is always
quite recovered.
feeble, and obliged to husband her strength, and calculate her
powers but her mind is ever intact, pure, and lofty. It

.... Lady Byron

now

;

seems to pour forth its streams of benevolence and judgment
Her state of
even from the sick-bed a perennial fountain.
mind has always given me confidence in her severest illnesses.
Yet her power of bearing fatigue occasionally, as during the
illness and death of her daughter, is as wonderful
;

441

NO GIVING UP THE RIDDLE.

1854.]

H. C. R. to T. R. and

S. R.

London, 30 Russell Square, 25th February,

1854.

have long detested the system of our English
Universities, and, had I had a son, I would never have allowed
him to reside in one, unless he had had a mother, or near
female relation, to be his house, or at least his table com-

....

panion.*

•

H. C. R. to Paynter.
30 Russell Square, 28th April [1854].

Your

last, like

your former letter,.— and,

—

your

letters,

is full of excellent sentiment,
written in an earnest spirit,
and as much illumination as the topic can receive, perhaps;
for of these transcendent matters one may say, in Milton's
language, that which you can cast on them is " not light, but
It was wise advice, therefore, in
rather darkness visible."
Bishop Horsley, in his charge to country clergymen, to shun so
perilous a subject as that of predestination or necessity ; or,

measured words,

—

" Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute."

For even when the sincere inquirer does not merit the poet's
sentence of condemnation,
" Vain

wisdom

all

and

false

philosophy,"

—

yet it would be well if he could forego the investigation,
not
If he could
But he cannot
as impious, but as profitless.
I cannot.
you cannot,
always,
Where we feel an urgent
longing after knowledge, the consciousness of our own incapacity to solve the riddle is not enough to make us give it
I have always felt that all speculations concerning matter
up.
and its laws, whether in the movement of its masses, which
constitutes mechanics, or in the internal workings of its insensible portions, whether fluid, solid, or gaseous, which include several sciences, are insignificant compared with what
belongs to the spiritual element in men, whether it appertains
But
to conscience or the discernment of spiritual nature.
why am I going on in a style which, when I sat down, I resolved to repudiate altogether ?
I have more interest in speculations which can only end in
a deeper sense of incapacity, than in the acquisition of worth-

—

* Early in life H. C. R. regarded
an irreparable loss.

19*

his

own want

of a University education as

442

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

knowledge.
Nevertheless, I recur to them only as a
Let the above stand as an evidence of the
magnetizer
state of one's mind.
I was overpowered by drowsiness and
left off, and, after a nap, go on again.
But I will not go on
with a subject which may set you asleep as well as myself.
The practical bearings of speculative matters are such as we
indeed we cannot. The intolerance
do not much differ upon,
the vulgar ignorance of .the sectarians,
of governments,
which matches the proud and hypocritical pretences to authority on the part of the priesthood, who have got the arm of the
law in their support, are alike objects of our hatred or contempt.
And I can assent to all you say, and have so happily illustrated by your image of the beholders from the house-top.
And also I am as convinced as you can be, that whether we
are in possession of it or not, there is a truth to be had
less

—

Miss Denman to H. C.
74

....

to you,

Upper Norton Street, May

11, 1854.

and

ever-kind friends, Robinson

Field, that the University, as well as myself, are indebted for

the good that must accrue from the possession of those works
[of Flaxman], not only in the present, but in future ages and
I trust we may all be spared to see the completion of the
;

whole

—

April 4th.
Coming from Lord Monteagle's, I suffered mybe swindled. A fellow with a bad grinning countenance,
very dirty in appearance, accosted me by my name.
I said I
did not recollect him.
"It is
" You knew my father."
young
He said "Yes." And then
Julius, I suppose?"
a scene like that in a comedy followed, I playing fool, and he
knave confirming all I said by assent, and saying himself
" Are you going home now ? "
" Why, no
nothing.
I am
" Had you been going, I should
going to the Athenaeum."
have asked you to accommodate me with a sovereign. It would
save me a walk to the custom-house, where I want to fetch
some articles from abroad." Ass this ought to have opened
my eyes. I should be farther off the custom-house here than
" Yes."
" You are a clergyman?"
I was infatuated.
there.
" But why in such a dress 1 "
"0, I w ould rather follow
any other profession." I could fill a page with recounting all
self to

—

;

—

;

—

1854.]

THE FAITH OF THE HEART.

PAYNTER.

443

the circumstances that ought to have told me the fellow
was a knave. Opening my purse, he said " Could you let
me have two t " I gave him one sovereign and a half, and the
moment he left me, saying he would bring it in the morning,
:

my stupidity.
I was
May 29th.

saw

—

left

alone with

Paynter, and had an

Our convictions seem
They are of the nature of assurto be pretty much the same.
not scientific demonstraances arising out of the affections,
hour and a

half's cordial talk

— and

with him.

—

more comfortable by far than the ostentatious
and affronting creeds which have an exclusive character, and
seem intended to set up a Pharisaic superiority over those who
tions,

are

are less bold in their pretensions.
Sortaine related an
June 12th.

—

gelical clergyman,

amusing

tale of

an Evan-

w hose church being attended by a rather
T

prudish Lady
felt himself bound, on her leaving
Brighton, to discharge his duty by admonishing her, that he
trusted she had repented of the sins of her early life.
She
was astounded at such an address, and requested her husband
to show that man the door at once.
Nor would she allow him
to explain his having confounded her name and title with that
of a lady who had once been an actress.
,

—

Walked to Hampstead Heath, and there had
August 25th.
an agreeable chat with Mrs. and Miss Hoare. Mrs. Hoare is
She has a sweet
just a year older than Mrs. Wordsworth.
motherly face and both she and the daughter are women of
They are great lovers of Wordsworth,
sense and high worth.
and never failed to invite me to their house when he was a
visitor there.
I have been occasionally invited since his death.
Mrs. Hoare was, by birth, a Quaker and a Sterry and I gratified her (on a former occasion) by telling her of the generous
conduct of, I believe, an uncle of hers.
November 14-th.
Took tea with Miss Weston, at six, with
Mrs. Plumptre
roast turkey.
I went to meet Mr. Plumptre.
They unis Maurice's sister.
I like both husband and wife.
derstand me, and that is a main point.
We had an agree;

;

—

able evening.

does no harm.

known

diversity of opinion, with kind feeling,

But there must be a

Lady Byron to H.

charitable temper.
C. R.

Brighton, November
[

The thoughts

15, 1854.

of all this public and private suffering have

444

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

taken the life out of my pen, when I tried to write on matters
which would otherwise have been most interesting to me these
It is good, howthat the stern reality.
seemed the shadows,
ever, to be drawn out of scenes in which one is absorbed
most unprofitably, and to have one's natural interests revived
by such a letter as I have to thank you for, as well as its predeYou touch upon the very points which do interest
cessor.
me the most, habitually. The change of form and enlargement of design in the Prospective had led me to express to one
The
of the promoters of that object my desire to contribute.
but the man for it % The next best
religious crisis is instant,
thing, if, as I believe, he is not to be found in England, is an
An
association of such men as are to edit the new periodical.
address delivered by Freeman Clarke at Boston, last May,
makes me think him better fitted for a leader than any other
of the religious "Free-thinkers."
I wish I could send you my
one copy, but you do not need it, and others do.
His object is
the same as that of the Alliance Universelle, only he is still
more free from " Partialism " (his own word) in his aspirations
and practical suggestions with respect to an ultimate " Christian
Synthesis. "
He so far adopts Comte's theory as to speak of
religion itself under three successive aspects, historically,
1.
Thesis 2. Antithesis ; 3. Synthesis.
I made his acquaintance
in England, and he inspired confidence at once by his brave

—

;

independence,

— incomptis

capillis,

and

self-wttconsciousness.

Tayler's address of last month follows in the
all in favor of the " Irenics," instead of Polemics.
J. J.

same path,

—

The answer which you gave me so fully and distinctly to the
questions I proposed for your consideration was of 'value in
turning to my view certain aspects of the case which I had not
before observed.
I had begun a second attack on your patience,
when all was forgotten in the news of the day.

Lady Byron to H.

C. R.

Brighton, December

With

25, 1854.

Tayler, though almost a stranger to him, I have
a peculiar reason for sympathizing.
book of his was a treasure to my daughter on her death-bed.*
I must confess to intolerance of opinion as to these two points,
eternal evil in any form, and (involved in it) eternal sufferJ. J.

—

* Probably the " Christian Aspects of Faith and Duty."
also written "

A Retrospect of the Religious Life of

England."

Mr. Tayler has

COMPREHENSIVENESS.

1855.]

ing.

loving.

— LADY

BYRON.

445

believe in these would take away my God, who is allWith a God with whom omnipotence and omniscience
but why do I say to you what
evil might be eternal,

were all,
has been better said elsewhere

—

1855.

Lady Byron to H.

C. E.

Brighton, January

31, 1855.

great difficulty in respect to the Eeview * seems
in short, a
to be, to settle a basis, inclusive and exclusive,

.... The

—

howidary question. From what you said, I think you agreed
with me, that a latitudinarian Christianity ought to be the
character of the periodical but the depth of the roots should
correspond with the width of the branches of that tree of
knowledge.
Of some of those minds one might say, " They
have no root," and then, the richer the foliage, the more danger
" Grounded in Christ " has to me a
that the trunk will fall.
most practical significance and value. I, too, have anxiety
about a friend,
Miss Carpenter,
whose life is of public importance
she, more than any of the English Eeformers, unless Nash and Wright, has found the art of drawing out the
good of human nature and proving its existence. She makes
I hope she may rethese discoveries by the light of love.
The object of a Eeformatory in
cover, from to-day's report.
Leicester has just been secured at a county meeting
Now the desideratum is, well-qualified masters and mistresses.
The
If you hear of such by chance, pray let me know.
regular schoolmaster is an extinguisher.
Heart, and familiarity with the class to be educated, are all important.
At home
and abroad, the evidence is conclusive on that point, for I have
for many years attended to such experiments in various parts
The Irish Quarterly has taken up the subject
of Europe.
with rather more zeal than judgment. I had hoped that a
sound and temperate exposition of the facts might form an
article in the Might-have-been Eeview.
;

—

;

Lady Byron to H.

C. E.

Brighton, February

12, 1855.

have at last earned the pleasure of writing to you, by
having settled troublesome matters of little moment, except
I

* The National Revieio.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

446

locally,

your

and

I gladly

—

take a wider range by sympathizing in

—

is, besides, no responsibility
for me
in canvassing the merits of Russell or Palmerston,
in deciding whether the " village politician," Jack-

interests.

at least

25.

There

but much
son or Thompson,

shall

be leader in the school and public-

house.

Has not the nation been brought to a conviction that the
system should be broken up ? and is Lord Palmerston, who has
used it so long and so cleverly, likely to promote that object f
But whatever obstacles there may be in state affairs, that
general persuasion must modify other departments of action
and knowledge. " Unroasted coffee 99 will no longer be accepted

—

under the

official seal,
another reason for a new literary
combination for distinct special objects,
a Review in which
every separate article should be convergent.
If, instead of the
problem to make a circle pass through three given points, it
were required to find the centre from which to describe a circle through any three articles in the Edinburgh or Westminster
Review, who could accomplish it %
Much force is lost for want
of this one-mindedness amongst the contributors.
It would
not exclude variety or freedom in the unlimited discussion of
If St.
means towards the ends unequivocally recognized.
Paul had edited a Review, he might have admitted Peter as
well as Luke or Barnabas
Ross gave us an excellent sermon yesterday, on " Hallowing
the Name." Though far from commonplace, it might have
been delivered in any church.
We have had Fanny Kemble here last week. I only heard
not less instructive, as her readher " Romeo and Juliet,"
ings always are, than exciting, for in her glass Shakespeare is a
philosopher.
I know her, and honor her for her truthfulness
amidst all trials.

—

Lady Byron to H.

C, R.

Brighton, March
I recollect only those passages of Dr.

1855.

Kennedy's book which

Strange as it may
bear upon the opinions of Lord Byron.
seem, Dr. Kennedy is most faithful where you doubt his being
Not merely from casual expressions, but from the whole
so.
tenor of Lord Byron's feelings, I could not but conclude he was
the inspiration of the Bible, and had the gloomiest
a believer
Calvinistic tenets.
To that unhappy view of the relation of the
creature to the Creator I have always ascribed the misery of

1855.]

LORD BYRON.

— PREDESTINATION.

447

It is enough for mc to remember, that he who
his life
thinks his transgressions beyond forgiveness (and such was his
own deepest feeling), has righteousness beyond that of the
It
self-satisfied sinner ; or, perhaps, of the half-awakened.
was impossible for me to doubt that, could he have been at once
assured of pardon, his living faith in a moral duty and love of
virtue (" I love the virtues which I cannot claim ") would have
Judge, then, how I must hate
conquered every temptation.
the Creed which made him see God as an Avenger, not a Father.
My own impressions were just the reverse, but could
have little weight, and it was in vain to seek to turn his
thoughts for long from that idee fixe with which he connected
Instead of being
his physical peculiarity as a stamp.
made happier by any apparent good, he felt convinced that
Who,
every blessing would be " turned into a curse " to him.
possessed by such ideas, could lead a life of love and service
They must In a measure realize themselves.
to God or man ?
" The worst of it is, I do believe," he said.
I, like all connected with him, was broken against the rock of Predestination.
I may be pardoned for referring to his frequent expression of the sentiment that I was only sent to show him the
You will now better unhappiness he was forbidden to enjoy.
derstand why " The Deformed Transformed " is too painful to
me for discussion. Since writing the above, I have read Dr.
Granville's letter on the Emperor of Russia, some passages of
which seem applicable to the prepossession I have described. I
will not mix up less serious matters with these, which forty
years have not made less than present still to me.

Dr. King to H. C. R.
23

Montpellier Road, Brighton, March

22, 1855.

would appear unkind in me to pass over the death of our
friend Masquerier without notice.
He was a man I had spent
many agreeable and instructive hours with,
and never more
enjoyable than when alone.
Then he could speak with less reserve, and was never at a loss for anecdote of many characters
whom I knew only historically. He had a large acquaintance
with the world.
it had only
It had not soured his temper,
increased his caution and prudence.
I think this is the effect
produced upon men in public situations. One mistake or one
dishonest man may ruin a well-concocted scheme or plan of
operations; their caution is therefore a matter of necessity.
During the last year I had seen more of him than usual
It

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

448

25.

I think, as a man approaches the great change, an interest in
the nature of that change may well be the uppermost feeling
Surely the absence of this feeling is a
in a rational being.
man's own loss peculiarly, whatever may be its connection with
the unknown future upon which we are about to enter.
How
many are deterred from this subject by the perverted subtleties
of theologians. I will not pretend to say.
After as wide a survey of human knowledge as my faculties permit, I find no rest
but in the character of Christ, of which I still consider I have
but an imperfect conception.
He forms the under-current in
which float all the hopes of the world for rising out of its
present chaos. What we call chaos is, I doubt not, a step in the
wisdom of that Power which we worship as real, though incomprehensible

Lady Byron to H.

C. E.

Brighton, April
.

•

The book which has

interested

me most

1855.

lately

that on " Mosaism," translated by Miss Goldsmid, and which I
read, as you will believe, without any Christian (unchristian V)
The missionaries of the Unity were always, from
prejudice.
my childhood, regarded by me as in that sense the people and
I believe they were true to that mission, though blind, intellectually, in demanding the crucifixion.
The present aspect of
Jewish opinions, as shown in that book, is all but Christian.
The author is under the error of taking, as the representatives
and
of Christianity, the Mystics, Ascetics, and Quietists
therefore he does not know how near he is to the true spirit of
the Gospel.
If you should happen to see Miss Goldsmid, pray
tell her what a great service I think she has rendered to us soidisants Christians, in translating a book which must make us
sensible of the little we have done, and the much we have to
do, to justify our preference of the later to the earlier dispen;

;

sation

Lady Byron to H.

C. R.

Brighton, April

You appear

to have

11, 1855.

definite information respecting the

It was also said that the
Review than I have obtained
not satisReview would in fact be the Prospective amplified,
factory to me, because I have always thought that periodical
too Unitarian, in the sense of separating itself from other

—

THREE WEEKS

1855.]

449

IN FRANCE.

if not by a high wall, at least by a wireNow, separation is to me the aipeo-is. The revegauze fence.
it is the revelation
lation through Nature never separates
through the Book which separates. Whewell and Brewster
would have been one had they not, I think equally, dimmed
their lamps of science when reading their Bibles.
As long as
we think a truth better for being shut up in a text, we are not
of the wide-world religion, which is to include all in one fold
for that text will not be accepted by the followers of other
books, or students of the same, and separation will ensue. The
Christian Scripture should be dear to us, not as the charter of
a few, but of mankind, and to fashion it into cages is to deny
These thoughts hot, like the roll at breakits ultimate objects.

Christian churches,

;

fast,

where your

July

9th.

letter

— Spent

Read two long

was

welcome an addition.

the forenoon at

home

reading,

till

two.

National Review, with which I
am content.* They are above the average. And, as the
Chronicle says, if the Review can be kept at that pitch, it will
succeed.
At all events, it ought. I admire the article on " The
Church, Eomanism, Protestantism," &c, of which I think
Martineau must be the author ; also an excellent one on " Inan able defence of the war, not the conternational Duties, "
duct of it.
Went on with the National Revieiv, and read
July 11th.
with great pleasure the article on " Administrative Reform.
articles in the

—

Full of excellent sense.
I am returned from a more than three
September 8th.
weeks' excursion to Bayonne, having achieved more than I exI have no wish to see
pected with less trouble than I feared.
France again. A similar visit to Frankfort and Heidelberg is
all I desire.
On my way, I had the satisfaction of meeting
Robert Brown, the great botanist, and we were together as far
as Boulogne.
There I was cordially greeted by William Brown
and Alcock, who were to be my travelling companions. After
visiting Bayonne we returned to Bordeaux, to meet Mrs. Brown

—

and Miss Coutts. My journey with Brown and Alcock then
ceased, and I joined Sergeant and Mrs. Dowling.
I remained
In my
Mrs. Andre I saw Tholuck and Sir Culling Eardley.
At the Exhibition I had walks with Mr. and Mrs. Plumptre,
at Paris a week, visiting the Exposition Industrielle.

visits to old

* H. C. R. was one of those who were consulted about the establishment of
and who supported it by counsel and money.

this Review,

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

450

25.

and some English acquaintance. Among the latter, I had the
good luck to fall in with John Taylor, .whom I had as my comI left him at the
panion the chief part of the journey home.

London railway
company.

with a sense of thankfulness for his
a
a clever and excellent man as a doer,

station,

—

worker.
My first call, on my return from Bury, was
October 19th.
on Atkinson. I was delighted to find that of the Flaxman
We
Gallery nothing remains to be done but the inner room.
have about £16 in hand. The completion will not exceed my
The Gallery is now
means, if I have to contribute the whole.

—

out of danger, and this gratifies me.
The day began ill. A letter from Alcock.
October 22d.
Brown dangerously ill, at Montpelier. Miss Coutts was deWhenever
sirous that I should not hear the news abruptly.
Brown's death takes place it will be, to me, a real loss.*
The incident of the day is the death of
December 18th.
It took place early in the morning
long expected.
Rogers,
without any pain. At ninety -two or ninety-three, pain is not

—

to be feared.
December 25th.

—

Engaged in reading " The Life of Sydney
An excellent man, certainly. He
Smith," which I finished.
was neither martyr, nor hero, nor saint, but, with all his infirmities, an amiable and admirable man.
[During this year H. C. R. was called upon to act as arbitrator in a case of the most honorable kind to those conLieutenant Arnold, son of Dr. Arnold, had been encerned.
gaged by Lady Byron as tutor to her grandson. For reasons
into which it is unnecessary to enter, the tutorship came to an
end in a way which involved an unforeseen pecuniary settlement and Lady Byron proposed to pay just double what
The award of
Lieutenant Arnold thought it right to receive.
the arbitrator satisfied the conscience of the one, and the generosity of the other.
Ed.]
;

—

1856.

January
in

6th.

— Read a sermon preached

Scotland, and

by her ordered

before the Queen,

to be printed.

It will

* On the 14th of November, on H. C. R.'s return from a visit to Torquay,
he writes " The only letter I regretted not receiving in time, was one inviting
me to attend poor Brown's funeral on the 7th."
f The funeral, which was a private one, took place at Hornsey, where there
:

a family vault.

TWO

1856.]

451

EXITS FURTHER.

It is little more than an expangood, being anti-sacerdotal.
"I wish there were fewer
sion of a saying by Dr. Arnold
religious books, but that all books were in a religious spirit."
a dinner I enDined with Mrs. Bayne,
January 10th.
joyed ; made agreeable by Boxall. There were two friends
from the country and a liberal clergyman. There was not
much talk, but a sort of battledore and shuttlecock fight be:

—

tween Boxall and myself.
At breakfast I had John Wordsworth and
January 24th.
Derwent Coleridge. They made themselves agreeable to me
and to each other. We looked together at the Flaxman GalThis visit occasioned
lery, and this they seemingly enjoyed.
my writing a longish letter to Mrs. Wordsworth, though chiefly
giving an account of the sad state of so great a number of
our friends, especially Miss Fen wick and Mrs. Clarkson.
This proved a melancholy day.
Its most
February 1st.
material incident was Mrs. Dickenson's announcement of dear
Mrs. Clarkson's death, early in the morning of the day before.
At her age, with her excellent character, and w ith no hope of
permanent improvement in health, life could be of no value,
and death hardly an object of dread.*
It was on this day that dear Henry
February 12th.
Hutchison Robinson died, at half past four, a. m. It was
long expected, and yet we felt it for a moment as sudden, f
This telegraphic mode of giving intelligence is far from satisDear Henry was a beautiful blossom ; he afforded
factory.
hopes and I never knew a sweeter, a purer, or a more amiable and interesting youth.
He was altogether an object of
love.
I had looked much to him in the future.
This is
a source of sadness, but is nothing to the grief of a mother.
John Kenyon, writing a note of sympathy, on the 25th of
February, says " Only live on, and this once smiling world
is changed into a huge cemetery, in which we ourselves hardly

—

;

care to linger."

March
*

21st.

—

finished reading in

bed this day the

cor-

short notice of Mrs. Clarkson appeared in the Bury Post, February 6,
This was probably from the pen of her old friend, H. C. R.
H. C. R.'s Diary shows how deeply he
f His death took place at Torquay.
sympathized in all the alternations of hope and fear in his grand-nephew's long
illness, and how ready he was to go anywhere in England or abroad, if change
of climate were advised, and his attendance were desirable. The body was
placed in a vault in the burying-ground attached to the New Gravel PitChapel. " The service was read in a solemn and suitable manner, by Mr.
Knott," formerly minister at Bury, and highly respected by Mr. Thomas
1856.

Robinson.

REMINISCENCES OF HEXRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

452

25-

respondence of Goethe and Knebel, a book that had deeplyinterested me, and which exhibits the condescending love of
the superior and the reverential admiration of the inferior
most honorably towards both parties. My personal recollections added to my enjoyment, and though the mention of me
is not flattering in the way of praise, yet I feel it as an honor
to have my name even but written by the great man of his age,
accompanied by the expression of, or an implied, good-will.
April 12th.
E. Field told me he should be going to-day,
for the last time, to Mr. S. Rogers's house
and, therefore, I
went also. The pictures I may see again, but the house I
shall, probably, never more enter.
This is one of the many

—

recent losses.

Lady Byron

to EL C.

Brighton. April

12, 1856.

....

This National winds up the volume honorably to
The last article interests me much from special
its projectors.
and I think I understand it. Indeed some theological
causes
fictions seem to me to be more completely exposed than ever
And yet
the two atonement theories, for instance.
before
the Eeviewer does not appear to me to come to the point at
last, nor entirely to have dismissed the mysterious efficacy
My own belief would at least be stated more
doctrine.
to follow Christ is the way to be reconciled, or
simply thus
put into a relationship of peace and harmony with the will of
God a man so reconciled becomes a sound man, if he was not
before. If some say that the same end might be obtained in other
ways. I am not anxious to refute them only grant this way
Did Jesus say, " I am the only way," to be successful.
It is inferred that he meant it, however from the condemnation
This is thought a
of him who " believeth not," in St. John.
parenthesis of the writer's by a superior critic ; but, taking
the common reading, I see in it no more than the assertion,
that belief in the truths proclaimed by Christ was an absolute
condition of salvation and all experience shows it to be so in
The believer in those principles is saved from the hell
fact.
I need not try
of "malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness."
It is a question whether Mrs.
I can't help it.
to believe this
"
Wordsworth is more " enviable " from her belief in a " future
:

;

than from her belief in the present or, more explicitly, I
should ascribe her happiness to her consciousness of this
world's moral government, rather than of her expectation of
;

BROWN.

1856.]

— MISS

WESTON.

— KENYON.

453

Her " atonement " is perfect. The author of
immortality.
the article on Goethe appears to me to have the mind which
could dispel the illusions surrounding another poet without
depreciating his claims (not fully acknowledged by you ) to the
Who has sought to distinguish the holy
truest inspiration.
to prove by this very degfrom the unholy in that spirit 1
radation of the one how high the other was ? A character is
never done justice to by extenuating faults so I do not agree
to nisi bonum. It is kinder to read the blotted page
I thank you for the proof you have given me of a just conI
fidence in my sympathy, by telling me of your being left.

—

;

had wished

know whether your

will never be alone in the

human

relative

still

lingered.

You

world.

—

I had a new man at breakfast, the great
April 20th.
Robert Brown, as he is considered by many the first botanist

in the world.
is

known by his

He
as a man of fine humor.
New World, and his importation

know him only

travels in the

He is now feeble in
of thousands of new species of plants.
There
body, but an unaffectedly great man in character.
were present, also, Boott, Stock, and Charles Mureh.
May Jfth.
This day has been marked by a variety of im-

—

pressions which

would admit of

amplification,

were so

After reading Ruskin, and hearing, at Essex Street,
a peace sermon, and lunching with Sarah, I went out on a
The first fact I learned was the death of a
melancholy walk.
very estimable person, Miss Weston.* I next called on KenI found Procter there, and afterwards Hawthorn came.
yon.
Miss Bayley received me with tears, considering Kenyon's case
I was sent for to him.
He was sitting in his armhopeless.
chair, and received me with a hearty shake of the hand and
From his manner of speaking I should not have supa smile.
posed him to be suffering from dangerous disease. He thanked
me for calling, and spoke in terms of warm friendship. He
" Remember me to good Dr. Boott. Give him that [putsaid
ting a small seal into my hand], and tell him I always loved
him." He added, " The seal is not w^orth a penny." I smiled,
disposed.

* I first saw the Miss Westons in 1839. They once lived at Bury, and, my
I was introduced by Miss Weston's desire. She told me
afterwards that her father spoke of my brother as the most sensible man he
used to see at the Angel Club. The Miss Westons went to Rome, and I gave
them a letter to Miss Mackenzie. On their return our acquaintance became
more intimate. Miss Weston was a woman of superior understanding and attainments. She was an admirer of Wordsworth Kenyon and I brought them
together.
Wordsworth professed great respect for her.

name being mentioned,

;

454

BEMD3ISCEXCES OF HKNEY CRABB ROBDiSOX. [Chap.

and said

25.

would give

it to Dr. Boott with pleasure.
It is a
of a sort of amber.
May 10th.
I dined again at Miss Coutts's.
I was kindly
received, and had a very pleasant evening.
An interesting
subject to talk on was the sale of Rogers's pictures, of which
Miss Courts has been a very large purchaser and she gains
credit by the good taste she showed in her selection.
Some
half-dozen of mv favorites were there u The Mob-capped Girl
M The Cupid
" The Lady Sketching"
and Psyche 7 (the only

triangular

little seal,

—

;

the Raphael,
"Christ in
the Garden " the Paul Veronese u Festival." There would
be no end should I go on. I was glad to find that the works
of Flaxman sold very high. The marble "Cupid" and "Psyche"
Miss Denman had some idea of buying but she rejoiced when
"
she heard that the " Cupid " fetched £115, and the " Psyche
picture I dislike of Sir Joshua's)

£125:::

Lady Btrox
1

to H. C. EL

Cambridge Terrace, July

18, 1856.

have a mind to say something more about the " manifesu spiritual " designedly, as in that word the
tations."
I omit
I

question is begged.
It appears to me that no one

who has accepted the resurcan refuse assent to the accumulated evidences of these ?-eappeara?ices.
I do not like the associations commonly formed with the word " resurrection " as if
that body which was laid in the grave were reorganized.
St.
Paul states that the body is " new " ; and all the expressions
respecting Christ's reappearance are reconcilable with that

rection as

historical fact

;

supposition.

But though I should reject the resurrection if it had no
claim to belief except from testimony in a remote age, and by
no means completely satisfactory. I accept it with a strong
persuasion of its probability, on the ground, first, of its being
the fulfilment of the life; secondly, of its having been the assured expectation of Him who was all truth as regarded human nature in its embodied state, and therefore most likely to
know about its disembodied ; thirdly, of the harmoniousness
of the objects of the risen Christ (as narrated) with those of
" Feed my sheep," his earthly career
Having rested tranquilly in that faith from a very early age,
I could not be troubled by Middleton or Strauss.
You will
observe, however, that not one of the three reasons given above
applies to the " manifestations," for
:

—

455

LADY BYRON ON SPIRITUALISM.

1856.]

1. There is no life-course so unique and so defined as
the point
point to " a fulfilment " (as far as I know),
which all the rays converged.
2. The beings who are said to have reappeared had not,
men, shown Christ's unerring knowledge of " what was

—

to
to

man."
3. The statements made concerning the reappearing of known
personages have not that seal of truth impressed by self-likeness.
We should not say, "He is like himself," as we could
say of Jesus Christ, when presented to us by those whose
" hearts burned within them " to see their Master again.

—

Donne walked with me to Dr. Boott's. We
August 26th.
met there Bartlett, formerly an actor, and the maker of his
own fortune. He is praised by Boott as a man of exemplary
goodness and integrity, a clear-headed, sensible man, seventythree years old. The talk was chiefly about the drama, actors,
He was the friend of Jack Banister, also lauded by Boott
&c.
as a pre-eminently good man ; and I, being older than either,
could join in talking of old actors.
Bartlett is naturally a
praiser of the old school of actors.
Indeed he spoke kindly
of most men.
I enjoyed the evening much.
September 9th.
I dined at home, and then went to the
theatre, merely to see Robson ; and that I did to my perfect
His variety of power is beyond all my expectasatisfaction.
tion.
I could not at first recognize him in the florid, smoothThe green-eyed monster, Jealousy, is admirably
faced Baron.
His expression is marvellous. Afterrepresented by him.
wards I saw him in a parody of " Medea." A gentleman who
sat near me in the pit-stalls told me that his burlesque imita-

—

tion of Ristori

was

excellent.

H. C. R. to T. R.
October

1856.

Professor Scott related a mot of Talleyrand to Madame de
Stael on occasion of her "Delphine," which was thought to
contain a representation of Talleyrand in the character of an
old woman.
On her pressing for his opinion of that work, he
" That is the work
said
is it not ?
in which you and I
are exhibited in the disguise of females."

—

November 13th.

—A

—

letter

Harriet Martineau, she says

Speaking of
from Mrs. Reid.
" She can write a fine leader,

456

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

and plan something useful for her neighbors, while her voice is
from debility."
December 3d.
The morning has been anxiously spent, and
marked by bad news. Miss Allen sent a messenger to inform
me, that, by telegraph, the news came of Kenyon's death. It
was expected. For the present, no more of this sad event.
He was a prosperous and munificent man.
I have this morning been looking at the
December 18th.
A
portrait of W. S.- Landor, sent me yesterday by Booth.
present from him and Miss Bayley.*
December 31st.
I closed the year in good spirits, though I
lost

—

Yet, as I am now far in my
eighty-second year (in less than three months it will be completed), and being fully sensible of the loss of memory, I shall
not be remiss in making all the necessary preparations for
securing others from harm.
After Dr. Aikin had suffered his
" I must make the most I
first attack of paralysis, he said
can of the salvage of life."
feel

faculties are declining.

1857.

—

January 15th.
I found enjoyment in the cleverness of two
numbers of the Times and the last Examiner. In a letter by
Holyoake, the atheist, is an epigram by his friend Elliott, the
Corn-law Rhymer, which settles the question,
What is a
communist ?
One who has yearnings for equal division of

—

unequal earnings. Idler or bungler, he is willing to fork out
his penny and pocket your shilling.
He who is not satisfied
with this will not be satisfied with any elaborate reasoning on
the subject.

March

— My evening with

Miss Bayley as agreeable
She has lent me a list of the legacies given
by Kenyon, of which I will make mention hereafter, when
copied by me.
I can only say now, that it shows on the part
of Kenyon great anxiety to do good wherever he could.
[On a paper in which H. C. R. has copied out this list of lega" John Kenyon, an excellent man, a native
cies, he has written
of the West India Islands.
He left more than £ 140,000 in
legacies to individuals.!
A generous man, and fond of literary
30th.

as the preceding.

* [Kenyon's residuary legatees.]

It is not the portrait by Boxall, but more
It was the work of a young man, named Fisher, in
took interest.
H. C. R.
t Mr. and Mrs. Browning received legacies amounting to more than ten
thousand pounds; and Ji. 1). Procter between six and seven thousand.

striking as a likeness.

whom Kenyon

—

JOHN KENYON.

1857.]

457

He wrote elegant verses, and
society, and that of artists.
Elsewhere there
printed volumes of poetry for his friends."
are remarks of H. C. R. on his friend, which may aptly have
a place here " John Kenyon has the face of a Benedictine
monk, and the joyous talk of a good fellow." " He is the author of a Rhymed Plea for Tolerance/ and he delights in seeing at his hospitable table every variety of literary notabilities,
"He
and therefore he has been called a feeder of lions.' "
is more bent on making the happy happier, than on making
a distinction I do not remember
the unhappy less unhappy,
" It was only a few days before his
to have seen noticed."
own departure, and while he happily retained possession of a
disposing mind, memory, and understanding, that he received
notice of the death of his brother, to whom he was tenderly
attached.
As there was no relation sufficiently near to have
formed expectations, which are sometimes thought to constitute rights, he devoted the last few days of his life to the dictation of codicils, promoting with conscientious discrimination
a few literary, but the
the happiness of numerous friends,
:

—

and so among
greater number known only in private circles,
eighty legatees, including annuitants, nearly exhausting his
ample means."] *
April 7th.
I had several interesting matters before me today.
The one most agreeable is the recent appointment of
Donne to the Examinership of Plays, which he has held as
deputy to John Kemble. I called on him to congratulate him.
April 28th.
The only incident of the day was my dinner
at Mocatta's, Jim.
small party of eight. There came, in the
evening, a larger party.
I was accosted in a pleasant way by

—

* The following extract is from a sketch of Kenyon, by G. S. Hillard,
which appeared in the Boston Daily Courier, and of which H. C. R. distributed

many copies printed in a separate form
" He was at that time about sixty-six

—

years old, a man of an ample frame
and portly presence,
with a florid English complexion, a pleasant, companionable blue eye, a bald head, and an expanded brow which looked as if it had
never been darkened by a frown. He had the aspect of a man who had enjoyed life wisely, but liot too well: and who had breathed no air but that of
cheerfulness and happiness. There were no lines of care, no scars of conflict,
no stains of struggle, upon his serene and gentle front; but all gave evidence
of a warm heart, a good digestion, a sunny temper, and an enjoyable nature.
But there was no overlaying of the intellectual by the physical; the stamp of
the scholar and the gentleman was as marked as that of the other elements I
have noted. There was something peculiarly winning in his manner, the
tones of his voice, and the expressions of his face. You were at ease with
him in a moment. The very grasp of his hand had something cordial and assuring in it, as if you felt the pulse of the heart beating through it.
In addition to the Rhymed Plea for Tolerance,' he wrote
Day at Tivoli,' and
many other poems,
three volumes in all."

—

VOL.

II.

]

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

458

25.

Frank Stone, the painter of Quillinan's daughter. Wordsworth
wrote a beautiful Sonnet on the picture.
May 3d. At the Athenseum ; read in the new Edinburgh
Review an amusing paper on Boswell.
The reviewer thinks
that Macaulay despises the biographer too much, while he too
highly praises the biography, as if it did not require a certain
sense of what ought to be selected in order to produce a work
superior to any other in existence of the class. Johnson advised
Boswell not to speak depreciatingly of himself. The w orld will
repeat the evil report, and make no allowance for the source.
N. B.
Tt would have been well for me had
Unusual candor
It is too late for me
I distinctly recognized this truth before.
now to change my practice.
Lady Cranworth quoted a saying of Lord
July 19th.

—

Chancellor's work may be divided into three
the business that is w orth the labor done ;
second, that which does itself ; third, the work which is not

Lyndhurst
classes

done at

first,

all."

—

Why time appears to fly more rapidly in
September 9th.
old age than youth is ingeniously accounted for by Soame
Each year is compared with the whole life. The
Jenyns.
twentieth at one time is the seventeenth at another, and that,
of course, appears less ; but in fact there is, perhaps, this real
All
difference, that in a given time one does less in old age.
this day, for instance, w as spent in reading less than a hundred pages of Froude.
r

H. C. E. to Paynter.
September

10, 1857.

use the wr ord " Christian," you, I know, do not, as
many do, or once did, think that Christianity consists in the
idolatrous belief of the presence of the Deity in -a piece of
These are the
bread, or in the five points of metaphysic faith.
I would say, as you
sad shells which enclose the kernel.
doubtless think, that Christianity is not destroyed by its
I did
It is found more or less damaged everywhere.
vehicle.
not mean to set up my speculation against yours; and,
though what I write would be a heresy which deserved the
fagot in a past age, yet I do not use it to attack anybody.

When you

[Two other extracts on the same subject may be given here,
though not actually written in this year
I am not anxious to make converts to dogmas, but I am very
:

—

OST

1857.]

THE STUDY OF WORDSWORTH.

459

anxious that serious men of other isms should be willing to receive us as members of the one Catholic Church, and I think
that among the Churchmen of the Whately school this may
not be hard to obtain.
The religious enthusiasts will make sacrifices, which the reIt does not follow that the thinkers
ligious thinkers will not.
are not sincere in their professions 5 but it is, I suppose, the
same turn of mind which makes them think, and produces a
This is a sad experience ; but it does
coolness of character.

not affect one's convictions.

C. E. to

James Mottram, Jun., Esq.
September

a reasonable request you

make me,

that,

12, 1857.

having put into

your hands Wordsworth's Poems, I should give you some asotherwise you might
sistance in setting about to read them
Much, indeed intensely, as I
be alarmed at the undertaking.
acknowledging that I owe more to him
love Wordsworth,
yet when I look at the
than any other poet in our language,
single volume which comprehends the whole collection, I feel
some apprehension that any young person who may open it
will be inclined to shut it again, and look no further than the
All poetry, except the narrative,
title and a few pages beyond.
and ballads are popular from
requires an effort to get on with
But a poem is worth nothing that is
their brevity and ease.
not a companion for years, and this is what distinguishes
Wordsworth from the herd of poets. He lasts. I love him
more now than I did fifty years ago. You will see few men
advanced in life who will say the same of Lord Byron, even
T
though they once loved him,
that is, as I did W ordsworth,
from the beginning. You have, I dare say, heard that Wordsworth was, for between twenty and thirty years, utterly decried, and mainly through the satire in the Edinburgh Revieiv.
In my youth, I fell in with those of his works then just published, and became a passionate lover.
I knew many by heart,
and on my journeys was always repeating or reading them. I
made many converts. Wordsworth had to create his public.
He formed the taste of the age in a great measure. Even
Byron, who affected to ridicule him (and Wordsworth laid himself open to ridicule), nevertheless studied and imitated him.
The third and fourth cantos of " Childe Harold " were written
under Wordsworth's inspiration, that is, as to style ; in mat•

—

;

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

460

[Chap.

25,

nothing can be more opposed.
The cause of the opposition,
and the pretext for the satire, lies in the simple style, on which
Wordsworth was of opinion that
every abuse was lavished.
posterity will value most those lyrical ballads which were most
ter,

He may be partial in this opinion ; certainly they
at.
This he said to me when I reare the most characteristic.
marked that no metrical form of his various poems afforded me
" You are quite wrong," he
so great pleasure as the Sonnets.
replied.
But I forget that my object is not to dissert on
laughed

as a poet, but to give you my opinion as to the
order in which the poems should be read, and which of them
may be altogether passed over. I would not recommend you
to begin with the Preface, wise and convincing as it is ; I
would wait a little before entering on the controversy. I enjoy
these prose writings much ; indeed, I hope one day there will
be a collection of his prose compositions.
I shall now go over the contents of the volume, and put
down the titles of those poems that are to be read at all
events, and those that are to be read first.
I go over the
single volume regularly

Wordsworth

—

"Poems roritten in Youth"
(Pass them over, unread.)
Among
Poems referring to the Period of Childhood."
" Lucy Gray "
* " We are Seven "
* " The
them read

—

;

Longest Day." This may be enough on a first perusal. On a
" Alice Fell " is the one least
second nearly all are good.
worthy, and which caused most reproach.
# 'The Brothers";
"Poems founded on the Affections"
" Michael";
Louisa"; "The Armenian Lady's Love";
" 'T is said that
* " She dwelt among the Untrodden Wajr s "
some have died for Love " [# " Let other Bards of Angels
sing " and # " Yes, thou art fair," &c] (These, I know from
Wordsworth himself, were made on his wife.) In this section
is found one of the poems about which most controversy has
" The Idiot Boy."
been held,
Lord Byron's joke was that
the subject of the poem must have been the poet.
Let it be
read hereafter, not yet. Wordsworth would not permit a selection to be published which did not include this.
" Poems on the naming of Places " are founded on feelings so
personal, that, with all my admiration of them, I would not
recommend any for a first perusal of Wordsworth.
"Poems of the Fancy."
One of the least clear of Words-

—

;

—

* For explanation of asterisks see the end of the

letter.

ORDER OF STUDY.

1857.]

