John Barton Senior (1789-1852) created at least four hand-written journals of his thoughts and experiences. In the 1980s Major Robert George Lindsay Barton (b.1914) had volumes 3 & 4 transcribed, and provided explanatory footnotes, as a companion piece to his book about John. His transcripts are reproduced below, though his lengthy footnotes - many of which can now be replaced with more efficient hyperlinks - have for now been omitted.

We don't know what has happened to the original journals; there is considerable interest in locating them.


THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

---

Volume 3

Effect of Paper Currency on Population
July 30th, 1819

Within the last two or three weeks my views
relative to the effect of excessive paper issues on the condition of
the poor have become much more comprehensive and distinct. Till lately,
I supposed that the unfavourable effect of such issues only lasts during
the reflux of prices, during the rise of the currency to its specie
value. But I now see that as an excess of paper affords an unnatural
stimulus to marriage, it must tend to depress the price of labour during
many subsequent years. This tendency to lower the price of labour will
not become sensible for many years, not till the offspring of such
surplus marriages become of working age; and. it will not cease entirely
till all the offspring of such surplus marriages are dead. This inconvenience
is wholly unconnected with the cessation of demand for labour
during the return of the currency to its level and would be felt equally
even if the revulsion at the peace had been obviated by raising the
standard of the coin.
July 31- "Considerez la puissance de 1'Angleterre; d'ou lui
vierut elle? de ses vertus et de sa constitution. Supposez un moment
que cette ile, maintenant si prospere, fut privee tout a coup de ses
lois, de son esprit public, de la liberte de la presse, et du parlehient
. -jvii tire sa fond de la nation et lui rend la sienne a son tour; comme
les champs seraient desse'ches; comme les ports deviendraient deserts - "
Mme. de Stael's Considerations Vol.2 p.327.326.
Sunday, August 1, 1819
Ebel's Gebirgs Volker1'Vol.2, reinf of Sect.16. Sect.17 and part of Sect.18.
2
Esprit des Loix ' - finished
Bentham's Theorie des Peines^'first six chapters abstracted.
4
Proceeded with the 4th Book Burnett's Own Times.
Mme. de Stael's Considerations. ' Part 4. Chap. 1 to 10.
Lady of the Lake*?'
1st Part of Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel
- 1 -
E.BEL, Johann Gottfried; Schllderung der Gebirgevolker der
Schweitz. 2 parts. Leipzig 1798-1802
MONTESQUIEU (i.e. Charles de Secondat, Baron Brede et de
Montesquieu): De 1* Esprit des Loix. 2 vols, 17'lti. 22 editions
in two yeaxs
BENTHAM, Jeremy: Theorie des peiues et des recompenses,
B. Dulau, Londres 1811
BURNET, Gilbert (1643-1715)- Left in manuscript "History of
My Own Times", but owing to clause in his will not published
till 1723t but with many passages suppressed which were
restored in the Oxford edition of 1823.
Madame de Stael (Stael-Holstein, Anne Louise Germaine de,
Baroness) (1766-1817)i Considerations stir la Revolution
Francaise, published by her son and daughter after her death.
Lady of the Lake. Poem by Sir Walter Scott, published 1810.
DRYDEN, John (1631-1700): published the satire Absaloa and
Achitophel in 1681 - written in the style of a scriptural
narrative, the nam^s and situations of personages in the
holy text being ' \plied to those contemporaries to whom the
author assigned places in his poem. Chambers Literature
1854.
Proceedings at Poorhouso
Sunday Au,"ust 3th 1019
Looked over the few remaining pages of Ebel's Gebirgs Volker,
but finding them not very interesting I left them, and read some of
Beschreibung von Bern.1' Bentham's ThSorie den Peines Book 1st. Chap. 7
to 10; Book 2nd. Chap. 1 to 6.
Finished 4th part of 5th Book Burnett's Own Times
Mme. de Stael's Considerations Part 4th. Chap. 11 to 19
2.
Cowper'• Table Talk and part of the Task
From the Edinburgh Review
Act 1. No. 54 I,ord Byron's poetry .
Filangieri's Science of Legislation *
Gents on the State of Europe 1907^'
The review of Filangieri contains come admirable remarks on the nature
of the English Constitution.
On February 14th last I observed a curious proof of the instability
of popular meetings. Another such case occurred this week. I had been
3
appointed by the Court of Guardians , with Mr. F. Guy, Mr. McGregor and
•5 '
Ilr. Tubb, to draw up a set of bye-laws for the better regulation of
the business of the Court - which we did, and presented them at a meeting
held M°nday last. Mr. Newland^'wishing to gat rid of these laws, moved
an adjournment of the question which was lost in a division by 11 to 8.
They were accordingly read seriatim, and most of them agreed to.
This occupied us till midnight. It was determined they should be
reconsidered on Friday. It was ten o'clock, however, before the other
business of the night was concluded. A motion was then moved, that
those bye-laws be read again that day six months, which being put to the
ballot was carried by 8 to 5*
I have however learnt some important rules for the managing of
popular meetings, from a consideration of these circumstances. I am
quite convinced that with proper management these bye-laws might have
been carried. But in the first place, due care was not taken to inquire
into the sentiments of the guardians from time to time while these rules
2.
were under consideration, and to accommodate them so far as might be,
to the taste of the majority - 2ndly - some articles were
Footnotes -
1. Probably BESCHREIBUNG BER STADT UND REFUBLIK BERN by Porch ho l d
Freidrich von Mailer, pub. Born, 179'' •
2. CONFER, William (1?31-1800)t "Table Talk" pub. in his first volume
of poems 1702. "The Task", blank verse; pub. I785 - said to have
been inspired by Lady Austen, a widow who came to reside near
OIney. Chambers Literature 185^.
3. Court of Guardians.
Horsfield's History of Sussex states 1-
"POOR - an act of parliament passed in 1753» having among other
objects, the relief and employment of the poor, by incorporating
the parishes and establishing a house of industry, under due
regulations, for their reception; subject to the inspection and
direction of guardians properly appointed. Ail the parishes both
within and without the walls (of Chichester) and the district called
the Close, are consolidated for this purpose. The Guardians
constituted by this authority are, t' High Steward, Mayor, Recorder
and Justices of the Feace, besides t irty others of the ablest and
most discreet inhabitants....They are constituted a body corporate
and politic, who are to meet annually, and to elect a president
and treasurer. The court must consist of the president and a
certain number of guardians and no other rate may be levied for the
relief of the poor; and cash so levied must be certified by the
Mayor, etc.
"The alms-home built by William Cawley in 1626, with two fields
given by him, were applied to the general purposes of the act.
Several additional buildings, including one appropriated distinctly
for lunatics, have been made, and the whole regulation of the
establishment is so conducted as to answer its beneficial intention".
4. GUY, Francis; surgeon, died 1821.
5. TUBB, James.
- 4 -
NEWLAND, William, partner in Chichester Old Bank.
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the Third by Lord Byron.
The Prisoner of Chillon and other poems, by Lord Byron.
Edinburgh Review December 1816. p.277~310.
The Science of Legislation, from the Italian of Gaetan FilangierA.
By Sir R. Clayton. London 1806.
Edinburgh Review January 180? p. 35^-373-
De l'Etat de l'Europe.... par M. Frederic Gentz, Conseiller de
Guerre, de S. M. Prussienne. Londres 1802.
Edinburgh Review April I803. p. 1-30.
Journey to London •
inserted, which it was well known would be strongly objected to, e.g.,
fines for non-attendance, and accordingly those persons who disliked
those fines took a dislike to the whole plan - 3-fdl.y Due care was not
taken to engage the attendance of the persons most r.ealous for the plan.
4thly. Other business was suffered to be introduced before this, r>ufc
of the regular turn, and by this means it was deferred so late that many
persons voted against the reconsideration of the question (I am
persuaded) from mere weariness.
August 10. Went to London with Anne.
11th. Meeting of the Executors at CLapham. J.F.R.'* not
there.
2
12th. Morning to London - went to see the J-nndon Institution
the new building being lately opened. Looked at
Campbell's Selections 3.. In the afternoon to W.tt's'I
to dinner - Win. and Jas. Home with their wives were
12.
there and the Prins of Walduch also JFR and
his daughter Anna. Returning in the evening, the man
drove the carriage against a post and broke the pole -
]Jlh. To Kingston by Godalmin coach, thence to Teddington^'
in a wherry. Walked with Mr Webb over the farm which
he has lately faken from Mr Hart and looked at the land
which Sergeant Marshall wishes to rent. After dinner
in another wherry : o Richmond. Walked up Richmond
Hill, which I ha/1 not seen before, and a little way
into the Park - witnessed a rowing match on the river.
At fix o'clock embarked in one of the steam boats.
Motion magnificently rapid - company vulgarissimus.
Landed at Bat terse a. and walked to nC lapham.
14th. To London with Anne. Saw Panoramas of Venice and
Dover and went to the Mews to see the cast from Monte
Cavallo®'the third time. In the evening walked
3.
o.
down to Stamford Hill with J.J.
/cx
Sunday, 15th Tottenham meeting. Saw Joseph Woods for the first time
since his return, looking remarkably well, and very
1 Ufriendly
and cordial. Mr Sam Sharp dined with us.
After dinner walked over to Harringay to see Mr Wright.
Finished Mme. de Stael's Considerations
Bentham's Theorie des Peines C. 7 and 8. Book 2.
Read a little of Burnett.
Footnotes -
1. John Foster Reynolds, probably brother of William Foster
Reynolds, uncle of Anne Barton.
2. London Institution"for the advancement of literature and the
diffusion of useful knowledge" in imitation of the Royal
Institution, founded 1805 at 8 Old Jewry, Cheapside and
incorporated 30th April I 8 I 5 . The building in Finsbury
Circus opened 21 April I8I9.
3. Campbell's Selections; perhaps Thomas Campbell (I79O-I858)
sculptor; exhibited R.A. 1827~\57«
4. Probably William Foster Reynolds - uncle of Anne Barton,
who lived at Carshalton House from 1815 onwards.
5. Wm. and Jas. Home, sons of Anthony Home, brother of
Elizabeth, John Barton's mother.
6. Teddington - land round there belonged to Woodrouffe Smith
Trust.
7. Panoramas, invented by Robert Barker, are bird's eye views
painted round the wall of a circular building. First
exhibited Edinburgh 1785- Started similar exhibitions in
London in I789, calling them "Panoramas"; built commodious
premises in Leicester Square. R. Barker died 1806 (Haydn's
Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information; pub. 1876.)
- 7 -
"Thomas Horner's view of London, depicted as it was in 1821, spread
over 46,000 square feet of canvas, at the Colosseum, Regent's Park"
was by all accounts utterly astonishing." "Horner had the idea of
enhancing the open-air illusion common to all panoramas by enclosing
a dummy dome of St. Paul's within the purpose-built shell of the
Colosseum. Londoners could thus ascend and take in the immense
prospect, from Windsor to Epping Fore§t, as though from a height normally
attainable only by steeple jacks or aeronauts". (From an article in a
cutting kindly provided by "Die Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre
Collection, London SE.26.)
8. Monte Cavallo is the Quirinal Hill j the cast, was presumably a reduction
of the Alexander and Bucephalus group. T&ste and the Antique by
F. Haskell and N. Penny, pub. New Haven and London 18.11, gives the
fullest account of later copies of this celebrated work. The Mews
was the King's Mews, demolished in I89.I, now forming part of the site
of the National Gallery.
9. Joseph Janson (see the Homes' and Jansons' Tree.) Banker; educationist;
Quaker; great friend of John Barton; lived then at Stamford Hill.
10. Joseph Woods (1776-1864). Architect and botanist.
11. Samuel Sharp, 5 Essex Court, Temple - the Law List 1820.
12. He appears to have written Prins of Walduch; it is difficult to read.
He was probably the Prince of Waldeck and lyrmont, united German
principalities, estab. 1682. The reigning family then claimed descent
from the Saxon hero Witikind, who flourished about 772. (Haydn's
Dictionary of Dates, I876).
- s -
DOVER
August 16. 1819
17th
Sunday. August 22
y
To London. Sold £150 per An. Long Ann"7 19. 16.
Easthope"*" 'is to take up £H,200 Consols with the Amt.
and sell my remaining £1,800 Cons the first start.
I mentioned the dividend on £9.500. July 1817,
which he appears to have received. He could not
trace it, but will enquire2 a nd write me word.
Bought Dalrymple's Memoirs 'and Ovid's Metamorphosis
at Cathell's - 5 6 / - and 8 / -
Called on George Long^' Bought the Friendly and
Parochial Societies Act - I did not know whether it
was pact or not till I enquired for the Act.
Clapham to Sittingbourn. 18th to Dover - Spent a
few minutes in looking at Canterbury Cathedral.
The most marked difference in age between different
parts of the edifice. The nave is of ornamented
Gothic, and the central tower seems to be of the
same 1 the whole of the east end seems to be of a
style forming an intermediate link between the
Gothic and Saxon. The choir rises from the nave
by several distinct flights of steps - this has a
particularly fine effect.
Read UW m. Phillips' Memoir on the Chalk Cliffs of
Dover '. Looked over Ellis Early English Metrical
Romancesthe latter I bought with other books at
a sale on Thursday for M.W.S.b' ^kin s Biograph
ical Dictionary/''bound in calf rather scratched
£7.11. Lord Byron's English Bards and Scotch
8. 5/
Reviewers I am told some editions of the
latter have lately been printed in Ireland which
have caused it to fall in price. Pinkerton's
Voyages and Travels^ *, handsomely half bound sold
for £13:
I have experienced this week a great deal of stupid lassitude, and inability
to apply myself as usual - partly perhaps arising from the heat of the weather - and
the unsettled nature of a watering place. Friday I walked to the South Foreland by
myself. Saturday with Anne and Sophia to St. Rhadagund's Abbey,"1"0'which I had not
seen for 21 years. I found my recollection of the place tolerably accurate.
Footnotea-
1. Easthope, Sir John, 1 Baronet (1784-1865). Stockbroker, made £150,000 in a few
years. M.P. St. Albans 1826-30, Banbury I 8 3 I - 3 2 , Leicester 1837-47; purchased
Horning Chronicle 1834. Director of Canada Land Company and chairman United
Mexican Mining Company. Of Liberal opinions. Created bart. 24 Aug.1841.
(F.Boa.se, Modern English Biography, Vol.I. (London reprinted I965), and Who's
Who of British M.P.s Vol.1 I832-85. (Harvester Press I976).
The London directories list him, in I 8 I 7 - I 9 at 2 Hercules Court, Threadneedle
St. The firm then became Easthope & Allen (later Easthope & Son) and
moved to Exchange Bldgs., Cornhill.
He no doubt acted for the Woodrouffe Smith Trust, besides John Barton.
2. Dalrymple, Sir John (1726-18l0)i Scottish judge. Pub. "Memoirs of Great
Britain and Ireland (I68I-I692)", I77I.
3. George Long (1780-1868); police magistrate; barrister 1811.
4. Wm. Phillips (1775-1828); mineralogist and geologist. F.G.S. 1807. F.R.S. 1827.
F.L.S. pub. "Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales" 1822.
5. Ellis, George (1753-1815); author, pub. "Specimens of Early English Romances
in Metre", I805. Friend of Sir Walter Scott.
6. Maria Woodrouffe Smith, sister of Anne Barton.
7. Dr. Aikin's Biographical Dictionary, bound in ten vols, quarto, pub. 1799-1815.
8. Lord Byron's "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers", a satire, pub. as reply
to a witty critique in Edinburgh Review of his "House of Idlensess" pub. 1807.
9. Pinkerton, John (1758-1825); "distinguished himself by the fierce controversial
tone of his historical writings, yet was a learned and industrious
collector of forgotten fragments of ancient history and of national
antiquities".
(Chambers Literature 1854). 1796 pub. a "History of Scotland During the
Reign of the Stuarts"; compiled a Modern Geography-; edited a
- / o -
Collection of Voyages and Travels; some time editor
of the Critical Review; wrote a Treatise on Rocks.
10. St. Rhadigund's Abbey; 3 miles west of Dover; founded I I 9 I.
DOVER
Sunday Spptember 5, I8I9
Read during the last fortnight some of the articles in Aikin's
Gen. Biography. Edinburgh Review No. 6J> Some chapters of Kirby and
Spence's^' Entomology. Renewed my acquaintance with Hies Thornton*"
whom I met last year at tlie Hospice of St. Bernard. S-. Harrison Junr."
is here; told me one or two curious anecdotes. Ministers jealous of
Peel3 .a nd glad to see Brougham4 .' give him a dressing on the abuse of
charity question. Copley,the present Attorney General, formerly a 6.
Whig, but being on the stand to be hired. Lord Castlereagh said, "Come
here you damned rascal" - and he came. D. W. Harvey's''speech on
Exchequer Provocations considered one of the best last session.
Joseph Pim is also here, very well informed on nautical affairs, says
Lever's Young Seaman's Sheet Anchor^'is the best work on the subject.
Wm. Christy and his large family here. Drank tea with them. Went
fossil hunting with the boys. Walked to the lighthouse at Foreland
and to St. Rhadagund's Abbey, which I had not seen for 21 years.
Found my recollection of it tolerably correct.
I have made some enquiries relative to the State of the Friendly
Societies in this neighbourhood. There is a very large one at Elham,
7 miles distant, which has a branch at Dover. The clerk gave me a
card with a statement of its affairs during some years past. Another
I understand was extinct, and hoped to get possession of the books
but found I was mistaken, they only paid off thewidows, and the Clerk
is to consider whether he will give me a statement of the payments
etc.
Sunday, September 12, 1819
Dr. Franklin's memoirs, from the year 1730 to 1774^'
Castle Rackrentl0"
11
Some of the stories in Kinder and Haus Marchen 'which was sent down
to me by J.J. together with his critique on Mme.de Stae l's considerations.
Wrote to him 10th inst.
- II -
13-.
From Miss T., Lord Guildford"*^as a seat at Waldershare, 7 miles
distant from Dover, a very learned man, goes over annually to Corfu,
where he has established a College, carrying with him some young
Englishmen of his acquaintance, and brings back a cargo of Greeks,
has acquaintances in almost all the great towns that he passes through.
Hon. F. Douglas (a nephew of Lord Guildford) says that Sir J.
Mackintosh 13.a nd Lord Guildford know between them every existing
14
fact. Lord Fevensey, Lord G's nephew, is pursuing his studies at
Waldershare.'
Some French dramatist has introduced Mam and Eve characters in
a play. At the first dinner to which they sit down in Paradise, Adam
says, "Buvons, buvons a la sante de ma charmante epouse".
Footnotes -
1. Kirby, William and Spence, William« An Introduction to Entomology;
or, Elements of the Natural History of Insects. 4 vols.
London 1815-26.
2. Miss Thornton; no doubt daughter of Henry Thornton (I76O-I8I5),
banker, authority on finance and philanthropist. Governor of
Bank of England. M.P. for Southwark I783-I8I5. Owned Battersea
Rise House, Clapham Common; member of Clapham Sect. His wife
died soon after him in I8I5.
3. Referring to Robert Peel.
4. Henry Brougham (I778-I868); later created Lord Brougham and
Vaux.
5. Copley, John Singleton (1772-1863)5 barrister Lincoln's Inn 1804.
Tory M.P. 1818-26. Solicitor General I8I9. Conducted
prosecution of Queen Caroline 1820. Attorney-General 1824-6.
Lord Chancellor 1827"30, 1834-5, 1841-6. Created Baron Lyndhurst
1827. So at this time he seems in facb to have been Solicitor
General.
6. Lord Castlereagh was then Foreign Secretary.
7. Harvey, Daniel Whittle (I786-I863); radical politician, Fellow
Inner Temple 1818. M.P. Colchester 1818-20 and 1826-34;
Southwark 1835*40.
— I a -
L_Cfcr
8. Lever, Darcy of Pontefract - "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet
Anchor; or a Key to the leading of rigging and to practical ceamanship",
Leeds 1808. 2nd edn. London I8I9.
9. Franklin, Benjamin Dr. (1706-1790). Chambers Literature 1854 -
"By his admirable writings, and still more admirable life, he
inculcated the virtues of industry, frugality and independence
of thought, and may be reckoned one of the benefactors of
mankind". Native of Boston, America. Ambassador for the States
of America, after independence, at court of France. "His memoir
of himself is the most valuable of his miscellaneous pieces".
The identity of lightning with electricity was clearly manifested
by his experiments.
10. Castle Rackrent, an Hibernian tale by Maria Etigeworth, pub.
J. Johnson, London 1800.
11. Kinder und Hausmarchen (Nursery Household Tales); original title
in German of Grimm's Fairy Tales; first vol. pub. 1812.
12. Frederick 5th Earl of Guilford (I766-I827); succeeded to title
I8I7. Chancellor of University of the Ionian Islands; Knight
Grand Cross of the Ionian Order.
13. Sir James Mackintosh (I765-I832) -"one of the last of the
Scottish metaphysicians and one of the most brilliant conversers
of his time". Chambers Literature 1854.
14. Lord Pevensey, Son of 1st Earl of Sheffield, who married in
1798 Lady Anne North, daughter of 2nd Earl of Guilford, K.G.
15. Waldershare Park, Dover, Kent, Seatcf the Earl of Guilford.
16. G. Harrison Junr. Probably son of George Harrison, a member of
the Committee assembled on 22 May 1787 to take steps for the
abolition of the Slave Trade.
Tuesday, September 21. 1819
Visited Waldershare in company with G. and II. Bedford. Present Lord
Guildford is the third son of Lord Ngrth^I Visited the works at the
castle and western heights, with the same party. H.B., who is in the
Almiralty, gave me some information. All King's ships carry a long
pennant at the masthead. When an admiral is on board they carry a
small square flag of the admiral's colour. The revenue vessels, since
the year I816, have been put under the Admiralty. There are admirals,
vice-an-iLra!s and rear admirals, of each of the three colours.
15.
From Miss T. Prince Leopold has a great influence over the mind
of his consort. One day she wished to have an aviary at Glaremont.
He said it would be better to wait till the next year, when they could
better afford it. She said, "But it is such a trifle". "Well", he
replied, "We had better not encumber ourselves with a trifle". She
was a little vexed and at dinner, when he asked if he should give her
a piece of turkey she answered, "Yes, if you please, if you think you
can afford it". He was now vexed in turn, and on retiring as usual,
with the ladies to her drawing room, he omitted, what he had always
observed, to seat himself on the sopha by the princess and conversed
with her for two or three minutes, before addressing anyone else.
She looked at him intently a little while - burst into tears and went
out of the room. He followed her, and in a quarter of an hour they
returned very smilingly.
Previous to her marriage, at one of the state dinners at Windsor,
Prince Leopold came half an hour after the time. At dinner, the
Queen, who was present, desired the Princess to ask him to take wine
with her (it being etiquette that those in direct descent from the
Grown must always ask, and cannot be asked, to take wine). The
Princess replied, "I shan't". After dinner, when the servants were
gone, she asked Leopold why he had been so late. He explained that
some unavoidable business had detained him. "There", she said, "Why
could you not tell us so at first, and I should not have been so unkind
to you".
2.
One day that Mr Inglis "dined at Lord Sidmouth's, the latter said,
he supposed Mr I. knew that Walter Scott was coming up to be made a
Baronet. "I suppose, Mr I", he added, "We may consider him as one of
us - he will come and dine with me, will he not?".
Attended another book sale and bought for Mr W. S. Cabinet Bible
with Westall's designs, handsomely bound in Morocco, £5-15- Barrow's
Life of Macauley?'13/t>., Bertrand de Moleville's Annals of the Fr.Rev.^'
5 vol. iii calf 1 5 / - . The sane for myself 16/- and Hosheim's
Ecclesiastical History^'Br. 39/"* 7 vols. Splendid Costumes bound
Nor. offd' at 22 guineas in (Boards published at £40.
Footnotes-
1. Frederick, 2nd Earl of Guilford and 8th Lord North (I732-L792)
- as Lord North was Prime Minister 1770-1301. Edmund Burke
described him as "a man of admirable parts, of general knowledge,
of a versatile understanding, fitted for every sort of business;
of infinite wit and pleasantry; of a delightful temper and with
a mind most disinterested".
2. Mr. Inglis - Robert Harry Inglis (1736-1055). Private Sec.
to Lord Sidinouth (who was Homo Secretary in Lord Liverpool's
administration until 1322; a Tory politician; F.3.A.-; Opposed
repeal of Corn Laws). Editwl works of Henry Thornton.
3. Sir Jolui Barrow (1764-1343), explorer, private sec. to Ambassador
to China, who was Lord MacCartney 1792-y4, whom he followed to
Cape Colony when he became Governor in 1797* Pub. Travels in
China 1307 - "long our most valuable work 011 that country",
Chambers Literature 1054.
4. Bertrand de Moleville - see footnote to page 7*
5. Mosheim, Johann Lorenz von (1694-1755)* An Ecclesiastical
History, ancient and modern, from the birth of Christ to the
beginning of the present century. Translated by A. Maclaine.
2 vols. London 1765* Plus several other editions, including
one " continued to the end of the 13th century by C. Coote...
6 vols. London 1811.
Mosheim was born at Lubeckj prof, of Theology at Helms tedt 1723;
Gottingen 1747.
Gibbon said of his work that it was "full, rational, correct
and moderate".
17-.
Plan for Winter's Reading
The Marquis de Villeneuve, who resided twenty years in England,
said to Miss T., "I hope you will pass thro' Normandy, who is very
fine country, where I was born, in our little town, so little that
one lamp did light her all".
Sunday Evening, September 26 1819
Left Dover on Thursday morning. Spent Friday at Hastings.
Yesterday from Hastings to Brighton, through Battle and Lewes. This
morning attended Brighton meeting, dined at J. Bass's and arrived at
home a little past seven.
It is now time to think of my winter's course of reading. The
last six months have been very idly passed and it will require strenuous
exertion to commence habits of serious application. A great deal will
depend on the first week. Resolved therefore to spend the mornings
invariably in close attention to study, never failing to begin with
earnestly supplicating divine help, to animate and render profitable
my endeavour.
So far as I can see at present, my objects of pursuit this winter
will be -
1. The composition or recomposition of Further Observations on the
Circumstances which influence the Condition of the Labouring
Classes.
2. Greek.
3. A course of theological enquiries, beginning with Mosheim's
Ecclesiastical History.
4. Historical reading of Evenings - Comprehending the Second Volume
of Burnett's History, Watson's Phillip 2nd1.| Hallam's Middle Ages. 2
Hi is plan of study is independent of that formed with J.J. which is
to be previously finished.
Sunday, October 3, 1819
Kinder and Hau.3 Marchen Vol. 1, Sect. 33 to 53
2 Vol. Bertrand de Moleville's Annals of the French Revolution I'of which
I read the first volume on the road from Dover.
c
The Antiquary.
-/ ( r -
Finished the 5th book of Burnett's Own Times.
Footnotes -
1. Watson, Robert (I73O-I78I), historian; professor of logic,
St. Andrews; pub. history of Phillip II of Spain 1777.
2. Henry Hallam's "View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages"
1810.
3- Joseph Janson.
4. Antoine Francois Bertrand de Moleville - "Annals of the French
Revolution" 4 vols. T. Gassell and W. Davies , London 1800.
2nd edition, Vols. 5 _ 9- T. Gassell and W. Davies, London 1809.
5- "The Antiquary" 1815, by Sir Walter Scott.
Disturbance in the North
Extract from a letter of Mr W. Brown to J. Janson.
My dear Friend,
It was my intention to have written you a few lines by one business
letter of today, but towards the close of the Bank found myself more
occupied than I anticipated. My object is to give you some little idea
of the political situation of this part of the country, which in the
present state in my opinion demands from us some attention. Notwithstanding
the accounts published in the newspapers, both for and against,
I still take upon me to say there are at this moment but very few who
are not most seriously alarmed. Within the last two days I have taken
some trouble to ascertain the feelings of many who are not of a timid
nature, but without exception are all of one mind, the alienation of the
great body of the people is complete, and their worst passions are fed
and influenced by a set of men ot the worst description. In conversation
this morning a master manufacturer told me, in his township, which
is both large and populous, there were not 5 men who could work, that
might not have it at a rate to earn from 2 5 / - to 30/- per week, but they
would not work for any wage, and some spoke openly of a general division
8.
of property. From the whole of what I hear ana see I am convinced,
some crisis is coming rapidly on. What that will end in God only knows,
as a commencement I expect ere winter we shall have martial law
proclaimed, and the consequence will be a total stoppage to all business,
and thereby a large reduction in the a.mt. of the revenue. I mentioned
to Mr Young yesterday the requisition for a county meeting - it has
some of the first names in the county to it - but many, very many most
strenuous Whigs hold off, fearful of giving the least encouragement to
the demagogues who at present infest the county. All admit that things
cannot remain in their present state, and I have conversed with no one
but what is in reality completely in a fright. Ld. Fitzwilliam is one
of the most timid men where popular commotion is apprehended, and therefore
I conceive it is strong necessity alone which has induced him to
take this step, yet although I have the greatest confidence in his
judgment, I do not in this instance see my way clear to a favourable
or beneficial result of the measure. I± the people in London and other
parts of the coubtry are aware
Footnote -
of the general situation of affairs, I am not surprised the funds should
fall - before winter is over they must be made higher or much lower.
I should like to have your ideas on passing events - your views of
our present situation. If the Bank of England were paying in coins at
this time, there would be a very great demand, more than could well be
supplied.
J.J. 's reply - October 1, I8I9
Your favour of this morning is truly alarming and I fear that you have
but too much cause for it, although I was glad to see the annexed sheet
mentioned fox hunting. The question is one of those on which our
opinions are more particularly influenced by previous sentiments, yet I
1
1. 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (.L7O6-I857)
9-
will just venture to give mine upon 1st the extent of the danger,
2nd the more immediate remedies, jrd the best future preventative.
Now I have no doubt that our present danger is very considerable, rather
from knowing what effects may be expected from a starving population
wrought upon by artful demagogues, than from any particular evidence.
You are told (and so am I) that the men could all have work if they
chose; but can you reconcile such an assertion with what we know of the
very reduced state of the woollen manufacturers. When we consider the
marked reductions in the returns of every house, can we doubt there
must be a most serious reduction in the amount of wage distributed
through the country, and this I am sure was the language of all the
manufacturers until the late questions have urged them to assert the
reverse. My belief that there is a great disposition to exaggerate
our real dangers is increased by observing the extravagant accounts
of Hunt's 1'procession through London xxxxxxxxx a few idle words by
one or two dirty fellows are easily magnified into a general plot,
but I have never heard anyone imagine that there is any particular
discontent here or in the whole of the south, in which respect the
danger is much less than it was in 1016, when such doctrines were
eagerly caught at by many of our poor. I do hope and believe that the
present revival of trade will every day turn the ranks of your rioters.
Meanwhile, I acknowledge our danger. The great factories hold together
large masses of men without education, morals or decency who upon the
least failure of work are the aptest fools for the itinerant mischief
makers, especially it' the government instead of Issuing prudent measures
to allay the flame, only watches the opportunity to get rid of some
constitutional barrier to their power - xxxxxxx I quite agree with Earl
Fitzwilliam that the most likely way to quiet the minds of the distressed,
and to curb the designs of the artful is
Footnote -
1. Henry Hunt, the orator; see footnote to page 69 of Part I
for the real aristocracy of England, under whose guidance she has
prospered for centuries beyond ancient or modern rivalry to put themselves
10-.
forward at the head of the people, who never resort willingly to any other
leaders. ALI reasonable men will then be satisfied that 11 there are any
real grievances they wilL be examined and redressed, and under this security
will learn to despise the idle declamations of men without stake in the
country and with such heads we should need I trust no martial law to keep
down the turbulent and designing. From all that I have read I am convinced
that the want, of this middle rank to stand between the court and the people
was a leading cause oi' all the horrors of the French Revolution. You must
be aware that if your child or any of your dependants came to complain of
some injury, to treat his complaint with coldness, ridicule, or reproach
would only add fuel to the fire; but by a little appearance of sympathy
and enquiry you may soon cool him down and send him away quite in charity
towards the offender.. With respect to the future, I consider that the
great consideration is to give instruction to the whole body of the lower
orders, as the only specific against the incessantly resumed declarations
of demagogues, both as it would enable the great mass of the people to
detect their fallacy, and still more because by inducing habits of gentleness,
decorum and domestic comfort and employment, it would continually
lessen the number of that class oi whom you must have observed that all
mobs are evidently composed, - the dirtiest, most ignorant and most
abandoned of the poor, who are exactly those who never have any title to
complain, as having no claim to good government and who would starve and
riot in every time alike. I wish too that the master manufacturers would
more resemble the old aristocracy, in putting themselves forward to the
fathers and friends of their dependants, who would learn to feel towards
their employees the reverence and attachment of many tenants to their
landlords, which is the best and most legitimate source of influence, and
is a reciprocal blessing to both classes of society.
Disturbances in the North of England 11.
Sunday, October 10, 1819
Kinder and Haus Marchen, Vol. 1. Sect. 54-81.
3rd Vol. Bertrand de Moleville's Annals.
6th Book Burnett's Own Times.
Finished 1st Vol.Bentham's Theorie des Peines et des Recompenses
11.
To J.J. -
I have been much interested in reading your correspondence with
Mr Brown. Though I cannot wholly accede to your opinions, yet I find
in this case as in all others, so much valuable and original thinking
in your remarks, that I understand the subject greatly the better after
reading them. I cannot think so lightly of the danger as you do - in
all probability there has been some exaggeration but I fear the evidence
we possess of a strong spirit of discontent and insubordination among
the manufacturers is too various and well confirmed to be discarded as
unworthy of credit. And it is the more alarming, from the character it
has assumed of an indiscriminate hostility against their superiors,
rather than to the existing government, as well as from the length of
time which it has subsisted. For ten years, the North of Ehgland has
now exhibited symptoms of disaffection, appearing sometimes in one
place and sometimes in another, at times of distress breaking out with
increased violence, but never wholly eradicated. All this is very
alarming - it does not perhaps portend danger to the State because this
jacobinical spirit seems wholly confined to the lower orders, but it
certainly weakens the national strength and may lead to disastrous
convulsions in the manufacturing counties.
The source of the evil, I conceive, lies in the rapid growth of a
numerous population, unconnected with their superiors by any ties of
personal attachment, or of immediate interest. The contrast between a
working manufacturer and his employer is regarded, I suppose, by each
party as a dry affair of pecuniary gain, which either dissolves without
the slightest reluctance if he can thereby gain any trifling advantage.
The bond o± personal attachment thus broken seems to be that which
principally holds society together. For it is not to be hoped or
expected that the poor should love their country and its laws on
philosophical principles. Persons whose taste has been refined and
their understandings enlarged by education can alone appreciate the
advantages of the English Constitution, to them the very names of our
celebrated Statutes recall some illustrious
recollection of ancient chivalry, or some affecting memorial of departed
-ZLgenius
and virtue. But ail this is, and must ever remain, a dead
language to the poor.
•Disturbances in the North of England
Pure democracy with an agrarian iatf , must at first sight appear
to everyone who thinks for himself the most just and reasonable form of
government. And to prove the superior advantages of the British
Constitution, not only a good reading and condensation, but perhaps
considerable refinement of taste is necessary. It is true every blockhead
pretends to understand the advantages of a mixed government, but not
one in twenty finds it out for himself, but only repeats, parrot-like,
what wiser heads have discovered. Accordingly,the manufacturing
labourers, having little intercourse, and no personal attachment to their
superiors, are thereby precluded from acquiring by sympathy those sound
political views which their limited range of information prevents their
tracing out by aid of their own enquiries - consequently, the arguments
in favour of annual parliaments and universal suffrage, or even of the
Spenarn'-plan, can scarcely fail to appear to them irrefragable, and the
existing distribution of power and property as an injurious usurpation
of their natural rights. The only remedy for this state of things
seems to be that which you suggest to Mr Brown, viz., a recurrence to
the principles of the feudal aristocracy on the part of the master
manufacturers. Robt. Owen, with all his absurdities, deserves the
highest applause for having set a noble example of tljis kind at New
Lanark. Great difficulties would arise in the execution of the plan
from the character of the parties; many of the employers being, I
apprehend, men of vulgar and mercenary views, and the workmen generally
turbulent, jealous and ill disposed. Yet the plan deserves attentive
consideration, and I hope you will lend your mind to the best means of
carrying it into effect. Instead of raising the men's wages, the
masters should lay out an equal sum in providing for them when sick,
in maintaining their widows and orphans and now that the demand for
labour is reviving, this would be the time to begin such a scheme.
Footnote 1. This word is not clearly written; he may have written
>z
"Spenham" and was probably referring to th6 Speenham land
meeting held in Hay 1795 at which instead of fixing and
^ enforcing a minimum wage for the County of Berkshire,
'•i it, sw a>s actually decided that wages should be supplemented
out of the parish rates.
Disturbances in the North of England
V
Sunday, October 17. 1819
Kinder un&Mtaus Harchen. Sect. 82 to 85 which finishes the volume.
Sussmilch"*"" Gottliche Ordnung, ending with S7 - introduction
Theories des Peines et des Recompenses - Vol.3 Book 1, C 1 to 7.
1 vol. containing Book 1 to 4. Watson's Phillip 3rd.
4th vol. Bertrand de Holeville's Annals of French Revolution.
Sunday, 24 October
Sussmilch, Gottliche Ordnung to end of 1st Chapter i.e. S 8 to 17.
Theorie des Peines et des Recompenses, Chap. 8 to 16, Book 1, Vol.2
2nd Vol. Watson's Phillip 2nd.
2
Part of 1st Vol. Townsend's Travels in Spain."
Recommenced writing Further Observations on the Condition of the
labouring classes. On Wednesday I attended the Sessions and heard
G, Long?"
My dear J.J.
It was the interest excited by your correspondence with Hr Brown
that led me to expatiate so much on the subject of the Northern rioters,
and I cannot refrain from giving you another broadside. Since you
keep that interest alive by your animadversions. I believe I do not
differ from you in sentiment so much as you imagine. I do not suppose
the exploits at Nottingham to have originated in political motives.
I am entirely aware of the justice of your remarks on the tendency of
manufacturers to similar agitations, from their being collected together
in large masses and from the uncertainty of the demand for their labour.
But I cannot doubt that the Luddites were very early and deeply tinctured
with political animosities. I have looked over Cobbet and cannot find
anything like an attempt to put down frame-breaking; he seems rather
to exult in it, as a proof of Bonaparte's attacks against our trade;
and in one place December 20th 1811 he says he is satisfied the
exclusion of our goods from the Continent will in the end be a
benefit to the people of England. He means, I suppose by overturning
the
Foot notes -
1. Sussmilch, Johann Feter (I708-I767) pub. "Die Gottliche
Ordnung in den Veranderunger des Menschlichen Geschlechts"17,l2.
2. 1'ownsend, Joseph (I739-I8I6) geologist; Fellow Clare College,
Cambridge; studied medicine Edinburgh; travelled; chaplain to
Duke of Atholl; Rector of Pewsey.
3. George Long (1780-1868j.; Barrister 1811; police magistrate
(see also footnote p.146).
Disturbances in the No rth of England
government - he must therefore have rejoiced in the riots as a part
of the same system. Besides you may remember that the Nottingham
people set the church bells ringing on receiving the news of the
assassination of Percival,' and in April I 9 I 2 a riot took place at
the Exchange of Manchester in consequence of a proposition for
convening a public meeting, for preparing a loyal address to the
Prince Regent. These circumstances seem to me to afford, full proof
that Politics have all along had a share in producing the discontent
and irritation which at present wears so alarming an aspect
I have no doubt that the Poor may be taught to love their country
and its laws, if her rich will devote their attention to promote such
an end; if they will condescend to a frequent kind intercourse with
their inferiors, and anxiously attempt to refine and enlarge their
understandings. But I hold it equally certain that without such aid,
the lower classes are not likely, by their, own unassisted reading and
reflexion, to perceive and appreciate the superiority of the
- 2 4 -
constitution under which they live. It is precisely to the want of
this frequent kind intercourse that I attribute the disaffection
prevailing in the North of England. I wished to invite you to consider
of a practical remedy. Suppose a master manufacturer were to agree
with his men for a term of seven years, at a fixed rate of wages,
and undertaking to provide for them if sick or incapacitated - but I
do not know why we should resort to this or other untried plans,
2.
since Owen 'appears to have succeeded so completely.
Sunday, October 31sb. 1819
Sussmilch Gottliche Ordnung Chap. 2, 3 and 4. Vol. 1 inc. Sl8 to 79.
/ *
Bentham Theorie des Recompenses Book 1 to G3- Book 4.
Life of Sir Matthew Hale and Lord Rochester in Wordsworth's Eccles,
Biog.3'
Sundry Articles in4 the Edinburgh Review viz. Theorie des Peines s
Blaquiere's Sicily.' De 1'Allemagne, Levis Souvenirs and Portraits
Moreau.^' Forsyth's Italy'''and Glover's Memoirs®'in Vol. 22nd. and
Lallen Rookh?" Bentham's Codification1®'in Vol. 29. Looked over
a work entitled Remarks on Mme de Stael's Germany.11'
Footnotes-
1. Perceval, Spencer; Prime Minister; assassinated 1812 by a
trader made bankrupt by the Orders in Council. His chair in
which he was assassinated was on sale in Grosvenor House
Antiques Fair I986.
2. Owen, Robert; whose new Lanark Mills in the early 19th century
were a model ready to hand, to teach the world how the new
industrial system could be made the instrument of standardised
improvement in sanitation, welfare, hours, wages and education,
raising the conditions of working-class life to an average
level that could never have been attained under the domestic
system - G. M. Trevelyan's English Social History.
Wordsworth, Christopher (1774-1846), brother of Win. Wordsworth,
Master, Trinity College, Cambridge. Pub. "Ecclesiastical
Biography" 1810.
Sir Matthew Hale (I6O9-I676), a literary man and "is celebrated
as one of the most upright judges that have ever sat
upon the English Bench ... a judge both in the time of the
Commonwealth and under Charles II.... amidst the immorality
of Charles II's reign he stands out with peculiar lustre
as an impartial, incorruptible and determined administrator
of justice". (Chambers Literature 1854).
Lord Rochester
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) is known principally
from his having (to use the figurative language of
Johnson) "blazed out his youth and his health in lavish
voluptuousness" and died from Physical exhaustion and decay
at the age of thirty-three ...
He was at sea with the Earl of Sandwich and Sir Edward
Spragge, and distinguished himself for bravery... This manliness
of character forsook Rochester in England, for he
was accused of betraying cowardice in street quarrels, and
he refused to fight with the Duke of Buckingham.... however,
his domestic letters, which were published a few years ago,
show him in a totally different light - tender, playful,
and alive to all the affections of a husband, a father and
a son". (Chambers Literature 1854).
Of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, John Dryden wrote -
- 2 - 6 -
"Was everything by starts, and nothing long;
But in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chemist, fi .dler, statesman and buffoon;
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking."
Letters from the Mediterranean; containing a civil and political
account of Sicily, Tripoli, Tunis and Malta....by E. Blaquiere.
2 vols. London 1313.
Edinburgh Review October 1313, P« 107-12?.
Souvenirs and portraits 1730-1739 by H. de Levis.
Paris 1313.
Edinburgh Review January 131.4 p. 231-294.
Quelques details sur le Ge'nrfral Moreau et ses derniers mourents,
suivis d'une courte Notice Bio^raphique, by Paul de Suinine.
London 1314.
Edinburgh Review January 1314 p.3o3~375-
Remarks on Antiquities, Arts and Letters during an Excursion in
Italy in the years 1302 and 1303 by Forsyth, Joseph (I763-I8I5);
schoolmaster and author; pub. 1313-
Glover's Memoirs of a celebrated Literary and political character
from the resignation of Sir Robert Walpole in 1?42 to the establishment
of Lord Chatham's second administration in 1757*• London 1314.
alinburgh Review January I3l4 p. 4?5-434.
Lalla Rookh; an oriental romance by Thomas Moore. London 181?.
Edinburgh Review, November 181? p.l - 35.
Papers relevant to codification and public instruction, including
correspondence with the Russian Emperor, and divers constituted
authorities in the America.n United States, by Jeremy Bentham
(1749-1334) London 131?.
Edinburgh Review November 131?, p.217-237.
Mme. de Stacl pub. De 1'Allemagne 3 vols. pub. I8I3.
-2-7 -
Several of these articles I had not read before, particularly that by Sir
Jas. Mackintosh1'on De 11 Allemagne, which gave me indescribable pleasure
in the perusal. It is I think the most eloquent composition I ever
read, and has most satisfactorily resolved and set at rest in my mind some
of the most difficult points of the Theory of Morals.
Sunday, November 7|t 1319
Sussmilch Gottliche Ordnung, S80 to 1J2. Vol. lot.
Bentham Theories des Recompenses C4 to 11. Book 4th.
Principal Part of Oyarterly Review for October 1810.
Basil Montagu's? "Thoughts on Li•b erty. Foster's 3 Essay on Decision of
Character. Proceeded with Further Observations.
J.J. came down on Friday evening.
Sunday, November 14, 1319
Sussmilch Gottliche Ordnung 3133 to l60. Vol. 1st.
Bentham, Theorie des Recompenses. Concluded.
Remainder of Quarterly Rcview for October.
Bank Report, Commons p.l to J?4.
Proceeded with Further Observations.
J.J. left us on Thursday.
Sunday, November 21, lOT?
Sur.smilch Vol. 1. Sl6l to 133
Bank Report, Commons p.54.to 180
1 Vol. Mavcrley
Sundry Articles in Eiinlxirgh Review, viz. heckle'*'on the British Government
Nov. 1312.
Cortes of Spain Sep. 1314. France Oct. 1315.
Attraction of Mountains, Corn and Money Feb. 1816.
Foster's Essays 011 the Aversion of Men of Taste to the Evangelical Religion
and on the Application of the Epithet Romantic
Proceeded with Further Observations.
Footnotes
1. Mackintosh, Sir James (1765-1832)
John Barton's opinion of this article was not so high when he had read
Thomas Chalmer's Bridgowater Treatise in I833. (See Part I of this book).
2. MONTAGU, Basil (I77O-IO5I) legal and misc. writer. Pub. "Essays"
and pamphlets.
3. FOSTER, John (1770-184-3) Baptist Minister and essayist, pub.1805
a volume of 3~nays is a Series of Letters - "which was justly
ranked among the most original and valuable works of the day.
The essays are four in number - on a man's writing memoirs of
himself; on decision of character; on the application of the
epithet romantic; and on some of the causes by which evangelical
religion has been rendered less acceptable to persona of
cultivated taste". Chambers Literature 1354.
4. Leckie, Gould Francis.
Resume of Year's Reading
Tt is just twelve months since I resumed the plan of writing down an
account of my readings, doings and thinkings. Within that tine I have
read the following works - those marked with a star slightly, the rest
attentively. The dates affixed to some of them express the time when I
read them before, as nearly as I can recollect.
Historical
Macdiarmidr Lives of British Statesmen.
Robertson's India*"
" America
Charles 5th. I806.
Watson's Philip 2nd. IGO(?.'
" Philip 3rd.
Fix's historical work I809.
Life of Col. Hutchinson.^'
Burnet's Memoirs of his own times, to the end of William's reign.
Bertrand de Moleville's Memoirs of the French Revolution, Pt.2.
Montesquieu's Esprit des Loix.D'
Bentham Theorio des Peines.
" Scotch Reform.
" 7 .
Mine, de StaBl do 1'Allemagne. ^
" " Considerations sur la Revolution Frangaise.
Ebel's Gebirgs Volkcr. R,
Rome, Naples and Florence"'
Pitkin's Statistical View of United States^"
— 9 cj
Fearon's Letters froi,i the United States.^"
Birkbeck's Journey through the United States.^1*
" Letters from Illinois.1 2.
Reports of American Commissioners relative to Spanish Colonies.
