"If the letter could be thus withdrawn, the course would be left open to you to take an obvious way of setting matters right. I have not read the article, but, from what I heard of it, it appears to me the critic has unjustly imputed to the author the whole faults of one of the characters which is the most condemned. "The views of society and of morals, when taken by Miss M—, and examined according to her standard, are not necessarily the views of the author. 66 It may with more candor be supposed that she expresses her own sentiments in the language of the characters that are held up as better examples. "This is ground enough for an honorable amende. I am so much engaged that I really have not time to call on you. "Adieu. Ever yours, ABINGER." "New Street, Sunday. "I can refuse you nothing. A very severe and lasting cold and cough almost unfit me for company; but if I do not get worse, I will surely join you on Friday, hoping that you will excuse my propensity to bark, as it does not arise from hydrophobia; on the contrary, I drink nothing but water. "I have made acquaintance with 'the Two Friends,' and relish them much. In truth, I have devoted two successive midnight hours to them, and left them only when they were about to go to their chambers after marriage. I like the book. The characters are well drawn, the incidents well imagined, the interest well kept up, the sentiments of a high moral cast, and the composition occasionally rises into great elegance, and is always marked by correct feeling, well expressed. After so much of commendation, you will, I know, receive as well one critical remark. "Had I been at your elbow when you wrote, I would not have allowed you to make use of two or three words, which I dislike; one is agreeability, which, if English, is not agreeable, and therefore does not suit you. But it is not English: agreeableness is the right word. Another is the word mentally, which, though a good word, has been so much abused by indifferent writers, that I have taken a dislike to it, and would banish it from the novels of my friends. I do not recollect any other. “I am very glad to hear what you say of Burdett. I expected it of him, and hope that many will follow his example, though it is not the lot of many to possess his high and honorable feeling. "The 'Law Magazine' has been sent to me, with the proper title-page cut open. Surely I ought to be satisfied with it, but it is too flattering. I can not imagine, however, where the writer picked up the notion that, when I was attorney general, I entertained any project of increasing the expense of admissions (to the bar, I presume). Such a thought never entered my head, nor did I ever hear it discussed by any body. I certainly did propose a regulation, which was afterward adopted, and of which I have heard no com plaint. That regulation was to submit candidates for admission to the law societies to a previous examination, with a view to ascertain their fitness by education to become members of a learned profession. It must be this to which the writer alludes. ABINGER." "Lancaster, August 16th, 1835. "A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which reached me yesterday. It is always a satisfaction to think that there is somebody two or three hundred miles away that cares about you. I seem, at this distance from home, and surrounded by ceremonies and frivolities, as if I were in a foreign land, where nobody took any interest about me, which makes a letter from you, at all times agreeable, doubly charming. "I am much flattered with the opinion you have given of my little contribution to Mackintosh's Life. I think, however, that I owe some part of your commendation to your partiality for me, and therefore I am the more pleased by it. I must say, however, that it does not look so well in print as I hoped it would, and that I see much to correct in it. I believe, however, that I have given a true character of Mackintosh's mind, which was candor itself. You will find, in the main, that Sydney Smith agrees with me, though he falls into the satirical vein to enliven his praise. Why mention so unimportant a trifle as the manner of shaking hands with his friends? It is true enough that he presented a flat, unbending hand, as most Scotchmen do; but it is equally true that, in a moment, he put you at ease by his conversation, which had nothing either cold or reserved about it. Though he possessed a great power in conversation, and brought more originality into it than any other man I ever knew, yet it was his great object to draw other men out, and learn what they had to say about what they best knew. The conduct of the Whigs toward him was ungrateful. I have not said half what I thought of it. After all, I think the most entertaining part of the Memoirs his own letters and journals. Some of the former will give you a notion of the depth and compass of his mind. They ought to consider the House of Commons as bent “I find every thing tranquil in the North, and no exertion whatever in favor of the Corporation Bill. The partisans for it are few, and led by the old hackneyed Whig and Radical spouters, who have ceased to possess the countenance and support of any respectable person. Nothing will be a more fatal error in the Peers than to take counsel of Fear. Radical and some of the Whig leaders in the upon their destruction, and that every step taken by the instigation of such persons is a step toward ruin. If the power of the House of Commons is to be wielded by Hume and O'Connell, the day of battle must come, and it is better that it should come while the Peers are erect than when they are prostrate. "As soon as I can dispose of my business, I shall bend my way toward town, where I shall hope for the happiness of seeing you. ABINGER." "Abinger Hall, October 21st, 1836. "I would not thank you for your last kind present till I learned the value of it by reading the book. My words are not a mere compliment, then, as I must acknowledge that I read it with pleasure, not only from the interest of the stories, but from the style, which is perspicuous, sprightly, and agreeable, exactly suited to such a work. "But allow me to remark, that the greater part of the loves are those of a young gentleman, though he was an elderly gentleman when he told his stories. I believe he is a true sketch of many vain old bachelors. To make the loves of an elderly gentleman agreeable in narration would be as difficult, I fear, as to make them tolerable in reality. There are, however, four letters of Rousseau, called Lettres d'un Sexagenaire, in which he has undertaken, by the force of his style and sentiment, to make the passion of a writer at that age interesting. I wish you would look at them, and tell me if he has been successful. "I have been but two half days in town since the 13th of August, but shall return by the first of next month to my Italian house. Soon after, you will