— THE

461

ENGLISH GOETHE.

worth's disquisitions, and in which he differed from Coleridge,
Hereafter
is his distinction between Fancy and Imagination.
it will be seen that Imagination is the higher, and Fancy the
I can only set out a few in either class
lower power.
* " To the Daisy " ; " To the same Flower " - * '* To the Small
Celandine " ; " To the same Flower."
" Poems of the Imagination.'"
* " To the Cuckoo " [* " A
Night Piece " ; * " Yew Trees "] (in Wordsworth's own opinion,
" She was a Phantom of
his best specimens of blank verse).
" 0 Nightingale, thou surely
Delight " (Mrs. Wordsworth).
" The
art " ; * " I wandered lonely as a Cloud " ; " Ruth "
# " Resolution and Independence " * " Hart-leap
Thorn "
:

—

;

•

;

Well" # "Lines composed above Tintern Abbey" # " Laodamia " " Presentiments " * " A Jewish Family." The fourteen poems set down in the class of Imaginative Poems are of
such characteristic quality, that whoever has read them with;

;

out enjoyment should not be teased with any recommendation
I could have added to the number, but should
to read more.
" Peter Bell " and
have rendered the selection too numerous.
" The Waggoner " are among those I could best spare, and do
not recommend.
" Wordsworth," says Landor, his
"Miscellaneous Sonnets"
bitter enemy, " has written more fine Sonnets than are to be
met with in the language besides." I can only put part of the
Nuns, fret not"; ix. "Praised be the Art";
I.
lines:
" Specimens of Translations from Michael
vi.
v.,
xxiv.,
" The World is too much with us."
Angelo " ; xxxiii.
" Scorn not the Sonnet"; [" To Lady BeauPart Second.
mont"; " To Lady Mary Lowther."] (No Court ever produced
anything more graceful.) xxn. "Hail Twilight"! Repeating this, and another on a Painting, to Tieck, he exclaimed,
" This is an English Goethe " xxxiii. " Pure Element of
Waters " xxxvi. " Earth has not anything," &c.
Two on a Likeness; xlvi.
xxxil, in.
Part Third.
"Proud were ye, Mountains." I have found the selecting

—

;

hard.
" Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803:'
Grave " ; " The Matron of Jedborough " ; # "

— "Rob

visited "

Roy's

Yarrow Un-

The Blind Highland Boy."
# "Yarrow
"Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 181 4"
Visited " ; compare with "Yarrow Unvisited."
" Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty"
I abstain from selecting any from this class. Let it all be read
;

—

462

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

25.

Southey echoed a remark of mine, that whoever
poems of their poetry will find the naked prose
The " Thanksgiving Ode "
to be wisdom of a high character.
in due time.
strips these

closes this set.
" Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820."
should be read in connection also, but for the present

— These

selected,

" "Was

to disenchant or to

undo

;

may be
for

the

Help of Angels " " Elegiac Stanzas " (H. C. R. was the friend,
and he supplied the Introduction).
These may be read in
"Memorials of a Tour in Italy"
;

—

connection, otherwise they do not belong to the best of his
" The Egyptian Maid " may be read
works, but are very wise.
hereafter.
It is gracefully romantic.
The u Duddon Sonnets " are exquisitely refined ; to be studied
hereafter.

It is not easy to separate

cluding.

any by exalting or

ex-

—

'''The White Doe of Ryhtone."
Jeffrey, in the Edinburgh
Review, declares this to have the distinction of being the very
tvorst poem ever ivritten.
In a certain technical sense, and with
reference to arbitrary rules, it may be.
If so, I would rather
be the author of Wordsworth's worst than Jeffrey's best.
It is

not Wordsworth's best, certainly.
" The Ecclesiastical Sonnets " ought to be studied by him who
would favorably appreciate the Church of England; and in
connection with the " Book of the Church, " by Southey.
No.
xx. is recommended for its wise and liberal conclusion.
I repeated it to 0' Connell, and he acknowledged its excellence. All
the varied charms of religion are collected in these Sonnets.
Though accused falsely of bigotry, Wordsworth shows that he
can do justice to the Non-cons.
In *Part 3, vi., " Clerical Integrity,
Milton has justice done him,
Milton, the Non-con.
" Yarrow Revisited " is not equal to the other two on Yarrow.
But the Sonnet on Sir Walter Scott, " A Trouble not of
Clouds, " is among the very best.
" Tour in Scotland, 1831," should be read after the other
Scotch Tours.
" Evening Voluntaries."
This is one of the later poems

—

(1832).

and
poems of

It is the characteristic of these to be less striking

— more

remarkable, and less objectionable,
other men.
" Poems on a Tour in 1833"
I

—

like the

made this journey with
Wordsworth. The remark made before applies to these. I
would notice only, though others may be equal, " Lowther, in
thy majestic pile are seen. "

FIRST LOVE,

1857.]

— THEN

463

STUDY.

—

" Poems of Sentiment and Reflection"
* " Expostulation and
* ni. "Lines written in
Keply"; ih " The Tables turned "
Early Spring " v. " To my Sister " * vi. " Simon Lee " * vm.
" A Poet's Epitaph" * x. " Matthew " *xi. " Two April Mornings" xii. " The Fountain" * xm. " Three Sonnets on PerThese last poems are the
sonal Talk"; *xvm. " Fidelity."
most characteristic, and therefore most decisive of the reader's
The " Ode to Duty," and the " Happy Warrior," on the
taste.
other hand, among the most correct and dignified.
" Sonnets dedicated to Liberty and Order"
The remark
made on " Poems dedicated to National Independence " applies
;

;

—

Indeed, one does not see why the classes
equally to these.
These should be studied hereafter.
are separated.
" Sonnets on the Punishment of Death " have more truth than
poetry.
" Miscellaneous."

—
—

The Horn

Egremont

Castle."

" Hopes, what are they ? " A sort of con" Inscriptions"
tinuation of " The Longest Day." All these Inscriptions
deserve perusal hereafter.
" Chaucer Modernized " may be passed over.
* " The Old Cumberland Beg"Referring to Old Age."
gar."
One of the very best.
"Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces."
I can seAll excellent.
lect only " Elegiac Stanzas " ; " To the Daisy."
M Ode
Intimations of Immortality."
This is the grandest of Wordsworth's smaller poems, as it is perhaps the grandest ode in the English language.
But let it be passed over for
the present.
It is, as some say, mystical.
It treats of a mys-

—

tery, certainly.

" The Excursion " is to be studied with attention, as it will
be read with delight by all who have perused with love the

poems already recommended.
This applies also to the Prelude.
This list has swollen to such a size that I have been forced
to go over it again, and put a * to those which I think might
be first read. If, when this is done, the reader has not already
acquired a taste for Wordsworth, it> would be loss of time to
go on.f

—

t In another letter on the same subject, H. C. R, says
" I owe much of the happiness of
life to the effect produced on me,
first by his works, and then by his friendship.
I
by no means a general
reader of poetry, and require a substantial and moral drift in all
There are two idyls, or pastoral poems, which dear Charles Lamb used to
place after the Gospels, which should appertain to a second course of Words:

464

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

26.

—

September 15th.
I have gone over Goethe's opinions transby Winckstern. The charm gone. There are a few admirable specimens, which I here insert, having finished the
little volume.
They are the best, as well as the shortest
" Nothing is more terrible than active ignorance."
" I will
lated

—

listen to any one's convictions, but pray keep your doubts to
yourself; I have plenty of my own."
" Great passions are
incurable diseases ; the very remedies make them worse."
" Our adversaries think they refute us when they reiterate
" The
their own opinions, without paying attention to ours."

—

world cannot do without great men, but great men are very
troublesome to the world."
" Water is not indicative of
frogs, but frogs are indicative of water."

—

CHAPTER

XXVI.

1858.

new year opened ominously. There
near my bed, a letter, which, on opening,
I found to be from Mrs. Byles, informing me that her husband
is to be the successor of Cresswell, who is become the Judge
of Probate.
A better man could
I heartily rejoice at this.
not be found, and he w ill prove one of the best of the judges.
February 16th.
This is what I wrote in F. Sharpe's album,
which filled the little page, the left side being uniformly left
to be filled up by the owner
"Were this my last hour (and
that of an octogenarian cannot be far off), I would thank God
for permitting me to behold so much of the excellence con-

was on

table,

—

worth
they are 'The Brothers ' and
To me they seem perfect,
4
Michael.'
One of the lady revilers of the eighteenth century expressing great contempt for Wordsworth, but being a good Christian at heart,
I begged permission to read to her
Resolution and Independence.' She was
affected to tears, and said, I have not heard anything for years that so much
delighted me, but, after all, it is not poetry .'
'imports, we will come to a
compromise
Wordsworth said
verses, not poetry, but giving great delight.
the same of Kenyon's Rhymed Plea for Tolerance,' sent him anonymously:
he said, 1 cannot say it is precisely poetry, but it is something as good.'
Kenyon was by no means displeased."
Mr. Robinson was remarkable for the extent to which he could repeat
Wordsworth's poems from memory; and this use of them he retained till the
end. At ninety and ninety-one he quoted them with perfect ease.
This rich
possession, which he speaks of as a great source of happiness to him, had
doubtless no small part in making his character what it was.

....

—

THREE FRIENDS.

1858.]

— UNIVERSITY

465

DEGREES.

Of woman, I saw the type of her heroic
ferred on individuals.
greatness in the person of Mrs. Siddons \ of her fascinations,
in Mrs. Jordan and Mdlle. Mars \ I listened with rapture to
that old man elothe dreamy monologues of Coleridge,
quent ; I travelled with Wordsworth, the greatest of our lyricophilosophical poets ; I relished the wit and pathos of Charles

—

Lamb

conversed freely with Goethe at his own table,
competition the supreme genius of his age and
country. He acknowledged his obligations only to Shakespeare,
Spinoza, and Linnaeus, as Wordsworth, when he resolved
to be a poet, feared competition only with Chaucer, Spenser,
Shakespeare, and Milton. Compared with Goethe, the memory of Schiller, Wieland,, Herder, Tieck, the Schlegels, and
Schelling has become faint."
March 2d.
At half past six Cookson came, and I had a
Perfectly satisfied with
most agreeable tete-a-tete dinner.
everything he said, and was delighted to remark a sympathy
I did not expect on every point we touched on.
I say nothing
here of the subject.
He is an admirable man, and the world
acknowledges it. There is now no subject on which I cannot
consult him.
It is a great comfort to call such a man friend.
March 16th. At the request of Scharf, I looked at a painting by Cary of dear Charles Lamb.
In no one respect a
likeness,
thoroughly bad,
complexion, figure, expression
unlike.
But for " Elia" on a paper, I should not have
thought it possible that it could be meant for Charles Lamb.
April 11th.
I concluded the day by a call on J. J. Tayler.
It was very interesting.
I sympathize with all the objects
which interest him.
He is more decided than ever in his
opinions favorable to spiritual religion, as opposed to criticism.
April 27th.
I went to Lady Byron's, and had a long and
interesting chat of several hours, improved by Miss Montgomery's coming.
I like her much.
She has humor and originality.
She lives in retirement at Hampstead.
May 5th. Conferring of degrees by the London University.
The Chancellor delivered a respectable address, giving an account of the University charter.
A studied, plausible defence,
but by no means satisfactory to those who do not think the
sole object of the University was to constitute a body of examiners. The admission of any man to be a member, who can
stand an examination, utterly destroys the social quality and
value of the degree.*
;

beyond

all

—

* On

this subject

H. C. R.

20*

felt

strongly.

In a letter to Lord Monteagle, he

BEMEOSCEXCES OF HEXEY CRABB ROBIXSON.

466

[Chap. U.

—A

May 7 th.
dinner at Mr. Justice Byles's was the only
incident of the day worth noticing.
There were seventeen at
Two judges, Barons Martin and ChannelL I had a
table.
little conversation with Lady Martin, Pollock's daughter ; and
Baron Martin related, after
Miss Foster, Lady Byles's niece.
dinner, that he had heard me mentioned by Baron Alderson
as a singular instance of men retiring from the bar in full
I answered that was an exaggeration,
possession of the lead.
I did well in retiring as I did, knowing that men far
superior to myself would otherwise soon take the lead from
me. as I was no lawyer. This was the literal truth, unaffectThe repetition is not unwarrantable egotism.*
edly spoken.

but

May

—

went to Gibson* s.f Stayed there from six
enjoyed the evening.
The ancestor, in the
fourth or fifth degree, came from Kendal, a poor lad of
fourteen, having, unknown to his family, stolen away to London in a carrier's wagon. Like oue of Dickens's heroes, the
boy lay at the door of a London merchant, was taken by him
into the house, and became apprentice, partner, sou-in-law, and
heir
He died rich. A descendant of his patronized Arkwright. to whom he lent a large sum of money in confidence.
The barber merited it, but acted with a perilous integrity and
honor.
The money was lent for twenty-one years. He refused
to give any of the family an" account after the death of the
M If you want money, I will let you have all you want,
lender.
but fio account till the twenty-one years are at an end." Then
he gave the family some sixty-odd thousands
Or was it one
hundred ] I am not sure.
June 11th.
The great traveller
I called on Dr. Boott.
till

11th.

past ten.

—

" Examinations cannot usefully be carried on irrespective of the time
Fays
employed and of the means used in obtaining the knowledge. It should be
known that the student has had the benefit of a certain course of instruction.
Knowledge is not everything. Habits and the power of applying it are also of
:

great imoortance."
* I dined for the first time with Byles in 1S40. From this time our acquaintance continued, though he was too busy for much visiting with any one. And
I saw more of Lady Byles than of him.
She is a very sweet woman, Joseph
Wedd'fl youngest "daughter. Justice Byles is pre-eminent in his fitness for
professional business.
H. C. R.
t Thoma> Gibson till middle age was a Spitalfields silk-manufacturer. He
was a man of considerable literary acquirements, an active politician and great
Liberal : an admirable speaker, and one of the earliest among mercantile men
who thoroushly mastered and energetically advocated the views of Political
Economy, then so obnoxious, now so generally accepted. H. C. R-, though
differing much from
advanced a Liberal, greatly esteemed him. The influence of his clear intellect, manly character, and generous heart, is always most
gratefully and affectionately acknowledged by all those who had the happiness
to have been brought under it.
He died in 1863.

—

SCENES OF CHILDHOOD.

1S58.]

— SAMUEL ROGERS.

467

Dr. Boott
botanist, Robert Brown, died in the forenoon.
up with him the day before. A- great man of science,
and morally most excellent, has departed. His simplicity,
He once breakfasted
naivete, and benignity were charming.
with rne, and was always friendly.
I called on Mrs. Boott, who confirmed an anecJune 17th.
called on Robert Brown,
dote I had heard. The Reverend
but not officially (rather officiously), and said " Have you
thought seriously of death]"
" Indeed I have, long and

and
sat

—

often,

but

have no apprehensions, no anxiety."

This

Of Robert Brown I am not
as every good man ought to feel.
entitled to speak as a man of science, but I may of his most
amiable character and benevolence.

—

September 3d,
(Bury.)
Had a call from Richard Martineau, who proposed my accompanying him to Walsharn le Willows, where he has bought an estate.
There I slept three
nights, and highly enjoyed the visit.
He is a man to be envied
in his domestic relations, and he has at Walsharn the elements
of a fine estate.
Every morning before breakfast, and at odd

was reading " Westward, Ho
whence

Mr. Martineau took
mother came ; but
none of her family that I know live there now, and the name
We drove round the village,
of Crabb is apparently forgotten.
by the house in which I lived six months with my uncle Crabb,
1789-90. I recognized the house on the hill. On the Sunday I went to the old meeting, which has undergone no change
I heard of a Mrs. Jocelyn, daughter
for the last half-century.
of Tom Crabb, and was told she sat in the old pew in which I
used to sit with my uncle Crabb's family. The village is very
little altered.
It awakened old feelings, which have no other
value than that they connect the latter end with the beginning
times, I

to Wattisfield, the place

of one's

life.

C. R. to T. R,

Brighton. September

The acquaintance

28, 1858.

have seen most of is Samuel Rogers. It
He knows that
is marvellous how well he bears his affliction.
he will never be able to stand on his legs again yet his cheerHis
fulness, and even vivacity, have undergone no diminution.
wealth enables him to partake of many enjoyments which
could not otherwise be possessed.
Yesterday I took a drive
w ith him through Lord Chichester's park. He has had a carriage made for himself, which deserves to be taken as a model
I

;

468

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

26.

The back falls down and forms an inthe sofa-chair in which he sits is pushed in ; the
back is then closed; and a side-door is opened to the seat in
which his servant sits when no friend is with him. In spite
of the noise of the carriage, the feebleness of his voice, and
his imperfect hearing (as mine is in a less degree), we were enHis sister and he now occupy one of the
abled to converse.
largest houses in Brighton, and they visit each other twice a
I was present the other day when he was wheeled in his
day.
sofa-chair to her in her sofa-chair, and the servant assisted them
for all in his condition.

clined plane

;

to put their

hands together.

—

She sent for Le
I called on Mrs. Fisher.
and chatted with us sensibly on the present
Church question. He has no prejudices and no antipathies,
but manifests a generous love of goodness.
December

Breton,*

1st.

who

sat

1859.

—

January 19th.
This morning arrived the news of the
death of dear Mrs. Wordsworth. She died in the night of the
17th.
I wish I could venture down to show my reverence for
her, but to attend a funeral would be dangerous in this
weather.

—

February 4-th.
William Wordsworth came in the forenoon.
gave me an interesting account of the last days of his
honored mother. For a fortnight before her death her hearing was partly restored.
She had also some sense of light.
She was perfectly happy. She desired five pounds to be given
to me, as one of the oldest of her friends, that I might buy
with it a ring.
The Mount will be quitted in a few months. I
shall, I suppose, never see it again.
This is a sad rent in the

structure of

friendships.

—

February 15th.
I w^ent to the Photographic
Society,
where I heard a lecture on architecture from George Street,
* Rev. Philip Le Breton, youngest son of the Very Rev. Francis Le Breton,
Dean of Jersey, and Rector of St. Saviour in that island. He succeeded his
father in the rectory of St. Saviour
but, afterwards being led, by reading and
reflection, to doubt'the truth of some of the principal doctrines of* the Church
of England, he determined to resign his living and for the same reason he
declined the offer of the Deanery, which would have placed him at the head
of the clergy of Jersey. His sacrifices for conscience' sake, his thoughtful
intelligence and kindness, the bearing of a true gentleman, and a charm in his
personal intercourse, won for him the admiration and high esteem of a large
circle of friends.
;

;

469

SALE AT RYDAL.

1859.]

Ruskin in the chair. I dare not pretend to say that I brought
away any definite ideas on art, and yet I really enjoyed the
addresses of both, and felt as I used to feel from the German
professors, as if some seeds were sowed in me which would
The lecture
produce fruit hereafter, though unconsciously.
consisted merely of an explanation of the photographic repreboth were
sentations of the buildings in Venice and Verona
Ruskin could not help hinting
the objects of warm eulogy.
that the value of these representations is increased by the
peril in which the originals were likely to be thrown by the
\

chances of war.
April 16th.
Called on Lady Byron, and found with her a
very interesting man, a Mr. Macdonald, author of a poem enHe is an
titled " Within and Without," which I must read.
The talk was altogether ininvalid, and a German scholar.

—

teresting.

May

— The

most agreeable incident of the day was
a most eloquent eulogy on five men
of transcendent intellect in the world's history, Homer, JEsScott read
chylus, Shakespeare, Dante, and Michael Angelo.
very beautifully Wordsworth's Sonnet from Michael Angelo.
29th.

Scott's second lecture,

—

I regretted the absence of all notice of Goethe.

—

June 22d.
call from

long

who

called.

was on the point of going out when I had a
Such is my memory I cannot recollect
only know it was a call I was well pleased to
I

and that it gave me pleasure. One recollects impreswas Le Breton the elder. There are few I like so
well, and whose conversation is such a refreshment to me. That
a man so excellent should have the infirmities I have, reconHis respect makes me respect myself.
ciles me to them.
June 29th.
I received a catalogue of Wordsworth's books
for sale by auction at Rydal, another place where I have had
much enjoyment, and which I shall never see again.
July 8th.
I walked to the Olympic Theatre, where I had
more pleasure than I generally have. The first petite comedie,
" Nine Points of the Law.".
But it w as to see Robson
" The Porter's Knot,"
He played in two pieces,
I went.
in which the porter, who rises in life, is reduced to poverty
by the misconduct of his son and in the second act, after
six years, appears as a porter.
His exhibition of passion
in his paternal affliction is admirable,
quite unique.
But
this is far surpassed by his appearance in " Retained for the
receive,

sions

;

—

;

—

Defence," a satirical exposure of spurious sentiment.

fool-

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

470

26.

ish philanthropist

is willing to give his daughter to an advocate for his generous defence of persecuted innocence
and he
invites the acquitted felon to an evening party, in order to redress his wrongs and restore his social position.
Now, this
;

hero is Robson.
Such a brute surely was never conceived ;
nothing that Liston ever performed was so farcical and ridiculous.
Of course, nothing can be conceived more stupid and
absurd than the farce ; its sole merit is the exhibition it produces of Robson. But one must be content to forego all
questions about sense or probability.
His grimaces on eating
hice at a swarry, and the way in which he olds his umbrelli,
and vipes his nose, defy all criticism.
July 10th.
Dined with Field, and had a very agreeable
cose with Herbert, the Roman Catholic painter,
a zealot, but
not a fanatic; he is too benevolent. There is something very
delightful in his pious simplicity.
October 5th.
I called on Mr. J. J. Tayler, and had a very
cheering chat with him.
He is the man who always comforts ;
he unites hopefulness with a benignant interpretation of all
doubtful matters.*

—

1860.

—

A visit to Lord Cran worth. I had a letter
January 5th.
from him, proposing that I should meet him at London Bridge
There I was accosted very kindly by my old comStation.
rade and fellow-circuiteer, the ex-Chancellor. A journey by
rail of eleven miles is soon made.
At Bromley, Lord Cranworth's carriage was waiting for us, and it is four miles to
Hollwood.
I had no expectation of seeing so splendid a seat
The house stands on or very near the site of Mr. Pitt's house,
and has an extensive view. Lady Cranworth was in attendance on her sister, Lady Culling Smith, but in her place was
the widow of her brother, Mr. Carr, with four very fine children.
We had luncheon between two and three, and I was
The hours, which
left to myself between luncheon and dinner.
were on a card in

chamber, are, breakfast, 9 ; luncheon,
dinner, 7.30.
ease at once, and had
I was put at
Lord Crantime to read an admirable paper in the National.
2.30

;

* During this year, the Rev. T. Madge, of Essex Street Chapel, having
resigned his pastorship, H. C. R. became an attendant at Little Portland Street
Chapel, where the Rev. J. J. Tayler and the Rev. J. Martineau were the ministers. Before very long, however, he found himself, from increasing deafness,
rarely able to follow the thread of a discourse from the pulpit.

471

MORE DOORS CLOSED.

I860.]

worth talked freely of the topics of the day, but seems to interest himself in the legal matters that arise out of his office
room, where
as Judge of Privy Council. I retired early to
I read

till late,

—
—A

in better spirits, perhaps,

than health.

quiet enjoyable day, spent in reading,
January 6th.
and in walking with Lord Cranworth about his beautiful
grounds.
We took a drive in an open carriage between lunHe showed me the advantageous points of
cheon and dinner.
happy in himself,
view.
He is apparently a happy man,
his wife, his prosperity, and the consciousness of owing his
He
elevation in rank to no unworthy yielding to authority.
is a Liberal in religion and politics.
In the course of the day, I received a letter from young
Another
Spence, announcing the death of his grandfather.*
The family will probably leave.
door closed to me.
February 17th.
A letter from Sarah (my niece), giving an

—

The
alarming account of a fresh attack my brother has had.
This, of course,
medical man thought he could not rally.
excited feelings,
not of grief at an issue that would be one
of mercy, but of anxiety, from a fear of my own inability to
I soon
discharge, as I ought, the duties imposed on me.
At my niece's request,
learned that the event had occurred.
Dr. Boott came to inform me that an hour after her letter wr as
written, my brother died calmly
as if asleep
in his chair.
I went out in the afternoon, but could not recollect the name
or the address of a carpenter on whom I intended to call on
a matter of business.
I then walked on to Donne, who was
very kind and obliging. I needed his assistance, for, in the
morning, I suffered from giddiness, which was followed by
spectra, and during the walk the giddiness became violent, f
February 23d.
The funeral took place. It was at St.
Mary's Church, where there was a family vault, and special
permission was obtained to open it under the Cemetery Act,

—

* See ante, p. 140.
f It need hardly be said that

this was the brother to whom were addressed
of H. C. R.'s letters in these volumes. The correspondence between the brothers began early in life, and was carried on with frequency and remarkable regularity up to this time. Indeed, so complete was
it, and so freely did they open their minds to each other, and so united were
they in brotherly sympathy, that the letters would of themselves, if they had
all been preserved^ have furnished a full record of the two lives, not only in
regard to incidents, but also thought and feeling. H. C. R. wrote to his friend
Paynter " When the news arrived, I was at the same time advised not to go
down to Bury immediately and, in consequence, I remained in London from
the 17th till the 20th with knowledge of the event, but in such a state of stupid
dreaminess as to occasion
sitting with my arms on my knees, doing nothing, but feeling uncomfortable at the consciousness of doing nothing."

the greater

number

;

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

472

26.

was room for one body more. The vault is now full.
feared I should not be able to stand during the performance
of that part of the service which is at the grave ; but Mr.
Smith,* whose attentions were most kind, had a chair placed
at the head of the grave for my convenience.
Mr. Richardson
read the service with great feeling, and in a sweet tone.f
August 9th.
first call was on Mrs. Dyer, the widow of
George, who attained her ninety-ninth year on the 7th December.
If cleanliness be next to godliness, it must be acknowledged she is far off from being a good woman ; yet what
strength of constitution
She was in an arm-chair.
The
apartment at the top of Clifford's Inn small, and seemingly
full of inhabitants ; a child was playing about,
her greatgrandchild.
It fell out of a window thirty-six feet from the
ground, and was uninjured by the fall.
She has her eyesight,
and, hearing me, guessed who I was. She spoke in warm
praise of Charles and Mary Lamb, and her present friends,
for there
I

— My

—

Mrs.

De Morgan and Miss

Travers, but there was nothing ser-

She is a large woman still. I
was reminded of Wordsworth's " Matron of Jedborough."t
August 22d.
Leach § breakfasted with me, and we have
talked over our respective prospects.
His, those of a young
vile in

her acknowledgments.

—

man

about to settle, with every prospect of happiness mine,
those of an old man, whose best hope is a quiet departure.
September 16th.
The Saturday Review has an article on
Sir James Stephen.
One remark I could not but apply to
myself.
The Review says that the quantity of literary labor
seems incompatible with his official duties. But " the intervals of busy life are more favorable to effective study than
unbroken leisure. When there are many spare hours in the
;

—

* The medical attendant.
t There is a short account of Mr. Thomas Robinson in the Christian 7?e>
for May, 1860.
t George Dyer was Mrs. Dyer's fourth husband.
The third was a respectable solicitor, named Mather, who, besides a little money, left her a set or sets
of chambers in Clifford's Inn, opposite to those occupied by George Dyer.
One who knew much about her is doubtful whether she was ever laundress to
George Dyer, or even to any one else. From the opposite chambers she
observed the uncomfortable state in which he lived
and this led her to express herself strongly to him about the necessity of his having some one to take
He asked her if she would be the person. Her answer was, that
care of him.
such an affair must not be undertaken without good advice, and especially

former

;

After much conference the marriage took place, greatly
to Dyer's comfort and happiness.
Mrs. Dyer was not so wholly illiterate as
H. C. R. imagined and, if her hopes for the better world did not Vest much at
last on that which was "next to godliness," she certainly wrought a striking
that of Mr. Frend.

;

change
§

appearance of her husband.
of Sir J. Leach, Master of the Rolls.

in the personal

Nephew

KEV.

I860.]

LE BRETON'S DEATH.

473

active official career, when the pursuit of knowledge is
practised as a recreation, the difficulty of concentrating the
attention and impressing the memory is reduced to the lowest
point." I never could concentrate my attention even on works

most

of speculation.

—

Went by train to Wimbledon, and then
September 24-th.
took a cab to Miss Bayley's beautiful residence on Wimbledon
Common. I had a very agreeable evening of friendly chat.
Miss Bayley is infirm and walks with difficulty, but her mind
is in no respect weaker than it was.
At ten o'clock she left
me to myself, and I had great pleasure in looking over her
books.
I had read on my short journey Eckermann's Gesprache mit Goethe ; though the third part is not entitled to
so much respect as the first two, for he goes over the ground
a second time, and one does not see why w^hat he relates in
this part was not related in the former narrative.
Like the
school-boy who first devours the best cherries, he is content at
la&t with the worst.
September 25th.
The day was spent in talk on all subjects,
Miss Bayley is a woman of
political, literary, and personal.
excellent sense.
She is enviably free from the weaknesses of
her sex.
I regret much that I cannot profit more by her superioT understanding, and generous and kind nature, since her
living at so great a distance makes it not easy for me to see
Miss Bayley, I should remark, did not
her as often as I wish.
attempt to keep up a constant talk, but we read from time to
*

—

time.

November

6th.

— In the morning, Mr. Busk came

to inform

that his excellent father-in-law, the Rev. Philip Le Breton,
Few are now left.
was dead. One of my great favorites.
There is gone in him a pious, consistent, and intelligent man.*
November 15th.
Saw Edwin Field, and talked over the
buying of drawings from the Denmans for the Flaxman Gallery,
a matter in which he takes a strong interest. These
are agreeable subjects, and relieve me from the annoyance of
hunting among my papers. After dining, I called on the Taylers, and on Dr. Boott.
The evening T spent at home, looking
over my accounts, and mortified at the increasing sense of my
stupidity.
I am comforted only by the kindness of my few

—

sknch

friends.

* H. C. R. had been accustomed to meet Mr. Le Breton in connection with
University College, University Hall, and Dr. Williams's Library, and speaks
of him elsewhere as "a jewel of a man," "one of the good men I lookup
to with reverence."

474

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

26.

—

Eae came to me for the first time since
December 30th.
and Dr. Boott brought with him Lover, the Irish
song- writer and novelist, one of the most agreeable of his
countrymen. We had none of his songs, of course, but he
was free in his talk all his sentiments were of a generous,
philanthropic cast, and his humor saved his philanthropy from
becoming cant, and his warm-heartedness rendered his free
I am anxious to
sentiments innocuous to the opposite party.
read his Irish Tales, when I have time to go beyond the Saturhis marriage,

;

day Review.
1861.

—

An interesting party at Mrs. Baynes's.
of St. David's (Thirlwall), Thackeray the novelist,
Donne, Paget, an eminent surgeon, and Dalrymple, a great solicitor.
Donne brought the news that Dr. Donaldson died oa
February 11th.

The Bishop

Sunday evening. After his disease made its appearance, jcs
progress was rapid.
His merit as a scholar will now be acknowledged.
He was a first-rate man, and very kind. Waen
he was urged to give up work, he told his adviser it would be
a sacrifice of £1,500 for six months.
I became acquainted with him in 1843.
He was then headmaster of the Bury Grammar School,
a man of great learning and excellent colloquial abilities, whose freedom of opinion
and of speech exposed him to reproach. Provided ha could
sign the Thirty-nine Articles, he maintained that he was fully
justified in interpreting them as he pleased.
In this he did
but pursue the course suggested to the freshman in " Faust "
by Mephistopheles. In addition to ultra-liberal articles in reviews, and an anonymous work, he WTote a Latin work on the
book of Jashar, which appeared in Berlin under his name. He
" That man is no scholar who not only does
once said to me
not know, but cannot prove philologically, that the first eleven
chapters of Genesis are as pure poetry as Homer or iEschylus.
Abraham is the first historical person in the Old Testamert.
The Fall, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, &c, &c, are myth-

—

ical."
Such was the effect of these views, and the rumors to
which they led, that he found it advisable to give up his headmastership and go to Cambridge, where he established himself
as a tutor, and was highly successful.
Early in life he was
destined to the law, and became an articled clerk in London.
There he was attracted by the newly sprung up London University College, and attended a Greek class, in addition to his

H. C. R.'S

1861.]

475

DINNER-PARTIES.

He was so charmed with classical studies, that
he induced his father to consent to his going to Cambridge,
where he soon gained a Fellowship, and with remarkable rapidity attained a high standing as a scholar.
I had a note from Sylvester Hunter, informing
May 9th.
me of the death of his father. I shall miss him. He was a
man of considerable learning and very remarkable character.
By birth, education, and profession a Dissenter but his opinions and tastes were all strictly conservative, and towards
the close of life he became the supporter of a religion of
legal pursuits.

—

;

authority.

May

23d.

— At Miss

Coutts's, to hear Fechter read "

Ham-

room with Dr. Skey, &c, till a large
party came, when we all went into the great room.
A lady
addressed me whom I did not at once recognize. It was
Lady Monteagle. We talked of departed friends, she with
The reading from " Hamlet
feeling of Henry Taylor, &c.
let."

a back

I sat in

than the circumstances. A few passionate
but I must see Fechter.
it were
William Wordsworth the third called, and
June Jfth.
He, the disciple of Jowett, is
heartily glad I was to see him.
going as professor to Bombay
I honor the intelligent
activity of this young man, and think myself happy in being
his friend, though I may never see him again.
June 19th.
At my dinner-party to-day, we were placed as
interested

less

passages were acted, as

—

;

follows

—

Rev. D. Coleridge.
George Street.
Rev. J. J. Tayler.
Rev. F. Maurice.
H. C. R.
Richard Hutton.
Boxall.
Rev. James Martineau.

Edwin

Field.

The conversation was lively, and there was only one who, by
talking more than others, was what Kant calls a tyrant in
table-talk*
* In the later years of his life, H. C. R. invited friends to Sunday-morning
breakfasts, and had occasional dinner-parties, which were remarkably successful.
The Diary has generally a little plan of the table, with the place
occupied by each guest. Two or three of these will give the best idea of the
persons whom he liked to gather together at his table
:

—

The Host.
D. Coleridge.
Plumptre."

F. D. Maurice.

Beeslv.
G. Street.

J. J. Tayler.
J. Smale,

G. Long.

Cookson.

476

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

26.

—

June 21st.
Finished Tom Hughes's " Eeligio Laici,"
an
endeavor to show that the religion of a layman does not require
the knowledge of a theologian. Why, then, if he entertain
scruples, should the layman repeat the metaphysical jargon of
theology
Tf the author would candidly say, " Le jeu ne vaut
pas la chandelle," that might do but why insist on it ? In fact,
Hughes does not and he censures the prosecutors of the Essayists more than the writers themselves.
August 8th.
I called on John Taylor.
He was alone. All
the appearance of sound bodily health, but with a sad loss of
memory,
not worse than I show, and supported with more
calmness and quiet.
He is the eldest of the Xorwich family.
One of our best men, in all respects. It was of this family
that Sydney Smith said, they reversed the ordinary saying, that
it takes nine tailors to make a man *
I

;

—

September 16th.

—

waited in the

New Road for a Brompton

Cookson.

De Morgan.

H. C. R.
F. D. Maurice.

J. J. Tayler.

Gooden.
Martineau.

Worslev.
E.

Field.

Ely.

Cookson.
J. Martineau.

James

Richard Hutton.

P. Martineau.
J. J. Tayler.
D. Coleridge.

Field.

De Morgan.
The

Stansfeld.

Host.

among H.

C. R.'s papers a little book in which are put down the
names of Die Eingeladenen (the invited), of the years 1859, 1861, and 1862.
In this list the name which occurs most frequently is that of his old Bury
friend Mr. Donne, afterwards the Government Examiner of Plays, and resident in the neighborhood of London.! Other names, which occur frequently,
are those of H. C. R.'s executors (E. W. Field, and W. S. Cookson), J. J.
Tayler, M the best of clerical freethinkers," James Martineau, F. D. Maurice,
and E. Plumptre. The following names are included in the list, though less
frequently, some only once
T. Madge, Peter Martineau, Richard Martineau,
Worsley, Smale, W. Harness, G. Street, Boxall, Wren. Forbes (Erskine), Neuberg, James Stansfeld, M. P., W. A. Case, James Robinson, Dr. Wilkinson,
Russell Martineau, H. Amyot, W. Sharpe, H. Busk, James Bischoff, Dr. Carpenter, James Gooden, F. Ouvry, T. Leach, Dr. Sieveking.
Sieveking, Sen.,
Kobert Procter. Walter Bagehot, George Scharf, Talfourd Ely, R. B. Aspland,
This list, however, does not extend bevond the three years
S. Hansard.
named, 1859, 1861, and 1862.
* To this familv belonged other intimate friends of H. C. R.,
Emily Taylor. Mrs. John Martineau, and Mrs. Reeve.
(See Vol. I. p. 455, respecting
Edgar Taylor.) Till Mr. John Taylor's health failed, H. C. R. used frequently
to spend the evening with him, over a game of whist.

There

—

Author of M Essays on the Drama," and Editor of the u Correspondence
III. with Lord North."

of George

—

PROFESSOR BEESLY.

1862.]

NEWMAN.

477

omnibus, and ventured to mount outside, in spite of heavy
clouds ; but they blew off, and I did not suffer for my rashness.
October 15th.
Accompanied Beesly to the University Hall.
The dinner (at the opening of the session) was numerously attended.
The Principal (Beesly) addressed the young men
simply and pleasingly.
His really best character is that of a
teacher every one seems to like him.
But he is extreme in
his opinions, and I fear this may interfere with his usefulness.
He is going to attend a meeting of bricklayers, and says they
conduct business better than scholars.
I chatted with Martineau,Tayler, and Newman.
Worsley accompanied me home.
November 10th.
It was not merely reading to-day, for I had
a long talk with Henry Busk.
He was appointed to address
the Prince of Wales, and he accounted for it by relating a circumstance unknown to me. There is an old sinecure office, of
which I had never heard, given to Busk by Quayle, when
Treasurer.
Referees sit on certain days to decide controversies
in the Temple.
Anybody may, but no one does come ; and
£20 per annum has been held by Busk. Busk, however, did
not choose, as others do, to put the money in his pocket, but he
bought good American law books, and thus applied £ 600 to
augment the Temple Library. This rendered him a fit person

—

;

—

for the distinction conferred.

1862.

—

April Jfth.
A long chat with Newman in the Professors'
room.
He repeated the best serious conundrum I ever heard,
only too easy " Why is it impossible to insure the life of
Napoleon the Third %
Because there is no making out his

—

policy."

July 18th.
answer was
:

— Received an " At

—

home."

Ten

o'clock."

At night's tenth hour, when all the young are gay,
Th' octogenarian's home is his lone couch."

—

August 5th.
Took tea with Dr. Boott. Professor Ranke
joined us.
I was glad to hear of Savigny, and Bettina, and
Tieck,
all dead
but they are objects of interest to me.

—

H. C.

R to W.

Cookson.
September

was sorry that

18, 1862.

had no opportunity of having a little
comfortable chat with you before I went down to Lulworth
I

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

478

26.

Cove, in conformity with Edwin Field's proposal.
He had
taken two beds for me at the hotel, and as I had managed to
supply myself with an abundance of books, and we had the
Times, I suffered no ennui.
I took my dinner at the hotel
with two sketchers, Mr. Tom Cobb, whom I found a very
agreeable man, and the Eev. Mr. Hansard, who carries his

He is a scholar and
a gentleman.
Field has taken a small house close to the hotel, and, with
'his daughters and one of his sons, has filled it.
He is as
ardent in his sketching as in all his pursuits. We met nearly
as a matter of course to play whist at Field's in the evening,
and the latter of the two weeks brought Mrs. Field to us, so
I was not able to acthat the time passed actively enough.
company the sketchers, but, aided by my Mercury,* I managed to see all the famous spots in the immediate neighborliberality to the full extent of propriety.

hood

—

How I envy all those who can work, steadily work, which it
Before the world my years are
was never in my power to do
They are not so to myself. I feel, howa sufficient apology.
ever, as warm an interest in what is taking place as if I had a
troop of descendants who would profit by the great social reforms, or at least changes, which are now taking place in the
!

world

—

October 22d.
This day was in a great measure devoted to
Bydal James. I did not spend much time with him, but I
was regulated by him. He came early, and brought a friend,
whom he treated. Jackson accompanied them to the British
Museum, where they stayed three hours. They dined below,
and I sent James away contented with his London trip, where
he has seen more than I have.
Our
December 17th.
Dined at Dr. Williams's Library.
meeting not numerous, but agreeable. I felt at my ease, and
from habit can repeat my old stories still with some effect.

—

And

perceive why old men repeat their stories in comis
absolutely necessary to their retaining their
station in society.
When they originate nothing, they can
profit their juniors by recollections of the past.
December 31st.
The last year deserves a " pereat " certainly from me.
I have been forced to take a man-servant to be
my constant companion out of doors. I am afraid to walk
I

pany.

now
It

—

* His man-servant, Jackson.

ANECDOTES AND BONS MOTS.

1862.]

479

London streets, lest I should be garroted, or lest
The evening was wearisome, for I was not in
All the civilized world in peril, and from what is
spirits.
called civilization,
the participation of all mankind in polit-

alone in the
I

should

fall.

—

ical duties.

among his papers a little Book of Anecwhich he had written "I need not recommend this
to the friends who will have the task of looking over my
[Mr. Eobinson left

dotes, in

The personal anecdotes may be relied upon. The
bad ones (there must be such) show the difference between
hearing and writing down."
Many of these anecdotes have
already been given among the extracts from the Diaries, but
there are some remaining, and for these and two or three other
matters of interest no better place, perhaps, can be found than

papers.

the present.]
Dr. Burney was one evening with me at Mrs. Iremonger's,
and on Flaxman's leaving the room, Burney said, " He is a
man of very fine taste, but he has also a clear and sound understanding."
The Doctor spoke with great warmth of affection of Dr. Johnson ; said he was the kindest creature in the
world when he thought he was loved and respected by others.
He would play the fool among friends, but he required defIt was necessary to ask questions and make no aserence.

you said two and two make four, he would say,
you prove that, sir 1 " Dr. Burney seemed amiably
sensitive to every unfavorable remark on his old friend.
I was once in company with a wealthy patron of religion at
a dinner-party, at which Edward Irving was the principal
If

sertion.

How

will

Addressing himself to the great man in honor of whom
" What a profound
the dinner was given, the gentleman said
and wise thought, sir, that was which I heard from Dr. Chalthat God is more offended by the breach of a small
mers,
" Do you suppose, sir,"
commandment than a great one "
replied Irving, " that Dr. Chalmers meant that it is a greater
offence in God's eyes to cut a finger than cut a throat 1
Coleridge introduced Wordsworth early in life to his patron,
Mr. W^edgwood, and was annoyed by the tone in which Mackintosh spoke of Wordsworth to the family, with which Mackintosh was about to be connected.
Mackintosh having intimated his surprise at Coleridge's estimation of one so much

guest.

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

480

26.

was indignant, and replied " I do not
wonder that you should think Wordsworth a small man,
he
his inferior, Coleridge

runs so far before us

all,

— Kenyon.
How

truly was

—

said

that he dwarfs himself in the distance"

—

I forget

whom

(said

Kenyon

He who calls on me does me an honor ; he who
on me does me a favor"

me), "
call

does not

It has been truly said of Goethe, that he loved every kind
He hated only incaof excellence, and was without envy.
Riemer's words deserve to be
pacity and Halbheit (halfness).

copied

—

Sein Gedachtniss bleibt in Segen,

Wirket nah, und wirket fern

;

Nahme

strahlt entgegen

Wie am Himmel

Stern bei Stern.

Und

sein

Far and wide in blessing given,
Lives his memory, works his fame

And,

;

like clustered stars of heaven,
letters of his name.