+13.
Humboldt's Nov Spain *
Golovnin 's Captivity in Japan.1'"
Lady Morgan's France.
Gibbon's Memoirs.1"1' 17.
Franklin's Memoirs.
Boswell's Johnson.'1809.
Bateman on Contagious Fever. lo"
Heberden 011 the Increase and Decrease of different diseases.1^'
Ruber on Bees/-®'
Nosh's Hulfs Bucklein.
Kinder und Haua Marchen Vol.1.
Antiquary.21' 22
Haslett s Round Table Talk.
Kirby and Spence's Entomology.4 ,
Ellis Metrical Romances ^
Courtney23"Davison, Duthy, Ld. Sheffield ort'the Po2o"r5 Laws. Copplestones Letters to Mr. Peel on Poor Lavs etc.
Vansittart and Thornton's Speeches on Bullion.'2" 16'
27
Brougham on Abuse of Charities.
Edinburgh and Quar terly Reviews.
Footnotes-
1. MACDIARMID, John (I770-IS02) journalist and author. Settled in London
1301. Eiited St. James's Chronicle. Author of two works on military
topics 1305 and 1306.
2. Dr. Robertson, Mm. (I721-I703), historian.
Pub. History of Charles V. 1796.
Pub. History of America. 1797.
The Knowledge which the Ancients had of India I 7 9 I.
- B o -
Watson: , Robert (1730?-1306) historian.
Philip 2rid of Spain, pub. 1777-
Philip 3rd of Spain, pub. 1733 (posthumously).
FOX, Cliarles James (174o-L°Q6) Statesman and orator. His unfinished
work was "given to the world by Lord Holland under the title of -
"A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second,
with an Introductory Chapter". (The introductory chapter contained
"a rapid view of our constitutional history from the time of Henry
VII"). Chambers Literature 1354.
Hutchinson, John. Colonel (1615-1664).
Memoirs of the life of Col. Hutchinson, Governor of Nottingham
Castle and town 1306. 3rd edn. 1310.
(best edition by C. H. Firth 1335).
A Puritan gentleman. His meditations on the theology and politics
of the time led him at last to side with parliament. M.P. for
Nottingham 1646; one of King Charles's judges; signed the warrant
for his execution - but alarmed at Cromwell's ambitious schemes
left politics. He was courteous, tender to his family and the
poor, fearless, frank and honest, intense in devotion, yet wholly
free from austerity and fanaticism.
MONTESQUIEU (i.e. Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brede et de
Montesquiere) (1639-1755), De 1'Esprit des Loix.
First pub. anon. 1743. 22 Editions in two years.
By the spirit of laws he means their raison d'etre and the conditions
determining their origin, development and forms, the discussion of
the influence of climate was novel.
Mme. de Stael. Her 1' Allemagne was written when in exile in Russia
and seir.ed by the Russian police when going to the press in 1310.
It was fiub. in London 1313, and gained her access to intellectual
circles.
Stae 1, Madame de (1766-1317)• Her son and daughter pub. her
Considerations sur la Revolution £l"ancaise after her death.
Rome, Naples and Florence en esquisses sur l'etat actuel de la Societe,
/• / X
des moeurs, des arts, de la literature, etc. de ces villes-celebres;
written by Marie Henri Beyle; pub. Paris 1317. (This first
16.
edition was anonymous, as possibly was the English edition
published by Henry Colburn of London the following year, with
the title "Rome, Naples and Florence in 181?. Sketches of the
present state of Society, manners, arts, literature etc. in
these celebrated cities". Later editions recorded under his
pseudonym "M. de Stendhal" or "Count de Stendhal".
9. PITKIN, Timothyj aStatistical View of the Commerce of the
United States of America. Hartford 1316. (2nd edition N.Y.
1817).
10. FEARON, Henry Bradshaw1
Mo work of which the title begins "Letters from " but he
pub.»
(a) Sketches of America. \ narrative of a journey of five
thousand miles through the Eastern and Western States of
America... with remarks on Nr. Birkbeck's "Notes" and
"Letters". 2nd. edn. London 1318. 3rd. edn. London I8I9.
(b) Suggestions and Correspondence relative to Magistrates'
Licences; the consumption of British and Colonial spirits
and their effects upon the habirs and morals of society.
London 1930.
11. BIRKBECK, Morris. Descended from a Settle, Yorkshire, family,
©nigrated early 19th century to America, becoming one of the
prioneers in colonisation of far West. Purchased 16,000 acres
of land in Illinois, founding the town of Hew Albion; opposed
introduction of slavery into his adopted home. Drowned in
1325 when swimming his horse across the Wabash on returning
from a visit to Robert Owen, who spent two or three years in
America; published Notes on a Journey in America, from the Coast
of Virginia to the Territory of Illinois. With proposals for the
establishment of a colony of English. Philadelphia 1317.
4th edn. London 1818. (See "Biographical Catalogue of the "Lives
of Friends and Others whose portraits are in the London Friends'
Institute". (London$ Friends' Institute, 1338).
- 3 2
34.
12. BIRKBECK, Morris. Letters from Illinois. Illustrated by a
map of the United States, showing his journey from Norfolk to
Illinois, and a map of English Prairie and adjacent country.
2nd. edn. Philadelphia 1819. Another so-called "Second FtUtiion"
London 1813.
13. HUMBOLDT, Fried.rich Heinrich Alexander, Baron von: Q-773~1359)
Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Dictionary of
Scientific Biography 1°72, U.S.A. states 1
Complete comprehension of the great American travel journals
presents great difficulties to the bibliographer. Following is a
survey of "hort titles under the various subject groups designated
by Humboldt, bub persistently ignored by bibliographers; it is
based on the folio or quarto ed. The overall title is "Voyage
aux regions equinoxialos du Nouveau Continent, fair en 1799 > 1800,
1801, 1302, 1303 et 13o4 par Alexandre) de Humboldt eb A(ime)
Bonpland....(Paris 1805-1334)....Croup III (3 vols) contains the
work on Mexico 1 "Rssai politique sur Nouvelle Espagne" and "Ablas
de la Nouvelle "spagne".
14. G0L0VNIN, Vasily Mikhailovich pub. Narrative of My Captivity in
Japan. 2 Vol. London 1813.
15. Lady Morgan (Sidney Owenson). (1733?~1359). Writer of poetry,
drama, novels, biography, ethics, politics and books of travel.
Chambers Literature - "We are indebted to her for a number of
clever, lively, national sketches and anecdotes". Pub. France 131.7
and "Italy" (1321) on state of society, maimers, literature,
government etc. of those nations.
16. Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) wrote "Decline and F a l l of Roman lilnpire"
1776-1737)- His "Miscellaneous Works" edited by Ld. Sheffield 1796
contained an autobiographical memoir.
17. Dr. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Chambers Literature 1854,
"By his admirable writings, and still more admirable life, he
inculcated the virtues of industry, frugality and independence of
thought, and may be reckoned one of the benefactors of mankind".
Native of Boston, America. Ambassador for the States of America,
after Independence, at court of France. "His memoir of himself is
n
S--7s —
the most valuable of his miscellaneous pieces". The identity of
lightning with electricity was clearly manifested by his experiments.
18. BATEMAN, Thomas. A succinct account of the Contagious Fever of this
Country. Longman & Co. London 1818.
19. HEBERDEN,Wm. (1767-1845) physician and scholar. Pub, Observations on
the Increase and Decrease of Different diseases and particularly of
the Plague. 1801.
20 RUBER, Francois. Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles. 2nd. edn.
Paris 1814. Trans, into English as "New Observations on the Natural
History of Bees (by Sir J.G. Dalyell). Edinburgh I806.
21. Antiquary. Sir Walter Scott pub. 1816. "Less romantic and bustling in
incidents than either of its predecessors, but infinitely richer in
character dialogue and humour. In this work Scott displayed his thorough
knowledge of the middle and lower ranks of Scottish Life". Chambers
Literature I854.
22. Wm. Hazlitt's Table Talk (2 vols.)(See footnote to page 30 Vol. 2 of his
Journal).
23. Courtenay, John. (1741-1816) politician M.P.(I780-I807) and 1812.
Advocated abolition of slavery.
24. Lord Sheffield. John Baker Holroyd. (I735-I83I) Earl of Sheffield 1806.
President, Board of Agriculture and Board of Trade.
25. Coplestone, Edward. (1776-1849) Bishop of Llandaff pub. pamphlets on
education, currency and pauperism. He lived at Offwe11, near Honiton,
Devon, where he built a massive stone and flint tower in 1842; according
to local legend, to keep watch over his Bishopric of Llandaff across the
British Channel; but perhaps it was to provide work for local labourers
on hard times. The Daily Telegraph reported on 13th August I986 that
the tower is up for sale.
26. THORNTON, Henry. (I76O-I8I5). Banker, authority on finance and
philanthropist. Governor of Bank of England. M.P. for Southwark
1783-1815.
27. Brougham, Henry Peter. Baron Brougham and Vaux (I778-I868).
Lord Chancellor. Drew attention to importance of popular education
and instituted inquiry into charity abuses.
IL, V
Journey to Loudon 17•
Sunday, November, 28th 1319
On Mond. 22nd I went to London, Tuesday attended the debate on the address
in the House of Commons with J.J. which lasted till after three in the norning.
Speech of Sir Jas. Mackintosh profoundly philosophical, he comes nearer to
Burke than any other man. Being towards the end of the debate, it was very
badly reported in the newspapers. I was shocked to hear Mr. Wilberforce, very
contrary to my expectations, agree against inquiry into the transactions at
Manchester. Wed., meeting of Iixro. afterwards called on Mrs. Inglis and Miss
Thornton. The latter has just received a present of dried plants from the St.
Bernard which she showed us. Thurs. called on G, Long. FTid. called on Mr.
Bedford's, Aunt Home, Aunt M. Went to dine at H.J.'s1'and drank tea at Thomas
J.'s.*"" Met Mrs. and Miss Mallet. Yesterday returned home.
Read some of Defoo's History of England. Bought Report on the Criminal
Laws. Vindiciae Gallicae and Hallam's Middle Ages. On FTi. reed, a letter
from Mr. Jones with a list inclosed from Colonel May, of answers to the Prizes
questions relative to the condition of the poor at Berne - the prises not to
be adjudged till next year.
Sunday December 5th 1319
Sussmilch Vol.1. SI84 to 204
Finished Bank Report of H. Commons
Hallam's Middle Ages Chap. 1. and Chap. 2, Part 1st.
4
Part of Sir J. Mackintosh's Vindiciae Gallicae .
Proceeded with "Further Observations".
Foster's Essay on a Man's Writing Memoirs of Himself.
Sunday December 12th 1319
Sussmilch Vol..1. S205-213
Bank Report, Lords, pages 1 to 54.
Hallam's Middle Ages, Chap. 2, Part 2nd.
Remainder of Vindiciae Gallica.e.
Copplestone*s Second Letter to Mr. Feel on the Poor.
Edinburgh Review /art. Stewart's Introduction to the Encyclopaedia
Sep. 1316.5"
Proceeded with Further Observations.
Footnotes-
1. Halsey Janson, An eMtr brother of Joseph Janson, and a
rmardian of Maria Hack's children.
2. Thonas Janson, another elder brother of Joseph's.
3. H4LI-AM, Henry (1777-1159). View of the State of Europe
during the Middle Ages pub. 1813. Chambers Literature
185/1 describes Henry Hallan as "The greatest historical
name in his period, and our greatest living historian".
4. MACKINTOSH, Sir James - Vindiciae Gallicae; or a defence
of the French Revolution. London I79I.
6. A general view of the progress of metaphysical, ethical and
political philosophy, since the revival of letters in
Europe. By Dugald Stewart. (Prefixed to thr- Supplement
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Edinburgh 181.6).
Edinburgh Review September 1816. p. 180-244.
18.
Hall am Deaths by Drinking
The Vindiciae Gallicae 3s a very interesting work, and when I have
a
a little more leisure, it would be/very useful task to analyse it
minutely.
I am delighted with Hall^jn, the most philosophical of English
historians. His serious and hightoned morality fairly contrasts with
the studied indifference of Hume, the flippancy of Gibbon and the half
Christian ethics of Robertson. The style is often slovenly, but
there are some passages of the finest eloquence, for instance, the
close of Chap. 2, Part 2, comprizing an estimate of the moral tendency
of the feudal system.
Sunday. December 19th 1819
Sussmilch Vol. 1st. S2I9-238
Bank Report, Lords. Pages 55 to 154.
Hallam's Middle Ages. Chap. Jrd.
Campbell's1"History of English Poetry in 1st.Vol. of his
Selections.
Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming
Edinburgh Review - Art. Bentham's Traite de Legislation2"
Proceeded with Further Observations.
Tomorrow I go to L°ndon with Anne to attend the funeral of T.H.
at Croydon. In a curious table in Sussmilch of the number of deaths
in London durch eigene SChuld Vol. I p.542. The fluctuation in the
number of deaths by drinking is amazing, from 1686 to 1710 they were
to the whole number of deaths less than 1 in 10,000, from I7IO to
1735 they increased progressively and almost uniformly to 19 in 10,000,
from 1735 to I758 they decreased again to 3 in 10,000. Now it is not
a little remarkable that 1735 is just the period when corn wages were
lowest. This is rather an alarming fact. What does "died of drinking!'
mean 1 not I presume, died of diseases induced by habitual drunkenness,
but died under the immediate effects of liquor. It would be well to
complete the table from 1758 to the present time.
- 3 7 -
18.
Effect of Paper Currency on Prices and on Foreign Exchanges
In the Bank Reports I find ample confirmation of an opinion which
I have formed some years - that an excess of paper issue cannot affect
the exchange or the price of bullion, unless accompanied by an unfavourable
balance of trade - that in fact the balance of trade
Footnotes-
1. Campbell, Thomas. (1777-1844) poet. Pub. Specimens of the
British Poets I8I9. Chambers Literature ldj4 - "The justness
and beauty of his critical dissertations have been universally
admitted; some of them are periect models of chaste yet
animated criticism".
2. Traites de Legislation Civile et Penale.... Par M. Jeremie
Bentham, Juris Consulte Anglais. Publics en Fran^ais par
M. JJumont de Geneve, d'apres les Manuscrits Confres par
I'Auteur. Paris, 1802.
Edinburgh Review April 18W p. 1 - «db.
is in every case the immediate regulator of exchange and that the
greater or less amount of circulating medium only operates indirectly
in controlling that Balance. The most judicious of the witnesses
examined by the Bullion Committee in 1810 attributes the high price
of gold and silver in the first instance to the operation of Bonaparte's
decrees and almost all the witnesses in the present case attributed
the rise of bullion in 1818 to the foreign loans and the great
importation of corn, the effect of those causes being unchecked by
that reduction of bank notes which must have taken place under a system
of cash payments. But not one of the witnesses gave any account of
the causes of that fall in the price of bullion which took place in 1816
and in the first three months of the present year (I8I9). They could
not explain this for want of thoroughly understanding the principles
which regulate the value of paper currency. My theory is that as soon
as a favourable balance of trade returns, the exchange will rise of
course, and that this rise will cause a reduction of the circulating
medium. Mr Baring seems to have dimly described the principle when he
says that a greater amount of paper may remain out without depreciation
in a country which is Debtor to other nations, than in one
which is Creditor to other nations.. In Lords Report p.100 and
Commons p.199.
It is another part of my theory that a certain degree of
excess may exist in the amount of the circulating medium, under the
circumstances of a favourable balance of trade, without affecting
the exchanges, or the price of Commodities, exhibiting itself only
in a depression of the market rate of interest and a rise of wages -
when I say without affecting the prices of Commodities, I mean the
retail prices, the prices paid by the Consumer, the facility
afforded to speculation will to a certain extent raise the wholesale
prices - and the difference between the wholesale and retail prices
being thus lessened causes a general reduction of profits as before
stated.
At London ~ Silkweavers Evidence
January 6th 1620
Returned today from Clapham, having spent there between two and
three weeks. In that time I have read 64th Number of Edinburgh
Review, finished Defoe's History of the Plague, of which I read the
former part when at Clapham before - looked over a Pamphlet entitled
Letters to Frank Jdhrton, on the consequences of the present
depreciated value of common labour. A mean performance. Read also
the greatest part of the Minutes of Evidence taken before the
Committee of the House of Commons on the Silkweavers' petitions,
which contains (amongst much irrelevant matter) a great deal of
important information relative to the expediency or inexpediancy of
fixing the price of labour. See in particular the evidence of
William Hale on one side and Thomas Gibson on the other. Read also
the greater part of Daines Harrington's Observations on the
Possibility of approaching the North Pole1' and Birkbeck's Reply to
Cobbett - a pamphlet.
Wednesday, 22nd December, attended the funeral of T.R. at Croydon
and. the following day that of E. West at Barking. Saturday, 25th
-Si]-
<uU.
o
(Christmas Day) spent at Stamford Hill.' Met with J. Woods and S. Sharp.
Sunday dined with J. Woods. Summary of his architectural views.
Monday with G. Long. Tuesday at Basthope's at Finchley. Wed. meeting of Executors -
Mr. and Mrs. Inglis and Miss T« called at Acre Lane. Thursday with J.J. Saw the
models at Somerset House'*' presented by the Prince Regent to the Academy. D? at
the Mews. H. Commons. Wild Oats at Drury Lane. Friday dined with Aunt M.H.^ at
Tottenham. Slept and returned Saturday. Sunday dined at Carshalton House and
slept. Monday called at Mr. Inglis's.
Recommended J.J. to read Vindiciae Gallicae which he agreed to do after Burke's
Reflections on the French Revolution,^'his conscience not permitting him to read the
answer first. He had finished Burke before I came away and gave me his paper of
annotations. Quite a convert. Acknowledgesit is the most wonderful book he ever
read.
Footnotes-
1. BARRINGTON, Hon. Daines. The Possibility of Approaching the North Pole
asserted. T. & J. Allman, London 1818.
2. Stamford Hill - Joseph Janson lived there.
3. WOODS, Joseph (1776-1864) Architect and botanist.
4. Models at Somerset House, presented by the Prince Regent to the Royal Academy -
these were almost certainly the plaster casts, after antique sculptures,
presented in two batches, in 1816 and 1817. This was at the King's Mews.
5- Aunt M.H. - probably Martha Horne, younger sister of his mother.
6. BURKE, Edmund.
He became a Whig politician in 1765- Chambers Literature 1854 - "the French
Revolution was then "blackening the horizon" (to use one of his own metaphors) and
he early predicted the course it would take. He strenuously warned his countrymen
against the dangerous influence of French principles, and published his memorable
treatise, "Reflections on the French Revolution". "
Torrens on Paper Currency 21.
January 7th. Proceeded with Ribbon Weaver's Evidence. The Chairman appears
to be an illiberal, vulgar, ignorant man, who enquires, not for the purpose
of procuring information, but to serve a party purpose. See Ambrose Morris's
Evidence. In Supt. Wilson's Evidence (p.l73~179) there is much curious
information respecting the silk trade. The subsequent Evidence of
- 4 o --
S. Wilson p.190 et.seq. is also very curious and important.
Sunday January, ,9 th lq20
In two last days
Sussmilch Vol.1. S239 to 24l
Finished Ribbon Weavers lienor t
Torrens's^" Comparative Estimate of the Effects of a Continuance
and a removal of the Restrictions on Cash Payments - Pamphlet.
Italian's Middle Ares, Chap. 4.
Torrens's work is curious and interesting. It is written in a flowing,
perspicuous style, approaching nearer to that of Adam Smith than anything else
I have seen. It contains the enunciation of a new principle in Political
Economy, which promises to prove of much value vis. that an unfavourable
balance of payments,caused by a defective harvest, by a large foreign expenditure,
or the like, raises the value of money here. On this, however, he
builds an assumption which I conceive to be entirely erroneous, viz. that
fewer pernicious fluctuations will take place in the value of labour and
commodities under a system of restriction, than with a currency convertible
into specie at the will of the holder. There is a remarkable luminous statement
at the beginning of the work, of the manner in which a bad harvest
operates on the exchange, and 011 the course of trade.
Sunday, January l6.th 1320
Sussmilch, Vol.1. 32't4-25l
Finished Lords' Bank Reports
Hallam Middle Ages Chap.5th, 6th and part of Chap. 7th.
Hume Essay 1 to 9, also Essays 12 and 13 Part 2.
Edinburgh Review - Articles "Letters of Hme.du Deffand".3'
4 t
"Hints on Toleration". "Ghas sur Souverainte'.'^'
February 11th Proceeded with my pamphlet which I have determined to entitle
"An Enquiry into the Causes of the progressive depreciation of Human Labour
during the last 70 years".
Footnotes--
1. Torrens, Robert Col. (1730-1864), economist.
2. HUME, David ( I 7 I I - I 7 7 6)
Relying on the valuable collections of Carte; animated by a strong love
of literary fame, which he avowed to be his ruling passion; desirous also
of combating the popular prejudices in favour of Elizabeth and against
the Stuarts; and master of a style fascinating, simple and graceful, the
celebrated David Hume left his philosophical studies to embark on
historical composition (Chambers Literature 1354).
1737 pub. his first philosophical work, the Treatise on Human Nature.
1742 pub. two volumes, entitled Essays Moral and Philosophical.
From his Essays - on Delicacy of Taste he wrote "Nothing is so
improving to the temper as the study of the beauties either of poetry,
eloquence, music or painting. They give a certain elegance of
sentiment to which the rest of mankind are strangers. The emotions
which they excite are soft and tender. They draw off the mind from
the hurry of business and interest, cherish reflection; dispose of
tranquillity; and produce an a^reable melancholy, which of all
dispositions of the mind, is best suited to love and friendship...."
3. Letters of the Marquise du Deffand to the Hon. Horace Walpole,
Afterwards E rl a of Oxford from the year 1766 to the year I78O.
To which are added Letters of Mme. du Deffand to Voltaire.
London 1810.
Edinburgh Review 1811. P.29O-3II.
4. Reflexions philosophiques et politiques sur la tolerance
religieuse.... par J. P. de NH-+
Paris I809.
Edinburgh Review Aug. 1810 p.4l3~430.
5. Sur la Souverainete,par M. J. Clias, Ancien Juris Consulte.
Seconde edition, revue et augmentee. Paris 1810.
Edinburgh Review Feb. 1811. p.409-428.
Hume's.Essays_
British Eloquence
The review of Hume's Essays1'would afford an excellent opportunity
for developing the doctrine of Ideology. Notwithstanding all the
author's acuteness, his conclusions are evidently in many instances
wholly beside the mark - for want of this principle - see for instance
the monstrous assertions in Essay 12 on Civil Liberty. That the
first polite prose in the English Language was written by Dr. Swift
p.95. That we have no standard works which we can transmit to
posterity - ib - That the French in dramatic composition, have excelled
even the Greeks, who far excell the English p.94.
I was not aware that Hums became more Tory in the latter part of
his life, which evidently appears to have been the case from Essay 9.
On the Parties of Great Britain. In the Essay on Eloquence (13th)
22
some curious facts are contained, supposing the author's authority
may be relied on - "We exalt", he says, "in our poets and philosophers;
but what orators are ever mentioned? Or where are the monuments of
their genius to be met with? There are found indeed in our histories,
the names of several, who directed the resolutions of our parliament.
But neither themselves nor others have taken the pains to preserve
their speeches; and the authority which they possessed, seems to have
been owing to their experience, wisdom or power, more than to their
talents for oratory. At present there are above half a dozen
speakers in the two houses who, in ttie judgment of the public, have
reached very near the same pitch of eloquence; and no man pretends
to give any one the preference above the rest". p.103- This was
published in 1?42.
January 19th 1820 Reading yesterday evening in the article
Climate in Rees Cyclopaedia, a number of curious passages quoted from
ancient authors to prove that the temperature of Europe was much
colder two thousand years ago than it is at present; it struck me
that the fact might be accounted for in a more simple and satisfactory
manner than has yet been done. Supposing the heat of the
earth to be derived exclusively from the Sun's rays, it being wholly
destitute of warmth when first created, it follows that during a very
long series of years its temperature would go on progressively
increasing; viz. till the quantity of heat constantly radiated from
the globe equalled the quantity constantly received from the sun.
Thus a cold body set before a fire becomes continually warmer and
warmer up to a certain point, when this accession of heat ceases.
At the time the body has thus attained its maximum temperature, the
warmth of its different parts will be, I apprehend
Footnote -
1. David HUME - "Essays, Moral, Political and Literary" pub. 1?42.
Described in Chambers Literature as "A miscellany of thoughts
at once original, and calculated for popularity".
23<
Theory of Climate
nearly equal, at any rate much more so than when first exposed to
the fire, before the heat has had time to become transmitted through
its substance from one side to the other. Thus the polar regions are
becoming, it would seem, every year less and less cold, by the heat
being conducted to them through the central parts of the earth, and
in time, on this principle, they will become actually habitable.
This theory seems in some measure confirmed by a fact mentioned in
the article Temperature of the Earth, that in the tropical regions
the heat at a certain depth is lower than at the surface, by a very
considerable interval. In England, the temperature of permanent
springs is 2 or 3 degrees below the mean temperature of the atmosphere
. In the north, the temperature of such springs is somewhat
higher than the mean temperature of the atmosphere. Perhaps by an
attentive enquiry into the laws which regulate the radiation of heat,
this theory might be proved mathematically,' and when proved, many
curious and important references might be drawn from it, with regard
to the future improvement of the Northern Climates. The reason
commonly assigned for the increasing miLdness ot' European climates
is the progress of cultivation, and the extirpation of forests, but
this I conceive to be unphilosophiua.1 . 7or not to mention that
Erroneus, Italy was better cultivated in th- tiiii<- <•.'" Augustus than a t present.
because the
heat is Though known to be much colder, forests I apprehend cannot possibly
reflected at
once by the destroy or annihilate the heat received from the sun, though they may
foliage.
Jan.1021 prevent it from reaching the earth. What becomes of the warmth of
the sun, when it falls on thick foliage? Probably it is carried off
by evaporation. But the heat thus imprisoned in the vapour must
again become sensible as soon as the vapour is condensed. Woods may
therefore render particular spots on the surface of the earth colder
than they would be if bare of vegetation but the temperature of the
whole globe would not be diminished by its surface being overgrown.
The following moae of calculation might furnish a test of this theory.
If the earth is not as I have supposed, continuously growing warmer
by the influence of the sun, the quantity radiated from it must equal
- U L -
that which it received", that is it has reached its maximum temperature.
But in a body so circumstanced, there must be a certain definable
proportion between the temperature of its different parts, a proportion
which I should suppose to be ascertainable by calculation from
known data. Does that proportion correspond with what are actually in
the surface of the earth?
Paper Currency 24.
January 22nd 1820 - To J.J.
A severe frost indeed. Truly there is no need to travel to
Spitzbergen to witness the wonders which Sir J. Mander relates. The
first day the thermometer rises above 32°, forth comes an answer to a
remark about paper currency which I made some three weeks before at
Stamford Hill. But I cannot in conscience recommend freezing as the
best mode for the conservation of political economy, however well it
may be calculated for Bern's flesh, since I see my notions were sensibly
changed during this time of congelation. I said, or meant to say, that
an excess of paper currency never raises prices (either of bullion or
the retail prices of commodities) unless accompanied by an unfavourable
balance of trade. This I infer, partly from general reasoning, partly
from observation of several remarkable facts, viz., that during the23
years which nave elapsed since the Bank Restriction, Bullion has never
stood above the mint price, except at those times when such an unfavourable
balance existed; that in all that time Bullion uniformly began to
rise as soon as the Balance turned against us, and fell again as soon
as it turned in our favour. I should not however implicitly rely on
this observation of facts, did it not, in my apprehension, entirely
accord with the principles which regulate the value of a circulating
medium. I find, however, great difficulty in explaining my view of
these principles, because you hold that the tendency of an excessive
issue to raise prices is a self-evident proposition. Were it not for
this, I should throw the SjtiuiLJKoteAnd.j, on you, and ask how does it
raise prices. T^e only answer that I ever have given to this question
is that it encourages speculation. But that speculation can.presumably
raise prices I have always considered as a vulgar error.
The high prices of corn in 1795 and 1800 were attributed to speculation.
But the Political Economist replies to such an allegation, that inasmuch
as a rise of price always diminishes consumption, the Speculator can
never find it his interest to raise corn higher than just enough to
make it last out till his next harvest. This reasoning appears t@ I|ie
perfectly sound, and not the less so when applied to speculation
fostered by an excessive facility of discount than in any other case.
Every Commodity has its natural price, under the existing state of
demand and supply, and if enhanced beyond that limit, part of it must
remain unsold. You will reply perhaps that an excess of paper does
increase the demand for Commodities. I ask "the demand of what class
of consumers? Paper issues, it will be admitted,do not increase the
ability to purchase of the fund-holder; nor of those who live on fixed
salaries; nor of the landowner, during the continuance of existing
leases; nor of the tradesman, since his increased ability to consume is
an effect of the rise of prices, and cannot therefore precede that
rise. Well then, what class remains? The labourers - but if the
labourer's earnings are increased, it is because the quantity of work
done, or to be done, is enlarged. i3it if this be the case, it follows
that the supply of goods at market is extended, as well as the demand;
therefore prices cannot rise, nay the supply is extended more than the
demand, for the demand is proportioned to the joint expenditure of the
landowner, fund holder, tradesman and labourer; if you double the
labourer's expenditure, you do not double the demand, but you double
the supply in doubling wages. Therefore excessive speculation tends
in the end to lower the retail prices of goods, though at first it
tends to raise their wholesale price and this is precisely the reason
why it generally terminates in the ruin of the speculator.
Now let us see how an unfavourable balance of payments affects
the question. Suppose our government determines to subsidize Austria
to the Amount of ten millions. The transmission of the money is
entrusted to Rome commercial house, who of course desire their
correspondents at Vienna to draw for as large an amount as they can
negotiate on terms cheaper than the sending bullion. But this amount
25.
probably does not exceed two millions out of the ten, if so much, the
rest is paid in specie. If the Bank is open, they will experience a
drain, and must contract their issuesto counteract it. In so doing,
they cause an universal scarcity of capital, and compel all commercial
men to restrict their dealings within a moderate compass. This
scarcity of money prevents that brisk demand for labour and commodities
which such a transaction would otherwise cause, and which it actually
does cause under a restriction of cash payments. While the Bullion
is remitting, exchanges must remain in a certain proportion (say 10
per cent) against this country. This operates as a bounty of 5 per
cent on exportation, and a bounty to the same extent against importation.
Our domestic productions are rendered dearer by the addition
of a foreign to a home demand, exotic commodities are rendered dearer
by the increased sum paid for them by the importing merchant in the
exchange. In short an unfavourable balance of payments always creates
an additional demand for goods and for labour; but under a system of
cash payments this effect is counteracted by the scarcity of money
which is invariably felt at the ssme time. I have expressed this in
as few words as possible, and shall be glad to hear whether I have
made myself intelligible.
Now with regard to American antiquities I know there are some heaps
of earth in New Spain which are conjectured to have been thrown up by
the Mexicans, but I do not know what they have to do with the United
States, more than with England. I suppose not one native of these
States in a thousand has ever seen them, except in Humboldt's plates.
If those mounds were really within the compass of the territories of
Congress, I would consent to set them off against one tumuli on Bow
Hill. But then you know we should have Stonehenge, the Cromlecks,
the Cathedrals, the ruined castles etc. to the credit side, balance
in hand, carried down. I must however in candour admit, when
speaking of America, that I thought the President's Speech the other
day remarkably aDie, fair and liberal. I begin to think the
inhabitants may in process of time become a civilised nation.
American Antiquities 26.
25.
Sunday January 2) 162U
Sussmilch Vol.2. S517 to 520
Hallam's Middle Ages. Remainder of Chap..7., Chap. d.
Part 1.
Looked over the 12 first chapters of Machiavel's Prince. 1.
Vindiciae Gailicae. 80 pages (loosely abstracted).
Engaged in making up the accounts oi the Sa,vings BanK. The 7th
Chap oi Ho-ilajn. On the Ecclesiastical Power, is extremely interesting.
Part lst of the Uth Chapter, which I read last night, is chiefly
remarkable for showing the extreme paucity and uncertainty of our
knowledge respecting the Anglo Saxon laws and customs. Supposing
the author's account to be depended on, I do not think the subject is
worth studying. Unless our historical information is correct to a
certain point, it seems impossible to draw any sate conclusions in
political philosophy from the data which it affordjf.
Fuotnote-
1. MACHIAVELLI, Niccolo. (l%9-±3*7). II Principe. Rome 1532.
Translated into many languages and into English as "The
Prince".
Burn at Florence, saw the troubles of the French invasion
(1^93), when the Medici fled. Secretary of the Ten,
until fall of republic 1512. Had to withdraw from public
life after restoration of the Medici, and devoted himself
to literature. In May 1527 the Medici again driven out
of Florence. Through misrepresentation and misunderstanding
his writings were spoken of as almost diabolical, his most
violent assailants being the clergy. The first great
tradition of his works was not issued till 1782, whence
his fame as founder of political science has steadily
increased.
De Principatibus or 11 Principe was the great source of
his reputation, for good or for evel. The broad scheme
of the book is, that for the establishment and maintenance
of authority all means may be resorted to, and that the
most treacherous acts of the ruler are justified by the
22
wickedness and treachery of the governed. "The Prince u
was condemned by Pope Clement VIII.
City Sleetion 27.
Sunday, January 30 1920
Supsmilch S252 to 256 and S529 to 536
Berne, Poor Report for 1303.
Hallam's Middle Ages, Chap.Part 2nd and part of Part 3rd.
JSlinburgh Review, Articles. De Rocca's Memoirs of the French
War in Spain.
Sunday February 6th 1820 - proceeded with 3rd part of Chap. 3th Hallam's
Middle Ages. Which is all I have read this week, being very much
engaged with my pamphlet, at which I have sat up till one o'clock most
nights. I carried the first part of it to Mason's on Wednesday, and
received a proof of the first sheet last night.
Sunday, February 13th 1320. This week I have been so much engaged with
discussions and considerations respecting the ensuing election, as to
leave me hardly any time for reading. I must take care that. I do not
lose the habit of application. nn Tuesday I -net S. Wooldridge,
who spoke to me of the elecbion. Mr. Fullagajr^'also called, and Jas.
Powell.^' In the evening I went to Wooldridge's and he drew out a list
of those who he thought would vote for a popular candidate. While so
engaged W. Wickham came in, and said he heard the other aarty would
begin canvassing tomorrow. I accordingly went off with the list to
3.
General Crosbie's at 11 o'clock at night, to ask if he would come
forward. He promised to sec Mr. Thomas' 'on the subject the next day,
but when the day came his heart failed him and he cane on here, and
declined the thing altogether. This put a stop to our hopes. But
011 Thursday after meeting, talking with S. Hack, he seemed to think so
great a probability existed of success as in some measure renovated my
hopes. Friday morning I saw several of the most zealous} but could
get nothing decisive from them as to the measures to be pursued, a,nd
.Humboldt's Personal Narrative,*" and Herbert's Helga5; June I815.
Engaged with my pamphlet.
- i f l -
gave it up in despair. In the evening however Jas. Powell called, and
greatly lamenting the state of things, asked whether I would come down
if he could persuade four or five to meet at his house. I agreed to
do so, and went with him to Mr. Freeland,^'who accompanied me to the
Hornet, where we found 3. Itendy,'Wickham,
Footnotes--
1. Rocca, Albert Jean Michel de, Officer of Hussars, and knight
of the order of the Legion of Honour. Memoires sur la guerre des
Francais en Espagne. 2nd edn. Paris, 1314. (and in English);
Memoirs of the War of the French in Spain....translated from
the French (by Maria Graham). J. Murray, LONDON 1315.
Edinburgh Review 1315 p.63-36.
2. Humboldt's Personal Narrative. Humboldt, F.H. Alexander von,
Baron. Personal narrative of travels to the Equinoctial Regions
of the New Continent during the years 1799-1304, by A. de Humboldt
and Aime Bonpland, with maps, plans etc. Written in French and
translated into English by Helen Maria Williams. 3 Vols. Longman,
Hurst, Roes Orme and Brown, London 1313.
Vols. I and II were re-pub. as 3r1. ed. 1322.
Same publisher - 7 vols. pub. l3l4-2o.
Later-
3 vols, translated by Thonasina Ross and pub. London, Bell and
Daldy 1369-1371, 1372, 1331, and 1339, 1394-1900, 1907. Also
abridged translations by same publisher 1372; also abridged translation
pub. London, G. Routledge and Sons 139?.
Chambers Biog. Diet. 1956 states that there is but one complete
edition of the opus magnum (1307~17) in 30 vols. (20 folio and
10 quarto), Voyages aux Regions Eguinoxiales de Nouveau Continent.
Humboldt studied at Frankfort-on-the~Qler, Berlin, and Gottingen,
and irrote a book on basalts of the Rhine. After studying in the
Mining Academy at Freiberg, and publishing Flora Subterranea
Fribergonsis (1793)» be held a post in the mining department in
Upper Franconia. In 1799 be sailed with Aime Bonpland for South
America. In 5 years they exposed a vast extent of previously
unknown territory in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perus, Cuba
and Mexico. At Paris he made, with Gay-Lussac, experiments on the
- r o -
chemical constitution of the atmosphere; in 1307, after visiting Italy, he
returned to France until 1327, for the publication of his travels. (Chambers's
Biog. Diet. 1956).
Humboldt and Bonpland had sailed in the corvette Fisarro and planned to vrite
"a scientific rather than a personal narrative" of their journey. The purpose
of Humboldt's ti'avels was to study the meaning of man in the mystery of
nature.
In the editing and preparation of his great work of the American journey
he haul the assistance of many of the most eminent scientists of the time.
(According to Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas these included the chemist
Gay-Lussac, the astronomer Latreille and Cuvier, the mathematician Laplace, the
mineralogists Vanquelin and Klaproth, and the botanists Bonpland and Kunth).
Humboldt wrote a number of books himself, that were to serve as preliminary
studies for his great work on the subjects of the geography of plants, agriculture
and mining, and a preliminary narrative of his travels in the Equinoctial
Regions of the New Continent (Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas in "Living
Biographies of Great Scientists", Blue Ribbon Books lo46).
In 1329 he travelled through Central Asia to explore the Ural and Altai
Mountains, Dyungcria, and the Caspian, along with Ehrenberg and Rose.
He spent the later years of his life at Berlin, occupying a high position
at the Prussian Court. He was past seventy when ho started Kosmos, and was
writing it till his death at ninety.
Kosmost Rntwurfeiner physischen Weltbeschreibung, 5 vols. pub. StuttgartiSbingen
1345-1362. (Dictionary of Scientific Biog. 1972. U.S.A.
3. Hon. and Rev. ',/n. Herbert. "Helga" a poem in seven cantos founded on
Scandinavian history and manners, pub. 1315•
Edinburgh Review 1315, p.146-163.
4. WOOLDRIDGE, Stephen, maltster.
5. BULLAGAR, Jolm, Minister, Gen. Baptist Chapel, Chichester 1813-61.
6. POWELL, James, collector of Customs.
7- WICKHAH, Wm. butcher dealer and chapman.
3. CROSBIE, Gen. Joint Gustavus, of Northlands, FUNTINGTON.
9. Probably THOMAS, George White of Watergate House, Stoughton.
-if\ -
2?
10. Probably FRETLAND, J.P.., solicitor.
11. DHJiDY, Stephen, Merchant.
City election 28
Wooldridge, Biffin, iir. Cooper Junr. and Mr. Fullagar. After a great
deal of discussion, it was agreed that Mr. Fullagar and 1 should go to
Covfdray, and enquire if Mr. Poyntz^'uas willing to stand, if not to go
to I,ondon and invite Mr. Ricardo, or some other candidate to come
forward. Mr. F. and I accordingly went over yesterday morning to
Cowdray, saw Mr. Poynts, who asked time to consider, and promised to
let us know in two or tliree days. Today I have written to Mr. Ricardo,
also to G. Long requesting him to call on Mr. R. in case Mr. Poynts
should decline, which I anticipate. This morning General Crosbie
called, and said he bad seen Mr. Thomas yesterday, and mentioned to
him the application lie had received, hoping lie might have said something
encouraging on the subject, which however he did not. I asked the General
whether he would support another popular candidate. He said he would
rather stand aloof. I told him I could not help regarding that as
somewhat inconsistent with his professed • eal for Whiggism, hoping ho
would pardon my frankness. He too'- it in very good part, but would not
relinquish his determination.
In consequence of taking so active a part in the business, I
shall undoubtedly experience a great deal of ridicule, and perhaps
some obloquy and dislike, but so long as I keep myself perfectly clean
of all selfish vanity, I trust these will not move me.
In the course of the last few weeks I have read through Wilberfores's
Practical View of Christianity.' This week I have proceeded
with the 3rd part of the 8th Chap, of Hallan. I have received a
Greek Lexicon and Port Royal Grammar^"which J.J. sent me, and formed a
plan for setting about the study of Greek. As I apprehend the chief
This plan
never difficulty of the language to consist in the vast variety of its
carried
into inflections, I propose to construct for myself a terminational
effect.
Jan.1321.
- 6-JLdictionary,
comprizing all those inflections arranged in alphabetical
order,, but beginning with the last letter instead of the first. Thus
I shall learn the declensions and conjugations gradually as I translate,
in the same manner as I learn the words, and save myself the immense
labour of acquiring them all by rote in the first instance. What a
task it would be to acquire all the words of a new language, by
learning them successively out of a dictionary, instead of picking them
up gradually as one went on.
Footnotes -
1. BIFFIN, James; timber and coal merchant.
2. Probably COOPER, Charles "
3- POYNTZ, William Stephen; m. Elizabeth Mary Browne, daughter of
7th Viscount Montague, who inherited COWDRAY estate in 1797 on
death of 9th Viscount. M.P. lor Chichester 1623-30.
4-. Ricardo, David; the economist.
j. William Wilberiorce (1759-IO33;. A Practical View oi' the
Prevailing Religions System oi' Professed Christians in the
Higher and Middle Classes of this Country, Contrasted with
Real Christianity, pub. 1797• Five eds. were sold within six
months. Re-pub. in The Ancient and Modern Library of Tneological
Literature, lUtio. Abridged edition pp.l2u. S.C.M. Press I950
(A Treasury of Christian Books series).
Tne infidel principles which abounded at this period of the
French Rev., and continued to agitate both France and England
for some years, induced a disregard of vital piety long afterwards
in the higher circles of British Society. To counteract
this, Mr Wiiberforce, then a member of Parliament for the
county of York, published this book. (Cnambers Literature 1854).
6. "Port Royal Grammar", Port Ruyal, Paris, being an abbey which
had its own school in 17th Cent, and issued its own books for
language teaching, which were reprinted into the 19th century
with varying titles. This grammar may have been "A new method
of learning with greater facility the Greek tongue.... Translated
from the French of the Messieurs de Port Royal (by T. Nugent).
This was reprinted many times including in .LtiOti and I«17."
- 5 3 -
29-.
Hal lam - Enthusiasm of 12th Century the
Cause of the Revival of Learning
February 10th 1820 Among a great deal of curious and important information
which I have gained from the perusal of Hallam, one of the most
striking facts is the great ebb and flow of religious enthusiasm which
seems to have taken place during the middle ages. About the eleventh or
twelfth century, that principle seems to have been at its height, witness
the crusades; the building of most of our cathedrals; the boundless power
of the clergy, the rise of severaj. sects, distinguished by peculiar
austerities, e.g. the Flagellants ' From this time to the Reformation,
enthusiasm appears to have been on the decline. Whether the enthusiasm
of this period, viz., the 11th and 12th Century had been long growing or
was a suddent txirst, I do not know.
A conjecture occurred to me in reading Hallam last night, that this
religious enthusiasm may have been the source of the revival of learning.
The author indeed is of a very different opinion. He thinks that it
tended to degrade, instead of refining the character of Europe. But I
cannot help believing that he is exceedingly mistaken. indeed the whole
of his reasoning on this subject (See Chap.9 Part 1) seems to be exceedingly
obscure and contradictory. Sometimes he seems to consider the
whole system of austerity as an imposture from beginning to end, a check
put on to answer selfish purposes of aggrandisement, and cover
licentiousness of manners. But if all were impostors, who were the
persons imposed on? Does he mean to say that the clergy alone were
knaves, and the laity dupes? If so, the effect must have been, I think,
to refine and exalt national manners, rather than to debase them; for I
must believe that strong and sincere religious impressions, however
mistaken in their direction, exceedingly tend to raise the character.
Whatever substitutes a distant and spiritual ob ject of pursuit to the
vulgar gratifications of the moment must widen the difference between man
and the brute creation. I cannot think, however, that the clergy,
at that time, were such knaves as he supposes; for if they were I do not
believe they would have been able to gain such astonishing influence over
the people. An influence of this kind, once gained, may be prolonged
sometime after sanctity has given way to concealed profligacy; but I do
not think any dexterity of knavery would be sufficient originally to gain
such influence by mere pretences; particularly when the secret must of
necessity be confided to so many hundreds of thousands
Footnote -
1. The Flagellants were a group of religious fanatics, who during the
13th and 15th Cents, urged and exaggerated the efficacy of selfinflicted
scourging by way of atonement for sin. In 1260 numbers
of men and women banded together and marched from place to place
singing violently denunciatory hymns and halting at every square or
cross roads to flagellate themselves. The pope condemned this
practice in 1261. But later flagellation occurred in Europe,
usually after some great crisis. The last wave occurred in 1414 when
the leader, Conrad Schmidt, was burned, and his followers punished
by the inquisition.
JU.
Hallam - Theory of Climate and Radiation of Heat
of persons, of all classes, and in all countries. And accordingly we
see that within a century or two afterwards the clergy fell into
general contempt and abhorrence, though they had the advantage of preoccupying
the field.
It is not at all difficult to understand what corrupted the manners
of the clergy. The immense increase of wealth and power which they
attained seems sufficiently to explain this; not only inasmuch as
wealth and power are very dangerous temptations to the frailty of human
nature, but inasmuch as they served to draw into the church vast
numbers of selfish and interested persons. I am however at a loss even
to conjecture at the causes of the previous austerity of manners. I
cannot conceive what new cause could begin to operate at this time on
the minds of people to turn them in this direction. The prevailing
belief that the end of the world was to take place about the year 1000
was I think rather an effect than a cause of this religious enthusiasm.
First Crusade 1095
Origin of Gothic Architecture about 1130
Sunday. February 20th 1820
Hallam's Middle Ages finished Chap 8 Part 3 Chap 9 Part 1st and
part of Part 2nd. ^
58th Chapter of Gibbons Decline and Fall " 2
Quarterly Review. Art. Flinders Voyage to Terra Australis ' and
Wells on Dew. Oct. 1814.
Within the last two or three days I have begun to apply seriously to
Greek. Yesterday I bought a Greek Testament printed without the contractions,
and read the 15 first verses of the 1st. Chap of John, which
I made out better than I expected.
On the 19th January, I stated a theory which had occurred to me with
regard to the gradual accumulation of heat in our globe from the sun's
rays. It now strikes me that a large body, suspended in free space, must
be more heated by the solar influence than a small body, and consequently,
that Jupiter may possess as genial a climate as the earth; the earth may
be as warm as Mercury. For suppose a single atom suspended within the
influence of the sun, but at an infinite distance from all other bodies
Footnotes -
1 . Edward Gibbon (1737-179^)
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
1776 "" the first quarto volume of his history produced
1781 - second and third vols.
27 June 1787 " the work completed.
Chambers Literature 1854- -
"In most of the essential qualifications of a historian, Gibbon
was equal either to Hume or Robertson. In some he was superior.
He had greater depth and variety of learning, and a more perfect
command of his intellectual treasures. It was not merely with
the main stream of Roman history that he was familiar. All its
JO.
accessaries and tributaries - the art of war, philosophy,
theology, jurisprudence, geography (uown to the minutest point),
every shade of manners, opinions,and public character, in Roman
and contemporaneous history, he had studied with laborious
diligence and complete success".
