OCR | Wellesley College Digital Repository (2024)

DIARY, REMINISCENCES,
AND

CORRESPONDENCE
OF

HENRY CRABB ROBINSON,
BARRISTER- AT- LAW,

F. S. A.

SELECTED AND EDITED BY

THOMAS SADLER,

IN

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,

it

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.

I.

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

Page

John Franklin.
Club

to the Trappists

1

CHAPTER
Julius Hare.

II/ 1825.

— Sir James Stephen. — Blake's Conversations

.

17

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

33

CHAPTER

.

1826.

III.

Blake.

ney with O'Connell.

to

to

.

CHAPTER
Death of Blake.

IV.

1827.

— Lamb at Enfield
CHAPTER

73

V.

1828.

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

CHAPTER

VI.

79

1829.

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

Antiquarian Society.
fession.

CHAPTER
Tour

in

Germany.

— Visits

to

VII.

87

1829.

Benecke, Knebel, Goethe, Tieck, &c.

98

CONTENTS.

iv

CHAPTER
In Italy.

— Winter in Rome. — Tour

in Sicily.

CHAPTER

— The Reform
— Jeremy Bentham

In England again.
Clarksons.

IX.

Bill.

in Florence

W.

1831.

.

X.

Lamb and

to

.

.

.

.

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.

J.

at

CHAPTER
Political

— Bunsen. — Emerson. — On
— Christmas Rydal

Punishment of

the

366

at

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.

to

....

at

to

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.

vi

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

I.

1824.

JANUARY

1st

I

dined with Flaxman.

An

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

more

* Written
VOL.

II.

1

successful in painting strongly
in 1851.

A

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

2
to

believers the just inferences from the

It

is

L

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.

He

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.

3

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

:

is

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.

T

:

4

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

1.

" 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

;

:

"

Or

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

I

think

it

was, in

fact,

£ 500.

" I shaft never see

IRVING.

1824.]

JOHN FRANKLIN.

SIR

— WILDE.

5

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

7

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.

I.

p. 266.

f Written in 1851.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

L

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.

7

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

is

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."

me

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

8

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

1.

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.

9

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

De

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

to

you

"
!

* Written in 1851.

1*

10

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

1.

— 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.

He

chat with him.

is

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.]

11

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

12

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

X.

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

T

;

%

* Probably what Mr. Robinson sent was Arnotto.

LAWS OF THE TRAPPIST ORDER.

1824.]

13

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

;;

14

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

1.

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.

15

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

!

is

— A bad morning,

for I

went to book auctions,

my

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

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.

16

December 31st

The Flaxmans were

I

[Chap.

1.

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.

17

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

at

Christie's.*

A

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

am

I blood-thirsty

?

'

replied the Jew.

'

When my

forefathers

A

*
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.

B

"

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB KOBIXSOX.

18

[Chap.

2.

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.

f

Written in 1851.

A BAR DINNER AT THE ATHENAEUM.

1825.]

19

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

heretic,

much

as

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

to

juniors.

April 22d.

make a

call

— In the evening

called

on C. Lamb.

He and

He

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.

We

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.

20

[Chap.

2,

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

my

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

R

part,

such fairy hues.

I

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.

my

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

is

the name,
%

Written in 1851.

SIR

1825.]

Clarkson thrown from a

21

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

my

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.

my

— Finding myself released

at

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.

22

[Chap.

2.

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

:

H.

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

*

An

Italian

:

a lawyer

by

profession.

1825.]

WILLIAM HONE.

— ENDLESS

PUNISHMENT.

23

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.

24

" Espriella."

[Chap.

2.

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-

To

ject.

my

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.]

25

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

like

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
:

i

:

VOL.

II.

2

"

26

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

Wordsworth with being not a

reproaches

[Chap.

2.

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

I

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."

He

" 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."

is

On my

'

:

BLAKE ON WORDSWORTH.

1825.]

— APHORISMS.

27

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-

t

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

28

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

is

round.

[Chap.

2.

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.' "

'

'

'

'

A

" 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

is

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.]

29

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

by

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.

30

[Chap.

2.

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
<

of

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.]