Flash the

Goethe at one time upheld Wolfs idea, that the Homeric
But he gave up
poems, as they now stand, are a compilation.
this idea late in life, and returned to the unity.
Coleridge denied to Goethe principle, and granted him the
merit of exquisite taste only.
It requires great modification,
and great qualification, to render this just. There is a soinething of truth in such assertions, but they are more false than
true.
The deep feeling of Goethe is nowhere more strikingly
expressed than in the third volume of the Correspondence with
Zelter, where he speaks of Hensel the painter.
Lamb rendered great service to Hone, the parodist, by supplying him with articles for his " Every Day Book."
Among
them were Lamb's selections from the Ancient Dramatists.
These were made at the British Museum, and were afterwards
collected and published in two small volumes.
I sent this
selection from the Ancient Dramatists to Ludwig Tieck, who
" They are written out of my heart,"
" Sie sind
said of them
aus meinem Herz geschrieben"
The remark was made as well
of the criticism as of the text.
James Stephen said he recollected hearing Mr. Wilberforce
" We talk of the power of truth.
say
I hope it has some
power but / am shocked by the power of falsehood."
[The following interesting anecodotes have not been found
in H. C. R's papers, but were related by him to Mr. De Morgan several times spontaneously, and once or twice at request.
:

—

WORDSWORTH ON BYRON.

481

note was made, as the hearer relied on there being record
but the following may be trusted as very nearly
" I was sitting with Charles Lamb
H. C. R.'s own words
when Wordsworth came in, with fume in his countenance, and
1 have no patience with
the Edinburgh Review in his hand.
these Reviewers/ he said ; here is a young man, a lord, and a
minor, it appears, who has published a little volume of poems J
and these fellows attack him, as if no one may write poetry unThe young man will do something,
less he lives in a garret.
When I became acquainted with Lady Byron
if he goes on.'
Ah if Byron had known
I told her this story, and she said
that, he would never have attacked Wordsworth.
He once
went out to dinner where Wordsworth was to be when he
came home, I said, " Well, how did the young poet get on with
" To tell you the truth," said he, " I had but
the old one ? "
one feeling from the beginning of the visit to the end,
in the Diary

;

—

reverence !

"
'

—

"]*

CHAPTER

XXVII.

[Of what remains of Mr. Robinson's: life there is little to
He continued his Diary till within four or five days
of his death, but there are in it comparatively few observations
or facts of a kind to be added to this work.
The Editor, however, has felt it to be right to give, not only those extracts
which tell the story of the end, but also passages the interest
of which consists simply in the mention of some of those
friends who contributed most to Mr. Robinson's happiness in
record.

his last years.]

1863.

—

January 13th.
Miss Rankin read me a capital essay on
"Novelty," from the Spectator, praised by Johnson, and written
by Grove, a Dissenting minister.
* At least one living witness testifies to Lady Byron having stated that Lord
Byron had a high respect for Wordsworth. Perhaps Lord Byron would have
said to Wordsworth, in the words of the Archangel to his own Satan, mutala
litera,

—

" I ne'er mistook you for a personal foe,
Our difference is .poetical."
Vision

veL.

IX.

of Judgment, Stanza

62.

—
482

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

—

April 16th.
Called on Emily Taylor, and with her and
Miss E. Taylor
Mrs. John Martineau had a pleasant chat.
sent me a copy of her brother Edgar's genealogical book of the
Meadows family,
a valuable present.*
June 5th.
Looking over letters, I found one from Miss
Coutts, in which I read what I had not seen before,
a request that I would inform her in what way she should send
me the £100 she had promised to the hospital. This, of
I w ould not dun the most genecourse, I have never done.
rous, and delicately generous, person I know. On making this
singular discovery, what could I do but drive at once to Holly
Lodge ? As Miss Coutts was not at home, I left a letter of
apology.
This was a day to be recollected.
July 1st.
The distribution of prizes took place at University College.
The chair was
taken by Mr. Lowe, who seventeen years ago was a candidate
The distribution of prizes was
for the Professorship of Latin.
very interesting, as usual ; and the address of Lowe very much
It was calculated to have a salutary effect on the
pleased me.
What he said on the danger of an exclusive study
students.
of demonstrative inferences seemed to me just.
July 10th.
To Stratford-on-Avon. In my earliest travelling days I never was guilty of the folly of attempting to describe the places which I saw.
Therefore I am free from one
In relatreproach.
I professed to write only about persons.
ing the few incidents of this journey, I may remark, by the by,
how much less apt I am to observe, and with how much less
journeys, visits, &c.
pleasure all the occurrences of life

—

are accompanied.

On my arrival at Stratford, Mr Flower was at the station
with his phaeton.
I had a cordial reception from him
and Mrs. Flower. She is a very interesting woman, and
has personal dignity and ease in her manners. She is quite
.

in the topics of conversation she chooses to touch, and
The house called " The
well read in English literature.
Hill " is a picturesque b.uildmg, and here Mr. Flower enjoys
the otium eum dignitate, though h,e is of too active a nature
Ke has been a very useful public
ever to be unemployed.

an fait
is

character.

attracted

his frankness

;

by nature

* " The Suffolk Bartholomeans.
Memoir of the Ministerial and Domestic
History of John Meadows, Clerk, A. M., formerly of Christ's College, CamEjected tinder the Act of Uniformity from the Rectory of Ousden in
bridge.
Suffolk.
By the late Edgar Taylor, F. S. A.,' one of his descendants. With a
Preparatory Notice by his Sister." Pickering, 1840.

LAST CONTINENTAL JOURNEY.

1863.]

483

communicative and benevolent. As *a politician he is a good
Whig.
It is not necessary for me to distinguish one
July 11th.
day from another on this short visit, for nothing turns on
Jackson was shown much more of the Shakespeare
time.
Memm^abilia than I cared to see, having, in fact, gone the round
Besides, I do not feel about the
with Amyot many years ago.
To-day
dwelling-house as Collier and others think I ought.
came, on a visit to Mr. Flower, the well-known Joseph Parkes,
He and I are always on free and easy
a political character.

—

terms.

Another day we had a drive to the " Welcome," an estate
Mark Philips. There is no house, excepting a
mere gardener's habitation, but there are some beautiful spots.
Mark Philips resides at Snitterfield, an adjoining estate. Mr.
Flower gave me an interesting account of his friend, who is an
belonging to

eminently generous

man

;

his acts of munificence are princely,

and performed in the most unpretending way. The next day
Mr. and Mrs. Flower and I dined with Mark Philips a sister
of Mr. Philips was there, and two daughters of Robert Philips.
We had a handsome dinner, and stayed late.
;

the 16th I left Stratford, with feelings of gratitude tomy hospitable friend. We had had many interesting
topics of conversation.
[Between August 6th and September 9th of this year H. C.
E. made his last tour on the Continent, with Mr. Leonard
Field as his companion.
It was a farewell visit, and as such
was interesting to him ; but he felt that he was too infirm for
travelling.
His time was spent chiefly at Heidelberg.
The
idea of visiting Frankfort was given up.
It was a relief to
him when he reached Dover, where he remained three nights,
and enjoyed some drives with his " old friend, Edward Foss."]
September 80th.
Dined at the Athenaeum, and was compli-

wards

—

looks, but found my loss of memory of
a very alarming kind.
Having dined, and my spectacle-case
being brought me, I took a nap in the drawing-room.
Thought
it some room belonging to magistrates and quarter-sessions,
and took the book -racks at a distance for the court. Everything seemed bigger and older.
I at length was spoken to by
some one, and asked him where I was. This is worse than
anything that ever occurred.
There is no doctoring for a case
like this ; nor can the patient minister to himself.
October 1st.
Took a cab to the Miss Swanwicks', and, find-

mented on

good

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

484

27.

them at home, remained to tea. An agreeable chat, mainon poetry and poetical compilations.*
October 17th.
Dined with the Streets.
Onr amusement
was three-handed whist. Both Mr. and Mrs. Street very kind.
On every point of public interest he and I differ, but it does
not affect our apparent esteem for one another.
I hold him
ing

—

in very great respect,

—

indeed, admiration.

has

first-rate

He will be a great man
talent in his profession as architect.
Beesly is equally firm,
in act,
he is so in character already.

—

and equally opposed to me. I like him too.
October 27th.
Went through Islington to Highbury; called
on the Madges, and as they were going also to Mr. Peter
Martineau's to dine, I dismissed my carriage and enjoyed

—

friends.

Martineau's.

Old feelings revived.

was

io be.

full

party at Peter
am too apt

old high spirits, as I

—

His elder
I spent two hours at Worsley's.
a speech of Napoleon the Third, on the state of
The public welfare is in every respect at stake just
Europe.
now, so that I am not ashamed of confining my reading almost exclusively to the public prints. Those of the religious
bodies are also interesting. The two together fully occupy my

November

jon read

8th.

mind.

James Dixon to H. C. R.

Honored

—

The

Hollins, Grasmere, November, 1863.

beg to acknowledge the receipt of a
Sovereignf which I have just received from Miss Hannah
Cookson as I understand you wished it to be given to me. I
have received it and return you many thanks for it, and for all
former presents of the same kind.
My health has been very
good since I saw you in London. At the time I left London I
intended remaining at Rydal Mount through the Winter, but
when I arrived there I found a note for me from Mrs. Wordsworth of Carlisle, asking me to go to their house for 3
Months in the depth of Winter while they were in Brighton
this I could not with reason refuse because I considered it a
duty I owed to Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth to serve them as
Sir,

;

only one of frequent visits to these ladies, with whom he would
but also on German literature, and especially on
Goethe. Miss Anna Swanwick is well known by her translations from Goetho
and the Trilogy of ^Eschylus.
f An annual gift.

* This

talk, not only of poetry,

;;

MORE SHUTTERS CLOSED.

1864.]

485

Tho' Mrs. Hills had shown me a
it was in my power.*
good deal of kindness at Rydal Mount my gratitude felt stronger
far as

to Mr.

Wordsworth

am now

at the Hollins, Grasmere, with Miss Aglionby who
If all be well I shall stay at Grashas been very kind to me.
mere through the winter ; the place is very good and very nice
but still it is not like my dear Rydal Mount. Mr. Carter has
been taken from us and I am the only one of the family left
but I pay many little visits to the family in the Churchyard at
Grasmere and there I often reflect on the many happy years
that I spent with them in life.
With my kindest regards and thanks
I

Believe

me Dear

Sir

Your

December 25th.

— Before

ob*

and humble Ser*
James Dixon.

p. m. I walked out with JackDr. Boott.
Every shutter was
that the awful event had taken
place,
he had closed his earthly career. I then went to my
niece's to dine.
Our conversation wT as chiefly on the departed
I could not enjoy what partook
friend, and kindred subjects.
That was not expected of me, or needed. I was
of festivity.

one

We passed the door of
closed.
A sufficient indication
son.

—

I have been
again settled in my own room a little after nine.
T
Dr. Boott's death
too dreamy in my habit to w rite at once.
took place about noon.t I should have said that the morning's post brought me a very gratifying little token from Tora pretty picture signed by Miss Burdett Coutts and
quay,
Mrs. Brown. As an evidence of friendly feeling it gave me

—

great pleasure.

—

There is in the
Called on the Esdailes.
December 30th.
old gentleman a something of bonhomie which pleases me.

1864.

February

The only

6th.

— Attended a meeting

at University College.

interesting matter a letter from E.

Field, offer-

* After Wordsworth's death, James was hardly able to include among his
duties the care of the pony and carriage; but Mrs. Wordsworth resolved
to give up the pony and carnage, rather than part with the faithful servant.
f In a letter dated January 12, 1864, H. C. R. says to E. W. Field: "Dr.
Boott, you may have heard, is dead. He is a loss to me, for he was affectionate^ and gave advice freely without requiring you to take it as a condition
of his giving it. He was a near neighbor, and of great value."

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

486
ing,

27.

on condition of a piece of ground being assigned to Uni-

versity Hall, that two sums of £500 should be contributed
towards the cost of a Racket Court.*

—

The most remarkable occurrence of the
Nothing pleases
the position of the Broad Church.
me so much as the letter by F. Maurice, in the Spectator, declaring his approbation of the decision of the Privy Council ComHe seems to atmittee respecting the "Essays and Reviews."
tach great importance to the judgment, as establishing a freeFebruary 16th.

times

dom

hitherto denied in the Church.
6th.
I did not get into bed till near one.
Yet I hardly know what I was about.

March
do.

—
— An

seldom

ominous day in my life, as it has been a
April 1st,
such as my
day on which I have commenced many things,
journey to Germany, studying the law, April 5th.
A call from De Morgan, who informed me of
the resignation of Stansfeld, and declared his conviction that

—

He will
this resignation will raise Stansfeld in public opinion.
return to his old office, or be in a better place very soon. The
attack has. been of a kind which is sure to produce reaction.
Now, De Morgan

commonplace man. I have
do not see how Stansfeld could

certainly no

since seen the Times,

have done the act in a

and

finer style.

It is not

by the

result that

my opinion of him will be formed. Wrote a short note to him.f
May 25th.
Sent a letter to Sergeant Manning, about his

—

paper on the Danish war and then went to the Russell Institution, from which William Wordsworth's call brought me.
He was content with my ordinary dinner, and I enjoyed his
friendly chat, all about family and personal matters.
He
stayed the evening with me, and on his leaving, I went on
with the comedy of " Love's Labor 's Lost," which delights me.
I could not quit it.
And now I must really abstain from
again looking into Shakespeare, when this is finished.
It is
;

and altogether the veriest unreal thing, yet
intermingled with exquisite beauties.
It bears marks of
youthful genius.
It is a joyous piece, full of genuine gayety.
full of absurdities,

* This Racket Court, which it was thought would provide for the students
of the Hall and the College a healthful recreation, was an object of great
interest with H. C. R., who really contributed the two sums mentioned above
towards its construction, but insisted on the offer being anonymous.
t He is now the Right Honorable James Stansfeld, Third Lord of the
Treasury. The circumstances of the attack on him, for having allowed
Mazzini's letters to be directed to his residence, will be fresh in the reader's
recollection.

PUTTING PAPERS IN ORDER.

1864.]

487

One does not look here for serious truth of character, but
there are admirable sententious lessons of rhymed wisdom.*
(Hampstead.) My first day has passed off
August 26th.
pleasantly enough in this romantic rather than picturesque
I have had the advantage of a
village, for so it is, I believe.
fine day, of which I availed myself to take two short walks. I
could not well say where, for this is to me what Ipswich is said
to be by the satirists, a street without names, as well as a river
without water. My acquaintances are few here just now.
The day was devoted to looking over old letAugust 27th.
ters,
a necessary task, and the sense of its being a duty almost its only inducement. Some of the old letters were soursw^eet ; but it was more painful than pleasant ruminating on
them.
I dined with the Cooksons, and after that called on
All the children are in the West.
Mrs. Field.
Mr. Cookson
goes away on Saturday.
September 10th.
I borrowed of Sharpe Voysey's Sermon,
which I read in bed in the morning. The sole importance of
the sentiment is that it comes from the preacher of the day.
fit motto to any review of it would be,

—

The thing, we know,
But wonder how the

neither rich nor rare,
it got there."

devil

—

September 11th.
This day was almost devoted to Henry
Sharpe and family.
He breakfasted with me alone, and as we
had many family matters to talk over, and other interesting
arising out of his formerly residing at Hamburg,
topics,
And yet, so
four hours passed over our heads unperceived.
T
little w ere we tired of each other, that I engaged to take tea
with them at six. In our talk about German friends, I found
Sharpe, in many respects, a better German than myself, t
September 23d.
At the Athenaeum, I actually did (a rare
merit) what I had resolved to do,
sifted coarsely a bundle of
letters, from 1812 to 1820. J
I must devote my dying memory
to separating the wheat from the chaff.
September 28th.
A letter from Scharf, dated Blenheim. He
writes too flatteringly but it gratifies me to find that his
mother has been visiting the Pattissons, at Tunbridge. The

—

;

* In a week, H. C. R. writes "lam incurable. In spite of all my resoluhave read three acts of Troilus and Cressida.' " His object in resolving not to be beguiled by Shakespeare was that he might devote his time to
:

tions, I

putting his papers in order.
t During this visit of three weeks to Hampstead, H. C. R. spent most of his
evenings at Mr. H. Sharpe' s.
\ The sifting of letters was a task which for some years H. C. R. had set
himself, and which at last was left very far from completed.

488

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

intimacy of two such families must be good. He tells me that
Jack, the admirable youth, goes to his mother and plays cards
with her, to relieve her solitude. This one reads with pleasure.
October 1st.
I came again to the old No. 30 Russell
There I found that Mrs. Ely had been advised to
Square.*
go to Brighton for a week, and Jackson in vain tried to perBut I could take no pleassuade me to follow her example.
ure in change of scene, while I wanted time to complete my
Dined with Ely tete-a-tete.
work of paper-examining.
I
retired about eleven, and felt happy in my old room.
I
thought it looked very comfortable.
I read a capital sermon, by Robertson, beOctober 15th.
"The Word and the World."
fore I came down stairs,
Bolder than anything I remember by him.
Speaking of the
Ephesian letters, he says " Here was one of those early attempts, which in after ages became so successful, to amalgamate Christianity with the magical doctrines. Gnosticism was
The essence
the result in the East, Romanism in the West.
the belief that by some external
of magic consists in this,
act, not connected with moral goodness, nor making a man
wiser or better, communication can be insured with the spiritIt matters not Avhether this be attempted
ual world
by Ephesian letters, amulets, .... or by sacraments, or
church ordinances, or priestly powers ; whatever professes
to bring God near to man, except by making man more
There
like to God, is of the same spirit of Antichrist!"
are three men whose loss is to be especially lamented in
W.
Robertson, Donaldson, and Bunsen.
this critical age,
Wordsworth speaks of Robertson's sermons as " the most satisfactory religious teaching which has been offered to this gen-

—

eration."

—

Heard that Miss Allen died on Tuesday.
October 30th.
This is one of those cases in which we may, with propriety,
speak of death as a mercy, t
Mrs. Talfonrd Ely lived together.
to be no longer so much alone as he
He, therefore, after looking
himself.
by
apartments
would necessarily be in
at several houses in the neighborhood, took the whole of the house in which
he had formerly had rooms, and it was arranged that one in whose education
and character "he had taken great interest, and who had warm feelings of
respect towards him, should live with him, so that in his last years he might
Mr. Ely was a grandson of H. C. R.'s early friend,
feel that he had a home.
John Towill Rutt, and had recently married a daughter of John Dawson,
Esq., of Berrymead Priory, Acton.
In 1861 she was too deaf to converse with
t An old friend of H. C. R.'s.
him, but, on his calling, she wished to see him, and said, "lam pleased to look
at you."

* From this time H. C. R. and Mr. and
He and his friends alike felt that he ought

DEATH OF A YOUNGER

1865.]

—A

7th.
talk with Ely on College matters.
I reold opinion, that the institution will be, ultimately, a

November
tain

439

FRIEND.

valuable one to the country, though not as originally intended.
Ely considers Case one of the most valuable men. He has introduced improvements in the Junior School.
De Morgan called. He is the only man
November lJfth.
whose calls, even when interruptions, are always acceptable.

—

has such luminous qualities, even in his small-talk.
November 17th.
I must not forget an epigram I heard
day from D
in the form of an epitaph,

—

to-

" Beneath this stone lies Walter Savage Landor,
Who half an Eagle was, and half a Gander."

—

November 27th.
At three, Jackson took me to Russell
man, with whom I have pleasure in talking.
He is a philanthropist, though in temperament not an enthuScott, a sensible

siast.
He thinks favorably of the election of Lincoln for a
second Presidentship.
On American matters he and I think
very much alike.
December 6th.
A call from De Morgan, who stated a fact
which has given quite a turn to my thoughts. He said: "You
" Which Jaffray 1
have heard of the death of JafFray %* *
" The member of our Council,
a young man.
He was
my pupil." This is a sad blow to our hospital. He was very
generous and a young man of business talent.
His death was
from erysipelas, which arose from what seemed a trifling accident.
The greatest loss the College has sustained, among its

—

pupils, since that of

—

Roscoe.

1865.

—

January 1st.
The last day of the past and the first of the
coming year have been in this respect duly spent,
that I
have made a sufficient use of my diminishing social advantages.
Conscious that I am gradually growing poorer in friends, I
have done my best to preserve what I have left. I have
merely read to-day the Spectator,
always a wise paper, in my
judgment.
January 2d.
A day dawdled away. I am an incurable
layer-waste of time.
Wrote and sent off four letters one to
Mrs. Fisher, and of some length, in which I reported the state

—

;

* Mr. Arthur Jaffray

£ 2,000.

21*

left to

the University College Hospital a legacy of

490

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

—

of ray feelings as to the great question of human life,
more
cheerful as to my voluntary participation in it.
After dinner a very remarkable call was
January 21st.
Allsop
I did not at first recollect.
The name
announced.

—

His name has been long forgotten by the public,
an extinct
volcano.
Our acquaintance was never intimate. He was first
known as the generous friend of Coleridge and Lamb. He
knew Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Alsager, and Southey. He was an
admirer of great men. After the death of the most famous of
these he went abroad, and I lost all sight of him, when he reappeared as the friend of Mazzini, &c.
Devoted two hours to the reading, and even
Jan uary 28th.
study, of a paper on " Cold, in its Influence on Age," according
to a law which Dr. Richardson has fully ascertained. At thirty,
when man at his full maturity ceases to grow, the effect of cold

—

may

be represented by one,

Aged 39
48
57
66

—
—
75 —

2,
4,

16,

32.

In the strictness of a precise statement there seems something ridiculous in this but the tone of the M. D. is impressive, and, loosely speaking, my personal experience would confirm it.
I enjoyed cold when young; now it indisposes me to
everything out of doors.
February 10th.
I was unable to rise early this morning,
feeling tired when Jackson called me. After Dr. Watts's model,
I craved " a little more sleep, and a little more slumber."
While I was turning over my papers, endeavoring to set them
straight, I was called away to see De Morgan and Dr. Procter.
At my late party, Mr. Tayler asked the former how he distin" A wise man," said the
guished a wise from a good man.
Professor, " is one who does not trouble himself about matters
of speculation.
A good man does not trouble other people."
This seems founded on Wordsworth's definition of a good
Churchman, as one who respects the institutions of his country, lives in conformity with their precepts, and does not
trouble other people about his opinions.
March 18th.
From Mr. Worsley I heard of President Lincoln's inaugural speech.
It has fixed me more decidedly than
ever in favor of him personally.
It is an earnest, honest
;

—

PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

1865.]

— NINETIETH BIRTHDAY.

491

As to slavery, he speaks both solemnly and wisely.
speech.
The sufferings of both North and South are just retributions.
No boasting. Those who have endeavored to do right first
w ill
T

The abolition of slavery in the United
seems, on the point of being declared.

suffer the least.

States

is, it

H. C. R. to

Cookson.
March

....

Nothing has brought

How

of President Lincoln as his inaugural speech.

How true and how unaffected
how wise
many converts. At least I should despair
!

19, 1865.

so near to being a partisan

short and
must make
any man who

needs to be converted.

—

mention that yesterday, after my
on Mr. Wren, a man I much like.
Eead this morning, in bed, Dr. Wilkinson's discourse on
" Social Health."
It has many striking thoughts.
I copy one
sentence
"I do not contemplate increase of luxury, but
April

lJfth.

solitary dinner,

I forgot to

called

rather that all classes should cancel luxury in favor of lasting
comfort, health, happy action, and the sense that a constant
life of luxury
whether that of the rich or poor - isolates

and

—
— For the

—

enselfs us."

April 26th.
present, everything is forgotten in the
assassination of President Lincoln, the intelligence of which

came

to-day.*

— My

birthday.
To-day I complete my ninetieth
people hear of my age, they affect to doubt my
It is unusual, I believe, for
veracity, and call me a wonder.
persons of this age to retain possession of their faculties, or so
much of them as I do. The Germans have an uncomplimentary saying " Weeds don't spoil."
May 16th.
The one fact of the day, that will not easily be
forgotten, was the seeing the Marmor Homericum presented to
T
the College by Mr. Grote.
It was called mosaic w hen Mr.
Grote asked permission to erect it. I am so ignorant on matters of fine art, that I must content myself with saying that
this is a new step in art, and far more pleasing than the old
mosaic.
A very active and lively man explained the composition, in French, to some ladies.
He was the artist himself.
Among those present was the Comte de Paris.

May 13th.

year.

When

—

* H. C. R. was deeply affected by "this ruffianly attack on the noblest
person in America," and ascribed it to " a spirit engendered by slavery."

492

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

—A

very pleasant visit from Professor De MorMay 17th.
He has given an excellent reason for believing that onr
gan.
portrait of Harvey* is the genuine one, viz., that it has a glove
on the hand pointing to the heart. It seems that the glove

was

his often-used illustration of his doctrine.

H. C. E. to E.

Field.
-

May

25, 1865.

Have you seen the Marmor Homericum ? It is worth your
I should like to know your opinion of it.
seeing at all events.
The Baron is, or was, attached to the Court of the Orleanists.
Mr. Grote had no better or other name for it than mosaic.
The outlines are a
It is not mosaic, it is incised marble.

And all the dracolored substance, which hardens in time.
This is its specialty.
pery and outlines are so expressed.
What says your Foley to it ? Goethe would have encouraged
it, as he did all novelties.
At the same time, he despised all
imputations of plagiarism, and all disputes about originality.
I remarked to Mr. Grote, the donor, that all works that are
offered to the world, with sufficient earnestness of purpose, may
be offered with assurance that, if their first object is not attained, they will, indirectly, be of good service.
Our College
cannot be said to have thriven but in its indirect consequences.
Without the dome, the Flaxman Gallery could not have existed.
That gave consistency to the Graphic Society. Now
this new art has a local habitation,
not yet a name.
The
Athenaeum speaks depreciatingly of Triquetti as compared with
Flaxman. That may or may not be true
may think
meanly of him as a sculptor. That may be the true view.
What then % He is what he is.

—

;

—

June

20th.
I had engaged the Rev. Harry Jones to bring
Rev. Stopford Brooke to breakfast with me.
Stopford
Brooke is about to publish a "Life of Robertson," of Brighton,
or rather his letters with a Memoir.
I had several hours' very
agreeable chat with these gentlemen.
I afterwards went to a
meeting of Dr. Williams's trustees, at which there was important business to despatch.
June 23d.
The single noticeable event of the day was
going to the Olympic Theatre, to see the " Twelfth Night."

the

—

* That
suggestion
art.

the one belonging to University College, left to it at H. C. R.'s
Field (mentioned ante, p. 346). It is a fine work of

by George

"THE SEAR AND YELLOW LEAF."

1866.]

493

And I have devoted a
I had resolved to see one more play.
part of the last two days to the study of that capital romance.
It was, perhaps, on account of the good execution of the parts
that I heard distinctly a great part of the piece. Both brother
and sister were played by one actress, Miss Kate Terry. She
was excellent in the duel. Wonder and fear are the affecSir Andrew Aguecheek, by Wigan,
tion she represents best.
was the best of* the men. Miss Farren's clown, and Maria, by
Miss Foote, were both excellent.
Worsley informed me of the death of RichAugust 15th.
ard Martineau, of Walsham-le- Willows, a universally honored
man and an able man of business ; a useful, I should rather say
He, J. Needham, and Worsley, three excela valuable, man.
lent men, united by blood, profession, and religion.*
September 19th.
Rose early, and half dressed, so as to sit
in the dining-room, saving time, and not fearing to catch cold,
though one must not be sure \ for a cold is as great a mystery
as orthodox or heretical doctrine. One knows not how it comes
or goes.
October 16th.
A home day. I intended to get rid of my
City engagements ; but I got no farther than the Russell In-

—

Indeed, I may say, though very unlike the original
through Shakespeare as an organ, that my days

stitution.

sayer,

October 30th.

the afternoon.

Are

fallen into the sear

and yellow

leaf.'

—A
Sieveking brought him
him
petty complaints.
— Walked with Jackson that most amiable
letter to

I told

Dr.

of five

December 5th.
to
man, Dr. Skey, travelling M. D. to Miss Burdett Coutts, and
in all respects a delightful man.
He is two years older than I
am. I hope to be less infirm than he is, if I live to be as old
as he is ; but he is wise and considerate.

1866.

January
Times now.

15th.
I

—

have

It is

strange, but I seldom look at the

lost the habit of

reading

it.

love for the Spectator, and find even the Pall

I retain

Mall

Gazette

* They were all partners in Whitbread's brewery. On one occasion, when
what Mr. R. Martineau regarded as an important 'motion in connection with
University Hall was defeated, he said quietly: "I fear the Institution will not
prosper, but to prove that I am not one of those who will therefore abandon it,
I will now subscribe twice as much."
H. C. R.

—

;

494

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

readable.
I flatter

fear

myself that
"

that I shall wear out
I

my friends,

27.

though

am
the brink of being born."

—

February 7th.
Drove to Procter's, alias Barry Cornwall.
I had an interesting but short chat with him.
He spoke with
deep interest of Lamb and Wordsworth, and with a mixed
feeling of Coleridge.
Procter is an excellent man, whom
everybody loves. His wife was the daughter of Basil Montagu.

—

February 13th.
The commencement of a new clean vol* used formerly to be marked by my writing neatly and

ume

correctly for a short time.
ability

finish this

that, being in

volume.

February 17th.

Now I can do
my ninety-first

neither.

The prob-

year, I shall never

If alive, I shall not be able to do so.

— The

only thing I did, which had an appearance of work, was, that I spent several hours in reading
Kobertson's " Life," an excellent collection of letters of the
genuine religious character.
His piety undoubted, his liberality equally unquestionable.
An admirable man.
March 3d.
Early in the forenoon Cookson and Field came
together, and brought, formally drawn up, the accounts of the
Flaxman and University Hall Fund, which we all three, being Trustees, signed, so that now the most rigid formalist
could find nothing to alfect the validity of the transaction
and I trust it will be of some use to two establishments which
ought to be closely connected, f
March 11th.
Lest I entirely forget to do an act of becoming politeness, let me mention that I received a letter from
Atkinson, stating that as I wished to be relieved from the duties of Vice-President of the Senate, the Council had not sent
in my name among the three they send to the General Meeting, and expressing regret at my retirement, &c.
I have not
yet had courage to write an answer to either Mr. Atkinson,
the Secretary, or to Sir F. Goldsmid, the President, who also
wrote to me.

—

University College, London, Wednesday, March 7, 1866.
of Professors for the choice of a President of

At a meeting

the Senate for the ensuing year, Professor De Morgan, Dean
On the moof the Faculty of Arts and Laws, in the chair.
* That is, of the Diary.
or rather leaves.
f Vide Note at the' end.

In the

new volume, H.

G. R. wrote only 137 pages,

1866.]

495

EXITS.

of Professor Seeley, seconded by Professor Sharpey
Resolved unanimously, That the Professors learn with great
They beg
regret the retirement of Mr. H. Crabb Robinson.
for his
him
transmitted
to
be
may
thanks
warmest
their
that
continuance in the office of Vice-President up to an age far
beyond the usual life of man, and for the cordial courtesy
which they have always experienced from him, of which they
They
will ever retain pleasant and grateful remembrance.
tion

trust that even yet, active as his mind remains, years of
worth enjoying are in store for him.

life

De Morgan,

Dean of the Faculty of Arts.
Chas. C. Atkinson,
Secretary to the Council and Senate.

—

Went on reading " Alec Forbes,"* and devoted
April 1st.
It is a capital
it a great part of the first half of the day.
A letter came from Mrs. Bayne,
picture of Scotch manners.
announcing, by Miss Sturch's desire, the death of Mrs. Reid, a
warm-hearted, generous woman, as Mrs. Bayne truly remarks, t
May 10th. We had at dinner Mrs. Ely's father and mother,
Mr. and Mrs. Dawson ; and they all came down to tea and play
to

—

* By G. Macdonald.
t H. C. R. was a frequent visitor at the house of Mrs. Reid and Miss Sturch,
for both of whom he expresses in various places in the Diary strong feelings
of regard. He continued to visit Miss Sturch till the time of his death. An
extract from a brief printed notice of Mrs. Reid, found among his papers, and
highly approved by him, may be given here
" On Friday, the 30th of March, 1866, died in York Terrace, Regent's Park,
after an illness of some months, Elizabeth Jesser, relict of the late John
Reid, Esq., M. D., and second daughter of the late William Sturch, Esq Sen.,
well known to a former generation as an agreeable and ingenious writer, and
an enlightened friend of civil and religious liberty. But she should not be
allowed to pass away without some brief record of what she was and what
she has done. The history of her life is summed up in the history of her largehearted benevolence. Endowed by nature with an ardent and enthusiastic
temperament, she devoted the energies of her mind and the resources of her
fortune with an unswerving persistency of purpose to objects which involved
Her
in her belief the redemption and ennoblement of her fellow-creatures.
sympathies were especially attracted towards those whom she regarded as
crushed by wicked institutions, or withheld by the laws and customs of society
from exercising their just influence in the world, and rising to the full dimensions of their intellectual and moral capacity.
It was under this feeling that
she early threw herself with characteristic ardor into the great question of
Negro Emancipation, which she lived to see crowned with an unhoped-for triumph, and took up with not less zeal that of elevating the standard of female
education.
She was one. of the first, if not the first, to conceive the idea of a
Ladies' College; and the institution in Bedford Square, of which she was
really the foundress, owes no small share of the success which has attended it
to her ever-wakeful interest and fostering care."
:

—

496

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

whist, which I enjoyed. I again experienced the benefit of whist
for elderly gentlemen.

May

—A

from Mr. Stopford Brooke, and a very
that I did not desire an
eleemosynary acquaintance and I had the too great frankness
to confess that I did not wish to be acquainted with those who
merely tolerated me. He very kindly obviated all difficulty, so
far as he was concerned but I have the general impression that
sometimes Church Liberals take great credit for a very small
kindness, as if Unitarians were a sort of eleemosynary Christians, admitted to the title by especial favor.
I awoke early, as is now usual with me and I
June 11th.
was in a musing mood, ruminating in an old-fashioned way.
Were I a man of
All my musings turned to self-reproach.
sensibility or acuteness, I know not what would become of me.
I could not endure myself.
Dean Stanley delivered the prizes at the UniJune 23d.
There were present, Lord Brougham,* Lady
versity College.
Augusta Stanley, the Dean's lady, Lord Belper, numerous
De Morgan, as Dean, spoke more than
Professors, &c, &c.
Deans usually do, but he spoke with great effect. The Dean
drew a parallel between University College, Oxford, and University College, London, and paid a compliment to Grote for
11th.

call

I intimated, at first,

agreeable one.

;

—

;

—

his gift of the

Marmor Homericum.

II. C.

R. to Mrs. Schunck.

London, 30th June,

1866, 30

Russell Square, W.

sorry that I should have so long delayed answering
your very interesting letter. This was occasioned by your
mention of Mr. Benecke's "Alte Geschichte," which should
have been called " Familien-Geschichte." You excited my
curiosity.
The book came, after a time
It is a singular circumstance, that my life, insignificant as
it has been, and my qualities, altogether inferior to those of
the Schunck-Mylius connection, have nevertheless had, on one
occasion, an important influence on the affairs of the family.
I had the satisfaction to know that that influence had been
exercised usefully and happily.
I purpose, one of these days,
I

* The Editor well

recollects seeing

Lord Brougham come

into the College

—

Theatre on this occasion, and H. C. R. rise to help his Lordship to a chair,
the
the tottering steps of the one supported by the other, hardly less feeble,
one eighty-seven years old, the other ninety-one.

—

THE GERMAN WAR.

1866.]

draw up a short narrative of

497

my German

in the first place, connected with Mrs.

life.

It will be,

William Benecke's nar-

which I have read with interest. The more, perhaps,
because I could connect with Mrs. William Benecke's historyother facts within my own knowledge, and in which I was
an agent, which would modify the consequences drawn from

rative,

those.

—

This I learned at the bar,
each party would frequently
have a good case, perfectly clear and satisfactory, when alone
considered and it is only when the balancing mind comes
that an adjustment takes place.
There is so much inevitable
partiality in all men's judgments, as to occasion very erroneous
conclusions, with perfect integrity on the part of those who
err even the most.
;

—

Read of the wonderful victories of Prussia in
July 5th.
the north of Germany.
It is said the Northern States were
already conquered.
The Diet, as another name for the Confederation, has no longer a sitting
The German Union is
dissolved.
Before I had leisure to muse over this news, the
evening intelligence came that Austria offers Venice to France
as a retaining-fee for her advocacy in securing good terms
from Prussia. Buonaparte accepts the commission. Venice is
given up and Austria sets its Venetian army at liberty, if
If she do this, and is unreasonPrussia refuse the armistice.
" Hang it " Russia may say,
able, France may back Austria.
"no ; this is not fair. If you back Austria, I back Prussia."
And the minor States, and Belgium, what will they do 1 All
So the halcyon days
this has been buzzing about my head.
of Peace are not actually come, though of course not far off
July 25th and 26th.
A visit to Mr. and Mrs. Dawson, at
Acton.
The house was a priory. The grounds are twelve
During the day I had
acres, and there are many noble trees.
two walks in the grounds, which at the back of the house are
very fine. Mr. J. J. Tayler and his daughter were there and
added to the pleasantness of the visit. I chatted with him
on the topics of the day. I stayed all night, and we had
whist in the evening.
Next day, Mrs. Dawson took me home
in the phaeton, and we had interesting conversation on the
way.
July 28th.
To-day I have felt really well, and I hope that
when the hour
the last hour
comes I shall not disgrace it.
!

;

—

—
—

August

1st to 13th.

— The

—

first

two weeks of

this

month were
F

498

KEMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

spent at Brighton, very pleasantly.
Fisher, a very kind

persons with
sister

and

had a

letter

and considerate

27.

was the guest of Mrs.
There are few

friend.

whom

I talk so agreeably.*
Sarah, with her
were also at Brighton. During this visit I
from S. Sharpe, stating that J ames Martineau had

nieces,

not been elected at the Council-meeting at University College,
but that no one else was elected, and he might be appointed
Nous verrons. Several days I did not
at a future meeting.
quit the house.
The great victory of the Prussians over the
Austrians was the subject of general interest.
Mr. Christie
This was an Athenseum day.
September 3d.
spoke to me of the death of Sergeant Manning, my old friend,
eighty-seven.
He
who lived to a great age, as it is called,
had far less physical power than I, but was far clearer in intellect.
I ought not, however, to speak of him in the same
sentence with myself.
September 19th.
I was gratified by a call from Sir FredI enjoyed his conversation,
erick Pollock, late Chief Baron.
and, provisionally, accepted an invitation to spend a day or
two at his house, at Hatton.
Took tea with Mrs. Street alone. We
September 20th.
talked on family matters. She is a kind friend. Her husband
has been working at his designs for a Thames-side hotel. The
Courts of Law are enough for a life. London is now not reforming morally, but re-forming architecturally.
What a contemporaneous change,
the Law Courts removing to the
western boundary of the City, at Temple Bar ; the northern
valley of Holborn (Hollow-born) bridged over ; the City and
North Middlesex intersected by railroads, below and above ; the
Thames crossed in various places

—

H. C. R. to

Cookson.
[No

date.]

envy you your journey to Manchester, on occasion of the,
But, indeed, I envy you almost everything.
I was there in the Great Exhibition year, and was at
Mr. Schunck's, an excellent man.
His wife I have known
since my first arrival at what was the free city of Frankfort.
There I saw a fortified town besieged by the French, anno
1800 or 1801. I witnessed the siege and capture in five
I

Social Science.

* During the latter years H. C. R. was a frequent visitor at Mrs. Fisher's
house in London, and entertained for her warm feelings of regard.

VISIT

1866.]

TO HATTON.

499

There was no slaughter, or fear of it. At night I
minutes.
disputed with a French captain, billeted in our house ; and I
did not fear being murdered, though I opposed his judgment
What events have passed since
respecting Shakespeare.
I have heard that, at a late conference, the last conqueror of
Frankfort, a Prussian general, said to a principal municipal
"Do you not know, sir, that I could command my
officer
"
troops to deliver over the city to be sacked and plundered %
" Yes, sir, I know that the sad customs of war would justify
you in issuing the command ; but your soldiers are Prussians,
and I believe they would not obey you
:

—

September 26th.

Most agreeable.

— De Morgan with
He

me again this morning.
desirous of doing a great deal more

Not only
I could have hoped any one would do for me.
does he see that my sets of books are complete, but helps me
in a proper disposal of them.*
(Hatton.)
I did not quit the beautiful
September 28th.
grounds.
Sir Frederick Pollock is a capital talker, and a kind
What particularly interested me in the
and generous man.
place was a long walk of the precise length of the Great Eastern ship.
We played a rubber. But the great pleasure, after
all, was the free talk of the late Chief Baron ; an easy parody
of the "Bath Guide,"
than

—

" Sir Frederick and Crabb talked of Milton and Shakespeare." f

" King
— Went Drury Lane Theatre,
age
The cause manifold
consequents, —
memory, and dim— combined with the vast
the

October 12th.

John."

and

its

had

ness of sight,

little

to see

pleasure.

old

half-deafness, loss of

size of

theatre.

had just read the glorious tragedy, or I should have understood nothing.
The scene with Hubert and Arthur was deeply
The recollection of Mrs. Siddons as Constance is an
pathetic.
enjoyment in itself. I remember one scene in particular, where,
throwing herself on the ground, she calls herself "the Queen
of sorrow," and bids kings come and worship her
On the
present occasion all the actors were alike to me.
Not a single
face could T distinguish from another, though I was in the
front row of the orchestra stalls.
The after-piece was " The
!

* This work extended over a considerable time, and the Diary mentions
visits from Mr. De Morgan, to render his assistance.
f In a letter dated September 30, Sir Frederick says of these conversa" You are really a wonderful person. I think no other living person
tions
could have (at your age) continued such discourses."

many

500

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

Comedy of Errors," and the two Dromios gave me pleasure.
On the whole, the greatest benefit I have derived from the
is that I seem to be reconciled to never going again.
October 28th.
At Worsley's in the evening, where I took tea.

evening

—

Afterwards, when music began, I proposed to Richard Worsley
to accompany me across the road to Mrs. John Martineau's,
where I wished to chat with Emily Taylor. Here I found,
unexpectedly, Mrs. Edgar Taylor, widow of the solicitor.
I
was interested in renewing an old acquaintance.
October 31st.
The topic of the day was the Professorship
of Mental Philosophy and Logic, at University College.
Nor
can I think of anything else till the meeting of the Council.
Samuel Sharpe called on me, and gave me
November" 1st.
the assistance of his arm; so, going by the Hall, I got to
University College just as the chair was taken.
The formal
business was soon despatched.
The real business of the day
was the filling up of the Chair of Logic and Mental Philosophy.
The right of .putting Mart ineau in nomination, notwithstanding
his non-election at the former meeting, was at once admitted.
I could not help speaking during this discussion, in answer to
the remark that the neutrality of the College would be violated if so able a leader of one religious sect were elected.
I
endeavored to enforce the thought, but failed to do it with
ability, that neutrality ought not to mean indifference to friend
or foe.*
It was at one time hoped that every sect would have
its particular college, and that thus there would be a number
of colleges clustering around University College as their common centre. Only one came and now a gentleman connected
with that one institution is to be rejected, though a man of
acknowledged ability, and, as such, the first to be recommended
by the Senate. [The meeting closed without filling up the
Chair, Mr. Mart ineau not having been elected.]
November lJ^.h.
Read Macdonald's " Annals of a Quiet
Neighborhood," " The Coffin/' Macdonald exhibits great
power in this department of composition. But I get through
no work. That is my great vice. My letters are in their
primitive disorder.
I shall be a fatalist, unless I can get over

—

soon.