2. FLIHDER. Matthew 177M-101'f
A voyage to Terra Australis in 18UL-18U3 in H.M.S. Investigator.
London L8iq-.
Matthew Flinders was a Capt., R.N., hydrographer and
discoverer. In 1053 the Auditor General at the Legislative
Council at Sydney moved that Mrs. Flinders, widow of the late
Capt. Flinders should be granted £1U0, in honour of her husband's
high services stating, "This distinguished officer laid the
colonists of Australasia under great obligations, by having
executed a series of skilful surveys with less equipment than
any navigator who had been engaged in similar duty during the
last century". (See Nautical Magazine for Jan 1854).
C^pt. Flinders made valuable contributions to physical
science, including the cause oi those errors in the variation
of the magneticnneedle connected with difference in the
direction of the ship's head, and which he proved to depend
on the iron or attractive bodies within the ship. A careful
investigation of the various circumstances affecting
these errors led to such deductions as enabled him to
point out the precautions to be taken to obviate their
effects on marine surveying". From a "Statement of the
Services of the late Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N." signed
by Robert Brown.
The Daily Telegraph reported that H.R.R. The Duke of Edinburgh
unveiled a bronze bust of Matthew Flinders, at Flinders University,
Adelaide on 13 March 1986, during a Royal Tour.
Radiation of Heat Hajlam - Revival of Learning
Is it not evident, that this atom, continually radiating off in all
directions the heat which it received, will retain only a small portion
of that heat? Suppose now another such atom, placed within a small
distance of the first; then is it not evident that each of the atoms now
receives a portion of the heat radiated from the other, in addition to
that which they both receive from the sun? Consequently they will retain
a higher temperature than if one of them only existed. And the more the
number of atoms is increased, the more the temperature will rise; provided
they are all exposed to the sun's rays, as well as exposed to each other's
radiations. But where one atom abstracts the passage of the sun's rays
to another, as in the case where they are congregated into a solid globe,
the question becomes more complicated, and I do not at present see how to
resolve it.
I have just discovered that in my theory respecting the gradual
accumulation of heat from the sun's rays, I am forestalled by Dr. John
Murray, who has developed this view of the subject in a paper sent to the
Edinburgh Transactions Vol.7' See flees's Cyclopaedia - Art. Temperature
of the Ea„r th - at the end.
February 22nd
I am delighted beyond measure with the 9th Chap of Ha-iiam, which
contains a series of profoundly philosophical reflections on the causes
that operate on the progress of society in the Middle Ages. Last night
I read his account of the Sectaims; the Waldenses, Paulicians, Labourers
etc; and on the influence of Chivalry. Nothing can be more sound, or
more refined, than the taste and discrimination of the author. How
delightfully does his tone of sentiment contract with that of Gibbon!
See for instance the account given by these two writers on the ceremonies
by which a knight was installed. Decline and Fall Vol. 11. p.37.
Hallam Vol. j. p.4tib.
I see more and more reason to believe that the religious enthusiasm
of the Llth and 12th centuries formed the source of the revival of science
and learning. "Many ages elapsed", says Italiam, "during which no remarkable
instance occurs of a popular deviation from the proscribed line of
Belief", "uut from the 12th Century, an inundation of heresy broke upon
the church, which no persecution was able to repress, till nt finally
overspread half the surface of Europe". Refer to the first volume of
Robertson's Chas.V. There may be seen an enumeration
Footnote -
Dr. Wm. Robertson (1721-1793). An accomplished historian pub. "History of
the Reign of Charles V"1769' Son of a clergyman, minister of Borthwick,
county of Edinburgh. Educated for the Church - minister of Gladsmuir,
Haddingtonshire . In 1750 incumbent of Lady Yester's parish in
Edinburgh.
Early Reformers - Their austerity of manners defended
of the outward and visible signs of the returning dawn of civilisation;
but of the inward and spiritual grace the Doctor seems to have known but
little. He does not so much as mention the state of religious, belief
among the causes which contributed to the revival of learning. Even
Hallam, though exceedingly candid, and animated with a far warmer spirit
than Dr Robertson, has, I think, underrated the efficacy of this cause.
See pages 476 to 478. He does not seem to be aware of the inestimable
importance of a powerfully awakening principle, in raising the minds of
barbarians from their grossness and selfishness, and paving the way to
the introduction of a more pure, refined, and elevated faith and practice.
Even though alloyed with the greatest fanaticism, the utmost absurdity of
25.
speculative trusts, and uncharitableness of heart; the directing of the
attention of men to any spiritual object of pursuit in preference to
immediate sensual gratification must have had a wonderful effect in
improving the character of the people.
One of the most revolting traits of these seceders is perhaps their
narrow Sectarian Bigotry. But even in defence of this, there is much to
be said. A tone of morals much raised above the rest of Society requires
to be supported by strong enthusiasm; and that enthusiasm cannot be kept
up without a great deal of separation from the rest of the world. It is
a mistake, I apprehend, to suppose that a rigidly virtuous man communicates
as much good by his example, as he receives injury by the example
of others. Austerity of manners does not allow to imitation, but rather
repels. True, if a man, without being austere, could be properly
virtuous, his example might prove very beneficial. But this is difficult in
all states of societyj infinitely difficult in a very corrupt state of
society. There is not, perhaps, one mind in ten thousand that can
preserve untainted purity in the midst of the contagion of vice and
grossness, the only chance of escape is by drawing a circle of exclusion
from all but those who resemble himself. From within that circle, he
may preach, he may exhort, he may even influence others by his example,
so far as that example consists in external uprightness and purity of
conduct, but he must admit none of the profame to an intimacy with him.
Origin of Languages 33.
And this procedure is not only best adopted to secure his own
safety; it is likewise best adopted to,promote the public reformation;
that is, supposing his own manners to be austere, as they must (almost
of necessity) be, under the circumstances supposed. For even austerity
of manners has much to attract, when viewed at a distance; since it
involves an adherence to truth, integrity of dealings, and many other
virtues, which are extremely popular in the abstract. Thus the man of
religiion gains honour by his example, when viewed at a distance,
though it could not excite love, if he were approached a little more
closely.
February 2 5th 1820
It is a common notion that all languages are derived from one parent
stock, and philosophers have taken great pains to ascertain which is to
be considered as the original tongue, whence all the rest have sprung.
I apprehend this opinion to be altogether groundless; that so far from
all languages arising from one common sourcei - in very ancient times
an infinite number of dialects were spoken by the countless tribes of
barbarians or semi-barbarians who over- spread the earth; and that the
effect of civilisation and refinement has been to diminish the variety
of tongues by bringing some of them to coalesce , and throwing
others out of use.
It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to conceive how one
language can be split into two, by the mere separation of place, and
lapse of time. The invention of new terms is a thing which never, I
believe, had place, except in the brains of philosophers. New words
may sometimes be compounded out of old ones, and so a difference, to a
certain extent, might arise between the speech of two tribes, coming
from one parent stock. But it is quite impossible, I think, that a
dititir«nce arising from this cause could ever be so great as to give
them the aspect of two distinct languages. Or new terms may often be
borrowed from foreign tonguesj uut then thiw supposes the previous
existence of separate languages, which is inconsistent with the theory
that would trace them all from one and the same root.
The further we carry back our researches to the infancy of society
and civilization, the greater, T apprehend, shall we f3rd the variety
of dialects. We are apt to deceive ourselves into a belief that some one
of these, of which the memory has been accidentally preserved,
- r s -
Origin ol' Languages
prevailed over a much larger portion of the earth than it ever actually
aid. Gould we ascertain the various modes of speech in Greece, at the
time of the Trojan W"r, or oi Italy at the foundation oi Home; we
should find, I have no uoubt, that the mhaoitants of every province,
11 not 01 every town, spoKe in a manner unintelligible, or scarcely
intelligible to their neighbours. Ati the progress of refinement
brings those scattered tribes into closer intercourse and connexion;
their manner of expressing themselves comes gradually to assimilate,
they borrow phrases and words each from the other, and in process of
time all their various dissonant jargons come to coalesce into one
common language. "In New Holland", says the Quaterly R view, "we are
not sure that each family has not words peculiar to itself, which are
not intelligible to the neighbouring familiesj but we Know that the
natives of Van Pieman's Land, of Port JacKson, ana of the northern
part of New South Wales, are not acquainted with each other's languages,
which indeed bear not the least resemblance". Refer to the many
different languages mentioned in the 2nd Chap of the Acts, verses 9 - 11
as spoken by persons who chanced to be present at the time of Pentecost.
This too at a period when the widely extended dominion, and the free
communication between different parts of the world, might be supposed
to have produced a greater uniformity than in earlier times.
Another argument against the descent of all existing languages
from one common parent, is to be found in the astonishing tenacity with
which particular dialects are often retained in certain situations from
century to century, especially among people imperfectly civilized, for
instance the Celtic dialects of Wales, Ireland and Scotland; and the
Biscayan and American in Spain and France. It is the progress of
refinement, andan intimate acquaintance with foreign tongues that seem
to alter the purity of languages- these circumstances however could
have had no place in those early times when the separation of dialects
is supposed to have taken place, and if we are to take the confusion of
tongues at Babel according to its obvious and literal sense,. I do not
see how the doctrine of one original parent language can be maintained
at all.
County Election
February 27th 1020. Sunday
Finished the 1st Chapter of John and read over again the first
30 verses. Made myself tolerably well acquainted with the Declensions
of the Greek nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and the active voice of the
verbs in W. ~ , excepting the contracted nouns, which I omitted for
the present.
6 pages of Cicero de Legibus1'
Finished Hallam's Middle Ages.
March 19th 1020. Sunday
For the last three weeks I have been so entirely absorbed in
electioneering, as to have had scarcely time for any other pursuit.
On Tuesday, 29th Feb. we learned by an advertisement in the papers, tha|
a new candidate had started for Sussex, in opposition to Sir G. Webster
professedly on this ground, that Sir G.W.'s disapprobation of the late
Bills, expressed in his address, had excited general indignation in the
County. In the evening Sir G. arrived at the Dolphin. I went up with
Mr Freeland to see him, he was speaking to the people out of a window.
A number of the tradespeople were assembled in the room. After a little
while they retired, and there remained only Sir G., his brother, Mr.
Florance , H. Cotxlen, * Freeland and myself. I felt quite dismayed at
seeing the candidate so ill supported. What was to be done? He went
down to call on W. Hack. F. Diggens^'and Mr Williams - the latter would
not see him. Freeland and I went to Dendy, to ask if he would assist in
canvassing. He was ill, confined to his house by a bad cold, and
3 >
persuaded us not to be seen about with a man of Sir G.W.'s character,
for the sake of our reputation. Late in the evening F. Diggens
called at the Dolphin. He could not think of canvassing unless backed
by some man of weight. It was a most embarrassing situation. in the
morning Sir G. went to call on some of the neighbouring gentlemen, but
met with very little countenance or encouragement. In the evening a
meeting was called of his freeholders at the Dolphin. Sir G. made a
speech to them, and so did I. Freeland had a bad headache and could
not come, there was a pretty full attendance, but all of the middle
or lower class. Diggens kept away, but sent his servant to see what
was doing. The next morning it was intended tha,t Sir G. should
Footnotes -
1. Cicero de Legibus
This work probably started 52 BC but pub. after Cicero's death
DC; it is one of a philosophical series in which he
exa.mmes the theory and practice of the subject. Only three
books of his "de Legibus" are preserved, but a filth was quoted
by an author about W U A.D.
2. Sir Godfrey Vassal Webster, 6th Bart. Patron of living of
BATTLE, Sussex. Had been an M.P. tor Sussex since 1012;
elected on Tory interest, d.IO53. (For more details see Part I
of this book).
3. Probably James Florance, Barrister.
M-. Probably Henry Cobden, gentleman.
5. Francis DIGGENS, banker of Chichester.
County and City Election 36•
go to Brighton, but j^st as he was about setting off, a false report
came that Fir. Curteis, 'the rival candidate, was come; so he thought if
he went it would appear Like running away from him, accordingly a
resolution was suddenly taken to canvass the city. I accompanied him,
and we met with very considerable success, but I felt excessively nervous
and annoyed, partly at the want of company, partly at the company we had.,
H. Cobden and Florance. In our course however we picked up a Colonel
Hill, an old acquaintance of Sir G's, who joined the party and I
contrived to escape. This was on Thursday. On Friday I took a very
long round with Joseph Long, by Ball's Hut, Eastergate, Aidingbourn
, Shripney, etc. and obtained the promise of 21 votes. On
S turday I went to Arundel, intending to canvass the town, but could get
no suitable person to assist me, and after an abortive attempt returned
home to dinner.
On Monday 6th March our City election took place. In the ^
morning, a hand bill appeared, announcing a coalition between Burrell
and Curteis, the two ministerial candidates for the county. It
occurred to me that to counteract the operations of their party, it
would answer a good purpose to put Sir G. Webster in nomination for
the City. Indeed it had been previously discussed among us, on the
Saturday, whether it might not have a good effect to stir up an opposition
for the purpose of keeping the high party employed at home, and
- C o -
J6.
the notion haa so tax got round as to excite a general sort of expectation
of something of the kind. I went over to Freeland, to consult
him on the subject. J. Long was there. They both seemed to think It
feasible, but we agreed to consult 3. Hack. Just as we were setting
off for that purpose, Jcvmes Fcjwell came running down to tell us that
Lord G. Lennox and Huskisson 'were gone down to the Hall, and had been
received with a general hiss. We hurried to Little London. SH was
at the Hall, we followed him there, it was excessively crowded. We
tried to penetrate the mass of people, at first with little effect, but
when they recognised me, fancying that I was come either to propose a
third candidate, or to be proposed, they set up a universal shout and
made way for me to pass. I tound my way to the table, at which S.H.
was standing, and proposed to him my plan.
Footnotes -
1. CURTEIS, Ettward Jeremiah of Windmill Place, Nr. Herstmonceux.
2. BURRELL, Walter, of West Grinstead House, M.P. ior Sussex
for 5 successive parliaments. Died 1031 aged 5^*
3. Lord John George GORDON-LENNOX (1793-1075) 2nd son of 4th Duke
of Richmond, city councillor.
«+. HUSKISSON, Wm. (1770-1030) of Eartham. M.P. for Chichester
1012-1022.
He did not absolutely discountenance it; but said, in so short ^ 37*
consideration, he could not venture to recommend it. Col. Brereton
at this time was speaking, seconding the nomination of Lord G. Lennox.
The proclamation was then read three times as usual1 without interruption.
I did not feel confident enough of my plan to carry it into
execution. Huskisson then returned thanks. He alluded to the large
majority of electors who, by promising their votes to him, had shown
their approbation of his political conduct and said he hoped that of
the few who thought differently, their objections proceeded not from
any personal feeling, but from that fair and honest difference of
opinion which must always exist among any considerable number of
persons. In this last part of his speech he fixed his eyes directly
on me, and even made some observations which evidently marked me for
the person addressed:- this I thought gave me a fair opportunity of
replying, and I felt so animated by the enthusiasm of the moment, that
I experienced not the slightest difficulty in doing so though, when he
called on me in his canvass, I felt so agitated that I could scarcely
utter a few intelligible words. I had in some measure prepared myself
two or three weeks before, by thinking over the subject, and writing
down a rough sketch of the observations suitable for such an occasion:
with this help I found no want of words. Sentences previously formed
in the mind, though at some distance of time, and never committed to
memory, recur copiously enough to the recollection under the stimulus
of a crowded audience, this I have found on two or three occasions.
Huskisson determined to catch me, however, if I had prepared a lesser,
for when I mentioned "the right of the people", he interrupted me by
asking "What do you mean by the rights of the peopleY". This however
was all fair play, and it did not happen to disconcert me. I alluded
to the support which I had formerly given him, explained that I then
believed him independent, that he had at that time gained considerable
credit, by his exertions in the cause ot economical retorm, and
on the Bullion question etc. That since he took place, he had
pursued an opposite line of conduct. That if the British constitution
be a blessing, it must be a great public calamity for any place to be
represented like Chichester; the members being so completely under
the influence of the Crown as to render their control over the
measures of administration altogether nominal etc. Huskisson replied
- £ 1 -
37-.
at considerable length, alter I had procured him a hearing by reproaching
the people tor their unfairness in not suffering him to speak. I then
replied in turn, disclaimed all imputation on the
Footnote -
1. Colonel William BRERTOH (175Z-10JU) of Chichester.
City and County Election 30.
purity of his motivesj admitted the existence of a. dreadful spirit of
disaffection, but doubted whether coercive measures were calculated to
repress it, inasmuch as history affords no instance of opinions put
down by such means. Lastly, referring to an allusion which H. had
made to the late difference letween the King and his ministers on the
subject of a divorce, said that 1 thought the thanks of every man in
the country were due to them for their conduct on. that occasion. 1
wished I could extend the same degree of approbation to all parts of
their political conduct.
The remainder of the week was spent in various discussions and
canvasses. On Saturday Sir G.W. arrived again and was drawn into the
town by the people. On Sunday the 12th mst. he sent for me antjl
F. Diggens about two o'clock. The agent oi Lord Geo. Cavendish,'who
had started his son'as a. fourth candidate for the county m hearing
of the coalj.tj on -this agent was with Sir Godfrey and announced Lord
G.C.'s determination to retire from the contest, unless Sir G. would
himself give it up. This was a terrible stroke to the latter, who
had .calculated on the assistance of his lordship's purse in bringing
up the votes, and who had not means, as he told us, to carry it on
single handed longer than till the following Saturday. He put it
fairly to us (Diggens and myself) what he ought to do, and we jointly
advised him to withdraw, to which he consented, and desired me to
write for him an address, signifying his determination to the freeholders,
and explaining his motives 1- which I did. In less than an
hour it was known all over the city, and cast a great gloom over the
popular party. The next morning, Monday ljth, the nomination took
place. It was a very fine scene, and a great triumph to us Whigs.
Sir Godfrey spoke with incomparable feeling and propriety. Mr.
Blackman of Lewes made a very line speech, very taking, and 111 some
parts very forcible, but rather too long winded in politics.
Huskisson answered him, Curteis spoke like a vulgarian, one or two
of his observations nettled Lord G- Cavendish, who darted looks of
lofty aristocratical disdain on him under which he shrank like an
insect. The poll has however been uniformly against us, and we
are now 397 behind Curteis. We still hope
Footnotesi-
1. Loid George CAVENDISH (1754-1034-) had 4- sons a.nd 2 daughters.
2. Charles Compton Cavendish, a relative on the maternal side
of Hon. Spencer Compton who had represented the County
1715-1720.
Flan of Work on P o l i t i c a l Philosophy 39•
Tuesday March 21st 102U
The last three weeks have run sadly to waste, and what is worse,
the bustle of the election has produced such a distraction of mind,
that I feel very little capable of resuming anything like serious
application. Having completed my pamphlet, of which the last sheet
is printing! it seems a proper time to pause, and take a review of '
my plans for the future. I have nothing actually in hand at present
22
except the recently commenced study of Greek. With regard to the works
of history or literature which it nay he proper to read, the selection
will, I think, he best arranged with J..T. that wo nay pursue the same
studies together, from which I find very important advantages. But
without at present selecting any particular works for perusal, an arrangement
occurs to me, which I think will serve greatly to give an interest,
unity, and consistency, to my pursuits. This plan is to undertake the
composition of a large work on Political Philosophy, or an enquiry into the
causes of the greatness and prosperity of nations. Say rather to keep in
view the composition of such a work, to wake preparations for it, and to
direct the bent of my enquiries with reference to it. In fact the process
of making preparation for such a work seems to no almost identical with a
diligent and well directed study of history and philosophy. For in
pursuing those enquiries, if done to any good purpose, must not the reader
analyze, digest, compare, and as it were post the different Finds of
information which he obtains to their several heads?
The first subject of consideration will be the dispositions of
tl'.r several parts of the subject»- the first, both in order of time, of
importance, and perhaps of difficulty. Such a scheme of distribution
has long been a desideratum with me. At present, it strikes me that an
analytical system would bo bestj first investigating the several parts of
which national prosperity is composed, such as population, wealth, moral,
energy etc., appreciating their respective value, and mutual connexion, and
then proceeding successively to discuss their causes. This notion at
present, however, is very rude and inperfcct.
As the great leading proposition of Br. Smith's work, which binds
together the several parts of it, and gives an air of unity and connexion
to the whole, is that Freed en; of Trad.: forms the true secret of Commercial
TV.icyi so the proposition of my intended work would be that all national
greatness springs from a certain moral temperament in the people; that
temperament which assumes the various forns of dignity of sentiment,
refinement of taste, simplicity of Manners, purity of morals, and elevation
or genius; to show that all these are no more than different forms of the
same thing, as modified by circumstance-; ~ an I to elucidate the interior
mechanism of the mind whence these all of them rise.
Sunday, 2.6 th March 1320
Edinburgh Review llo. 65. Part of the 7th.Book Burnett's Own Times.
Three first of Dolingbroke's Letters on History 'abstracted.
Digested the Accounts of the .'yr-undel Friendly Society, Year 17-30 to
1796.
On Titeaday the County Election ended, against us. Monday was the
only day on which we had an advantage on the Pole. We then gained JJ5- On
Tuesday the enemy recovered, his loss within a few votes. Sir G. Webster
came down with Curry and Scudamore (Lord Geo. Cavendish's Agents), told the
ill news, and asked my opinion, whether to give up. I could not help
assenting to it, and I found everyone else had expressed the same opinion.
Yesterday evening I received the proof of the last sheet of my
pamphlet. It lias been a tedious affair printing, partly from the interruption
of the Election, but the delay has had the advantage of enabling me
to add a Postscript, in reply to the Edinburgh Reviewers" t who have served
me like many other poor authors; - set the name of my book at the head of
an article* without saying one word of its merits or demerits. I received
the Review on Wednesday.
County Election Couple t i o n j j f j a y P ^ p p st ko
22
Footnotes-"
1. Henry fit. John, Viscount Bolingbroke (1672-1751) pub. 1735 (appro::.)
Letters on the Study of History. Chambers Literature 1854 -
"In his own day the most conspicuous and illustrious of that friendly
band of Jacobite wits and poets who adorned the reigns of Anne and
2. His reply to the ti'inburgh Reviewers appears as a postoript to his
second pamphlet -
An Inquiry into the Causes of the Proyretirsivo Depredation
of ,'irrricultural Labour in Modern Times; with Suggestions
for its Remedy.
3. The 65th number of the HUnburgh Review. The article was 011 "Taxation
and the Corn Laws", at the head of which stood the title of
the "Observations on the Circumstances which influence the
Condition of the Labouring Classes of Society" (his first pamphlet),
together with two other pamphlets.
Sunday, April 2nd 1320
Continued 7th Book of Burnett's ' wn Times.
4th and 5th of Bolinghroke'c Letters
Finished the Accounts of AruuJel Friendly Society
Sunday, April loth
On Tuesday the 4th Inst. 1 went to London. Wednesday met the ©rrn.
at Clapham. Saturday dined at Mr. Inglj,s's "at Battersea Rise. On
Thursday morning I called on Mr. Ricardo," who gave me a long critique
which he had written on my pamphlet, and had a good deal, of talk on the
subject. Sunday (this dax week) spent the day at Aunt J's. Called in
the afternoon on J. Woods 'and Miss Sharp with J.J. - H.J. and family came
to tea in the evening. Saturday went to panorama ef Lausanne, disappointed -
magnitude of scenery is not well expressed. On Monday went by H.J.'s
appointment to call on Dr. Lushington "as a fit person to become a candidate
for Chichester, in case of a vacancy, owing to a mistake Dr. L. was not at
hom". So I did not see Mm. Tuesday returned home. In two weeks I have
read -
Quarterly Review-Wo. 43
Cornwall's Poems
Continued 7th Book Burnett's Own Times
20 first verses of 2nd. Chap of John in Creek, and. gone over again
the declensions of nouns, pronouns and active voice of the verb.
Stewarts Philosophical Essays Preliminary Dissertation,
abstracted.
B. Constant's Lettres'' Sur les Cent Jours - Letter 1 to 3.
Bolingbroke's Letters. Letter 6th and part of 7th. abstracted.
G.I."
.it London 41
1NGLIS. See footnote to p.6.
RICARDO, David (1772-1323); the economist
WOODS, Joseph; architect and botanist; a member of the
f i r s t committee for the abolition of the Slave Trade.
LUSHINGTON, Stephen, LL.D. (1732-1873) M.P. and
ecclesiastical lawyer.
CORNWALL'S Poems.
Proctor, Bryan Waller (1787-L874) poet; practised as
Solicitor; intimate with Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb and
Dickens; barrister and 1032-61 metropoliton commissioner
in lunacy; produced successful tragedy "Mirandola" at
Cuvent Gc^rden Tneatre, under pseudonym "Barry Cornwall"
1821. Songs pub. I832. pub. biog. of Cnarles Lamb 1864.
His poems include - Marcian Colonna, The Flood of
Tnessaly and Gertrude of Wyoming.
STEWART, Dugald(1753-1828), philosopher; educated at
Euinburgh and Glasgow universities, pub. 1810 "Philosophical
Essays".
Constant de Rebeque, Benjamin Henri (1767-I830).
Constant de Rebeque born of French Hugenot ancestry; an
author and politician.
Pub. Reflexions sur les constitutions, la distribution
des pouvoirs, et les garanties, dans une monarchie
constitutionelle. Paris 1814.
He had been banished from France in 1802 for denouncing
the despotic acts of Napoleon. After travelling in
Germany and Italy with Madame de Stael, he settled at
Go'ttingen. On Napoleon's fall in 1814, returned to Paris;
during the Hundred Days became one of Napoleon's
Councillors, though previously he had styled Napoleon a
Genghis Khan; and after the second restoration of the
Bourbons wrote and spoke in favour of constitutional
freedom.
lan.'cuar^o
25.
Agreed when at Stanford Hill this day week to recommence my plan
of study with J.J. with the following hooks
Lanjuinas on the Constitutions of France^"
Stewart's Philosophical Essays
Bolingbroke 's Letters on History
April 21st. TXigart Stewart uses the'expression - "Both undertakings
were equally unphilosophical". Surely tills is incorrect. Equality
implies comparison of the things, but the word botll implies that each
of the two undertakings, separately taken, was not only unphilosophical
but"equally unphilosophical", which cannot be.
Philosophical Essays - Essay 2.CI. Page 55 of Quarto Edition.
John Chap 2 Verses 21 to 25 and Chap 3 Verses 1 to 30
in Greek. _
Neil.son's Greek Exercises 'Chap 1 and Part of Chap 2 -
learned passive and middle voice of verbs.
Continued 7th Book Burnett's Own Times.
The two first of Stewart's Philosophical Essays abstracted.
Finished B. ConstantT,ettres sur les 1.00 Jours.j
H. Cottu on the Criminal Jurisprudence of England
Clay's Eree Trede Essential to the Welfare of Great
Britain-5', looked over.
It appears to me that the analogies of different languages might be
better traced by a comparison oF their inflexions, than by a comparison
of particular words, which last is the ordinary method of philologists;
because inflexions arc much less liable to be changed, I apprehend, by
caprice or accident than particular words. New expressions are easily
imported from foreign languages; new inflexions, I believe, never.
Inflexions are often dropped in the lapse of time, and their place
supplied by auxiliaries, but such as arc found still existing in any
language may b° safely taken, I apprehend, for relics of that language
in its most ancient form. Our modern
Footnotes-
1. Lanjuinais, Jean Denis, Counts Constitution !e la Nation Francaise,
avec un essai de trait" hi torique et politique sur la Charte, ot
un recueil de pieces coirelatives. 2 Vols. Paris 1.319.
2. Dugald Stewart. (1753-1320) Philosopher.
3- Wm. Nciloon D.D. pub. "Greek Zeroises in Syntax, ellipsis, dialects,
prosody and metaplirasis", to which i" prefixed a concise syntax.
First pub. 1304 . 5th edn. 3.1inburgh 1313.
4. Cottu, Charles5 He 1'administration de la justice criminelle en
Angleterre, et de 1'esprit du gouvernment anglais. Paris 1320.
(N.B. ,'ji English translation nub. in a periodical "The Pamphleteer"
London 1320 and another by Richard Stevens and Charles Reader,
London 1322.
5. Clay, John (of Oxford). \ Free Trade essential to the Welfare of
Great Britain, or, an enquiry into the cause of the present distressed
state of the Country.... to which ajre added some observations on two
letters to the ilt. Hon. Robert Peel... by one of his Constituents (i.e.
El ward Copiestone, Bishop of Llaniaff. Sherwood, Neely and Jones
London l31o.
- U -
Affinity of Languages 43
English, for example, has so totally departed from the Anglo-Saxon as to
render the latter quite a dead language; our present tongue consists full half
of words of French or Latin extraction, yet we have not, so far as I am aware,
borrowed a single inflexion from either of those languages; the few variations
of termination which we have are, without exception, fragments of Anglo-Saxon
origin.
I do not know that this method of analysis has ever been pursued; and I
think a vast deal of curious information might be gained from it. It is stated
in Rees Cyclopaedia, under the article Sanskrit, that "the verb substantive of
that language very nearly resembles those of the Greek or Latin; but perhaps it
would not be suspected that all the verbs in mi are formed exactly upon the same
principles with the Sanskrit conjugations; even in the minutest particular."
What is equally curious, I find, on referring to the Welsh Grammar.'a striking
analogy in the inflexions of the Welsh Verb both to the Latin and to the Saxon -
vide Owen p.106.
Adeiliais '
Eiificavi
Etiificabam
aist
isti
as
oez
it
at
asam
imus
amus
asac
istis
at is
asant
erunt
ant
Buais
Go
buaist
goest
bues
goes
p.87-
The Second and third person plural, which in Welch uniformly end in £ and nt
appear to be regularly formed from the pronouns <^wi, you and hwynt, they.
There then seems to be the origin of the termination of the third person plural
of the Latin verbs - njti of which no account, as far as I am aware, has yet been
given. The similarity of the personal pronouns in Welch, Saxon, Latin and
Greek is also very remarkable, for words of this kind, forming the very basis of
the most ordinary discourse, are as little likely to be imputed almost as inflexions.
Epotnotes-
1 . A Grammar of the Welsh language by William Owen F.A.S. London 1803*
To avoid double letters Owen used ^ for ch and z for dd (pronounced
as a soft th).
2. Adeilio now seems to be obsolete - replaced by adeiladu.
3- Etiificio is now spelt "aedificio".
Welch I or Mi Ti E
Saxon Ic me Thu
German Ich mich Du
Latin me Tu Te
Greek me Su E
44
Perhaps these observations might furnish a clue for a complete classification of
all existing languages, the broadest and most general points of resemblance being
taken for a first division; and so gradually descending to more and more minute
points of resemblance. There seems reason to think that the most widely extended
similarities would be found in the most permanent and essential parts of the
languaget just as the stamina of the pistils of plants, forming the most essential
parts of their structure, served Linnaeus for a basis of his artificial
arrangement..
Coron Welch Corona Latin Krone German A Crown
Corph or
corff Welch Corpus Latin A body
Both these words seem to be indigenous to the Welch, for they are connected closely
with many other words, e.g., Corphi, to feed, to recruit the body -• Corphuy,
Corpulent and Coryn, is the crown of the head; the top or summit - and Crwn or
Cron is round.
- £ 7 —
Cost a side or coast.
Crefft handicraft; a trade
Creulon cruel, bloody
Galw to call, - Kaleo - Greek
Rhudd Ruddy
Sach a sack and sachell a small bag
Sech dry
5ai~ shallow, and Basdard, of base growth
Batel a battle
Cath a cat
Mai tricial, trifling
Mail a hollow vessel of wood
Mil a thousand
Egr sour
Ellmyiji the Germans
Ernes earnest money
Aur gold
2
See Edinburgh-Review Vol.2 - Art Valiancy's 'Prospectus p.116 and vindication
of the Celts,-,'p.355.
Footnotest
1. Elrnes now seems to be obsolete.
2. Prospectus of a Dictionary of the Language of the Ajie Coti or
Ancient Irish, compared with the language of the Cuti, or Ancient
Persians, with the Hindostanee, the Arabic and the Chaldean Languages.
By Lieutenant-Ceneral Charles Vallancey (1721-1812); antiquary;
son of French protestant; officer of engineers; engineer in ordinary
in Ireland I762. Gen. 1803. FRS 1784.
Edinburgh Review, July 1803 p.116-128.
3. A vindication of the Celts, from ancient authorities; with observations
on Mr. Pinkerton's hypothesis, concerning the origin of the European
nations in his modern Geography and dissertation on the Scythians or
Goths.
Edinburgh Review, July I803. p.355"376.
Heat Communicated by the Sun's Rays
April 26th 1820. It occurred to me this morning that the theory which I
formed some time ago respecting the radiation of heat - see p.30 and 31 ~
might be put to the test by a simple experiment. If a large and a small
thermometer were exposed together to the direct rays of the sun, the large
one would, by that theory, exhibit a higher temperature than the other.
It being a fine morning, I resolved to try the experiment immediately.
They were hung out at about half past eight, at the window of the back
dressing room, in such a situation as to be very little exposed to any
radiation of heat from surrounding objects. The result was as follows
Time Large Ther. Small Ther. Ther. in Shade.
8.45 62° 59° 55°
9.00 65 62 55
9.45 7li 65i 59i
I then borrowed three more thermometers, for the purpose of trying
the experiment more fully. They were numbered according to size of
their bulbs; Hos. 'j, 4 and 5 differing however very slightly in that
respect.
Ther. No. 1 No. id No. j Ho. 4 No. 3 Ther in Shade
10.2U 67| 66 69t 7'J 7Ji 62
1U. J'j 65 66 60f 71 72f 62f
The smallest thermometer was then suspended in a bottle containing
about an ounce of water, at the same pla.ce.
11.10 69 70 73 76 76 64f
Apprehending that a transparent substance, like water, not intercepting
the sun's rays, did not acquire its due proportion of heat, I substituted
steel filings. (4 oz).
11.<+0 79 72 75 70 74 65i
11.50 02 74 771 70 77 6bf
12. uo 04 75 70 79 77a 65 +
12.15 05 74 77 70 7bf 64
+ In the two last experiments the ther. in the shade was moved round
into the inside of the window.
Exxp.e rimm ents 011 H—ea b of Sun's Hays 4b.
At ten minutes before one o'clock, the sky having been partially
obscured by thin clouds during the greater part of the last f hour, I
made another observation.
No. 1 No. 2. No. 3. Nu. 4. No. 5 Ther in Shade
77 69 71 71f 71 63
at 2
0 'clock 7Ji 60f 70 71 71 63f
the sky continuing cloudy.
The result of this experiment is decidedly to confirm that the
theory I had p reviously formed from general reasoning. But it would
be interesting to investigate the iavr which determines the proportion
between the bulbs and temperatures of the bodies exposed. This I
hope to pursue, when I have an opportunity, at my next journey to
London to' procure proper apparatus.
April 20th 1020. There aje some curious observations in Humboldt's
Personal Narrative (Vol.3) ', on the aboriginal languages of America.
He quotes sgme books which I should like exceedingly to see, VIZ.,
P. Schlegel 'Sprache and Weisheit derIndier;Guiliaum de Humboldt
Sur la Monofrraphie des Langues^'; the same Sur la iangue Basque; and
Mithridates '; also a work on the languages of South America, by Vaber
Tuday it occurred to me to repeat in vacuo the experiments made
the day before yesterday on the heat of the sun's rays. I accordingly
suspended a small and a large thermometer in a tail receiver, and
exhausted the air; keeping the pump worked now and then during the
progress of the observations. Before exhaustion the small T. stood
at 5b , the large at 57 • This was at 4 o'clock p.m.
<+b.
Footnotes-
1. Humbolat, Alexander, Freiherr von (1709-1059). Personal
narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of the new
continent, duringthe years 1799-iaw, by Alexander de
Humboldt and Aime Bonpland translated into English
by Helen Maria Williams. London. Longman, Hurst, Hees
Orme and Brown. 1010. 3 Vols.
Guiilaum de Humboldt, Sur la Mvnographie des Langues
2. Schlegel, Carl Wilheim Friedrich von: Uber die Sprache unt
Weisheit der Indie*-. Hedelberg 10U0.
3. Humboldt, Karl Wilheim von. elder brother of Alexander von
Humboldt. (1767-1035). Became first Minister of Public
Instruction, Prussia, 1000. The Berlin University owed its
existence to him. He was the first to study Basque
scientifically; he also worked much 011 the languages of the
East and of the South Soa Islands.
M-. Mithradates (Grecised from the Persian), "gift of Mithras")
the name of several kings of Pontus, Armenia, Commagene and
Parthia. Mithradates VI of Pontus is known as Mithradates
the Great. During his reign he was involved in three wars,
and was defeated finally by Pompey 56 B.C. He had received
a Greek education and spoke twenty-two languages. Committed
suicide.
5. VATEH, Johann Severin. He probably was referring to his
Untersuchungen uber Amerika's Bevolkerung aus dem alten
Kontinente. Leipsig 101u.
Mr. Halthus's Work 47.
Hour Small T. Larg T. Ther in Shade In the open air the large T.
•+.1U 7b 71 rises nearly or quite as
15 Olf 031 fast as the small one. Because
2U 03 06 54 the heating effect of the sun's
25 OMf oo| 5'f rays is counter-balanced by the
30 06 90 5+ cooling effect of the wind, but
35 07 93 54 when inclosed in a glass receivw
Ob 93f 5+ er, the small one rises most
rapidly as might be expected.
The sun was then excluded by letting down the Venetian blind.
4.42 03 00
43 75 05
W 73 k 03
45 72 Olf
lb 71 79t
- v o —
<+7
Sunday April jUth 102U
John Gj Verse J1 to 3b CM-. Verse 1 to 50 in Greek. Greek
Exercises - ending S30 Cz. I have not proceeded any further
in the grammar, thinking it better to go back and perfect
myself in the barytorae verbs.
Continued 7th book Burnett's Own Times.
Greater part of M°.fchus's new book "On the Principles of
Political Economy, considered with a view to their practical
application".
I am disappointed in this work. It consists of little more than a reply
to the reasonings of Mr Ricardo; for the most part wearisome, as
containing little or no new matter and I think not very successful.
This week I nave copied fair the accounts of the Savings Bank for
Last year.
Footnote -
1. Published 1020.
Rev. T. R. Maithus (1766-1030;.
He had previously pub. -
"Essay on the Principle of Population as it Alfects the Future
Improvement of Society" 1790; a second, and greatly improved
edition of this work pub. 1003.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, 1015.
Candidate for the City h-0.
To Lord Geo. Cavendish. M°-y 4-th. 1020
My Lord;
I have delayed to thank your Lordship for your very obliging
letter, thinking that I might find an opportunity of acknowledging it
in person; but you will now permit me to say that in common with my
friends here, I feel truly grateful for the interest which you are so
good as to express in the subject I have at heart. It would
undoubtedly be on all accounts most desirable that some gentleman
resident in the neighbourhood of Chichester should be selected as a
candidate for the City, but I am not aware that any such is to be
found, willing to undertake it, where political sentiments^are in
unison with our own. An application was made to £Jr PoyntB "at the
time of the late election, and to General Crosbie ' who both declined
entering on a contest. General Crosbie would probably be willing to
stand after the death of Mr. Thomas; but with every respect for his
character as a private gentleman, I believe we all of us feel that his
political views are too little founded on serious reflection to give
any confidence of their stability or consistency. I hear that Sir
G. Webster intimated at the dinner on Monday, something like an
intention of becoming a candidate for the city; an attempt which we
should ail greatly deprecate, for though we gave him the best support
in our power when the independence of the county appeared to be
attacked in his person, we are very far from thinking him an eligible
person for our representative. As it does not appear that Mi1. Huskisson
is likely to vacate his seat at present, the question does not
immediately press itself on our attention; but in the uncertainty of
events, it seems always desirable to be in some measure provided
against an emergency; and we feel this the more strongly from the
circumstances attendant on the late election, for had a candidate been
~~7 I —
at hand, no one doubts, I believe, that we should have succeeded in
dislodging Mr Huskisson from his station. Your Lordship will theretore
I hope pardon the trouble I have given you^on the subject. A
gentleman who is acquainted with Dr. Lushington
Footnotes-
1. William Stephen Poyntz of Cowdray Park.
2. Maj.-Gen. J. Gustavus Crosbie oi Watergate H°use; husband of
Frances daughter of George White Thomas M.P.lor Chichester
1704-1012.
3. George White Tnomas M.P. for Chichester 1704-1012.
4-. Stephen Lushington LL.D.
Mezzoianti
has suggested to me that he would be in every respect an eligible
member for us, and willing to undertake the contest. Your Lordship,
I believe, is acquainted with Dr• Lushington, and would be better
able than anyone else to give us advice on the subject. Again
requesting you will pardon me for presuming to intrude on your Lordship's
attention, which v/e can have no right to claim. I remain etc.
Sunday, May 7th 1020
John Cty v.51 to 54- and Chap. 5th in Greek
Greek Exercises S31 C2 to S5 C5 omitting the sentences
following,
Continued 7th Book Birnett's Own Times.
Bolingbroke's Letters p.279 Vol.1, to p.102 Vol.2.abstracted.
Finished Maithus on the Principles of Political Economy.
3rd 4th and 5th of Stewart's Philosophical Essays, abstracted.
Sunday, May 14th 1820
John Chap 6th in Greek
Greek Exercises Chap 6 to 13
Finished Burnett's Own Times
Coxe's Austria " Chap. 1 to 7.
Finished Bolingbroke's Letters ,,
Voltaire's Louis 14, to Chap 9.
Part of 1st Volume of Quarterly Review.
Joseph Woods came down last night to see - he told us of an extraordinary
man whom he saw at Bologne, who speaks 34 languages. He gave^after his
return to Mr Scott a letter of introduction to this Mezzofanti.
Mr Scott had with him a Mr House who had resided some years among the
North American Indians, and speaks several of their languages. He was
very much surprised to find that Mezzofanti understood them as well as
himself. They sat up all night talking of the subject.
Footnotes -
1. William Coxe (1747-1020) historian. Compiled memoirs of the
House of Austria 1007.
2. Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet dei Le Siecle de Louis XIV
2 vols. Berlin 1751- Nine editions listed up to and incl.1816,
another in 1847-
•-7-2L3-
Mezzoi'anti, Giuseppe Gaspare, Cardinal (i774~1849).
b. Bologna, son of a carpenter. 1797 prof, of Arabic,
Bologna University. I83I went to Rome where, having
attracted the attention of Pope Gregory XVI, he was made
a Cardinal 1830. He spoke some fiity-eight languages.
See lives by G.W. Russell 10>\$ and A. Bellesheim, IO9O.
Reign of Louis 14
Sunday, May 21st 1820
John Chap.7. Verse 1 to 27 in (keek.
Greek Exercises Cnap.14.
Coxe's Austria Cnap 8.
Voltaire's Louis 14 Cnap 10
Part of 1st Vol. Quarterly Review
and in 13th Vol. Edinburgh Review, art. on Sanskrit and
on dims.
Joseph Woods left us on Friday. On Monday I rode with him to Amberley
Wild Brook, to botanize, but found very little. On Tips, we walked to
Rank's Hill and the Valdoe, Wednesday rode to Pagham. ' Thursday
being vgry rainy we did not go out except to call on Dr. and Mrs.
Sanders On Tuesday evening Dr. and Mrs. S. and J. Freeland drank
tea with us.
Sunday, May 28th
John Chap 7. verses 28 to 53, and Chap.8 in Greek.
Greek Exercises Chap. 15 to 20.
Coxe's Austria, Chap. 9 to 17.
Voltaire's Louis 14. Chap. 11 to 21.
Many interesting and important questions suggest themselves on a review
of the events of Louis l4th's reign. Why did FTance become so
exhausted towards the end of the war which was terminated by the peace
of Utrecht. While England, during the same space of time, making
equally great exertions, seems to have improved in Credit and resources?
Several thoughts have occurred to me on this head. First it is to be
observed that the reverses of France were of two kinds, quite distinct
and separable, viz., financial and military. Louis still maintained
armies to the last equal in number to those of the allies, though with
great difficulty. But instead of beating
Footnobes-
1. Perhaps to see James Hack, one of the principal land proprietors
of Fagham. One of the most fertile parishes in the south of
England. John Barton also otmed a farm there.
2. Dr. Thomas SANDER (1751-1840) of South pallant, Chichester,
joint founder Chichester Infirmary (later R. West Sussex
Hospital).
Causes of the Decline of Louis 14th's Power
with inferior numbers, as at the beginning of the war, they were beaten
even when superior in numbers. This then was a reverse purely"
military, and forms a distinct subject for consideration, apart from
the pecuniary distress suffered by France. Now I apprehend the
51.
superiority of the French at the beginning of the war might arise in
part from Louis having kept on foot a large standing army in time of
peace, so that he had soldiers reactymade for action, vihereas the
allies had an army to form. The Duke of Marlborough told Lord
Bolingbroke, before he went to take the command on the continent in
1702, that "The French misreckoned very much if they made the same
comparison between their troops and those of their enemies, as they
had made in precedent wars. Those that had been opposed to them, in
the last, were raw for the most part when it began, the British
particularly; but they had been disciplined by their defeats. They
were grown to be veteran at the peace of Pyrenie, and though many lu'ni
been disbanded, yet they had been disbanded lately; so that even these
were easily formed anew, and the spirit that had been raised
continued in a.ll". See tfolingoroke's JUutters on History Vol.2 p.j?u.
Thus towards the close of the war the French Lost this source oi
superiority, and another cause perhaps contributed to depress them:-
the many changes that tooK place 111 the Command ui uneir armies.
Luuis 14 was indeed less guilty 01 lavouritisin than most .absolute
pi'inces; out in some instances he seems to have listened to his
personal inclinations in enoosmg nis coiiuuanuers, uo uiie u^viimenu of
his ailairs. '1'nus when Uoncie retired in Ib'fo he wished his son to
continue in oommanu, and oiiereu to assist him with m s uuviue; uuu
iiouis ^says Vuitaiity "ne voulait pour Generaux ni ue jeunes gens, ni
de princes, c'etait avec quelque peine qu'il setait servi meme du
Prince de Conde" - p.l7U. Again in 170J. Viliars, who seems to have
been an able Commander, with manners unsuited to a court, after a very
successful campaign in Germany, wearied out with "les petits intrigues
d'une cours orageuse et interesse des irresolutions de 1'eLecteur (of
Bavaria) et plus encore^dg^l^ttres du ministre d'etat Chamillart, plein
_de prevention_£ontre_Jui 'lj_demat^i^Ms_r^trec^t. This
+ P-^5
Decline of Louis lath's power. Cauvln •
request was granted; and he was sent against the resurgents in the
Cevennes, where his talents were useless; while in the meantime
Marshall Vi.Lleroi, whose principal merit appears to have been his
personal favour with the king, (p.27ti) was sent to command the troops
in Flanders, where he lost sight of Marlborough who marches to the
Danube and gained the battle of Blenheim and the same Villeroi in 1706
lost the battle of Ramillies. Even setting aside the question of the
superior merit of Conde' and Villars over their successors; the mere
circumstance of change must prove unfavourable to our army, because
it is long before a general can become thoroughly acquainted with the
several characters and abilities of those under his command; and even
of those opposed to him.
With regard to the question of finance. I have not thought
of any better reason for the poverty of France than the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes; and I leave the consideration of this subject
till I have read the second volume of Voltaire's where this subject is
treated of.