31

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.

L

p. 419.

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

32

[Chap.

2.

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

k

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

in

London than the

present.

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

33

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.

I

:

'

:

believe in an eternity of hell.

but in this matter

I

hope God

will forgive

me

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,

I

6

2*

c

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

34

[Chap.

3.

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.

more

I

in accordance with orthodox Christianity

:

>

'

;

BLAKE ON

1826.]

HIS

OWN

WRITINGS.

35

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.

r

;

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.

My

dear Friend,

[No

date,

I did a

but the postmark

mighty

is

February.]

foolish thing

when

I

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.

3.

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

sent you will entitle

Of

my

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.

37

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

1

It is a sort of

moral and

38

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

3.

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
:

A

:

* 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.

39

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.

40

'

[Chap.

3.

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 "

;

if

:

before, direct here.

My

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

is

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

I

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

A

;

COLERIDGE'S "AIDS TO REFLECTION."

1826.]

keeps away

1

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,

»

;

42

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

3.

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
:

He

A

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.]

I

COLERIDGE'S TALK DIFFICULT TO NOTE.

cannot deny the consistency of

this.

The

43

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.

By

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.

44

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

3.

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

is

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.

45

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.*

I

Jfih.

of a younger son of Mrs. Evans.f

August

5th.

I

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

1

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.

I

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.

is

*

now

the printer and part proprietor of

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

46

shape of meeting-houses

;

[Chap.

3.

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

r

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.

""

47

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.

On

inquiry, I found I

w as
T

right in

my

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

';

r

:

nine, to take

me

back, and so I

had

to walk.

48

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

August

[Chap.

3.

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

49

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-

me

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.

:

3

D

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

50

[Chap.

3.

" 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

it

here, I won't

And

even from Protestants

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

!

I

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.

We

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.

;

51

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.

52

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

—A

[Chap.

3.

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.

it

is

impossible to correct

all

H. C. R.'s

IRISH TOUR.

1826.]

53

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.

54

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

3.

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

me

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.]

55

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."

On

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.

He

is

* 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.

56

[Chap.

3.

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.]

57

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,

my

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.

He

slipped

away

at a side door,

3*

and

I

58

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CKABB ROBIXSOX.

[Chap.

3.

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^

59

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

T

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.

60

[Chap.

3.

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
:

!

A

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

01

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.

62

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

under Father P
were waiting for the

[Chap.

3.

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

at

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

:

;

63

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-

my

house!"

down

And

I

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

by

my

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.

!

.

64

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

3.

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

T

-

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


65

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,

,

A

"

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

me

in

my

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

66

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

3.

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,

p.

5.

DAWSON TURNER.

1826.]

— YARMOUTH

CHURCH.

67

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.

68

[Chap.

3.

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.

e.

at Oxford

self so

and Cambridge,

much indebted

to

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.

a

DEATH OF FLAXMAN.

1826.]

69

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.

70

[Chap.

3.

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

my

death.

— Dined

December 17th.

at Bakewell's, at

Hampstead.

A

M

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 "

M

M

:

"

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-

is

* 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.

71

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.

T

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

by Lord Spencer

to write

an account of the

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

72

[Chap.

3.

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

T

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.

73

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

We

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.

4

in 1851.

74

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

4.

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

at

!

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.]

75

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

is

to

my days

to

be

each by natural piety,"

no such thing as natural piety, because

76

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

4.

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,

H.

:

:

"

No

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.

7?

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.*

:

"

He

for

God

only, she for

God

in

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

is

now

fast declining.

It

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

am

1,

1827.

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

I

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.

78

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

4.

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

!

C.

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.

A

)

:


T

.

RECOLLECTIONS OF MRS. SIDDONS.

1828.]

CHAPTER

79

V.

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.

80

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

5.

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

my

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

is

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

my

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

my

when

spring,

you

I

hope you

will

permit

me

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

of

I desired to

4*

calls,

buy

for

little business at W.
a share in the Londoa

and a

me

JT

82

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

5.

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

r

:

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.

83

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
;

T

;

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

I.

— H.

C. K., 1852.

84

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

5.