* The favor shown

to the principle of a neutrality of exclusion and not of
comprehension, led to the resignation of the eminent Professor of Mathematics,
De Morgan, and was a disappointment to many friends of the College, who
had hoped that professors would be selected from the most eminent men,
regardless of denomination, and not simply from those who either belong to no
religious body, or, belonging to a religious body, do not take a prominent

position in

it.

H. C. R.'S

1866.]

501

LAST SPEECH IN PUBLIC.

—

Had a tolerable party at breakfast, though
November 18th.
These breakfasts, after
only one of my old habitues present.
They begin to bore
all, do not increase in their attractions.
me but everything tires in life.
To-day the decision was finally given (on
December 8th.
the election of Professor of Logic, at University College). And
I hope that I shall now be able to reconcile myself to what is
inevitable.
I must not allow myself to waste too much time
I spoke
in recording the incidents of this sad occurrence.
with more passion than propriety.* I was deeply mortified at
the result of the meeting, from a sense, not only of my own
weakness, but also that of my friends.
December 9th.
This was a day of melancholy brooding over
Luckily, I had no one to
the* defeat of the preceding day.
breakfast with me ; but I had an invite to Miss Sturch's lunch.
December 13th.
This is one of the dark days of one's existence ; to be so considered on account of a rapid seizure, so
rapid that I could not manage to reach, in time, a place of
safety, within a few yards.
Such a seizure gives a general sense
of insecurity, which takes away all pleasure in visiting, excepting old friends, to whom one may confess any and everything.
December 22d.
I had engaged to take luncheon with the
ladies of the Ladies' College, at 16 Mornington Eoad.
With
them Misses Martin and Benson. With them I met the now
great publisher Macmillan, of Cambridge and London.
He
spoke of me in connection with Julius Hare.
After two hours'

—

;

—

chat, I cabbed

home.

H. C. E. to W.

Cookson.
December

....

am now feeling

old age.

Till

talking about it.
What I most feel is a loss*
an increasing defect of sight and hearing.

22, 1866.

was only
of memory, and

lately,

—

Christmas day.
A fast day rather than a day of rejoicing,
which the Christian narrative supposes. The house of Mrs.
Robinson, my niece, is the one at which I feel most at home.
I knew Jackson preferred being with his own relations, so I
* H. C. K.'s speech on this occasion was one of some length, and full of
vigor
and he stood up to deliver it, instead of sitting as he might have done.
It was thought by some that this effort would prove injurious to him in his
feeble bodily state.
This probably was the case ; but many things betokened
that his long life was drawing to a close.
;

502

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CEABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

took a cab alone. I spent a comfortable afternoon.
The four
and myself spent an agreeable and chatty time.
December 26th.
As the day before was, in form and name,
a festival, but little so in fact, so on this there was not the
usual consequent collapse.
But it was a quiet day. I find
much reading in store, almost too much. I made small progress in setting my room right,
that is, putting papers in
order and arranging letters.
This was a day of calls, and at my age
December 27th.
I am sensible of being no
these are of a melancholy kind.
longer a desirable companion.*
But I do not complain of this
It is in the nature of things, and of course.
as a wrong.
ladies

—

•

1867.

—

January 1st.
This day Charles Lamb calls every man's
And it is true. Yet this was to me as little
second birthday.
of a festival as Christmas was.
January 4th.
In December, last year, I sent to purchase
the old Ipswich pocket-book, which, with scarcely an interruption, I have kept since the last century.
I was told that the
publisher was dead, and the. periodical has ceased.
There was
something melancholy in this breaking up of the oldest custom
I was conscious of.|
Answered two of the three black-edged
letters lying on my table, one to Cookson on his wife's death,
one to Harry Jones on his mother's.

—

H. C. R. to Rev.

Harry

30 Russell Square,

You

are

much more

Jones.

W. C,

4th January, 1867.

to be envied for the recollection of such

a mother as you had, than pitied for the grief at her loss.
The one is alleviated by everything that brings her back to
I speak from experiyour mind,
the other is imperishable.
ence.
I had an excellent mother, although she was uneducated, and was not to be compared for a moment with yours
in intellectual attainments.
She died at Bath of a cancer,
anno 1792, and her memory is as fresh as ever. I am not

—

A sentiment in which his friends would have entirely differed from him.
"The

Suffolk, Norfolk. Essex, and Cambridgeshire Gentleman's PoeketIn this pocket-book H. C. R. jotted down memoranda for the Diary.
entries are a mixture of German and English, and written partly in shortband, of which he habitually made considerable use. The pocket-books are
•ixty-four in number.
t

Book."

The

DIARY.

1567.]

— THE

LAST ENTRY.

503

of any habit or fixed thought at all respectable,
Petty
do not trace to her influence and suggestion.
incidents, which had lain dormant for generations, / may say,
the human mind.
One
spring up in that mysterious thing,

conscious

which

—

of these started

When

to-day.

was about twelve, I teased her to let me go to the
play, and see " Don Juan," which contained a view
She steadfastly refused. " No, my dear," she said
of hell
" you shall not go to see the Infidel Destroyed.'
If it had
been to see the Infidel Reclaimed,' it wr ould have given me
pleasure to let you go."
Things of this kind, however ordinary they may seem, and
indeed are, which stick by one for seventy years, cannot be inI

Bury Fair

;

significant.
I should be ashamed to WTite in this style to persons in orI make no apology to you.
dinary circumstances.
If you are living some thirty or forty years hence, you may
rely upon this, that one of the great enjoyments of your life
will be the talking about your mother, her words and ways.
or
During this severe weather I shall not leave the house,
my infirmities, which are many ; among these is my declining
memory, which makes me seldom trustworthy, and has played
me false towards you especially, of which I am really ashamed.
Warned by past misdoings, I dare make no promises for the
But I hope that I shall have the pleasure of a call at
future.

—

your own

leisure.

—

During the last two days I have read the
31st.
essay on the qualifications of the present age for criticism.
The writer resists the exaggerated scorn of criticism, and mainA sense of creative power he declares
tains his point ably.
happiness to be, and Arnold maintains that genuine criticism
is.
He thinks of Germany as he ought, and of Goethe with
On this point I can possibly give him ashigh admiration.
sistance, which he will gladly
But I feel incapable to go on.
This was the last entry in the Diary.
The meaning is quite
The names
clear, though the wording is somew hat confused.
of two men, who wr ere most honored by Mr. Robinson, were
among the last words written by him.
On Saturday, the 2d
of February, his illness assumed an alarming character.
His
friend, Dr. Sieveking, was sent for, to do all that was possible to
human skill. But the strength of the patient was giving way

January

first

—

504

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

27.

The illness was short, and not a painful one.
a considerable part of the day, but at times was able
to talk cheerfully and affectionately to friends, even so late as
Then
the morning of the 5th, the day on which he died.
came the cloud of insensibility, in which he passed out of this
beyond renewal.

He dozed

world.

place at the Highgate Cemetery. Many
The funeral
as well as the relatives, were present.
service was read by the friend whom, it was believed, he himThe followself would have preferred, the Rev. J. J. Tayler.

The interment took

friends,

ing

tomb

the inscription on the

—

BENEATH THIS STONE
THE BODY OF
HENRY CRABB ROBINSON,
Born May 15, 1775 Died Feb. 5, 1867.
friend and associate of
goethe and wordsworth, w ie land
and coleridge, flaxman and blake,
clarivson and charles lamb;
he honored and loved the great
and noble in their thoughts
and characters
his warmth of heart and
genial sympathy embraced all
whom he could serve,
all in whom he found response
to his own healthy tastes
and generous sentiments,
his religion corresponded to his life
seated in the heart,
it found expression in the truest
LIES INTERRED

;

christian benevolence.

Note.
Mr. Robinson, in the year 1858, placed, in the names of himself and two
gentlemen whom he had chosen to be his executors, the sum of £2,000, which
he designated u The Flaxman Fund," and he at the same time transferred into
the same three names another sum of £2,000 (afterwards increased by him to
£3,000), which he called u The University Hall Fund," and he executed a
deed by which he declared that his object had been to create two permanent
trust funds, which directly and (through other institutions more or less connected therewith) indirectly might enlarge the sphere of utility, and at the
same time improve the character and advance the salutary influence of University College.
The Flaxman Fund," Mr. Robinson declared his intention
With regard to
and desire to be that the income should be applied, with the approbation of the
Council of University College, towards the preservation, custody, more convenient and complete exhibition to the public, and augmentation of the Flaxman Gallery in University College and should there be at any time a surplus
'

;

H. C.

1867.]

ROBINSON'S ENDOWMENTS.

505

af income remaining unapplied for the purposes before mentioned, such surplus might be applied in the decoration of the Flaxman Gallery, and in the
purchase of books, engravings, drawings, and works of art, which might advance the study of the fine arts in the College, and promote any of the sciences
connected therewith.
With regard to " The University Hall Fund," Mr. Robinson declared his intention and desire to be that the income should be expended with the approbation of the Council of University Hall, in rendering the abode of the Students
there more eligible, and in promoting their domestic comfort, rather than in
lessening the necessary costs and charges of such abode.
Mr. Robinson added, that if it should at any time be deemed expedient by
the Council of University Hall to unite more closely than at present their
institution with Manchester New College (which Mr. Robinson observed was
removed from Manchester to London, in order that the Students of that College might enjoy the advantage of attending the educational classes in University College, and whose principal Professors and Students avail themselves of
University Hall for educational purposes), so that the two institutions might
be brought under one head and government, he declared it to be his intention
that his trustees should give their aid to any scheme of union of the two institutions, by applying " The University Hall Fund" to the Students of Manchester New College as well as those of University Hall, or to the Students of
any institution composed of or springing out of the union.
Mr. Robinson felt a strong reluctance to any publicity being given during his
life to these donations, and exacted a pledge from the two friends whom he
had associated with himself, that the trusts should not be disclosed by them
until after his death, and he therefore made provision that the income of both
funds should during ten years be accumulated for the permanent augmentation
of the funds. He, however, empowered the trustees, on any special occasion
or emergency arising, to apply the income to any of the objects indicated by
him, and a considerable portion of the income was so applied in his lifetime ;
but means were used to avoid disclosure of the source from which the money

was

derived.

After the death of Mr. Robinson, his two surviving friends and trustees
informed the Council of University College that it would give them sincere
pleasure, with the permission of the Council, to exercise a power conferred on
friend, of transferring "The Flaxman Fund" to the
College, in order that the trusts might thenceforward be executed by the
Council. They, however, felt it to be their duty to mention that, since the
trust-deed was executed, the Flaxman Gallery had been dealt with in a manner which was not wholly satisfactory to their friend. He had expressed
doubt of the taste and judgment evinced in the decoration and coloring of the
Gallery
and the painting of the backgrounds of some of the bas-reliefs a year
or two previously (which he was aware had been done without the permission
of the Council) was extremely displeasing to him.
The trustees went on to say " Mr. Robinson had misgivings, how far any
public body like yours, the members of which change from year to year, and
where the attendance at your meetings varies from day to day, could administer satisfactorily a fund dedicated to objects such as he had in view, without
the aid of special artistic advice on all occasions where a knowledge of art was
required. During Mr. Robinson's life, Mr. Foley, R. A., was, by his desire,
consulted on every such occasion.
u
feel, therefore, that it would have been very agreeable to Mr. Robinson, and we venture to hope that it may be to the Council, that some regulation should be made to the effect that the Gallery may not be in any way
interfered with, without the express sanction of the Council, or the Committee
of Management, and that previous to any important expenditure of the income,
or any operation of any kind on the works of art, the opinion and advice of
some eminent sculptor should be from time to time obtained such opinion and
advice being for the consideration of the Council only, and of course by no
means to control it in the free execution of the trust."

them by their venerable

;

—

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

506

27.

The Council of University College cheerfully concurred in the views exby the trustees, and the fund was transferred by them to the College
and the Council have since made arrangements for opening the Gallery to "the

pressed

;

public on Saturdays.

Mr. Robinson empowered his trustees, if they should at any time deem it
expedient so to do, to alter the name of " The University Hall Fund," and
to give it any other name or designation they might consider preferable;
and since his death they have changed the name to M The Crabb Robinson

Fund.

1 '

Mr. Robinson's genial sympathy with young men in their amusements, and
in promoting healthy recreation, continued to the end of his life.
A striking
instance of this kindly feeling occurred shortly before his death, in a gift of
nearly £ 1.000 towards the erection of a Racket Court for the Students of the
College and the Hall. In this case also, care was taken by him that the name
of the donor should not be disclosed.
Though Mr. Robinson noted most trivial things about his own affairs in his
diaries, "there is an important class of actions, entirely without mention there.
He used often to say during the last year of his brother Thomas's life, and
when the'latter was not in a state to make a new will, how much he desired to
survive his brother, for a reason which many might misconstrue, viz. that he
knew what his brother's will was, and that 'if he survived he should be his
residuary legatee; and that he desired to survive, because if he did, he could
deal with the large property which would come to him in the way he knew his
brother would desire.
Very shortly after his brother's death, he caused instruments to be prepared, by which he at once made important deeds of gift, taking
immediate effect in possession to members of the family, &c. The particulars
it would be unbecoming to mention, but the suppression of the fact would be
equally unbecoming. In this way, he almost immediately dispossessed himself of what was really in itself, to one in his position, an important fortune.
His gifts to strangers and to public objects he confined to the surplus of his
own income, from his own savings.
In his will, Mr. Robinson left to special friends pecuniary legacies (not forgetting Rydal James) and those art treasures which he had himself loved. To
To
G. E. Street, the copy, by Mrs. Aders, of the "Worship of the Lamb."
E. W. Field, the pen-and-ink drawing, by Gotzenberger, of the characters in
"Faust," the drawing of" A Cascade in Wales." by Palmer,* several engravings and casts, and the mould of the bust of Wieland. To W. S. Cookson, the
casts from Flaxman, Raphael, and Michael Angelo, and Flaxman's " Mercury."
Mrs. Niven, Mrs. Bayne, Mrs. Fisher, Rev. J. J. Tayler, Miss Tayler, Miss
Swanwick, Miss Anna Swanwick, Henry Rutt, J. P. Collier, Jacob Pattisson,
were also recipients of specified articles of virtu. As has already been
mentioned in a note, Mr. Robinson had a great dislike to the thought of anything being sold which had been his. In connection with the legacies to the
Wordsworth family, he mentioned as a " mere suggestion, without meaning to
raise a trust," that a portion of the money might be well invested in an edition
:

of the prose-writings of the great poet, if this justice to his memory and to the
public should not have already been rendered. The following bequests should
be stated in Mr. Robinson's own words (the will was in his own handwriting):
" I desire my executors to offer to the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, as gifts from me, my portrait, by Breda, of my late friend Thomas Clarkson, the first great agitator of the abolition of the slave-trade, and also my
portrait, by Fisher, of Walter Savage Landor, poet and genial prose-writer.
Having, at Weimar, in 1829, been requested by the poet Goethe to provide for
the return to Weimar of my marble bust of Wieland, by Schadow, 1 now, in
discharge of the promise I then made him, give the same to the Grand Duke
of Weimar, for the time being, in trust, that he will cause the same to be
placed in the public library there."
Mr. Robinson's library was for the most part distributed among his friends

* The friend of Blake.

FRESCO MEMORIAL TO

1867.]

H. C. R.

507

after his death. In many instances the selection of books for particular friends
like disposition was made
was found to have been indicated by himself.
of such of his pictures and other works of art as he had not specified in his

will.

In addition to the bust by Ewing, already mentioned, there is a bust made
There are also two
for Miss Coutts, by Adams, after Mr. Robinson's death.
excellent photographs, by Maull and Polyblank, taken late in life, one of
which has been made use of for the engraving at the beginning of these

volumes.

Anniversary Meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London,
1867, the Address of the President, the Right Honorable Earl
contains the following reference " Mr. Henry Crabb Robinson was
Fellow of this Society in 1829, and in 1833 he laid before us a
Memoir on The Etymology of the Mass,' which was subsequently published

At the
April 30,
Stanhope,
elected a

volume of the Archseologia.' The object of this Memoir
refute the generally received opinion that the word 'mass' in the
Roman Catholic Church is derived from the words lte missa est, and to
identify it with the mas which terminates our word Christmas, and is found as
an adjunct in the names of other ecclesiastical feasts. On the merits of this
etymology I shall not offer an opinion. No one, however, can read Mr.
Robinson's Memoir, without being impressed with the writer's depth of reThis Memoir, together with a pamphlet
search and felicity of expression.
published in 1840, in reply to some misrepresentation about his friend Mr.
Clarkson, constitute everything, as I believe,* that Mr. Robinson ever published.
But his life, which extended to the venerable age of ninety-one, was,
throughout its course, dignified and graced by his familiar intercourse with
several of those among his contemporaries who have been most eminent for
their genius and renown."
considerable number of Mr. Robinson's surviving friends have arranged
to erect a memorial to him in University Hall, Gordon Square, of which he
was one of the most active founders, and which he had in his lifetime largely
endowed. It is intended to put up the arms of Mr. Robinson and his brother
in the centre compartments of the bay-window of the Dining Hall, and to
prepare by colored borders or otherwise, all the windows of the room for
receiving the arms of other founders ; and as the chief memorial, and principal application of the funds, it is intended to decorate the ends and sides of
the room, which are well suited for the purpose, with a Mural Painting, in
monochrome, by Edward Armitage, Esq., A. R. A., having for its subject
Henry Crabb Robinson, surrounded by many of his most distinguished literary
and artistic friends. The aim will be to represent these distinguished persons
rather as they may have been graven on Mr. Robinson's memory, and have
presented themselves to him in his happiest reveries, than with reference to
any chronological or local arrangement.
in the thirty-sixth

* In his own name. Various other works by H. C. R. have been referred
volumes.
Ed.

to in these

—

APPENDIX.
[The Editor has much pleasure in being able to add the following
Recollections by Mr. De Morgan, late Professor of Mathematics in
University College, London. He was one of Mr. Robinson's most
intimate acquaintance during his later years, and a very highly
valued friend.]

In University College Crabb Robinson, a

member

of the Council,

and feeling a Professor. He was a connecting link
between the Managing Council and the Professorial Senate, of
which last he was a Yice-Presiclent for a great many years together.
His G-erman associations always put a college before his mind as
a band of teachers and pupils, and all other parts of the organizaHe was more the companion of the
tion as only supplementary.
Professors than any of the political and commercial members of the
Council naturally enough, for there was no gulf between his pursuits and theirs.
The use of a person of this kind in a metropolitan college can
hardly be overstated. In such a place, and in our time, there is no
class except the teachers who know, as a body, what the wants of

was

in heart

;

worthy mercantile man or public officer, hearty
instruction are.
in the cause because he knows it is a good cause, is often singularly
unfit to form a judgment on what comes before him.
For instance,
except a dictionary
is a thing to read,
he fancies every book
and has no idea of the wants of reference. Such a one said, on a
proposal to get some books for the use of the Professors. " I think
the Professors ought to get the books they want for themselves."
That is, the Professor of Greek, for instance, should have all the
texts, all the dictionaries of research, all the works on philology, all
the historical and philosophical discussions, money to buy them, and
rooms to hold them. The idea of the worthy objector was. that the
Professor wanted no books except the three or four which lay on
the table in his class-room.
man like H. C. R. is wanted in
every management of a metropolitan college, to give the only thing
which may be lacking in the minds of some of the members, namely,
what a college is.
school ought to be a place in which a teacher
has the means of teaching himself, but a college must be such a
place, or it is no college at all.

—

APPENDIX.

510

—

that is, of power of
As a master of the art of conversation,
H. 0. R. was a man of few rivals. He
conversation without art,
could take up the part of his friend Coleridge, whom Madame de
Stael described to him as tremendous at monologue but incapable
of dialogue. If any one chose to be a listener only, H. C. R. was
And he
his man; he had always enough for two, and a bit over.
appreciated a listener, and considered the faculty as positive, not
But this did not mean that he cared little whether
negative, virtue.
he was talking to a man or a post, and only wanted something
which either had no tongue to answer, or would not use it. Coleridge, or some one like him, is said to have held a friend by the
button until the despairing listener cut it away, and finished his
walk. On his way back he found his talking friend, holding up the
button in his hand, and still in the middle of his discourse. This
would not have happened to H. C. R., who took note of his auditor.
" I consider
," he said, " as one of the most sensible young men
li
" Why
he hardly says anything."
Ah but I
I ever knew.
do not judge him by what he says, but by how he listens." But
When he paused and he did
II. C. R. could and did converse.
there was room for answer, and the answer suggested the
pause
What you said lighted up some consequence, no matter
rejoinder.
what he had been just saying. To use the whist phrase, he followed
his partner's lead.
This is true conversation the class of persons
who begin again with, " Allow me to finish what I was saying," do
not converse they only expound, treat, dissert, &c. And no man
alive knows to which class he himself belongs
and no man misses
the difference in others.
It should be remembered that conversation is to be distinguished from argument there may, indeed, be
conversational arguments, but there are no argumentative conversations.
H. C. R. was one of those who keep alive the knowledge
that there is such a thing as conversation, and what it is.
In our
day, what between the feuds of religion, politics, and social problems, and the writers who think that issuing a book is giving
hostages to society never to be natural again, conversation is almost

—

—
—

—

;

abandoned

to children.

person can converse without power of language, love of talking, and love of listening.
The two first are necessary to the
proser, and the
essential to the converser.

talker, the

his subject,

and

disputant

Let him

his character is

;

the addition of the third is
be able to forget himself in

also

made

;

he can converse on what he

knows.

The elements of conversational power in H. C. R. were a quick
and witty grasp of meaning, a wide knowledge of letters and of

men

of letters, a sufficient, but not too exacting, perception of the
and an extraordinary power of memory. His early education was not of a very high order of the classical, nor did his
tastes induce him to cultivate ancient literature
in truth, his G-erman and Italian opportunities used up his love of letters, which was
very decided. He was fond of the drama, and of ballad composi-

relevant,

511

APPENDIX.

his profession, the law, he had more turn than taste.
memory, he got ample knowledge for a practitioner
cheaper than most; and his mind was able to form and argue dishe made the law a good
tinctions. So he was a successful barrister
tions.

With

For

his

horse, but never a hobby.
His intercourse with the

school of Coleridge, Wordsworth,
Southey, Charles Lamb, &c, and with the German school, from
Goethe and Schiller downwards, to say nothing of others, gave him
a wide range of anecdote and of comparison. By the time he died
the tablet of his memory had more than sixty years of literary
and painted with singular clearness.
recollections painted upon it
He had a comical habit of self-depreciation, which, though jocose in
expression, took its rise in a real feeling that his life had been thrown
away. It had, in fact, been of a miscellaneous character, and, save
only in his legal career, had nothing to which a common and understood name could be attached. Accordingly it was, " I speak to
you with the respect with which a person like myself ought to
"
speak to a great
Here insert scholar, mathematician," physi;

cian, &c, as the case might be.
Or, perhaps, " I am nothing, and
never was anything, not even a lawyer." Sometimes, " Do not run
away with the idea that I know that or anything else." But the
climax was reached when, after giving an account of something
which involved a chain of anecdotes, running back with singular
connection and clearness through two generations, he came at last
It would then be, " You see that my
to a loss about some name.
memory is quite gone though that is an absurd way of talking,
for I never had any."
His memory was very self-consistent. Those who watched his
conversation would find that, though at different times the same
anecdote would occur in very different illustrative duties, it was always the same. And this continued to the very last. He died on
and up to the preceding Saturday his
Tuesday, February 5, 1867
conversation and his memory continued in vigor. On the morning
of the Saturday the writer was with him, and saw no change until
His
after his luncheon, when he appeared somewhat lethargic.
medical attendant was summoned, and it was soon found that the
end had begun.
He was, like most vigorous old men, apt to task his strength too
much. A few weeks before his death he insisted on going out, attended by his usual servant, in very bitter weather. This was imprudent but no one can undertake to say that it accelerated his
end. Much more force of suspicion attaches to a bad habit of many
a
years,
too long protraction of the interval between meals
thing many old men will do because they have always clone it, forgetting that they were not always on the wrong side of threescore
and ten. At eighty-eight years of age he used to take nothing but
a biscuit and a glass of wine
a sort of luncheon often forgotten
between a ten-o'clock breakfast and a six-o'clock dinner. At the
remonstrance of the writer, and probably of other persons, he put a
;

;

—

;

512

APPENDIX.

more nourishing luncheon into the
But it may be suspected that
it.

this abstinence;

though

and found the benefit
system was weakened by
not necessary to prove a cause of
interval,

his

when

fourscore and ten is past.
He was eighty when he began to have that suspicion, of personal
attentions being a tribute to increasing years which susceptible men
He had completed the extra score when the
take up at sixty.
writer proposed to help him on with his great-coat after a dinner.
Waving him off, he said, u I look upon every man who offers to
" Do you mean that
help me with my coat as my deadly enemy."
" That 's just it."
a true joke is no joke ? "
The writer never had his full idea of the great bulk of the stock,
and of the ready manner in which it was disposed for use, until the
summer preceding the death of H. 0. E., whom he then assisted in
rearranging books, and advising in the disposition of some part of
the library.
H. C. E.'s share in the matter was to sit in his chair
or at least about four out of
and tell a story about every book
five
It might be about the author, or the conas it was named.
tents, or the former possessor, or some incident of the particular
copy but whatever it was, there it was, and out it came. Tumbling on each other's heels, these stories drove one another out of
memory but the writer was forcibly and repeatedly reminded of a
story told him by a Fellow of Trinity College, more than forty
years ago, about an old Senior Fellow of the same College, then
alive.
The suggestion sprang up on hearing accounts of book after
book which H. C. R. had quite forgotten that he possessed, and
had not thought of for a lifetime.
Mr.
the senior in question, had in his youth busied himself with the arrangement of the Cambridge library, to which he

death

—

—
;

;

until his mind suffered, and he was for some time
under medical care. It seems that a faculty of exceeding keenness
had been dangerously overwrought. A great many years after
those years having been passed in little more than a sluggish animal
life, almost entirely without reading
a friend who met him in the
street said, " Mr.
I have been all the morning in the library,
looking for a tract," &c, &c, naming an obscure writing of the time

had attended

—

;

of Charles

" I

know where

is,"

partment E, shelf 12," or whatever

said,

was

G-o

com-

but you must take
care, for there are two copies, side by side, and they differ in contents,
one has no writing, and the other has the initials, S. T."
" Bless me " said the other, " how strange that you should have
been after the very book "
"I after the book ? " was the answer
" I have not seen nor heard of it for forty years "
At the first hearing of this story, which the common friend told
of one Fellow of Trinity to another, from whom the writer received
it, he naturally suspected exaggeration, though his authority was
very good. AVhen he heard H. C. R. throw out circumstances as
minute about books as long unseen, at the age of ninety-one and a
quarter, he began to think his scepticism had been out of place.
it

;

—

513

APPENDIX.

The story of the man of seventy, or thereabouts, is not one whit
more exceptional than that of H. C. R. The writer hardly knows
which of his stories is wanted to confirm the other. He will therefore add that his scepticism would have been much greater if it had
told him by the same
not been for another ancedote of Mr.
•

As follows
colleague, as having taking place in his own presence.
Mr.
when he heard
Dr. Parr dined at Trinity College.
who was present, obtained an introduction, placed himself next the
Doctor, and roused himself to talk on literature. When Mr.
There
as was his custom, got up to go to his own rooms [N. B.

——
.

—

was only port

in the

common

room, and Mr.

thought his

brandy], he took Dr. Parr by the hand and
I am glad to have met you, and I will take my leave
said, " Sir
with a few words which may not be strange to your ears." He
during which Parr showed
then quoted more than an octavo page
and walked off. When he was gone,
increasing astonishment
I must have heard that to have
Parr said " Well, gentlemen
That quotation is from a review which I wrote when I
believed it.
was a very young man, and quite unknown. I could not have supposed a soul alive would now have known I had written such a
has quoted it word for
thing, and I do believe that Mr.
case required a

little

—

word."

H. C. R. had also a remarkable power of close verbal quotation,
The writer has verified this by books, and judges that
orally given.
the memory was equally good at repeating conversations.
He also
noticed that an anecdote, containing a retort or a bon-mot, was
always given in the same words. There are men who are strong in
recollection of the substance of what was said, but who synonymize, not merely words, but idioms and proverbs.
You end with,
u
It was six of one and half a dozen of the other," and are reported
You say, u He will come
as pronouncing, " It was all of a piece."
to the gallows," and " He will die in his shoes " is carried away.
Of such paronomasia H. C. R. was incapable.
Such powers of memory do exist, and it may be suspected that,
when they exist, they often determine the bent towards conversamay almost think, whimsical as it
tion, rather than writing.
may appear, that the slowness of writing would be an insufferable
bore to a person who combined so rapidly, and remembered so fully.
H. C. R. should have been a shorthand writer, and should have had
a transcriber at his service, But so far from having this quality, his
ordinary handwriting was slow and deliberate it continued fullformed and legible to the last. This appears in the letter written
to the Secretary of University College, on his retirement from the
Senate.
The depreciation of himself shows that the habit was not
merely a joke, but that the feeling interfered on grave and even
saddening occasions. It should be remembered, that for nearly
thirty years he had, with his sound judgment and genial feeling,
taken a most intimate part in the management. And yet ho

22*

514

APPENDIX.

—

seems to remember nothing but the advantage
not small
which had been derived from his living near the College, and
being obtainable for a quorum at any notice, and with most cheerful acquiescence.

Those who have breakfasted and dined with H. C. R. will find it
impossible to describe the charm of those social meetings.
have heard of a difficult host, whose parties were celebrated for
unrestrained association, which was accounted for by a saturnine
guest as follows:
0, any two persons who can get on with him
are sure to be able to get on with one another! "
In this case,
however, assimilation was powerfully aided by the genial goodhumor of the host, and effectually prepared by his choice of associates.
For there was nothing like general society at his table the
guests were a cluster of persons whose minds had affinities with his
all know that an English convivial meeting will, about
own.
as often as not, have its barricades erected by one set and another
against those of the wrong set.
It is not quite the majority of
cases in which all the guests unfeignedly believe in the power of the
host to choose the proper collection. But at the house of H. C. R.
(that all who frequented it knew the secret is more than the writer
will undertake to say), each man felt the assurance that every guest
in the opinion of a discerning and experienced host,
would be
who cultivated acquaintance only according to liking
a man
whose society was personally agreeable to that host. Hence what
may be called a prejudice in favor of the lot, which is a great step
towards easy association. And so it happened that these meetings
were pleasant and social, ab ovo usque ad mala : free of that annoyance which, though well enough accustomed to it, we never could
name by an English word, but characterized as tedium, gene, or ennui, until some master of language invented the word bore, which
takes in all the others in agreements and differences both. As to
H. C. R. himself, at the head of his table, he managed to secure
attention to his guests without the guests themselves feeling that
they were on his mind. It is a great drawback on many pleasant
the one whom every
parties, that one unfortunate individual
seems to be but a director of the
other would wish to feel at ease
It would sometimes
servants, indulged with a seat at the table.
have been a comfort to the writer if he could have been made sure
that his host had had. before dinner, what the tale calls a " snack by
way of a damper." But this uneasiness never arose with respect to
H. C. R., who made his meal and carried on his conversation, while,
the most satisfactory way in which many
somehow or other,
his guests were perfectly well served, as he
things can happen,
knew and saw. And so these parties were too pleasant in all details to allow any remembrance of one part by its contrast with
The writer would find great difficulty in any attempt at
another.
he was far too agreeably engaged to take note
closer description
of particulars. Tp be inserted between two conversible fellowguests is destructive of the power and the will to watch many other

;

—

—
—

—

515

APPENDIX.

that can only be done with effect by a person who is seated
his foe and his bore.
It has been noticed that H. C. R. had not much of a classical
education in his school-days. Perhaps no person alive can authenif, as stated in the Inquirer, and,
ticate this better than the writer
indeed, as remembered by the writer from his own lips, his only
classical instructor was his uncle, the Rev. John Ludd Fenner.
The
writer used to astonish various persons by stating that he was an
old school-fellow of H. C. R., but he omitted the trifling addition
that more than thirty years elapsed between their dates of pupilage.
The writer was, in truth, a pupil of the Rev. J. L. F., who had subsided from his school at Devizes into a petty day-school in a different part of the country and from him the writer learnt his first
fortunately not his last
notions of Latin and of Greek, with some
writing, summing, how to mend a pen, and the first four verses
of Gray's " Elegy," with a wonderful emphasis upon the il moping
owl."
He thinks, too, that he pitied the sorrows of a poor old
man but on this his memory is not so clear. H. C. R. could hardly
believe this coincidence
the well-remembered names of J. L. F.,
and his being a Unitarian minister, were not enough though Ludd
is scarce.
At last the writer remembered that Mrs. F. was called
by her husband £%, or Utie. u That was her name," said he
which was more than the writer knew for the boys had settled
among themselves that it was a corruption of Beauty, and had circulated the account in their homes, to the great amusement of
many. Poor lady the only amends the writer can make to her
memory is to declare his full conviction that, let what may be said
about her husband's Latin and Greek, there was no lack of good
feeding and motherly care.
And it is much to the purpose for
such a pinch-commons as was often found in the schools of 1790
might have made H. C. R. sure enough not to live past ninety-one
years of age. But Mrs. F., who was as good a soul as ever took
snuff,
and not a little of it,
was very much impressed with the
idea that boys must eat, and men too. Mr. F., who was as worthy
as his wife, was a painstaking scholar of the humblest class of
acquirement, and of solemn and somewhat pompous utterance.
When the writer had picked up a trifle of Latin, he was promoted
to Greek.
He asked for a dictionary, and was assured that there
were no such things as Greek dictionaries, but that he must have a
details

between

;

—

;

—

;

—

So he was soon put to easy sentences out of the Testaone was i John v. 7. He got on fairly until he had mastered
Trarrjp, and then, taking the rest for granted, concluded that Xoyo?
must be the Son. When he came up to his lesson, he was set right
thus, " No
learned men translate \H. C. R.
used to tell how he accidentally found the translation from which
his teacher used to prepare to hear him construe.
He accordingly
used it himself; and by knowing his master's crib was never taken
for an ass.
The worthy minister had, in Greek, a kind of scholarship not at all uncommon even among the established clergy of the
lexicon.

ment

;

APPENDIX.

516

end of the last century the New Testament was picked np word
word and phrase for phrase, without any knowledge of th©
grammatical forms
vcos oiVoy was new wine ; but which word
meant new and which wine was often an open question. There was
no lexicon it was the one above mentioned
a dictionary
for
those readers, in which every inflexion of every word was entered
thus Aoyoy. Xoyov, dec., so far as they occur, were separately set
down, translated, and described. The writer forgets the name of
it was the Hamiltonian system, interspersed
the lexicographer
with exercise in turning over leaves. The book went through several editions.
But its very existence was unknown in the higher
When the writer afterwards came under a teacher who
regions.
had been a Fellow of Oriel, his master one day took up this lexicon
from his desk, and after turning it over, as if he hardly believed his
eyes, threw it down with: " Well! I could not have supposed it;
There was little chauce of
but it will not do you much harm."
H. C. R. picking up a taste for the classics under such teaching it
would be surprising if he learnt as much as that such a taste ex-*
The boy who was to be the associate of Goethe. Schiller,
isted.
Coleridge, Wordsworth, ice., must have had an innate power of
appreciating the beautiful and the imaginative, or must have grown
it in some way which no account of him distinctly states.
If there were two subjects upon which he was apt to be huffed,
they were German literature generally and Wordsworth. And yet
he certainly showed no striking adhesion to German doctrines in
philosophy, and no remarkable
certainly no exclusive
adoption
of German tone of thought. These tilings had opened his mind, for
his first real studies were in Germany, and in German
but they
Real business, that of a reporter
did not block up the gateway.
from the scene of a campaign, of a newspaper writer, of a wellemployed lawyer, probably shaped modes of thought which prevented the speculative from usurping the whole field, and even from
entire occupation of any part of it.
As to Wordsworth and his poetical comrades, it is certain that
the soul of H. C. R. was not that of a Lake-poet Had he written
verse, the writer feels sure, without pronouncing upon the exact
place, that he would have come nearer to Hudibras than to the
Excursion." He admired and appreciated, and saw all that was to
be seen whether, in the meaning of the enthusiasts, he felt all
that was to be felt, may be hung up for further inquiry.
It may be
suspected that, both as to the German and the English schools, his
admiration was for the writings and his affection for his friends;
It is worth noting, that both
fiat mixtura was the prescription.
his great objects of enthusiasm, both the points on which his temper
was occasionally assailable, were connected with deep personal regards and long friendships. If, then, it be true which was whispered
namely, that under irritation at an assault on Wordsworth, he in
former time told a literary lady that she was an u impertinent old
maid,"
no doubt in £hat joco-serious tone in which he often
:

for

;

—

—
:

;

—

APPENDIX.
launched a hard word

must have been

;

was followed by

for his friends

517
a letter of apology,

he spoke, and not

—

for their doc-

trines.*

The writer, who knows little of the German language, and has
sympathy either with their recent philosophy or their historical criticism, exceptis excipiendis, and who is not capable of more
than a percentage of Wordsworth, did not abstain from either subject, and spoke his mind with freedom on both.
There was never
any appearance of annoyance the worst was " You 're a mathematician, and have no right to talk about poetry.
I wonder
whether I could ever have been a mathematician I think not to
be sure, I never tried. I have often thought whether it would have
been possible for a creature like myself, without a head to put anything into, to have a notion given to him of a mathematical proSuch a sparring-match one day ended in the writer undercess."
taking to give an idea of the way in which arithmetic acts in problems
of chance. The attempt was very successful and H. C. R. made
several references on future occasions to his having obtained one
idea on mathematics.
As to German, the writer one day ventured to bring forward
little

;

what he has long called the seven deadly sins of excess of that
language 1. Too many volumes in the language 2. Too many
sentences in a volume 3. Too many words in a sentence 4. Too
:

;

many syllables in
Too many strokes

;

Too many letters in a syllable 6.
in a letter
7. Too much black in a stroke.
It
was all frankly admitted, as it would probably be by most of the
Germans themselves. The serious truth is, that the German mind
a

word

;

has this kind of tendency to excess, entirely independent of the
language. Free, strong, and earnest thought desires to get to the
bottom of everything and what it cannot find it makes. It asks,
What is the universe ? but this is poor measure for a transcendental
intellect.
It then inquires how it is to be proved, a priori, that a
universe is possible. And it is much to be feared that it will come
at last to a serious attempt to find out what, if existence had been
This, and more, was
impossible, we should have had in its place.
brought forward by the writer to vex the spirit of the German
scholar.
He even ventured to ask the like of whether if Werden,
while transmuting Nichts into Seyn, had been brought before the
Absolute for coining spurious Existence, he would have been able,
with Hegel's help, to prove that Existence and Non-existence are
all one.
Things like these were brought forward when there ap" Well
how are you to-day,
peared any languor. It would be
" 0, a poor creature; my head 's not fit for anything;
Mr. R. ? "
"
it never was good for much
If a discussion was thereupon
brought about, the head would be roused, all the power would be
wakened in five minutes, and a small course of anecdote, beginning
;

—

* The story is that H. C. R. rushed down stairs, and when he got to the
door, heard the lady calling after him, " You had better take your hat, Mr.
Robinson."

— Ed.

518

APPENDIX.

with Wieland, and ending with yesterday's visit from
or
perhaps vice versa, would send all megrim to the rightabout.
The last of the Lake School
for, though H. C. R. did not serve
at the altar, he was free of the Inner Court
was, strange to say,
not a poet, not apparently enthusiastic about poetry, more interested
in the real life than in the ideal, tolerably satirical in thought and
phrase, and a man whose very last wish would have been for the
" peaceful hermitage " to end his days in.
This is the report of
one how was it with others ? Did the mind of H. C. R. take color
from that of the person with whom he conversed ? Would he
have been other things to other men ? Such a power, or tendency,
or what you please, may go a little in aid of the writer's impression
that he was fit for success in anything,
in different degrees for different things, but with sufficient for utility and note.
In whatever
he tried, he gained opinion, whether in what he liked, or in what he
disliked.
It is much to be regretted that he had not an absorbing
literary pursuit
but there are instances enough in which the peculiar talents which are best displayed in conversation have turned
,

—

;

the others to their own purpose.
H. C. R. talked about everything but his own good deeds. But
even here he was not always able to prevent a hint from slipping out.
lady applied to him about the truth of a story told by an unfortunate person who, though greatly reduced, claimed to have known
H. C. R. in better days. He remembered all about it, and determined to give some relief. Expressing this determination, it came
" I have £ 500 a year to devote to charity,
out in half-soliloquy
but I am nearly at the end. I cannot do much this year."
If it were required to illustrate the peculiar parts of H. C. R.'s
mind, it could be best done, not by his reverential talk about
Goethe and Wordsworth, but by the humorous appreciation, mixed
with respect, with which he spoke of Robert Robinson of Cambridge, the author of the " History of Baptism," and of G-eorge
Dyer, the " G. D." of u Elia's Essays." H. C. R. did not personally
know Robinson (ob. 1790), but several common friends of his, and
of the Cambridge Nonconformist, had furnished him with materials
for a small collection of Anecdotes, which he published in the Christian Reformer for 1845.
Among these friends was Dyer, who was
This Life (179C), though
himself the first biographer of Robinson.
the Memoir in the " Bunyan," i. e. Baptist Library (1861), which
may be called the official account, pronounces it " not satisfactory."
was declared by Samuel Parr, and also by Wordsworth (teste H.
Perhaps
C. R.), to be one of the best biographies in the language.
the charm of the book is that Robert Robinson's peculiar humor
was wholly unappreciated by the simple-minded biographer, who
enters gems of satire which will be, as they have been, reprinted
again and again, with remarks of the most impercipient tameness.
It is a resemblance, on a small scale, of what had happened a few
Dyer was to Robert Robinson
years before, but without imitation.
very like what Boswell was to Johnson, with several important dif-

519

APPENDIX.

Now, Robert Robinson had a faculty of satirical * humor,
and
such as made a part of the furniture of the mind of H. C. R.
the friend of both, G-eorge Dyer, was a man in whom want of
humor amounted to a positive endowment. The juxtaposition of
Charles
the two, with H. C. R. as the approximator, was a treat.
Lamb would have given the subject an essay and it is to be regretted that H. C. R. did not imitate his friend that is to say, we may
suppose it to be regretted but we may be wrong it may be that
he could not have written much which would have reminded us of
the manner in which he always talked.
And to this point there goes another word. The elements of his
power of conversation have been enumerated, but all put together
will not explain the charm of his society.
For this we must refer
to other points of character which, unassisted, are compatible with
dulness and taciturnity.
wide range of sympathies, and sympathies which were instantaneously awake when occasion arose,
formed a great part of the whole. This easily excited interest led
to that feeling of communion which draws out others.
Nothing can better illustrate this than reference to the old meaning of conversation.
Up to the middle of the last century, or near
it, the word never meant colloquy alone
it was a perfect synonyme
for companionship.
So it was with Crabb Robinson his conversation was companionship, and his companionship was conversation.
ferences.