To Revd. A. Ooins May JO 1020
Dear Sir,
I believe I need scarcely apologise for troubling you on any
thing which relates to the means of improving the moral and intellectual
conditions of the poor; and particularly thos^of Nice, in whose Welfare
you have taken so deep an interest. I therefore do not scruple to send
you the inclosed letter, which I have received this morning from our
good young Abb§. I scarcely know whether you will on the whole be most
pleased or vexed with the information it contains. Not having heard the
other side of the question, I do not venture to pronounce any condemnation
on the Aobe de Cassole; but if Cauvin's account is to be relied
on, the grounds of their dissention are such as cannot fail to interest
- 7 4"
Englishman and a Protestant in his favour. I am sure
CauviQ
you will agree with me that if on inquiry, Cauviu should be found to
have conducted himself properly, he deserves not to be forgotten; and
that we ought not to leave him without support. His zeal and talents
too, if well directed, seem capable of effecting great things. It has
struck me that he might perhaps be more usefully employed elsewhere
than in the narrow field of Nice, where his exertions are thwarted by
the Abbe de Cassole. I hope that the seed is now sown there too
effectually to be now eradicated by neglect or mismanagement. But so
little acquainted as I am with what is doing in other parts of Italy,
I do not know whether this suggestion may be feasible or not. Perhaps
an application to the Committee of the Borough Road School might
be the means of ascertaining in what direction the Abbe's services might
be most useful.
Will you favour me with your sentiments on the subject. I will
in the meantime defer replying to this letter, and will gladly communicate
with the members of the Committee before . mentioned, or take any
other step you may think most advisable.
Not knowing how to address you direct, I have taken the liberty
of sending this to Mr Inglis, and requesting him to forward it.
Sunday June 4th 1320
John Chap 9 and Verse 1 to 2ti of Chap 10 in Greek
Greek Exercises Chap 21 to c'j>
Loxe's Austria Chap !„'_> to 20
Voltaire's Louis J.':. uhup 22 to 29
quarterly Review Ho. 45.
Hume's Essays Vol.1. Part 2, Essay 11 to 16
Perfect System of Representation
It is curious enough to observe that Homer, in his idea of a
perfect Commonwealth, recommends a form of election exceedingly similar
to that afterwards adopted by the constituent assembly of France, and
so much decried by Burke. Laying aside the question of practicability,
(and I think Homer does not profess that his scheme is intended ever to
be carried into execution) I conceive that a much more perfect design
for a legislative body might be devised than that which he suggests.
The problem is, to determine in what manner the .greatest quantity of
talent and virtue may be secured in the administration of public
affairs. Suppose then that every individual in the Community, whatever
be his rank or station, deliver in a list of all the persons within
his sphere of acquaintance, divided into classes according to the
several degrees of talent and responsibility which he supposes them to
possess. Let all these lists be brought together and collated, and from
the whole lot a new list be drawn out, in which numbers are affixed to
the name of every citizen, expressive of the average estimation in which
he is held by his compatriots. Then let the operation be repeated, with
only this difference, that each individual now possesses as many votes as
are equal to the number affixed to his name in the preceding list. Let
a new average be afterwards struck of the whole; the result of which
will evidently be still to raise the more respectable and better informed
to a greater elevation above the rest. Now let every public measure be
submitted to the nation at large, no one being wholly excluded from
voting, but each having as many votes as are expressed by the number
attached to his name, in the general list last drawn out. This I conceive
to be that beau ideal of a legislature, and the more nearly any
particular scheme may approach to it in practice, the more perfect it is.
54.
Each citizen enjoys a voice in the administration of public affairs
in the duplicate ratio of the estimation in which his talents and
character are held by his neighbours.
Ibscoe's Discourse. Topography of Genius 55*
Sunday 11th June 1820
John Chap 10 Verse 29 to 42 and Chap 11 in Greek.
Greek Exercises Chap 26 to 32
Coxe's Austria Chap 21 to 30
Voltaire's Louis 14 Chap 30th to 39th and last.
Roscoe's Discourse on the Progress of Science & Literature
Roscoe's discourse appeared to me feeble, and less interesting than
the subject deserved. It professes to be an enquiry into the causes
which promote or retard the improvement of the mind. He begins with
the physical causes,such as climate; and concludes that they have
little influence. The importance of these causes has certainly been
overrated. . (See Esprit des Loix , for instance) but I do not
wonder at the anxiety shown by philosophers to trace effects to a
physical source; because to trace moral phenomena to moral causes
appears like placing the elephant on the tortoise. We are still as
much at a loss as ever to ascertain the cause of the cause. Thus suppose
we find that refinement of taste is a consequence of political liberty;
then what is the cause of political liberty? Certainly it depends very
greatly on the character and manners of the people. What then are the
causes to which their character and these manners are to be traced?
There we are as much at sea as ever. But if we could trace them to any
peculiarity in the climate or the soil it affords a resting place from
which to set out.
It would be most prudent, perhaps, in the present imperfect state
of moral and political science, if philosophers were to confine their
attention principally to collecting, recording, and comparing facts,
indulging sparingly in speculations about causes. For instance, within
whatlatitudes have the most brilliant displays of human genius been
confined. Nothing very striking has ever been produced (so far as I am
aware) North of Scotland and Germany
Footnotes -
L. Roscoe Wm. (1753~l03l) of whose correspondence with John's father
we have read in Part I of this book. "He gave valuable assistance
in the establishment of the Royal Institution of Liverpool, and on
its opening delivered an inaugural address on the origin and
vicissitudes of literature, science, and art, and their influence
on the present state of society".
Topography of Genius
say latitude 55° or £7° • In modern times, nothing excellent has been
produced south of 40 , I believe. But in early ages, Egypt, Arabia and
India were the fountains of science. Here, however, a question arises,
were not those countries much colder than at present. I suspect they
were. See many striking proofsoof this collected in article, Climate.
Rees Cyclopaedia and in Hume's Essay on the Populousness of Ancient
Nations. Perhaps it would be going too far to assert that the Climate
of India, three thousand years ago, was no warmer than that of England
at present, tut it appears certain that the temperature was very inferior
of the Southern climate then to what it is at this day.
- 7C
56-
It is wonderful to observe within how very small a compass of
territory a 11 the learning and refinement of the world has been confined
from the earliest times to the present-day. If a line be drawn from the
Straits of Gibraltar to Gape Comorin, and another from Edinburgh to
Calcutta, the intermediate space will include almost all the countries
which have ever been distinguished for high civilization; India, Persia ,
Arabia, Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Syria and the Holy Land;
Carthage, Spain, Prance, Germany and England. This space comprehends
only about 20 degrees of latitude, and ninety of longitude, and is not,
therefore, if I calculate right, equal to l/26th part of the surface of
the globe. Within these limits the progress of civilization seems to
have been pretty uniform East South East to West North West, excepting
during the period of the middlesages, when it made a retrograde movement
from Rome and Greece to Bagdat. Let us now see whether we can
trace the rate of its progress. Beginning with Athens; (earlier
history being too uncertain to depend on) we may take the time of its
greatest splendour about the time of Socrates 400 B.C.; that of Rome
about the time of Cicero, 60 B.C. L2° of long 6 in 340 years = 26 years
to a degree. r'rom the time of Cicero
Variations in the Topography of Genius 57.
to the accessign of the Abbassides to the throne of Bagdat in 750;
810 years - 32 of longitude = 25 years to a dggree. From 750 to the
time of the Medici, say 1500; = 750 years, 32 of longitude = 23f years
to a degree. And from 1500 to 1800, civilization travelled from Italy
to England; 12 of longitude in 300 years = 25 years to a degree. All
this agrees remarkably well; for I have set down the results just as
they turned up, without any previous calculation to make them fit. The
arts and sciences appear to travel about 3 miles a year, observe too
that there are several remarkable points of agreement in the intermediate
periods, e.g., after the foundation of the Roman Empire civilization
began to decay first in the West, it retreated gradually from Rome, to
Constantinople and Alexandria, before it reached Bagdat.
A curious question arises; what will be the future course of the
tide of civilization? Has it reached that extreme point of its western
oscillation, and begun to return towards the continent of Europ<=, or, is
it in progress across the Atlantic? Mrs. Barbauld, in her .1811 ,' takes
it for granted that the sciences are on the wing for An erica. But she
falls into a, great mistake in supposing that they will arrive at the
United States, for their course is not due West, but West North West, so
that they will land on the shores of Labrador and Hudson's Bay. What
will become of the world during their voyage? Shall we be enveloped in
thick darkness the whole of that time?
Who knows but the changes are connected with the variation of the
magnetic needle, of which the course has been, for two centuries past,
from east to West? Should this conjecture be well founded, civilization
is certainly retrograding, for the compass has changed its declination,
I oelieve, for some years. Genius perhaps is only a species of Animal
Magnetism.
It is to be observed that these observatiofos apply to the topography
of refined taste and original talent alone. The useful arts may
and sometimes do make advances while those nobler and more spiritual
faculties appear to be stationary. This seems to
Footnote -
1. Ann Laetitia Barauld "Eighteen Hundred and Eleven" - a poem.
J. Johnson, London 1812.
B. Constant's Works 38.
have been the case in Europe during the middle ages. Many of our
modern improvements in the arts (clock making for instance) may be traced
back to that period. This I think has never been properlj noticed by the
writers who treat of those times. It was not in the mechanical arts,
- 7 7 -
5-3.
"but in genius, sentiment, taste, and feeling that our Gothic Ancestors were
deficient. ^ Charlemagne, T suspect, t;as better lodged and clothed than
Pisistratus,"perhaps better than Augustus.
June 14th 1320. As I go to London tomorrow, I set down what I have done since
Sunday.
John Chap. 12 Verso 1 to jjO in Greek
Greek Exercises Chap 73 to 35
Coxe's Austria Chap 31 and jP.
B. Constant's Keflex ions sur les Constitutions ct les
Garan ties"' Chap 1 to 6, his Eloge de Sir Samuel Rom illy"''
and his Essai sur la Liberte des Anciens Uomparee a celle
de llodernes.
This last is very powerful, eloquent and just. The"Reflexions" I find rather
heavy. There is something .intrinsically uninteresting, I think, in abstract
dissertations on different forms of constitutions, the date of the problems
to be considered are so uncertain and our knowledge is so limited, that the
extreme vagueness and unsatisfactoriness of the reasoning becomes wearisome.
Where a new Constitution is to be established, as in France, such discussions
seem necessary, but there
Footnotes-
1. Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens (540-523 B.C.) Athenian manufacturers
and Commerce flourished as never before under his rule. He
laid the foundations for the later greatness of Athens.
2. Constant de Rebeque, Benjamin Henri: "Reflexions sur Los constitutions,
la distribution des pouvoirs, et les garnnties, dans une monarchic
cons titu tionnelle". Paris, 1314.
Constant do Rebeque, Henri Benjamin, (I767-I830) Author and politician.
French Hugcnot ancestry. b. Lausanne. Ed. Oxford, Erlangen and
Edinburgh. 1795 settled in Paris as a publicist. Entered Tribunate
1-7991 and banished from France 1302 for denouncing despotic acts of
Hapoleon. After travelling in Germany and Italy with Madame de Stae*L,
settled Gottingen. 1314 on Napoleon's fall returned to Paris.
Returned to Chamber of Deputies 1319, becoming leader of the liberal
Opposition.
3. Sir Samuel Romilly. (1757-1813). B. Constant's "Eloge" probably
pub. 13.13 or 1819. Romilly was a law reformer; barrister. Exposed
several anomalies of criminal law in anonymous "Observations on
Thoughts on Executive Justice" (by Martin Madan)" 1736; K.C. 1300.
Knighted 1306. M.P. 1306-1313. Pub. "Observations on Criminal Law
of England." 1310. Favoured emancipation of RCs and abolition of
Slavery. Committed suicide on death of wife. His memoirs appeared
posthumously.
.59
Bad Taste of Constitution Mongers
appears to be an extreme bad taste in unnecessarily agitating them. A
sound intellect requires some more substantial food, some more complete
and accurate evidence on which to form its decisions, than it is possible
to obtain on these subjects.
For the purpose, as it would seem, of avoiding the inextricable
perplexity arising from the various passions, prqpdices and fancies of
mankind, all of which enter as elements into political movements, most
of the manufacturers of constitutions have taken the liberty of assuming
that direct personal interest is the sole moving force of all human
societies. Now in the first place nothing can be more false, and in the
second place, were it true, it would nullify almost every conclusion
drawn by those reasoners themselves. Individual interest, no doubt,
enters as a very important ingredient into the motives which actuate
men's conduct, but it is not the sole, probably not the most important
of those ingredients, so far as their political deportment is concerned.
Without referring to such extraordinary cases of disinterested patriotism
as that which induced the Spartans to devote themselves at Thermopylae,
look at the inflexible firmness with which men commonly adhere to
their religious belief; not only to loss of those advantages which they
might often gain by simply avowing their conversion, but even in defiance
of ruin, imprisonment, exile and death. Call this what you will;
principle or prejudice; taste or habit; it is something quite distinct
from an interested motive, and capable of overcoming those motives when
brought into competition with them.
With regard to the great bulk of mankind, whose virtue is but weak
and imperfect, selfish considerations will always perhaps be found the
most powerfully operating motive in their private concerns; but not
always in their public conduct, and the reason is because selfishness
excluding sympathy, the selfish passions do not admit of being blown up
to enthusiasm by communication from mind to mind; they are always cold,
calculating, and reserved. When a number of persons are brought together
and
Personal Advantage not tsc only motive which 60.
influences men's political conduct
strongly excited by some common cause, they easily forget their individual
interests in the warmth of their feelings. Hence the policy of kings to
prevent the meeting of large bodies of the people. Dealing with them
individually,, power has always an advantage, because it can address
itself to their individual interests, which, after the effervescence of
sympathy has subsided, resume their wonted superiority.
Secondly, were it true, as assumed, that personal advantage is the
sole motive of our actions; it would inevitably follow, I think, that all
Political Liberty is utterly impracticable. For the supreme executive
authority must always be entrusted with a certain portion of power and
influence; generally with a very considerable position!- and this power
and influence will always suffice to buy a majority of suffrages, unless
counteracted by passion, by virtuous principle, or in short by something
other than personal interest. True if the public funds are wasted, or
lavished, every man is a sufferer. But if he raise his single voice
against this waste or maladministration, he may reasonably calculate on
losing his share of the gain, without hoping that he alone could in any
degree succeed in checking the torrent of corruption.
The great error of the manufacturers of Constitutions seems to be
in supposing that the difficulty of constructing a good government lies
in the discovering its abstract principles, whereas the true difficulty
lies, I apprehend, in determining the preliminary data. Given the habits,
circumstances and character of the people, it requires no great skill or
labour to provide them with an appropriate constitution.
61.
Visit to London
Sunday June 25th 1820
John Chap 12 Verse 31 to 50 in Greek
Esop's Fables No. 1 to 5 in Collectanea Minora D
66th Number of ^>1 in burgh Review
Parks's Travel^
The Monastery
June 15th. Too,late for the London coach in the morning. Set off on
horseback after an early dinner. Slept at Godalmin. Reached Clapham next
morning by 11.
2. 16th. Attended a meeting of the Exrs. at Smith & Rickards's
17th. At Clapham. Posted Exrs. half yearly accounts. Called at
Mr Inglis's.
I9U1. Exhibition at Somerset House. Portraits at British Gallery.
Glover's paintings.
Monday. Drank tea at G. Long's chambers with J.J.
18th. Sunday. Rode over to breakfast at Stamford Hill. Threw my horse
down. Had it turned out at M &J Phillip's at Tottenham. After meeting
walked up to the high cross with R. Barclay and R. Forster - and had some
talk about the Abbe Couvin..
21st. Called with H.J. on Dr. Lushington, who agrees to stand in the event
of a general election. To Ca.rshalton House in the evening.
20th. Meeting of Exrs. at Clapham.
22nd. Walked over from Carshalton to Esher to meet the stage, set off a
few minutes after six, arrived at Esher about a quarter before 10. Just
in time.
General Harrison gave me a copy of his pamphlet on Saml. Southall's will.
Arranged with J.J. to take a trip to Paris next .month with him..and.S. Sharp.
Dr. Sanden gave me a little book with three letters sent by him to the
Theological Repository reprinted.
Footnotes -
Park, Mungo (1771-1835?)
Studied medicine; assistant-surgeon to an East Indiaman on voyage to
Bencoolan. The African Association, founded 1778 for promoting
discovery in interior of Africa. Set sail 1795 f arriving at
Jillifree next month, on the banks of the Gambia. Found the river
Niger. Captured by the Moors. Arrived back in England late 1797
when all hope of him had been abandoned. pub. his travels 1799•
Accepting a second offer of African Association arrived at Goree on
28th March 1805. But on this expedition "misfortunes had thickened
around him". Having built a boat at Somsanding to sail down the
Niger, but his party were soon attacked by the natives and Park and.
Lieut. Martyn were drowned. The. letters and journals of Park had
-
.61
been sent to Gambia prior to embarkation, from which a narrative
of his journey was pub. 1815•
2. The Monastery.
One of Walter Scott's tiaverley Novels, pub. 1320.
3. Smith & Rickards, solicitors, practised at 83 Basinghall Street,
London E.G. from 1310-1825. They moved then to 4 Basinghall
Street and later became known as Janson, Pearson & Co., now
Jansons of 6/ti Portman Street, W.l.
Depth of Lakes 62.
See some very admirable remarks on the style of Robertson and Gibboj,
in the 2nd Vol. of the Si inburgh Review. Art. Stewart's Life of R.
p.244, 245.
Sunday. 2nd July 1320
Esop's Fables No. 6 to 15 in Greek.
Greek, Exercises Chap 36 to 41.
Emma
Some of the Articles in the 2nd Vol. of the Edinburgh
Review.
Part of Ben Constant's historical account of the
proceeding of the French Chambers.
Dr. Clark's Travels'*' Vol. Chap 1 to 4.
The great depth of lakes in different parts of the world appears worthy
of remark. The Commissioners for the Caledonian Canal, in their
Seventeenth Report, May 1320, say that "the Bottom of Loch Ness, which
near Urquhart^is almost 130 fathoms deep, is 70 ft. deeper than any
part of the Moray Firth, and 40 fathoms deeper than any part of the
North Sea between Inverness and Jutland". See page 5"
Dr. CLarke, in the 51b Vol. of his Travels, p.114 says, "A
singular circumstance is related of the Wetter Lake"(in Sweden)"by an
author whose accuracy has not been disputed, namely, that its depth, in
some places, exceeds 300 fathoms, although the depth of the Baltic Sea
never exceeds 50." The authority given is "An Account of Sweden as
it was in the year I68ti - London 1733". The Swiss La^es and those of
Luxembourg appear to be all very deep. In Saussure's 'Voyage dans les
Alpes" and Rees Cyclopoedia, article Lakes.
"At some distance from the shore" (of the Caspian) "We in vain
endeavoured to find a bottom with a line of 450 fathoms". Hanway's
: Travels-5' Vol. 1. p. 103, London quarto 1762.
Footnotes -
1. Account of the life and writings of William Robertson, D.D., F.R.S.E.,
late Principal of the University of Edinburgh. By Professor Dugald
Stewart. London 1801.
Edinburgh Rpview, April 1803 p.229-249.
2. Emma, by Jane Austen (I775-I8I7) pub. 1816.
Jane Austen had asked leave of the Prince Regent to dedicate this
novel to him, and he stated that she might dedicate any number of
her novels to him - he was very fond of her novels.
02.
This book, as had been the case with Pride and Prejudice,
Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park, did not bear the
name of the author when published.
(htimund Blunden - in his introduction
to the edition printed
by Aval on Press, London I9'l4. )
3. Dr. 15. D. Clarke (1769-1822). 1st professor of mineralogy
Camb. University. 1799 journey with Maithus among the
northern nations - 31 years - S. of Russia, part of Asia,
Turkey, Egypt, Palestine. 1st Volume of Travels pub.1810,
2nd vol.1812. Three other vols. pub. before I8I9.
4. Saussure, Horace Benedict de (1740-1799) professor of
physiques in Geneva I762-I786. Traversed the Alps in
nearly all directions. Wrote "Voyages dans les ALpes"
(1779-96).
5. Hanway, Jonas.
An historical account of the British Trade over the Caspian
Sea; with a Journal of Travels from London tlirough Russia
into Persia, and back again through Russia, Germany and
Holland. 4 Vol.
Mr Dodsley etc. London 1753.
Alexander von Humboldt wrote on the difference of level
between the Black Sea and the Caspian in the Geographical
Society's Journal VIII in I838.
Paris 63.
Monday. August 7th 1820
Just returned from a month's excursion to Paris. I am desirous
to record^ the result of my observations and reflections. J. Janson and
S. Sharp came down by the Portsmouth mail on Thursday, July 6th, and
reached us to breakfast at Chichester the next morning. Spent Friday
at Chichester, to Brighton on Saturday morning, learned that no packet
would sail that nights under the pretence that the wind was unfavourable;
in reality, because there were no passengers but ourselves.
Alter some negotiation, the captain of the packet (a schooner) offered
to take us for 16 guineas, double the ordinary fare; which he assured
us would no more than pay his port dues. With this proposal we thought
it best to comply. We went on board at about eight in the evening,
wind light, but fair, scarcely obtained a sight of Beachy Head before
dusk. Next morning we rose before five o'clock, the English coast still
visible, but before breakfast, having a tolerable breeze, we lost sight
of our own hills and came in view of those of Normandy. From an effect
of the mirage, the French coast bore the appearance of a row of trees,
showing the light between their trunks; as we approached nearer, we
were undeceived and found the whole an optical deception. About one
o'clock we landed at Dieppe, pleased to recognise the sights and sounds
to which we had been accustomed three years before. The costume of the
Norman woman is by no means unpleasing, and it appeared to advantage today,
being Sunday. I expressed my admiration of it to our landlord's daughter,
a pretty girl, dressed a la Parisienne. She laughed with a mixture of
complacency aid disdain, as if she thought I could scarcely be in earnest
in my opinion. I enquired of our landlord himself what degree of
interest the people at Dieppe take in political affairs. He told me
they are very unwilling to be looked upon as politicians, and even avoid
taking in a newspaper on that account, thou gin they are glad to get a peep
at one by the way. Generally speaking, we found the utmost apathy
Footnote- 1. Probably Samuel Sharp, 5 Essex Court, Temple - the Law List 1820.
prevailing with regard to all public affairs, in the provinces. After
dinner we went to the church. in one of the side chapels a priest was
delivering so n2 sxhortitions to n set of oivir.it/ girls, under the care
of some rsli'd-ousas which was followed by singing a hymn :ui very
pleasing style, Jo afterwards ascended the tower, to see the surrounding
country from its top. Jar conductor told us the church was built
by the Eiglish, when they had possession of Normandy, but he seemed to
suppose that we, not the Normans, were the conquerors, whether from
ignorance, or from a little desire to Hatter our national vanity, we
3>111 not quit3 ascertain, i'h > same notion se?ms to be very general in
that province. Our inn was the Hotel de 1'Europe, good and. reasonable.
1 engaged a. caleche to convey us to Parisfor 120 francs. These particulars
I record, thinking they may prove useful to any of.' n./ Friend;}
going the sane ro.vta.
lioiilay, July 10th. He left Dieppe for Rouen. Country interesting,
varied with wood and hill. Valley of the Seine, on approaching Rouen
very beautiful. Rouen itself the most thriving, bustling place I have
seen in France. tjuays extensive, and loaded with goods. Cathedral
very striking, the front the most magnificent specim?n of Gothic
architecture I have yet seen; rich and gigantic, the central spire is
of wool, and by no mean-s in good taste, but its general proportions are
strikingLy flue, 30 that it looks very beautiful fron a Untanoe. 'Die
.uxt morning, before breakfast, we mounted a Mil which commands a
fine view „r the town, and the rl/or, ,rith It", unjcxis i. dai' •.. Joma
siall remains exist of a bridge over the J<•ne, built by the Empress
Matilda. Visited the public "library. Hotel de Normandie - tolerable.
Tuesday. July 11th. Through a beautiful country, along the banks of
the river to Vernon. Inn C'a.il Cerf - a rustic auberge, but delightfully
situated. ,l*ie out a bill for 60 francs, but took 40 without
hesitation. 3. L2th. to S '•. G?rmains. Cw itry increasingly fine,
the sides of the hills beautifully var:'el with vines and. corn. Jo thing
can be rieher a.il ".ore picturesque. The aqueduct of Versailles, on a
hill before us, formed a striking object. Prospect from the terrace at
St.. tiermains magnificent. Plain covered with :-roods an I village",
intersected, by Y.u finttigs of the 6"!nv. In the distance the
cathedral of St. Denis.and Paris hid by some rising ground. Saw the
chateau. Built of red brick, surrounded with a moat, very large and
very ugly. The room was pointed out to us in which James 2nd died.
Inn, Prince de Galles, middling. Thursday, July 13 to Paris.
Magnificent approach by the Barrier de Neuilly. Spent two hours in
choosing a hotel. Fixed at last at the Hotel de la Holland, 47 Rue
Richelieu - at the rate of 250 fr per quinzaine, on the first floorfor
apartments considerably smaller, in the Rue de la Paix, and its
immediate! vicinity, but furnished in somewhat more modern style; we
were asked 280 to 300 fr. on the 1st floor, and 200 fr. on the third.
Engaged a valet de Place at 5 fr per day - a carriage and horses
at 2o fr. per day, exclusive of 30 sous per day to the coachman. These
memoranda may prove useful on a future occasion. An observation made
here affords a curious exemplification of the difference existing, in
some respects, between French taste and English, une of our windows,
at the back of the hotel, looked against the side of a house, which
was plastered, and appeared at first sight considerably dilapidated,
the bricks showing through in large patches. On close examination,
however, we discovered that the plastering was perfectly whole, but
painted so as to resemble a decaying wall, and with such accuracy as
at first sight to deoeivo the observer.
I will not attempt any diary of our proceedings at Paris; but
merely state a few general impressions, made by what we saw and board
th. -i-e. . We saw Talma ' twice, in the Oedipe of Voltairo, and the
Brittaniens of Racine (as Nero). In both instances were disappointed,
but particularly in the first. He appeared to us venting in dignityt
an unpardonable defect 011 the French stage, where sentiment, and not
action, is the point on which the part relies. In Nero, I was afterwards
told, he had, on that very night, adopted a new and less agitated mode
of sustaining the part, it was perhaps on this account that we were less
54.
dissatisfied with him than before. We went one night to the opera
and saw Madame Bigotini in the Ballet of Ninon, which gave us unmixed
pleasure...Une night to the Vaudeville, this was our theatrical campaign.
The comparison of the numerous public buildings in Paris afforded
me an opportunity of improving my taste in architecture. I saw nothing
that appeared to me really fine, excepting the eastern facade of the
Louvrej the Pantheon, and the Pont des Invalides. The greater part of
the public buildings are disfigured by the flatness and want of relief
of their faces; the littleness of their parts; and the absence of that
majestic singleness of design which presents a whole at once to the eye.
This is particularly remarkable in the long facade of the Louvres and
Tuilleries fronting the river,
Footnote -
1. Francois Joseph Talma (1763-1826) French tragedian.
which appears like a row of houses rather than like a palace. The 66.
splendid effect of the interior of the Pantheon seemed to me to arise
partly from the columns being surmounted with a running frieze, instead
of supporting arches as in St. Paul's. We observed a depression in the
parts of the roof pressed by the weight of the dome, and learned afterwards
that great fears had been entertained for the safety of the
edifice soon after its erection, and that four solid piers of masonry
(which certainly detract something from the beauty of the interior)
were added to prevent the whole from falling in. The ceiling still
remains decorated with republican inscriptions. The Pont des Invalides
is quite horizontal, and exceeds in plainness even our Waterloo Bridge.
It has for instance a simple parapet instead of a balustrade, and I
think the effect is finer on that account. At the Institute, we saw
some very beautiful models in plaster of the buildings of antiquity,
among which that of the Parthenon appeared with conspicuous and
majestic simplicity.
The modern paintings at the Luxembourg afforded me very great
pleasure. I never remember to have seen any that I thought more
beautiful, particularly a figure of Endymion sleeping; Dido listening
to the story of Eneas; and Brutus commanding the execution of his sons.
The paintings in the Louvre did not delight me Komuch as they ought to
have done; with the exception of two or three of Claude's landscapes;
whose vast palaces, and dazzling waters, sleeping beneath the rich
splendour of the setting sun, present an image of solemn repose and
quietness inexpressibly striking. There are some beautiful landscapes
of Vernet,- "but none of them possess that charm of holy and deep
tranquillity which is so striking in Claude's. '
None of the sights of Paris, however, afforded mo so much delight
as the meeting with two men of great^celebrity, whom I had long wished
to see, Mr. Malthus^'and M. Humboldt * I took an early opportunity of
calling on M . Say5" (No. 92 Rue Fauxbourg St. Martin) with whom
Claude Lorraine. See: footnote to page 83.
3- Rev. T. R.. Malthus (1766-I836)
4. Alexander von Humboldt (I769-I859), the great scientist.
5- SAY, Jean Baptiste. Author of "Traite d'Economie Politique" and
see footnote to p.73.
Footnotes-
1. Vernet, A.C.H. (French School) (1758-I836)
2. CLAUDE GELLEE, (French School) (1600-82). Usually known as
far is Mr. Halthus
I had picked up an acquaintance when at Paris before, and he told me
that Mr. Malthus was in Paris, at the Hotel Vauban. Thither I
immediately went, found him from home, but left my card. The day
after, on returning from the Louvre, I found that Mr Malthus had done
the same. The morning following, resolved not to be disappointed, I
called immediately afterO^ur breakfast, and found he was still at
his, the valet however desired me to wait, and in a minute returned,
and desired me to walk in. I found Mrs M with three nice looking
children at the table, and after apologising for my intrusion, sat
down and chatted about various subjects till breakfast was done, when
the lady retired with the two girls; and I had some conversation with
Mr M. on subjects of Political Economy. We began by speaking of M.Say.
I remarked that he had not added much to our stock of knowledge by
original discovery; his principal merit consisted in the clear
exposition which he has given of ;he doctrines of Mam Smith, doctrines
not yet so thoroughly understood and recognised in France as they are
I'ith us. Mr. II. replied that Say has put forth some new principle, and
^a.s he conceived) a very erroneous one; viz. that demand is always
correlative with supply; so that a general glut of all commodities
can never exist. We then referred to Mr. M's own remarks on this
topic in his late publication, and I took the liberty of saying, that
admitting in great part the force of his reasoning, still I could not
help thinking him mistaken in supposing the cessation of the wa.r -
expenoiture capa.ble, in itself, of occasioning an excess in the supply
of goods over the demand; that I conceived the restoration of the
currency to its specie value to constitute the true cause of the
present depression of trade. He admitted thzvt this change in the
value of money must tend to aggravate the evil, but would not allow it
to form the exclusive cause.
J. and myself carried our letters of introduction from J. Woods
to Denon'and. Humboldt which we took an early opportunity of delivering.
M. Denon sent a very polite note, lamenting that being confined to his
bed by rheumatism, he was unable at present to receive us, and assuring
us that he would let us know if he should be well enough to see us
while we remained at Paris, which unfortunately was not the case.
Footnote -
1. Probably DENOH, Dominique Vivant, Baron - and artist and traveller
who wrote and illustrated books on Egypt, Sicily and Malta (among
others) c.1770-1030.
Paris Humboldt
M i Humboldt called while we were absent, and left his card. On receiving
which I vrrote him a note, expressing our great regret and disappointment,
our earnest wish to see him, and my wish to consult him on some
experiments which I had lately made relative to the radiation of heat,
at the same time inclosing him a copy of my Inquiry, of which I requested
his acceptance. The servant by whom I sent this note told me that I had
made a mistake in the address. I accordingly went next morning to
enquire whether it had been rightly delivered, without any thought of
seeing M. H., but while speaking to his valet, he himself came out and
asked me to walk in, and entered into conversation with such simplicity
and benevolent politeness as quite delighted me. His residence was
No. 26 Quai de l'Ecole, au quatrieme. He prefers this lofty situation,
I suppose, on account of the clearness of the airi for when I subsequently
called on him with J.J. he said, "You found it disagreeable, I am
afraid, to mount up so many stepsj- it is not very pleasant for persons
who have no astronomical observations to make". He spoke English very
fluently, though not always correctly. His room was set out with
philosophical instruments, and hung round with maps of India. He is now
engaged, as he told me, in learning the vernacular languages of India,
for the purpose of undertaking a tour in that country, he calculates on
being ready in a year, he wishes to penetrate as far as possible into
Tartary, but fears that in consequence of the present jealousy of the
54.
Chinese Government, he will be compelled to confine his researches to
British India. He confirmed a very remarkable observation which I
met with in the Quarterly Review, that all lakes which have no exit
are more or less salt, and mentioned the lakes of Mexico as an instance
in point. He told me that lie expected a young man to call in half an
hour ofmthe name of Lyon, who was just arrived from Fez, that he was
going to take him to the Royal Observatory, and would take me with him;
an offer which I most gladly accepted. This Mr. Lyon went as a
companion to Ritchie, whose observations and subsequent death are
related in one of the later numbers of the Quarterly Review. Lyon is 69.
not scientific, but intends to qualify himself, and return to Africa to
pursue the research. He was on his way to England. Two other young men
came with him to M. Humboldt's, and we walked together to the Observatory
, through the gardens of the Luxembourg. I was much pleased with
the sight of the instruments. Mr Humboldt says that Herschel's 'great
telescope is so useless that he is ashamed to show it to any scientific
man, though he exhibits it to his foreign dilettanti, and Italian
counts, who look on it as something very wonderful. That all his
discoveries have in fact been made with an instrument of far inferior
powers. That a magnifying power of 300 or 400 times is as great as can
be employed wi th practical advantage; the loss of clearness in higher
powers more than compensating the increase of magnitude. M. Humboldt
says that much Less importance is now attached tha.n formerly uo the
accuracy and solidity pf the bases 011 which Transit Instruments ar e
fixed, that it is found in practice no care can ensure the exact
permanence of the direction of the instrument 1 and it is thought better
to adjust them, previous to each observation, by means of some distant
object, than to rely on the original fixations. One of the instruments
in the observatory struck me as particularly curious. It was a magnetic
bar, carrying at each end a finely divided ivory scale, with a lens
fixed above it, for the purpose of marking the diurnal variations of the
compass.
While waiting at M\ Humboldt's lodgings for the arrival of Mr.
Lyon; I witnessed an instance of the insolence of our ambassador at
Paris which not a little moved my astonishment and indignation. Sir
Charles Stewart's footman came to say that his master would take it a
favour if Mi. Humboldt could procure some garden seeds for-'him, because
Mr Ross, his land steward in England, had written to beg for some seeds
from Paris, because he thought they ripened better in France than in
England. M. H. displayed the most exemplary and admirable politeness -
said he would most gladly occupy himself in Sir Charles's service, but
doubted whether the seeds from the Jardin des PLantes
Footnote -
1. Probably Sir William Herschel (1753-1822) born at Hanover; probably
later naturalised British. Exhibited his telescope to George III
and appointed court astronomer 1782. Knighted 1816. The Daily
Telegraph reported the death on 30 May I985 of Miss Caroline Herschel
at Bath, aged 78; great-great-grand-daughter of Sir William Herschel.
She always took a great interest in astronomy although she did not
practise; I949 elected Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Thanks tc .her and others, including Phillipa Savery and Patrick
Moore, William Herschel's house in Bath has been preserved and a
Herschel Museum established therein.
-S6-
54.
Paris - JSimboldi
wore particularly good, as they arc not very carefully procured.
"Did Sir C. wish for a collection of rare, or curious plants" - "No it
was only for his garden". "It would he better for him to apply to xxx";
mentioning someone who keeps collections of seeds for sale at Paris.
"Oh, Sir Charles has applied to him, and found lie sold hie seeds very
dear; but he thought H... Humboldt could help hin to. some". And this is
the way that our ambassadors conciliate the good w5.ll and esteem of
foreign nations in favour of the country which they represent?
On Sunday 23rd July - returning from an excursion to Versailles, we
found a note from M. Humboldt, proposing to take us the next day to a
sitting of the Academic des Sciences, at the Institute. We accordingly
called on Monday at about half past two, and lie walked over with us,
across the Pont des Arts, to the opposite quay, where the Institute
stands. He were placed in tliree chairs near the too of the room, in
such a conspicuous station as somewhat to oppress our modesty. Tho
sitting uas rather dull, it consisted chiefly in the reading of scientific
papers, which we very imperfectly understood. The most interesting
circumstance to me was the presentation of a map of part of New
Granada by M. Humboldt, engraved in a new and very improved plan, so as to
show the comparative height and declivity of the mountains on mere
inspection. This new method, he calls Nivellement par planches. I
forgot to mention that at my first visit to M.H. he gave me a copy of his
Essay "D-.j Ligncs Isothennes", extracted from the "Memoirs do la Societe
d'Arcuiel", and of his Essay "Sur la limite Infirieure des Neiges Perpetuelles
dans Ins Montagues d'Himalaya". He told me, at th" same time,
that Mr. Malthus had repeatedly called on him without finding him at home!
and that lie had sent him a note, requesting to know the rate of interest
in the Spanish Colonies of South America. That if I chanced to see Mr.
Malthus, I might inform him that the Legal rate of interest is fixed at
2 per ct,., that money is not however to be bo?Towed abundantly under
6 percent. I enquired of him respecting the comparative value of labour 77.
and provisions in those colonies. He referred me to the 9th Chap of
lu.s Erse.'. Politique sur la royaume dc la Nouvelle Espagne, p.395 of his
Quarto THition. A day's labour is there stated to be worth about 26 sous
of France in the cold districts and 32 sous in the warm. In France itself
he estimates that a day's labour exchanges for from 30 to fyO sous. In the
United States of America for 70-30 sous. In Bengal for 6 sous. With
regard to the comparative price of provisions, he states that wheat, in the
Spanish Colonies, sells for from 20 to 25 francs the charge of 150 kilogrammes,
which same quantity in France is worth 011 average, JO francs.
So that the recompense of labour, in South America, differs little from
what it is in France.
1 had. mentioned to M.H. my observations and my speculations relative
to the heat produced by the direct rays of the sun, on which, in the note
containing an invitation to the Seance of the Institute, he made the
following remarks ~
"Une grand boiabe do plon.b ne s'echauffe pas plus au solcil
qu'une petite; mais une petite s'echauffe plus dans le voisinage d'une
grande. T,e rayon vonant de deux corps separus est different de celui
qui hypothetiquement on peut supposer de molecule a molecule, dans un
m9me corps. Ce qui nrouve que ce rayon venant dans I'interieur des corps
ne le passe pas de memo, e'est que les corns, quel que soit leur surface,
emettent mo5.ns do rayons et de lumiere sous des angles tres retits, que
que sous les angles tres grands. Le soleil n'est pas plus lumineux suites
Lords que vers le centre. Si chaque molecule d'une sphere rayonnait
comme un corps isole, 1" contraire aurait lieu. Une suite d'experiences
de 11. Flangergue, sur les thcnnonietres exposes au soleil prouvent que les
resultants different du double selon 1'epaisseur du verre des bulles
qu'il contient la ou la tube entre, et surtout selon 1'ombre projette
par un tube plus ou moins epais, sur la sphere".
54.
In reply to this I rent, in a note which I wrote before leaving
Paris, to thank him for the tickets of admission to a sitting of the
Academic des Belles Lettres; the following reply (The reply is rather ?2.
to the arguments employed by M.H. in conversation, and in his Essay
on the Himalaya Mountains, than bo those in his note).
"I have considered with attention the remarks with which you
were so good as to favour me, respecting the radiation of heat: but
cannot yet satisfy myself on the subject. I cannot see how the cold
experienced by a person placed on the summit of a mountain, or in a
balloon, can arise from the rarefaction of the air; because, if the
heat of the sun's rays causes the air a.t the surface of the earth to
expand, and consequently to rise, the cold produced by its expansion
must again compel it to descend; or rather, the reduction of temperature
consequent on its rarefaction would prevent it from rising till
warmed so thoroughly as to compensate for the refrigerating effect of
its enlargement of both. I cannot perceive how the higher regions of
the air can be colder than those below; because if colder, they must
be heavier. Nor does it appear to me inconsistent with this observation
that a thermometer placed at jsl great elevation indicates a
severe degree of cold; because under such circumstances it is
continually radiating away heat in all directions, while it receives
very little from the earth in return. It still appears to me, with
great deference to one who is so peculiarly competent to form a judgment
on such a question, and so thoroughly conversant in all the
branches of natural science, that the principal source of the cold of
mountains is radiation. A point situated on a plain does not, I
apprehend, receive more heat from the sun than a point on the summit
of a mountain; but, supposing the apex of the mountain to form an
angle of 90 , it radiates into free space three fourths of the heat
it receives, while the other radiates away one half only. Now if both
receive alike, while one loses
half as much more heat than the
. x//- other, their permanent temper-
-X I / / atures will of course be very
^ X ^ dJi)ffffe rent4.- II
Before I left Paris, I called on M. Biot, ' to whom Humboldt 7'}.
gave me a letter of introduction. I had some discussion with him
relative to my speculations on the Radiation of heat. He entrusted
to me three copies of a memoir just published by him on the double ?
refraction and polarization of light,^to be conveyed to Sir H. Davy,
Professor Leslie, and Dr. Brewster.
I found fewer opportunities than I could have wished to estimate
the state of public feeling and-opinion .in France. I Learned however
a few curious facts from M. Say I inquired of him how it happened
that the Ultra Royalists, after carrying everything before them in the
Chambre Introuvable of 1015, lost ground so much in the succeeding
session. He replied that the king found himself so completely in their
hands as to be in effect deprived of power: and that he resolved to use
his influence for introducing a certain number of a moderate party in
order to balance them. That at the commencement of the present session,
finding the Liberals continually gain ground in every election, he began
to entertain fears of an opposite kind, and has again adopted the side
of the Ultras. That the present ministry is in fact conducted altogether
on ULtra principles. That the Due de Richelieu, nominal premier, has no
real power; the efficient head of the cabinet is Fasquier, the minister
for foreign affairs. The Liberals are however every day gaining fresh
hold on public opinion. Every one of the parties prevailing in France,
continued M.S., professes the strongest attachment to the Charter, and
not one of them entirely approves of it in their hearts.
One or two curious facts came within our own observation. A
subscription we saw advertised in a newspaper (the Courier Fran^ais) for
distributing copies of the Charter through the country. We observed a
proclamation affixed to the wall of Beauvais Cathedral, mentioning that
someone had been condemned to six months imprisonment, and a fine of
several hundred francs, for having sung in a public company". "Le pere
La violette reviendra". Another proclamation, on the gate of one of
the posthouses, contained simply an account of the assassination of
the Due du Berry, in very sentimental style. This sentimentality in
their official papers forms a marked line of distinction between France
and England.
Footenotes -
1. BiOT, Jean Bapstiste (1774-1862) physicist and astronomer.
1800 Professor of Physics at College de France. Made researches
on polarisation of light, and into ancient astronomy.
2. DAVY, Sir Humphrey (1778-1829) discovered sodium and. potassium.
Invented the miners' safety lamp.
3. LESLIE, Sir John (1766-I832); natural philosopher, studied at
St. Andrews and Edinburgh, invented a differential thermometer,
a hygrometer and a photometer; wrote "Inquiry into Hea.t" l304.
4. BREWSTER, Sir David (178I-I868); chiefly remembered for his work
in optics. From 1859 Principal of Edinburgh University.
Invented the kaleidoscope, I8l6.
5. SAY, Jean Baptiste (I767-I832); political economist; 1794-1800
edited "La. Decade" and in it expounded views of Adam Smith.
1803 his "Traite d'economie politique". 1812 studied England's
economics, then wrote "De l'Angleterr et des Anglais" (1816).
I83I Professor of economics at College de France. Great influence
on French economics of first half of 19th cent.
Paris to Calais
We left Paris on Sgturday 29th July, reached St. Denis to breakfast,
visited the tombs of the kings in the cathedral; which have been removed
thither from Rue des Petits Augustins at Paris. They are placed in a.
subterranean part under the East End of the Cathedral. The architecture
of this place is said to be of the sixth century, and the earliest
specimen of the kind extant. It resembles our Norman considerably. I
regretted that we had not more time to investigate it. From St. Denis
to Montmorenoi - beautiful country. House inhabited by J. J. Rousseau.
Went into the gardens of a cottage, where1 a ladder was brought for me
to gather cherries. Good simple people. To Chantilly to sleep. Remains
of the Chateau of the Prince de Conde". Hotel de Plaisance, beautifully
situated - good.
Sunday 30th July. To CLirmont and thence across to Beauvais. Attended
vespers at the Cathedral, very solemn and impressive. The deep tones of
the choir, answered by the whispering melody of the responses, produced
a peculiar effect in this vast and lofty edifice. Roof 150 feet (French)
high. The central part of the building only complete. No nave. Some
very curious tapestry, dated 1530, containing sundry strange geographical
and historical and chronological statements. I unfortunately lost the
book in which 1 copied the inscriptions. Lis de stance - good and mod.
31st July. To ;anions. Rather disappointed in the cathedral, which admits
too much light. The windows were said to have been formerly all of painted
glass. In that case the objection would be removed. But one of the Canons
said it was a pity such fine architecture should be hid; therefore lie
removed the stained glass and substitute1, white. Decidedly inferior in
magnificence to Rouen. Hotel <Ja..; /j-ibav.^adeurs - pretty good.
1st August. To tiontreuil. .-A Flixucourt, where we breakfasted, Mr. Sharp
found he had left his watch at Aniens, and went back to see!: for it.
Meanwhile, J.J. strolled out to see the village, and seek for political
facts. He met with a miller, with whom (after a little chat about wheat and
rye) we entered into some discussion. II" said he cared no more about Louis
13 than he did for anyone else. Complained of the weight of the taxes;
said he paid 230 francs per year for his mill and the little land attached
to it; in the time of Bonaparte he had paid 1000 fr for it at one time -
said the distribution of the imposition rondure is made by the Mayor of the
place. I asked whether they were not liable to suffer by his partiality.
Ho sail very much so. After a time ho seemed to grow restless and uneasy
as if he thought wc were spies, so we took our leave, and walked up to a
neighbouring chateau - Hontreuil ~ Hotel de France - good, and reasonable.
At A,liens there is not a good booksellers shop in the town.
2nd. An,-;ust Hontreuil to Calais. Dined at Boulogne, which is quite become
a gay place. Full of English visitors. Walked up to the pillar on a neighbouring
hill; which was intended as a trophy erected by the army to the
honour of Bonaparte - now finishing by the government. In returning, had
an excellent view of the town and harbour from the heights, and met with a
man who pointed cut to us the exact situation of Lord Nelson's attack on
the gunboats and the place where one of our bombs struck the roof of a house.
A wooden fort, created in front of the entrance of the harbour at that time,
bar since been taken down. At Calais, our companions left us the next
morning, we remained another day to complete out- arrangements. In the
evening walked out on the pier. Hie lighthouse has Ven completed since we
were there, two years ago, it is a revolving light ~ goes round in a minute and
a half. Hotel Dessin.
4th Aug. Embarked in the King George packet at nine o'clock, a blowing
passage to Dover of only three hours and a half. I was very sick.
Shakespeare Tavern, tty good.
5th Aug. To Ram.sgate, through Wald&rshare and Sandwich.
Radiation of Heat
August 10th 1320 I have been reading M. Humboldt's Essay on Isothermal
Lines, and that on the Himalaya mountains. One general fallacy rooms to
pervade his reasoning and indeed those of other writers on Temperature, vis.
he supposing that a thermometer suspended in the shade, is influenced solely
by the warmth of the atmospltore. I conceive that it is much more .influenced by
the radiation which it receives from the surrounding solid bodies. To try this
suspend a thermometer in a. large exhausted receiveri raise its temperature to a
certain point by a burning glass (say 300'). Then mark how long it takes to
cool to a given degree (say 100 ). 2nd Repeat the experiment in a closed
receiver; not exhausted. 3rd. In a receiver through which a current of fresh
air .is suffered to pa.s::, I suspect it will be found that the time of cooling
is not very essentially different in the three cases.