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,

85

STANLEY.

who was about

to

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.

t

Dean of Westminster.

86

:

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

5.

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.

87

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.

88

[Chap.

6.

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

1

:

:

T

'

J

;

;

* 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.

89

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

We

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,

r

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

T

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.

;

90

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

6.

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

it

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.

91

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

is

"

is

necessary.]

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

92

C.

Dear Robinson,

Lamb to H.

[Chap.

6.

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.

up

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

if

!

kind, joins in the wish.

C.

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.]

my

crowns

exemption.

the room, shooting out
this

I

93

imagine you howling, and pace across

my

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,

C.

Mary thought a

letter

from

Lamb.

me might amuse you

in

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

94

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

6.

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."

He

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

My

;

T

;

;

* 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.

95

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.

96

[Chap.

6.

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.]

97

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.

to

abandon to him
5

his

younger characters.
Q

His

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

98

[Chap.

7.

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

it

15th.

— Drove

with

my

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*

My

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

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IN

GERMANY.

99

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.

I

!

proceeded to Heidelberg, where I spent twelve

*

See Vol.

I. .p.

107.

100

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

t]

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.]

is

IN

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

T

* 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.

me

much. Went early to bed, sleeping

so

in

my

[Chap.

7.

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.

A

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

is

:

;

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

T

T

T

T

not scruple to copy the minutest incidents

and add others which

I find in

my

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.

A

:

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.

up

It

for military purposes,

104

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

7.

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

A

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

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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.

:

;

*

;

:

5*

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

106

[Chap.

7.

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

is

moment

:

!

;

;

:

r

'

'

:

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

He

turn

;

T

;

TOUR

1829.]

IN

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107

me

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:

T

:

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.

7.

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.

T

;

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.

7.

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.

I.

p. 108.

]

TOUR

1829.]

IN

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

I

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.

7.

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.

I.

pp. 391, 392.

TOUR

1829.]

IN

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.
:

H

114

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

7.

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.]

IN

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-

;

T

.

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

;

T

116

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

7.

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

more

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

:

!

T

:

;

118

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

8.

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,

r

* See Vol.

I.

p. 376.

120

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

her, as well as a

nephew, a young M. D.,

[Chap.

8.

— 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

My

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

;

;

;

i

121

ITALY.

1829.]

" Sir," said a king's messenger to

me

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

'

'

A

:

:

VOL.

II.

6

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

122
itself,

*

Enough, and more than enough.'

"

[Chap.

8.

He was out of humor

for the rest of the evening.

is

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.

:

I

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

my

;

person.

January 22cL

— Westphal, a

German

at Lord Northampton's parties, took

me

:

scholar,

whom

I

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.

He

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,

A

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."

A

[Chap.

8.

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

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

T

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

I

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.

8.

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,

!

R

:

4

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.

it

is

somewhat

less

difficult

H. C. R. to

My

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.

my

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.

;

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.

me

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

A

&c.

me

so

laurel

much

as

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
;

r

130

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

8.

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

is

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.

"

A

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

*

A

f

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.

8.

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.

a

man

133

ITALY.

1830.]

to

at home,

whom Tuscany
and as

generally step

I

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.

A

1

;;

134

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

8.

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

is

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.

8.

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

me

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

;

;

T

138

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

8.

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,

"

1

The Centaur

is

not fabulous,' said Young.

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

The head

is

horseish

Was

never seen

The

rest

is

in

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

:

i

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

if

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.

8.

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.

8.

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

I

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,
;

7

;

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
'

'

'

:


;

:

W

* This bust

is

now

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

-

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

144
Rome,

8.

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

in the vain

which

for

[Chap.

I

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

%

"

I

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

1

Then

145

ITALY.

1831.]

H.

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.

7

J

146

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

8.

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

my

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

to

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."

H.

C. R.

to

W.

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.

8,

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

2,

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.

me

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.

S.

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. &

my

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'

T

1

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.

8.

" 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,

"

!

;

1

'

'

:

:

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,

:

'

6

'

:

:

:

:

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

it

before, as

it

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

7*

Causes C&ebres
Haye. 1735."

et Interes-

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

154

[Chap.