;

* Over and above what H. C. R. has collected, a little crop might be raised
out of the different works and correspondence. Writing to Toulmin, Robert
Robinson gives the following: "Says a grave brother, Friend, I never heard
you preach on the Trinity.' I replied. 0, I intend to do so as soon as
ever I understand it!'" Dyer would have recorded the intention, perhaps
with solemn remarks on the propriety of the delay for the reason given.
'

;

INDEX.
Abbott, Chief Justice

Vol. Page
373, 375, 401, 475

Abeilla

•

Aberdeen, Earl of.

332;

Ii.

Abernethy

Consultation with .
.
Abicht, Professor
.
Abington, Mrs.
Abolitionists, their merits
Academic shades
.

186
181

242
4oo

214, 215, 264

Vol. Page

...

104
156
150
i 157
Escape from .
.
.
Friends at
i. 149, 152
i. 155
Hurried departure from
i. 151
Mode of spending the day at
i. 154
Order to arrest Englishmen at
i. 152
Politics at
post to England stopped
i. 153
" Amatonda," H. C. R.'s translation of i. 231
Criticism on, by Coleridge
i. 231
i. 393; ii. 112
Amelia, Dowager Duchess
ii. 491
American war and slavery
Amory, author of " John Buncle " . i. 273
i. 322
Amsterdam

Altenburg
Altona, Dangers at

Employment

i.
i.

337
i. 458
.
i. 238
.
.
Academical Society
i. 438
.
Accident to Goddard
i. 269, 270
.
.
Adair, Robert
ii. 507
.
Adams (sculptor)
ii. 310, 312
Addison
i. 152, 261, 281, 354, 430, 480
Aders, Mr.
ii. 24, 25, 68, 83
i. 16, 173, 188, 217, 229,
Amyot, Thomas
ii. 280
his pictures sold
244 255 260 266, 299, 302, 312, 316,
ii. 14, 40, 183, 194
Mrs.
i. 469
326, 332, 376, 456 ii. 8, 87, 88, 89, 169,
ii. 6, 27
.
.
i. 453, 454
Aderses, The
231, 259, 296, 371, 483
ii. 19
Adolphus
ii. 476
ii. 146
Adoration (The) of the Pope .
Anatomical
riot
ii. 190
i. 443, 444
.
Adventurer, An
Ancestors of H. C. R.
1
ii. 369, 389
.
.
i.
Affairs on the Continent*
Andersen, Hans Christian
ii. 159
.
.
.
Affluence of England
ii. 358
Anderson, Rev. Mr
ii. 284
Agnew, Sir Andrew .
i. 243
Sir Charles
i. 34
Aicken, the actor
.
ii. 375
Andrews, Mord
i. 246, 256, 328, 371
Aikin, Charles
.
i. 265, 266, 312, 395
Dr. i. 169, 219, 359, 480 ii. 357, 456 Andros
i. 339, 379
ii. 316
Anecdotes and bons mots
i. 145
Lucy
ii. 479 - 81
Anesthetics first used in surgical operMrs. Charles
i. 192, 236, 247, 459
.
i. 466
Death of
.
ations
ii. 350
i. 243
Aikins, The
Anglo-Papistical Churchmen
ii. 304
42
ii.
Thomas
.
Aikenhead,
.
ii.
64
Annan
i. 42
.
.
Aix, Archbishop of
i.
76
Anspach
i. 78
Akenside
ii. 103
Anspach, Margrave of
Aldebert, Mr.
i. 44, 46, 154, 157, 159, 354,
ii.
10
.
.
Anti-Bourbonism
394 Anti-English feeling
i. 167
.
Mrs.
.
ii. 488
i. 49, 444
Anti-Christ, The real .
.
Prints belonging to Mr.
i. 401
i. 453
Anti-Kingites
Alderson, Amelia
.
ii. 298
i. 16
Antiquarian Club
Baron
ii. 326
.
i. 281, 335; ii. 466
Entertainment
Dr
ii. 33
ii. 87, 371
Society
Alexander, Emperor of Russia .
ii. 361
i. 391
Anti-slavery cause .
.
Mr. barrister .
i.384
Antrim,
Countess
of
ii. 177
.
Allen, Mr.
Aphorisms of Blake .
ii. 27, 28
i. 178
—
The Misses
.
ii.
464
of Goethe
.
ii. 354
.
Miss, Death of
i. 397
Appeal to Privy Council .
ii- 488
.
Allies, Intervention of the, in France i. 316
i. 474
case in House of Lords
Alliston
ii.
Abitrator, H. C. R. as
.
32
i. 397
Allsop .
i. 218
Arbuthnot, Mr.
. ii. 14, 204, 214, 215, 355
Allston
ii. 325
.
Archaeological Association
i. 384
Alsager
meeting at Canterbury
ii. 296
i. 310, 311, 313, 315, 378
ii. 374
Alsager's, Party at
at Lincoln
.
.
i. 306, 325
Archbishop of Canterbury .
ii. 36*5, 402
Alsop, Mrs
i. 354
i.

;

....
.

;

....

—

;

522

INDEX.

Architecture, Gothic

Army

i.
i.

Commissioners

Arndt

295
298
180
ii.
63
i. 181
195, 413
.

Milner on Ecclesiastical
Arguilles
Arianisni
>

i. 167, 189, 292
his flow of talk
.
his hopefulness for liberty
on diversity of race .
.
.

;

on German unity
on Landor

ii.

Religious opinions of

Arno, The
Arnold, Dr.

ii.

ii.
ii.

41b'

414
414
416
415
415
247

19, 85, 217, 271, 291, 303,

360, 305

Death of
Dinner with, at Fox
History of Rome by

ii.

How

ii.

Latitudinarianism of
on apostolical succession
on controverted doctrines

on free politics
on liberty of thought
on religious subjects
Roads named by
Sermon by
Theology of
.

Lieutenant
Mrs.

ii.

ii.
ii.
ii.

ii.

.
.

321, 384, 386

Miss
.

•

i.
.

Porch of
Atkins, Mrs
Atkinson

356
ii. 364
.
i. 330
.
ii.
.
26
i. 456
.
i. 380
.
i. 182
i. 370
.
262 ii. 84
ii. 339, 476
i. 246
.
ii. 7, 31
96
ii.
ii. 217
ii.

Ashe, Captain
Ashford v. Thornton
Aspland, Rev. R.
.
Rev. R. B.
Assassination of Mr. Perceval
Athenaeum Club opened .

ii.
ii.

Arson
Art an inspiration

ii.

on Wordsworth

Art, Works of
Asceticism

ii.

295
271
277
274
275
222
276
221
273
223
220
222
450

;

364,373,494,495

193
i. 241
Attic Chest Society
ii. 263
Austen, B
i. 143
Austerlitz, Battle of
.
ii. 294
Austin, Charles
.
i. 401
Mrs.,
Preface, xiii. i. 16, 391
13
ii.
Austria, Emperor of
.
in Italy
ii. 152
ii. 147
Austrian military protection
Autobiography of H. C. R. suggested ii. 221
ii. 10, 11
Avoues and Avocats
.
i. 332
Aylesbury, Marquis of .
Ayrton, i. 192, 313, 315, 325 ii. 73, 119, 169
ii. 73
Mrs
i. 276
Ay ton

Atonement

ii.

;

Baader, Franz

197
424
16
Bacon
i. 127, 218, 257, 335, 358, 386
ii. 355
Q. C
i. 395
Baden-Baden
Badham, Dr
ii.
30
Bagehot, Walter
.
ii. 476
Bagshot, At
i. 322
.

ii.

Babbage

Back, Lieut.

ii.

Mrs. Joanna
Baird, Sir David .
Dr.
Baillie,

246, 248, 250
176; ii. 191

Baker
Bake well, Robert
.

ii.

202
9

Lieut.
Banister, Jack

Balance in political parties
Baldwin
.
Ballyshannon
Banks, Sir Joseph .

381
383

ii.

278
175
455
ii. 200
ii. 161
19
ii.
i. 230
ii.
86
15, 145
i.

.317,328,384;

Baptism
of desire

Bar dinner

ii.

at the Athenaeum
Intention to study for
quits the, H. C. R.
.
Barbauld, Mr
i.
Barbauld, Mrs.
i. 40, 144, 145, 153, 201.
.

207, 216, 239, 243, 246, 266, 328, 334, 359,
ii. 14, 219, 238, 337, 421
371, 388, 417
;

and the Lambs
Picture of

Poem by

....
.

on inconsistency in

ii.

Barbauld's, Mrs., " Legacy "
" Nunc dimittis "
Bard's, Mrs., school
Baring, Sir T
Barker, J. E
.

ii.

.
.

ii.

210
30

421, 422

3
332
4
i. 340
ii. 424
i. 241, 297, 405
ii. 294
years' standing
i. 396
ii. 401

Miss

Barlow
Barnes

459
456

316, 317
expectations
ii.

ii.

....

Barrett, Miss
Barrister, A, of five
Barrot, Emile
Barrow (of the Adjniralty)

Barrows opened

ii.

Barry, Spranger

325
215

James
Bartlett (the actor)

Barton, Bernard
Bathurst (Bishop of Norwich)
Bavaria, King of .

ii.
i.

222,
ii.

455
486
317
115
115
327
327
373
473
495
311

Bavarian Government
ii.
Baxter's " Life and Times "
ii.
comprehensiveness
ii.
Bayley, Sir John (Judge)
i. 372,
Miss
.
.
ii. 425, 456,
Bayne, Mrs.
ii. 425, 429, 474,
Baynes, Bishop
ii.
Beat tie
Beaufoy
i. 243
Beaumont, Lord
ii. 404
Sir George
i. 244 326; ii. 242
i. 485
and Lady .
i
332
Lady
359,"
495
Becher, Charles
334,
Mrs.
Beck, Mdlle.
.
i
325
Bed on a parish boundary
i. 178
Bedford, Duke of
ii. 475, 477
Beesly, Professor
.
i.449
Beggar, A
ii.
20
Beldam, Joseph
i. 400
Bell
ii.
.
62
Dr.
i. 237
Dr. Andrew
(Publisher) .
i.407
.

....

523

INDEX.
Belsham, Thomas

22, 24, 216, 311, 316
ii. 21, 77

;

on Church Establishments
ii. 3, 71, 100,
i. 411
Benecke

Blake on Art
on Atheism

408

;

410

ii.

192
118, 401
496, 49

246, 367

ii.

248;

ii.

42
89

;

Berganii

Bergamo

ii.
.

Berlin
Bernadotte

i.
i.

Berne
Berrymead Priory .

Marshal

Betterton
Bettina von Arnim
Bettina's daughters

i.133;

ii.

wishes
Bischof

iiii.

Bischoff

Bishop,

ii-

liberal

180
401

264
411
411
411
182
176

....
.

Blackmore
ii.
Blake
i. 192, 238, 247, 303
Aphorisms of
Book of Job illustrated by
Description of, by H. C. R.
Effect of the " Excursion "
Hazlitt on
H. C R. s paper on
H. C. R.'s last visit to
;

and Linnell
no man's follower
.

450
245
440
421

481
422

3 &2

•

of Bath and Wells (Law), ii. 88,
ii.
.
of Bristol
Burnet and Lord Bolingbroke,
i.
.
Anecdote of
ii.
.
.
of Durham
ii.
of Exeter
i.
Gregoire
Horsley's advice to the clergy ii.
ii.
of Llandaff
of Llandaff and Lord Southampi.
.
.
ton, Anecdote of
of London
i.
of Norwich
ii.
of Oxford
ii.
of St. David's (Thirlwall)

182
SO

216
80
332
283
441
398

resists angels
Blake's faculty of vision
.

i.
i.
i.

wife

Blanchard
Bland, Mrs

Blasphemy, What

216

74
24
39

180
274
209

494

175, 271

ii.

178

ii.

207, 237

329
Mr
i. 400
.
i.
3
BlomfiekTs, Mr., school
Blosset, Sergeant
i. 268, 356, 396, 410
Blum
i. 164
i. 450
Blunt, Mr. and Mrs.
Boat excursion
.
ii. 251
Boccaccio
ii. 114, 140
.
94
Boddington, Samuel
. ii.
139
Bodmer
i
ii. 38
Boehme, Jacob
i. 195, 249, 257
Bohemia
i.
63
Bokgelin, Cardinal
i.
42
Bologna
ii. 249
Bon mot on creeds and quantities
ii. 281
ii. 316
.
Bonner, Bishop
.
i. 406
Bonner's Fields
ii. 425
Bons mots
ii.
15
Book auction
.

ii.

;

...

James

ii.

381

283, 297

267, 350, 361, 372, 393, 406,
422, 425, 426, 453, 454, 455, 466, 471, 477
ii. 495
Boott's, Dr., death
ii- 444
.
Borrower, A universal

Boott, Dr.

39
75
191

i.
>

Blessington, Lady
and Jekyll
Parties at
Blomfield, Bishop

Blake, General

ii.

manner

ii.

....
.

Bosanquet, Sergeant
Boswell as a biographer

•

ii-

382
458

Both and Berghem, their winter scenes
ii.

Bottiger
i.

ii.

Booth

222
427
426
i. 382
37, 43 L 372
ii. 27, 28
ii.
33
.
i.

opinion of Dante
.
poverty and refinement
religious opinions
remarks on himself

i- 141
156, 259, 455

James

275
434

•

ii.
ii.

greetings for the aged

Birthday

ii.

prophecy for Italy
Bexley, Lord .
Bianci, Countess
Birth of H. C. R.
of a Prince .

house

49<
Preface, xv.

Best, J

131
102

ii.

Besser
Bessieres,

44z
250

249

80, 206, 240, 279, 325,
381, 418, 423 ii. 14, 167, 168, 41*
ii. 288
Bequeath your books for sale .
.

The

ii.

....

Bergstrasse,

.
.

Mrs.
Mr. and Mrs.
Senedie tines
Benger, Miss
Benger's, Mies, Party at

Benson
Bentham, Jeremy

2(J0

ii.

;

.
.

118, 191,
196, 197, 198, 199, 209, 225

Religious Philosophy of
'laik with, on religion
Theological views of

26
29
27
ii.
39
ii.
69
.
ii.
29
ii.
26
ii.
29
ii. 26, 29
.
ii.
35
ii. 29, 30
ii.
39
ii.
34
.
ii.
27
ii. 26, 27
ii. 34, 35
30, 34, 39, 75
ii.
33
ii.
30
28
ii.
28
ii.
28
ii.
.
40
ii.
.
ii. 25, 39
.
.
ii.
75
ii. 76, 77
ii.

•

on Boehme
on Dante
on death of Flaxman
.
on education
.
on evil of education
on fall of man
on good and evil
on iiis own writings
on Manichean doctrines
on Milton
on reason and inspiration
on suffering
on Swedenborg
on Voltaire's mission
on Wordsworth
ii. 27,

71, 111, 115, 129

;

Bourbons, The

ii.

Contempt for
ejected from France
Bourke, Madame Meyer
.

Bowles, Lisle
Bo wring, Sir J.

ii.

ii.
ii

ii.

455

;

292
114
10
10
136
413
311
14

;

524

INDEX.

Boxall (R. A.)

398, 451, 475

ii.

Boyle (Ireland)

Buck,

237, 330

John
Mrs

18, 19. 237, 265, 402

ii. 281
i. 237
Catherine
63
.
i.
19
Buckland, Dr
ii. 262
ii. 326
Budin
i. 374
Boys. Dr. John .
i.
66
Buffon's residence
ii. 353, 354
Brabant, Dr.
i. 448
10 Bullen, Mr
Braham
i.
1
Buller, Judge
.
John i. 208, 209, 210, 387, 428, 476
i. 253, 430
ii. 97
Mrs
i. 206
i. 186
and Liston in " Guy Mannering " i. 373 Buller's, Mrs., At
Death
i. 252
Brandretli
Bulwer,
ii.
18
E.
L.
ii. 237
Brass
Bulwer, Sir H.'s " France »
i. 3d5
ii. 231
Braun, G. C
ii. 307
his prophecy as to Louis Philippe
Breakfast at Rogers's with Moore
ii. 231
with Wordsworth and Coleridge ii. 83
Bunbury,
Sir C
ii. 264, 408
i. 172
party at H. C. R.'s
Bunsen ii. 19, 120, 122, 129, 140, 246, 295,
ii. 264
with Monckton Milnes
ii. 264
.
Breakfasts, Two
357, 359, 409, 424, 488
and Wordsworth
ii.
30
ii. 246
Brent
Madame
ii. 364
Brentano
i.
48
Bunsen's, Dinner at
ii. 246
Bettina
i. 133
soiree
.
ii. 370, 371
Clemens
i. 55, 56, 57, 85, 86, 460
Bunting,
Jabez
.
.
ii.
Christian
368
i. 56, 57, 58, 76, 77, 78,
Bunyan, John
ii. 372
79, 80, 391
Buonaparte,
Napoleon
i.
family, The
i. 55, 57, 78, 80, 132,
35, 52, 97, 112,
113, 116, 132, 144, 152, 180, 269, 278,
299, 394 ii. 99
George
.
306, 307, 315, 316, 391 ii. 55, 112
i. 299
Kunigunda
i. 274
.
.
i.
80 Buonaparte's abdication
Senator
.
escape from Elba
ii. 198
i. 305
Brewster, Dr
relation to La Fayette
i. 285, 286
ii. 424
M Bride of Corinth "
Buonaparte, Joseph
.
i. 115
i. 175, 286
.
Bridge at Lucerne
.
Lucien
.
.
.
ii. 471
ii.
58
Bridport
Buonapartism
ii. 213
i. 331
Briefs
Buonapartists and Anti-Buonapartists i. 307
i. 383
Bright, Dr.
Burdett, Sir F.
ii. 290
.
.
i. 377
.
i. 246, 277, 333
Brightwell, Mr
ii.
66 Burger
i.
72
Bristol, Lord
.
i. 336
ii.
98 Burgermeister, Strange behavior of i. 154
riot
ii. 161
Burgoyne, Sir Montague .
.
i. 355
Britton
Burgsdorf, Baron
ii. 374
.
i. 364
Burial service
Broad-Churchmen
ii. 352
.
.
ii 183
Church prospects .
Burke i. 18, 21, 50, 73, 212, 228, 270, 323,
.
ii. 434
Brock, Mr
ii. 204
385, 405 ii. 58, 94, 387
Brocken, Ascent of
.
i.
57 Burke's, A repartee of
i. 323
Broderip, Mr
ii. 263
Burking
i. 461
Brodrick, General.
Burnet, George
i. 176, 182
i. 195, 233
Broek, Mr
i. 320
Burney, Dr., on Dr. Johnson
.
ii. 479
Bromley, John
.
.
.
i. 220
Admiral
i. 467
Brooke, Rev. S.
ii. 492, 498
Captain
i. 192, 313
Brothers
i.
34
Charles
ii. 121
Brougham, Lord
i. 296, 465
ii. 17, 84,
Martin i. 312, 313, 349, 378 ii. 78,
213, 232, 260, 288, 364, 498
355
and Ellenborough
Miss
i. 296
i. 308
ii. 119, 121, 162
and the Queen
h. 151
Mr
i. 195
Rumored death of .
.
ii. 284
Burns
i. 249, 253, 382
ii. 294
Lady
i. 216
Burr
i. 410
Brown, Robert (the botanist) ii. 449, 453, Burrell
i. 267, 307, 325
467 Bury Fair
i. 279
Sir Thomas
Preface, xvii. i. 141
Jail
i. 410
William
ii. 400, 410, 449
Sessions
ii.
18
Mrs
ii. 485
Busch, Professor
.
i. 149
Browning, Mr. and Mrs.
•
ii. 425
Business
i. 459
Brownlow, Earl
.
.
ii. 374
Busk,H.
ii. 358, 373, 476, 477
.
.
Bruce
i. 330
Butler
i. 211
Rev.
ii.
63 Byles, Mr. Justice
ii. 422, 440, 464, 466
Bruhl, Count
i.
Lady
65
ii. 466
Brunet
i. 267, 290
Byron, Lord, i. 19, 238, 241, 248, 311, 339,
Brydge
ii.
15
363, 388 ii. 81, 105, 108, 109, 175,
Buchan, Lord
i. 460
176, 214, 235, 246, 412, 446, 481

ii.

Boyle, Miss

353, 359

Mr. .
Robert

ii.

;

....

;

•

;

....

;

....

;

525

INDEX.
.
.
Byron, Bon mot of .
how he ought to be estimated
.
.
on the Lake poets
.
.
on Rogers
'

ii.

ii.
.

ii.

Ward

ii.

Byron's " Cain"
Calvinism

ii.

monument
Byron, Lady

123
453
351
178

123
472
446
179

427, 429, 430, 440, 445,
448, 450, 452, 465, 481
ii. 431, 432
on Church horizons
on comprehensiveness and separaii. 444
tion
ii. 438
.
.
.
.
on Dr. King
on religious free-thinkers ii. 443, 444
ii.

on the Resurrection
and Robertson
on Spiritualism
on Tayler, Rev. J. J.

454
431
454, 455
ii. 444
.

ii.

Catechising in Dunkirk .
Catechists and Catechumens
Cathcart, Lord
.
Catholic Emancipation
.
.

Caulaincourt
Cave, Otway
Cervantes

ii.
•

ii.

202
202

149, 154

112, 285

405

295
.
.
.
ii. 114
i. 55, 308
Cevallos
i. 180
Chad wick, Mrs
ii. 425
Chalmers, Dr.
i. 462, 489
ii. 3, 15, 479
Chandos, Duchess of
i. 255
Channing, Dr.
i. 384
ii. 360, 391, 395
Chantrey
i. 254, 414, 468
ii. 30, 70
Chapman, Mrs. (of the United States) ii. 401
Character, An interesting
ii. 438
Charitable contributions
ii. 337, 338
Charlemont, Lord
.
ii.
50
Charles VI
i. 179
ii.
54
i. 212
XII. of Sweden
.
Charlotte, Princess
i. 371
.
Chase, Mr.
i. 380
Chat with a bricklay
i. 473
.
Chatterton
i. 272
ii. 292, 293
Chaucer
ii. 75, 311
Ched worth, Lord
i. 336
Cheerful creeds
ii.
Chester, Bishop of
80
Chetwynd, Mr.
ii.
5
Chinon
ii. 267
Chitty .
i. 262, 371
Chladni
L 97
Chloroform
ii. 392
Cholera, The
ii. 338
Chorley
ii. 207
Christening, Wholesale
.
i. 337
Christian, Who is a
.
i. 100
ii. 193
scheme
Christianity and Atheism
ii. 420
.
Attempted substitutes for
ii. 156
and its shells .
ii. 458
.
ii. 17
Christie
i. 314
42
Christmas, Rev. H.
ii.
Chromatic colors and metaphysics, On
ii. 346
Church ascendency .
ii. 226
.
ii. 305
questions
.
.
Religion, how related to the
ii. 302
Scripture, how related to the ii. 300, 305
and State, Separation of
ii. 299
supremacy
.
ii. 300
Churches in Belgium
.
i. 320
Churchmen and Dissenters .
ii. 228, 352
Cibber, Colley
93
ii.
Civil and religious liberty
ii. 233
.
.
Clarke
i. 370
Miss
i. 367
ii. 444
Rev. J. Freeman
.
ii.

;

Calder Abbey

344
i. 344
Bridge .
i.
101
Calderon
i. 487
Caldwell
i. 406
Callcott
ii. 27
Calvin
.
ii. 290
Calvinism and the Bible .
ii. 248
.
Camaldoli
i. 355
Camden, Lord
Camelford, Lord .
i.
53
Campagna grazier
. ii. 243
Cam pan, Madame
.
i. 367
Campbell, Lord
ii. 367, 371
Thomas
385; ii 233
Camoens
ii. 376
Canal voyage
.
i. 318
Canning .
i. 374,407; ii. 77,191
Canova
.
i. 364
.
i. 412
and Buonaparte
;
i. 478
his " Mary Magdalene "
ii.
325
Canterbury
ii. 325
Cathedral
" Canterbury Pilgrims " of Blake and
Stothard
ii. 74, 75
.
.
.
.
Capitol, The
ii. 121
ii. 214
Carey
Cargill
i. 244, 351, 492
.

....
....
....

....

Carlile's trial for

blasphemy

Carlisle, Earl

Carlowitz, Herr
Carlyle, Dr.
.

Rev.

Thomas

;

ii.

354

61
.
i.
244, 245, 246, 247

ii.

372, 412,
413, 493

von

ii.

188

9, 15, 81, 108, 168,

169, 264, 273, 276, 277, 285

on the French Revolution
Wordsworth and Southey on
Lectures of
Carnival, The .
Carpenter, Dr. Lant
Dr.

W. B

Miss Mary .
Carr
Carrick
Cart wright, Major
Case, W. A.
Castle, the informer
Castlereagh, Lord
Casuistry of the bar

277
277
287
ii. 124, 148
.
.
.
ii. 230
.
ii. 476
.
.
ii. 445
250, 353, 475 ii. 333
ii. 371
.

ii.

;

Clarkson,

Thomas

i. 19, 152, 222, 236, 283,
284, 287, 386; ii. 215, 285

Bury, his departure from
described in his 85th year

Dream by
Emperor of

ii.

359,331
371. 384, 407, 494
.

467, 489

409

ii.

327
324
90

Russia, his interview

with the

;

Freedom of the City presented to
on baptism
on the eternity of punishment
.

Play ford Hall, his residence at

ii.
ii.

ii.

402
279
283
161
336

INDEX

526
a,

Portrait of

Vrrf^'ir

.
.

ii.

316
2£3

ii.

2*x5

ii.

Sanguine character of

WLberfcrce an I Clarkson controversy

ii.

2bo

Mr*.
L 16. 41. 14S. 170. 171. 217.
225. 236, 239, 272, 2*3. 3)1. 327 : ii. 215.
2S3, 3*«, 376 ; 427, 42-

Death cf
on Mr. Wilberforce
Mrs. Wordswcrth's
Thcinas. Jr.

451
ii. 190
435. 435
ii.

visit to ii.
335. 4c7. 4SS

ii.

2>.».

21. 36

Carksons. The

¥A. 472

192. 290,

ii.

Classics. List of.
Classification of
H. C. R. on

ii.
by Capel Lofft
Wordsworth's poems,
.

Clergyman at Colditx

Clerk-aL admcnisher.

dine. Surseon
Clouzh. Arthur H.
Cobb. Mr. Tom
.
Cobbett
Cochrane. Lcrl

161
349

Cockereil

Cockermouth
Cogan,

Co^. Dr
Cold Fell

Bine-coat School, influence on
at Cambridge
Children of

237
iL <£7
h. 224
h. 1*0
i.

i .340
.
Conversation of. dimcul? to report ii. 43
23>
iiCottle's Recollection? qf
Amatonda " i- 2ol
Criticism It. on
*.
/ft 19*
.
D^ath of
L 223
•
.
Discursiveness of .
.

EarivLi^eof

at Green s
and Hazlitt

.
.

Highrite. settles at
hi- o"xa publisher
.
.
and Irrinz

mind
.

.
.

213
ii. 3>7
i 223
i 233
i.

and Godwin

.1.2:3

at the R. A. Exhibition
Extract of letter from
German character of his

en the Greek

6
207. 237
ii.

on
on

ii.

<5>

Coteridze. S. T. .
i. 2r\ 35. 41, 232, 224.
245, 24-;. 24*. 2,5*. >E4. -S: \
49. 490
ii. 2. 19. 21. -SI4. 375. 41*5, 46o, 494
41
ii
'•Alii t: R.:feo:::n." :y .
14
fiColerilze. and Allsop .
h. 215
.
AIlsop's Letters of
ii. 221. 222
"Ancient Mariner " of .
.

....

Anecdotes by. cf himself .
u Biosraphii Literaria,'' by

....

ii.

443
L 4S8
ii. 354. 339
ii. 475
L 259. 275, 340, 347
i 277
ii. 410
.
.
.
L 343
h. SS
iL 121. 122
i.343
.

on action as the end of all L 235
on belief
.
.
i. 197
on bibholatry .
zao
on brotheriy and sisterly krre
"
on Oien Wood
i. 362
on Church Establishments •.
h. 233
on conversion of the Jews
iL 296
on Dante
L383
on factory children .
i- 386
on Falstaff
.
L199
on fancv and imagination,
1196
on * Faust
L2&4
on Freres u Aristophanes "
L353
on German philosophy
i.196
on German poetry
i. 217
on Godwin
L20S
on Goethe
.
iL7,4*>

Coleridge

inzi

Hamlet "

his son Hartley

on tiie Hone prosecution
on Hume
•
on inspiration •
on Irving
.
on Jeremy Taylor
on Johnson's Preface
cn Kant
on Lamb's Essay on Hocarth
on !a^r
on M Lear and M Othello
on Locke
Milton

L1S9
L197
ii.

L20O
i.

244
217

L206
L235
_•>.-.

219
378

....
....

247

c>o

.
on miracles
L197
on T. Moore
i. 353
on - Paradise Regained " .
L 199
on Pericles'.
L198
on philosophy .
L2G7
on the p«ossessive case
L353
on the Refcrm Bill
n. 17D
on Richard IH.
i. 19?, 235
on Schiller
L254
on Shakespeare's fools
.
i.205
on Souther
L207
on Southey s"Cid- J
L363
on Spinoza
i. 198,257
on a steam-enrine •
h. 186
onTheiwall ~
.
L217
*
.
on M Titus
i.198
ii. 232
on toleration
Wordsworth
L
136
ifon
479, 480
ii. 231
on Wordsworth's tragedy
one cf five poets at Monkhouse's i. 485
.

Reception of friends by, in bed iL 170
L 169
and Souther cn politics
*•
Table-Talk," by, H. C. R- s criti.
*
. ii. 170
cism on .
21
.
fi.
Tea with, at Highgate .
L 355
•Heck on
354
i.
.
.
Hizhgate
at
and "Heck
.
L 360
and Tfcck at Mr. Greens .
?

334
329

fi-

•

i 251
and Ladr Mackintosh
iL 7
i. 23?. 491
Lamb on
Lav sermon of. reviewed bv H. C.R.
.

3^2

.
i. 225. 226
as a lecturer .
Lectures of
i. 171. 224. 225, 226,127.
231. 225, 233. 237. SB, 239, 3*0, 851,
352, 3i 3
ii. 229
.
.
Coleridge's Marginalia
net bv" H. C. R- first time in pri-

vate"

music, his enjoyment cf

L 195
L 4JH0

Tragedy by ( - Remorse

Washington

Alls ton

at whist
.

Mrs. S-

L
•

258, 380

L 384

487
349
222
.
L 259; iii 340
ii. 333, 386, 451, 475
L 219, 378, 472 ; ii. 287,
334
i-

Wit of .
and Wordsworth

Derwent
Hartley

•')

;

527

INDEX.
i. 219
Coleridge, Anecdotes of, as a child
•
.
.
i. 472
as an author
ii. 382, 383
Death of
.

Funeral of
H. N
Mrs. H. N.

Death of
Justice,

Coliseum, The,

ii.
ii.

171, 340

....

Mr
at Rome

384
232

95, 354,

ii.

;

357
ii. 424
ii. 398
ii. 121, 244
ii. 377
i. 13, 73, 170
ii. 6, 20, 243

College studies
.
.
.
Collins (poet)"
.
.
(R. A ) .
Collier, J. D. i. 87, 148, 148, 158, 186, 205,
216, 229, 230, 270, 297, 304, 311. 323, 324,
326, 362, 374, 378 382 411, 415 ii. 371
ii.
24
Death of
Mrs. i. 147, 194, 240, 266, 304, 330
,

;

Mrs. , Senr.
J.

ii.

Payne

26, 222, 313, 398, 401,

407, 408

;

Jane
Colliers,

The

188
31

285
328

26, 147, 148, 198, 266, 267,
275, 304, 303, 309, 310, 325, 326, 328,
334, 351, 364, 373, 376, 377, 387, 389,
404,414; ii. 98, 157
i.

and Procters

Colman
Colquhoun
Coltman,

351

16, 351

330
ii.
51
i. 178
188, 189, 303, 332
ii.

Columbus
Combe, W.

ii.

Comitas Gentium, No, between England and Scotland

Como, Lake
Communist,

ii.

Comprehensiveness
.
Condorcet, Madame de

ii.

Conflict of English and Scotch law ii.
Conformists, Insincere, the worst ene-

mies of the Church .
Conformity and latitudinarianism
Conformity, Pretended, lowers a man

Congreve
Conservatism .
Constable
Constant, Benjamin
.

Contentment
Continent convulsed
Controversy, Evils of
Conyngham, Lord A.

Cooke

(actor)

.
.

——

Cooper,

3/"6

;

.
.

Cooke, Captain
Cook-on, Mr. and Mrs.

ii.

228

228
i. 210, 264
.
ii. 210
i 332
ii. 20
i. 116, 120, 291
i. 403
.
.
i. 123
i. 327
.
.
ii. 369
ii. 306, 3)7
.
ii
325
i. 53, 199, 384
i. 192
.
.
ii.
89
.

on monarchy
Constantine, Prince

ii.

405
442
455
445
269
73

229, 298, 317, 352, 35S,
372, 397, 485, 475, 478, 487
ii.

Abraham

406
Sir Astley
i. 141, 330, 386
406, 488
Henry .
i. 269
ii. 9, 16, 31
Mrs
i. 322
Copernicus
i.
49
Coplestone
i. 292
Copley
i. 267, 358
and Gifford
i. 331
Copyright in America
ii. 260
.
Coquerel, Athanase
i. 337
i.

;

Cork

46
45
256
ii. 149
ii. 236
42, 494
i. 420
ii.

Courts of Justice in

ii.

Cornelius

74,

ii.

A supper to
Corn-law Rhymer, The
Cornwall, Barry
ii.
i. 453
Coroner's inquest
Correggio
ii.
Correspondence of Goethe and Knebel
.

;

ii.

and

Schiller

ii.

451
104

Corruptions in the Church before the

Reformation
Corry, Right Honorable Isaac
Corsini Palace

Arrival of English troops at
Arrival of the French at
Battle of
.
.
.
Description of
English leaving .
.
.

...

French approaching
H. C. R.-s work at
In the Bay of

.
.

Costello
Cottle, Joseph
as a poet

....
....

Coulson
Counsel on circuit in 1777

The

Counsellor's bag,

ii.
i.

Head, The
Courier, The
Court, At

....

Dinner at
Dinners at
The, on ducal alliances
Courtenay
at table
Coutts, Miss Burdett

Mrs
Covent Garden

.
.

ii. 295, 318, 424, 425,
449, 454, 482, 485, 506

ii.
.

evening at
Hustings at .

393

.
.

;

ii.

Letters of

Earl

ii.
i.

Crabb, Habakkuk
Mr. and Mrs.
Zachary
.
Crabbe

—

.
.

....

Poems by

i.
i.

ii.

Craft

ii.

Craniology
Compilation on, by H. C. R.
Cranworth, Lord .
.
i. 269, 353
Lady
.
.
i. 353
Crawford, General
.
.
Craven, Lady
.

i.
.

;

ii.

;

ii.
i.

ii.

Crebillon
Cresswell

ii.

Creuzer
Cribb,

....

Cowper

ii.

Corunna
Acquaintance at

56
61
244
i. 173
i. 176
i. 176
i. 186
i. 185
i. 174
i. 185
i. 183
.
i. 174
i. 185
ii. 318
ii. 230
230, 231
313, 325
i. 355
i. 399
ii.
49
i. 218
ii 111
i. 390
i. 392
ii. 112
ii. 267
ii. 267
ii.

Champion
Tom, Memorial of
.

Criminal, Execution of
Criminal French courts, Procedure in
.

law,

French

Criminal law, French, defects in

ii.

112
227
387
404
245
67
332
8,

329
145
311
219
429
140
141
470
458
176
103
139
464
108
298
404
130
288
479
16

INDEX

523
Gkorj, Dr.
Cronipton, Dr.

A walk

ii.
.

406

Cuthbert
CuTier

ii.
.

Dalaro
Drive from, to Stockholm
.
.
D" Albert. Elector

D'Alembert
Dallas. C. J
Dalrvmple. Sir

1:4

Count

i.
Dante
DArblav. Madame
Mr.
D'Arcy. Colonel
.

;

L 149

u. 27. 29, 235
192 ; iL lid, 337

77, 2>j5

L 222

.
.

Darling, Dr.

Darwin
Darid

412

L £2
283
i. 333, 445
373
354,
100,
250 ; iL 6, 94
ii. 321
L £50
i.

Vinci. Leonardo

Davison, Rev. D.
Sir

Humphry

Dr
Lady
Sergeant

of a

new year

Dawson. Mr.
- Mr. and Mrs. John
Deaf and Dumb Institution
Debate on private theatricals
Debating Society

61
493. 497
.

fi.

notes of a speech at
Decay of enjoyments

ii.

L1M
L147
L211
i.

L 8
rT

ii.

211
501

L176
ii

De Courey. Admiral
Decree of the new King of Hanover
Deeper than creeds
De Foe
De Foe's M Colonel Jack

L292
L229

ii.

;

iL
iL

L
L

Deitv of Christ

loo
431
371
2b9
411
383
99
480
19

Dekkar
L
De Lamennais
i. 47S
n. 19,
on religious indifference
.
L
De Maistre. Count .
.
. ii
De Morgan
Prvfrce. xix. i. 462 ; ii. 476.
;

480, 4S6. 4S9. 4>2, 4c4. 495, 496, 499. 569
on wise and cood men .
.
ii. 4&)

De Morgan

inaugural lecture

411

ii.

424

iL 377

De Morgan. Mrs
Denman. Miss

ii.

472

Preface. rL : L 294. 3^9.
24, 193, 211, 213. 355, a56. 2>>,
363, 364, 402. 454

Denmans. The Mis
Denman. Lord .
Messrs.

.
.

ii.

423

n. 84. 152

iL 53

L257
iL 81
44,353

ii.

L370
L478

1L5
_v2
~~T

Dibdin, Dr.
Life of
.
Dick, Quentin .
Dickens
Dickenson, Mrs.
Diderot
Di ierenee between English and German
philosophy
iL
between fancy and imagination iL
of opinion
ii.
Difficulty of perfect fairness .
ii.
.

Deacon, W. E

Diinum
Did, Mr. and Mrs.
.
Dining club. Proposed .
.
Dinner after repeal of Test Act

_ la B^=co

Disccy

ii.371
88, 237

ii.

......

Isaac,

literarv character

225
461
347
3j6
iL 213
iL 254
iL 438
L 209
iL 236
14
ii.
iL 84
123
ii.

Diffidence
Disest of Catholic orthodoxy

Disraeli.
.

Dewhurst,3Ir .
Diaries, Value of

L 4*i
iL

D Ansrivi^tr.

Dawn

19,

Hew

Dancing-niairer. Anecdote of

163

L 129
L ISO

230

Devonshire, Duchess of
DfeTOU
Devrient

ii.

;

L347
L465
L 55

Dtvixes

iL 172

Danbv

Daw,

292

L 339

Des Cartes
Des Voeur

iL 55.

;

Miss
Curtis, Miss

338, 339, 347,

....
....
....

Derrynane
A journey to

Carians books
71
Curran i. 191, 203, 222, 269, 270, 3S1. 44.

46-5

...

with

De Quincey" s writings
De ia Roche, Madame

4*>5

ii.ia
L 327

De Quincey L 251,

199,270
i 189
.
L 345

auction,

L19S
L 197

- Judge
Cromwell
Cumberland .

Dentist,

264, 467

....

n.96,97, Denman, Mr.

Croker

L 478

Dissent
i
.
. iL
favorable to integrity
great Iv maintained by intolerance ii.
.
Dissenters' Chapeis Bill .
iL 328,
.
ii.
broueht into the Lords
Debate about, in the Commons iL
Grounds of H. C R-*s interest in iL
erounds of legal decision . ii. 332,
H- C. R/s letter in the Times on ii.

3o2
228
228
333
329
330
330

Object of
the question not one of proper ty

329

ii.

331,

Wordsworth on
Distress in England

lew

....

Divinirv of Christ

Uni tersit *
.

Col-

10
193
198
ii. 223
ii. 300
iL 19
ii. 150
i. 294
i- 333
L 364
ii.

.
.

.
of satisfaction
Doctrines dishonorable to God

Dodd

Domenichino

193

L 160

.
Doctrinal difficulties
Doctrine of redemption

Donaldson, Dr.

Doici, Carlo

333
331

iL432,495

Dobberan
Dobson Mr

Dog. The guardian
Doggett

ii.

L 51

Distribution of prizes at

-533

329

ii.

ii. 291, 344, 319. 350. 352,
354, 373, 376, 377, 404, 406, 425, 440, 488

INDEX.
Donaldson, death of

and Donne
Early

Mot

ii.

474
409, 428
ii. 434
.

on Robertson
Professor T. L.

410
453
109
Donne ii. 348, 358, 387, 395, 457, 471, 476
Dbring
ii. 102
D'Orsay, Count
.
ii. 176, 207, 237
Dowling, Sergeant and Mrs.
ii. 449
Drake, Midshipman .
.
i. 175
Dramatic authors, Modern, of Italy ii. 153
Dream by Mr. Clarkson
ii.
90
Dreams and prognostics
.
i. 469
verified
i. 469
Dresden .
.
i. 62
ii. 113
At
ii. 413
Picture Gallery
.
i.
62
Drury Lane
i. 454
Dryden .
.
i. 108, 363
ii. 70, 292
Dryden's " Lucretius"
.
ii.
77
Duar, Mr
ii. 260
Duchesnois
i. 282
Duchess, Dowager, Amelia
i. 135, 138
Grand, The, of Saxe Weimar i. 136,
390 ii 112
Dinner with the
ii. 112
and Xapoleon
i. 391
Ducis
.
i. 282
Duckworth
ii. 209
Dudley, Lord
i. 293; ii 349
Duelling in France
i. 479
Duke of Cumberland
ii. 255

"Don Juan"

.i.

ii.

466;

ii.

Edinburgh
14
Edinburgh Review "
article on ants
Edmonds, Mr
.

of old age
of W. Smith's Act
Egerton, Mrs

Count
Herr von

Einsiedel,

Madame

;

&59, 370, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 493

.
.

Durango
Duroc
Dutch, Good-will of the
Dutton
Dwarris

Dyce

....
....

Dyer, George

39, 40, 146
ii'.

-Mrs.

228,239,313:

29i,37o, 472, 518, 519
ii. 472
i. 40
;

ii.

;

ii.

i.
.

ii.

476, 488,
ii.

16
449
Earliest recollections
i. 2, 3
Easdale Tarn
ii. 299
Eastlake, Sir C.
i. 271; ii. 405
and Gibson
ii. 120
Eaton in the pillory
i. 248
Ebrington, Lord .
ii.
59
Ecclesiastical titles assumption
ii. 403
censure expected .
ii. 419
Eckermann
ii. 473
Economical arrangements .
ii. 119
Edgar
ii. 231
Miss
ii. 213
ii.
ii.

....

TOD.

II.

ii.
ii.