August 11th M. de Humboldt, assert;; that the laws which regulate the transmission
of heat from one atom to another in the same body, differ from those
which regulate its transmission from on" body to another; In short, that
the laws of conducted heat differ from those of radiated, heat. I have
a vague notion that the contrary may lie proved from Sir J. Merton's
observations respecting the times of cooling. He found that, the time
being taken in arithmetical progression, the quantities of heat lost will be
in geometrical progression. This is precisely what would happen, I conceive,
supposing the heated body to consist of separate atoms, reciprocally radiating
heat from one to the other. On any other supposition this law would not be
found to hold universally good with bodies of various sizes, and varying in
composition.
61.
SuMax jUi^usljLJtli
Humboldt dec. Linicr. Isothcrmes™' 0
Ditto Das Limites Tnforieurs deu fleiges Porpetucllcs'""
S5 '.gjwortli's Memoirs-''
Bride ,-of Abydos "
BepiO-" ^
•3-rtrude of Wyoming
Toot! l.Ototi-
1. Ml^ronr.nr, Frie-lrich Ileiiiricli Ale:.au-1<.r /ou Humboldt.
Des Lignes ioithormes uu do la distribution de la chalour
/
sur la gl.ob.-'. '.ruueil, Mem. do Phyr;. H T , 1117. PP'K;2~!j02;
Thomson. .'r.n. Phil. XI. 1310 n> 177-19'!-. (Royal Society Catalogue
of Scientific Papers lnOO-l36j (T,otidon 13<<9).
2. Des LLnitos dos M"igcs Porpetuelli;;:-. Sur la limits inferieure
des neiges perpetuelles dans les montagnes de 1 *Himalaya et
les regions equitorialeo (Ann.chim.phys. XIV, 1320. Kandworterbuch,
Dor Rrracten tfin»enr,chaften lesa-.vsolt von J. C. Poggendorff.
T.'-ip™i - V'.; ).
3. jtgouorth's ilomoiie
Maria Rlgeuorfch j") - "me of our best painters of national
'•-aimers, wlioje work utimulafcyd tin genius of Scott, and havo
delighted and instructed generations of realers, commenced her
career a:: an authoress-, about 1000. She was of a respectable Irish
family, long settled at 'JF.gowortl 1 town, County of Longford, and it was
on their property that Goldsmith was born. Her father, Richard
T,ox-el mgeworth (1744-1317), was himself a man attached to literaiy
pursuit;, and tool: great pleasure in exciting and directing the
talents of his daughter". Chambers Literature 1354.
Mr. ETgworth died in 13.17, and Maria then completed a me.ioir which he
had begun himself, which was nub. in 2 vols. 1320. Pub. Castle
Rackrent 1300.
"Mothers of the Hovel" >y i-'ale Spenler. rub. Pandora Press lo36; a
general critical int. oduction to a scries of paperbacl; reprints of
novels by women pub. in 13th and 19th Centuries, which have fallen into
neglect. Maria Edgeworth's "Belinda" is to appear this year.
"Maria Elgeworth, though as serious as George Elliot, is not as great.
But she is extremely good} and to have two of her novels "Belinda" and
"Patronage" among the reprints for this year is a wonderful bonus for
addictive novel-readers. And there are many more as well that promise
pleasure, and a Good Read". Mary Warnock, in Sunday Telegraph of
25 May lo36.
4. Pride of Abydos - poem by Byron; one of his best works. Pub. 1313.
- q i -
76.
1?03)
5- Boppo. A humourous poen by Byron pub. 1113i
written in Venice whore he went bo live
in la be 1316.
6. Gertrude of Wyoming. Poem by Thomas Campbell (1777-13'Vl)
First pub. 1309. 9 edns by 1323.
llams/jate French Population
Friday being a clear day, I looked carefully at the Jfrvnch coast
with the telescope to s^e whether I c<xtld discover Calais tower. I
observed, at some distance to th" east of Cape Blanc ilea, tliree objects
which I supposed to be the towers in question; but could not determine
on it with certainty till the evening after dark; when on looking
attentively at the same spot, T caught sight oT a small light which
almost instantaneously disappeared again, anl on observing my watch, I
found it reappeared at the end of every minute and a half in the same
place. The light was distinctly visible to the naked eye, and indeed
the towers were visible by day light to the naked eye, as I found after
having discovered them with the glass. They appeared considerably
taller than they really are; owing I suppose to an effect of the mirage.
In a pamphlet which I bought at Paris, entitled "Recherches sur les
Consommations de Paris" - are some facts which, as far as they go, serve
to confirm my notion that similar changes have taken place in the rate
of population at the same time in most European countries - viz.
Marriages Births Deaths Population Proportion of Births
to deaths
4,000 16,309 17,412 543,616 1000 to 1036
^ 1316 6,332 23,759 19,124 713,°66 1000 to 3o4
^ v.p.11.12.
1703-1713 Births to population 1 to 32.3 Deaths 1 to 30.6
1116 " " " 1 to 30.1 " 1 to 37.4
at page 16 however, the author gives the proportions, for the year 1316
at l/33rd and l/34th. The Connaire du Bureau des Longitudes gives for
the year 1313 Births 23,067, Deaths 22,421.. Marriages 6,616 - at p. 13
the author of the "R^cherches" states the average mortality for 10 years
ending 1317 at 21,000. This would give just 1 in 34 as the proportion
of deaths.
Population in France & Denmark •
The author's statements relative to the registers are however so
confused and apparently in some instances contradictory, that it is
difficult to draw from them any correct information. At page 13 he
gives the number of houses in Paris at different epochs
Houses Increase per cent
1552 12,coo; )
I 1.04
1563 14,000v
1 0.65
1637 20,400) ; 1 o.il
1766 23,500j
1 0.2
1320 26,000) 1
- 3 2
This statement, if to be depended en, proves a wonderful similarity between
the movements of the population in Paris and London. The result is indeed
precisely such as I should have anticipated from general reasoning.
There is also a statement in Catteau, Tableau des Flats Danies,
which shows that the increase of population of late years has been not
less remarkable in the Danish Dominions than in England. Vol. 2. p.95*
1735-1791 Births 469,662 Deaths 4-32,060 Excess of Births 37,602
1792-1799 " 520,295 " 406,333 " " " 113,407
Sunday Mr 20 1320
Southey's Life of Wesley
Hogg's Winter Evenings Talcs - (the greater part)
2nd vol. of Park's Travels - containing a memoir of
his life, the Journal of his second tour and the
journal of Isaac©.
BrackonriJ^e's Voyage to South America
Friday Aug. *jth. 1320 Tomorrow we go to Clapham.
A voyage to South America, performed by order of the American
government in the years 1317 and 1813 - in t^e Frigate, Congress. By
II. M. Brackenridge, Secretary to the Mission 1st Vol of Mad., de Stael's
Corrine*"!
Brackenridge's work contains a great deal of very curious and
valuable information relative to the newly established South American
Republics. The author often displays much good sense and sagacity, though
occasionally sullied by a mixture of foolish ranting declamation; and by
the grossest ignorance on points which every English gentleman is expected
to understand - ignorance almost incredible in the Secretary of a Mission
sent forth by a civilised people. Speaking of the Indians in the vicinity
of Buenos Ayres, he says they vrill recede as the Spanish population becomes
more diffused, in like manner as barbarians have, in other parts of the
world, retiring before the homo sapiens Europii. Again he says Buenos
Ayres cannot be said to be toto deyisos ab orbe - p.224 Vol. 2. I believe
there are scarcely tliree pages throughout the work in which some false
syntax does not occur, and the general strain of vulgarity in the sentiments
of expression is quite amazing.
In one respect the South /imerican Republics have been much less
happy than their elder brethren of the North - their history is full of
internal feuds and continual changes in the form of government, which
remind the observer of the circumstances of the French Revolution;
though happily the parallel goes 110 further; the Spaniards having never
sullied the name of liberty by any atrocious and bloody prescriptions. It
should be remembered however that the North Americans had grown up underfree
governments, and. little more was necessary than to declare their
independence and transfer the authority from a governor to a president to
put them at once in possession of the blessings of
Footnotes-
1. Brackenridge, Henry Maries Voyage to South America, performed
by order of the American government in the years 1317 and 1313
in the frigate Congress (with a map). 2 Vols. Pub. Baltimore,
1319.
Another edn. 2 vols. John Miller, London 1320. (Without map)
" " in issue. T. & J. Allman, London 1320.
- 9 3 -
2. Madame de Stael's CORINNE, a romance, which at once brought
her European fame. Chambers B.D., I056.
It was written while she was "M.ving in Italy and pub. 1305•
constitutional freedom. All their habits, tastes and opinions had been
moulded by early education to the ri«rht exercise of political pri.viled.ges.
In France, in the Spanish Colonies, and in Spain itself the case is, or
was, otherwise, and we ought not to be surprised, or very greatly scandalised,
if many crude and unsuccessful attempts are made towards the
establishment of a constitution, before the machine can be accurately
adjusted to the wants and inclinations of the people. It is true this
everlasting fluctuation, while it continues, is attended with very serious
evils and perhaps still more serious dangers 1 and H presents something
particularly offensive to the feelings of iiYiglishmen, who are accustomed to
regard the institutions of their country rather with solemn and affectionate
reverence than with any meagre speculative view of their abstract
Utility. To be continually trying on new constitutions affects our minds
with something like the disgust that we should feel at the thought of
trying every now and then a new wife. This sort of feeling, in the heart
of an Englishman, must be admitted to be perfectly natural, and not only
justifiable, but indispensably necessary to the maintenance of a sound and
healthy tone of political feeling, so far as regards our own internal
affairs. But we surely go too far in applying to the case of other
nations, just
emerging from the oppressions of an arbitrary government, the same rule
of judgment which is justly applied to our own case. Where no free
institutions exist, they must be constructed de novo, in the best manners
that can be devised, either by resorting to the experience of other free
nations, or by a reference to the general principles of human nature.
But in the amazing diversity of laws,
habits, and circumstances, it' can hardly fail that conclusions the most
various and contradictory are formed and declared under such a state of
things on all the greatest points of policy. Where no precedents exist
to serve as landmarks to the legislator; where no reverence for long
established customs prevails among the people, opinion is at once afloat
on a boundless sea of speculation and uncertainty. This is an evil, but
a necessary evil. It may be greatly palliated by a spirit of mutual forbearance,
by patience, and moderation; but to remedy it altogether is not
in the wit of man. We ought therefore to avoid hastily and contemptuously
pronouncing our neighbours incapable of liberty, because they have
displayed an apparently childish fickleness and instability in the
formation of their improved social institutions.
Sunday September 3rd 1820
On Saturday 26th Aug. we came up from Ramsgate to Clapham. On the Tuesday
and Wednesday I rode down to Chichester, and returned by the stage on
Saturday, so that I have had Jittle leisure. I read Creevey's Guide to
the Electors of Great Britain 'and looked at some of the chapters in
Henry's History of England i which seems to be a valuable work, written
in the genuine spirit of philosophy.
3. 4.
September 4th. Today I met with Luke Howard , in Arch's shop, and spoke
to him of my experiments on the temperature produced by the direct rays
of the sun. At first, he seemed to doubt the accuracy of my observations,
but on cross examining, seemed satisfied, and attributed the superior
temperature indicated by the larger thermometer to the superiority of its
solid content, compared with the radiating surface. If so the differences
will be found as the diameters. M. Biot suggested the same explanation.
L. Howard promises to lend me Klrwan'S Essay on Climates, and to point out
to me any other works which he thinks may throw light on the subject.
Footnotes-
1. Creevey, Thomas. (I768-I838), Whig politician 1802 till just
before 1830; remembered for Greevey Papers, a journal important as
a source of Georgian social history, which were issued as the
Creevey Papers. A Selection from the correspondence and diaries of
the late Thomas Greevey M.P. Edited by the Rt.Hon. Sir Herbert
Maxwell Bart. 2 vol. London. John Murray, pub. I903.
An anonymous book or booklet entitled Guide to the Electors of
Great Britain upon the Accession of a new King and the immediate
prospect of a new Parliament. Third edn. pp.viii, 48. J. Ridgway
1820. It looks as if the reference is to the first edition, John
Barton knowing who in fact was the author.
Political Constitutions Luke Howard
2. Henry of Huntingdon (10847-1155) - Historia Anglorum - compiled at request
of Bishop Alexander (d.1148) of Lincoln.
3. Luke Howard (1772-1864) pioneer in meteorology; pub. Climate of London 1820;
edited "Yorkshireman" (Quaker Journal) I833-37).
4. John and Arthur Arch were Quaker booksellers and publishers of 61 Cornhill,
I805-I838. Besides Quaker material they produced works on fine arts.
5. Kirwan, Richard K.(1733-1812), chemist and natural philosopher.
Angerstein's Fajntlngs. Mr. Foster 82.
September 7th 1820. Having agreed with J.J.to read together Lord Bacon's Novum
Organum 'and Sismondi's History of the Italian Republics • I bought Lord Bacon's
works at Cuthalls (4 vol £4.4) and Sismondi in 16 vol. at £5.15.6). On Tuesday I
went to London with Anne, left Sir H. Day's book at the Royal Institution. Dined
at Russell Square, looked over a very curious paper by Dr. McCulloch in the transactions
of the Geological Society, on the Parallel Roads of Glen Ray. These
curious phenomena the author supposes to arise from the valley having once been
occupied by a lake, observing that the shores of existing lakes always exhibit a
shelving line of a similar kind.
Yesterday I went by appointment to Easthope's office at ten o'clock in the
morning, to meet Foster, the Essayist. We went together to see Angerstein's
pictures, in Pall Mall - a small collection, but-consisting og very fine pieces.
I was pleased to find that I recognised Rubens's And Claude's 'compositions at
sight. I think Claude is the only one of the celebrated masters whose excellence
I fully appreciate and enjoy. There were six of his landscapes here; and as we
went immediately afterwards to Glover's exhibition, it afforded me an excellent
opportunity of comparing the sensations excited by the compositions of a celebrated
modern painter with the other. Glover's delineation of Qiglish scenery appears to
be nearly perfect, his foregrounds, indeed, are seldom good; the branches of his
trees are twisted more like the contortions of a serpent than the natural forms of
vegetationi but his distances and middle grounds, his rocky sides of the mountains,
his wooded hills, and lakes; his representations of the slanting beams of the sun
shooting through a misty atmosphere, are incomparably fine. All these are very
striking in a large picture of Loch Katrine and Ben Venue. He perfectly understands
the colouring suited to our climate, but he almost always fails in attempting to
represent that
Footnotes-
1. Lord Bacon. Francis Bacon (156l-k626) Novum Organum pub. in 2 parts or vols,
in 1620, being the second part of his great work "Instauratio Scientarum", and
is the work on which his high reputation as a philosopher is based.
2. Simonde de Sismondi, Jean Charles Leonard (1773~1842) historian and economist,
born Geneva. 1804/5 accompanied Madame de Stael on her voyage to Italy.
(1809-1818). 1815-1818 "Histoire des republiques italiennes du moyen age".
2nd ed. 16 vols. Parisj Treuttel.
3. ROYAL INSTITUTION of Great Britain
The earliest of the kind in London, founded 9 March I799 by Count Rumford,
Sir Joseph Banks, Earls Spencer and Morton, and several others. Incorporated
13 Jan 1800 by Royal charter as "The Royal Institution of Great Britain, for
the diffusing knowledge, and facilitating the general introduction of useful
mechanical inventions and improvements, and for teaching, by
.98
course of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application
of science to the common purpose of life."
The HOUSE (in Albemarle Street, Piccadilly) was purchased
1799) the lecture theatre erected 1803} the Laboratory estab.
1800} the Library commenced 1803*
4. Angerstein, John Julius (1735-1823), merchant, philanthropist
and amateur of fine art, acquired collection of pictures, which
formed nucleus of National Gallery.
5. RUBENS R.P. (Flemish School) 1577-1640. Raphael Italian sch.
1483-1520. Sebastian del Piombo (Venetian School) 1485-1547
Michelangele, It. Sch. 1475-1564
Gorregio, Lombardian sch. 1494-1534.
N. Poussin, French sch. 1594-1665.
6. CLAUDE GELLEE (1600-82) usually known as CLAUDE LORRAINE. Painted
only landscapes, elaborately and sometimes rather artificially.
Believed to have stated, "I sell my landscapes, but I give away
the figures in them". His figure drawings are considered rather
incompetent.
7. GLOVER,John. (I767-I849). President of Water Colour Society
1815; exhibited at Paris "Landscape Composition". Sketched in
Italy and Switzerland. Exhibition in Old Bond Street, 1821.
Founder of Society of British Artists with whom he exhibited
1824-30. Emigrated to West Australia I83I. Died in Tasmania.
On 11th December 1984 a Tasmanian landscape (30 in. x 47 in.)
depicting natives in eucalyptus forest on Mills Plain with
Patterdale Farm, named after the place where the Glovers lived
in Cumberland before emigrating, in the background, by John Glover
made £350,000 at a sale in London - a record for an Australian
picture.
At a picture auction sale of Sotheby's on 4 Oct.85, the Daily
Telegraph reported "The biggest surprise was probably an I835 work
by John Glover, which he described as his "last view of Italy".
"Once called the Lichfield Claude, he appears to have completed it
after emigrating to Tasmania, and thanks to Australian interest it
realised £13,500 against an estimate of £600-£900."
54.
Claude de Lorraine - Rubens
of Italy, his Italian scenes are mostly too blue and cold, and when he
aims to give them a warmer glow, he fails in producing that harmony which
he almost always attains in his British landscapes. The golden splendour
is not sufficiently diffused over the different parts of the painting;
the sky is too blue in the corners, and the trees are too green, which
produces a harsh effect. This is one circumstance in which he is
inferior to Claude. But another and far more important is the want
of that inexpressible charm of deep and solemn repose which pervades most
of the works of that great painter.
I.
But why is Rubens admitted? Is it for the correctness of his
taste in design, for his elaborate mixture of heroes, gods, goddesses
and goddikins, flowers, angels and cornucopias, dazzling, fluttering and
tumbling all over the canvas? Or is it for the fine, fat, flabby Dutch
chambermaids that personify his queens and female divinities? Or is it
for the rich, red, glow of brick dust-coloured light that he spreads
over the whole surface of his pieces? Will the time ever come when I
shall repent of these heresies?
Mr. Anderstein has the originals of Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode -
two pieces of Rembrandt, one of the raising of Lazarus by Sebastian del
Piombo, designed by M. Angela, and the principal figure painted by him.
Several of Poussin and Correggio, a portrait of Julius 2nd by Raphael.
I afterwards dined at Easthope's house at Finchley with Mr. Foster.
I succeeded in drawing him forth a little. He asked me many questions
about his old acquaintance at Chichester. I suspect his powers of
application are small.
Footnote-
1. But see his opinion of Rubens later - recorded on 6th July 1821
after visiting Blenheim.
Lord Bacon's Instauratio Magna 84.
September 8th 1820 Read the preface to Lord Bacon's Instauratio Magna.
To pronounce publicly any opinion of an author or of a work of which one had
read only a few pages would be a great absurdity, but to record for one's
own use the first impressions made by a new book is often useful. Several
remarks occurred to me in reading this preface. 1st. the author seems to
have been led to discover the futility of the scholastic philosophy by
comparing the slow progress made in science with the rapid movement of the
useful arts. How he lived at a time when these arts had made more way than
in any former period. The same comparison might have occurred to others,
and the same conclusion been drawn by them, are there no traces of this
in contemporary writers? It seldom if ever happens that a great man's
views and discoveries run counter to the spirit of thr times in which he
lives; he merely floats at the head of the great stream of opinion by
which he is in fact borne along, while he seems to lead and direct it.
2nd. Lord Bacon does not seem to have sufficiently distinguished
the quibbling dialectics of Aristotle and his followers, from the refined
and elevated tone of moral and political wisdom displayed by some of the
earlier Greek writers. He says very truly and justly that the syllogistic
mode of reasoning is utterly unfit for revealing the secrets of nature|
but he omits to say (what I think is equally true) that the inductive mode
of reasoning is unsuited to the higher and more refined speculations in
morals and politics. Mme. de Stael accuses him of bringing into fashion
the modern mechanical mode of reasoning on these subjects. Perhaps
this is true, in a negative sense. But it is equally true, I conceive, that
the habit of sober and patient investigation arising from the pursuit of the
physical sciences, has given a stability and consistence to the political
institutions of free countries in modern times, which they would never
otherwise have attained. This is a very interesting subject, and ought to
be further pursued.
54.
gelipse of tlie Jun Liike JlawardJ^ GTocJc
Greek Cxercisi.-: Chap an' 'l'l
EsoiVn Fablestj toXdu
Lord Bacon's Looks - General. preface and. introduction to the
Instauratio IId jna
a. 11 particular preface to the Iiovun Orgaaun
Sismonli's Italian Republic:-.. Introduction, Chap. 1st and
2ivl.
i"n rhureiay took place the greatest eclipse of the sun that will occur
for 'in years; the day was favourable for observation; slight thin clouds
prevailed all the morning, but about the riddle of the eclipse it cleared
up, an.i remained perfectly fin" the rocb "C tin: tine. I much regretted
that T had not provided myself with thermometers for measuring the temperature
. Luke il°iiar 1. toll me,today, that the difference between the
suns'line and shade amounted to only lial" a -.cgroc. l/e observed a curious
optical phenomenon. The chequered sliado • thrown on the ground by the
trees exhibited innumerable crescents of light; the rays passing through
the small apertures between the leaves forming an inverted picture of the
sun. In order to satisfy myself of t'-e true cause of this appearance
(though I felt little doubt on the subject) T shut the shutters of the
window in the small dressing room, which fronts the south, leaving a small
hole for th« light, ;:hich falling on the white toilet showed the same form
of a thin crescent as we had before observed on the ground, and this
gradually enlarged into a complete circle as the eclipse went off.
Today I called at Luke Howard's, at Tottenham, and he showed me a
very curious piece of hechanism; a clock which contains a barometer, and
registers continually the height of the mercurial column. He told me it
cost him about 200 guineas. It appears to answer its purpose extremely
well. W" saw the records of man; former years which it had kept. Only
one other clock has been male on a similar construction; it was for
Ge-olpr,' 36.
the king, and now stands in some of the apartments at Buckingham House,
but owing to the ignorance or carelessness of those to whose care it
is entrusted, the circle of vellum on which the pencil traces the
progress of the nanometer has not been renewed for several years
together, so that the lines are confusedly marked one over the other,
in a maimer not easy to docypher.
In the afternoon J.J. and myself walked together to tin. Phillips's
to see his collection of rocks, and endeavour to imbibe some elementary
notions of geology, having determined to add rone geological work to the
other subjects selected for reading together. Theiesuit was something
nearly approaching to despair. Ho exceedingly various are the rocks
classed under one common appellation; so much alike, in other cases, are
those which geologists consider a? perfectly distinct; that it seems
scarcely possible to attain to a competent acquaintance with the
subject, without bestowing on it a portion of labour and tine more than
it deserves. Indeed T cannot help entertaining a latent suspicion that
a con*iderablr» part of this obscurity arises from the imperfect state of
the science itself, and it" defective nomenclature. For very many rocks
it appears that Geologists have no name at all; in other cases the
distinctions establish ed by custom appear to be purely fanciful; thus
granite consists of quartz, felspar and mica; but if the same materials
are disposed in a. streaky form they are gneiss. In Scinito the felspar
is always red; if of any other colour the rock changes its denomination.
- q q -
I think therefore it will be better to confine our attentions to such general
views as we can occasionally pick up, then to make a study of geology at
present.
Foster on the Evils of Popular Ignorance 87
September 12th 1820 Read Foster's1'new work on the Evils of Popular Ignorance.
The author has little need to affix his name to his compositions, for they carry
with them so strongly the impress of his peculiar style and manner of thinking,
that they can never be mistaken. I hardly was aware how very peculiar that style
is, till I read this work, and found myself in every page so forcibly reminded
of his former series of essays. He writes like a lion. The same strong intellectual
grasp, the same copious effusion of powerful thought, springing fresh
from the workings of the writer's mind* the same nervous, figurative language,
disfigured by uncouth inversions, and by careless collocation, with such an
abstract, metaphysical form of expression, as to render his pages scarcely
accessible to ordinary readers. These faults are, I think, rather more frequent
than in his former work; but the superior interest and dignity of the subject
present him with more opportunity for displaying in all its greatness his
gigantic eloquence, his high sarcastic disdain for the inhabitants of this
grovelling world; his solemn prophetic visions of some approaching, vast and
glorious revolution in the condition of the human race.
2.
J.J. has agreed to make trial in the Kingsland "School of my plan of
instructing children by means of pictures. I have given him Watson's Plates for
the Deaf and Dumb, for this purpose. We agreed^in conversing together on the
subject, that some book similar to Orbis Pictus^'is very much wanted for
children. There was an English Orbis Pictus which I read with great pleasure
and profit when a boy, entitled the Visible World Displayed. We went together
to Darton's to make inquiry about it. S.D. said he remembered it perfectly
well, it was a shilling book, as large as they now sell for 2/6, but never sold
well. He has still the woodcuts, and would sell them for £8. But J.J. wishes
to entice me into composing a new and improved work on a similar plan. Such
woodcuts might be done, S.D. says, for 15/~ each, or less.
Footnotes-
1. Rev. John Foster (1770-1843) - pastor of a Baptist congregation.
2. Probably the Kingsland and Newington Sunday and Day School on the British
System (opposite Shackwell Lane) for boys and girls; estab. 1808 and
became British in 1815.
3. Orbis Pictus - first picture book for children; illustrated with 150 woodcuts
in I658; pub. at Nuremberg. By John Amos Gomenius. The title is more
fully Orbis Sensualium Pictus. First English edition pub. I659. By 1777
a 12th edition pub.
Style of Sir Geo, Staunton 88.
Saturday 16th September 1820
Greek Exercises Chap 45 to 49
Esop's Fables^ toK"*)
Novum Organum *Sl to 65*
Sismondi's Italian Republics Chap 3rd and part of 4th.
Foster on the Evils of Popular Ignorance.
September 19th Returned this morning from Carshalton H0use, where
we have been spending two or three days. Looked at Murray's Historical
Accounts of discoveries in Africa. It seems a dull book. The author
has adopted the plan of giving abridgements, separately, of the relations
of each traveller; this is much easier, to be sure, than to give a
digested view of the sum of information collected from the whole. But it
is also much less useful.
— / O O "
I extracted thepfollowing passages from Sir C. Staunton's Account of
the Wbassy to China,"" as a good specimen of the ambitious and wordy
style of a diplomatist. After mentioning that the value and importance
of the presents selected for the Emperor of China excited considerable
attention and speculation among the foreign ambassadors then at London,
Sir G. continuesi "One of those, who still hold to the exploded prejudice
of jealousy of commerce, not being, it seems, aware that the world was wide
enough for all who choose to embark on that kind of life, and that it
flourished best by reciprocation, failed not to attribute to the British
Administration, and East India Company, a design of engrossing the total
trade of China". Englished thus - One of these, possessed with an absurd
notion, long since exploded by the progress of political science, that the
gains of one party in commercial transactions are attended with an equivalent
loss on the part or the other party; and entertaining of course that
narrow jealousy, which such an opinion is calculated to create, failed not
to attribute etc. -
Footnote-
1. "Novum Organun" was the second part of Lord Bacon's great work ,
chiefly, entitled "Tnstauratio Scientificarun", pub. 1620. - "on
which his high reputation as a philospher is grounded".
Chambers Literature 1354.
2. STAUNTOH, Sir George Leonard. "An authentic account of an embassy
from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China". 2 Vol.
g. Nicol. London 1797.
Italian le^blics and Spanish Colonies
September 2.1st Tiiere exists a curious- similarity between the causes which
led to the independence of the Italian Republics, in the middle ages, and
to that of the Spanish Colonies, within the last ten years. In each case
those circumstances have shown the people their own strength and importance,
and led them to shake off a foreign government. Sec Brackonridge's
Voyage to South America, and Sismondi Chap. J.
At p. 4 02 to 40o Sismondi explains, in a passage of the most splendid
eloquence, the train of causes which led. to the establishment of the
modern system of Republican Liberty. I do not know whether I ever met
with a passage more profound and admirable.
Sunday, September 24th
Greek IV ereises Chap 1 to 5
Er-.op's Fables Kc) to AOL
Novum Organum S 66 to 71
Sismondi's .Italian Republics - remainder of Chap 4th
Chapter 5th and 6th
In Political Reasoning, sound judgment and good taste not only lead to
the same results, but they may bo termed identical. By good taste, however,
I mean not that "pitiful, bastard tiling" which is picked up at Second Hand
by connoisseurs and literary petit uaitres, but that enthusiastic,
instinctive love of all great and elevated principles, which must form
ultimately the basis of all our moral conclusions and judgment.
Cauvin's Banishment from Nice
September 26 th 1320 On Saturday I received a letter from 1-1. Cauvin,
informing me of his exile of Nice in consequence of the machinations of
the Abbe de ^assole at the Court of Turin. Yesterday (Monday) I called
on Wm. Allen "and engaged him to make inquiries about a suitable situation
where Cauvin may be placed in some other part of Italy. W.A. promises in
the course of a few days to speak to Marquis Pucei, a Florentine nobleman,
now in this country, and let me know the result. I then called on the
Rev. M. Stewart, who is lately returned from Nice, in order to obtain
further information, and consult with him what is best to be done.
Mr. Stewart has just seen Mr. Obins and Lady 0. Sparrow, and it appears to
be their wish to reinstate M. Cauvin at Nice, in defiance of the De- Cassole
.103
family, by means of influence exerted on the Sardinian Government through
our ambassador. This appears to me an imprudent scheme. I send today the
following letter to Mr. Stewart.
Dear Sir
I send inclosed a copy of M. Gauvin's letter, of which you will make
whatever use you think best. It is quite a satisfaction to me that I had
the good fortune to see you yesterday, to hear from yourself the Circumstances
of the late transaction at Nice, and to know that you take the same
lively interest as I myself feel in the welfare of our young friend. As
you were so good as to permit me to suggest any inquiries to be made of
Capn. Pearson, I think it would be desirable to learn from him what funds
remained unappropriated out of last year's subscription; and whether they
will be sufficient to make good all demands including the maintenance of
M. Cauvin. Also to learn his sentiments whether under the present
circumstances any addition should be made to M.C.'s ordinary salary of
£1.000 p.an. and how much. I have thought a good deal since parting from
you yesterday about our future proceedings, and remain still very strongly
persuadeded that great harm would result from attempting to reinstate
M. Cauvin at Nice. There has evidently been a good deal of heat and party
feeling, which, if not left to subside, will I fear settle into a confirmed
animosity, and what is worst of all, a religious animosity. This is of
itself an evil of such magnitude that I would forgo doing much
Footnote -
1. William Allen (1770-1843) Quaker| Scientist; philanthropist, Fellow
of Linnean Society 1801. Lecturer Guy's Hospital 1802-26. Entered Sevan's
Chemical Establishment at Plough Court, which from 1795 be carried on.
William Allen gave his own name to the Plough Court chemical establishment
and, joined by his son-in-law it became Allen & Hanbury.
Intimate with Clarkson, Wilberforce and James Mill. When Alexander I of
Russia visited England in 1814, Wm. Allen arranged for him (at his request)
to attend a Quaker meeting; Alexander I also met Nathaniel Rickman of
Lewes and his family on his way home via Dover.
He was treasurer of BFSS and the leading influence in the move to
establish monitorial schools, operating on undenominational lines in
France and Southern Europe.
Some of this information comes from Helena Hall's "William Allen
1770-1843. Member of the Society of Friends"; pub. Charles Clarke
(Haywards Heath) Ltd. I963. Other books on him - "Memoir of William Allen
F.R.S. by James Sherman. pub. Philadelphia approx. I85I. See also
Helena Hall's history of Lindfield, which includes a brief summary of
William Allen's Colony and Schools of Industry in Lindfield.
Letter to Mr. Stewart
good rather than produce it; but in addition to the direct mischief, I
think it is of all things most likely to stand in the way of our wishes
for the moral and religious improvement of the people. We must show .
them by our actions that we simply and sincerely desire their good, not
only without any interested motives, but without any mixture of
proselytism or party. Otherwise all our plans will be misrepresented
and our intentions calumniated with persevering industry, till we are
regarded with dislike for the very endeavours which we are making
expressly to benefit the people. You say indeed, very truly, that the
popularity is at present on our side, that the obvious utility of the
measures adopted by the English, and the benevolence of their views
cannot fail to be apparent to the people. But in the long run, the
party of the Abbe de Oassole will, I am confident, succeed in effecting
a change in their sentiments, and when I remember that a large proportion
of the French nation seriously believes that our object in
demanding the abolition of the Slave Trade was to injure their colonies
rather than any principle of humanity, it convinces me that no assertion
is too gross to be believed by an ignorant and debased people. They are
so little accustomed to see anything like simple and sincere benevolence
that with difficulty they believe in its existence; and when an action
can be traced to selfish motives, however forced the reasoning by which
it is made to appear so, they rather assent to it than give credit to
the existence of anything so extraordinary as unsophisticated philanthropy.
I must therefore think that Christian prudence requires us to
abstain from any attempt at present to re-establish the school at Nice
in despite of the De Cassoles; and there is less need for our exhausting
our strength in striving against the current of opinion, since so wide a
field is opening in other parts of Italy; a field where all our efforts
will be effectively and availingly useful. Indeed I do not think it at
all likely that the school at Nice will continue closed. The Abbe de
Cassole, who is so greatly indebted to the English for their liberal
assistance in supporting his Providence, has too many reasons to wish to
cultivate their good opinion openly to affront them by shutting up an
Institution which was founded by their exertions, and I have not the
slightest doubt
Extracts from Saussure1 on Temperature of Sun's Rays
that if left to take his own way, he will soon compromise matters by
finding another master, less qualified perhaps than M. Cauvin. But then
M. Cauvin's services may be employed elsewhere, on a more extended
theatre, where they will be still more useful to the C^se than at Nice.
I have taken the liberty of expressing my views so much at length
and so warmly, that I ought to apologise but you will I trust attribute
this to the earnest desire which I feel for the success of our united
wishes and efforts. If you should have occasion to write to Mr. Obins,
have the goodness to present to him my best remembrance.
I have found in Saussure's Voyage dans les Alpes some facts which
I think serve to confirm my notion relative to the causes of the cold
of mountains. "Je croyais que la congelation de la surface de la neige
venait du froid de l'air exterieur,et je fus bien etoun^ quand je vis
sur le Col du Grant les neiges voisines de notre arrete. Commencer, k
se geler le soir d£s que la^soleil cessait de les rechauffer, quoique
l'air ext^rieur fut encore a 2 et mSmea 3 degres au-dessus du terme de
la congelation."
The author goes on to relate several experiments which he made for
elucidating these phenomena more completely. In the 2nd volume, Chap 35
contains an account of the various theories which had then been proposed
to account for the low temperature prevailing in the higher regions of
the atmosphere. This must be referred to when I come to take the
subject into consideration at length. The thermometer ordered of Bate
and not yet finished, and it does not seem probable that I can do much
in the w|y of experiment till next year. See also some experiments of
Saussure 'on the Temperature of the Earth and of the Sun. Chap 18,
Vol. 3 p.I96 and on the temperature produced by the rays of the Sun on
a thermometer enclosed in a box lined with cork, S.932, Vol.2, p.308.
—1 0 3 -
Footnote-
.105
1. SAUSSURE, Horace Benedict de (1740-1799), professor of physics Geneva
I762-I786. "In I768 commenced his epoch-making investigations in the
Alps, Jura, and Vosges, Germany, England, Italy, Switzerland, Sicily
and the extinct craters of Auvergne, and traversed the Alps in nearly all
directions. He was the first traveller (not a guide) to reach the summit
of Mont Blanc (I787). His invaluable observations on minerals, botany,
meteorology, etc. were recorded in his Voyage dans les Alpes" (I779-I796).
The Same, from Kirwan 93
I have looked over Kirwan's^'work on the Variations of the Atmosphere,
lent me by Luke Howard, but do not find there a great deal to my purpose. One
chapter is devoted to the Subject of Temperature. The Author says
"That the heat of the atmosphere is derived, not from the immediate action
of the solar rays that traverse it, but from the warmer and more solid bodies
with which it is or has been in contact, is a fact which at present can admit of
no dispute. I have suspended a thermometer and a feather about an inch over the
focus of a most powerful burning lens, without producing the slightest increase
of heat in the one or of motion in the other" - p.87. He says that M. Picht
found a thermometer atQ5 feet above the surface of the earth, in the middle of
the day, higher by 4.5 than one at 75 fegt. But towards the end of twilight,
in the evening, the upper one was often 4 lower, p.105- That in winter the
tgmperature of Arthur's Seat (684 feet high,) was found, on the 31st Jan .1776,
6 higher than the temperature below, p.108. Phil Tran 1777 P-777 -M.de Luc
found the temp, in winter at an elevation of 2,500 to 3,000 ft the same as in
the plains. Mod. S203-
Sunday October 1st .1820
Greek Exercises Ghjp 6 to 11
Collectanea Minora ' - Ex Hieroclis Facetiis and Palaephato Si
Sismontji's Italian Republics - Chap. 7 to 12.
Kirwan ' on the Variations of the atmosphere.
During the last four weeks I„have also read a good many of the papers in the
Hermite du Chaussin d'Autin.
October 3rd. Returned home from Clapham.
Footnotes-
1. Analecta (Collectanea) Graeca Minora.
Adapted for the use of beginners with notes partly collected and partly
written by Andrew Dalzel M.A. Cadel Edinburgh 9th edn. 1814.
Ex HIEROCLIS FACETIIS is the title of one of the extracts in the
collection; it means "from the jokes of H".
Part I of Collectanea Minora contains extracts from prose writers;
Part 2 extracts from the poets.
2. KIRWAN, Richard (1733-18.12) Chemist and natural philosopher. Pub. "Elements
of Mineralogy" 1784.
- / O f -
j j
3. L'Hermite de la Ghaussee - d'Antin, ou Obeervations sur les moeurs
et les usages Parisians au commencement du XIX6 siecle. (Signed
E. J. l'Hermite de la Ghaussee d'Antin, i.e. Victor Joseph
Etienne de Jouy) 5 Vols. Paris 1812-14 (Reprinted from the
"Gazette de Prance".)
Dalton's Theory for explaining the Gold of Mountains 94.
October 6th 1820
Last night, looking at the article Meteorology, in Rees Cyclopaedia,
I met with a theory of Dalton's, for explaining the cold of the higher
regions of the atmosphere, differing from any hitherto suggested. He
supposes, that "the natural equilibrium of heat in an atmosphere is when
each atom of air in the same perpendicular column is possessed of the
same quantity of heat, "and as there are of course fewer atoms in a given
space at considerable elevations, where the air is rarer, he concludes
that the temperature will naturally be lower. This theory seems to me
quite untenable. If the atoms of the air above have each the same
quantity of heat as those below, the temperature must be the same;
though the absolute quantity of heat in a given space (say for instance
in a cubic foot of air) will be less. If the temperature of a cubic foot
of rarefied air be less than that of a cubic foot of condensed air,
merely because the number of atoms is smallert- the temperature of solid
bodies should be found still higher than that of condensed air, because
the quantity of matter they contain is still greater. In fact, the
whole theory seems to rest on a misconception of the nature of temperature.
Temperature does not depend, I conceive, at all on the quantity
of heat which bodies contain, but on the quantity of heat which they give
out. Suppose that at the surface of the earth a gubic inch of air
contains 100 atoms, each of the temperature of 60 , suppose further that
at an elevation of 3 inches from the surface of the earth, a cubic inch
of air contains only 500 atoms, but each of them united with the same
quantity of heat as in the former case, now let a thermometer, previously
cooled to the freezing point, be carried into this rarefied atmosphere.
The first particle of air with which it comes in contact gives out its
heat, and is cooled down to 32 , or nearly. It then descends and 95
another supplies its place, giving out its heat to the thermometer in
like manner. This process will evidently go on till these small
portions of heat have gradually raised the thermometer to such a point
as that no further transfer of heat can take place, that is when the
thermometer stands at 60 .
In considering this theory of Dalton's, I gained however much
light on the subject. Explanations occurred to me of two difficulties
in my own hypothesis. 1st. I accounted for the cold of mountains by
their presenting a larger radiating surface than plains. But then it
occurred to me that if they lose heat by radiation they ought also to
receive heat by radiation from the surrounding country, and that one of
these causes would nearly compensate the other. I now see, however,
that the quantity of heat which the mountain loses is greater than that
which it receives; because a great part of the heating rays which fall
on any body is reflected immediately from the surface, without
penetrating at all into its substance or affecting its temperature. The
quantity or proportion of heat so rejected depends on the nature of the
surface; polished metals for instance reject much more than glass or
stone; and white surfaces more than coloured; but in every case, I
apprehend', the quantity of heat so rejected is considerable. 2nd. The
preceding hypothesis only accounts for the cold of mountains, and does
not explain the low temperature of the higher regions of the atmosphere
in other situations. This is the more difficult to explain, because of
the natural tendency of heated air to ascend. One can hardly understand
how a stratum of colder, and therefore heavier air can remain superincumbent
on a stratum of warmer and lighter air. This difficulty
presses equally on all theories yet proposed.
- I O S T —
Causes of the Gold prevailing in the higher regions of the
Atmosphere
It occurred to me however last night that as a large portion of
the earth's surface is heated at once by the sun's rays, the inferior
and warmer air would find considerable obstruction in its ascent from
the superior and colder air. Hie case is quite different when a
small portion of air is heated greatly above the rest by a local
cause: a fire for instance. In that case ascending air forms a volume
which as it rises pushes the colder air away on all sides, and opens
for itself a way with little friction or resistance. But when the air,
over a surface of many thousand square miles, is at once exposed to the
same heating cause, it can only exchange places with the air above by a
much slower process. Each individual particle must then make its way
upwards (if such a mode of expression be allowable) by its own single
exertioni - and must encounter all the obstruction arising from the
efforts of the colder air above to descend. To illustrate this
difference, try the following experiment. Take a tall glass vessel;
fill it with water; place one thermometer at the bottom, another about
the middle and a third at the top. Set £he vessel on a plate of metal
heated to a certain temperature, e.g. 100 , and see how long the upper
thermometer will require to assume the same atmosphere with the lower
one. Then, instead of setting the vessel on a heated plate of metal;
let the heat be applied to a small portion of the bottom, and observe
whether an ascending current does not establish itself from that spot.
And observe further whether that ascending current does not much sooner
bring about an equilibrium between the temperature of the water at the
top and bottom of the vessel than in the former case.
The higher air I suppose to be cooled by the radiation of its own
particles. Mr. Dalton, indeed, asserts that "air, it should seem, is
singular in regard to heat; it neither receives nor discharges any in a
radiant state". But I cannot see the slightest ground to assent to such
a conclusion. Indeed we have direct evidence that the atmosphere
arrests a portion of the sun's rays in their passage from two experiments
of Saussure's. In one, he found that a^bujning glass operated with
rather more force on the top of the Salev^ 'than at Geneva, in another
he found that a thermometer inclosed in a box lined with cork, and
furnished with a double glass window, being exposed to the sun's rays
on the top of a mountain, was somewhat more heated than when so
exposed in the plain. (See page 126).
Footnote -
\
1. MONT SALEVE, about 12 miles south of Geneva and just in France.
October 7th 1820 Yesterday evening, I tried the experiment suggested
above, with such instruments as I have. A glass jar, 8 inches high and
3 inches in diam. was f i l l e d with water, Time Upper Lower
and glaced on a vessel f u l l of hot water
(180 ). One thermometer was suspended
7 - 10 61 61
15 62 66
with i t s bulb near the top of the jar, 20 64 67
and another placed at the bottom. The 25 66 68
results I mark in the margin. As far as 30 67 70
they go, they entirely confirm my prev- 35 69 72
ious notions, but I do not place absol- 40 70 73
ute confidence in them, because this 45 71 73
morning at eight o'clock J found the
lower thermometer s t i l l 1 higher than
50 72 75
8.00 73 75
the upper, and this was the case even 9.00 75 77
after agitating the water. 9-30 74 76
For further confirmation of the slowness 10.00 74 75a
with which fluids of different specific 11.00 72 74
gravities pass through one another, see
Dalton's Experiments on the transfusion of gases in Manchester Memoirs.
Observe too that smoke seldom if ever rises to any great height inihe
atmosphere.
- IOC—
Origin of the Greek Language and Alphabet
Monastic Orders, Benedictines established 529
1084 Carthusians - from the Chartreux
1220 Dominicans. Mendicant. Called also black friars.
1223 Franciscans do. Called Fratres Minores
1540 Jesuits
Sunday October 8th. 1820
Greek Exercises Chap 12 to 15 ^
Palaephatou peri apiston istoriou S2 to 7
Sismondi's Italian Republics CI3 to 17
It has often struck me as an extraordinary fact, that the Greeks and Romans,
who should seem by the affinity of their language with the Sanskrit to be of
Indian extraction, should yet .be separated from the inhabitants of India by
other nations who speak the Arabic dialects, for instance the natives of Syria
Mentioning this difficulty to M* Humboldt ,when at Paris, he said -thai the
migration seems to hve taken place to the north of Syria, either by way of
the Bosphorus, or else round the northern side of the Eucrine.
It is also not a little curious that the Greek and Latin language of
Indian extraction, should have been written in Phenician letters. The
Sanskrit alphabet is of totally different construction, and different
arrangement. While the Hebrew alphabet bears a striking analogy to the
Greek and indeed they professed to have derived the|r letters from the
Phenicians. There is a curious chapter in Pliny's 'Natural History (C.57,
B.10, I believe) - "In what all men are found to agree", and this universal
agreement is in the use of the Phenician alphabet. Did the European
migration take place previous to the use of letters in India, or was the
invention forgotten after the migration.
Footnotes-
1. This is the heading in Greek of Part 1 III of Collectanea Minora.
The ending OU is the Greek genetive. S2 to 7 refers to the extracts.
Palaephatos (possibly a pseudonym) wrote probably in the late
4th century B.C. under the title Palaphatos apiston, meaning
"Unbelieving speak-of-old"; he rationalised old myths. Only an
exerpt of this work survives. The title of this work, which is
actually "peri apiston historion" would mean "concerning untrustworthy
tales" or something to that, effect.
2. The Elder GAIUS PINIUS SECUNDUS. A.D. 23 or 24-79.
Cardinal Numbers
Sanscrit Greek Latin German Gaelic Welch
1. ec en unum ein aon pronounced like
the French une
un
2. dwan duo duo zwey da,dis a as in fall dau. f.
3- tray a tria tria drey tri i as in fill tri
4. chatur tessares quatuor vier ceithar pronounced
kathar pedwar
5- pancha pente quinque funf coig The Sanscrit from
the Edinburgh
Review
pump
6. shat ex sex sechs sia No. 26. Art. 6 cfowech
7- sapta epta septem sieben seachd 7.and No.66 Art. saith
- ( G 7 -
Sanscrit Greek Latin German Gaelic
8. ashta
9. nova
10 dasa
20. vinsati
100. Sat
1. aham
ac.man
2. twan
3- cah
okto
ennea
deka
octo acht
novern neun
decern zehen
ochd
noi
deich
or
deug
eikosi viginti zwanzig fichid
ekaton centum hundert clad
The Gaelic from
Shaw's analysis
of G. language
The Welch from
Evans's Grammar.
3rd
1st
Past
Personal Pronouns
(ego) ego) ich mi
(me ) me ) mich me
su tu du tu
tis? quis? cia?
CO?
Welch
wyth
naw
deg
ugain
cant and
mil
a thousand
mi
ti
99-
Substantive Verb
P. asti esti est
P. asmi eimi sum
abhavam on fui
chavati 5" fuit
Andiugh. today. Anochd, tonight
matutinus
Anns an lyhaiddin.in the morning.