8.

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.

my

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.

My

;

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
;

;

my

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

6

:

:

:

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.

9.

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

IN

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.

9.

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,

I

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.

W.

S.

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.

S.

Landor.

.

IN

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,

;

u

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,

K

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

162

[Chap.

9.

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,

;

W.

S.

Landor to H.

C. R.

November

....

6,

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

am

A

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

am

" 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,

;

"

IN

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.

1,

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.
.

I

well

say, indeed,

when you

left

:

;


164

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.

[Chap.

9.

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."

;

:

;

IN

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.

I

;

;

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.

It

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.

9.

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

me

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.

* "

A

Biographical

Windham.

Memoir

of the Life of the Right Honorable William

London, 1810, 8vo."

IN

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."

I


;

»

relish novelty, and'

am

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

r

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.

J.

S.

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!

!

We

mont.

March

8th.

— walked
— not high

to Enfield,

I

excellent state,

in

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

S.

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

9

"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

s

finished

!

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

April 2d.
called

is

My

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.

We

:

* 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

:

S.

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

as

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
;

:

f

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

I

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.

He

— 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.

T

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.

!

*

A

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

H.

My

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

He

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

I

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.

I

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

a

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.*

my

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.

t

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.

W.

S.

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

I

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

T

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.

u

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.

44

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

....

5,

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
;

I

;

February

24-th.

— At the

Athenaeum, where

I

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

A

A

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.

I

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.

We

travelled in the second class

of

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

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

We

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

it

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,

We

:

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

is

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.]

to

my

— SCOTCH JOURNEY.
187
— my mother, an admirable

affections, latest of kindred,

woman, whose image

as fresh

is

now

to

me

as

it

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.

I

are the natural enemies of the rich
fellows.

portion of

it

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

;

L

Where

too,

all,

if

am

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

I

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

a

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.]

IN

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,

my

'

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.

;

6

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.
!

!

!

6

,

come for]"

" 0,

damme,

I

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

by

Rose, a deaf and rheumatiG

1834.]

S.

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

am

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.

9

m

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

My

date,

S.

Landor to H.

but on the outside

is

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

my

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

I

hour with Arndt.

I

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

in

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

in

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.

4

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

my

Stift.

my

stay at Heidelberg

much

of

my

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

it

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.

I.

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.

My

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
;

;

my

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.

;

;

11

!

:

.

;

W.

S.

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

He

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

:

;

:

is

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

My

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

my

!

;

!

-

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.

My

2

Plowden

Buildings, 27th April, 1835.

am

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,

I

* 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.

I

am

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

me

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.

my

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

H.

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,

....

It

;

"Das-ganze Lied

es

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,

my


:

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.

W

I breakfasted

so

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

is

We

— 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,

"

As

so there

is

" 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

so

I

came back,
when I went

so

when

I

[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,

so

to

;

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,

my

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

I

then,

must try

to

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.

10

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
:

I

" 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

me

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

I

wish

I

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.

I

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-

He

tarian.
* See his

letter to

Manning, Vol.

I.

"
p. 254,

Lamb's Works."

1836.]

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHILOSOPHIES.

225

H. C. R. to Benecke.
2

Plowden

Buildings, March

2,

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

am

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

!

!

I

am

acquainted with.

He

is

a

man

of talents too.

I

am

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

in

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

T


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,

He

is

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

by

my

desire

has, in

my

and

in

my

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.

v

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
:

in

my

presence, to

some one who was urging rather a com-

monplace and sentimental morality,
but should be called goody ness?

" that is not goodness,

A

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.

It

hills,

BULWER'S FRANCE.

was from

Amyot and

ascent of one of these
lines

'

I,

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.*

I

to transfer the stock, she

H. C. R. to H. N. Coleridge. $
November

My

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

is

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

A

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,

t;

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

My

dear

Sir,

C. R.

to

Plowden

— On

my

W.

S.

Landor.

Buildings, Temple, December

return from

my

summer's

7,

1836.

tour,

I

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

it

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

A

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

a

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

He

is

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-

T

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."

4

6

6

:

[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.
*

....

am

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

:

'6

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.