sce, or, at least, hear of me at Gore House. I have been wandering in Germany and Switzerland with my youngest son, and would call my tour pleasant had it not been accompanied by too much rain and cold. Returning through Paris, the first person I encountered on emerging from the hotel was Lady Canterbury. She made us pass the evening with her, and dine there the next day. My lord seems very happy, and has a beautiful house. His eldest son was with him; they do not talk of returning. She read me a portion of a letter from you respecting the affair at Gaston Hall. "I remained but three days at Paris, and, on my landing at Dover, found Lpreparing for Paris, where, if you believe some of the French papers, he, together with P——, has been conspiring with the King of the French to turn out the Whigs. I wish, with all my heart, they may succeed before it is too late. Au revoir, adieu. ABINGER." "Lincoln, March 6th, 1837. "I am not a greater believer in their resignation because the Whigs profess an intention to resign. Their first object is to keep their places, at any sacrifice of principle; their second is to place the country in such a state as to give the greatest embarrassment to their successors and to the king. I believe some among them call this patriotism. ABINGER." "New Street, March 8th, 1838. "As you place yourself in my hands touching your communication with Barnes, I shall play the part of a loyal as well as faithful embassador in using the best discretion to advance your object. I shall not, therefore, send your letter, not because I do not concur in the remarks it contains, but because it has a tendency to rip up the old quarrel, by putting him under the necessity either of recanting his criticism or vindicating it. Now I think the peace is a good peace, and promises to be lasting, unless disturbed by a recurrence to former differences. It is better, therefore, to allow me to make your acknowledgments in general terms of civility. He knows already my sentiments on the fallacy of the former critique; he must also know yours; and the recurrence to it looks as if you made it of more importance than it becomes you to do. I will come and see you as soon as I can. ABINGER." "Maidstone, July 26th, 1840. "I delayed replying to your letter in the hope that I might have something to say which would be agreeable to you. I find, on casting up my accounts of patronage in the revising barrister's department, that I can not find a vacancy for Mr. H. "I wish I could have complied with your other request, but, I assure you, I have not been able to read or write without effort, in consequence of the state of my eyes; and all the poetry of former times, which you suppose finds place in my portfolio, has long been committed to the flames. "I make a vow, however, to pay my respects to Gore House the first moment that I can possibly spare after my return to town. ABINGER." LETTERS FROM LORD DURHAM TO LADY BLESSINGTON. "DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON,-I thank you much for your very agreeable letter, which I received this morning, and for your kind inquiries after my health, which is wonderfully improved, if not quite restored, by this fine air, and dolce far niente life. I anticipate with horror the time when I shall be obliged to leave it, and mix once more in the troublous realities of public life. Pray remember me most kindly to Lord Lyndhurst when you see him: a constant source of regret with me is, that our political path has hitherto been on separate lines, for I think him decidedly the most powerful and most efficient man in our house; and as a lawyer, there is not his equal on the bench or at the bar. "I am sorry to hear you give so unfavorable an account of the reputation of the ministry. They mean well, and if they are not stronger in intellect and efficiency, it is probably not because they do not wish to strengthen themselves, but because they would not be permitted. "Your estimate of the three books, Miss Kemble's, De Lamartine's, and Bulwer's, is a most just one. The latter is full of first-rate genius. "Ellice leaves me to-day; he will tell you what a charming life this is. "Yours very truly, D." "Peterhoff, September 3d, 1836. "I thank you most sincerely for your kind remembrance of me, and for the announcement of the successful termination of my appeal. "I don't pretend to deny that I am much pleased at the result; but if the decision had been unfavorable to me, I should have still been satisfied, because I should have been certain that the equity of the case was against me in truth, if Lord Lyndhurst had so decided it. We differ in politics, it is true, but there can be but one opinion as to his unrivaled abilities as a lawyer; indeed, I should have been perfectly content long ago to have left the matter to his sole arbitration. If he had decided against me in Chancery, I never should have appealed to the Lords. 66 Pray remember me to Lord Lyndhurst when next you see him, and tell him that my admiration of his talents is only equaled by my regret that their exercise But I must not get into politics, so will leave my sentence unfinished. "I have been very unwell lately, and confined to my bed by a return of a rheumatic fever which I had in the winter. This detestable climate is not to be endured but by persons possessing constitutions of platina or granite. "What a state of confusion seems to exist in England! When will people be tired of all these petty party broils? To one looking on at a distance, it all appears very mean and undignified. The paramount interests of a great country like ours ought not to be made the sport of party passions and selfish quibbles. "Adieu. When you have a spare moment at Kensington, give me the benD." efit of it. "Louth Castle, August 21st, 1837. "I inclose you an extract from a letter which I received this day in answer to my complaint. "I told you in London that I had had even more trouble about this affair than all those of my embassy. 46 desire. However, I think it is now concluded according to your "The delay that has occurred in notifying the permission to dedicate is not owing to any neglect of the librarian, but has arisen from the uncertainty whether any except historical works would be permitted. In order, however, to obviate this difficulty, Mrs. Fairlie's work has been looked upon as historical biography, and probably before you receive this you will have heard that the permission is granted.' D." "Cleveland Row, Saturday night. "I have to thank you most sincerely for giving me an opportunity of making Mr. Bulwer's acquaintance. I have long admired his genius, and highly estimated his pre-eminent abilities. They have never been sufficiently brought into play by those who have the power to make them as useful to the country as they are honorable to himself. "With these feelings, I can not but be delighted to think that I shall meet D." him on Tuesday. |