Footnote-
1. Feminine - dwy.
erist is e
ich bin is mi
cha mi pronounced va mi
cha e pronounced va e
Na,not; am marach. tomorrow
vesperus
Anns an fheasgar, in the evening.
Shaw's analysis p.94.
Coxe's Austria
Sunday, October 15th 1820
Greek Exercises Cl6 and Part of CI?
Palaephatus S8 to 12. Lucian's Dialogues 1 and 2
Sismoni's Italian Republics C18 to 22
Coxe's House of Austria C33 to 34
Edinburgh Review No. 67.
100.
1.
The 34th Chap of Coxe affords an extraordinary specimen of the cold, lumpish,
eairthy spirit of the author. It contains a recital of the means by which
Ferdinand, the brother of Charles V, contrived to overthrow the liberties of
Bohemia; a series of more unprincipled violence and treachery it is hard to
imagine. It moves not, however, the placid temperament of the Archdeacon.
He concludes the chapter with the following philosophical reflexion -
"By these means, Ferdinand greatly extended the royal prerogative, and
abolished the evils arising from elective monarchy; he also restored tranquillity,
and suppressed the factions of a violent and turbulent people; yet
he, at the same time, depressed that energy of mind and military ardour, which
are inseparable from a free government and fostered by civil contests, and to
check that active commercial spirit which flourishes in the consciousness of
independence. From this cause the towns which had hitherto been remarkable
for their commerce, wealth and population, exhibited under his reign the
first symptoms of decline, and the Bohemians began to lose that military fame
which had rendered them the example and the turn of Europe. While, therefore,
we applaud his conduct in suppressing the mischief of unbridled liberty, we
cannot avoid regretting
- I O S
Footnote -
1. Lucian, of Samosata, Syria (c.125-180 A.D.). Greek writer
whose various Dialogues were translated into many languages
and of which there were many different English edns.
Wells on Dew - Experiments Proposed 101.
the want of policy and the imprudent severity with which this revolution
was effected, and indulging a wish that he had contented himself with
abolishing the priviledge of regal election, the great source of all
those evils, and trusted to the efforts of conciliation in regard to
religion and policy, and to the progress of events, for the means of
establishing an efficient and permanent system of government.
October 19th. Dr. Wells1'found that a thermometer of which the bulb
was wrapped round with gilt paper, bging suspended 4 feet above the
ground in a clear night, stood at if to 3 higher than another thermometer
similarly suspended, of which the bulb was left naked. Essay on
Dew p.40. Repeat this experiment and let the following be also tried.
Suspend two spheres, one large and the other small, in the situation
described, having thermometers attached to them to measure their
temperature. The Result will be, I apprehend, that their respective
heats will not agree together. But how will they differ. On the one
hand, the smaller sphere, having a greater surface in proportion to its
solid content will radiate away a larger proportion of its heat, and
consequently should be the coldest. On the other hand, presenting for
the same reason a larger superficies to the air (which air is by the
nature of the case warmer than the sphere) the smaller ought to be
found the warmest. Hence the result will be different, according to
the nature of their surfaces. If of polished metal, from which the
radiation is trifling, the smaller sphere should be the warmest 1 if of
paper, lampblack etc. the larger should be the warmest; see an observation
made at Malvern August 19, 1821.
Footnote -
1. WELLS, William Charles, M.D. I793 Elected Fellow of the Royal
Society. 1814 awarded the Royal Society Rumford Medal. Letter
on Dew. Thomson, Annal. Hiil. V, 1815, pp251-259; Journ. des Mines
XXXVII, 1815, PP 71-80; Schweigger, Journ. XXII, 1818, pp I87-223.
Everyman Encyclopaedia, 5th edition (Dent, I967) under Dew refers
to Dr. W.C. Wells of London and his Essay on Dew 1814.
State of Prussia. From the Quarterly Review 102
Sunday, October 22nd 1820.
Greek Exercises Chap 17 remainder and Chap 18
Lucian's Dialogues, 3» 4 and 5«
Sismondi's Italian Republics C23 to 26.
Coxe's House of Austria C35 to 39
Wells on Dew
The article on Germany, in the present quarterly review No. 46
is extremely curious and important. Though evidently written as a
defence of the Continental Sovereigns against the accusations-of their
subjects, it admits that "the danger to which every State in Germany
was successively exposed", during the late war, "and the vicissitudes
to which all have been equally subject, have had a very perceptible
effect in amalgamating the different classes of society". That "the
nobles, unless gifted with higher acquirements than their rude
predecessors, have ceased to create awe by their appearance; their
- m q -
J-Vt- .
feudal privileges are rapidly disappearing, and can seldom now be legally
enforced; whilst on their decline, and in the diminution of their possessions
and consequence, a middle class of society is by degrees coming forward, from
which the superior offices of the state can now be advantageously filled".
And that to these circumstances "we must attribute the unusual ardour for
reform now manifrst among the natives of that country", p.449. That the King
of Prussia has forfeited his word, by not making good the promises of a free
constitution held out to his subjects in a moment of alarm, is virtually admitted
at p.451. Though it is asserted that he still intends to give his people a free
constiution; which however "will not, probably, be so democratic as they desire,
and it may be so long delayed as to lose much of that grace and favour which /o'i.
would have accompanied its promulgation at an earlier period". It is further
admitted, that "the whole system of the Prussian government, although carried
on with a strict attention to the principles of justice, is extremely severe
in its mode of operation. Their fiscal regulations are, in many respects,
arbitrary and vexatious in the extreme, especially where their newly acquired
provinces are concerned" p.451• "The Army, meanwhile, is kept up on a scale
very disproportionate to the size of the country. It is true this is done at
little cost to the revenue, as the soldiers, for the most part, live at free
quarters.'" p.451.
Barometer at 6 o'clock this evening stood at 28,77 inches,
In an advertisement of the Classical J0urnal, at the end of the Quarterly
Review, I observe "a chart of ten numerals in 200 languages", mentioned among
the articles is one of the former numbers. Refer to this the first pportunity.
(Bought this number at Valpy's £eb.l821.
Sunday. October 29th 1820
Greek Exercises C I9 and 20
Lucian's Dialogues 6, 7 and 8.
Sismondi's Italian Republics C27 and 28.
First 63 Theorems in Geometry - Button's Mathematics.
1st Vol. Hobhouse's 'Letters from France during the hundred days.
Quarterly Review No. 46.
yootnotes-
1. VALFY, Abraham John; printer, bookseller and publisher of 4 Red Lion Court,
Fleet Street, London 1820-1838; previously at 21 Tooke's Court, Chancery
Lane from I809.
2. Hobhouse, John, Cam. Baron Broughton de Gifford (I786-I869)
"Letters from France" written from personal observation. Bonapartist
account of the hundred days. (1816).
Causes of the Vicissitudes of Arts and Literature 104.
Hume considers it a mistake that Arts and Literature flourish only in free
countries. Essay 12 Part I. May it not be laid down as a general rule, that
a plentiful crop of genius arises only in a time of tranquillity, immediately
following strong political commotions, as flowers grow best in newly turned
soil.
B.C.
510 Pisistradae expelled from Athens
490 Battle of Marathon
486 Oeschylus gains his first prize in tragedy
480 Battle at Salamis.
479 Battle of Plataea Pindar
469 Sophocles declared victor over Oeschylus
445 Herodotus
442 Euripides first gains the prize of tragedy
400 Death of Socrates
With regard to the Roman history it is unnecessary to mark any
dates. So it is with respect to the Italian Republics. Our brilliant
period immediately followed the storms of the Reformation, and the reign
I I O -
119.
of Queen Mary. Hume quotes France as a country in which science, arts
and literature have flourished under a despotic government. But the
splendid era <j>f French Literature immediately followed the civil wars
of the Fronde
As a proof that the arts do not always flourish best under free
governments, Hume says that Raphael established his school of painting
at Rome, not at Florence. But Rome was republican till very near the
time of Raphael.
Footnote -
1. Civil wars of the FRONDE, in France, in the minority of Louis XIV.
(1648-52), during the government of Queen Anne of Austria and
Cardinal Mazarin, between the followers of the court and the nobility,
and the parliament and the citizens. The latter were called
FRONDEURS (slingers), it ie said, from an incident in a street
quarrel. In a riot on 27 Aug 1648, barricades were erected in
Paris. (Haydn's Dictionary of Dates I876)
Requisition for a public meeting Respecting the Queen 105
Sunday November 5th 1820
Greek Exercises C21 and 22
Lucian's Dialogues 9 and 1 0 - 1 and 2.
Remainder of Geometry in Button's Mathematics.
Sismondi's Italian Republics C29 to 32.
Half 2nd Vol. Hobhouse's Letters from France
Sunday November 12th 1820
Greek Exercises C23 to 26
Lucian's Dialogues 3 and 4
2 first theorems in trigonometry
Sismondi's Italian Republics C33 to 35
Remainder of Hobhouse's Letters from France
2nd Volume of the Sketch Books.
I have been very much occupied the last three days in procuring a
Requisition to the Mayor - for a Public Meeting to petition the House
of Commons against the Queen's Degradation Bill. On Wednesday evening
I receive a note from Mr Fullagar, asking whether I and my political
associates "would be willing to join in such a step. I carried this
note to Mr Freeland, who said he would do as I did. I then went to Mr.
Fullagar's and said Mr Freeland and I would sign. The next morning
(Thursday) I called again on Mr Fullagar after breakfast, and found he
had engaged Dr. Williams to go to Mr C. Smith 'and persuade him to head
the requisition, to which Mr Smith consented. In the course of the day
we obtained above fifty signatures, mostly very respectable, Dr. Sandan
and W.and S.Hack were included. Friday morning Mr. Williams signed.
Footnote -
1. Probably Charles Hewitt SMITH, Alderman of Chichester; later of
NYTON HOUSE, ALDINGBOURNE.
We called on Col. Brereton1; by the desire of Mr. Smith, who said 106
he thought it only a proper mark of respect. Col. B. said he was
surprised that Mr Smith should send us, knowing as he did his sentiments.
We have since learned that Col. B. has represented us as having attempted
to pass a scurvy trick upon him, in having applied for his support in
106
3. 4.
favour of a meeting to thank the Duke of Richmond, Lord Egremont and
Lord Selsey^for their votes (which was the first object specified in
our requisition) when the real purpose was to petition against the
Bill of Pains and Penalties, to solicit for an investigation into the
proceedings of the Milan Commission (the second and third objects in the
requisition). The truth is that he expressed himself so decidedly
against the first and last objectionable part to him of the plan, that
we should have deemed it little less than an incivility to go on to the
other parts, and therefore took our leave without entering further on
the subject.
Today an answer is received from Wm. Ridge, the present Mayor,
who happens to be in London,stating that in consequence of the Bill
being withdrawn in the House of Lords, he supposes the meeting will be
unnecessary. We propose to call together the requisitionists, to
consider what is to be done.
November 18th 1820
I have been looking over some "Travels in England, by a Frenchman"
which I read some years ago. Mr. Malthus refers to this work, see
Additions to his Essay on Population, p.92, for some striking observations
on the comfortable appearance of the labouring classes in this
country. These observations are scattered and not easy to collectj but
some may be found in Vol. 1st at p.184, 221, 256, Vol. 2nd p.62, 86, 213,
283, 297.
Footnotes-
1. Col. Wm. BRERETON (1752-1830) of Chichester.
2. SMITH, Charles Hewitt, Alderman of Chichester.
3. Charles Gordon Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond (I79I-I860) High
Steward of Chichester. Minister for Ordnance Dept. 1820-34.
4. George O'Brien (Wyndham) 3rd E^l of Egremont (I763-I837) F.R.S.
S.A. Lord Lieut, of Sussex.
5. Henry John (Peachey) 3rd Baron Selsey of Selsey (I787-I838).
Capt. R.N. (1811). F.R.S. (1817). A Whig.
Simond's Travels in England 107.
There are also in this work some curious remarks on the state of
political feeling in England. "Foreigners, who read some of the party
oublications which swarm from the English press, and particularly
Cobbett, conceive, certainly, very erroneous opinions of the real state
of things. I believe, in America, with many others, and I know that
several persons at the head of the American governments believe now that
England is on the eve of a revolution, which, it is supposed, will free
them from her maritime pretensions; and if it is possible to be thus
deceived in a country so similar to England, what must it be in France,
where no adequate idea can be formed of party exaggeration?" "There is
not another government in Europe who could long withstand the attacks
to which this is perpetually exposed. The things published there would
set on fire any other heads in the world", p.202, 203.
M. Cottu makes a similar remark. "Rien ne peut donner une idee de
1'insolence de tout ce qui s'imprime, si ce n'est la license que voua
avons cherche a peindre au temps des elections. Ces dergglimens, si
permisibles, s'ils ne sont pas meme necessaires a la solidite de la
constitution Anglaise dans laquelle ils entrent comme elements, sont ce
qui trompe le plus les etrangers sur l'etat de 1'Angleterre. Quand on lit
certains pamphlets, ou qu'on entend parler de certaines scene tumultueuses,
on s'imagine, au dela des mers, que tous les proprietaires des •
trois royaumes sont en emoi, et se regardent conune les victimes prochaines
- 1 1 2 , '
119.
de la ferveur populairej on se trompe etrangement. lis voient passer
avec un froid dedain la foule seditieuse, et leur seeurite est telle
contre 11imprissance des agitateurs, qu'ils se sentent moins^irrites
contre eux que disposes a gemir sur la misere qui les porte a de si
deplorable exces". De 1'Administration de la Justice Griminelle en
Angleterre p.202, 203. See also p.153 and p.252.
November 18th. Store at Del Quay let to Wm. Baglehebe 63 Fenchurch
Street - £10.
Illumination about the Queen 108
Sunday November 19th 1820
Greek Exercises C27-28
Lucian's Dialogues 5~6
Finished the chapter on Trigonometry in Hutton's Mathematics.
Sismondi's Italian Republics. C36-37. ,
Half of the 1st Vol. of Simond's Travels in England *
On Tuesday a meeting of the requisitionists was held, pursuant to appointment,
at which it was agreed that another letter should be written to the
Mayor; to desire him still to convene a common hall, though one of the
objects of the requisition was at an end. I alone dissented from this
conclusion, on the ground that I knew that some of our most respectable
supporters were now averse to the holding of a public meeting, since the
withdrawing of the bill. Neither of the Hacks, Dendy, Freeland, Gobley
or Mr Smith were present.
On M0nday, the preceding day, a general^illumination took place in
honour of the overthrow of the Bill. Sowton 'and Dendy went round to get
subscriptions for illuminating the Cross, instead of the houses; they
raised about £13, but the people would not be satisfied with such a
substitute. By the middle of the day it became generally understood that
the town would be lighted up, and as soon as it became dark, candles were
pretty generally displayed at the houses both of Whigs and Tories. Most
of the clergy lighted. There were many, however, who did not choose to
belie so far their opinions, and their windows were' for the most part,
violently assailed by the mob. Walking out to see the spectacle, I had
passed through all the four principal streets without meeting the
slightest appearance of a riotous
Footnotes -
J. Simond, Louis 1 Journal of a tour and residence in Great Britain
during 1810 and 1811, by a French traveller.
Edinburgh I8I5. (Plus edns. in French 1816 and 1817)
Chambers Literature 1854.
"M. Simond, a French author, who, by familiarity with
our language and country, wrote in English as well as in his
native tongue, pub. in 1822 a work in two volumes - Switzerland;
or a Journal of a Tour and Residence in that Country in the
years 1817, 1818 and I8I9. M. Simond had previously written a
similar work on Great Britain, and both are far superior to the
style of ordinary tourists".
2. Sowton, William, attorney.
— 1 1 —
luy.
temper till I came to N°rthgate, where a considerable number of houses
were dark, and the mob was pelting them unmercifully. I felt very
angry, thinking that we who had been active in getting the requisition
signed should be accused of stirring up the people to mischief, and I
accordingly attacked some of them whom I saw with stones in their
hands pretty fiercely, while shaking one fellow by the collar, however,
the rest came round and hustled me so much that I was forced to let
him go, and to leave them to their sport. The windows of B. Freeland,
Mr Raper 'and Genl. Nichols were almost completely demolished in the
lower story. Some ruffian was ferocious enough as I hear, to fire into
the deanery with slugs, and Mr. Holland told me that while .sitting in
the parlour with his wife and child, although he had lighted, a stone
was thrown in which struck him on the hand. On the other hand, in some
respects the mob showed a good deal of moderation. I had only two
panes broken, James and William Hack each one, though none of our
houses were lighted. The same was the case at Mr. Fitzherbert's; the
gardener came out and told the people that none of thg family were at
home, and they accepted the excuse. Mr. Wm. Gruggen,'junior, having a
child ill, put up a ticket with "Sick" written upon it at the window,
and they respected this notice, though they broke the windows of his
father, next door.
The next morning the magistrates called a meeting of the inhabitants
at the council chamber and swore in a number of special constables,
including many of the respectable inhabitants, to prevent the repetition
of any mischief the following night. I among the rest was decorated
with this new honour, which I was not unwilling to accept as a further
proof of my disapprobation of the riotous proceedings of the preceding
evening. I was glad to find, however, that either from the report of my
adventure in the street, or from other causes, the tories did not
appear to look on me as at all implicated in the blame attached to the
people.
Footnote-
1. Robert RAPER, solicitor, partner of J. B. Freeland
2. William GRUGGEN, Surgeon and apothecary.
Simond's Travels in England 110.
An answer was received on Saturday from the Mayor, saying that
one of the objects of the former requisition having dropped, he could
not with propriety convene a public meeting, without a new one. A
second meeting of the requisitionists is to be held tomorrow evening to
take this subject into consideration.
There are some exceedingly curious and interesting remarks at
p.233 and 244 of Simond on the situation of the United States. "It is
not uncommon", he says, "for American labourers to use in the course
of the day a pint of rum, and many of them a quart". "This daily dose
of poison costs from l/- to 2/- Stg., i.e., at least l/4th of the
labourer's earnings, and equalises things between him and the European".
"The apparent prosperity of the United States during this unexampled
period of 18 yrs. of war, itself at peace with the whole world, has
advanced with giant strides. Large towns have started up suddenly; the
population, without owing its increase to this circumstance, has been
concentrated, and great wealth has been acquired. Such are, in ordinary
cases, the sure foundations of social improvements and refinements,
luxury and leisure, new wants and ambition. The process seems, however,
to have been pushed too rapidly and is likely to stop at the first stage,
wealth and luxury, a field may be over-manured, and the rank crop go to
decay before its maturity", p.245. The Author then states that in 180?
the exports of the United States were, in value 24 millions - in tonnage
1,397,000, those of Great Britain at same period - 34 millions. In
tonnage, less than the American. He .adds, "Since 1801 the United States
have had a philosophical administration", which however "under pretence
of securing to trade an abstract freedom, sacrificed the real and substantial
freedom it enjoyed", by declaring war against England. Then
- I I / , -
119.
follows a curious anecdote of Genl. Jackson, in a debate 20 years before
on the abolition of slavery. He was a southern member of Congress, and HI
said, "Give us our Negroes, and we will allow you your Quakers". The
author then gives an account of the origin of the Federalist and the
Antifederalist; or English and French parties. The latter, he says, is
much the most numbers, but the former has on its side a decided majority
of the talents, the wealth, and the gentility (perhaps the morality) of
the country. Most of the Veterans who bore arms against England during
the revolution, are now of the English party. Even Washington was
openly denounced by the French party during his life. "It is now nine
years since the reins of the United States fell from the weak hands of
the last federalist who can have any chance of holding them till a
separation takes place". "Rich and populous as the American States are
destined to be, in an extraordinary degree, their power will never be in
any proportion. The American States are bound, not united, by the
federal government, bound like different horses to the same car, one
before and the other behind." Moreover, whether united or disunited,
"the Americans will ever feel an aversion to taxes; they have not a
sufficient number of destitute individuals to fill the ranks of the
army, or to man their navy; or a government strong enough to make the
people pay and fight. Every new generation comes into life to enjoy it,
to increase and multiply, in peace and obscurity, in abundance and
security, and have at the call of nature alone, a life of content,
undisturbed by either raptures or torments, exposed to few sacrifices, as
well as spent without much glory. It is impossible to become acquainted
with the interior of families in England without discovering a very
different state of things"."This universal principle of activity
constitutes the strength of England. Whether it secures private
happiness is not so certain. Placed as England is, she must be great and
glorious, or perish. The people of the United States may be weak and
happy with impunity, and remain so, in spite of themselves, for a century
to come." p.253.
Public Meeting about the Queen 112.
Sunday November 26th 1820
Greek Exercises C29, 30.
Lucian's Dialogues 7
Sismondi's Italian Republics C.38
Remaining half of 1st Vol. of M. Simond's Travels in England. 1.
Edinburgh Review No.55. Art.5- On the Foreign Policy of England
Again very much engaged about the intended public meeting. On Monday
evening another meeting of the requisitionists was held as proposed.
Mr. Smith was in the chair, it was agreed to sign a new and amended
requisition, relating to the thanking the peers who also voted against the
Bill only 1 leaving out all mention of the Milan Commission. A requisition
to this effect was accordingly signed by all those present, except Dendy
and Freeland, who objected to the form of a vote of thanks. The following
evening an answer was received from the Mayor, saying that he could not
consistently with his duty to his fellow citizens generally, accede to our
request. Accordingly we have inserted a notice signed by seven householders,
in the Hampshire Telegraph and Brighton Herald announcing a
meeting at the Swan on Tuesday week.
The article in the Edinburgh Review mentioned above is very curious
and important. I think I must have passed it over when first published,
as I do not remember to have read it before.
Footnote-
1. Page title "Foreign Policy of England" but article entitled -
"Interesting facts relating to the fall and death of Joachim Murat,
King of Naples - the capitulation of Paris in 1815 - and the second
Restoration of the Bourbons - original letters from King Joachim to
- l i C -
the author, and of his persecution by the French Government.
Second edition.
By Francis Mac Irone, late Aide-de-Camp to King Joachim, Knight
of the Order of the Two Sicilies. London I8I7.
Edinburgh Review March I8I7. p.106-125.
Duke of Clarence - Dr. Lushington ~ Queen's Procession
Sunday. December 3rd 1820
2nd Vol. Simond's Travels in^England
Looked over part of Godwin's 'Reply to Malthus
On M°nday I went to London and returned yesterday. Tuesday called
at Easthope's. He tells me that the allusion to one of the royal family
in Dunnan's late speech on the Queen's degradation Bill, referred to
something said by the Duke of Clarence in a public company, viz. that
the late king had an improper attachment to his daughter in law - and
that it was this improper attachment which induced him (Geo.3rd) to take
the princess's part when an accusation was preferred against her some
years ago. Easthope also says that he has the means of knowing, that
the present queen has in her possession a letter in the Duke of Clarence's
handwriting, addressed to the person who went out with her when she left
England, saying that if he could contrive to seduce her, it would be
conferring an important service on the king.
Called on Dr. Lushington. He thinks the Whigs are coming into
power, but apprehends there will be no dissolution of parliament. Says
that they (the Queen's Counsel) are in possession of the most unquestionable
evidence that the influence of government was employed to gain a
majority in the division on the late Bill of Pains and Penalties. Lords
voted for it, who declared, up to the evening of the preceding day, that
nothing should induce them to do so.
Same day went with J.J. to see some Chinese Jugglers, in Leicester
Square. Wed. saw the Queen go in procession to St. Pauls, from a shop
in Fleet Street. Paid 7/~ for a place on the occasion. The newspapers
say that one and two guineas were paid for places in some situations.
Went as soon as the procession had past to call on G. Long. Returning,
it was some time before I could get out of the Temple, all the gates being
locked but in. It was said some 5000 special constables were sworn
in on the occasion. Happily all passed off very quietly.
Footnote-
1. William Godwin (I756-I836). A dissenting minister and prolific
writer; a zealous political reformer; Pub. "Enquiry concerning
Political Justice and its Influences on General Virtue and
Happiness, 1793. 1794 pub. first novel "Things as they Are, or the
Adventures of Caleb Williams." He combatted opinions of Malthus
on population (1820) and then wrote "History of the Commonwealth".
Simond's Travels in England
Friday, meeting of Executors at Clapham.
In the second volume of Simond, at p.203 to 214, are some just ant}
valuable remarks to show the comparatively trifling importance of Colonies
and foreign trade to national prosperity: to that of England in particular,
also a good account of the situation and past history of our lndian Empire
f l A -
At p.297, is a very admirable estimate of the manners and form of
government in England, compared with France and America. It should
be written in letters of gold.
Godwin's is a very inferior work]' full of pretension and
emptiness. Nothing can be more shallow and sophistical than his
reasoning. I have met with only one or two things new and curious.
One the Swedish Census p.158 et seq; another the facts scattered here
and there indicating the populousness of the world in veryancient
times.
J. Janson has given me some useful hints for the speech which I
shall be called on to make on Tuesday, in seconding the motion for a
vote of thanks to the Sussex Peers who voted against the Degradation
of the Queen . I have arranged the substance of that speech in my mind
pretty completely. It will be to the following effect. A bold thing
to acknowledge that I have prepared it beforehand. But I have not
learnt it off. My object in writing it down is to get the connexion of
the several parts properly settled, without binding myself to the form
of expression.
Gentlemen
In supporting the motion which has just been submitted to your
consideration by my friend Mr. F. I shall not think it necessary to
fatigue you by entering into any examination of the mass of disgusting
evidence taken before the House of Lords; disgusting, not to persons
entertaining any particular class of political sentiments alone, but to
well meaning persons of all parties, and all descriptions.
Footnote-
1. Wm. Godwin's an "Inquiry Concerning the Power of the Increase in
the Numbers of Mankind". Chambers Literature 1854 calls it "A
treatise very unworthy of the author of "Caleb Williams".
Public Meeting about the Queen
I shall not think it necessary to touch on this branch of the subject,
because it really appears to me that the Question of the guilt or
innocence of the Queen does not bear with any considerable weight on that
which we are today to consider. This is not a mere personal affair - if
it were, the people at large would hardly be called on to express their
sentiments upon it, however exalted the rank of the parties. It is an
affair which involves some of the highest constitutional questions which
can engage our attention, and concerns some of our dearest interests.
Gentlemen, when I am called on to act or speak on matters of national
concern, it is my earnest wish to lay aside all the passions and prejudices
of party, that I may inquire, with calmness and impartiality, what best
will contribute to the welfare of the people, and the security of the
state. However strong our private feelings may be on the political
questions which come before us, it is our duty to control those feelings
with our utmost force, that they may not interfere with the simple,
unbiassed exercise of our judgments. This rule I will endeavour to
maintain today. I will endeavour to speak on this momentous business,
with as much coolness as if it related to the events of some distant age
or country, rather than as if it came home directly to our bosoms. If
by this means, I interest you less, I hope I shall convince you more.
The Queen has been accused of adultery with a foreigner. This is a
crime not punishable by the existing law. By the ancient Statute of
Treason, to violate the wife of the King is placed on the same footing
with conspiring his death. The word violate has been construed to
extend to any illicit connection, whether with or without force. The
Violater or Seducer of the Queen is guilty of Treason as principal;
the Queen herself, if consenting, is guilty of Treason as accessary.
But when the principal is a foreigner, not amenable to the law of
England, the Queen is not guilty, because, says the law of England,
where there is no principal there can be no accessary. Under these
circumstances ministers
Public Meeting about the Queen
resolved to bring in a Bill to meet this particular case, to degrade
the Queen from her royal dignity, and to separate her from her royal
husband.
Now the first question that we have to consider is this -
Supposing the Queen guilty of the crime laid to her charge, whether it
would have been most conducive to the honour, happiness and morality
of the nation to allow her guilt to remain in obscurity, or to expose
it, in all its deformity, to the gaze of the people of England. Let
us see what ministers say in justification of their proceedings. In
the first place they allege that when the highest penalties of the law
were denounced against the infidelity of a Queen with a native, it never
could be intended that infidelity with a foreigner should be left unpunished
altogether. This appears plausible enough. But why was the^
seduction of the Queen declared treasonable. Because, says Blackstone
(and I believe all the legal and constitutional writers hold the same
language) because it may bring into doubt the legitimacy of her issue,
and so an uncertainty may arise with regard to the true successor to the
throne. And, accordingly, he continues, when the reason ceases, the
rule ceases with it, for to violate a queen dowager is no treason. Now,
it is needless to say that with a Queen more than fifty years of age,
the succession to the Grown could not possibly be endangered. This
therefore affords no justification to the late proceedings.
What other reasons have been brought forward to justify those
proceedings? I have heard only one, and that one I confess I hardly
understand, the preservation of the public morals. I say I hardly
understand this reason, because it is well known that if ministers had
not erased the Queen's name from the liturgy, she would have been, at
this moment many hundred miles distant, and it passes my comprehension
how the example of the Queen of England, while residing at Milan or
Naples,
Footnote-
1. Sir William Blackstone (I723-I780) Lawyer and poet. Pub.
"Commentaries on the Laws of England"1765.
could affect the state of morals at home more than the example of any
foreign princess. I should be glad, seriously, to ask ministers, or
their partisans, whether they think the example of the Queen at a
thousand miles distance likely to do as much injury to the delicacy
of the female character in England, as the publication of those
obscenities which for some months past, have issued from the daily press.
I cannot then conceive any ill consequences that would have
ensued from suffering the Queen to remain unmolested. The ill
consequences that have ensued from the late measures are great indeed.
I will not insist on the mischief arising from the indecency of the
evidence, because that has already been made a subject of general
observation, and is indeed of such a nature as to force itself on
everyone's notice, but there are other mischiefs, of no less magnitude,
I think, which have been less commented on, Bills of Pains and Penalties
are remedies never to be resorted to but in cases of the most pressing
necessity, because they violate some of those fundamental rules of
jurisprudence on which the security of our lives and liberties and
- i I S -
119.
properties essentially depend - those great rules of jurisprudence
are familiarized to your minds by our system of public jury trials.
You know how carefully the law has guarded against even the suspicion
of partiality on the part of the jury. You know that every man put
on his trial, has a right to exclude, by challenge, any individual
juror whom he may know, or believe, to be interested or prejudiced.
You know how carefully they are secluded from all communication after
the opening of the case till they have delivered their verdict. You
know that they are sworn to do justice according to law. Need I
point out to you that all these precautions and securities, deemed,
and justly deemed by our ancestors, essential to the upright administration
of justice, need I point out to you that all these
precautions are necessarily abandoned when parliament assumes the
functions of a jury. Need I call your attention to all the indirect
motices which inevitably interfere in such case with the simple
dictates of justice; family connections, party prejudices, private 118.
attachments or animosities and similar interests of every kind. Can
you wonder that the result is at last often rather a test of political
power than of guilt or innocence? And can you avoid seeing how
perniciously such a perversion of justice in the highest court of
judicature in the kingdom must operate on the moral sense of the
whole community.
I am aware that when it is necessary to bring a Queen to justice
no inferior tribunal has the power to try a person of so exalted rank,
and the assumption of the judicial functions by one or both houses of
parliament is in such cases a necessary evil. But though a necessary
evil, it is still a great evil, and therefore nothing short of the most
weighty and irresistible reasons can justify the bringing an individual
of such rank to trial at all. There is another way in which the late
proceedings form a violation of the great principles of justice. The
Bill of Pains and Penalties was what is technically called an ex post
facto law, i.e., it was a law to punish p ast, instead of future
offences; a proceeding which has always been deemed eminently unjust.
Why indeed do we submit to the enormous inconveniences of a most
complex and expensive system of jurisprudence, when these inconveniences
might at once be removed by bothering the judges to decide every case on
its own merits, by their unassisted sense of natural equity, like the
Caliph Hasrun Abraschid in the Arabian Nights. Why do we continue to
submit to these inconveniences, unless it be to preserve inviolate this
great principle, that laws shall be fixed, known, and clearly defined
rules, laid down previously to the commission of the offence.
Gentlemen, I have admitted that extraordinary emergencies may
sometimes justify the assumption of the judicial functions by parliament.
But there is another part of the late proceedings which no circumstances
can ever justify• I mean the employment of the weight and influence II9
of government to procure the condemnation of our individual common
justice, and indeed common decency requires that when a member of the
legislature is sitting in the capacity of a judge, no practice should
be made on his hopes or fears to influence his decision. What should
we think of the verdict of a jury, if it not only comprised the friends,
the relatives, the dependants of one of the litigating parties, but if
he were introduced into the jury box during their deliberations, to
entreat, to promise, to threaten, and to employ any means of influence
in his power to give a verdict in his own favour? Should we not
pronounce the whole proceedings a mockery of justice?
There is yet another mischief, flowing from the late proceedings,
scarcely of less magnitude than those to which I have already adverted.
Those proceedings have undoubtedly lessened that respect for persons in
exalted stations, which is essential to monarchical governments. It is
not possible to degrade a Queen without lessening the reverence of the
people for royalty. It is not possible, in this country, ever to make
the attempt without giving rise to :a great deal of recrimination. Indeed
the language which has been employed by both sides on the late occasion
is such as must shock every lover of his country. Here = those persons
who apply to persons of the highest rank epithets too gross for repetition,
have they considered the tendency of such language? If we are to have an
- U S -
119.
hereditary monarchy, it is not possible that our sovereigns or their
wives will always be wise or virtuous. But their dignity must be
maintained in some way or other, or royalty must cease to exist.
Those who have to venerate the Constitution of their country will shut
their eyes as much as possible to the vices and follies of persons in
the highest rank, when such vices or follies do not interfere with
public liberty or safety. They will act like Shem and Japhet, when^
they took a garment and went backward to cover the nakedness of their
father. To expose the crimes and weaknesses of crowned heads to the
contempt and hatred of mankind was the vocation of the French Jacobins. 120.
But the Jacobins were consistent, because they aimed at extirpating
monarchy from the face of the earth. In those who profess to see and
acknowledge the advantages of kingly government, such conduct is
absurd and not only absurd, but highly reprehensible.
In order to clear themselves before the people of England, ministers
must show that some great public mischief would have ensued from leaving
the Queen unmolested, and allowing her name to remain in the liturgy.
Some mischief so great as to overbalance all the evils which have
resulted from their late measures; as to overbalance the injury to
public morals from the indecency of the evidence, the injury to public
justice from violating the great rules of jurisprudence, the injury to
monarchical government from holding up a Queen to open infamy. This is
the case which ministers must make out in order to justify their conduct
in the view of the people. How they will establish such a case it
exceeds my ability to conjecture. But let me go further and ask, has
the manner of the late proceedings been such as to indicate that they
were actuated by a pure love of justice, and a conscientious desire to
guard public morals from contamination. If they were actuated by such
motives, why did they not pursue that course which every honest man
pursues when he hears reports circulated unfavourable to the character
of another? Why did they not sift these reports to the bottom by a
full and fair investigation? Why did they not seek for evidence in
favour of the Queen's innocence, as well as evidence in favour of her
guilt? Why did they bring to the bar of the House of Lords witnesses
whom they might have ascertained to be destitute of all regard for
truth by examining any of the rest of the CJueen's suite? Why did they
inundate us with indecency day after day, when they might have ascertained
that the greater part of those alleged indecencies had no
foundation in fact? How could they allow an agent of
Footnote-
1. Jacobins, the original name of the Dominicans, formerly a powerful
religious order (called in France, Jacobins, and in England, Black
Friars) founded to put down the Albigenses and other heretics
by St. Dominic, approved by Innocent III in 1215, and confirmed
by Honorius III in 1216, under St. Augustine's rules and the
founder's particular constitution.
The Jacobin Club (first called "club Breton") consisted
of about forty gentlemen and men of letters, who met in the
hall of the Jacobin friars, at Paris in October I789, to discuss
political and other questions. Similar societies were instituted
in all the principal towns of the kingdom. The club was
closed 11 Nov. 1794. (Haydn's Dictionary of Dates,I876).
~ I 2 0 -
119.
the Milan Commission to travel over the country offering rewards to
whoever would s wear an act of impropriety against the Queen? Really,
it is painful to be obliged to ask such questions, with regard to men
of rank, and education and character. But there is still one part of
the history of the Milan Commission, which appears to me more afflictive,
and humiliating than all the rest; that is that an English judge should
have been selected as the instrument of these unworthy proceedings.
Could no courtier have been selected for this purpose, no dependant of
the executive government, already accustomed to the work of political
corruption, that the sacredness of the judicial character might have
been saved from so lamentable a stain? Surely this last refuge of
public integrity, unsullied hitherto even by the breath of suspicion,
might have been spared the ignominy of participating in such a transaction.
Unhappy are we indeed, if the retired simplicity and quiet
dignity of our judges is to be debased and dishonoured by employing
them as the servile instruments of the Court.
Gentlemen, from these painful topics I turn with unmixed delight
to the more immediate object of our present meeting, the conduct of our
Sussex noblemen. We have been too apt to look on the House of Lords as
implicitly devoted to the will of the Crown. We have been too apt to
look with distruct and suspicion on a branch of the legislature, which
has proved itself, at various periods of our history, the firmest
support of our happy Constitution. Ministeres, too, it appears, entertained
as low an opinion of the upper house of Parliament. They
calculated in carrying through that house with triumphant majorities,
measures which would have been resisted with indignation by the Commons.
In that calculation they have happily been disappointed. Three fourths
of the hereditary nobility, those I mean who derive their titles by
birth from their ancestors, voted against the late proceedings. We have
seen there yet exists in England a generous and high spirited nobility
who have not forgotten the lofty sentiments of their ancestors, who are
not unworthy decendants of that ancient, proud and virtuous aristocracy,
whose temperate firmness laid the wide and deep foundations of our
constiutional liberty. Most gladly then do I second the motion for a
vote expressive of our respect and gratitude to those Peers by whom the 122.
late Bill was opposed, and may this event prove an omen of happier
times. May it prove an omen of the perfect restoration of that cardinal
attachment, that affectionate confidence between the higher and lower
classes of society, which formed, in earlier ages, the proud distinction
of England, which has secured to us unimpaired the free Constitution of
our ancestors, while, in all other European monarchies, the mutual
jealousies of the nobles and people have enable the Crown alternately
to employ each party against the other, and at last to involve them
both in one undistinguishing servitude.
Gentlemen, I am unwilling to conclude without saying a few words
on the circumstances under which this meeting has been convened. I need
not mention that a requisition was sent to the Mayor, requesting him to
call a Common Hall; with which request he refused to comply. Now as
there was nothing unconstiutional or any way objectionable in the object
of the meeting, as the requisition was very respectably argued, and was
known to express the sentiments and wishes of at least nine-tenths of
the people of Chichester, it is evident that the only motive of the
refusal was to repress, as far as possible, the expression of the
popular enthusiasm on a subject of national concern. But I would
seriously entreat the gentlemen who concurred in that determination
(for I do not regard it as the individual act of the Mayor) to consider
that although this popular enthusiasm may sometimes prove inconvenient,
vfhen it happens to run counter to their own sentiments, yet it is from
this very cause, from the lively interest taken by the people at large in
all public questions, that the prosperity, power and greatness of England
immediately spring. It is not a mere Constitution on paper that ever
made a nation great or glorious, it must be written in the hearts of the
people before it can influence their conduct, or contribute to their
welfare. Even our noble institutions, our parliaments, and our free 123.
press, are chiefly valuable as they serve to keep alive the public spirit
of the people, and to convey to the government their sentiments of the
questions of the day. These great ends are not less effectively
_ I 1 J _
answered by public meetings, loyally convened and decorously conducted,
than by the other institutions I have mentioned. Such meetings are
liable to abuse, no doubt, and so is every other blessing that Heaven
has bestowed on us. V/e cannot enjoy the advantages of liberty without
submitting to its occasional inconveniences. It is to be regretted that
those who do not consider the energy and genius, the domestic virtues
and unrivalled glory of England worth purchasing at the expense of a
little price and contention, do not emigrate to some other part of the
world where they might enjoy at their ease the blessed tranquillity of
despotism. .And aftrr all, this boasted tranquillity is no more than the
deceitful calm which preceded the ravages of the tempest. Those ill
humours, which in free countries find their natural and constitutional
vent, are repressed under arbitrary governments by the strong hand of
power. But this repression only causes them to rankle more deeply in
the hearts of the people. There they silently accumulate, till some
accidental sPa.rk causes them to explode with fatal violence. Does anyone
doubt this? Let him read history. Let him read the history of
almost any period; of almost any nation, and he will find abundant facts
to confirm my assertion. Common Halls and County meetings, convened to
petition for the redress of grievances, were most appropriately termed
by Burke the safety valves of the Constitution. Such meetings are not
less ancient or less recognised parts of the Constitution than the
existence of Parliament itself. If the observations made on such
occasions are not always very wise, or very profound, it signifies
little, for such meetings are not entrusted with any legislative
authority; their purpose is to interest and inform the people at large
on matters of national concern. In proportion as they are attended by
persons of property, sense and education, of all political parties,are
their proceedings likely to be more respectable, more decorous and. more
conducive to the purposes which they are intended to serve.
Public Meeting about the Queen
Dec. 6th 1820
I was less satisfied with my own performance yesterday, than on
any former occasion when I have had to soeak in public. On meeting my
audience, I felt instantaneously that I had not pitched my reasonings
to the level of their comprehensions, and from having prepared my speech
with considerable care, I was the less able to turn my ideas into a
different channel. Add to which from the want of any opposition, I felt
less warmed with my subject than usual. I omitted a good deal, and
that of the very parts that pleased me best in the composition, because
I felt their tone was too high either for the audience, or for my own
state of excitement. Those parts I have lined in the margin, or the
principal of them.
The meeting was not very numerous, I should estimate them,between
200 and 300. Neither of the Hacks, nor Freeland, Dendy, Dr. S. .
Mr. Fullayvr spoke exceedingly well. I hear today that Mr. Smith, who
was in the chair, was very well pleased with the result of the meeting.
Sunday. December 10th 1820
Greek Exercises C 31. Lucian's Dialogues No. 8.
Sismondi's Italian Republics C39 and 40.
Two articles in Journal de Physique, viz. Flangergues '
on the Heat of the Solar Rays, and Dulong and PetiP'
on the Measure of Temperature and Communication of Heat.
Mills's British India ' G 1 and 2. Book 1.
Footnotes-
1. Dr. SANDEN (1751-1840) joint founder of Chichester Infirmary.
2. FLANGERGUES, Honorei "Memoire sur le mouvement et la figure
des oudes" (I789).
- | 2 1
3- DULONG and PETTITi Dulong, Pierre Louis and Petit, Alexis Therese, ,
who jointly pub. "Rescherches sur la mesure des temperatures et
sur les lois de la communication de la chaleur" (Paris 1818)
4. Mill, James (1773-1836)1 History of India, 6 Vols. I8I9.
"Mr. James Mill's History of India" is, indeed, of a higher
(than Charles Mills's histories of Chivalry and of the Crusades)
character, being clear, well-digested, and of a philosophical tone
and spirit". Chambers Literature 1854.
To M. Cauvin
My dear Abbe,
It is a long time since I received your last letter of the 7th
Septr. and I have many times determined to answer it, but have waited in
constant expectation of having something better worth telling you. On
receiving your letter, which came to my hands at Clapham, I immediately
called on Mr Stewart and learned from him the particulars of the circumstances
which led to your exile from Nice. I was glad to find that
Mr Stewart's account confirmed the impression which I received from your
own recital; that you had acted throughout with temper and propriety in a
very trying situation. Indeed I could scarcely regret the inconveniences
you have sustained (inconveniences, you see, I call them, not sufferings)
persuaded that they will serve to fortify all your good resolutions, and
render you a still fitter instrument in the hands of Providence for the
great work you have undertaken. On one point only can I find room to
accuse you of imprudence t L think it would have been better to defer the
introduction of the New Testament into the School, if disagreable to the
Abbe de Cassole; and time would probably have worn off his prejudices
against the measure.
On the same day, before going to Mr Stewart, I called on Mr. Wm.
Allen, to inquire in what other part of Italy he thought your services
would be of most value; if you found yourself excluded from Nice. Mr.A.
said he thought a great want of masters existed in Tuscany, but expecting
in a few days to see the Marquis Pucci, a Florentine nobleman, he promised
to make inquiry of him on the subject, and to let me know the result,
which however he has not yet done. Afterwards I had a letter from Mr.Obins
saying that Lady 0. S. wished you to take charge of her school at Villa
Franca. If you should find yourself thwarted and your usefulness abridged
under the Sardinian government, there will be abundance of situations in
other parts of Italy, where your talents and exertions may have a wider
scope. Do not forget to write to me and let me know what you are doing,
and when I hear from Mr Allen, or from Mr. Robt. Forster, to whom I have
also applied, I will send you word.
Radiation of Heat
As you mention two or three schools in the neighbourhood of Nice that are
in want of funds, I inclose ^ou a credit for ten pounds(£5 from myself and
£5 from my sister Miss W.S.) 'to be applied in whatever way you think it
may be of most service, but I dissuade you strongly from any future
attempts to establish schools in places where there are not local funds
adequate to their support. It is impossible that the English can maintain
schools in all the villages of Europe, and we think it much better to
establish one such institution as a model in each large district, and then
leave the system to work its own way, than to waste our strength in
I Z 3
exertions of detail. The new mode of education is spreading rapidly all over
the continent. I sent you a report, with another little book of my own, by
a family going to Nice two months ago, directed to the care of M. la Croix,
to whom I also address this letter.
December 14th 1820 I have supposed (p.96 bottom) that the air in the
higher regions of the atmosphere, is cooled by the radiation of its own
particles. But this is encoutnering a needless difficulty. The particles
of air being exceedingly minute, acquire from the direct action of the sun's
rays only a very small proportion of heat, agreeably to my experiments (p.45).
Those particles near the earth are heated by direct contact with solid bodies.
Sunday 17th December 1820
Greek Exercises C 32 and 33
Lucian's Dialogues No. 9. Ex Flut. Apophs 1 to 9
Sismondi's Italian Republics C4l to 43
Mills's British India C3 to 5, §1 and CI to 4, B2.
Keats' "Lamia and Other Poems".
Re-perused the two articles in the Journal de Physique,
extracting the greater part of the tables and most
important of the general laws resulting from the various
experiments.
Footnotes-
1. Presumably his sister-in-law Maria Woodrouffe Smith who married
George Head in I833.
2. Keats, John (1796-1820)1 his second vol. "Lamia, Isabella, The
Eve of St. Agnes and other Poems", pub. 1820.
Time Employed in studying Greek
The article by Du Long and Petit appears to be of great value and interest.
The most important papers on the subject, I should apprehend, that has appeared
for many years. If the accuracy of the observations is to be depended on, it
sets at rest some of the most important questions relative to the radiation of
heat. It does not in any way trench on my speculations, but will I think
prove of use to me in further inquiry.
Keats seems to be one of the cockney poets, of which I was not aware from
the article in the Edinburgh Review. The volume contains, like other volumes
of the same school, beautiful gems of poetry here and there, amid a torrent
of unintelligible nonsense.
December 22nd Estimate of the time that I have spent hitherto in studying
Greek.
Feb. 13 to Feb. 27 2 weeks
Apr. 2 to June 14 11 11
June 25 to July 2 1 11
Sep. 3 to Nov. 26 12 11
Dec. 3 to Dec. 22 _2
22
11
Upon an average I think I have not spent more than two hours a day, that is
in the whole 290 hours, supposing five working days in every week, which is
as much as ought to be reckoned, since I never study Greek on Sundays, and
few weeks occur in which one day at least is not interrupted. Supposing
then that I had studied two hours a day, I might have learned as much as I
now know in less than a month. J.J.'s calculation, therefore was very
moderate, when he estimated that in two months, by very close application,
a person might attain such a knowledge of the language as to read it with
the help of a dictionary, for I can do that with tolerable facility already.
Yet Mr Foster, the Essayist, considered J.J.'s estimate quite extravagant,,
he thought that a person could not, with the closest application,learn
I 2 4 -
enough to understand the Greek Testament under two years.