I

have no science,

He

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

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-

We

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.

A

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

it

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

:

He

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

I

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

is

to

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

we

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

:

;

f

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

We

We

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

He

I chatted.

is

in the monastery now.

A

pic-

him was shown to us. I made inquiries, and expected
him in the evening. But perhaps it was one of his

We

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.

He

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

A

11*

250

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

13.

we

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

A

:

" 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

We

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.

A

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

r

We

— We

A

A

A

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

up

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

at

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
:

:

44

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

1

*

1

*

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.

n.

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

in

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."

Q

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

on

I

my

part put

my

siderable, yet

it

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

We

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

so

:

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

:

;

r

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

260

13.

H. C. B. to Wordsworth.

My

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

4

1838.]

COPYRIGHT IN AMERICA.

— 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

my

t

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

is

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

:


!

i

* 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.

A

off

very well indeed,

had with me Landor, Mimes,
great deal of rattling on the part of

was concerned.

I

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

I

am

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.

.

12

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

266

August

21st.

— Received a

and grateful

in a satisfied

letter

spirit.

13.

from Mrs. Clarkson, written

No

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-

my

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

R

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

we

object of attention;

and paid the

On

* 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

is

.

.

.

.

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

in

'

!

'

(

:

;

;

;

* 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.

I

had a

We

are

all,

in spite of ourselves, a parcel of thieves.

droll instance of

it

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

is

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

44

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

We

* 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.

We

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! "

i4

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.

We

3d.

— Remained

in

my

lodgings

then went to Miss Fenwick's.

Wordsworth

till

He

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

.

;

An

assertion of infallibility leads to ciyil war.
Wordsworth sent for me at about two,

January 7 th.

and

I

* 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

it

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*

R

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
:

:

'

Am

* " 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.

in

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

to

fill

We

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.

am

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

I

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

A

John Shaw).

We

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\

I

went to meet Mrs. Daniel Gaskell.

* H. C. R. sedulously attended the whole course,
t

Written in 1858.

She drew upon

MRS.

1839.]

D.

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.]

No

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.

me

will give

is

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

"I

am

not one

To season

Now,

after

all,

who mnch

my fireside

a letter

or oft delight

with personal talk."

— a genuine

letter

is

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

by

three standing toasts are,

Two Thousand."

And then

it

first,

was that

by declaiming, as impressively

surprise,
"

Nor

The second

shall the eternal roll of

toast

is,

"

Fame

"

The Memory

I

took the club

as I could,

reject,"

&c*

John Milton."

* " Wordsworth's Poetical Works," Vol. IV.

p. 62.

THE NON-CON. CLUB.

1840.]

On

— CARLYLE.

287

this I recited,
"

Yet Truth

is

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,"

!

!

!

T

is

omni-science."

Wordsworth to H.

C. R.

June

.

.

.

Hartley Coleridge

is

3,

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.

Of

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,

A

;

and curious books.
come of them T"

I

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

T

:

* 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.

H.

C.

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.

I

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

my

nephew, who had long exhib-

told this story, with the concluding line,

"

Or sing when

I

'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

5,

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

I

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

16

;

?
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

in

summer

;

but this

is

most

certain,

— that

— and

I

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,

I

believe, repeatedly,

it

is

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

more

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.
;

;

;

:

;

H.

C. R. to

Wordsworth.
30

....

I

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

am

very busy to-day. but over

my

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.

me

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.

is

not the

first

preferring prose to verse.
May 12th.
Called on the Wordsworths.

time of Rogers's

We

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

me

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

r

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

my

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

m

!

lf
?

-

—- -

z

5.
s

I

,:

7

Tr

:r":W-g

-iTfriT'irf.

-

c-n: in

^-

~

'-"-rrs

ixrr^ifs

7\

••

z_ :^:crs

::

iis-

nz-Tzrr :^s:f is n:re Siii.-arRex. T. Mai^e. a lover of

W

^ 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

:l

M-

v:n

recollect
al

:

ne

J :-nn s

by a M&riqvtf
^iniirrrand,

~

v>

cod.

and

1

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

v

i

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

my

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

my

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

my

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.
;

:

'

:

T

302

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

CHAPTER

1%

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

my

inability to record.