Miss Martineau's impression of

Emerson's lectures

ii.

Emery

373,

376
220
236
456
298
209
156
489
58
371
371
372
372
387

Eminence in art and

com-

politics

pared

Emperor Alexander on

slavery

ii.

Engerstrdm, Herr von
Dinner with
England, Condition of .
.

State of

mind

Empson

i.
i.

.
.

44
402

257, 351
i.

166
166
51
275

English clamor against German theologians
copyright in America
friends
and German habits of thought
.

ii.

i.
ii.

literature

Engravings, good,

Charm

Ennui the Mother of the Muses
Eagle
Eardley, Sir Culling

228.
169,
i.

Emerson in company
in England

Dumoulin

ii.

Dundonald, Lord
Dupin, M.
Dupont, Marshal

ii.

Elwin
Ely.Talfourd
Emancipation dinner

Death of
Funeral of

ii.

Elliston

of Wellington

Elliot
Elliott Ebenezer
Ellis, Sir

of Sussex at Kensington

Eilerav,

....

392
ii. 169
ii. 255
ii. 425
ii. 426
i. 213
i. 277
ii. 400
173, 175
i. 186
i. 285
.
i. 162
.
i. 103
ii. 371
ii. 388

140, 393

Eldon, Lord
i. 276,357,386,400; ii. 80
Eleemosynary Christians
ii.
Elgin, Lord
i. 254
marbles
i. 254, 359
Ellenborough, Lord
i. 265, 269, 296, 358,
Ellenborough's overbearing ways

;

-ofGotha
Grand, The

Ehlers, Dr.

;

Egloffstein

266

ii.

191

ii.

208
i. 256
ii. 236
419, 433
ii. 210
.
ii. 490
ii. 306
. ii. 420
ii. 332
i. 373
ii. 175
i. 149
i. 390

y. 187, 188

.
.

Education of the race
Edwards, Jonathan
.
Effect of cold on old age
of controversial works

;

ii.

Donatio mortis causa

Edgeworth, Miss
i. 249, 256, 423
Mr. and Miss .
.
Edghill

474

348, 358
.

ii.

life

529

Enthusiasts intolerant
Epicure, An

ii.
ii.

Epigram on Dr. Parr

Erlangen

ii.
i.

Erolles

Erskine,

i.
ii.

Henry

225
260
144
226
139
379
108
401
267
166
77
482
460

Lord
i. 10, 11, 18, 22, 36, 136. 143,
212, 269, 276, 302, 303, 400, 460 ii. 371
his acceptance of the chancellor;

ship
Escape, Narrow

159

;

Esdailes,The

Esmond,

Sir

Essentials

ii.

and non-essentials

ii.

460
258
485
58
198

;;

530

INDEX.

...

Established Church, Value of
Estlin, Mr.

Eternal punishment
Eucharist, The
Europe, Prospects of
Settling of

ii.

Fenner Mrs.
Fenners school

408
290

200
.
.
.
i. 275
i. 274
ii. 385
Euthanasia
ii. 9, 44
Evans, Dr
ii. 9, 44
Joseph
ii. 44, 45
Mrs
i. 214
Evanson
ii. 412
.
.
Evening with the Savignys
ii. 144
parties in Italy
. ii. 396
Evil, Effect of consciousness of
ii. 396
.
.
None exempt from
Place of, in the divine economy ii. 398
ii. 262
Ewald, Professor
ii.

....
.

Extortion
Eyre, Hedges

224
397
308
34
34
210
446
129
13d

301
121

Rome

Leonard

Dinner to

ii.

on the real presence
on repression of heresy
on revelation

ii.

ii.
.
Talk with .
unable to join the Romish Church
.

ii.
.
Fahrenkriiger
Failure of mental powers
the
heart
.
Faith of
.

Fame an

evil

.
.

ii.
ii.

ii.

False impressions

ii.
ii.

and humanity
Falsehood, Power of
.
in liberty

Rev.

ii.

Henry

Fitzwilliam Lord
,

Feebleness
Fees
of the Bar

Fell,

ii.

dogmatism

ii.

funeral

;

ii.

i.
i.
i.

i.
i.

i.
i.
ii.

i.
.

467
294
411
323
254
275
30
3
496
331
298
414
473
454
494
205
23

69
162
382
206,
ii. 144
.

ii.
ii.

i.201
457
i.493
i.

;

ii.

Italian notes .
lectures on sculpture
lodgings in Rome .
Party at
religiousness
shield of Achilles

i.
i.
i.

131

Fellows, Sir C.

Fenner, Mr.

69
i.

Statesmen in company with
evenings with
Flaxman's belief in spirits
Dante
dislike of Southey

Two

Piety of

384, 388

475
490
396
.
.
i. 400
ii. 321
ii. 283, 304, 350
216, 413 ii. 77, 354
Appendix, 515
.

Feast of the Vigil of St. Peter and St.
ii.

Paul
Fechtcr at Miss Coutts's

•

Fawcett

ii.

Blake on
Death of.
on animal magnetism
on architecture
.
•
on Canova
on Dutch sculpture
on the Elgin marbles
on Lawrence
on phrenology .
on Reynolds
on Swedenborg
on West
on Wordsworth's " Excursion "

ii.

34, 201, 205, 210, 215, 229, 240,
242, 253, 272, 278, 294, 295, 303, 332, 389,
387, 395, 428, 480, 487, 493, 494. 495
ii. 7, 8, 14, 20, 23, 26. 44, 74, 75, 81, 98,
110, 121, 47!

;

Flaherty scholarship

421
334
Fanatics, Rome knows how to use . ii. 314
Faraday
.
i. 107
.
ii. 287, 408
Farquhar, Lady
.
.
ii. 220
Farren
i. 396, 415
Miss
ii. 493
Fault-finders
i. 288
.
.
" Faust,"' Completion of
ii. 170
performed in celebration of Goethe's
birthday
.
.
.
ii. 115
Flanagan
30
ii.
.

ii.

Mrs

ii.

Finkenstein, Grafinn
Fisher, Dr

Flaxman

;

....

Mrs.
Miss

ii.

Death of

303
137
409
443
417
480
438
26

308

483
282

166
114
168
119, 121, 123
ii. 137
ii. 124
i. 328
ii. 113
.
.
ii. 284
ii. 489, 498
ii.
58
.
ii. 232

ii.

Finch, Mr.

303
309
304
301
303
300
299

17,

ii.

Fielding, Copley

Family blessings and social ones compared
prayers

;

19, 20

ii.

296, 299, 302, 314

ii.

Filangieri

Faber
a fanatic

Festival of the Virgin
i.
of Corpus Domini
.
.
. ii.
Fete of flowers at Genzano
.
ii.
Fichte .
i. 57, 84, 88, 103, 129, 195, 244,
271, 291
H. C. R. as
.
i. 129
.
.
.
Fichtelgebirge, The
.
.
.
i.
76
" Fidelity "
i. 342
Field, Barron
i. 238, 241, 310, 313
.
ii. 76, 216, 326, 327
Preface, xiv.
ii. 229, 344,
E. W.
351, 354, 355, 356, 358, 359, 360, 364,
367, 372, 406, 410, 422, 429, 473, 475,
476, 478, 485
ii. 346, 492
.
.
.
George .

Appendix, 515

;

Fernow

214
431
247
. ii. 208
i. 441
ii. 49, 404

ii.
ii.

The "Edinburgh Re-

"Excursion,"

Fenwick, Mrs
i.
Miss ii. 271, 278, 290, 319, £59,
at Rydal
ii.
Ferguson of Pitfour
. ii.
Ferguson's parliamentary experience ii.
.

....

view" on the
Exercises in antique physiognomy
.
Exhibition, Royal Academy
.
.
Coleridge on
.
of English portraits .
pictures
Expurgation of Italian books

23, 210

)

531

INDEX.
ii. 211, 364
Flaxman's works
.
ii.
98
works at Lord Bristol's
works taken from Basinghall Street
.

ii.

Flaxman Fund
Gallery

ii.

356

ii. 504, 505
.
.
70, 355, 363, 385, 403, 404,
423, 442
201, 205, 225, 294, 312, 323
.

i.
Mrs.
i. 428
Death of
i. 294
Illness of
Miss i. 136, 138, 192, 201, 227, 241,
243,293; ii. 24,161,407
ii. 182
Death of
Flaxmans, The i. 267, 309, 312, 473 ii. 16
i. 495
Flaxman, Dr
i. 338
.
.
.
.
Flemings, The
ii. 176
Fletcher
Angus
ii. 383
Mrs.
ii. 321, 331, 334, 383, 352
.
of Saltoun
.
i. 460
Fleury
.
i. 290
.
.
.
.
.
Flood, Mr
ii.
50
Florence
ii. 132, 150, 249
Flower, Benjamin
.
.
i. 20, 23, 37
E. F
ii. 482
ii. 482
Mrs.
Fog, A
ii. 437
Follen,Mrs
ii. 391, 401
Follower, A, of Christ
ii. 439
.
Fonblanque
ii. 167
Fontainebleau, The chateau at
.
i. 449
Foote
i.
7
i. 221
.
Anecdote of
.
.
.
ii. 493
Miss
ii. 355
Forbes, Erskine
.
.
.
.
Fordham, E. King
.
.
i. 23, 146
i. 490
Mrs. J
362
.
Fordhams, The .
i. 23, 40
ii.
Fortescue
i. 387
Forthcomingness .
.
ii. 419
.
Forster
.
ii. 212, 345, 355
25
Forum, The
i.
31
.
Foster, Ebenezer
.
.
.
i.
Serjeant
i. 355
Foss, Edward .
.
.
ii. 440, 483
Henry
.
.
ii. 9, 82, 440
Fouque
i. 366, 369
Fourier
ii. 156
Fox, C. J. i. 39, 40, 146, 186, 187, 205, 270,
302, 405
George
i. 197
W. J
ii. 171
Foxhow
ii 383
Franchise, Enlargement of
ii. 378
Francis (of Colchester)
i. 10, 12, 14, 317
Franciscan monks
ii. 148
Frankfort
.
.
i. 46, 132, 391
ii. 201
Conductor at
.
.
Journey to
i. 394
Life in
i.
49
99
Old friends at
ii.
Franklin, General
ii. 73
i. 241
Franklin, Sir John i. 202, 242 ii. 1, 5, 15
Marriage of
.
.
i. 242
»
Mrs.
i. 242; ii. 15
Fraser, Rev. Peter i. 187, 188, 218, 222, 303,
381,387; ii. 296
Frederick, King of Prussia
i. 135, 139
Free, Dr
i. 355, 356

....

;

....

;

.......
.

;

French, Mr
French antipathy towards the English
arms, Progress of

493
282
153
Bar and solicitors
ii. 10, II
comedy
i. 290
courts of justice
i. 289
honesty
.
i. 283
.'
judges
ii.
10
law against seditious articles .
ii.
80
poetry
i. 484
lie volution
.
i. 9, 10, 35
service, Italian officers in the
i. 163
The, at Frankfort
i.
47
The, at Hochheim
.
i.
49
Frend, William
i. 239
ii. 259, 424, 472
Death of
ii. 291
.

Frere,

;

Serjeant
Frere's " Aristophanes "
Friedland, Battle of

413

177, 178

355
363
153
Friendship
i. 275
Jeremy Taylor on
i. 280
Fries, Professor
i. 84,' 85, 109, 137, 393
Frith.
.
ii.
30
Froriep, Professor
.
.
i. 367, 368
Froude
ii. 303
Fry, Mrs
ii. 438
i. 383
Fulton
i. 146
Fuseli
ii.
i. 196, 205, 213, 275, 384
74
i. 196
Anecdote of
.

;

ii.

;

Future

state,

ii.

Gage, John

ii.

Gainsborough
Excursion to
Gairdner, James

ii.

181
94
375

Preface, xviii.

ii.

.
.

273"

182
30
i. 141
i. 331
Game Law case
.
i. 352
preserving
.
ii. 186
Garcia
i. 184
Garnham
i.
53
Garrick
i. 214, 215
Anecdote of
.
i. 221
Garrison, W. L.
ii. 361
Garrow
i. 18, 265
about himself
i. 483, 484
Garwood
9
ii.
Gaskell, Mrs. Daniel
.
.
ii. 281
Mrs. W.
.
.
ii. 287, 390
Gay
i. 139
Gazelee
ii.
17
Geckhausen, Fraulein von i. 119, 134, 138
ii. 112
Geddes, Dr
i. 41, 73, 100
Gemmi, Echo upon the
i. 447
Geneva
i. 448
Genius, A, among politicians .
ii.
44
Gentz, Frederick
i.
.
.
73
Geramb, Baron
ii.
13
German artists at the Exhibition (1851
ii. 410
ii 102
baronial court
ii 197
ideas of religious freedom
ii. 497
life, Contemplated narrative of
i. 102
literature
ii 414
manners, Change in
Galicia
Gall

and Spurzheim
Gait, John

140, 276

;

ii.

....
.

;

532

INDEX.

German

students

95
226
497
ii. 253
ii. 109
i. 477
i. 365
i. 59, 60
i. 495
i. 430
358, 400
ii. 245
ii. 466
ii. 389

Georges, Mademoiselle
Gerstendorf, Fraulein

ii.

Ghost stories
Gibbon and Schlegel compared
Gibbs, Chief Justice

Gibson (sculptor), Talk

thought not comprehended
war
Germans and Italians .
George IV
his voyage to Scotland .

-with

Thomas
T. F
Giessen

79
17

Gifford, Captain

Lord

ii.

9
184
87
Preface, xiii. i. 192 ii. 24
Gilman
ii. 358
i. 334, 351, 364
Gilmans, The
i. 486
Girt, Mrs.
i.
4
ii. 272, 278, 330, 332
Gladstone
on Church and State
ii. 272
Gleig, Chaplain-General
.
ii. 424
Mademoiselle
.
.
.
ii. 115
Gleim
i. 139
Glenelg, Lord
ii. 377
Glover, Mrs
i. 274, 328
Goddard
.
.
ii. 429
i. 435
Accident to
i. 438
Death of
i. 438
Sister of
i. 439
i. 438
Wordsworth's elegiac poem on
i. 405
Godfrey, Rev. Mr.
Gil,

358, 361, 372, 384, 413

Don Padre

ii.

;

.....
.

ii.

;

Gilbert, Davies
Gilchrist .

....

20, 23, 29, 30, 31, 33,
34, 191, 196, 208, 222, 227, 239, 269, 270,
i.

315,351,369,404,494;
Difficulties of
on French politics

of, on the war
on sepulchres
and Wordsworth

Opinion

Godwin's, Company at
Party at
Political Justice

Goethe

375
492
314
i. 314
ii. 407
i. 331
i. 381
i. 408
20, 117
ii.

ii.

Autobiography of
i. 302
Botany of
ii. 193
u Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde"
.

taste

authorities

133

;

Bums

Death of

ii.

106, 107
ii. 105, 106
170, 171, 172
ii.

ii.

Description of
Distich by

Epigrams by

ii.

i.
.

Five evenings with
Funeral of
.
H. C. R. on
.

201
105

.
.

ii.
ii.

ii.

105
138
114
110
172
174

on " Venice Preserved "
on Walter Scott

ii.

•

realist, a

ii.

Reported death of
ii.
the greatest man of modern times
ii.

Translating from
Visits to.

ii.

Dinner at
" Faust," Completion of
"Iphigenia"
"Natural Daughter"*
.

i.
ii.

album

ii.

wife

i.
ii.

Sir

ii.

.
.

Lyon

Tradition of .
Golightly
Gondolier chanting
Gooch, Dr.
.

spirits

Gooden, Alexander

Sir

89, 193, 296,
ii.

.
.

Gbrres .
Gospel of progress
Gossip about Germany
Gothic, Modern
.

291
476
230
68
ii.
64
ii.
i.237
ii. 196
ii. 433
ii. 487
ii.

—

Gottenburg
Gotthard, St.
Gbttingen

440

295
423, 494
ii. 378
ii. 267
i. 409
i 409
i. 458
ii. 335
.
ii. 252
276, 421
ii. 360
i. 276
ii.

Goldsmith
Anecdote of

Good and bad
Good, Mason

122
139
139
122
171

•

Goldsmid
SirF.
Miss

121
170
72

78, 121

157
201
104

Goethe, Frau Rathinn

Goldoni

122
121
198
107
157

252, 491, 492

son a Buonapartist
son, Death of

Goldau

109
106
121
106
132
110

und Wahrheit

Goethe's "'Dichtung

son's

Gores, The

i.
ii.

nature by
Conversations with

ii.

.
.

on Rome
ii.
on Schiller
ii.
.
on the students' quarrel with the

Carnival at Rome, sketched from

and

James
ii.
Goodness and goodyness
Gordon

ii.

on Napoleon's
on optimism
on Ossian

zest in living

395, 413, 451, 465, 480

108, 109

ii.

on the church
ii. 105
on H. C. R
ii. 110
on Milton's " Samson Agoniste*"

works catalogued

;

ii.

15, 45, 55, 58, 59, 71, 72, 73, 74,
75, 77, 83, 87, 102, 103, 108, 109, 120, 129,
133, 135, 138, 196, 201, 250, 254, 271, 334,
364, 366, 389, 391, 392, 393, 395, 470
ii. 19, 67, 103, 108, 111, 116, 122, 131, 197,
198, 199, 200, 212, 214, 235, 302, 320, 369,
.

105
105
198
Last sight of
ii. 171
Medal presented by, to II. C R. ii. 80
Monument of, at Frankfort
ii. 413
Mother of
78
on Byron .
ii. 107, 108, 109
on Byron's '* Vision of Judgment "
ii.

life

House and rooms of
and Klopstock

;

Godwin, William

Home

Goethe,

.
*

168
441
56

533

INDEX.
Gottsched
.
.
Gbtzenberger
Goulburn, Commissioner
Nathaniel
Gould,
Gower, Lord Leveson
Gozzi
Gracious melancholy,

...

ii.

356
386
106
134
391

Graff

Graham, Baron

302, 355, 356, 430

Sir Barnes

Grahame, Mr.
James

;

ii.

86,

87, 111
423, 424
404, 405, 462

129

74, 131, 149

ii.

462
"Sabbath"
.
.
i. 404, 462
i. 463
Tom
.
i. 476
Grandison, Sir Charles
.
i. 287
Granet
i. 397
Grant, Sir
ii. 447
Granville, Dr
Grattan
ii. 58, 61
Anecdote of
.
i. 404
and the independence of Ireland ii. 50
.
ii. 346, 347
Grave thoughts in old age
Gravelli
i. 421
Graves, Mr
ii. 412
Gray
i. 13, 73, 194
Gray's letters
i. 433
Great rule of true criticism
.
ii. 375
Greatest good of greatest number
ii. 418
Green, Dr
ii. 383
J.
i. 360, 384
Hunterian oration by
ii. 354
6
Greens, The
.
.
ii.
Gregoire, Abbe
.
i. 283, 368
Grey, Lord
.
.
i. 22, 407
ii. 344
Gries
i. 101
Griesbach
i. 101, 128
Griesbach's widow
Madame, Garden .
i. 393
21
Grigby, Mr.
i.
Grillparzer
.
.
i. 392
Grimm
ii. 196
- Baron
.
.
•
ii. 398
Jacob
ii. 410
Grimma .
i. 58, 68
Grote
5; ii. 492
.
Grove on novelty
ii. 481
Growing old, Rogers on
.
ii. 308
Guide, The extortionate
i. 435
Guido's " Aurora"
ii. 121
.
Gunn, Mr.
ii. 170
i. 294, 295
Gurney, Baron
i. 302, 382, 399
«
Hudson
ii. 33, 34, 87, 89, 95
J.J. .
ii.
33
Gurney's recollections
.
ii. 180
i. 197
Guy on, Madame
i.

;

Hallucination, Curious

Hamburg

ii.

;

H., Mr., Farce of

Haarlem, Organ at
Haldane, Mr
Halford, Sir

Henry

i.
ii.

Halked

Hall, Rev.

Robert

148
321
284
401
34

23, 27, 30, 43, 213,

228, 230

Bons mots of
Hallam
Haller,
Hallet,

Von

HaUstadt

ii.

ii.
i.
i.

ii.

203
353
132
326
254

Sir W.
Hamond, Elton

139
78
246
462

i. 240, 250, 255, 259, 261,
276, 279, 288, 354, 372, 382, 388,
406, 417
Character and characteristics of i. 417,

419
i. 417
Early life of .
.
.
i. 417
Friends of
i. 418
Inquest on
.
i. 420
papers and letters, Extracts from
his .
i. 423, 424, 425
Southey on
i. 421
Story of, worthy of record
i. 422
Miss
i. 328
belief
regarding
himself,
Hamond's
i. 418
ii. 296, 335, 335
Hampden, Dr.
Consecration of
ii. 337
i. 255
Hampstead
.
.
.
ii. 487
48
"Hamlet"
i.
i. 282
on the French stage
i. 176
Hancock, Captain
ii. Ill
Handel
ii. 476, 473
Hansard, Rev. S.
i. 170
Hardcastle, Mr.
ii. 281
ii. 220, 272, 275, 276
Hardens, The
Harding, George
i. 355
Hardwick
ii. 299
Hardy, Thomas .
.
.
i. 17, 26, 34
Hare, Bishop •
.
i. 136
Francis
.
.
ii. 279
Julius (Archdeacon)
i. 136, 187

Death of

....

;

ii.

19, 190, 224, 357, 365, 397, 398, 426,

428, 501

....
....

.
.

322

45, 157, lhS

Mrs. Elizabeth

Hamilton, Count
Mr. (bookseller)

Mr. and Mrs.
.
i. 136
Harley (actor)
.
i. 326, 328
Mr. of Yarmouth
.
i.
27
Robert
.
i. 374
Harness, Rev. W. ii. 295, 296, 304, 377, 476
Harrison, Mr
ii. 384
Johnny
.
.
ii. 390
Harrisons, The
.
ii. 220
.
Harrowby, Lord
.
i. 473
Hart, Mr.
ii. 70, 339
i. 267, 304, 397
Hartley, David
i. 73, 90, 91, 200
M. P
i. 323
Harvey, Portrait of, by Fisher
ii. 492
.

Harz Mountains
Hasted

57
403
385
.
ii. 354
.
.
Hawkins
ii. 30, 374
Haydon
ii. 15
i. 264, 314, 384, 385, 431
Hay's, W., Essay on Deformity
ii.
41
Hays, Mary
i. 37, 41
Hayter
ii. 19
.
.
i. 458
.
Hazlitt, John
i. 41, 44
William
i. 41, 192, 275, 278, 309,
ii. 224
492
313, 315, 325, 350, 383,
Evening with
i. 208
Father and mother of
i.
44
H. C. R.'s acquaintance with,
352
i.
ends
i. 296
at Lamb's
.

ii.

Hastings, Warren
Hats, The wrong

;

534

INDEX.

Hazlitt, Lecture by,

on Shakespeare and

Milton
on Cervantes
.

167
236, 238, 244
99
.
ii.
.

Healing art, The .
Heart of Switzerland
Heavenly treasure in earthen vessels
.

167

Conversations of Northcote "
compared with Boswell's
u Johnson "

Heber
Hedge

ii.

on the novelists
on Wordsworth
Hazlitt's Buonapartism

lectures

380
382
308
382
306

ii.

440
458

ii.

52
i. 83; ii.
84
Hegel
ii. 100
Heidelberg, Castle of, Dinner at
Talks at
ii. 199, 348
.
.
.
Visit to
ii. 195
i.
Heligoland
45
Frau
von
.
Helwig,
.
i. 166, 167
Hemsterhusius
ii. 199
Henderson, Dr
ii. 94, 97
Henry, Mr
5
i.
Hensel
ii. 480
Herbert, J. R., R. A.
ii. 470
.
.
.
Lord
i. 190
Sidney
ii. 424
school,

ii.

Herder

69, 73, 98, 99, 115, 127, 129,
135; ii. 7, 110, 198

Madame

198
Hereditary Princess of Saxe- Weimar i. 136
w Hermann and Dorothea "
.
ii. 182
.
ii. 186
Hern
" Herodotus"
i. 469
i. 172
Hervey
ii. 434
Lord Arthur
9
ii.
Hessey
ii. 384
Hexameters
i. 104, 108
Heyne, Christian Libericht
ii. 283, 345, 358, 367
.
Heywood, James
i. 332
Hibbert, G
61
i.
Hildebrand
.

ii.

....
.

Hill

ii.

Tom

374

89
Hill's, Mr. Joseph, H. C. R. clerk at i. 24, 27
19
ii.
Hilton
i. 247
.
History, H. C. R. on .
i. 212
.
.
Hoare, Mrs., of Hampstead
ii. 443
.
Hobhouse
i. 404
.
.
.
i. 130, 217
Hogarth
Hogg
i. 351
ii.
14
Hohenfels, Baron
i. 53, 317
Holcroft
i. 20, 34, 35, 210
.
Holland, Dr
i. 242
i. 414
ii.
Lord
.
84
.
i. 177, 178, 179
Lord and Lady
Stillness and seclusion of its inhabitants
i. 320
Hollanders
i. 321
Hollist, Mr
i. 262
Holm Rook
i. 345
olzschuher, Herr von
.
i. 129
.
11 one, William
i. 358
.
ii. 23, 141
.
his first trial
i. 373
his defence
i. 374
.
.
.
.
his second trial
i. 375
his third trial
i. 375, 376
.
Honorable infidelity
ii. 215
ii.

;

Hood, T
Hook, Theodore
.
Hooker, Mrs
Hooper
Hope, Mr
on for liberty
.
.
Hopers, Mr., H. C. R. clerk at

ii.

296, 308

89
66
358
i. 205, 411
.
ii. 417
i. 24, 25
Home
i. 384
Horner, Leonard
.
.
.
.
26
i.
Horrocks
i. 378
Miss
.
.
.
.
i. 437
Hotham, Captain
i. 174
How evil reports arise and spread
ii.
40
to receive a parental assault
ii. 263
Howard (artist)
.
ii.
70
Lord and Lady Edward
.
ii. 424
the philanthropist
i. 336
Hiibner, Professor
.
.
62
i.
"Hudibras"
i. 188
Hufeland
.
.
.
.
i. 110, 141
Hughes, T
ii. 476
Humboldt and Napoleon
.
.
i. 140
and Voigt
.
.
.
.
ii. 288
Hume
i. 349
David .
i. 83, 215, 244
.
ii. 26
Joseph
ii. 14, 247, 423
Hundleby
i. 369, 373, 383, 397, 475, 476
ii. 24
Hunt
i. 267, 347, 350, 388, 404, 411
Leigh i. 238, 241, 264, 273, 383, 450,
492; ii. 176, 206
Hunter
ii. 387
i.
82
John
ii. 304
Joseph
ii. 475
.
Death of
.
ii. 423
.
Lord Mayor
.
ii. 314
Huntingdon, Lady
.
.
.
i. 258
Huntington, William
.
.
Huskisson
ii. 185, 191
Hussites, The
i.
64
Hutchinson
i. 330
ii. 258
.
.
Junior .
ii. 212
Miss
i. 310, 348, 378, 486
i. 367
Hutchison, Miss
.
.
Hutton, Mr
i. 343, 345
ii- 391
Dr
ii. 372
.
Joseph
ii. 373
Miss
ii. 475
Richard
i. 322
Hypochondria .
.
.

ii.

•

;

....

;

....

Icanrenaud,
Iffland

Madame

Incledon

....

Journey with
Son of

Increase of fees
of sympathies in age
Indian legend
" Indicator," The .
.
Indolence defined
Influence of individuals
.

i.
.

.
.

295
143
124
ii. 131
ii.
76
ii. 292
i. 165
i. 411
210, 220
i. 221
97
ii.
i. 410
ii. 319
i. 244
i. 450
ii. 395
ii. 395
ii.

99, 104,

Illuminati
.
Illumination of St. Peter's
Imagination of the divine vision
Imagination, The truly poetical
Imhoff, Amelia von
.
Immortality, a parte ante

535

INDEX.
Influence of national character on naii. 195
tional destiny
.
ii. 206, 330, 331, 371
foglili, Sir R.
ii. 404
Initials
Insurance cause
ii.
59
.
.
ii. 147
Insurrection in the Legations
Interest in speculations
ii. 441
.
Interference of the State in religion ii. 233
Internal conviction
ii. 347
.
evidence
ii. 408
Intolerance, Is it inherent in Roman
Catholicism?
ii.
60
of Roman Catholicism
.
ii.
50
Intolerances
ii. 442
Invalid on the healthy
ii. 187
.
Ireland, On
.
.
ii. 195, 411
Iremonger, Mrs
i. 205
Irenics, not polemics
ii. 444
.
Irish anecdotes
ii.
60
Irish Bar
ii.
46
Catholics Bourhonites
.
ii.
55
Church
ii. 210
a casus belli .
ii. 206
.
the rock ahead .
.
ii. 194
heroes
hut
ii.
53
.

Jackson

Jacquelein,
Jaffray

Mrs
The
Jagermann, Mademoiselle

....

jollification

piper

53
45
62
10, 21, 479
i. 488
ii.

poor

ii.

491

ii.

;

5, 7,

Appearance of
Belief of, in a shortly coming millennium
ii.
.

Arthur, Death of

ii.
2
Conversation of
i. 490
Doctrine of
ii.
42
Intolerance of
on the eternity of future punishii.
3
ment
on intellectual and spiritual man i. 490
ii.
83
on repeal of Test Act
ii.
24
i. 489, 490
Preaching of
i. 492
reserves quiet for study
ii.
and Robert Hall
3
Sermon of, on Catholic emancipa89
ii.
tion
on Christianity and Paganism i. 491
and Wordsworth on points of theological difficulty
ii.
4
.

(Dixon) of Rydal

;

Irving's

"Argument

Judgment

Come*'

to
ii.

Irving, Washington
Isaacs, Mrs. Thomas

Early history of

favorite, the, of fortune

Jameson
Mrs

ii.

Jansenists
Jardine

Jay

ii.

Jeffrey
Jeffrey's

...
.

....
....
.

322

152, 237, 243, 335, 356, 397

195, 296

ii.

;

429
369
408
373
209

Words-

reconsideration

worth's poems

257
323
432
Jeffries, Mr.
ii. 334
Jefferson
i. 287
Jekyll
i. 401
Joke of, on judicial changes
i. 401
Jelf, Dr
ii. 434, 437
Jena
i. 75, 134, 390
Burschen
i. 110
Changes at
.
i. 136
Jeffrey, Lord
Jeffreys, Judge

ii.

....
.

.....

Leaving

ii.

101
142

Matriculation at the University of

ii.

80
105
458

ii.

University, Second session at

Jenyns, Soame
Jerdan, Mr
Jerningham. Mr
Jerrold, Douglas

280

;

206
425
Jew and Christian, Anecdote of.
ii.
17
Jocelyn, Mrs
ii. 467
Joddrel, Mrs
i. 324
Johannes v. Miiller
i. 118
Johnson i. 21, 37, 41, 82, 204, 224, 245, 383
Dr.
ii. 37, 94, 313
i. 394
the publisher
i.
37
and Cowper's " Task "
i.

ii.

;

245
47
47
Jones, Captain
.
.
ii. 266
John Gale.
i. 24, 147
Mr
ii. 244
R. A
ii.
70
Rev. Harry
ii. 492
.
Sir W.
i. 136, 138
Jonson, Ben
ii. 275
i. 219, 366
.
Jordan, Mrs.
ii. 179, 465
i. 25, 354
Joseph, Emperor
i.
64
Josephine, Empress
ii. 103
i. 287
Judaism
ii. 295
i. 68
and Christianity
i. 122
not an exclusive religion
ii. 378
Judges, Anecdotes of
i. 302
Judicial examination of the accused in
France
i. 289
changes
i. 401
i.

384
22
i.
.
.
.
i.
15
The
ii. 189
Isle of Man
ii. 189
In the, with Wordsworth
Isola, Miss
ii. 169, 174, 175
.
ii. 154
Italian Confederation
ii. 153
Italian drama, The
.
«
dramas generally turn on judicial
ii. 153
proceedings .
.
.
i. 339
image-seller
picture, a favorite of Lamb's . ii. 252
pictures
i. 332
ii. 154
politics
ii. 144
receptions
ii. 154
schemes for the future
.
Italy
ii. 117, 147
as a residence .
ii. 162
.
.
.

366, 386, 478,
484, 485
ii. 321, 322

ii.

James, Miss

and Knebel
43

198
345
286
.
ii. 489
ii. 183
ii. 226
74, 98, 392
h. 214
i.

77, 213, 255,

ii.

Jaffray s,

Roche

prescription
Irving, Edward

Madame de

483

109,198,257,271;

ii.

Jacobi, Frederick

•

Under-Sheriff at Cork

ii.

Dinner with

ii.

;

INDEX.

536
Julius,

Juug, Hofrath

395, 496

Kalb, Frau von

Kant

disciple of

Kippis, Dr.

191

112

882

91-93

89, 90,

.
.

Kaulbach
Kaye

Edmund

197, 225

199
279, 281, 293
ii. 118, 120
i. 159
.
..
ii. 255
i. 400
ii.

Kaufmann

456
i. 403
as Brutus
i. 430
as Lear
i. 297
as Macbeth
.
.
.
.
i. 351
as Mortimer
i. 276
as Othello
as Sir Giles Overreach
.
i. 328
Richard
i.
as
III
273
in " The Beggar's Bush *
i. 325
in " The Iron Chest "
.
i. 351
.
in society
.
.
.
i. 328
.
.
.
Keats
i. 453; ii. 243
Keller
i. 433
ii. 367
Kelly
i. 208, 217, 452, 458
ii. 79
Miss
Dramatic recollections of ii. 179
ii. 197
i. 323, 3S8
Kemble, Charles
on his brother and sister
.
ii. 432
Fanny
ii. 446

;

....

;

John

;

in " Coriolanus "
in " Pizarro "

Kemble's

sale

Kemp
Kennedv, Captain
-i

Colonel

Br
Mrs

Kenny

Keurick, John
Kents, The

Kenyon, John

147
38
i. 456
ii. 403
i. 176
i. 178
ii. 446
i. 176
ii. 335
345, 409
i. 388

...

409

;

ii.

i. 452
ii. 227, 266, 280, 294,
304, 364, 425, 440, 451, 453, 480
ii. 456, 457
Character and tastes of
Death of .
.
. ii. 456
.
Kenyon's disposal of property ii. 456, 457
''Rhymed Plea for Tolerance*'
:

ii.

Kenyon, Lord

Keppel, Admiral
Ker, Bellenden

464

52, 386, 484

2
.
.
ii. 171
.
.
Keswick
ii.
.
.
64
i. 339, 346;
ii. 437
Key, Professor
Kilian
i. 101
Killamey, Lakes of
ii. 50, 51
.
.
Kilmallock, Labor Market at
ii.
.
57
.
ii. 294
Kindness known by the voice .
King, Dr.
ii. 408, 419, 429, 430, 431,
439
King's, Dr., speculations on moral evil
ii. 435
i. 166
King of Sweden, Unpopularity of
i. 388
Kiunaird
.

;

53, 71, 242, 247, 274, 284,
297, 304, 384 ii. 21

—

;

.....
.

;

299, 324, 325, 374, 384,

i. 243
i. 465
Kirkland, Mrs.
i. 439
Kiss
ii. 410
Kitchener, Dr.
ii.
42
Mrs.
i. 322
Miss
i.
41
Klopstock
i. 55,
ii. Ill
3, 217 253
Knebel, Major von
i. 126, 127, 128, 129,
134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 390, 393, 395
ii. 81 103, 170, 451
Early life of his wife
ii. 103
.
Family of
i. 128
Family history of
ii. 103
H. C. R.'s attachment to
i. 394
Intimacy with
i. 127
and Yoigt
i
150
Bernard
ii. 101, 102
Madame von
390 ii. 102
Knebel's son Charles, Visit to
ii. 102
Kneipe, The
ii. 122
Knigge, Baron
i. 125
Knights electing the Grand As;size ii. 33, 34
Knott, Rev. H.
ii. 451
Koe
i. 279
Kohl, Madame
i.
56
Kblle
i. 75, 84
ii. 119,121
.
Kbnigstein
i.
63
Kotzebue i. 41,74,103,104,133,1 2,191; ii. 87
Krahl leaving Rome
ii. 129
Kunigunda Savigny .
ii. 411

Kirkconnel Lea

99, 199

ii.

;

Philosophy of
Rasper Hauser
.
Kastner
.
Kastner

Kean,

ii.

;

59, 83, 103, 114, 146, 195, 201, 244,

249, 334, 350

Ladies' College

....

La Fayette
on America

Anticipations of
slave trade

Laing, David

501

284, 314

...

Buonaparte, relation to

on the
La Harpe

ii.
i.
.

286
i. 286
i. 285
i. 284
i. 365
461, 462
ii. 250
ii. 251
ii. 251
ii. 357
i.

Lake Como
Garda

of Iseo
poets and C. Lamb
Lakes, English and Scotch, compared
with those of Killarney
.
ii. 400
.
.

"LallaRookh"
Lamb, Charles i.

363

20, 41, 114, 170, 172, 192,
193, 195, 197, 207, 208, 219, 229, 231, 237,
238, 242, 246, 260, 296, 299, -308, 309, 310,
311, 313, 315, 324. 329, 350. 377, 383, 384,
432: ii. 14, 15, 17, 23, 36, 74, 96, 109,
114, 158. 159, 257, 363, 465, 481, 494

The Aikins on

Album

verses of

•

Art, his love for

ii.

" Ancient Dramatists," his

and Mrs. Barbauld

Blue-coat School influence on

....
...
....

Book borrowed from

at Cambridge
Childlikeness of
at Coleridge's
Death of
at Enfield

Epitaph on
Funeral of
Genius of

...

•

ii.

242
182
480
404
6

ii.224
.

ii.

ii.
.

ii.
ii.

ii.

41
433
334
6
204
78
214
204
357

;

537

INDEX.
i. 236
Charles, Hazlitt's portrait of
ii. 92, 93
confession by
.

Lamb,

Hoax and

India House left by
" The Intruding Widow
.
.
and Irving
.

ii.

"by
.

19, 22
ii.

and Landor

ii.
ii.

Letter to H. C. R. by
.
.
Letter to Southey by
Letters, new volume of his
Letters of, to Wordsworth
Letters to Wordsworth by

Library of

and Mary Lamb
tem

ii.

86
9
175
193
492
359
219

on
on
on
on
on

Blake

Blake's Catalogue
Coleridge
.
.

Dignum and Mrs.
the " Excursion "

H. C. R.'s " Great

27
ii.
75
i. 219, 238, 481
Bland
i. 209
i. 296
First Cause "
.

i.
on Keats
i.
on "King John'
i.
on Lady Macbeth
ii.
on his friend Manning
on Paris sights
.
i.
on "Peter Bell"
i.
on two poems by Wordsworth ii.
i. 214,
on puns
on punsters
i.
on " Reynard the Fox "
i.
on "Richard II."
i.
.
on Shakespeare
i.
on Sou they 's " Kehama "
i.
on 11 Titus Andronicus"
i.
on the "Two Angry Women of
Abingdon"
ii.
i.
on wit
i.
on Wordsworth and Coleridge
5

Piety of
Portrait of

ii.
.

portrait, sitting for

Prince Dorus, his story of
Religiousness of
.
serious when tete-a-tete

ii.
ii.
i.

.
.

i.
i.

324
454
224
224
7

477
251
464
349
216
211
224
224
204
198
297
349
204
4
465
42
211
492
481

Talfourd introduced to Wordsworth

Talk with Talfourd about
" Triumph of the Whale "by
Two days with
.

ii.
i.

ii.

Visit to, at Enfield

ii.

262
213
241
96
79
367
214

and Wordsworth correspondence ii.
ii.
Wordsworth on
Lamb's usual Christmas present of turi. 377
key from H. C. R.
Lamb, Mary i. 41, 197, 211, 224, 234, 298,
.

304, 328, 329, 352, 387, 396, 433, 476,
477 ii. 22, 79, 96, 204, 205, 214, 258,
282, 296, 307
Landor 's opinion of " Mrs. Leices;

ter's

Lambs, The
their visit

"by

149
207
355
i. 309, 404, 408, 452, 467
ii. 14, 169, 217
i. 476
to France
.

School

pension, her
Funeral of

ii.

ii.
ii.

;

23*

404
404
88
44, 227, 237
ii.
42
.

ii.

19, 137, 138, 173, 175,
176, 194, 205, 229, 292, 456, 489
S.

ii.

Attack on Wordsworth by
ii. 234
Description of, in " Bleak House "
.

ii.

Dogmatism of
love for
on art

ii.

203

try the water sys-

Landor,

History of

at Monkhouse's with Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Moore, and Rogers i. 485
.
i. 486
Lamb's account of the dinner .

Lamb on

Lancaster, Joseph
Landon, Miss

219
96

Lamb, The Honorable George
The Honorable William
Lambert

ii.

Lamb,

his

ii.

137
139
138
162
139

on death of Coleridge and Goethe
194
162
174
ii. 160, 257
.
.
.
ii. 143
ii. 138
on the Italians
.
.
ii. 162
on the Lake poets
.
.
ii. 206
on Mary Lamb
ii. 149
on " Mrs. Leicester's School"
ii. 227
.
on pictures .
ii. 178
.
on Schlegel
ii. 150
Landor's dog Parigi
ii. 137
Tuscan villa
unlimited utterance, gift of
ii. 137
i. 325
Landseer, Sir Edwin
John, Lecture by
i. 325
Langhorne
ii. 241
i. 137
Languages, Foreign
Lapse of memory
.
Lardner
ii. 237
Last Christmas day .
ii. 501
continental journey
ii. 483
look at Rogers's house
ii. 452
visit to the theatre
ii. 499
volume of the Diary begun
ii. 494
Latitudinarian, A
ii. 376
clergyman, A
ii. 487
.
.
Latitudinarianism
ii. 445
La Trappe, walk to the monastery
11
Laureate, The, commanded to Court ii. 308
odes
ii. 309
The, at Court
ii. 337
The, at home
i. 340
.
.
.
.
Laurie, Sir Peter .
i. 488
.
.
Lavaggi
i. 179, 186
H. C. R. assists
i. 182
Madame
i. 179, 180, 184, 185
.
in London
i. 194
Lavalette
i. 330
Lavater
ii. 295
i. 122
Laverna
ii. 248
.
.
.
.
Law, Anomalies of the
ii. 353
as an instrument of oppression i. 329
of blasphemy
i. 493
Lawrence, Archbishop
ii. 345
(schoolmaster)
l.
M
Sir T.
i. 215, 216, 220, 242, 387
.
ii. 19, 20, 44, 70
W.
i. 452
Lawreoce's picture of the Pattissons i. 220,
357
Lawyers bad judges on moral questions
ii. 331
ii. 265
bad lawmakers .
.
.
.
ii.

on "Elia"

on Flaxman
on flowers
on H. C. R

....

ii.

....

;

538

INDEX.

Lawyers' dinner party

as a

60
400
400
422, 423
ii. 1^6
472, 476
i.
3
ii.

fees

•

Layard, A. H.

boy

Lazzaroni
Leach, Mr.
Lease, 3Ir
Lease's, Mr.

ii.

school.