Deputation to the Neighbouring Lords
Sunday December 24th 1820
Greek Exercises G 34 and 35
Plutarch - ex Collectanea S10
Sismondi's Italian Republics C44 - 48
Mills's British Jndia C5 and 6. B2.
Rumford's Essays.' Essay 7 and 8
On Monday I went with Mr. C. Smith, Mr. Cobley and Mr. Fullaggr, to present
the address of thanks voted by the inhabitants to L«rd Selsea 'and on Tuesday
to present similar addresses to the Dukes of Argyll and Richmond. By the
two dukes we were very graciously received, by Lord Selsea somewhat cavalierly.
Sunday December "31st 1820
Greek Exercises C 36 to 38
Collectanea - Plutarch Sll and 12 - Xenophon.
Sismondi's Italian Republics 049 - 53.
Mill's British India C7 - 10, 53 •
Quarterly Review No. 47.
Hobhouse's Defence of the People, in reply to Lord Erskine.
Sunday January 7th 1821
Greek Exercises C39 and 4o
Anacreon Car 1 to 5
Sismondi's Italian Republics C54 to 59
Mill's British India CI, B34.
Report of the American Secretary of the Treasury, Relative to
the Situation of the Chartered Banks in the United States.
Footnotes-
1. Rumford, Count von (Sir Benjamin Thompson) (1753~l8l4). Born Massachusetts.
Harvard schoolmaster. Major in a provincial regiment. Imprisoned for
lukewarmness in the cause of liberty 1775* Sailed for England. Employed
Colonial Office. Scientific experiments and wrote paper on cohesion
of bodies. F.R.S. 1779. Under-Sec. for Colonies I78O. Returned to
America as lieut.col. G.Ill's American Dragoons. 1784-1795 in service
of Elector of Bavaria. Carried out important reforms, made Count von
Rumford and kntd. 1784. Introduced improvements in Dublin hospitals
and workhouses 1796. Inaugurated in London many social reforms and made
mechanical inventions to ameliorate domestic life. Discoveries on
cooking and fuel. £1000 to the R. Society for the purchase of medals
1796 and to the American Academy. Estab. professorship at Harvard under
his Will. Founded R. Institution London 1799. pub. essays. Died at
Auteuil. Pub. "Principles of Bridges" 1772. "Math. Tables" 1785 and
similar works. abridged "Philosophical Transactions" I809.
No doubt a misspelling f°r Selsey.
3. George William, 6th Duke of Argyll (I766-I830). Perhaps staying
with Duke of nichmond.
4. James Hill (1773-1836). Pub. History of India I8I9. Elements
of Economy 1921.
Hill'3 History of British India
I find the third Book of Mill's India quite unreadable. It treats
of the history of the Mahometan Conquerors of Hindustan, and consists of
a very brief and dry detail of their wars, unenlivened by any general
views of the influence of those changes on the state of society, or the
future of the world. A historian ought not to attempt giving a narrative
of events which his plan does not permit him to explain sufficiently in
detail to impress their circumstances on the mind of the reader. It is a
pure waste of time and labour, for few persons can read such barren
abridgements, and fewer still retain them in memory. The writer, under
such circumstances, should content himself with stating the general
results, referring to other services for the facts on which those results
are founded. Few historians, I think, have understood this part of their
business better than Robertson.
Mr Mill brings avast store of various information to bear on every
subject of which he treats, yet he is not a pleasing or a very superior
writer. He is a philosopher of the Bentham school, and has most of the
faults of his master, without his prodigious acuteness and originality.
He has the same dogmatic style of laying down trite propositions in an
abstract form as a basis for the particular observations which are to
follow, and a still more arrogant contempt for all preceding reasoners,
particularly those who have not adopted the jargon of the mechanical
school to which he belongs. He never seems content to be simply
inquiring and narrating, but is incessantly thirsting after an argument
with some adversary, accordingly the whole of the second book, instead
of simply comprising a sketch of the manners and institutions of the
Hindus, as it professes, is thrown into the form of a disputation,^in
which the author's purpose is to show how exceedingly Sir W. Jones-'and
other writers have overrated.
Footnote-
1. Sir William Jones (1746-1794) Oriental scholar, poet, lawyer.
1793 embarked for India as a judge of the Supreme Court at Fort
William, Bengal, and knighted. 1.784 toured India and wrote The
Enchanted Fruit, or Hindoo Wife and a Treatise on the Gods of Greece,
Italy and India. 1794 translated the Ordinances of Menu, or the
Hindoo System of duties, religious and civil.
Report of the American Secretary on the Banks of the United
States
the state of Indian civilisation. Mr. Mill does not even advert to the
very obvious point, that nothing short of his excess of enthusiasm could
have induced men of superior talent and information to devote themselves
to the irksome, but useful, task of investigating the manners and superstitions
of India. This everlasting argufication is very tiresome, and
communicates to the work a striking air of hardness and asperity.
The report of the American Secretary is an interesting document,.
interesting chiefly on account of the light which it throws on the causes
of the late fluctuations experienced in Great Britain. The war with this
country, which began in 1812 was followed, it appears, by an increase of
the circulating medium in the proportion of 99 to 62 (p.234 or p.?)
— I '1 6 —
in the interval between 1813 and I8I5. In 1814 a suspension of payment
took place in most of the banks (ib). The exchange with England continued
to fall till the middle of 1816, p.7. Since that period the amount of the
circulation has rapidly diminished. In 1813, it is estimated at 70 millions
of dollars, in 1815 at 110 millions, at the close of I8I9 at 45 millions,
p.8. "As there is no recorded example in the history of nations of a
reduction of currency so rapid and so extensive, so but few examples have
occurred of distress so general and so severe as that which has been
exhibited in the United States". Many more passages occur to the same
effect as these. Now nothing can more forcibly show that our debt and taxes
are not the causes of the present distress, when equal distress has been felt
in America, where the debt is small and the taxes light.
Constitution of the East India Company
January 10th 1821 Mill employs a curious and somewhat striking argument
to show the Heedlessness of any apprehension of the mass of the people
usurping too large a share of the functions of government. He observes that
in the East India Company the executive authority (the Court of Directors)
though entirely dependent on the general courts of proprietors, by whom they
are annually elected, have drawn to themselves the whole business of legislation,
and reduced their constituents to a nullity. A similar result, he
further observes, has taken place in the administration of the Bank of
England. "Nor", says he, "will the circumstances be found to differ in any
joint stock association in the history of British Commerce". This I believe,
is true, and it is an interesting and curious fact. But then it is equally
true, that in political communities, many instances have occurred of the
overthrow of the executive authority by the people. Whence arises this
difference? Evidently, I think, from the facility with which an individual
holder of stock, if discontented with the system of management, can transfer
his wealth into some other quarter. If our radical reformers could convey
themselves and their property to America with as little trouble or expense,
as little violence to settled habits, as little breaking up of established
connexions of friendship and kindred, as little risk of health, in short
with as little inconvenience of all kinds, as a proprietor of East India
Stock experiences in changing that Stock into Bank, or Consols, we should
not long be troubled by declamations about Annual Parliaments and Universal
Suffrage. It would appear, at first sight, that such a facility of
migration might therefore serve the cause of despotism. I think however,
the reverse would take place. For despotic governments would soon be
deserted by so large a proportion of their wealth and inhabitants as greatly
to reduce their strength and political importance.
Wealth of the Italian Republics
In the Athenaeum (Vol.1, p.576) is an article drawn from Muratori's
Antichita Italiane, on the Banking and Money Lending Trade of the Italian
Republics. The writer of that article (in common,I think, with most
other writers on the same subject) attributes to his trade, which they
consider very lucrative, the great wealth of the Italian States, at that
era, compared with most of the other States of Europe. Surely this must be
an erroneous conclusion. The lending of money, on an extensive scale,
must be an effect, not a cause, of superiority of wealth. The rate of
interest received was, no doubt, high; but there is every reason, I think,
to believe, that it afforded no more than a bare compensation for the
extraordinary risk attending such transactions in those turbulent times.
In this very article from Muratori, it is stated, on the authority of Villain,
that all the banking companies of Florence failed in consequence of a vast
loan to Qiwd. 3 of England, who was prevented from his wars by repaying
it. As a proof that the high premiums afford no more than a moderate
compensation for the risk, see Robertson (Chas. V. Vol. 1. p.l62) who says
that at the time of the League of Cambray, the Venetians, whose credit
was good, borrowed whatever amount they desired at 5 per ct., while the
King of France paid 42 p.Ct. (p.l4o). In note 30, Dr. R. enters
- | 27-
somewhat at large intothis subject; but his conclusions are not verysatisfactory
, or even intelligible. At p.402 he ascribes the high rate
of interest to the absurd prejudices against "usury"; in the next page
he says, "This high interest of money is a proof that the profits on
commerce were exhorbitant; and that it was not carried on to great
extent".
The Florentines appear to have had little of the commerce of the
Bast which enriched Venice and Genoa. They sent their first merchant
ship to Alexandria in 1422. Hallam. Vol. 1. p.538.
Anacreon^'
Sunday January 14th 1821
Greek Exercises C4l
Anacreon Gar.6 to 15
Sismondi's Italian Republics C60 to 62
Mill's British India CI B4
Lettres V M. Malthus, sur diff^rens sujets d'Economic
Politique, par J. B. Say
I am delighted with Anacreon. Having always heard and seen him
mentioned as the Bachanalian Poet, I expected to meet with much grossness
of thought and expression. On the contrary, such of his
compositions as I have read in the Collecfrnea Minora are strikingly
distinguished for delicacy of taste, and display a gentle, joyous
sensibility to the beauties of nature, utterly inconsistent with the
character of a debaucher. See in particular his address to the grasshopper,
which on the whole I think pleases me most.
Footnotes-
1. Anacreon. Greek poet; lived in 6th Cent. B.C.
2. J.B. Say (see footnote p.73)
State of the Arts in the Middle Ages
That period of darkness which followed the destruction of the Western
Qnpire was truly an age of darkness to literature; but it seems to me
doubtful whether the inferior arts, or the sciences, so far as subservient
to those arts, experienced any decline. Very little seems to be known
accurately with regard to the earlier part of the middle ages, as to their
domestic history, but long previous to the era usually assigned for the
revival of letters, many very important discoveries and improvements took
place. Thusi-
In the arts, paper making, quicksilver mirrors, white glass, clocks,
gunpowder. In science, magnetic needle, and chemical discoveries of the
alchemists. The system of arable notation was introduced, if not invented.
The system of Posts by Charlemagne. Banking and Bills of Exchange. To
the same period we are indebted for the origin of the Trial by Jury, and
the Representation of the People, and lastly, as a proof that some
departments of Taste were not unsuccessfully cultivated, I may refer to
our splendid Gothic cathedrals, and I believe to some of our church music.
The present method of noting music is also I believe ascribable to this
period. This is a very curious subject of speculation and deserves
pursuing further.
January 18th 1821 It is curious to trace the similarity of the
metaphors employed by different nations to express abstract notions.
I do not know a more remarkable instance than in the etymology of the word
First in different languages.
- 12V3 -
Greek f l p O Superlative/I T W / X l O 5 or /I PtO T O f
Latin prae primus
English fore - forest or first v
German , erst seems to be formed from the same root as our ere before
or erst formerly
French premier, pre - mis.
Etymology of First, Fore and For
The same analogy precisely prevails in the Welch Gyntaf - first (Evans
Grammar p.68) seems to come from cyn, before; the superlative being
formed in Welch by the addition of af (Evans p.29).
It may throw some light on the mechanism of language, to observe
that in various dialects the same word is employed to express priority
of time, precedence of arrangements and causality. A distinction has
been made indeed between Proe and Pro, in Latin, Fore and For in English.
But that this distinction is purely artificial and of comparatively
recent introduction, may be seen I think by referring to the Compounds of
which these words form a part. The Latin prepositions, indeed, even in
their separate form, and sometimes used interchangeably, i.e., proe
signifies for, and pro signifies before (see Ainsworth). In English we
have forwards. not forewards; and therefore, not therejor. Forth, I
suspect has the same origin, and is not (as Home Tooke'says) from the
Latin Fores, to which it bears very little analogy of signification.
Foris signifies simply without and never I believe expresses motion.
Forth always expresses motion, and never, unless accidentally, expresses
externality. H. Tooke * 'derives For from a Gothic word, Fairina.
Cause; Vol. 1. p.367• In this he seems not to have shown his usual
sagacityi the abstract form Cause, being, according to every rational
view of the constitution of language, posterior in formation to the very
common and almost indispensable preposition For. I should conjecture
fore, precedent in point of arrangement, the original meaning; then fore,
prior in point of time; and lastly, for, because - i.e. what precedes
the effect. I should be inclined to trace them, with the corresponding
German words, Vor. Fur and Fort to the verb Fuhren, to lead, or rather,
I should conceive them to be cognate with the verb FXihren.
Footnote -
1. John Home Tooke (1736-1812), politician and philologist.
Sismondi's Nouveaux Principes d'Economie Politique
Sunday, January 21st 1821
Began 1st Idyll of Bion1"in Collectanea Minora; but finding it more
difficult than I could well manage,2I left it and read 2 first sections
of Delictus Graecarum Sententiarum,
Greek Exercises C42 to
Sismondi's Italian Republics C63 to 68
Mill's British India C2 to 6. B4.
Stewart's Life of Robertson
Sunday January 28th 1821
Greek Exercises C4? to 49
Delectus Graecarum Sententiarum S3 to 7.
Sismondi's Italian Republics C69 to 71
Mill's British India C6 to 9. B4. CI and 2. B5.
Looked over Sismondi's Nouveaux Principes d'EconomieOf this last work
I only read the table of contents (which, however, is exceedingly
copious) referring to such passages in the text as appeared to me to
contain anything new or important. In one respect I was a little disappointed.
There is less novelty than the title would seem to indicate.
The author seems to follow the principles of Malthus with little
aberration, in opposition to Say, and to Ricardo. Some of the passages
119.
are curious, see one at the end of the first vol. on the American
Character. Another passage, in the 2nd vol. gave me particular
satisfaction, from its accordance with my own sentiments on a very
important subject - "Plus le pauvre est denu? de tout, plus 11 est
disposJf £ former une famille. Ceux qui ont vecu au jour le jour
comptent que leurs enfants vivront de meme". p.263» 264.
Footnotes-
1. Bion; one of three Greek bucolic poets; flourished about 100 B.C.
Little of his work has survived except "Lament of Adonis".
2. Means "Choice of Greek Opinions".
3. Professor Dugald Stewart 1 wrote memoirs of Robertson, the historian,
and of Dr. Reid, his distinguished teacher.
4. J. C. L. Simonde de Sismondi (1773-1842) - see footnote to p.82.
Pub. 1819, Nouveaux Principes deconomie politiquej ou, de la
richess dans ses rapports avec la population. Jd. ed. 2 vols.
Geneva. Jeheber.
Causes of the Present Stagnation of Commerce 137-
"La nobless, a qui le pain ne manque pas, loin de s'accroitre,
diminne" p.271.
In Chap 9, B7, the suthor suggests a plan which has sometimes
presented itself to my own mind, that every employer of labour should be
bound to provide permanently for the support of his own labourers. The
work concludes with an eloquent passage, alarming in its tenor, but so
opposite to my own views that it does not make me uneasy. Surely the
Historian of the Italian Republics might have found abundant proof in
his own pages that the destruction and waste of capital does not
permanently impoverish nations, so long as they retain their public
spirit and high sentiments.
The most important fact that I have gained from this work is that
the stagnation and distress prevailing to so great an extent in England,
and the United States of America, extends also to the Continent of
Europe. See advertisement p.4 and 5» with various other passages to
the same effect disposed through the work. There are similar passages
in Say's Letters to Malthus. This is an important feature in the
question. I was disposed, till lately, to attribute the distress felt
here and in America exclusively to the reduction of the paper currency.
But then I have been puzzled to account for the long continuance of
this distress, and its severity. Gold fell to the Mint price in Sep.
I8I9, yet the depression is still very far from having ceased. The
highest price of gold within the last four years was only £4.3 p.oz.,
being no more than 6j per cent above the mint price; yet the fall of
commodities on an average since 1818 I should estimate at from 25 to
35 per Cent. But if the depression of trade, and the fall of prices,
have been felt on the continent of Europe, as well as here, the mystery
is explained. The value of the precious metals themselves must have
experienced a rise; owing either to a diminution in the supply of the
mines, or to the increased demand for these metals to replace the paper
money issued by Russia, Austria, and by this country during the war.
Dinner at Mr. Ricardo's I38.
Thursday, February 8th 1821
Yesterday I returned from London, whither,! went by Monday's coach
29th Jan. Tues. morning I called on Mr Ricardo *, who told me he had
been thinking of me; for he had lately seen reason to accede to an
- t S O -
opinion contained in my first pamphlet - that the employment of machinery sometimes
may lessen the demand for labour. He read me part of an additional
chapter which he is preparing for the third edition of his Essay - explanatory
of the change of his views in this respect. He asked me to dine with him that
evening, to meet Col. Torrens, and another Political Economist or two, which I
gladly accepted. He spoke of a little pamphle£ lately published by Sismondi, in
which he alludes to the article on Owen's Plan,'in the Edinburgh Review, written
by Col. Torrens , and states (i.e. Sismondi) that he understands the article proceeded
from the School of Mr. Ricardo, and was seen by the master before it was
committed to the press. Mr. Ricardo blames Sismondi for asserting what he could
not know, and what in fact was not true; for Mr. R. never saw the paper in
question till after it was published.
4 5.
The party dinner consisted of Mr. Hishart,"Col. Torrens, Mill," besides a
Mr. Boddington 'and a Mr. and Mrs. Dyson, whom I did not know by name. A good
deal ofginteresting conversation took place. Mr. R. told us an amusing anecdote
of Hume.' He presented a petition to the House of Commons a few days before,
praying for the restoration of the Queen's name to the Liturgy, and for the dismission
of in ininters, hi 'he piayi o of which petition he added, "I cordially
concur". When the Speaker desired him to bring it up, he sat himself down
between Vansittart and Lord Castlereagh, and entered into conversation with the
latter. On returning to his own side of the house, Mr. Ricardo asked him, "What
could you find to say to Lord Castlereagh just then?". "Oh", he replied, "I
said to him - My Lord, nothing will do but to get you out".
Footnotes-
1. David Ricardo (1772-1823) the economist.
2. Robert Owen (1771-1858)
Instrumental in bringing about F'actory Act I8I9. G .M .Trevelyan in his
English History 1944 wrote:
"Unfortunately, in the earlier years of the Century, State Control in the
interest of the working classes was not an idea congenial to the rulers of
Britain. They turned a deaf ear to Robert Owen when he pointed out to
them that his own New Lanark Mills were a model ready to hand, to teach the
world how the new industrial system would be made the instrument of standardised
improvement in sanitation, welfare, hours, wages and education, raising
the conditions of working class life to an average level that could never1
have been attained under the domestic system. Let the State, said Owen,
enforce similar arrangements in all factories".
He propounded his scheme of "villages of unity and co-operation" to a great
meeting at City of London Tavern 1817-
3. Col. Robert TORRENS (1780-1864), economist.
4. WISHART - perhaps WISHART BELSCHES (afterwards Stuart) Sir John, 3rd or 4th
Bt. (?1752-1821) of Fettercairn, Kincardine.
R.G. Thome The History of Parliament: the House of Commons, 1790-1820
(London I986) states:- "It is unlikely that this Member was in strict legal
right of the baronetcy which he assumed in 1777 on the death of his mother's
maternal uncle".
Member for Kincardineshire 8 June I797-I806. Clerk for admission of nottars
(S) until 1807; baron of Exchequer (S) 1807 - to his death. Died 4 Dec.1821.
5. James Mill (1773~1836), historian and economist.
6. BODDINGTON, Samuel (1766-1843) of St- Helen's Place, London and 31 Upper
Brook Street, Mdx.
Member for Tralee 17 Jan.1807 - I815. Membership of the King of Clubs
(of which he became Chairman from I808-I8.I9) led to his entertaining
prominent Whigs. His Whig associations were reinforced by the marriage of
his daughter to Lady Holland's younger son in 1824. (See R.G. Thorne The
History of Parliament: the House of Commons, 1790-1820 (London I986).
— / 2,1 —
.138
7- DYSON - possibly either J. Dyson Esq., of 11 New Palace Yard, Westminster
or Samuel Dyson Esq., of 28 Leicester Square, both listed in Boyle's Court
Guides 1820-1.
8. HUME, James Deacon (1774-1842) Free Trader; consolidated customs laws into
ten acts 1825. Member Political Economy Club 1834-1841. Joint Sec.
Board of Trade 1828-40.
9. Viscount Castlereagh. Foreign Sec. 1812-1822. Castlereagh was Irish
Secretary in 1798, at the time of the Irish Republic, and perhaps largely
responsible for it.
He was Secretary for War in 1809 when England lost an army in the expedition
to Walcheren Island, off Holland. He then had a furious row with George
Canning, the Leader of the House and Foreign Secretary, which resulted in a
duel on Putney Heath when Canning was hit.
As Foreign Secretary (1812-1822) Castlereagh organised the Fourth Coalition
(I8.I3) °f Napoleon's enemies, Prussia, Austria, Russia and England. Represented
England at the Congress of Vienna (met in 1814 and resumed after the
Hundred Days), at which it was decided that States bordering France should
be strengthened to act as a check against further aggression; England was
interested mainly in safeguarding her naval and colonial power.
He was Foreign Secretary of a government of stern, unbending Tories - a
period in which the Peter.loo Massacre took place. His cold and reserved
nature made him odious to ardent friends of liberty. Under Lord Liverpool
he bore his burden of the Government as Leader of the House; the
strain eventually became too much for him and he committed suicide.
Mr. Hicardo mentioned that owing to the strange management of the Bank of
Ireland, who have refused to receive gold in payment, sovereigns are at
this moment actually at a discount in that country. "Indeed", said Mr.
Wishart, "I wish that were the case all over Europe". Mr. Ricardo was
so full of Political Economy, that at the moment, he could not comprehend
the joke. A little discussion took place on the Corn Laws. Mr. R. thought
the restriction might be continued so long as the termination of the existing
leases. Mill said there would be just as much distress at the termination
of that period as if the whole were repealed at once. Afterwards he
remarked, "If it were not for the radicals staring our country men in the
face, they would soon sort out our difficulties by sweeping away the national
debt at a stroke. They would not wait to do it gradually", he said to
Mr. R. "As you would with the Corn Bill".
Luke Howard 139
Wednesday 31st Jan. Meeting of Exrs. at Acre Lane, after which
I called at Sir R. Inglis's Saw Lady J. and Lucy.
Thursday to London in Maria's old carriage
Friday to Hornchurch. Walked over J. Knight's farmdid
not see him.
Saturday to Esher - called on Jos Jamesj who walked over
Freelove's farm with me.
2
Sunday 4-th Feb. Dined at Stamford Hill ,' called on Jos Woods
in the afternoon, called before dinner at Luke Howard's, and returned
the volume of the Journal de Physique which he lent me. He was
very kind and offered to lend me any other volume that I might wish.
He says the barometer has not been so high since 1798 as it was last
week, viz. 30.8 inches. I told him that I had found his rule for
calculating the state of the weather remarkably accurate (i.e. by
the moon's declination) and that I began to prophesy to my friends
the returns of rain and sunshine. He said, "Take care, thou*It be
dished" and truly he was right, for the whole of this week has been
beautifully fine, though the moon has been returning from the South
ever since the 30th January.
Footnotes-
1. Sir Robert Harry Inglis (I786-I855). He had succeeded
as 2nd Baronet on 21st August 1820; he has been
previously referred to in this Journal as Mr. Inglis.
He was called to the Bar on 8th June 1818, but did not
practise.
2. Stamford Hill was where Joseph Janson lived. Halsey
Janson lived there later.
~ I —
Marquis Pucci Fall of Prices Abroad
Monday I called on the Marquis Pucci, to whom Wm. Allen gave me an
introduction. I found Robt. Forster has been before me on the subject
of my visit, which was to know if a situation could be found for
M. Cauvin in Tuscany. The Marquis said he could not venture to introduce
a stranger, when so many are in want of employment of their own
countrymen, but he promised to intercede with the Sardinian Charg/
d'Affaires in Cauvin's behalf. He told me he travelled through the
kingdom of Naples in 1819; the agitation of the people was indescribable.
When they became a little acquainted with him and knew he was not
connected with the government they used to crowd round him in the streets
to know what news was to be had from other parts of Europe; and talked
openly of their views and wishes in public, even in the presence of the
officers of government. He was astonished how the state could hold
together for 24 hours. He says the Carbonari are religious and political
enthusiasts, not at all tinctured with infidel opinions like the Jacobins.
I asked him if they expected in Tuscany to be molested by the approaching
war. "Ah", he replied, "indeed that is a thing we cannot tell, it must
be supposed we are not a little uneasy on the subject, none knows how it
will end". "We in TuscanjV', he added, "do not wish for revolutions. Our
government is peculiarly mild and enlightened. We have all sorts of
liberal institutions, open courts of justice, provincial administrations
etc.". "You have then", I said, "civil, but not political liberty".
"Exactly so", he replied, "we have no guarantee, if a sovereign of a
different character should arise, we have no security for the permanence
of our institutions. That is what I would rejoice to see establishedj
but we have already so much, that I would by no means risk it in grasping
at more".
Tuesday, walked to Lambeth to see R.^Middleton. To Carshalton House Jo
tea. Played at chess with Elizabeth 'and with V. Leatham. Asked WFR
how far prices abroad have corresponded in their fluctuations with prices
in England. He thinks that the fall in the last two years has been
general in all parts of Europe, but the same was not the case with the
fall in 1814 and 1815- Wednesday morning walked over to Ewell to meet
the Stage. Rode outside with
Footnotes -
1. Elizabeth (b.l?98) a daughter of Wm. Foster Reynolds.
2. William Foster Reynolds, Quaker Merchant and owner of Carshalton
House.
Mr. Grant Ricardo Plan of New Works
a young man whom I found extremely intelligent and agreeable. His name I
found to be Grant, a Scotchman, he is a purser in the Navy, now on half pay,
but has just procured to be placed in the Channel Service for three years.
He lives at Fishbourne. His mother, an old Scotch woman was in the coach,
coming to see him before he goes away.
Mr. Ricardo gave me a copy of an article on the Funding System;
written by him for the Supplement to the Encyclopoedia Brittanica. He
told me that he has been engaged in writing a detailed examination of
Maithus's last work, going through it chapter by chapter, and pointing out
what he conceived to be the erroneus views of the author. After it was
finished, he consulted Macculloch (the Edinburgh Reviewer) on the propriety
of publishing it. Macculloch advised Mr R. against the publication,
thinking it below his dignity to become the annotator on the work of
another.
Sunday, February 11th 1821
Dilectus Graecarum Sententiarum S 8 and 9
Sismondi's Italian Republics C72
Edinburgh Review No. 68.
- 1 3 4 -
141.
The reading of Say's and Sismondi's new works has awakened an inclination
to write another pamphlet, on the Causes of the present Stagnation in the
departments of Industry. The amazing diversity of opinions on this
question, among the greatest Folitical Economists of the age, affords a
striking rpoof of the present imperfect state of that science. This
scheme, however, I defer till next winter; in the meantime new editions
of Ricardo and Malthus's last work will be published (being already in
progress), and may perhaps throw new light on the subject.
I have also been forming a more extensive plan, to write a Treatise
on the Science of Political Economy at large. This, however, is a
distant prospect. The execution must be deferred till I have had an
opportunity of collecting a stock of facts. A very abundant harvest of
this kind might, I apprehend, be reaped in Germany. In the meantime I
propose to devote myself to general reading and to watch for opportunities.
Mr. Ricardo talks of his formation of a club of Political Economists.
Februairy 13th 1821. Mr. Mill observed the other day at Ricardo*s that
the first edition of Malthus's essay was a controversial pamphlet. That
when he published the second edition, and introduced a third check to the
Increase of Population, over and above his first two checks, Vice and
Misery, he virtually gave up his argument against Godwin. For Godwin
presupposes, as an indispensable part of his plan, a high degree of moral
improvement, and therefore moral restraint may be supposed to exist in
sufficient force, under a better state of Society, to control the excessive
growth of population.
I have often thought that the Form of Government, as laid down and
limited by law, affords a very imperfect criterion of the practical nature
of that government, but I never met with so striking a proof of this as in
the history of Florence. The government, in all its branches, the
Councils, magistrates and officers great and small were renewed every two
months by lot. Is it possible to conceive an arrangement wearing a greater
appearance of absurdity, more calculated to confound wisdom and folly,
virtue and knavery, and in short to subvert all the great ends for which
civil society is instituted. We think Annual Parliaments and Universal
Suffrage a wild scheme for a constitution, but at Florence, all the
inconveniences of that system would seem to have been multiplied a
hundredfold. Yet what was the result. As of all the peoples of Italy,
perhaps of Europe, Florence displayed the most strong undeviating policy,
the most exalted wisdom, the most profound insight into human nature. The
truth is that government though apparently a democracy on the widest basis,
was in fact an aristocracy, and is expressly so called by Sismondi. Vol.9
p.368. How the ruling family contrived to direct the public concerns,
notwithstanding the continual change of magistrates and officers, is not
satisfactorily explained.
A fact which I have since learned from Sismondi, fully removes this
difficulty; so far as the Medici are concerned. Frommthe year 1434, when
Cosmo de Medici first obtained a share in the government, the Balie, it
appears was constantly renewed as often as the term expired for which it
had been appointed. This Balie has consisted in the election of a certain
number of citizens to whom the administration of officers was entrusted
with powers almost unlimited and who selected at pleasure the individuals
to fill the different magistracies instead of their being chosen by lot.
How often, or for how long a period, this Balie existed during the time of
the Albizzi does not I think appear from Sismondi's narrative. Vol.10
p.163 et seq. See also a fact mentioned by Hallam, that a council of 200
was formed in 1411, out of those alone who had enjoyed some of the higher
offices within the last 30 years, through which every proposition has to
pass, before it could be submitted to the two legislative councils. Vol.1
p.536. I have not been able to find any trace of this in Sismondi.
February 14th. A curious article in the Edinburgh Review No. 67.
States that nearly one half of the population of France may be computed to
belong to the class of landed proprietors p.5. We are apt to attribute
this great subdivision of property to the sale of national domains, and
emigrant estates during the revolution. But A. Young says in his Travels
Mai thus and Godwin Constitution of Finance 142.
- —
.142
in France, that previous to the revolution the land was very much sub-divided,
and I have just
Number of Small Proprietors in France mentioned by Machiavel 143
met with a passage in Machiavel, which shows that the same state of things
prevailed in that country atAa much earlier date. "Le meme - peuple de
France est humble et fort soumis, ayant une extreme veneration pour son
roi. Ges petits gens l?t ne font presque point de defense, a cause de la
grande abondance de toutes sortes de choses necessaires a la vie, que Teurs
Terres produisent; et a peine en voit, on de se pauvres, qu'il n'avant pas
quelque moreau d'heritage en propre". Vol. 2. p.398, 399
Sunday February 18th 182.1.
My Greek reading this week has been very desultory, not having met witlji
anything that suits my purpose. The first volume of the Collectanea Majora
is reprinting; that I hope will grove more suitable when I can get it. I
have read a little of Demosthenes,'a letter of Homer, a little of the Dilectus,
but I met with so many passages which check my powers that it is discouraging.
Sismondi's Italian Republics C?3 to 76
Mill's British India - C3 and 4, B5-
A little of Belzoni's Researches and Operations in Egypt and Nubia
Machiavel - Portraits de la France et de 1' Allemagne.
Sunday February 25th 1821
Maithus Cl to 5 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C77 to 80
Mill's British India C5, B5
I have been going through the Theorems relating to the Ellipse in Hutton's
Mathematics, but either from the absurdity of the author, or from my own
stupidity, or want of previous knowledge of his mode of reasoning, I find them
mostly beyond my comprehension. I have, however, succeeded in working the
problems arithmetically, not a very scientific mode.
Footnotes-
1. Collectana Graeca Majora - designed for the use of academic youth with
philosophical notes partly collected, partly written by Andrew Dalzel, M.A.
Pub. by Cadell Edinburgh 1826. The first preface is undated; the preface to
the second edition is dated 1st January I789. The sixth edition apparently
pub. 1809; another edition edited by George Dunbar pub. by Cadell April 1820.
It seems to have been a popular work with fairly frequent editions and
several people contributing to the notes.
The 1826 edition is in two volumes. The first contains Historical Extracts,
Speeches, Philosophy, Miscellaneous and Critical; the second Heroic,
Trajedy, Bucolic, Lyrics, Hymns, Sententiae and Selected Epigrams.
2. Demosthenes lived 384-322 B.B. He left a large number of speeches
of which the "Philippics" are the most famous; they were delivered
during the years 35I-340 B.C.
- I ?>G -
143
Homer; probably his "Iliad" and his "Odyssey".
3. Belzoni, Giovani Battista: Narrative of his Operations and Recent
Discoveries within the pyramids, temples, tombs and excavations
in Egypt and Nubiaj pub. John Murray, London 1820. (See also
footnote for p. 159)-
Error in one of Hutton's Theorems respecting the Ellipses 144
of procedure, certainly; but more calculated perhaps to exercise the
inventive and the reasoning powers than blindly following the steps of
the author; because in every problem I have been left to find out a method
of solution for myself. I have made some attempts, but unsuccessfully
hitherto, to translate my arithmetical computations into algebraical
language.
Yesterday in investigating the 10th Theorem, I discovered, or
fancied that I discovered, a fallacy in Hutton's reasoning, and made out to
my own satisfaction, that the Proposition (viz. that "all the Parallelograms
circumscribed about an ellipse are equal to each other") is true in only one
- / - ^ V —
out of the innumerable cases which the terms of the proposition admit.
Surely this is a strange thing if I am right, a mistake in so elementary
a branch of the science, and in a Book intended for the instruction of
learners. Is the same proposition to be found in other works which treat
of conic sections.
There seems to be a fallacy in the notion commonly received of the
absolute certainty and infallibility of mathematical reasoning. Mathematical
Conclusions are only certain supposing that none of the elements
of the problem are left out in the deonstration, and no extraneous
elements assumed. But of this, from the imperfection of the human
faculties, we cannot always feel implicit assurance. And on the other
hand, if we had this assurance in any other science, as politics or morals,
our conclusions would be as infallible as in geometry. The difference
beteeen mathematical and moral reasoning is in degree tather than in kind,
the data of the questions to be solved being fewer in number, and their
respective values more exactly known in the former than in the latter.
Mr Mill improves greatly as I proceed. The disagreeable peculiarities
of his manner are much less striking in narration than in
dissertation. His manner of relating events is, in general, clear and
interesting. As the transactions in India disclose on all sides no high
aid generous sentiments, no disinterestedness or enthusiasm, the author
is not called upon for any of that glowing eloquence which distinguishes
the historian of the Italian
Increase of National Wealth Since 1790
Republics. Mr Mill's cool and half sarcastic style seems admirable well
adapted to the nature of his subject. He seems to consider the actors in
the scene before him as entirely on a level in point of knavery; and to
understand thoroughly that it is not his business to enter into their
squabbles and mutual recriminations. He seems peculiarly impartial.
February 26th 1821 Dr. Sanders has been so good as to lend me three
works on Conic Sections, Vince, Simpson and Hamilton. On comparing these
I find Hutton is certainly wrong in his proposition concerning parallelograms
circumscribed about an Ellipse. In Simpson and Hamilton, the
Proposition is expressed thus - "Si per vertices duarum dlametrorum
conjugatarum ducantur quatuor tudae ellipsin contingentes; erit
parallelogrammum ipsis contentum aequale parallelogrammo contingentibus
per verticas duarum duarem qua scumcunque aliarum diametrorum conjugatarum".
As thus limited the rule is correct. But Vince falls into the same error
as Hutton. His tenth proposition respecting the Ellipse is "All the
parallelograms circumscribing an ellipse are equal" p.128.
March 2nd It is a question often agitated, how far the increase of
National Wealth during the last thirty years has kept pace with the increase
of the National Debt; and the most contradictory statements are often made
on this point. Two papers, just printed by order of the House of Commons
will I think throw light on the subject. One is an Account of the Total
Capital of the Funded Debt of Great Britain and Ireland, the other is, an
Account of the Gross Produce of the Duties on Stamps on Fire Insurances in
Great Britain. From the former, it appears that between I79O and 1821, the
total unredeemed debt increased from 233 millions to 801 millions; or as
100 to 334. The Stamps on Fire Insurances within the same period increased
from 110 thousand pounds to 609; or as 100 to 553. Now if I can ascertain
whether any, and what increase has taken place in the rate of policy stamps
during this period, it will furnish a view of the increase of property
insured, and if the property insured be supposed to bear the same
proportion as formerly to the property insurable, it will give a pretty
correct view of the increase of National Wealth.
- i
146.
Long on Sales of Personal Property
Sunday. March 4th 1821
Mathew C6 to 8 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C81 and 82
Mill's British India C6 and 7- B5
Sketch of the late Revolution at Naples, b^ an Eyewitness.
About j Long on Sales ofgPersonal Property
1st Vol. Miss Edgworth's 'Continuation of Rosamund.
My friend GL's book is eminently calculated to bring into contempt
the administration of Justice. Strange that so loyal a man should have
written a work of such Jacobinical tendency. But not more strange than
true. If, in any work written professedly to attack our system of jurisprudence,
I had met with such a series of monstrous perversions of common
sense and natural equity; such gross contradictions and absurdities; such
entrenchments of technical pedantry thrown up against right and reason, I
should have suspected the author of misrepresentation, and concluded that
he had picked out the most glaring cases, as well as distorted them by his
manner of relation. But when I met with these things in a book written
for the sober and direct purpose of communicating a knowledge of the law
as it stands, I am overwhelmed with the conviction, that "the wisdom of
this world is foolishness". To enumerate all the instances of injustice
and absurdity would be to copy half the contents of the book. Two or
three instances may suffice.
1st. Perversions of Common Sense and Equity. The judges have laid down
that only the smallest departure from the quality of goods sold, either
as described in the contract, or as shown in the sample produced, vitiates
the argument altogether. See Hibbert v. Shee p.128 and Yates v. Pym p.126.
Now in the sale of sugar by sample, which was the first of these cases, it
is impossible that the colour of the sample should accurately
Footnotes-
1. George Long (1780-1868). Police magistrate. Barrister
Grays Inn 1811. Magistrate Great Marlborough Street police court
1839-41. Recorder of Coventry 1840-42. Magistrate Marylebone
Police Court 1841-59. Pub. legal works.
2. Maria Etigworth (I767-I849); "one of our best painters of national
manners". Started writing approx. 1800. According to Chambers
Literature, "In 1822 she returned to her course of moral
instruction, and pub. Rosamund, a Sequel to Early Lessons, a work
for juvenile readers, of which an eirlier specimen had been pub.
" A further continuation appeared in 1825 under the title of
Harriet and Lucy, four vols."
Absurdities of the Commercial Law 147
correspond to that of the bulk; because sugar cannot be exposed to the
air a moment without losing some of its moisture. So in the sale of
Bacon, which was the latter case, it is extremely improbable that any
considerable quantity of Bacon should be entirely free from taint.
Accordingly, the custom of the dealers in those trades had established
the very equitable and rational arrangements, that a fair allowance
should be made to the purchaser for any accidental defect of this kind
which might be discovered after the bargain was completed, and that he
should not be permitted to avail himself of subsequent fluctuations in
- I 3 C ) -
14?.
the market to rid himself, by chicaning on the quality, of a disadvantageous
purchase. But the Judges interfere, and say that this arrangement
is contrary to law. If so, it only proves that law is contrary to
justice, and to add to the absurdity, it is decided that if the purchaser
of goods neglects to take them away in reasonable time, and after notice,
his neglect does not authorise the seller to put an end to the contract
and sell the goods to another person. See Greaves and Ashlin p.108.
So that I may purchase goods, leave them in the seller's hands till I see
how the market turns, and if it should prove against me, I may avoid the
contract if I can find even the slightest defect, which, in nine cases
out of ten, I believe may be done, and this in other trades, as well as
those above mentioned. Thus corn always improves in the sample; it
becomes drier, and of better colour. It may be safely affirmed that
these decisions invalidate the sale of almost every transaction in every
market of the kingdom.
2ndly. Absurd Contradictions. It is stated to be a maxim of the Common
Law, that fraud vitiates everything: and that a fraudulent contract is
itself void, p.64, and this is carried so far, that the fraud, or even
perhaps the mistake of a third party will put an end to the contract.
Thus "if a broker deliver a different note of the contract to each party
contracting, there is no valid contract". p.ll5» Even an accidental
change of circumstances has the same effect. Thus where sugar had been
sold "free on board a foreign ship" the seller is not bound to deliver
"it into the hands of the buyer, but only on board a foreign ship", ., _
though there may be no vessel ready to receive it; or from changes f^f-o .
abroad the buyer may no longer choose to export it. Yet in Read and
Hutchinson, p.114 "where goods were sold to be paid for by E's bill on
P, without recourse to the buyer in case of its not being paid, altho'
the buyer then knows the bill to be worth nothing, he was not held
liable. "And in Meyer v. Eversh, p.116, "where A exchanged a watch with
B for a pair of candlesticks, which B warranted to be silver, and the
candlesticks proved not to be silver; Lord Ellenborough held that the
property in the watch remained in B, and A could not maintain an action
of trover for it".
3rdly. Technical Pedantry. The Stamp Acts required all agreements to
be stamped, except those of the purchase of goods. But if the goods be
not in existence at the time of entering into the contract, say the
Courts, it is then an agreement for the purchase of labour, and must be
stamped.
No unprejudiced person, I think, can read these decisions and
compare them together without being satisfied that the law, as it stands,
is more calculated to encourage fraud and knavery, than to protect honest
men in the enjoyment of their property. It is not by the law that
rogues are held in check, but by the regard for character, and by the
necessity of keeping up a certain credit in the commercial world. Most
of the preceding absurdities and contradictions seem to rise from the
Judges having usurped the functions of Juries and taken upon themselves
to decide points which ought to be left to the commonsense of men unfettered
by technical rules. The law should simply declare that wilful fraud vitiates
a contract altogether, while accidental deviations should be compensated by
a reasonable allowance. To ascertain whether wilful fraud existed, or if not,
what should be deemed a reasonable allowance, is the proper function of the Jury.
Mathematics. Plan of a Historical Chart /fyl.
A good deal of time this week has been taken up in going through the
problems on the Ellipse, in Hutton. I am sometimes doubtful whether this
is worth the time which it occupies. My principal object in attending to
mathematics at present is to gain a more powerful instrument for performing
the calculations which I may choose to make, particularly those
relating to the communication of Heat, and for this purpose Conic Sections
do not appear to be exactly required. My chief aim is to acquire a
knowledge of Fluxions. But then I doubt whether I should easily comprehend
the rules for performing Fluctional operations without a previous knowledge
- U f O -
1^9
of the more elementary parts of the science. And I am also desirous of
reading Newton's Principia.
March 7th 1821. Whatever is once very completely learned is retained
by the memory with astonishing tenacity. It is thirteen years since I
got by heart the nonsensical motto of the Tale of a Tub. "Basyma cacabasa
eanaa irraumista diarbada cacota bafabor camelanthi", and I have
never forgotten a letter of it, though mere jargon, nor have I ever^
forgotten the declensions and conjugations in the Latin grammar, which
I learned more than twenty years ago. If I had learned these things by
halves, on the contrary, every vestige of them would have faded away
long ago. This shows the great importance of the rule laid down by
someone for his own reading, "Multum, non multa". For want of attending
to this principle I find historical works leave very slight traces
in my memory. It would be nice to set down a few of the leading facts,
with their dates, and learn them by heart. Resolved to adopt this
plan with Sismondi. As I have just finished the ten first volumes, it
may be a proper time to pause and take such a retrospect. I never
carried into execution my plan of throwing the Italian History into the
form of a chart. It was very laborious,and consumed more time than I
liked to bestow on it. But something much shorter and easier might be
contrived on the same principle.
Footnote-
1. Actually he does not appear to have remembered it exactly as it
was written, which was as followsj "Basima eacabasa enaa irraurista
diarba da caeoraba fobor camelanthi". Irenaeus Lib.l. C.18.
Mathematical Reasoning not so Certain as Supposed 150
March 10th 1821. I have been going through this morning the 5th of
Hutton's theorems respecting the Hyperbola, "that the difference of two
lines Irawn from the two foci, to meet any point in the curve, is equal
to the transverse axis". Such lumbering demonstrations as this axe so
far from impressing me with that certainty of conviction which is
supposed to belong to mathematical reasoning; that I feel much less
assured of the justness of the result than in many processes of moral
reasoning. And that I am not attributing to a defect in the mode of
demonstration what arises from the imperfection of my own intellect, may,
I think, appear from this circumstance; that various propositions have
been from time to time received and admitted, and their demonstrations
have appeared convincing to numerous readers, which subsequent investigation
has proved to be erroneous, e.g. the proposition that all the
parallelograms about an Ellipse are equal, given by Hatton and Vina"'.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of readers have gone through that demonstration
without perceiving the fallacy of the reasoning. In other cases, incomplete
and inaccurate demonstrations have been received of propositions true in
themselves. Viz. Prop 36 B.3 of Euclid and Prop 18 B.6. See Simpson's
notes. Now this, though less striking, affords as strong a proof as the
former observation of the imperfection of mathematical reasoning, or
rather of the human faculties, which are incompetent to follow a long and
continuous chain of agreement with the certainty that no link shall be
wanting.
Sunday March 11th 1821
Mathew C9 to 11 in Greek
Mill's British India C8, 9 B5-
Remaining half of Long on Sales of Personal Property
2 vol. Miss Mgworth's Continuation of Rosamund.
More instances of the absurtj: decisions of the Judges in Long,. on Payments to
Agents having a Del Credere 'Commission p.242. At p.245 a curious proof
how far Commercial law deserves the name of a system.
Footnote-
1. Del Credere - "An agent for the sale of goods who, in consideration
of a higher reward than is usually given, guarantees the due payment
of the price of all goods sold by him". OSBORN. The Concise Law
Dictionary 4th Ed. Sweet & Maxwell.
Geological Phenomena at the embouchure of the Po
Sunday March 18th 1821
Mathew CI2 and 13 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C83 to 86
Hogg's Pilgrims of the Sun ' ^slightly)
Cuvier's Theory of the Earth.
In Cuvier are some curious remarks, which very much interested me, on the
gradual retreat of the sea at the mouths of rivers, in consequence of the
continual deposit of soil brought down by the stream. See Section 33•
where the researches of Deluc and Dolomien on this subject are mentioned.
In the time of Homer, it is stated, an open navigation existed from the
island of Pharos into the present lake Mareotis. In the time of Herodotus
the Delta extended in a straight line along the Coast. The cities of
Rosetta and Damietta, built on the Coast less than a thousand years ago,
are now two leagues distant from the sea. An extract is given from a
Memoir of M. Prony, Inspector General of Bridges and highways, from which
it appears that the city of Adria formerly stood on the coast and gave its
name to the Adriatic Sea, it is now 15^ miles distant. The Po formerly
ran south of Ferrara, in the channels now named Po de Primaro and Po de
Volano, inclosing the space occupied now by the lagune of Commachio. It
is said that at Adria, a stratum of earth has been found, mixed with fragments
of Etruscan Pottery, and with nothing whatever of Roman manufacture.
While Roman and Etruscan Pottery are found mixed together in a superior
bed. Both of these beds are far below the houses in Ferrara. The retreat
of the sea can be distinctly traced on the coast of Friezland and
Groningen, where the first dikes were built in 1570. So also in Bremen
and Holstein. These new alluvial lands are of astonishing fertility. In
the department of Landes, it is stated that several villages have been
overwhelmed by downs or sand hills thrown up by the sea, which gradually
encroach on the land and drive before them pools of water.