It

was on his own poetry, and

He

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

;

H.

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.

I

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.

He

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.

R

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

:

A

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.

By

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.

A

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 "

H.

C. R.

Newmania

!

on Theological Polemics.
17th May, 1E43.

I

return you your book, which I have, in discharge of

my

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

is

!

;

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
:

it

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.

am

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

my

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

I

for the first

;

his principles of taste, as well

as

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

T

T

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

my hands

father's partner, in

while

Gowcr

I

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.

14

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

I

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.

My

first

;

;

;

r

;

:

r

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

is

" to

Jemima, Rotha, and

I

;

at

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,

am

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

....

I

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

it

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

if

could."

T

:

The following

to the National Portrait Gallery.

;

A POEM BY

1843.]

MRS. BARBAULD.

317

1.

not to us should be addressed
Your ghostly exhortation;
If heresy still "lift her crest,
The fault is in the nation.

'T

is

2.

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,

4.

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

6.

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,

in

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.

He

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

9,

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

He

is

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,

I

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.

I

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

is

a benefactor.

December 30th.

had

— This was, comparatively, a busy

day.

I

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*

u

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,

He

told

me

his history.

will, I

He was brought up

QUILLINAN TO H.

C. R.

Ambleside. March

19, 1844.

am

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

T

* 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,

so

warm and

firm,

1

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.]

He

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
;

;

A

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

He

to him.

it

with effect.
On the Thursday

I

we

cull,"

heartily thanked

accompanied a

me

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

"A

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

it

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

It

* 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.

A

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 ? "

:


?

v

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.

.

I

.

7

.

* 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.

I

I

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

T

worth while, we

may

revert to

it

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

my

fall, I

7

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.]

S.

ROGERS.

335

1845.

January

5th.

— Dined and took tea with the

Fletchers.

A

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.

H.

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

t

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

I

As

others.

far as others are concerned, I less

need this admo-

nition.

H. C. R. to a Friend.

My

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

r

of

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

so

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

My

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.

He

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."
'

'

'

6

!

(

'

'

!

!

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.

:

A

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

:

1



!

!

;

!

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,

;

;

j

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

2,

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

as

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.

t

* 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.

He

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*

t

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

my

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.

on

IN

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

;

7

*

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

We

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

T

T

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

A

A

:

;

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.

A

sion.

I

had at breakfast with

me

F.

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.

I

friendship.

H.

C. R. to T. R.

Rydal Mount, 23d

You make

a

my words were

little

mistake in quoting what

I

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

is

lost

distinction

by

this.

I

between the parties in the Church.

I

am

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
;

1

:

!

!

* 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.]

J.

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.

K

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.

An

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

w

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

is

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

my

m.

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

I

did not grudge paying

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

360
for

it

him

£

6 to the official assignee.

I

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.

is

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

;

;

;

:

me

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.

We

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.]

F.

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.

am

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

is

He

no abatement of

his cordiality.

A

*
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.

16

REMINISCENCES OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON. [Chap.

362

H.

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

H

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.

I

attended a University College

council

The Flaxman remains were mentioned by others,
was therefore led to speak of Miss Denman's intended

meeting.

and

I

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.

H.

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,

We

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.
:

T

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,

I

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.

He

He

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.

H.

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

*

F.

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.

AM

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

I

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

is

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

to

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-



!

T

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.

I

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.

H.

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.

I

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

to

;

EMERSON IN ENGLAND.

1848.]

of "

got into

I

soiree.

whom

371

a disagreeable talk with an American,
defence of slavery, he spoke

I left abruptly, because, in

Our Saviour."

On

this I bolted,

saying, " There

is

no

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

my

recollection

who shared my

early admiration of that wonderful creature
love with Mrs. Siddons.

H.

C. R. to T. R.
30 Russell Square, 22d April, 1848.

....
had the

It

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.

I

quarian Society.

;

H. C. R. to T. R.
6th May, 1848.

am

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.

De

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

;

;

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.

I

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 particularl