371,,

ii.

Leblanc

i. 353, 355
P.
ii. 358, 468,.469, 473
"
Lecture-room, Affair in
i. 134
.

Le Breton, Rev.

Leeds

348
63
ii. 267
.
.
i. 327
.
.
.
.
ii. 147
.
Legends
ii. 248
Legitimation by subsequent marriage ii. 73
Le Grice, Valentine
ii. 238
.
Anecdotes of
ii. 239
Leibnitz
i. 90, 200
ii. 23
Leipzig and Dresden
ii. 113
L. E. L
ii.
42
Lennard, Mr
ii.
43
Leonardo da Vinci
i. 333, 445
.
his celebrated picture .
i. 445, 446
Leopardi
ii. 154
Lepsius
ii. 279
Le Sage
i. 308
Leslie
ii.
19
Leasing .
i. 66,102, 172
his "Nathan der Weise*'
99
i.
Letter from Arnold, Mrs., to H. C. R. ii. 356
Burney, Miss, to H. C. R.
ii. 207
Byron, Lady, to H. C. R. ii. 431, 438,
443, 444, 445, 446, 448, 452, 454
Clarkson, Mrs., to H. C. R.
i. 223
ii. 90, 190, 437
Coleridge to H. C. R.
i. 231, 271, 362,
385
ii. 442
Denman, Miss, to H. C. R.
ii. 484
Dixon, James, to H. C. R.
.
ii. 434
.
Donaldson to H. C. R.
.
ii. 361
Estlin, Mr., to H. C. R.
Field. Barron, to H. C. R.
ii. 326, 336
30
i.
Hall, Robert, to H. C. R.
Hamond to H. C. R. and others
i. 424, 427
Hamond to Coroner and Jury i. 427
ii. 191, 209, 225
H. C. R. to Benecke
to Booth, James
ii. 297
to Clarkson, Mrs. i. 225, 226,
Lees,

Letter from H. C. R. to Mottram, J., Junr.
ii. 459
to Pattisson, W.
ii. 127, 147
154, 155
to Pattisson, Mrs.
i
280
to Paynter
ii. 338
379,' 395,
417, 418, 441, 458
to Quillinan
ii, 313
to Schunck, Mrs.
ii. 496
to Talfourd
ii' 375
to T. R.
i. 12,
36, 38, 45, 46,
.

;

ii. 22, 35, 186
to Wordsworth, Mrs.
ii. 317,
324 327, 366, 369
King, Dr., to H. C. R. ii. 430, 432, 434,
435, 437, 440
Lamb, Charles, to H. C. R.
i. 193
,

•

;

Landor

Collier, J. D.
Collier, Mrs.

Cookson, W.

235,239
ii. 232
.

.
.

ii.

to Fenwick, Miss

ii.

158
125

477, 491,
498, 501
304, 385,

399
ii. 492
to Field, E. W.
.
ii. 337
to a Friend
.
.
to Hall, Rev. R.
i.
28
.
ii.
to Goethe
80
to Habakkuk R.
i. 402
.
to Jones, Rev. H.
ii. 502
.
to Landor
ii. 234
toMasquerier ii. 187,215,289,
291
.

C. R.

ii.

ii. 77, 92
149, 160, 162,
178, 194, 256

H. C. R.
Junr., to H. C. R.

Lofft, Capel, to

Nay lor,

S.,

Paynter to H. C. R.

ii.
.

ii.

234
170
430

Quillinan to

II. C. R.
ii. 308, 309, 315,
318, 322, 323, 376, 384, 387, 390, 391,

Savigny to H. C. R.
Southey to H. C. R
Southey to Hamond
Talfourd to H. C. R.
T. R. to H. C. R.
Voigt to H. C. R.
.

Wordsworth

i.
.

.
.

C. R.

II.

407
87
379, 421, 481
i. 425
ii. 204

51, 68
ii.

457

171

ii. 94,
180, 211, 260, 264, 268, 281, 285, 287,

Coleridge, H. N.

;

to
to
to
to

55, 72, 79, 86, 89, 92, 106,
128, 136, 150, 151, 168, 174
200 230, 266, 376; ii. 144,
145, 149, 276, 290, 295, 302,
304, 308, 315, 316, 319, 321,
333, 335, 343, 346, 349, 352,
355, 357, 359, 360, 361, 362,
363, 364, 368, 371, 372 374,
378, 382, 384, 388 392, 394,
397, 399, 402, 403, 404, 406,
409, 418, 420, 421, 422, 424,
425, 426, 431, 437, 439, 441,
455, 467
to Wordsworth i. 349 ii. 91,
174, 212, 213, 239, 260, 265,
286, 293, 330, 331
to Wordsworth, Miss
i. 202

ii.

Legacy, Invaluable
Legal subtlety, A
Legations in insurrection

;

323 331

Wordsworth, Miss i. 192. 471
Wordsworth, Mrs. to H. C. R.
Wurm, Dr., to H. C. R.
L'Enclos, Ninon de

;

ii.
i.

ii!

ii.

Lettsom, Dr

ii.

Levesque
Miss

ii.
ii.

Levezow

Lewes, G. H.'s, u Life of Goethe "
Lewis
Miss
.

163
405
84
54
9
284
378
159

72
Monk
ii.
40
Libel case, A
i. 415
Libel by II. C. R. in the Times
i. 483
Liberal enemies to liberty
expectations respecting the United
States
ii. 368
1

;

539

INDEX.
the

French Revolution

Macaulay, T. B.

ii.

Liberates, serviles

ii.

by the

Liberty endangered

368
349

sincerely
ii.

religious

Liebig
Lieflander and Curlander
*'
Life in the Sick Room »
Lightfoot
.
.
Ligne, Prince de

365
9
9o
319
229
64
137
J"

.
.

ii.
ii.
i.

Lillo

Limitation to endowments for opinions
ii. 333
Lincoln, President, Assassination of ii. 491
ii. 490, 491
.
on slavery
ii.
80
.
.
Bishop of .
ii. 374
Cathedral
i. 5, 9
Lincolne, Mr
ii. 193
Lindley, Dr
ii. 280
Lindleys,The
i. 246
Theophilus
.
Lindsey,
i.
4
Ling, Mrs
ii.
88
Linnsean Society, Dinner with
i. 215
Linnaeus
ii. 24, 28, 76
Linnell, Mr
ii. 259
Lister, Mrs. Daniel
i. 205, 209, 259, 373, 387, 388, 396,
Liston
415, 458 ii. 17, 42, 227
" Literary Gazette"
ii.
42
.
.
i. 231
Literary work
i. 452
Literati asleep
Littledale, Edward, i. 239, 377, 475; ii. 15,
.

....
.

Lovett
" Lucretius "

397
127
342
ii. 299
Lugano, Lake of
i. 441
.
Lulworth Cove, At
ii. 477
Lushington
ii. 335
Dr
i. 250
Liitchens, Madame
i. 152, 154
Luther i. 61, 70, 80, 101, 221, 338, 374, 413:
ii. 10, 27
Anecdote of
i. 337
Lutheran clergy
.
i.
61
Luttrell
ii. 388
Lutwidge, Admiral
i. 345
Lutwidges, The
ii. 223
Lyell, Sir Charles
i.
26
Lectures by
ii. 172, 304
Lyndhurst, Lord
ii. 332, 458
i. 267
A liberal freak of
ii. 424
Lyttelton, Lord
i. 188
\

respecting

expectations

Liberal

Lucy Gray »
Luff, Mrs

...
.

....
.

;

385

;

283, 314, 330, 386,
402, 412, 458

ii.

Estimate of

;

ii.

style

Macdonald, G.
Macdonald's writing
Mackenzie, Hon. Miss

ii.

107,200;

ii.

Mr
Lobo

Loder
Lockhart
Lofft,

27,29
ii.

i.
.

Capel

313

;

ii.

20
186
82
284

18, 21, 26, 41, 234, 275,

315

;

ii.

....

Loss of memory

Loughborough, Lord
Louis Philippe

Louise,

Lover

....
Grand Duchess

Lovere, Voyage to

Lovegrove

Lovell

Mrs.
" Love's Labor
.

Love me, love

ii.

.
.

Lost

book

242
267
467
158
158
429
72
419

216
403
369
. i. 42, 149
ii. 112
ii. 207, 474
ii. 251
i. 217
i. 233
.
i. 340
ii. 486
ii. 407
.

ii.

abdicates

Louis XVI.

...

Lady

Miss
Macmillan, Mr.

ii.

285

ii.

38, 313, 382, 492
ii. 94, 213, 479

on the British constitution
as a moralist

38
213

ii.

251, 269, 270, 296

408

ii.

501

Preface, vi.

;

Macpherson
Macready i. 263, 264, 387, 433, 456
McSwiney, Mr
Madden, Mr
Madge, Rev. T.

ii.

345
51, 52
ii.
89

ii.

279;

229,

ii.

;

296, 344, 345,
358, 359, 370, 373, 470, 476
i.

349

30, 475

ii.

;

252

81,213

i.
Longman's, Dinner at
.
i.
Lonsdale, Lord
Lord Mayor's dinner
.
i.
Lords, The, throw out the Reform Bill ii.
O'Connel counsel before the
ii.
Loring, C. G., on Webster
ii.
Lorraine, Claude
i.

Mackenzie's, Miss, death

Mackintosh, Sir James

349

Lombardy and the Austrian dominions
London University
Londoners and bad French
i. 316, 326
Long

310, 311
ii. 312
469, 495
ii. 500

142, 143, 150, 194,
242, 243, 246, 247
ii. 285, 453

14, 33, 70, 73, 82, 83, 89, 90,

20, 227
26, 191

ii.

;

William Horton

Locke

378

Lloyd, Gamaliel

ii.

Macaulay 's criticism of Pope deprecated

Wordsworth on
Liverpool, Lord

....

ii.

Madrid, Plan for going to
Magee, Dr

179
203
371
ii. 222
ii. 183
20, 27, 41, 42
.

ii.

Mahon, Lord

ii.

Maiden, Professor
*
Malibran
Maling, Sarah Jane
Malkin, Dr.
.

Mallett

191
i.

ii.

;

186, 187

Malmaison

287
ii. 170, 282
Maltby, W. .
i. 216
.
i. 252
Mandeville, Bernard
M Manfred"
i. 363
ii. 108
The indomitable in
ii.
51
Mangerton
i. 411
Mankind were fallen angels
ii. 435
Man learning only by induction
ii. 4
i. 224, 378
Manning
ii. 357
(Archdeacon)
ii. 4, 486
i. 202, 378
Serjeant
ii. 498
Death of
i. 303, 400
Mansfield, Sir James
.
i.

;

540

DTD EX.

Marburg

i 79

Marcet. Mrs.
Marl bom- ugh, Duke of
Marlowe's •• Fans: "

• .

ii 191
ii 71
ii 107
ii 491

Marmor Homerkum

Marquis of Westminster's pictures
ii 183
Marriage of BLC.R.s Either and mother i 2
Mars. Mademoiselle
i 2&«, 3S5 ii 4*>5
Marsden
i 4i«3
Marsh. Charles
.
.
i L5. 312
Martin. Baron and Lady .
ii 4*)»>
.
:

Tom

Mardneau. Rev. James

25s

81. 4»".tS ii 470,
475. 47o. 477. 4Sr>
3iarrineau*s sermms
ii 315. 316. 412
.
Manineau. Miss ii 131. 5>\ 271. 319. 343.
344. 372, 3s*>. 465
Mrs. John .
476. 4S2
.
f
Peter
ii 351. 475. 476. 4s4
.
Richard
ii 3&1. 4o7
.
i.

Death of
Russell

Marv

of Butiermere
.
Mas^uerier i 32*. 355. 412:

493
476
i 346

ii
ii

ii 14. 215. 2>4.

33, 399,

41j
.
.
.
ii. 447
Masquerier's •death .
Parrr at
i 452
Masoueriers. The i. 322. 4*3 ii 125.235. 2-2
'.
Mass at the Portuguese Chapel
i 350
A grand
i 350
in Paris
.
. h. 373
.
i 333
Massev
.
i.328. 374
ii 3>4
5 of heaven and hell
. it
70
i. 2TJ8. £»9. 210. 259. 2S4. 3>4
21
ii.
u at home"
.
I 353. 474
.
.
227
ii
C. Junior
B. 330
Mau>. Fox
378,

400,

4«jS.

....

Maundrel
Maurice. Rev. Frederick

Heresy of

7
ii 19. 2S1. 357.
437. 475. 476. 495
ii 434. 435

m.
....

on subscription

ii 2)53

Mav

407

i 382

MaV. Mira

31s
3Iayer
L 125
31akimllian
339
i.
.
Maxwell. Captain
ii $4
S ir
ii 434
Mechanical inspiration
3Iecklenburg-Schwerin. Duke of i 160, 161
ii. 176
Medwin
ii 5S
.
Meeting. Committee
.
.
.
.
. ii.
58
Great public
i 109
Meiners
i 7L 101 h. 345
31elanchtbon
. i 404: ii. 439
Melbourne. Lord
i 256
Melish. Mr
i. 3S5
Mellon, Miss
.
.
Melvill
.
ii 251. 2*2
ii.
399
Memorial projects
.
. i 409
Memorr and responsibility
of names
ii 469
ii ISO.

—

ii.

201

i210
n.273

Mental phenomenon
.
.
Mettzel s "Deutsche Literarur"
Mereau. Sophie
.
.
.
Meredith. Miss
.
Merewether, Dr
Message, A touching
Methodist client, A

i 85

ii 143

i 56

318
365
376
L 356

ii.

ii
.

preacher's brief

Merternieh

Meux
Meyer. Professor
MrsMichael Angeio

i 71

i 20o, 210

ii
ii

349

4*36

42
i 376

ii 26, 27,

70.75
L 61
224
course. The
349
.
.
.
Temple. Entering the .
i 172
.
Temple, Terms at
i. 190
.
Midileton. Sir W.
.i 21,300
.
Milan
i 443. 444
Cathedral
ii. 250
Objects of interest at
i 445
sonnets, The three
.
.
i 444
to Como
ii 249
Mill. J. S.
i 278,418: ii 14,169
Millard
i 317

Mk-haeiis

Middle age incapable of new loves

ii
ii

1250,354

Miller

Milman. Dean
ii 262. 352. 398, 427
on plenarv raspiration
ii 262
3Iiiner. Rev. John
ii 50
.
Milne
ii 309
ii. 2?7. 29o, 330
Milnes
.

Miiton

11, 31«5. 270, 3C»1.

313

Miiiisteria! crisi3

Minuets. The

L 206

a 222
.

Minermaier
applause

L 459
237
149
i 131
15, 229
ii 100
i 283
i 332
n. 457
ii 467
n.
ii

Mismanagement

Mob

11, 401
ii 173

L 448

Mirabeau
Miracles
Misanthropist, A, denned
Miser, A
.
.
.
Miserere. The
Mirford. Miss

ii 28.

©,374
1482

29,

Mina
Minsav

opinion, Specimen of
.
.
Mocatta
Model carriage
Modern Jewish opinions all but Christian

ii 448

Moiiere
Molo. The

Mona

Statutes .
Monasteries. Visit to

Monk, artist. The
Monkhouse i 37?.

i 380
126
189
ii. 135
ii 249

ii
% ii
.

3S4. 385, 431. 432. 434,

455,457.457,468,470,486; h. 4,65
Monkhouse's, Dinners at
.
i 377, 452
Dinner of the poets at .
i 485
.
i 486
H. C. R/s account of it .
i 486
Lamb's account
Moore's account
485
.
ii 258
Monkhouse, John
Montagu, Baal i 238, 350,409,490: ii 6,
81,33,43,494
l 313
walking the circuit
.
.

INDEX.
Montagu, Mrs. Basil
Montague, Mrs

43
252
475
i. 246
ii.
Montgomery
63
.
" Monthly Register "
i.
87
Moore, Sir John .
i. 177, 180, 185
i. 267, 485, 486; ii. 107, 264
Tom
on the French
i. 484
Political satires of
i. 406
with Rogers
ii. 307
.
Moral sense, The
ii. 381
.
Moravian establishment
i.
59
.
Moravians, The
59
i.
More, Hannah
..
ii. 316
tragedy by
Morgan, Sir Charles
ii.
8
.

ii.

Monteagle, Lady

;

Lady
Morgan _

195, 249, 253, 329, 335

ii.

Moses, Mr.

249
227
380
448

Madame

Mosquera \s, Party at
Mother, H. G. R.'s
Death of

Mountcashel

ii.
i.

ii.

Movement towards the Vatican
Moxhay
Moxon
ii. 79, 96, 204, 207, 214,

ii!

ii.

4
503
441
246
332
310
356

240, 335,
343, 355, 364, 371, 388, 406

Mucewitz

ii.

Muller

....

...
.

i i

;

Prints by
Muller's engraving of the
di S. Sisto

;

....
.

Mulready

ii.
i.

326, 328, 384

Munich artists
Murat
Murch, Mr. Jerome
Charles
Murder revenged,
Murillo

354

"Madonna

Ill

;

ii.

ii.
.

ii.

355
19
21
255
275
353

453
64

179
i. 215
269
259, 267,
i. 295
ii. 172
.
i.

(publisher)

Lady Augusta

Music in the air
Musical party at Aders

Mylius, Herr

.
*

Myliuses, The
Mystery of colds

287

56, 444

Dinner with
Mrs. H.

450
448

11.
ii.

493

ii.

372

Mysticism

The

Naples
i.

424
ii. 124, 125
149, 150, 153, 161, 162, 177
ii. 38, 103
.

ii.

;

Newman,

351, 352, 364, 367, 373,
389, 395, 477

ii.

John

335
59
63
ii. 27
New year
i. 110
year's day
ii. 502
Niccolini on Catholic emancipation ii. 133
Niccolini's " Nabucco "
ii. 133
Nicholson
i. 240
Nicolai, Frederick
i. 102
ii. 118
Nicolai's Satires
i. 103
Niebuhr
ii. 19, 123, 357
40
Niece
ii.
ii. 101, 196, 198
Niese, Madame
ii. 491
.
Ninetieth birthday
ii. 141
Nismes
64
ii.
Niven, Mr
ii.
73
Mrs
" No Crabb, no Christmas '
ii. 390
ii. 286, 345
Non-con dinner
ii. 404
Norfolk, Duke of
.
15
i.
Norgate
44
ii.
Norris, Mr
i. 409
North, Lord
Northampton, Marquis of ii. 121, 122, 374
ii. 19
Northcote
i. 196, 240
i. 239
Northmore
ii. 335
Norton, Hon. Mrs.
Norwich
i. 16,317,348
ii. 374
Bishop of
ii.

Newport, Sir J
Newspaper mis-reporting
Newton, Sir Isaac
i. 49, 195, 200
.

ii.
ii.

;

•

;

Napier, Sir Charles

Murphy
(actor)

62, 119

Napoleon

Mystics,

Influence of
.
.
A memory of the dearest
" Mountain named of God himself"
Mountains in winter

Muxel

Grave of

Murray

.•

Munden

354
142
445
Miss
i. 324,395
Miss Esther
i. 307, 464
The Misses
388
Mr. Senior i. 228 ,311 ,323,359
30
Wedd
i. 266
ii. 30, 32
William
i. 23, 27, 28, 32, 190
W. and T. (of Whittlesford)
323
Nashes, The
i. 40, 473
ii. 32
National Assembly, Conduct of business in
ii. 400, 401
" National Review "
ii. 444, 448, 452
requirements of it
ii. 446
Natural conscience
ii. 380
sense of justice
ii. 380
Nature's waterworks at Tivoli
ii
245
Naylor
i. 351, 371, 404, 488
ii. 3
Samuel, Junr.
i. 129, 211, 317
ii. 111,337
Thomas .
.
i. 317
Hare
i. 172, 192
Mr. and Mrs.
i. 136
Naylors, Dinner at
ii.
78
Naylors, The
.
.
.
i. 362
Neander
ii.
19
Necessity and free-will
ii. 72, 199
Necker
i. 116
Needham, J.
ii. 493
Neeff, Dr
i. 106
Nelson
ii.
69
Nephew's marriage
i. 4T9
Netherland voyage
i. 318
Netherlands, Places visited in the
i. 318
Netzel, the Swedish consul
i. 160
New road to Germany
ii. 253
escape,

Mosquera,

Narischkin, Prince

Narrow
Nash

Morgan's, Evening at
Morgans, The
Morghen, Raphael

Mosaism

541

....

;

INDEX.

542

Owen

" Not at home V
Nugent, Lord,

Oxberry

ii.
58
O'Brien
ii 376
Smith, and Irish martyrdom
O'Connell counsel before the Lords ii. 158
ii.
46
in court
51
ii.
Derrynane, at
49
ii.
Incidents by the way with .
ii.
54
.
Family mansion of
ii.
48
H. C. R.'s coach journey with
ii.
55
.
Reformation, on the
ii. 48, 50
Talk with
ii.
51
Visit to
ii.
52
.
.
brother-in-law
O'Connell's
ii52
Dinner at
ii.
55
.
family chaplain
ii.
55
.
Legitimacy principles
ii.
53
mode of settling disputes
principles, are they justifiable . ii. 56
ii.
58
Speech
ii.
53
tenantry
ii.
49
great-uncle shot
ii.
56
O'Connell, Maurice
ii.
54
O'Connells, Cemetery of the
i. 107
Oersted
Office of the magistrate in suppressing
ii. 233, 234
religious error
ii.
52
0' Gorman
ii. 290, 394
Old age
ii.
52
Extreme
ii. 402
musings
i. 353
Old Bailey
ii. 255
i. 257
Oldenburg
.
ii. 487
Old letters
ii.
50
.
.
O'Leary, Arthur
ii.
46
O'Loghlen
ii. 439, 440
Old man's birthday, An
i. 476
Old people stupid
Old times compared with the present i. 411

Paestum

Nuremberg

•

;

Omnibuses

85
212
420
ii. 444
ii. 446
One-mindedness amidst variety
ii. 492, 493
One more play
ii. 235
One-sidedness of genius
O'Neil, Miss
i. 299, 304, 310, 317, 323
ii. 145
On the imperial veto
" On the brink of being born "
ii. 494
On what convictions happiness rests
ii. 452
Open church government
ii. 415
.
Opera, Pope's benefit at the
i. 209
Opera and theatre at Berlin
i. 104
Opie
i. 210, 275
ii. 19, 94
- Mrs.
.
ii. 9, 33
i. 16
Oppression in Saxony
ii. 417
.
Oratory, H. C. R. on
i. 211
.
Order preferred to freedom
i. 483
Ordination, What sufficient for
ii. 352
Orleans, Duchess of
i.
42
Osborne
ii.
65
Ossian
i.
55
Our Lady of the Snow
i. 439
Outline of Faber's religious theory
ii. 301
Ouvry, F.
ii. 476
Overbeck
ii. 122, 247
ii.

On criticism and partial insight
On Divine aid
On eternity of future punishment

ii.

;

....

377
328
335

125
165
35
i. 326
ii.
5
ii. 5, 66
ii.

ii.

Paine, Thomas, Engraving of
Paley, Reading
.
.
Palgrave, Sir F. .
.
.

Paganini

Oxford, Parties at

•

31
77

ii.

•

Lady

.....
.

ii.

8S
93
335
Dr
i. 243
Palmerston, Lord
.
ii. 62, 89, 185, 411
Pamphlet Society, Proposed
ii. 365
Panic of 1825
32
ii.
.
Papal aggression
ii. 403
Government on the watch for libels
ii. 128
panic
ii. 404
Dr
Parke,
i. 276
Parkes, Joseph
ii. 483
.
.
Mrs. Joseph
ii 372
.
Parkin
i. 224
Paris, Journey to
i. 367
At
i. 367
i. 368
Life in, during the Revolution
.
i. 293
Review of trip to
i. 395
Six days at
i. 316
taken
tour
ii. 399,400
under a Republic
.
ii. 400, 401
Parodies, The, and Government prosecution of Hone
i. 371
Parr, Dr. i. 39, 100, 189, 255 ii. 4, 17, 78,
121, 175, 432, 513, 518
Parry, editor of the " Courier "
i.
36
ii. 1
Captain
.
i. 27
of Grasmere
ii. 223
.
Pascal; Saying of .
98
i.
.
Pascal's letters
.
i. 356
ii. 273
Pasley, Sir T
ii. 271
Pasquinades
ii. 145
Passavant
i. 390
"Passing Jehovah unalarmed"
ii. 376
Pasta
ii.
84
Patmore, Mr
i.
10
Pattisson, Jacob, Senr.
.
.
i. 14, 15
Mrs. Jacob
i. 322
Jacob, Junr.
ii. 176
i. 215, 220
Palinode
Pretended

ii.

——

Palmer

ii.

....
....
.

;

Mr.,ofMaldon

Witham i. 16, 22, 26,
322, 328; ii. 24,42,43, 366
Mrs. W.
i. 215, 277, 280, 300, 322,
348, 357, 382
i. 215, 220
William, Junr.
ii. 20,
21, 426
Fatal accident to, with his bride ii. 177
ii. 83, 203, 487
Pattissons, The
Lawrence's picture of the (William
ii. 178
and Jacob)
i. 215, 220
William, of

;

Paul, Emperor of Russia

Jean

Prince

The

original

Paulis,

157

ii.
.

The

ii.

390
42
89
115

Paul Pry
Pauli

136

105, 196, 233, 253

149, 156

ii.
;

;

543

INDEX.
Paulus, Professor

Payne

Lamb)

(friend of C.

99, 100, 101, 110, 131
ii. 101, 198, 199
ii. 9, 71
i. 477
;

Mrs

ii.

119

ii. 238, 309, 354, 393, 422, 443
.
ii. 417
Letter to, from H. C. K.
ii. 430
on an Established Church .
i.
68
Peace, The
Illumination for .
.
i. 324
.
.
ii.
18
Peacock, Dean of Ely
.
.
i. 376
Peck well, Miss
i. 437
Pedestrians, Tour as
Peel, Sir Robert i. 386 ii. 17, 89, 170, 210,

Paynter

;

Peile, Lessons of

Pelew
Penalties for not attending church

Penance by deputy
Penn, A descendant of William
Granville

Pensioned
Pepina

The new

post,

The

Perceval, Assassination of
Percy's Reliques
Perplexing fears of change
Persecution On .
.

ii.

344
46
403
355
199
312
6
46
285
398

Preface, xii.
i. 246, 260

167
ii. 163
ii. 299
i. 329
i. 199
i.
88
405, 431
i. 321
178, 210
235, 241
i.

Personal talk
Perthes of Hamburg
Pestalozzi
.

ii.
.

•

letter writer,

" Peter Bell"

ii.
.

Pennefather, Baron

Penny

ii.

Peter the Great
.
.
Peter Pindar.
i.
.
.
.
Petrarch
ii.
Petrarch's copy of Virgil seized by Nai. 445
poleon
Pettigrew
ii. 298, 345
ii. 439
Pett, Samuel
ii. 330, 358, 373, 483
Philips, Mark
.
ii. 483
Philips, R. N
i. 456
Phillips
ii.
R. A. i. 241, 311, 313
20, 70, 279
i. 275, 404
Sir Richard
Philosopher's, The, estimate of evil ii. 396
ii. 89, 170, 173
Philpotts, Dr.
.
ii. 206
Pickersgill
Pickcrsgill's portrait of Wordsworth ii. 183
i. 451
Pickpocket, The
.
.
.
i. 448
Pictet, Mr
i. 154, 156, 157
Pietsch
.
i. 384
Piggott
ii. 343
Pig language
62
i.
Piilnitz
i. 184
Pipiela
ii. 120
i. 387, 404
Piranesi (engraver)
.

;

Pistrucci

Pitt, William i. 36, 50, 186, 187
Pitt and Grenville Acts .
.

Pius VIII., Death of
Funeral of

lying in state
Place, Mr
Places to have seen
Plans for the future

ii.
.

ii.

Playfellow of C. Lamb's

;

Planting trees
Piatt,

8
15
34, 69
i.
21
ii. 141
ii. 141
ii. 141
i. 381
ii. 125

ii.

Pitchford

i.
.

ii.

216
203
358
362

Playford Hall
i. 336
Pleading before the Lords
i. 475
Plenary inspiration
ii. 2(52
Plomer, Sir Thomas
ii. 311
Plumer, Mr
ii
363
Plumptre, Rev. E.
ii. 330, 332, 449, 475,
476
Mrs.
i. 371
ii. 443
.
.
The Misses
.
i.
41
Anne
i. 191
Plunkett
ii.
61
"Pocket Book," the Old, no longer
published
ii. 502
Poel proprietor of the Altona Mercury
i. 149, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 410
Poel, Junr
i. 472
Madame
i. 155
.
Poet of humanity, The
ii. 257
On a young
ii. 297, 298
Poetic imagination
i. 342
Poetry an epidemic
i. 457
.
H. C. R. on
i. 213
.
" Poet's eye, The "
i. 470
Poets need no prompter
i. 470
Poets, The, at a concert
i. 486
Poets, The, diverse love of music
i. 486
Point of union between High Church
and Non-cons
ii. 305
Points of happiness compared
ii. 421
Polemics in Prussia
ii. 129
Morbid effect of
ii. 307
On
ii. 306
Politics
ii. 193, 202
at Altona
i. 151, 152
.
Bear and forbear in
i. 331
French
ii. 368, 369
Political crisis in Europe
ii. 368
expectations at Altona
i. 152
talk
i. 246
unsettlement
ii. 141
Pollock, Chief Baron i. 354, 365, 419, 420,
491 ii. 19, 498, 499
Pompeii
ii. 126
Poole, the comic writer
ii. 400
i. 326
Poor man's doctor, The
ii. 438
Pope, Alexander
i. 102, 239, 357, 362
ii. 32, 96, 104, 292
ii. 310
Enthusiasm for
.
ii. 311
Lessons learnt from
.
Macaulay's attack on
ii. 312
ii. 311
The aggressors on
Pope's moral character
ii. 312
—
place among the poets
ii. 313
.
i. 324
Pope (the actor)
.
ii. 145
Pope, Choice of a new .
ii.
Coronation of .
146
.
ii. 145
Election of
.
ii. 130
Goethe on the
ii. 146
proclaimed
ii. 315
at Rome better than at Oxford
ii. 129
The, at a fete
Pope's, The " make up "
ii. 130
Popish practices of some who cry " No
ii.
Popery "
43
Porden
i. 202, 241, 294, 295
ii.
1
Ellen
i. 202, 242, 312
i. 311
Porden's, Dinner at
Pordens, The
i. 267, 272
ii. 121
Porson, Professor
i. 35, 108
.

;

....
.

;

...
....
.

;

544

INDEX.

Porter, Miss Jane

246, 248, 249

42
438
432
. ii. 166
.
.
Portugal
i. 491
Pothier
i. 290
Power (the actor)
ii. 227
Power of the keys .
ii. 428
.
.
.
Praed
ii. 160
Prague
.
i.
.
66
Prati, Dr
ii. 8, 22
Preaching, Open-air
i. 464
Predestination
ii. 210, 447
Predisposition to certain notions
ii. 347
Presbyterians retained the power of
change
ii. 322
Presentiment, False
.
.
ii. 290
Preston
i. 358, 381
Prevost, Abbe
i. 139
Priest, A vehement
ii.
61
Priestley, Dr.
i. 10, 22, 54, 82, 100, 138
ii. 279
Primeval question, The
ii. 432
Primitive powers inexplicable
ii.
72
Primogeniture scriptural
i. 328
Primrose, Mr
ii.
56
Prince Albert at the Flaxman Gallery
ii. 410
Prince, The Crown, of Weimar
i. 390
Princess Charlotte's marriage
i. 330
death
i. 370
Princess of Saxe- Weimar
i. 136, 390
Princess, The Grand
i. 392
Prior
i. 139, 188, 278, 382
Prints and art criticism
i. 456
i. 354
Prints, A present of
ii. 379
Prison discipline
ii. 367
Private theatricals
ii. 194
Proby, Lady Charlotte.
i. 277
Procession in the City
Proclamation and shooting down of
Catholics
ii.
49
Procter, George
ii.
33
.
Robert
ii. 476
Procter, alias Barry Cornwall
ii. 356, 494
Procureur du Roi, Office of
i. 479
Professional income
i. 468
Professorship of mental philosophy ii. 498,
500
Progress of toleration among Catholics
ii. 234
Prohibition of milk in Lent
ii. 148
Projects for future work
ii. 496, 497
Property the creature of necessity
ii. 381
Prophet, A, without honor
i. 343
Prospects of old and young contrasted
ii. 472
Provisional Government in France
ii. 369
Pryce
ii. 345
Pry me, M. P. for Cambridge
i. 459
Public affairs
i.
21
Public, The, guilty for not educating its
members
ii. 381
Punishment for crime
ii. 380
Grounds for
ii. 380, 381
The nature of
ii. 382
Purcell
i. 221
Putting papers in order
ii. 487
Pyecroft
i. 184
Portrait, A,

by L^dy Byron

exhibition
Portraits by Sir Joshua

;

ii.

.....
.

;

" Quadrupeds," Play of
Quain
Quaker anecdote
.

Quillinan

ii.

guilty or innocent ? .
.
popular feeling respecting
Queen Caroline's trial
.
.
visit to St. Paul's
.

Queen, The young
Queen's entry into the City

94, 296, 359, 374, 383, 386,

ii.

Death of

407
416
310
ii. 391
311, 312
i. 465
292, 321
256, 358
ii. 238
i. 485
ii. 347
ii.

Liberal Romanism of
on Dr. Channing
.
on Pope's writings
Mrs. (the first)
Mrs. (the second)

.
.

ii.

and death of

Illness

Miss
Quintet of poets

ii.

tot sententiee

ii.

Quot homines

;

ii.

scruples

Junr
Queen Caroline
and the counsel
Coleridge on

217
423
228
i. 434
i. 228
259, 337
ii. 170
i. 441
151, 152
i. 453
ii. 152
i. 430
i. 453
i. 453
ii 259
ii. 259
.

Quakers, Scandal on
Quayle, W.
i. 190, 266, 307

Rabelais

382
401
506
Radcliffe, Mrs
i. 304
Rae
i. 430
ii. 474
Raffles, Sir Stamford
i. 418
.
Railway journey, First
ii. 184
Rainville
i. 154
Rammohun Roy
ii. 159, 170
Randall, Edward
i. 380
ii. 341
Ranke
ii. 313, 316, 410, 412
Rankin, Miss
ii. 481
Ranz des Vaches
i. 441
Raphael i. 72, 80, 355, 393 ii. 26, 70, 75,
121, 235
Rapid travelling by stage-coach
ii. 216
Rationalists, The
i.
61
Rauch
ii. 122
Raumer, Herr von
ii. 226
.
Ravenglass
i. 345
Ray, Mr. and Mrs. John
i. 365
Raymond
ii. 345
Read the blotted page kindly
ii. 453
Reader
ii.
i. 370
30
Recamier, Madame de
ii. 176
i. 479
ii. 126
Reciter, or Improvisatore
ii. 353
Recollection of boyhood
ii. 503
of eighty years
.
ii. 498
of the French war
ii.
60
Redesdale, Lord
i. 475
Rees, Dr. Abraham
i. 135, 242, 243
ii. 476
Reeve, Mrs.
i. 448
Reeves
i. 374
Reform Bill
ii. 158, 163, 164, 173
question, The
i. 414
Reforms after the Reform Bill
ii. 210
Reformation, The
70
i.
Regent's Park, The
23
i. 381; ii.
Reid
40
i.
Mr. (of Hampstead)
i. 408
i.

Rachel as Hermione
Racket court

ii.

;

ii.

545

INDEX.
Reid, Mrs. (of York Terrace)

425, 429,

ii.

Reimarus

Bernhardt, Miss
Relation of Judaism to Christianity
.

ii.

Relics
Religio Laici
Religion, Family
Interest in, grows with age

ii.
i.
.

Things connected with
Talk on

ii.

Conservatism at Oxford

and

ii.
i.

Religious belief
character of H. C. R.'s mother

enthusiasts

ii.

i.
.

i.
ii.

495
149
410
427
148
476
259
290
5
299
322
9
226

religious thinkers

459
197
459
73, 86
ii. 432
ii. 418
i. 388
ii.

freedom
unity
Relph, Mr. Cuthbert
.

Remedy

...

ii.

for sectarianism

ii.

h. 458,

Reminiscences, The
Republic, A, without republicans
Resolution of Senate of University Col.

494
ii. 448
ii. 454
Resurrection of Christ
i. 179
Retreat of the English from Spain
ii. 382
Retribution not for us
.
ii. 31, 456
i. 327, 416, 480
Retrospect
ii. 402
Revery in old age
ii. 323
Revising " Excursion "
.
Revolution (French, 1830)
ii 135
Revolutionary movements
ii. 147
"Reynard the Fox"
i. 129, 211
ii. 19, 94
Reynolds, Sir Joshua
i. 210
Reynolds's portrait of Dr. Johnson ii. 166
Rheumatism, An attack of
ii.
91
Rhine, The
ii.
98
Rhone Valley
i. 447
Rice, Spring
ii. 211, 261, 351
,
Richard on, Dr
ii. 490
ii. 428
Lady
ii. 472
Mr
Richter, Joan Paul
i.
76
Translation from
i. 231
Rickinan
i. 192, 205, 272
Riemer
ii. 480
i. 121
Riese, Mr
i. 58, 59, 68
Ridley
i. 399
Rigi, The
i. 437
Rioters triect
i. 334
River Avoa at Bristol .
ii.
45
Rivctt
i.
11
Robertson, Reverend F. W.
ii. 348, 351,
C53, 330 331, 370, 372 374, 419, 420,
431, 432, 434, £39, 488
ii. 370
fear for his health
o:i the Essence of Magic
ii. 438
o:i Lady Byron
ii. 427
o;i the Life of Samuel
ii. 370
o:i the temptation
ii. 370
Mr., Senr.
ii. 377, 379
Robertson's address to working men ii. 397
death
ii. 429, 430
"Life"
ii. 431
opinions
ii. 407
preaching
ii. 330, 331
.
self-disregard.
ii. 379
sermons
ii. 332, 403
lege
Rest in the character of Christ

ii.

...

;

430
433

ii.

work

ii.

Robespierre
" Robin Hood Ballads "

117, 283, 367

i.
.

Robinson, Archdeacon
Robinson, Anthony
Preface,

474
337

ii.

xvii.

24.

;

37, 41, 210, 230, 256, 258, 271, 276, 278;
294, 307, 311, 328, 419 ii. 23, 73, 77
;

Death of
Mrs.

271, 276; ii. 78
i. 304, 461
i. 222, 402

Habakkuk

Death of
libel by
Accident to, at Rydal

ii.
.

Anthony, Junr.

405
415
320
87
7

ii.

C, A

ii.

Antiquarian Society, Joins
Athenaeum Club, Joins
Autobiographical projects of

ii.

221,

302
Bar, Determines to study for the i. 229
ii.
86
Bar, Quits the
ii. 506
Bequests of
i.
2
Birth of
i.
10
clerk at Colchester
i.
24
clerk at Mr. Hoper's
i.
24
clerk at Mr. Joseph Hill's
cross-examines his old schoolmaster
i. 400
defending a man accused of murder
i. 268
ii. 269
edits Clarkson's " Strictures"
ii. 504, 505
Endowments by
ii. 269
"Exposure "by .
i.
1
Family of
ii. 507
Fresco memorial to
ii.
i. 44, 339
Germany, Goes to
98,
195
hustled and robbed in the Strand i. 451
ii. 429
knocked down by a cab
ii. 511
Memory of
31
ii.
leader on the Norfolk Circuit
i. 238
Littledale's pupil
" London Review," Writes for
i. 189
on Dissenters' Chapels Bill ii. 331, 332
on etymology of Mass
181
ii
on his mother
ii. 502
.

;

on Jeffrey's criticism of Wordsworth
462

ii.

on Landor's attack on Wordsworth
234
239
155
ii. 313
ii
466
293, 294
ii
336
191, 192
ii. 239
ii

on
on
on
on
on
on
on
on
on

personal

economy

political

reform

Pope
retirement from the Bar

Rogers and Wordsworth
theological polemics

theology

travelling expenses

ii.

ii.
.

Wordsworth's imputed plagia-

rism

Robertson's theology

ii.

235

resigns Vice-Presidentship of Senii. 494
ate
ii. 142
robbed in the street .
.

Rome, Goes
at
at
at
at
at

school
school
school
school
school

at
at
at
at
at

ii.

Mrs. Bard's
Mr. Blomfield's
Mr. Crabb's
Mr. Fenner's
Mr. Lease's

117

3
5

8
7

i.
i.

;

546

INDEX.

Robinson, H. C studies at Jena
Times correspondent in Altona
Times correspondent in Corunna
Times, Foreign Editor of the
,

i.
i.

University College Council, memii. 267,
ber of
Vice-President of Senate of ii.
works for Dissenters' Chapels Act ii.
Robinson's article in the Quarterly ii.
i.
Bar, Call to the
Bar mess, First dinner with
i.
Belgium and Holland, Tour in
i.
ii.
birthday, 62d
ii.
birthday, 70th
brother Habakkuk, Death of . ii.
brother Thomas, Death of
ii.
chambers in King's Bench Walk
.

83
148
183
168

;

home
income
income

4, 5, 6, 7
ii.

(professional)

Ireland, Visit to .
Lakes., Tour to the

378

last Continental journey
last speech in public
licentia loquendi
literary work
.
.

;

ii.
ii.

ii.

ii
i.

James
—
— Marmaduke

86
31
45
337
483
501
383
146
22

Normandy, Tour in

186
290
10
ii.
ii. 483
367 ii- 400
ii. 14, 110
ii.

ii.

occasional failure of mind
Paris, Journey to
.
i.
portrait
.
prophecy respecting European poli.

;

274
religious opinions
322
.
i.
" Robinsoniana "
ii. 339, 340
Rydal, First Christmas at
ii. 217
Scotland, Tour to
.
i. 460
social powers
.
.
ii. 514
Southey, Journey with
ii. 266
speech at the Academical Society i. 211
speech in Ireland
ii.
59
speech in mitigation for Williams i. 372
speech in a Qui tarn case
i. 398
studies in religious philosophy ii. 199,
200
Switzerland and North Italy, Tour
to
ii. 348
Times" engagement ceases
i. 187
tics

433
451
392
Death of
ii. 451
ii. 476
ii. 240
i. 40, 101, 228, 259;
ii. 338, 518, 519

Bons mots of

ii.

—

A child's

letter
.
ii. 340, 341
Bottles and corks
ii. 340
Socratic method
ii. 341, 342
The accuser of the brethren
.

342
340
296
ii. 471
Death of
his eighty-second birthday ii. 421
ii. 471
his funeral
Mrs.
i. 229, 488
ii. 21
ii.
Death of
65
ii. 501
Mrs. Thomas, Junr.
T., Junr., his marriage
i. 479
Robinsoniana
ii. 342, 343
Robison, Professor
i. 124
Robson (the actor)
ii. 455, 469, 470
Roche, Madame de la
i. 73, 133, 140
Sophie de la
.
i.
48
ii.

Things undreamt of

Thomas

ii.

;

Rogers, Samuel

Preface, v., ix. i. 238,
266, 291, 293, 332, 365, 380, 485, 486
ii. 28*2, 286, 307, 308, 311, 327, 377,
388, 398, 406, 467
:

ii.
.

ii.

and Flaxman
and Flaxman's works
and Miss Rogers
on Flaxman
on Gibson and Chantrey
on specific legacies •
on Sydney Smith
on the Poets
on Walter Scott
on Wordsworth

214,257
ii. 450
206, 335
i. 490
.

ii.

.
.

ii.

•

Roland, Madame
Rolfe (Lord Cranworth)
.

Rolfe's,

Dinner at

Rolleston
Rolt, Sir John

ii.

Rogers's house
pictures after the Sale
Table-talk
Rogets, The

384
164
288
ii. 336
ii. 214
i. 491
41,294
i.

363

338, 406
.

ii.

Robert, Rev.

Death of.
Dinner with

Breakfast with

land
Robinson, Henry Hutchinson
Birthday of

mother's grave
nephew's death

ii.

i.
London
memory for Wordsworth's poems ii. 464

lodgings in

ii.
.

504
66
351
165
34
104
42
506
240
187

Wordsworth, Italian tour with
ii.
Wordsworth, Scotch tour with ii.
Wordsworth, Tour with, to West
of England
ii. 258
Wordsworth, Tour with, to Switzer-

will

ii.

London

life

Goethe
Wales, Tour in.

visit to

ii.

413
283
i. 267
circuit, First
Commencement Day
ii. 486
conversation
ii. 510
ii. 504
death
dinner-parties
ii. 440, 475, 476
earliest recollections
i. 2, 3
escape from Altona
.
i. 155
examination for the Bar
i. 262
executors
ii. 229
experience of chloroform
.
ii. 392
family gifts inter vivos
ii. 506
.
father's death
i. 307
.
.
Flaxman Gallery, Interest in
ii. 351
France, Tour in
ii. 449
i. 282, 477
Frankfort, Visit to
ii. 288
.
.
Heidelberg, Visit to
ii. 195
ii.

ii.

unsettled

509
363
328
16
265
267
317
245
337
405
471

change of residence

Robinson's tombstone, Inscription on
Turner, Dawson, Visit to
University Hall, Interest in
unmusical ear

261

452
454
ii. 191,238
i. 241
ii. 239
250, 352 ii. 46,
.

ii.
ii.

;

ii.
ii.
ii.

71
209
422
344

;

547

INDEX.
Roman

Catholic piety .
Catholic Cathedral
Catholic meeting
Catholic tradition
Catholicism
.
Police
.

ii.
.

ii.

leaving
Sights in

ii.

Interests at
likened to Wapping

and Naples

118, 129

ii.

Rome
Friends in

ii.

Romana, General

77
57
57
ii. 148
ii.
48
ii. 142
183
177,

.
.

ii.

Romilly, Sir Samuel i. 276, 397, 400 ii.
i.
A Bar speech of
and Burdett elected for Westmin;

ster

and Hunt
on Eldon
Sir

John

ii.

Roscoe
Junr.

Henry

Robert
W. S

169, 267,
i. 196,
i. 246,
.

455

;

ii.

Rose, Stuart

ii.

Ross

ii.

408,

Rossi

Rostock
Royston
book-club

Walk

160,
i.

Rough, Serjeant

242
242
121
314
150
121
169
384

387
388
276
284
246
388
455
374
489
190
446
441
162
323
23
190

192, 184. 201, 230, 238,

239,267,328,354
i. 224,316

Mrs

i. 214
.
Rough's, Dinner at
i. 202
Roughs, The
ii.
i. 234, 369
Rousseau
35, 216
i. 139
Rowe, Mrs
i.
21
Rowley, Sir
ii. 183
i. 206, 387, 406
Royal Academy
ii. 165
.
.
in pecuniary trouble
i. 330
Royal marriage, A .
.

;

Society, its dull doings

87
ii.
75
Rubens
" Daniel in the Lion's Den "
i. 464
ii. 406, 469
Ruskin
i. 178
Russell, Lord
ii. 84, 330, 344
Lord John .
ii. 283, 488
Russell Square (30)
.
i. 135
Russia, Emperor of
ii. 123
Russian Minister's dinner
Rutt, J. T.
i. 22, 23, 24, 36, 40, 190, 262,
332
ii. 291
Death of
i. 222
Mrs
Rachel
i. 263, 382
ii. 355
Ryal
Ryan, Sir Edward .
.
.
i. 356
ii. 334
Rydal
Christmas visit to ii. 299, 366, 382, 386,
405
Circle at
ii. 386
excursionists .
.
.
ii 376
in mourning
.
.
ii. 399
Leaving
ii. 224
Lodgings at
.
.
ii. 217
More sorrow at
.
ii. 317, 318
ii.

Rydal mournings

Mount

338,347;

....

ii.
ii.

ii.

Account of
Winter time at

ii.

Sabbatarianism
.
Sabbath, The
Sacerdotalism
Sacramental theories
Sac rati, Marchioness
Saint Marceau, Countess

ii.

....

i.
.

ii.

....
....
....
....
....

367

185, 366

ii.

visit,

Saardam

ii.

Sale at .
society
Storm at

Salvage of life
Salvation by belief

ii.
ii.

469
343
322
276
291

321
284
462
305
301
151
176
121

456
452

Salzkammergut, Honesty of the peas-

Salzmann
" Samson Agonistes "
San Carlo Theatre
San Miniato
San Salvador

133, 134

i.
.

ii.

109
126
249
442

Sand, George
ii. 401
.
i. 478
.
Sandon, Lord
ii. 330
Santa Croce
ii. 249
Satan's empire over matter .
ii.
29
Savigny, Von
i. 55, 79, 80, 8 7, 135, 394
ii. 412
on the art of teaching
i.
87
Frau
ii. 411
Savignys, The
ii. 410
Saul among the Prophets
ii. 281
ii.
15
Saving grace
i. 356
Savona
ii. 242
Saxe-Gotha, Duke of
i. 125
Saxe-Weiinar, Duke of
i. 126
Duchess of
i. 165
i.
61
Saxon Switzerland
i. 63,67
i.
58
i. 355
i.
15
Scargill
ii.
42
Scarlett
ii.
59
Scenes of childhood
ii. 467
Schadow
ii. 110
i. 70, 395
Schall, Herr von
i.
65
Scharf, G.
Preface, xviii. ii. 476, 487
;

....

;

Schelling
i. 57, 81, 82, 83, 84, 88, 95, 106,
110,112, 115, 131, 195, 244, 249, 412;
ii. 115, 116

on Bacon and Newton

107

Schiller i. 73, 74, 75, 99, 102, 120, 123,127,
134, 135, 138, 198, 277, 392 ii. 7, 15,
66, 110, 171
;

Death of
Funeral of

and Goethe
Frau von
Schiller's

...

....
.

u Bride of Messina "

"Maid of Orleans"
" WilhelmTell"

i.
i.

137
138
114
392
98
99
119

;

548

INDEX.

Schlaberndorf. Count

Serviere, Charlotte
Servieres, The
.
Sessions business

337

i
Schlegel, A. W.
73, 105, 113, 117, 121,
133, 205, 256. 261, 271, 291, 293, 3-52,
331, 493; ii 114, 170, 201

on Indian philosophy

294
476
ii. 112
i. 43)
ii. 413
ii. 201
ii. 201
Madame von
i. 55, 102
.
Schlegels, The
ii. 19, 103, 415
Schleiermacher
ii- 414
Schleswig grievance
i.
84
Schlosser, Friedrich and Christian
ii. 193, 193
i. 133, 339
F.
ii. 101
Frau von
ii. 193
Geheimerath
ii. 100, 101
Hofrath
i.
The
Schlossers.
85; ii. 193
ii. 110
Schmeller'
i. 140
Schmidt
i. 133
Schnepfenthal, School-boys at
ii. 239
i. 69, 75
Schnorr
ii. 413
Schonha.iser
i. 133
.
School, Model
i.
plays
6
ii.
47
School-boy recollections
ii.
47
School-fellow, An old
ii. 445
Schoolmaster, The ideal
i. 120
Schulz, Professor
ii. 498
Schunck, Mr
ii.
Schuncks, The
99
ii. 47)
Schwarz, Kirchenrath
i 440
Schwyz
ii. 138
Scotch Antinomianism
i. 434
girl
ii. 188
journey
law
i. 405
Scotchman, The
ii 284
Scotland, East of
ii. 137
Scots, Q lecn of
i. 212
.
Scott, Walter
i. 203, 210, 248, 311, 431
ii. 64
- Mrs.
i. 250
-of Bromley
21
ii.
-Br.
i. 409
- John
i. 314
- Profossor
ii. 395, 398 398,4^9
- Rnsrcll
ii. 439
- T-ir William
i. 397
Minstrelsy r
i. 219
Sco^
Sea-shell image, The
ii. 240
Seals used in Persia
i. 412
Seceders, How to treat
ii. 402
Seclusion, The value of
i. 321
Second eight
i. 433
Seclcy, Professor
ii. 405
Seilcr
i.
53
Seizure, A
ii. 501
Self-depreciation
ii. 453
Selfishness of saints
ii. 215
Self-sacrifice
ii. 420
Senate of University College
ii. 333
Senior
ii. 133
Sennhouse, Mr.
ii. 233
Separate education for Dissenters
ii.299
Separation, the one heresy
ii. 449
Serviere, Charlotte Pref. xii. ii. 99, 170, 201
.

Schlegel's cosmical speculations
" Julius Caesar "
.
.
.
obligations to Gibbon
"
Night
Twelfth
translation of"
i. 79, 339:
Schlegel, Friedrich
.

332

;

ii.

;

...
.

;

ii.

;

•

209
476
496

untrodden

....

;

343
338
70
.
ii.
on Flaxman
3D
ii. 396
Sheep and goats
ii. 244
Slaeep-shearing dinner
ii. 81, 121, 221
i. 369
Shellev, P. B.
i. 494; ii. 230, 279
Mrs.
ii.
79
Shelley's " Prometheus
ii. 279
son
i. 359, 375
Shepherd, Attorney-General
ii.
17
Dr
i. 233; ii. 227
Shell
ii.
61
A ride with
ii. 206
and the Bishop of Exeter
i. 172, 217, 253, 270
Sheridan
i. 357
Sherwood
|
i. 136
Shipley, Bishop
ii.
Shutt
85
.Sic transit
ii. 146
Sicard and his deaf and dumb pupils i. 316
Sicilv, Journey to
ii. 127
Siddous, Mrs. i. 39, 72, 214, 220, 252, 266,
237,237,317 ii. 84, 179, 371, 401, 455, 499
as the Lady in " Comus ;5
i. 251
.
i. 209
as Margaret of Anjou
as Mrs. Beverly
i. 244
in"Pizarro"
i.
38
i. 247
as Queen Caroline
ii.
79
Recollections of
i. 371
Sidmouth, Lord
i. 149
Sieveking, Madame
.
i. 155, 453
William
ii. 476
Dr
.
i. 157
Sievekings, The
ii. 324
Sifting old letters
Simeon advising with the Non-con ii. $42
i. 387
Sinclair
i. 461
Sir James
ii. 355
.
Captain
i. 443
ii. 243
.
Sismondi
.
.
i. 229
.
Sisterly counsel
i. 414
.
.
.
Six Acts, The
ii. 493
Skey, Dr
ii. 238
Slander
i. 337; ii. 323
.
Slave-trade
i.
.
.
85
Sleep-walking
i. 325
Sleigh
.
.
.
ii. 475 476
Smale, J
i. 203
Smirke
ii. 472
Smith, Mr
51
i.
Adam
;

492

ii.

•

261, 350, 377, 338, 406,
418, 423, 427

ii.

Sutton
.
William
Sharpey, Professor
" She dwelt among the
ways "
" She Stoops to Conquer
Shee, Sir M. A.

•

Samuel

;

•

56, 78

;

281
Seume
ii. 239
..
i. 69, 71, 72, 75
Severn
ii. 244
Shaftesbury
i. 79, 100
Shakespeare
ii. 35
i. 205, 331
Anachronism of
i. 204
Sharp (the engraver)
i. 34, 35, 303
Sharpe, Conversation
ii.
94
Henry
ii. 406, 487

and Paulina
.

549

INDEX.
Smith, Grafton

117
258
311
223
262

ii.

James and Horace
Sir James

Patty

Dr. Pye, on Solomon's Song ii.
ii. 186, 228, 262, 287, 294,
Sydney
388, 450, 476
W., M. P. for Norwich
i. 348, 357,
407, 413
.
Soane, Sir John
i. 264
ii. 69, 70, 71
Soane's house and museum
ii. 70, 71
Society of Antiquarians
ii. 87, 181
;

Adventure with a

291
Solger
i. 366
Solitude in cultivated country
ii. 258
Somers, Lord
i. 374
Sommariva, Count
.
i. 152
Sonnets and Sonneteers
ii. 390
Sortaine
.
ii. 361, 362. 378, 379, 443
Sotheby .
.
.
.
.
i. 266
Soult's, Marshal, pictures
i. 478
South's sermon on Man the Image of
God
i. 350
Southcott, Joanna .
i. 303
ii. 314
Soldier,

Southern
Southey

35, 41,
237, 250, 311,
345, 377, 378,
230, 235, 236,
i.

;

ii.
14
186, 206, 207, 208, 233,
312, 334, 339, 340, 344,
419 ii. 185, 186, 194,
238, 240, 272, 274, 277,
289, 307, 357
;

ii.
Anti-popular views of
asks H. C. R. to write for the
Quarterly Review
i. 494; ii.
books, his love of
ii.
civil war, his dread of
i.
H. C. R.'s tour fo France with ii.
.

Jeu

d'esprit

ii.

Letter from, to Hamond
i.
likeness between him and Shelley
.

on
on
on
on
on
on

Blake
Blanco White

Brougham

i.
.

the Cintra Convention

ii.

ii.
LOrd Egremont
English and French courts of

justice
on the eternity of future
.

Ferdinand of Spain
forms of government

German

rule in Italy

i.
i.

Goethe

Hamond

ii.
.

Hamond's papers

217
218
186
483
186

33
340
217
482
Ill
421
423

imported forms of representa-

Cuthbert

ii.

363
272

justification of his history of the

Spanish

War

481
204
379
i. 358
Spain, civil wars of
i. 482
H. C. R.'s journey to
i. 173
H. Ck R.'s love of
i. 203
.
Political feeling in
i. 173
Spanish ladies
i. 180
language
i. 180, 181
political agents
i. 186
i. 178
tea-party
.
i. 159
Spalding, Mr
Spat, Major von
i. 154, 155, 159
Spectator newspaper
ii. 489
ii. 335
Spedding
Spelman, Sir Henry
ii.
67
Spence
ii. 140, 471
Spencer, Lord
ii. 71, 72
Spenser
i.
79
Spinoza
ii. 22, 198
i. 31, 257, 258
Spirit of persecution
ii.
59
Spittler
i.
88
Spohr with the Non-cons
ii. 358
Sponsors of opposing creeds
ii. 412
Spurrell
i. 408
Spurzheim, Dr
i. 276
Squintum, Dr
i.
7
St. Albans, Duke of.
ii. 112
St. Asaph, Dean of
.
i. 136
St. Bride's Church
24
ii.
St. Francis d'Assisi
.
ii. 246
St. Hilaire, Geoffrey
ii. 172
St. Maurice, Count
i. 287
St. Peter's chains
ii. 148
.
St. Simonism
ii. 155
St. Simonites
ii. 156
ii. 156
Church service of
.
ii. 157
Conference of
Stachelberg, Herr von
ii. 113
Stael, Madame de
i. 19, 64, 109, 112, 113,
"

Kehama," Lamb on

Times

refusal to edit the
Spa-Fields rioters

;

115, 116, 117, 119, 121, 122, 201, 256, 270,
284, 290, 365, 429, 479 ii. 8, 176, 455, 510

Anecdote of

479
269
271
" Ten Years' Exile "
i. 466
Stafford
i. 360
Marquis of
20
ii.
Stage-coach journey to Belfast
ii.
63
Stammbuch, Goethe's son's
95
i.
Stammerers
i. 316
Stanhope, Lord
40
i.
Earl of, on H. C. R.
ii. 507
Stanley, Bishop
ii. 85, 330
Mrs
ii.
85
Stanley (Dean)
ii. 85, 397, 496
Lord
ii.
89
(Earl Derby)
ii. 185
Sir T
ii. 189
Stansfeld, Mr., Senr.
i. 348
G.
i. 150, 152, 154, 156, 163, 348
H
i.454
James, M. P.
ii. 475, 476
ii. 486
and Mazzini
T
i. 387, 408
.

266

....

Madame de, Dinner
"Germany"

Stael's,

;

288

tive government
i. 483
on non-interference
i. 482
on the old regimes
i. 482
on politics
i. 169, 340, 346
on politics and morals
ii. 185
on the prospects of England
i. 340
on his " Wat Tyler "
i. 357
The Radicals on
ii.
18
Verses for children by
ii. 289
Wordsworth's epitaph on
ii. 319
letter to his daughter from Paris ii. 267
Mrs
i.340
.

16
274
346
263
289
425

punishment
ii.

on
on
on
on
on
on
on

238

Southey's " Cid »
" Doctor "

550

INDEX.

Stansfelds, The Miss
.
.
Starting-point for controversy
State trials
of Watson and others
Statue, Ancient
.
.

205
48
17
359
458

ii.

.
.

ii.
i.

Staunton, Sir G
Stavely, Captain

294
Steffens
i. 352
Stephen
ii. 168
Senr
i. 276
Sir James
ii. 21, 68, 433, 472, 480
Stephens
i. 274
Miss
i. 387
Liston, and Farren
i. 415
Stephenson, Mr
ii. 261
Sterling
i. 333, 381
Sterne
i. 47,188,308; ii. 114
Sterry, Anthony
ii.
31
Steward, Dr
ii.
67
Stewart, Dr
i. 318, 319
Dugald
i. 418
Lord
i. 384
Stiles, Lieutenant
i. 175
Stilling
i. 395
Stillingfleet
i. 200
Stock
ii. 453
Stockholm, beauty of situation
i. 165
Voyage to
i. 163
Stoddart, Dr.
ii. 320
i. 333
Stokes
ii. 20, 88
Charles
ii.
70
Stolberg
i. 254
The Counts
i. 107
Stone
ii. 238
Frank
ii. 458
Stonehenge
i. 474
Storks
i. 267, 281
ii. 8, 19, 30, 71, 360,
367
Storms at Rydal
ii. 273, 275
ii. 429
Stowe, Mrs. H. B.
ii. 482
Stratford-on-Avon
ii. 354
Strauss
ii. 252
Strayed Poet, The
Street, G., A.R.A. ii. 468, 475, 476, 484, 498
ii. 484, 498
Mrs
ii. 265
Strictures," Publication of the
ii. 266
Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson on the
i. 336
Strutt
i. 13, 14, 15, 350
Ben
ii- 207
(Lord Belper)
i- 441
Student (Swiss)
.
i. 126
Students
i.
95
Russian, at Jena
i. 95, 96, 97
Students' duels
94
i.
festivals
.
i. 82, 93
life at Jena
quarrels with town authorities i. 110,
111
i. 129
trick on a landlord
i. 172
Studies, German
i. 141
Review of
87
ii.
Study of Italian
ii. 181
of science
ii. 437
Sturch, Mrs
ii. 495, 501
Miss
ii.
50
Sturges, Rev. J
i. 393
Sturm
ii.
57
Summons from King Dan
i. 450
Sunday labor
i.

Sunday, Weariness of
Superstition, Act of
Supper-party, A
Surpassing enjoyments
Sussex, Duke of

144
63
i. 443
i. 295
ii.
83
Suwarrow
69
Swabey
i. 335
Swanwicks, The Miss .
.
ii. 483
Sweden Journey in
.
i. 167
Swedenborg
ii. 28, 30, 38, 74
Swedish hospitality
i. 164
people, Civility and honesty of
i. 167
politics
.
i. 136, 167
Swift
i. 11, 382
ii. 60
Swindler, A, and H. C. R.
ii. 442
Sydenham
.
.
i. 833, 3S1
Sykes, Godfrey
i. 372
Sylvester, Mot of
.
ii. 337
Symbolism of ornament
i
295
Symonds, John
.
.
i.
19
Syntax, Dr
i. 188
System of checks a desideratum
ii. 155

;

....
.

;

Tagart, Rev. E.
ii. 423, 428
Talfourd, Sir T. N. i. 22, 246, 232, 233,-264,
383,'
310, 313, 349, 364, 378,
404, 411,

476,491,492;

ii. 27, 91, 204, 219,
257, 260, 264, 345, 355, 359, 337, 439

a Judge
about Lamb

the Bar
u Ion"
.

marriage
rise in the world
Talleyrand
.

"Lamb"

Talma

ii.

call to

Bon mot

387
213
367
.
.
ii.
15
i. 456
•
ii. 229
.
ii. 375
i. 479
ii. 227
i. 284
ii. 170
.
ii. 455
i. 479
i. 290, 334, 335, 383
i. 324
i. 55, 101
ii. 316
ii.

Junr
Talfourd's, At

;

Tamerlane
Tasso

Tate, Canon
Tayler, Rev. J. J.
ii. 419.
Preface, xvi.
'444, 465, 470, 475, 476, 477, 497
;

Taylor

Adam

*
Edgar
Emily
Henry
Henry, Mrs.

Isaac

455

ii.

314
229

278
358
63
311, 312
.

Jeremy
John (author)
-John (Dr.)
John (Mining Engineer)
.

ii.
i.

359

273, 278

on aberration of mind
J. E.

17, 353, 482
476, 482, 500
6, 7, 138, 475

ii.

2, 4,

230, 354,
373, 437, 450, 476

ii.

;

Mrs. Meadows

Richard
Sydney
William

26,

314

ii.

280

17, 279, 423

ii.

279

15, 16, 27, 72, 74, 420,
421, 481

Taylor's "Natural History of Enthusi-

asm "

ii. 278
"Physical Theory of Another
ii. 278
Life"
" Spiritual Daepotism "
ii. 278
.

551

INDEX.
Taylors, The, of Diss
The, of Norwich i. 16, 314
Tempest, Lady Frances Vane

280
476
384
i. 213
Temple
Lord
i.
53
i. 110
Tennemann
i. 373, 410
Tenterden, Lord
ii. 335, 385
Tennyson
i.
Teplitz
64
ii. 247
Terni
i. 190
Term-keeping
ii. 493
Terry, Miss Kate
i. 175
Tertulias
ii.
84
Test-Act dinner
Test and Corporation Act, Repeal of ii. 79
ii. 134
Testa, Countess
Thackeray's " Esmond "
ii. 426
" Thalaba " and u Castle of Indolence "
i. 218
Thanksgiving of an octogenarian
ii. 464
" The Kitten and the Falling Leaves"
i. 342
" Leech-gatherer "
i. 342
" Oak and the Broom »
i. 342
Poet worshipped, not the politician
ii. 344
Slaves of nature are atheists
ii.
39
Theatre, Covent Garden
i. 205, 240, 244
Thelwall
i. 17, 42, 43, 217, 239, 244, 283,
303, 315, 316, 326, 395
married
i. 359
Mrs.
i. 303
Thelwall's, At
i. 210
Mrs., death
i. 353
Theological speculation
i. 411
Theology, Schemes of
ii. 209
Thibaut
i. 135
ii. 100
Things too wonderful for us
ii. 441, 442
Thirst for knowledge leads beyond our
depth
ii. 441
Thistlethwaite
i. 358
Tholuck
ii. 449
Thompson, Dr.
ii. 247
i. 348
Dr. A. Todd
ii. 364
Dr. Seth
ii. 120
Miss
ii. 119
R. A
i. 69, 70
Thomson
i. 218
Rev—
i. 461, 462
the Edinburgh publisher
ii. 284
Thornton
i. 153, 154, 370, 371
ii.
32
Thorold, Sir John
i..268
Thorwaldsen
ii. 120, 141
and scandal
ii. 150
Thorwaldsen's studio
ii. 246
Thoughts in sickness
ii. 393
Three friends
ii. 465
Threescore years and ten
ii. 402
Three sermons in one day
ii. 362
Thurlow, Lord
i. 216
on the Athanasian Creed
i. 487
and the Established Church
i. 243
Thurlow's, Lord, advice how to annoy
parsons
i. 487
Churchism
i. 487
Thwaites
ii.
46
Tiarks, Dr.
i. 278, 293, 307
ii.
87
Ticknor
ii. 243
Ticknors, The
ii. 249
.

ii.

;

ii.

;

Tieck,

Ludwig

i. 55, 102, 121, 196, 291,
ii. 113, 115,
352, 361, 362, 363, 3 ;4
116, 195, 410, 413, 480
;

on
on
on
on

Catholicism
English classics
English poets

364
114
366
Wordsworth
ii. 174
ii. 113
Tieck's, Dinner at
opinion of English poetry
i. 366
prologue to " Faust "
ii. 113
readings
ii. 115
" November the 15th "
ii. 115
" Wassermensch "
ii. 231
Tiedemann, Professor
i.
79
Tiedge, author of " Urania"
ii. 114
Tiefurth
i. 393
Tillbrook, Mr.
i. 338, 339, 378
ii.
65
Times, Connection with
i. 169
dinner-party
i. 333, 381
H. C. R. writer for the
i. 168
The
i. 218
The, now and in former days
ii. 320
Writers in the
i. 187
ii. 155
Timidity of old Reformers
Tindal, Lord Chief Justice
i. 264
Tipper
i. 146, 188
i. 389, 397
Tite
ii.
i. 236
75
Titian
ii. 245
Tivoli
i. 251
Tobin
i. 165
Tode
Tooke
i. 267
Home i. 39, 53, 90, 210, 274 ii. 288
and his school-boy philosophy
i. 366
"Russia"
i. 242
Senr., and Mrs. Tooke
i. 216
William
ii. 81, 267, 412
Topfer
i. 58, 59
Topping
i. 372
Torlonia
i. 337, 338, 339, 341, 350
Torlonia's short memory
ii. 118
Torrens, Justice
ii.
46
Tralee, Journey to
ii.
56
Translating, Engagement in
i. 146
Translation from Richter
i. 231
Transubstantiation and consubstantiation
ii. 302
Trappists, Visit to
ii.
11
Travelling companions i. 292, 318 ii. 266
Travers, Miss
ii. 472
Treason trials
i. 358, 360, 361
Tree, Miss Ellen
i. 263
ii. 229
Trelawney
ii. 237
Trial of agricultural rioters
i. 334
of Hardy, Tooke, and Thelwall
i.
17
of Hone
i. 373 - 376
of Sir T. More
i. 416
Triquetti's Marmor Homericum
ii. 492
Trotter
i. 435, 438, 439, 448
Troy, Dr
ii.
50
True Catholic Church
ii. 300
Truro, Lord
ii.
6
Truth, A, to be had
ii. 442
in popular error
ii. 316
Tulk, Mr
ii. 44, 70
the Misses
ii.
68
Tuthill, Dr
i. 202
Turner, Dawson
ii. 5, 19, 66
Visit to
..
.
ii.
66
.

;

...

....
.

ii.

552

INDEX.

Turner's (Dawson) autographs
collection of MSS.
.

house
Mr. and Mrs., hospitality
Turner, Mrs

ii.

68
66
ii.
68
ii.
66
ii.
67
245, 247, 406
ii.

ii.

Miss

i.
J. M. W„ R. A.
and other landscape painters
compared
ii.
20
.

i. 387
Turner's landscapes
i. 242, 312
Turner, Sharon
Turrets guarded by San Salvador
i. 442
.

Twiss, Horace

186, 213, 258, 267, 281,

288 ii.
" Two Angry Women of Abingdon " ii.
Tyndall, Professor
i. 97,
i.
Tyrteeus
;

Uhlmann

213
297
107
140

197
i.
Uncle, H. C. R.'s, death
27
ii. 221
Underlying truths
ii. 262
Unitarian preaching
University studies
81, 82, 83
College
ii. 82, 500
ii. 364
and Flaxman's works
.
ii. 423
order of Fellows created
prospects
ii. 422
Racket court
ii. 486
education
ii. 441
ii. 465
degrees
Hall
ii. 354
Dinner of the founders of
ii. 373
First stone of
ii. 373
fund
ii. 504, 505, 506
ii. 391
opened
ii. 373
open to all religions
ii. 358, 367
scheme of, set afloat
.
ii. 214
Usher, J
i. 397
Usury case
ii.

Vinter

i.'

42i

55,205

80, 81
ii. 104, 106,
111, 170, 288
69, 99, 200, 222, 324 ii. 39, 284,
.

Voltaire

Virgil
Voigt, Geheimerath
Professor
i. 123, 142

;

285
263
380
Voltaire's mission
ii.
34
Von Arnims, The
ii. 413
Von Hofer
ii. 410
.
.
Von Leonhardi
ii.
>
99
Von Stein, Baron
ii. 101
Voss, Professor
i. 107, 108, 136, 364
Voss's " Louisa "
i. 108, 109
Protestantism
i. 107
Voyage from Hamburg to England
i. 144
down the Thames
i. 477
to the North Pole
i. 24*4
.
to Sweden
i. 163
Voysey, The Rev.
ii. 487

Bust of
on Shakespeare

ii.

Waddington

Miss

ii.

Wade, Joshua
Wager of battle, Last
Waggett
Wagner, Dr.
Wake, Kyd
.

Wakefield, Gilbert

ii.

52
120
370
46

Preface, xviii.
i.

i. 22, 35, 36, 39, 40,
127, 144, 278, 279, 459

i.
42
i. 39, 42
Miss
i. 144
Waldegrave, Captain
Mr.
i. 6,9
Waldron, Mr.
ii. 205
Walduck the Quaker
i. 434
Wall, Anton
i. 60, 104, 231
Walter, Mr. i. 148, 168, 169, 173, '187, 188,

in prison

Mrs

Val d'Arno
Vallombrosa

247
135
466
ii. 398
ii.
Vardill, Mrs
73
i. 298, 466
Miss
Varese
ii. 446
ii. 244
Vatican, Visit to, with Gibson .
ii. 241
Vaucluse
Vaughan
i. 401
ii. 116
Veit, the famous preacher
the painter
ii. 201
ii. 117
Venice
ii. 252
from the tower of Si- Mark's
Veraguas, Duke of
i. 177
Verbal inspiration
ii. 409
Vere, Aubrey de
ii. 402
Vernet, Horace, his facility at work ii. 148
ii. 149
H. C. R.'s misconception of
ii. 148
Vernet's, Soiree at
Veronese, Paul
i. 332
Vespers at the inn in the Tyrol
ii. 253
" Vestiges of Creation "
ii. 323
Vestris, Madame
i. 428, 454, 473
Vesuvius
ii. 126
Vico
ii.
22
Vienna
ii. 116
Villa d'Este
ii. 246
Villers, Charles
Preface, xv. i. 150
Vincennes
i. 283
ii.

ii.

Valpy, Dr.
i. 262, 263, 307
Value of recorded gossip
.

ii.

;

...
.

Mrs
at Bearwood

;

ii.
ii.
ii.

John

John, Junr.
Walpole, Horace

Walton

Waltzing

Ward

....

;

ii.

213,

ii.

Plumer

Waring, Major Scott
Wartburg, Castle of
Warton, Joseph

"Wat

212
.

349,
293,
322, 389,
ii.

Wansey
Warburton

;

Death-bed of

189, 218, 241, 264, 303, 337, 338, 350, 382,
379, 405, 407, 415 ii. 32, 216, 350

.
.

Waterland

Waterloo, Battle of
Field of

Tour

ii.

ii.
i.

Tyler," Southey's

•

.
.

Bridge opened
Watkins
Watson, Trial of
Sculptor
Watson's statue of
.

358, 360, 361,

Flaxman

ii.

357
&50
388
146
353
354
379
49
88
278
20
294
385
80
311
278
357
225
315
319
318
362
318
362
356
405

553

INDEX.
Watts. Dr
" Waverley," First appearance of

"We are Seven"

i.
i.

ii.

Weber

Webster, D
Wedd, George

ii.
.

Wedgwood
Weimar

190,
ii.

Court at

ii.

;

160
304
222
246
280
190
323
479
Ill
391
142
138
75
392
392
390
126
391

Wightman
Wilberforco

.....

ii.

223, 276, 407, 489

and Clarkson controversy
Archdeacon
Bishop of Oxford
.

ii.

Wildwood
Wilkes, John

270
305

269, 270, 427

Henry
Wilde, Serjeant

ii. 215,
306, 480
268, 269,
;

ii.

402

ii.

428
i. 61, 192, 474
i.
.
ii. 238
Leave-taking at
.
Wilkie, D
i.
ii. 184, 194
Party at
Wilkinson
i.
i. 229
Town of
Dr. J. G.
i. 73, 74, 98,
ii. 372, 377, 476, 491
Theatre.
Tate
i. 113, 115, 275,
i. 474
Weimar, Duke of
i.
Willes, Justice
.
Crown Prince of
i. 302
.
i.
Williams
i. 318
Duchess Dowager of
i.
Grand Duchess of
(bookseller)
.
i. 371, 375
i. 126.
Helen Maria
Regent of
i. 367
i. 124, 125
Williams's, Dr., library
ii. 478
Weishaupt, Adam
.
i. 126
Writings of
.
Willis, N. P
ii. 207
i. 169, 265
Wilmott, Rev. Mr., his sermon
Wellesley, Marquis of
ii. 388
i. 333, 381
Wellesleys, The
Wilson, Sir R.
.
.
i. 330
.
Wellington, Duke of i. 283, 318, 362 ii. 80^
ii. 168
Dr
ii.
Professor
220, 312
and Marlborough
Winckelmann
.
.
i. 57, 76
i. 432
Welshman at Chemnitz
.
i.
60 Windham
i. 16, 188, 198
Werner
Windischmann, Dr
ii.
99
i. 137, 389
Wesley, John
i. 12, 248 ; ii. 314, 316
Winter walk in the mountains
ii. 276
Miss
Wirgmann
.
i. 248, 249
i. 382
Samuel
.
.
Wismar, Companions at
.
.
i. 161
i. 248
Wesley an's, A, notion of grace
Witham, At
i. 458
i. 357
Wolcott, Dr.
.
i. 210,211
West, Benjamin
.
i. 278, 384
ii. 258
.
Wolf
ii. 22, 480
Mr
i. 332
i. 108, 109
Wollstonecraffc, Mary
i. 37, 134
i. 430
Mrs.
Wolzogen, Frau von
ii. 104
ii. 183
i. 134. 392
i. 276
.
Westall
Women, Against strong-minded
i. 234
i. 340
Junior
ii.
Wood
19
ii.
85
.
Westminster, Dean of
Baron, working for a non-suit i. 352
i> 389
election
John
ii.
i. 468
17
ii. 413
.
Westmoreland, Lord
Wooden bridges at Lucerne
i. 436
ii. 320, 443, 453
Weston, Miss
Woolman, John
ii. 7, 33
ii. 122
Westphal
Woolman's Journal
ii.
1
i. 359, 360, 361
Wetherell, Sir C.
56 Words have as many interpretations as
i.
Wetzlar
readers
ii. 327
ii. 315
Whately
Wordsworth, Preface, vi., xvi., i. 20, 35, 40,
ii. 397
Whewell, Dr
ii. 287
41, 79, 107, 167, 169, 170, 189, 207, 228,
Universality of his pursuits
31
244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 253,
ii.
Whist club
355
263, 278, 297, 299, 301, 304, 306, 309, 310,
i.
Whi taker, Serjeant
.
312, 316, 330, 331, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342,
Whitbread
i. 258, 267, 335
317
343, 346, 348, 351, 369, 451, 452,467, 485,
i.
Whitbread's death
486, 489, 490 ii. 5, 7, 19, 26, 27, 30, 36,
White, Blanco
i. 218
38, 40, 65, 74, 94, 103, 124, 188, 191, 204,
i. 23, 313
Mr. (solicitor) .
Whitgift, Archbishop
i. 327
206, 207, 214, 216, 218, 219, 221, 229, 239,
Whittington
242, 253, 257, 260, 265, 272, 273, 274, 290,
i 298
" Who's Who?"
i. 326
295, 298, 297, 298, 308, 309, 319, 321, 333,
Why Eve was made of a man's rib ii. 202
355, 356, 359, 366, 367, 371, 376, 382, 383,
Why are morals so difficult ?
ii. 434
385, 386, 390, 399, 453, 494, 516, 517
ii. 169
an alarmist
Why time flies in old age .
.
ii. 458
i. 345
.
at a Cumberland auction
Wicksteed, Rev. C
ii. 224
i. 246
at Charles Aikin's
Wide-world religion
ii. 449
at the grave of H. C. R.'s mother
Wieland i. 48, 55, 67, 69, 70, 71, 75, 79, 99,
ii. 290
108, 112, 117, 127, 128, 135, 139,
i- 338
at home
140,142,393; ii. 112
ii. 242
.
ii. 110
at St. Peter's
Bust of
i. 395
ii- 242
i. 138
careless of relics
on Schiller's poetry
ii- 252
i. 139
Characteristic incident of
Wieland's " Musarion "
.
i.
Wiesbaden
50
and Coleridge, Misunderstanding
i 260
.
ii. 493
between
Wigan
.
.
.
.
119, 127, 390,

....
.

.•

ii.

;

....
.

;

•

INDEX.

554
i.
Wordsworth, composing
i.
Day with
ii.
and Faber
i.
and Godwin
i.
Hazlitt's attack on
ii.
H. C. R.'s tour with
ii.
immortal fame
Human interests uppermost with
.

471
484
302
331
313
187
397

ii.

241
243

ii.

187, 240,

introduced to Bunsen
Italian tours with i. 434
.

ii.

;

258
431
384
Last visit to
meeting about a monument to ii. 397
^84
and Moore
ii- 236
not intolerant
ii. 222
on the " Ancient Mariner "
ii. 323
on Arnold
ii. 481
on Byron
ii. 293
on Chatterton
on " Death and Dr. Hornbook » i. 249
ii. 223
on Ebenezer Elliott
on English copyright in America ii. 260
ii. 490
Churchmen
good
on
ii. 353
on Hallam
ii. 211
on his critics
ii. 294
on his domestic poems
95
ii.
on his home treasures
ii. 224
on his own childhood
.
i. 245, 250
on his own poems
ii. 240
on Landor's satire
ii. 220
on Milton
ii. 221
on Milton's Satan
ii. 272
on naturalistic poets
94
.
ii.
on Norway
94
.
.
ii.
on old-age travelling
ii. 223
on other poets
ii. 285
on the penny post
ii. 292
on the poets
on politics
i. 250
on Talfourd's copyright efforts ii. 264
on " Tarn O'Shanter "
i. 249
on the Reform Bill
ii. 180
on the sonnet
.
ii. 223
on "We are Seven "
i. 251
Pantheism ascribed to
.
i. 300
revisits Como
ii. 250
Rogers on
ii.
41
Sight-seeing with
ii. 244
Study of
ii. 459
suggests II. C. R.'s autobiography
ii. 302
Swiss tour with
.
i. 433
Talk about .
i. 299
.
Talk with
i. 245
Talk with, about Dissenters' Chapels
Bill
ii. 333
the English Goethe
ii. 461
the Poet of Common Things
i. 309
Tieck on
ii. 461
in town
i. 373
Walk with .
i. 247
Wet walk with
i. 341
With, up Nab Scar
i. 347

and Lamb

•

ii.

....
.....

Wordsworth's Chartist sympathies

369
302
341
death
ii. 397
dedication to II. C. R.
ii. 256
Elegiac poem on Goddard
i. 438
.
" Excursion"
i. 279, 296
" Eclectic " review of
i. 300
" Edinburgh " review of . i. 301
father
i. 344
funeral
ii. 397
habit of thought
ii. 293
High-Churchism
ii. 303
.
Highland tour
. ii. 164
house and family
.
i. 339
Human Life poems
ii.
37
influence on Byron
ii. 459
interest in men
ii. 275
Italian sonnets
ii. 268
"Memorials"
i. 473
Memorials of a Tour on the Continent
i. 470
Memorials of Tours
.
ii. 462
.
monument
.
.
ii. 406
nature poems
.
ii.
37
.
new poems, On
.
i. 470
ii. 344
open-air study
ii. 277
opinion of Gladstone's work
own appreciation of his works ii. 460
poems, Classification of
ii.
37
Poems especially characteristic of
ii. 461
poems, first love, then study them
ii. 463
poems, Order in which they should
be read
ii. 460
poems of The Age
ii.
37
poems of Humanity
ii. 212
poems, Origin and purpose of several of
i. 342
poems, Wisdom of, if reduced to
ii. 462
prose
ii. 412
poetry
.
ii. 276
political pamphlets
i. 331
politics
ii.
political poems nil after 1814
38
ii. 180
portrait by Pickersgill
.
ii. 336
railway sonnets
ii. 462
religious comprehensiveness
ii.
.
38
religious poems
ii. 461
sonnets
.
.
ii. 385
talk about his boyhood
" Waggoner "
ii. 387
i. 311
want of vulgar intelligibility
" White Doe of Rylstone "
i. 311
.
ii. 397
wishes about a memoir
i. 309
"Yew Trees"
.
.
ii. 268
University honors
.
Wordsworth, Mrs. i. 308, 311 ii. 95, 218,
conversation
conversation and poems

Wordsworth's alterations in his poems
i.

attachment to his friends

"Brownie"

ii.
i.

....
.

;

322, 366, 384, 385, 390, 397,

401,405,416,435, 436. 437
i. 493
Continental journal of
ii. 468
Death of
Miss i. 145, 192, 309, 432 ii. 31, 64,
117, 185, 190, 217, 319, 385
ii. 163, 218
i. 193
Dora
ii. 230, 397, 401
i. 458
Dr. C.
ii. 436, 437
Jane
ii. 451
John
.

;

309
286
463

ii.

....
.

;

555

INDEX.
Wordsworth, William
W., the third
Worldly texts
Worship, Mr.

486, 488

ii.

475
67
ii.
66
ii. 475, 476, 477, 484, 493
Worsley, P.
Would persecution be right if effectii. 232
ual ?
i. 323
Wraxall, Sir N.
ii. 491
Wren, Mr
ii.
Wright
445
i. 18, 19, 21, 230
Walter
.
ii. 362
Written and extempore discourses
Wrong judgment from mere words ii. 439
i. 129
Wurzburg, Visit to
ii.
Wynn, Mr
i. 407
43
ii. 355,410
Wyon
ii.
Wyse and O'Connell
57
.

ii.

Wyviil

Yarmouth Church
Yates, James

ii.

358, 423

Yonge

386
ii.
York, Archbishop of
80
ii.
Young, Dr
95
Charles
i. 25, 240, 244, 323, 384
ii. 105, 197, 318
andKemble
i. 240
i. 304
in " The Stranger "
George
ii. 183, 187, 263, 402
i. 276
Young's, Dinner at
i.

...

....

ii.

;

Zelter

ii.

110, 199, 295, 480

Zenobio

ii.

THE END.

University Press, Cambridge

Printed by Welch, Bigelow,

Co-

101