Footnotes-
1. HOGG, James. "Pilgrims of the Sun", a poem. Edinburgh I8I5.
2. CUVIER, Baron Georges (Jean-Leopold-Nicolas-Frederic-Dagobert)
French naturalist (1769-1832) Professor natural history Coll. de
France I799. Discours sur la theorie de la ferre, 1825. Wrote
many other works. Chancellor U. Paris 1821-27; pres. com. interior
1819-1332.
3. MAREOTIS, a salt lake in Nile delta, cut off by narrow strip of
land on which Alexandria stands.
Character of the Medici
Extract of Letters to J.J. March 17. 1821.
I cannot quite agree in opinion with you and Sismondi respecting-the
Medici. Indeed his account of the Conspiracy of the Pazzi, including his
open apology for assassination, appears to me more objectionable than
anything I have before met with in his work. To promulgate the doctrjne
that private individuals may justifiably employ the dagger to ria their
- I
country of a tyrant, seems to me no less impolitic than the doctrine
itself is unchristian; for it tends to convert every absolute sovereign
into an Excellino, or a Visconti. Besides, even independently of the
assassination, the attempt of the Pazzi seems to have been unjustifiable,
for the Medici, whether wisely or unwisely, were evidently rulers chosen
by the people of Florence, and an individual citizen had no more right to
dictate to his countrymen the form of government they ought to adopt than
the Emperor of Austria at the present day to the people of Naples. The
Medici did not, like some of the Italian signore, seize the government by
surprise, and retain it by the terror of their cruelties, they were always
as Sismondi himself aknowledges, extremely popular, and Lorenzo's noble
offer to submit to exile, imprisonment or even to death, for the sake of
saving his country from the calamities of war (p.122 Vol.11) does not, I
think, receive its due share of honour from the historian. It is true
that a love of liberty cannot avoid a feeling of bitter regret, on
comparing Florence, such as it was in those times, with what it had
previously been, but I see nothing in the circumstances related which
ought to lead to a conclusion that the Medici were the cause of this
unhappy change. I think them rather deserving of the praise of moderation,
for taking so little advantage of the sentiments of their fellow citizens,
than to severe condemnation for having wilfully destroyed the liberties
of their country.
On Tuesday a meeting was held at the School in Tower Street, to
consider of a Petition against Brougham's Biucation Bill . Meeting with
Mr. Fullagar and Mr Hunt, in the street, on Monday, it was agreed between
us that a meeting ought to be convened, in the evening. I therefore
obtained Mr Marshall's leave to make use of the school, and we each of us
gave notice to our own friends of the meeting. About 70 or 80 persons
were present. J. Hack in the Chair. A more Public meeting is to take
place on the same subject on Tuesday next.
1.
Meeting on Brougham's Bill. Age of Trees. Radiation of Heat
Sunday, March 25th 1821
Mathew Cl4 to 16 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C87 to 90.
On Tuesday, a meeting was held at the Schoolroom in Tower Street, as
appointed, and a series of resolutions was agreed to against Mr. Brougham's
Bill. They were proposed by Mr Fullagar and seconded by Mr. Hunt. I
afterwards spoke, and much more to my own satisfaction than 011 a former
occasion. I had made no preparation, but found words flow freely enough
after the^first few minutes. Mr. Hunt attacked the Church with acrimony.
Titchener,'and Davis, Mr. Bliss's assistant went out while he was
speaking. We entreated those who approved of the Bill to express their
sentiments and promised them a fair hearing; but in vain.
An oak is vulgarly supposed to be a century in growing, another
century in perfection, a third in decaying. But I apprehend trees last
much longer than three centuries. Labude mentions a tree in Biscay,
called the Oak of Guernica, under which Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1476,
swore to maintain the laws of the Biscayans. View of Spain ii 345. I
remember seeing an old lime tree, in the town of Fisburg, which is
reported to have been planted by a Swiss soldier, on returning from the
battle of Morat in 1477• It even seems probable that most of the venerable
yew trees, in our church yards, have stood there from the time when
archery was in use, for I think I remember to have read of an ordinance of
William the Conqueror, commanding yew trees to be planted in church yards,
for the purpose of supplying bows to the people. In Lord Holland's park
at Ampthill, I learn from Anna R. are some oaks known to be upwards of
900 years old.
- I l+lb —
Footnotes-
1. Brougham, Henry. 18th Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868).
Galled to Bar. M.P. 1810. Defended Queen Caroline 1820.
Championed the cause of a scheme for National education. The
Charity Commission, appointed at his instance, pub. their
reports on education in 37 vols, folio 1819-40. Helped
estab. London University and first Mechanics' Institute.
Accepted Peerage I83O. (A biography - Henry Brougham 1778-18681
His Public Career by Robert Stewart, was pub. Bodley Head 1986).
In this Robert Stewart explains that everything in Brougham's
character was provocative and paradoxical and that Thomas
Creevey nicknamed him "Old Wicked Shifts", but by Sydney Smith
a former associate on his Edinburgh Review he was nicknamed
"Bruffam".
March 31st. Experiment to determine whether the same difference
prevails in the temperature marked by a small and large thermometer
when exposed to the fire, as to the sun's rays. Bylb of larger thermometer
.55 inc. Smaller ditto .2. External air 49. The two thermometers
stood at 58 when first exposed to the fire. Windows left open.
InQabout a quarter of an hour, the larger stood at gO ; the smaller at
78q. In twenty minutes more the larger stood at 78 ; the smaller at
73 • In the meantime the wire guard had been put on, which accounts
for the reduction of temperature.
Footnote-
1. William TITCHEINER, linen draper, silk merchant and mercer. City
Councillor.
Burgess on the Spirit of the Times
Sunday April 1st 1821
Mathew C17 to 20 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C9I t<j> 96
Burgess on the Spirit of the Times
This last is a curious book. It is composed in the most flaming spirit
of Toryism. There are many passages in it mostly of remembrance. In
the vehemence of his wrath, the writer not infrequently loses sight of
that politic caution generally maintained by persons of his party, and
utters sentiments not very well calculated to promote his own cause.
The Whigs, the Reformers, the Dissenters, the Evangelical Clergy, the
supporters of the Bible Society, are all alike attacked, with every term
of foul mouthed abuse and reprobation. v.p5 and 7. P10 Politics
defended. P13 "Party spirit advocated". PI5 do* and in note, curious
remarks of Aulus Gellius on that law of Solon's "which made indifference
a crime. Lord Castlereagh said "It was only by the honest conflict of
opinions that truth was elicited. It would be impossible for the most
enlightened cabinets to govern a nation without an honest conflict of
opinions" p.15. "Because we approve of their general policy, to suppose
that we are pledged to every particular measure of government; because •
we are ready to meet him on jubjects of confessedly prime and public
importance, to imagine that we must coalesce with them too in every
154.
domestic regulation, is to confess the narrowness of our researches,
and the slender views which we have taken of that large and varying
policy by which Governments, constituted like our own, and eternally
subject to the influence of sinister designs, can alone be preserved"
p.26. "The Dissenting interest has been swelling and rolling itself
out from time to time and using every season of difficulty and public
commotion to the furtherance of its views; and filching here a little
and there a little, and petitioning much, and complaining much, and
threatening much, and receiving much; until at length, feeling its
ground and perceiving how the deluded world is gone after it, it at
once reposeth in its strength and its impudence, and petitions nothing
and demands everything". p.40.
Footnotes-
1. BURGES, George; Vicar of Halvergate who wrote; "Reflections on
the nature and tendency of the present spirit of the times, in a
letter to the freeholders of the County of Norfolk", pp.iv. 362.
Norwich I8I9 (2nd ed. 1820).
2. SOLON. Born 6th Cent. B.C. In Athens by 750 B.C. the office of
king was, as in some other states, nothing more than a name. The
nobles appointed a noble to be leader in war, while another was
chosen as "archon", or ruler, to assist the king in attendingto
the increasing business of the State. Solon was elected as archon
in 594 B.C. and given full powers to improve the evil condition of
the peasants.
Solon proclaimed a new constitution which gave to all a voice
in the control of the States.
He died aged 80 at Cyprus. (See Ancient Times).
ItsST
P.45. Violent abuse of America. P47 We are on the high road of the French
Revol. P6l "The Rudiments of Rebellion are very plainly discoverable in
the political writings of both these great men". Viz Milton and Locke.
P96 Hobhouse, a decisive authority! P97 Hume's authority one which no
Whig will regard with any other than a feeling of veneration". P.97 at
top "Exercises", "growing out of" "Pillars", and serving "to keep away
wolves". P118 Panegyric on Fox. At P105 the author argues that a reform
in parliament would be attended with national ruin, because it would place
the H. of Com. under the control of a dissolute people". At pll2 he says
the people are virtuous, satisfied and like the ministers. P127 Admitted,
though obscurely, that the chief cause of disaffection is distress.
P.129 "Democratical manners have ever been insufferable, and democratical
conduct detestable". PI43 "In what republican state have the people ever
been happy? In none, prositively in no one state of that description,
ancient or modern, have they known what secure enjoyment and domestic
comfort were", ib. "A Republican Govt, is totally irreconcilable with
virtuous habits and modest merit in every rank of life". P144. more abuse
of republics. PI58 "Evangelical Judas's". F171 and 173 Ultras in France
classed with our radicals and Dissenters. PI88 Remarks on the Bible
Society. PI67 Abuse of Heresy. The author forgets that all Protestants
155.
are Heretics. PI 96 Defence of Sinecures. P216 J.J. Gurney at the
Norfolk Meeting. P223 the Whigs have never suffered disorganising
principles to sleep since the Revolution. In the reigns of Geo. 1
and 2. their malevolence never slept, and it is needless to say how
increased in folly and frenzy it is at present". P26l. Government
does not lose itself for want of wisdom or of rectitude, but it is
daily suffering, and the country with it, through an unpardonable
levity". P262 "If Reform be wanted among ourselves, and I believe, to
a. certain degree, no sober person makes a doubt of it, Government shd.
take the business into their own hands". This reform consists lst"in
restraining toleration and the liberty of the Press". 2nd "They must
protect, and to the utmost of their power increase, the middle and
agricultural classes of society, by protecting agriculture and the
Revenues of the church; by a more equal distribution of the Country into 156
Small farms, and by some efficient change in the Tithe System". Lastly,
"they must reduce the temptations to crime arising from immoral finance".
P265 arguments against toleration. Preface P.7- "If our System of
Universal Toleration be not at the root of our national unhappiness,
there is little in these pages that deserves any man's consideration
for a single moment. V/e may pass what laws we please, but while
Salterism, in all its deformity, is suffered to revel through the land,
no laws will long bind any description of subjects to either the altar or
the throne". P279 "A commercial nation is little and pitiful in all its
transactions; alive only to interest 1 to base, mean, compound interest;
interest compounded of all that is revolting to a generous mind".
April 2nd 1821. To Clapham, by the Stage.
3rd. Attended with S de C. the funeral of Katherine West at Barking.
4th. Meeting of Exrs. at Acre Lane. Called on Miss Lamb at Battersea
Rise. Sir R. and Lady Inglis, with Miss Thornton and Isabella are on the
Continent. They set out intending to spend Easter at Rome, but hearing
of the state of affairs in the North of Italy, they stopped at Paris,
where after a stay of ten days, Sir R.I. under the pretence that he wished
to know how the family were going on at Battersea Rise, determined to
return to England. Lady I. would not stay at Paris, so he brought back
the rest of the party to Boulogne, and left them there while he made an
excursion to London. There he remained only one day, and returned, after
being closeted with Lord Sidmouth. I am afraid he is gone on some bad
errand .'. else why so much mystery?
April 15th Went to the Mint, the Armoury, and Regalia at the Tower
with S de C. Miss Lamb and the three youngest Miss Thorntons. I once
saw the Armoury and the Regalia before, more than twenty years ago, and
found my recollection of them very distinct.
April 16th. Went over to Hampstead, to see A.W. who wishes to enter into
a new business, that of a sugar cooper.-^ Overdrawn Mr Buckhead £100, owes
surgeon £16. Drank tea at Wm. Home's.
Footnots-
1. William Home (b.1785), third son of Anthony Home, so a first
cousin of John Barton's.
1.
April 7th Went to the Panorama of Naples. Haydon's Exhibition in 157
Pall Mall. Disappointed in the picture of Christ's agony in the Garden,
the figure of our, Lord wanting in dignity. British Gallery - Belshazzar's
Feast by Martin. ' Splendidly conceived, but rather too ambitious, and
the colouring too red.
Bate says, at last, that he cannot complete the thermometers I
ordered. He finds it impossible to procure six tubes perfectly equal in
caliber, throughout, and of sufficient length. I have therefore directed
him to make them- as nearly equal as he is able, and to furnish me with a
scale of the differences.
April 8th Sunday Attended Wandsworth meeting in the morning, to Carshalton House ^^'
to dinner.
April 9th. Carshalton to Chichester, with Anne and Elizabeth R.
April 15th. Sunday
Mathew C.'"l a •1 \.i n -
"ismondi's Italian Republics C97 and 98^
Miss Baillie's Constantine Palaeologus
Quarterly Review No. 48
April 22nd Sunday
Mathew C23 to 25 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C99 and 100
Shakespeare's Coriolanus
April 29th Sunday
Mathew C26 to 28 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C101
Footnotes-
1. Haydon's Exhibition. Haydon, (Benjamin Robert) (1786-1846), son of a bookseller;
his perusal of Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses rendered him an enthusiast in high
art. His work "Dentatus" did not receive fair play in its placing in the exhibition
which set him at enmity with the Royal Academicians. Several of his pictures were,
however, purchased by amateurs at liberal prices. His debts at length consigned him
to the King's Bench prison, where he painted his celebrated works of the "Mock
Election".
2. Belshazzar's Feast by John Martin (1789-1854), historical and landscape artist;
exhibited R.A. 1812. Belshazzar's Feast 1821. Elected member of Belgian Academy
and given Order of Leopold.
3. Elizabeth Reynolds (b.1798) a daughter of William Foster Reynolds.
4. Joanna BAILLIE (1762-1851); Scottish poetess and playwright. In 1804 pub.
"Miscellaneous Plays" including "Rayner", "The Country Inn" and "Constantine Palaeologus".
"Constantine Palaeologus"was staged under the title "Constantine and
Valeria". Constantine Palaeologus, Emperor of the East - the last emperor of the
Greeks.
Tuesday May ,1st 182.1 On Sunday morning I gode over to Arundel to breakfast, to meet 158
Uncle and Aunt R.L with Esther and Marianne "and invite them to dine and sleep at our
house, attended annual meeting, and then rode home to dinner. Yesterday we all went
in Cavalcades, five on horseback, including the groom. Aunt and the two girls in the
barouche, to Bignor and thence to Petworth. It was my intention to spend the evening
and lodge there, but we found every bed and every stall occupied, owing to its being
the time of Sessions. So the rest of the party made their way to Godalmin, and I
returned to Chichester.
Sunday May 6th
Mark CI and 2 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C102 and 103
J. Janson came down on Thursday May 3rd and returned on Wednesday May 9th.
Friday May 11th
Mark C3 to 5 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C104 and 105
Finished 2nd Chap of Book 6 of Mill's British India
Conic Sections from Hutton, as far as 15th Theor. of the Parabola.
It is thirtytwo davs since I came down last from London. It has been rather
ary^'idle time, owing to our visitors. I have however read
13 Chaps in the Greek Testament
9 Chaps of Sismondi
Footnotes-
1. Probably William Foster Reynolds, brother of Anne Barton's mother.
2. Esther Reynolds b.l?99 and Marianne Reynolds b.1802, daughters of
William Foster Reynolds (I767-I838) younger brother of Anne
Reynolds, mother of Anne Barton.
May 12th 1821 Chichester to Clapham
13th Sunday Dined at Brnor Grove with Aunt .Bigg1'
14th Attended Manor Court at Teddington
15th Call on Mr Ricardo, from whom I heard some curious
particulars relative to the examination of witnesses before the Committee
on the Corn Laws. Mr. Webb Hall was rather impertinent, and was on one
occasion reprimanded.
2
Belzoni's Exhibition '- Water Colours. Dined at Russell Square with
Miss James's.
16th. H. Commons with G. Adjourned debate on Sir
F. Burdett's motion for an inquiry into the Transactions at Manchester.
Very interesting. Heard Hobhouse for the first time, he spoke well.
Sir Francis majestically shaking off all the little paltry arguments with
which the lawyers had contrived to perplex the question like drops from
an eagle's wing. Scarlett spoke calmly and forcibly.
17th Attended annual meeting of B and F School Society.
Sunday, May 27th
Mark C6 to 9 in Greek ^
Parry's Northern Expedition
Sismondi's Italian Republics C106 and 107.
30th H. Commons with E.J.H.M. A.Taylor's motion, respecting
delays in Chancery. Grampound Bill , Brougham's speech on Constitutional
Association. This last very impressive.
June 2nd. To Hampton Court and Teddington.
Sunday, June 3rd
Mark CIO and 11 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C108 to 110
69th No. Edinburgh Review.
Agriculture of Holkham by Dr. Rigby '
Footenotes-
1. Thomas Bigg of Swansea married Susannah Home (I767-I852).
2. Belzoni; Giovanni Battista (I778-I823), Italian explorer and archaeologist;
born at Padua. Came to England I803. 6'7" tall; lived by
exhibiting feats of strength and models of hydraulic engines.
1812 Spain; 181.5 Egypt. Devoted to exploration of Egyptian antiquities
Died of dysentery 011 vray to Timbuktu.
_ -
In this same year (1821) he exhibited in London the tomb of
Nechao, king of Egypt, of its natural size, with all its
figures and hieroglyphics. The figures represented a
procession, including Ethiopians, Jews and Persians. This is
explained in Chron. XXXV. 2 and in Herodotus, who calls
Jerusalem, Gadytis, a large city of Syria. (A Million of
Facts by Sir Richard Phillips. I859).
3. G. Bigg - perhaps brother of Thomas Bigg.
4. Parry, Edward, Gapt. (later Sir E.); carried out expeditions
to find N.W. passage 1818, 1319, 1824 and I827. Although he
failed, he discovered much of interest, including much of the
Esquimaux. Described his 4 expeditions in separate vols, "which
were read with great avidity". ('Die N.W. passage was discovered
1847-48 by Sir John Franklin). Chambers Literature 1854.
5. Grampound, Cornwall was defranchised in 1821 for bribery and
corrupt practices in I8I9.
6. Probably Etiward Rigby (1747-1821) physician; practised in
Norwich. Mayor Norwich I8I5.
Sunday June 10th 1821
Mark C12 to 15 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics^Clll to 114
Mathew's Diary of an Invalid
Lord John Russpl's Essays and Treatise on Brit.
Constitution. '
Sunday June 17th
Mark C16 and Luke CI in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics C115 to 118.
Scott's Paris revisited in iQiy'
Sunday June 24th
Luke C2 to 7 in Greek
Sismondi's Italian Republics^CII9 and 120
Lord Byron's Doge of Venice
On Friday I came down to Chichester by myself.
Sunday July 1st.
Report of Agricultural Committee (evidence not
yet printed).
Lord Byron's letter on "the invariable principles
of poetry".
On Monday I returned from Chichester. On Thursday we went to Carshalton
House to dinner and returned
- uf.q160.
Saturday morning. There I met with a paper of Halley's^'in the abridgement
of the Philosophical Transactions' which contained what I have long been
in want ofj a calculation of the Sun's power in warming the surface of the
earth in different latitudes and in different seasons. I copied out the greater
part of the article. The calculation involves a question of fluxions of which I
am not at present master; but hope to make myself so in the course of the ensuing
winter.
I have been many times to Bate's,^'pressing him to finish the apparatus which
I ordered in September last, that I might try some experiments on the power of the
Footnotes-
1. Mathew's Diary of an Invalid. Probably John Mathews (1755-1826) physician
and poet.
2. Lord John Russell, 1st Earl (I792-I878;. An essay on the history of the
English Government and Constitution from the reign of Henry VII to the
present time. London 1821.
3. Scott John; (Editor of the "Champion" newspaper;: Paris revisited in
1815 by way of Brussels, including a walk over the field of battle at
Waterloo. London 1816.
4. Lord Byron's Doge of Venice.
Marino Faliero of the Doge of Venice - written in Venice after Don Juan.
5. Rev. Wm. Lisle Bowles produced a critical edition of Pope early in the
century;later he fell into controversy with Thomas Campbell and in I8I9
pub. a pamphlet "Invariable Principles of Poetry". Byron wrote, from abroad,
to his publishers John Murray a letter which Murray pub. 1821, under the title
"Letter to XXX on the R«v. W. L.Bowles' Strictures on the life and writings
of Pope." Bowles wrote two more letters and Byron one more; however, as
Bowles had written again in a conciliatory manner, Byron asked Murray not to
pub. his second letter.
6. Hal ley, almond (1656-!742 _). Discovered proper motions of the stars and
periodicity of comets. He financed publication of Newton's "Principia" and
saw it through the press. His study of comets published in his "Synopsis
Astronomiae Cometicae" in 1705- Discovered the aurora borealis is magnetic
in origin.
7. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (Abridged) Vol.Ill
I683-I694 p.576-580. The paper was "On the proportional heat of the sun in
all Latitudes, with the Method of Collecting the Same."
8. BATE, Robert Bretsell, 0. and MIM. (fl.1807-43); 17 (later 20/21) Poultry,
London. Started business approx..I8I5. 1840 firm became Bate & Son.
1822. "Bartlett" Bate (possibly Brestsell), optician of the Poultry, took out
a patent for improvements in hydrometers and saccharometers....He was celebrated
for his nautical instruments, and made an artificial horizon (also made by
W. Gary (1810) which could be attached to any sextant. He also made the
longitude scale designed by D. Thomson (1446;, and in 1840 published the
well-known Practice of Navigation by Henry Raper (1681).
In I832 his firm was appointed by the Lords Commissioners of Admiralty as
their agent for the sale of charts, plans, views, and sailing directions,
published under their Lordships' orders. An announcement of this appointment
- h o -
LOU.
appeared in the first number of the Nautical Magazine, March 1832.
It reverted to J.D. Potter ( I 9 6 6 t h e firm still holding it.
(From the Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England 1714-1740,
by E. G. R. Taylor, C.U.P. I966;.
J. D. Potter of Jl Poultry, London claimed he was a successor of
R. B. BATE, who died in 18435 his trade label read - Hydrometer and
ble
Mathematical Instrument Maker. Chart Agent to the Rt. Hon . the Lords
Commiss-r° of the Admiralty. J.D. Potter (successor to R. B. Bate J
31 Poultry London, Mathematical Optical & Philosophical Instruments &
Apparatus of every description upon the most simple and accurate construction.
(From 19th Century Scientific Instruments by G. L'. E. Thrner (which
includes a photograph of J.B.Potter's trade label from Mid-l9th Century
Science Museum) Sothebys PublicationsI983•
Apparatus for Experiments on the Radiation of Heat 161
Sun's rays during an expedition which we propose making into Wales. The
apparatus was to consist of six thermometers, constructed with the greatest
possible accuracy; and dividing each degree of Fahrenheit into five parts.
And six hollow spheres of brass, of the diameters \ inch, 1, 1^, 2, Z\ and 3
inches to be filled with steel filings, sand or any other substance, to show
the difference of temperature which their difference of size would produce.
I have since added six other spheres of tin, covered with lamp black, and a
frame for supporting them at any angle desired. Bate has not been able to
complete more than two of the thermometers, owing to the difficulty of meeting
with tubes accurately uniform in bore of sufficient length. He will however
lend me some small thermometers of the Common Construction for present use.
The rest was to have been completed yesterday, and we intended to set off on
our journey tomorrow, but some little things yet remain to do - and yesterday
—1 tr 1 —
meeting with Joseph Woods accidantally in George Yard, he offered to give me
a letter to a friend of his at Ruthin, a friend who has been pressing him to
come down to Wales on a visit. So I offered to convey him, which after a
little discussion was agreed on, and as he has some engagements the beginning
of this week, we defer our departure till Thursday.
Sunday July 8th
Abernethy on Local Diseases^"
Leslie on Heat (slightly)
On Monday I received a note from Joseph Woods, saying that on returning to
Newington he found his mother so alarmingly ill that he must give up all
thoughts of going with me into Wales. We might therefore have set off on our
journey before.
Footnotes-
1. Abernethy, John (1764-1831) Surgeon. F.R.S. 1796. Lecturer on anatomy
and physiology College of Surgeons 1814.
2. Leslie (see footnote for p.73).
Departure for Wales
the intended time, but Bate had not yet finished the apparatus; keeping me in
daily and almost hourly expectation of reciving it. On Tuesday and Wednesday
I went to London, chiefly for the purpose of inquiring after it. Wednesday
afternoon it was not done, but he promised certainly to send it that evening.
The last coach came, however, and no parcels. So on Thursday morning, I got
up at six, walked to London and requested the apparatus might be sent for
from the workman, while I waited in Bate's shop, whether finished or unfinished.
Fortunately all was done except covering the tin spheres with lamp black, which
I can complete myself. I then took a hackney coach, drove down to Clapham, and
at a little before eleven we were in the carriage, on our way to Uxbridge. We
arrived at Oxford the same evening. (Roebuck). Next morning we renewed our
acquaintance with the Bodlian library and picture gallery. Under the school
of Athens is a tolerable Claude, but by no means equal, in my estimation, to
some of those in Mr. Angerstein's collection, or in the Louvre. Are not connoisseurs,
or professed connoisseurs much too apt to take for granted that every
production of a first rate painter is necessarily fine. Certainly it is not so
in the sister arts of poetry and eloquence, of which I can judge better than a
painting. The superiority of Claude and other landscape painters I think I can
quite perceive and appreciate, so far as relates to his productions. But then
I see many Claudes which strike me as inferior to the better works of Vernet,
or Turner,^or Glover. I recognised the style of Claude, and Reubens and Sir
Peter Lely.' I think too I can generally distinguish the portraits of Vandyck
and Holbein. There is in this gallery a very fine portrait of Charles the
Twelfth of Sweden, which I remember
Footnotes-
1. Claude French School 1600-1682
Vernet French School 1789-1863
Turner Eng. School 1775-1851
Glover Eng. School 1767-1849
Rubens Flemish School 1577-1640
Sir Peter Lely German School 1617-1680
Vandyck Flemish School 1599-1641
Holbein, Hans H ii 1498-1554
Oxford
struck me ten years ago; and just by, one of Frederick William of Prussia, which
forms a fine contrast to it. One a stupid, unfeeling German in buckram; the other
all fire and genius and romance. Revisited also New College, Chapel, Christ Church
Hall and Cathedral.
- I < 2 -
6th July 1821 Oxford to Woodstock (Marlborough Arms). Visited Blenheim,
worse than I supposed, either from report or from recollection. Nothing can
well be more removed from that simplicity which is essential to greatness in
architecture. It is a perfect hodge potch-jof turrets and windows and columns
of all sorts and sizes. Sir John Vanbrugh seems to have studied how many
possible combinations of curves and angles he could produce in stone, and this is
called the Grecian Style. I think seriously it would be more a-propos to call
it Chinese. It is true the proportions of the columns, and the ornaments of
the mouldings are copied from the remains of Grecian Art, but these are merely
adventitious. The general desigrt, the complexity of the plan, the multitude
of small and incongruous parts; in short the air of littleness which pervades
the whole edifice, bears far more analogy, I am sure, to a palace in Pekin than
to anything I have seen of Greek origin.
I slandered Rubens when I accused him of making all his pictures of a brick
dust red - some of those at Blenheim are very beautiful in point of colouring.
Called on the three families of Atkins at Chipping Norton, slept at
Shipston (the George).
7th July Shipston to Birmingham. Passing through Stratford went to look at
the house where Shakespeare lived. The late occupier, said to be a relative
of the poet's, was only a renter and has
Footnote-
1. Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726)
been turned out of the house by the landlady, who it seems was covetous of the 164
profit which arose from the numerous visitants, and the late tenant has now
set up an opposition on the other side of the way, displaying on a board in
front, "The true relics of Shakespeare to be seen here, and nowhere else" etc.
These relics consist in an arm chair, a gold fringed cloth etc. which the landlady
across the street pronounces to be spurious. All this is a little
humiliating.
July 8th 1821 We intended to see all that was to be seen in Birmingham
yesterday afternoon, but this we found impossible, and have therefore determined
to remain till tomorrow. We saw however the show rooms of Mr. Thomason, a manufacturer
of this town, and were much pleased with an enormous vase which he has
constructed in metal; an exact copy of the antique marble vase at Warwick, ten
feet high, and twenty one feet in circumference. The ornaments are of bronze,
the rest of iron. It stands in a room by itself, built for the purpose, and
is intended to remain there, a monument of the taste and magnificence of the
proprietors. The woman who showed it told me it cost £4,000 or £5,000.
It has occurred to me that the Theory which I have formed relative to the
causes of the cold mountains will serve to explain the formation of rivers.
If the summit of a mountain is colder than its surrounding air, it must condense
part of the moisture which that air holds in solution, and this continual
condensation accounts for the abundant springs which issue from such elevated
spots. If on the contrary, the mountain were cooled by the air, condensation
could not take place, and it would be impossible, I think, to explain whence
such a copious supply of water is derived. Rivers seem to be the offspring
of mountains. The Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po have their source in the Alps, 1 .
the River of Amazons and of Plate in the Andes, the Ganges from the Himala,
the Nile is said to issue from the mountains of the Morn. Is there any
instance of a River taking its rise in a flat country?
To ascertain whether the surface of a mountain is not colder than the
ambient air, a thermometer with a metallic bulb should be employed, because a
thermometer suspended near the surface of the earth does not measure the
temperature of the atmosphere above, but is influenced also by radiations from
or to the ground, also let a dry sponge be placed on the bare rock, on the
shady side of a mountain, and see if it does not imbibe moisture from the air
in that situation.
Monday July 9th Visited the Lancasterian School. The children appeared attentive
and intelligent. We then went to the National School, which is not fardistant
. The schoolroom is a large building, the ground floor used for a boys'
school; the upper story for girls, the ascent by an outside geometrical staircase
of iron, which makes three or four revolutions. The pupils appeared
decidedly more inert than in the rival institution; their performances were
very indifferent. — / 5"3 —
165.
From the schools we went to Mr. Thomason's manufactory, where we witnessed
a great variety of ingenious machine processes in plating, moulding silver and
copper, jewellery and button making. The proprietor requests in his engraved
cards, that no visitor will distribute money among the workmen, but that whatever
they please to give may be put into a box provided for that purpose, of
which the contents are appropriated to the relief of the sick and infirm. This
is a pleasing arrangement; but it was still more pleasing to see the alacrity
and even delight which the workmen appeared to feel in
Birmingham Mr. Witts
displaying and explaining every part of their business, and this when they could
not expect to gain anything by doing so, after the express request of their
proprietor, that visitors should abstain from offering them any money. I made
some inquiry of the woman who conducted us round, and of the master of the
Lancasterian School, respecting the present state of the labouring classes in
Birmingham. I learned with great pleasure that few hands are at present
unemployed; trade has been gradually reviving for more than twelve months, though
it is still far from being as brisk as it was during the war. We took notice of
a considerable number of good houses to let in the streets.
On entering into the workshops at Mr. Ihomason's, I was equally surprised
and pleased to meet with my old friend Dr. Witts, of Berlin, from whom I received
my first lessons in German, three years and a half ago at Nice, and whom I have
not heard of since that time. His son was with him; an agreeable young man,
apparently almost twenty. Much mutual congratulations took place, and in leaving
the manufactory they went home with us to the Royal Hotel, and partook of some
dinner. The present state of things in Prussia is less alarming, he says, than
it was two or three years ago. He himself was often accused of imprudence by his
friends for having expressed an unfavourable opinion of the leaders of the
democratical party in an account of the education of his son which he published.
So I found he was a sort of loyalist, and perhaps like other loyalists, he has
his private reasons, for he receives a salary from the State as a Minister for
which he does no duty. But he confessed that the King has given great cause for
dissatisfaction to his subjects, by refusing to make good his promise of granting
them a constitution.
Golebrook Dale 16?
We left Birmingham a little after three, and called at Soho,1'hoping to have
seen some part of the manufactory of Boulton & Watt,"but were disappointed to
find it is no longer shown to strangers. From a few miles beyond Soho, to
Wolverhampton, the face of the country is truly extraordinary. The road passes
along the skirts of an extensive valley, which is set with steam engines, smelting
houses, and coal pits, almost as thickly as a wooded country with trees. As far
as the eye can penetrate into the dense mass of smoke, all appears alive with
buildings, and moving machinery, and tall chimneys vomiting flame. Immediately
on quitting Wolverhampton, where the coal district ceases, the scene suddenly
changes to a pleasing, rural, tranquil prospect. The suddenness of the transition
is truly extraordinary. We slept at the Tontine Inn at the Iron Bridge
of Golebrook Dale. Here we again entered on a coal district, and found the
same accompaniments as before. Hie Severn passes through a fine, wooded, deep
valley, which is quite beset with coal pirts and iron works. I walked out after
sunset, on to a hill across the river, just opposite to Bedlam Ironworks. *
Four large heaps of burning coal (for making coak) and two smelting houses, were
roaring, and glowing with great brightness, their fires beautifully reflected in
the stream beneath, and the twilight just serving to show the vast clouds of
smoke which rose from them, slowly rolled down the valley by a light northerly
wind.
Tuesday. July 10th 1821 Golebrook Dale is a vail ley of wonders.-"'* Just
opposite the Inn, on the western side of the river, is a small flour mill,
turned by a stream of water so diminutive, that the iron pipe in which it is
conveyed cannot I think exceed six inches in diameter. But to compensate for
the smallness of the supply of water, „the water wheel is of an enormous size,
upwards of 40 ft. across.
- 1 H —
Footnotes -
1. Soho. N.W. Birmingham? still recognisable area; British Rail's multiple
unit servicing point is called Soho Sidings.
2. A sale of the furniture in Taw fork, Oxfordshire, was held in May I987,
much of which was made for Mathew Robinson Boulton, by the regency craftsman
George Bullock, in Boulton*s workshop, at Soho. Mr. Boulton*s father,
Mathew Boulton was a partner with James Watt, the inventor of the steam
engine. The furniture sold for very high prices.
3- Tbntine Inn was built by the same group of people who constructed the Iron
Bridge; it was opened in 1783 or 1784, 3 °r 4 years after the bridge. The
principal inn in the area, it was a staging post for coaches serving the
area. It is now known as the Tontine Hotel.
4. The site of the Bedlam Furnaces, constructed in 1757, is incorporated in
the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, and the furnaces are at present being
excavated.
5. The Ironbridge Gorge was the scene of the remarkable breakthrough which
led Britain to become the first industrial nation and workshop of the
world. Today a most interesting museum, organised by the Ironbridge
Gorge Museum Trust at Ironbridge, Ttelford, which is still in process of
development, covers a unique series of industrial monuments spread over
some six square miles of the Severn Gorge. There are still some remains
of the corn mill, but the wheel has long since been demolished. "The Most
Extraordinary District in the World" and "The Industrial Revolution in
Shropshire" by Dr. Barrie Trinder and published by Ihillimore & Go. of
Chichester, cover this subject well.
Colebrook Dale Shrewsbury
1.
The material of which it is constructed is iron. A man who travels for the
Dale Company, whgm I met with at the Inn door this morning, told me that at
some china works 'two miles further down the river, there is a similar wheel
seventy feet in diameter, employed for grinding flints. The Iron Bridge look*
extremely light, almost like the cut paper used for ornamenting fire places in
the summer time. It was built in 1779, and has stood extremely well, requiring
scarcely any repairs since; but my traveller told me it is not considered so
strong or so well constructed as that at Bridgnorth^'a few miles higher up. We
afterwards passed this last, in our way to Slirewsbury, and I observed with
pleasure that it is framed in some measure after the model of the Swiss wooden
bridges. There are two curves in the arch, and one of them runs above the road
way to the top of the balustrade - thus -
The road from Golebrook Dale to.Shrewsbury
is very beautiful. At Wroxeter 'stopped
the carriage, and got out to examine the
remains of the Ancient Wall, said to be of
British Architecture. The material is a
softish red stone, divided by many horizontal
form and size like Roman bricks, but have not
have observed in the latter.
layers of bricks, which appear in
that dark colour in them which I
Hie road from Shrewsbury to Oswestry is also very beautiful; displaying 1
some noble views of the Welch mountains. The Breidden Hills, in particular, upon
one of whose summits, Mod y Golfa, stands a monument erected in Commemoration of
Lord Rodyney's victories, have a majestic appearance.
Dined at Oswestry - Winstay Arms - Good and Reasonable. In passing from
Oswestry to Llangollen, I looked for traces of Wat's Dike, both which appear by the
maps to cross the road. Of the former I
Footnotes-
1. In 1709 Abraham Darby's coke-smelting technique for making iron at Ironbridge
led to Britain becoming the world's first industrial nation. Part of the old
Woolwich Arsenal wrought iron manufacturing building has been rebuilt at Ironbridge
Gorge Museum, and production of wrought iron by the "puddling" process,
which was first perfected in approx. 1749, is starting there in 1987* This
process became obsolete late in the 19th Century when mild steel, produced more
cheaply, was used in place of wrought iron. They already have orders for
replacement plates for the s.s. Great Britain steamship, originally built with
materials produced at Ironbridge in the 19th Century.
2. This was the Coalport china works at Broseley, which moved to Staffordshire in
I926, now restored as a museum of Coalport. Unfortunately the water wheel did
not survive long after 1821.
3. He obviously meant BUILDWAS and not Bridgnorth.
4. The site has been associated with its Roman name, URICONIUM since its foundation
as a legionary fortress in AD 57* the name appears in Claudii Ptolemaie Geographica,
ed. C. Muller 2 vols. (Paris I883-I9OI) in ii, 3, 11? the Antonine
Itinerary, ed. 0. Cuntz in Itineraria Romana, 1 (Leipzig, I929) and in Ravennatis
Anonymi Cosmographia, et. J.Shuetz in Itinerari Romana, 11 (Leipzig 19^0^ although
the correct version is VIROCONIUM CORNOVIORUM, see "Place Names of Roman Britain
1979", Rivet, Albert Lionel Fredericks pub. by Batsford 1979-
Ihe bricks mentioned are tile bonding courses to hold together the outer stone
wall faces and also to act as staging points for the masons.
The site has been excavated intermittently since 1849 and annually since 1955»
and is now a Guardianship Monument owned by the Department of the Environment,
with a Custodian on the site who can supply photographs and a guidebook which
includes a plan.
The "Old Wall" is now known to have been the North wall of the frigidarium
of the bath house and also part of the South aisle wall of the basilicar palaestra
giving access into the bath house through double doors in the wall. Hie building
is basically of Hadriannic date and part of a large civic centre provided for the
extended city built as part of Hadrian's frontier policy of bringing greater
urbanism into these zones.
The Roman city at Wroxeter, Salop, capital of the Cornovii succeeded a
legionary fortress on the same site? The Wrekin with its hill fort is 4 miles
to the east.
Llangollen
could perceive no vestiges, the postboy showed me the place which is supposed to be
where Offa's Dike crosses the road, but it was very little conspicuous. According
to the Cambrian Guide, a law of Egbert imposed the penalty of death on every Welchman
who should be found on the eastern side of this ditch. In another place (p.455)
it is said that the space between the two dikes was considered neutral ground, where
the inhabitants of the two kingdoms might with safety meet for commercial purposes.
169.
Arriving at Llangollen we were quite surprised at being shown
into a spacious room, handsomely furnished, at the Hand Inn,
recollecting the miserable, dirty apartments which we occupied ten
years ago at the Three Eagles.
Wednesday July 11th 1821 It is a great pleasure to me to renew
my acquaintance with the beauties of the Vale of Llangollen; Pont y
Cysille, Castle Dinas Bran, and Abbey Crucis. I find the lapse of
the years has not greatly impaired my recollection of them, nor has the
sight of Switzerland and the North of Italy in the interval served to render
Ihaii less than interesting. Our route from Llangollen was to Buthin.
We had an additional pair of horses for the first eight miles. The
long and winding ascent reminded me of Some of the passes in the Alps.
Ruthin is situated in the Vale of Clwyd , which is wider and
perhaps more beautiful than that of Llangollen, though it possesses
fewer striking objects. We found that Mr. Dawson had left the place a
week before, we therefore determined to proceed onwards by the northern
road to Bangor, a comfortable house and exceedingly cheap. I here for
the first time repeated Or Wells curious experiment on the formation of
dew, ascending the castle hill at eight in the evening, the sun just
setting and the sky nearly cloudless, I chose a clear
Denbigh Conway 170
spot in the area of the ruined walls, which form a considerably circuit,
and placed one thermometer on the grass, which soon fell to 47 , another,
placed on the west side of a masg of fallen masonry which lay in the
middle of the arga, indicated 65 • One on the eastern side of the same
mags stood at 57, and a fourth, which I held suspended in the air, at
52 . I could perceive no difference whether I held it in the r ays
of the setting sun or in the shade of my own person. Though I never
entertained any doubt of the accuracy of Dr. Wells's statement, still
it is a satisfaction to have1 witnessed this curious result. I found
the grass wet to my feet.
Thursday July 12th Leaving St. Asaph a little on our right, we
joined the Chester and Hollyhead road, which skirts the northern coast
of Wales. We observed a steam vessel at some distance, which I took to
be the packet from Liverpool, to Dublin. Much beautiful scenery; the
great Orme's Head, stretching into the sea, forms a magnificent object.
On arriving at the ferry, on the eastern bank of the Conway we saw the
vast tower of the Castle on the opposite side with the quiet grey town
of Aberconway beneath, in the bosom of the Carnarvonshire Mountains.
The river, or rather arm of the sea, is about half a mile in width. We
drew up at a little house on the shore, where a man issued forth with a
speaking trumpet, and shouted in Welch to the ferryman at the turn.
The sound returned in slow and sullen echoes from the opposite rocks.
Soon after a voice replied from across; and as the tide was low, and we
could not embark at the ordinary place, we proceeded a mile lower down
the stream to meet the boat. The method of conveying carriages at this
ferry is miserably awkward. No wonder it is considered a dangerous
passage.
Bangor 171
Aberconway is the most interesting town I have seen in Wales. It has
an air of fallen greatness which harmonizes with the surrounding
scenery. It is encircled by a high stone wall, with massive round
towers at intervals of fifty yards. Within those walls desolation and
decay are written in every street. Houses of ancient structure, once
magnificent, now become the habitation of the poor; weather beaten, and
overgrown with weeds) the windows of the upper stories occasionally
blocked up as if that part were no longer habitable; large neglected
gardens, and in one place we even saw a field of barley within the
circumference of the town. The Castle has been uninhabited for
several centuries; it is built on the extreme edge of a rock wtfch rises
out of the Conway; and one of the towers, less firmly based than the
rest, has half fallen into the stream. How much more powerful are the
emotions excited by this gigantic ruin in its present situation than if
it stood, like Wardour or Arundel Castle, among the spruce plantations
/.4C
171.
of an English nobleman. (White Lion).
Friday. July 13th Aberconway to Bangor to dinner, called on Mr.
Dawson, who very kindly lent me a work on the Antiquities of Anglesea,
and gave me some useful information with respect to the mountains in
the neighbourhood of Gapel Cerrig ' most eligible for my intended
observation^ (Cas'le, wretched). In the afternoon from Bangor to
Gapel Cerrig an ox cellent road, the parliamentary road, it has one
fault; viz. a h=lf crown turnpike, the scenery magnificent. The Inn
at Capel Cerrig 1" is very b^"tifully situated, looking up a wooded
valley between Moel Shiabod and the two Gliders to Snowdon, two lakes
just above the house. On arriving, we found there had recently been
a good deal of rain, none of which reached us on the road, though we
observed the clouds hanging heavily over some of the mountains.
Foobnote-
1. Spelt thus - Gapel Curig - later corrected.
Gapel Curig Experiments on Glider Fach 172
Saturday, July 14th 1821 The evening yesterday promising fine
weather, I made all necessary preparation for a mountain expedition
today, anxious to verify some of my speculations. At eight o'clock
I set off with my staff in my hand, and thermometers in my pocket.
In two hours, I reached the summit of Glider Fach, which is marked in
Furnival's map of N0rth Wales at 3000 ft. There I made the following
observations. The sky was nearly cloudless; with a brisk North West
breeze, at half past ten.
Therm. No. 169 in shade 50§° Q
No. 171 Do. bulb covereg with gilt paper 50§"
No. 172 in the sunshine 55 - this observation not to be relied
on, however, because the thermometer was exposed to reflection from a
sheet of brown pap er which I employed to shade the other two.
No. 175 - North side of rock, on the grass - 49°
At Eleven o'clock
No. 172 in the shade 53° Q
No. 171 gilt bulb as before 53 0
No..175 on the bare ground, north of the rock 49
No. I76 in a hole two feet deep on north side, among the rocks 47
as the ground where 175 was laid in this last observation was wet, I laid
it in the same place on a piecg of dry whity brown paper eight times
double, and it then rose to 52 . This at first sight appeared rather
contrary to my theory. But on consideration and further observation, I
found that its temperature when placed on the paper was raised by the
condensation of the moisture of the air, for the paper when I took it up
was sensibly damp. The same was the case with my silk handkerchief,
which I spread out for a mark that I might not lose my thermometer among
the rocks. The
Capel Curig I73
top of the mountain was extremely swampy, in one place I ran my staff
in two feet deep. In other places wrre standing water on the very
summit, though the long continuance of dry weather has lowered most of
the lakes very sensibly. In coming down again, I found the temp, of a
spring when it issued from the rock on the south side a few hundred
feet below the summit to be 47°.
Sunday, July 15th Attended service at the little church just by.
The prayers were read in Welch. Mo sermon. The congregation was very
small; sometimes, the clergyman told me, as many as I50 attend; but today
they were gone to "a school", which I found is held at a neighbouring
Methodist meeting. I was a little after time, and the service had
- l & l ' -
commenced when I entered; the old parish clerk came forward to open
for me the door of the only pew in the church - the hour was nine
o'clock, as the clergyman has to go to another church some miles
distant the same morning. After service, I asked the clerk whether
lie lived in the neighbourhood, wishing to take from him some lessons
in Welch. His reply was, with a shake of the head "Dim Saesneg".
The clergyman however found a master for me, the gardener at the Inn,
of whom I took a lesson in the evening, but found he knew hardly
English enough to explain his own language.
In the afternoon I walked out, following the old road to Bangor,
which is on the right bank of the stream, while the present road is on
the left bank. The morning had been raining, but the clouds were now
mostly cleared away, except round the summits of some of the higher
peaks. On watching these with attention, it appeared to me that a
continual formation and redissolution of cloud took place; the transparent
air, on approaching the summit, being converted into a thick
white vapour, which disappeared again as it left the mountain. This
last pa,rt of the process I saw with great distinctness taking place
on the Trefaen; little curls of cloud were rapidly whirled
Capel Curlg Hoel Siabod
over the abrupt and rugged edge of the mountains, and melted away as
the steam does which escapes from the safety valve of a steam engine,
a small part, however, appeared to be condensed into a very fine
shower which fell into the valley benea.th. Do we talk very vaguely
when we speak of mountains attracting the clouds; when the attraction
of a mountain only just deflects a plumb line from the perpendicular
in a degree scarcely perceptible, under the most favourable circumstances,
is it not monstrous to suppose that the vapour floating in
the atmosphere should be drawn from a distance against the direction
of the wind. The truth is, I apprehend, that air saturated with
vapour passing over the cold summits of the mountains assumes a
visible form.
Monday July 16th 1821 This morning I ascended Moel Siabod, and
found that the point which I reached on Saturday was not the highest
peak of Glider Fach. I hoped to make some more observations, but the
sky became overcast before I reached the summit. I however observed
the temperature of earth and air and obtained some results which
nuzzled me. At halfQpast tgn, the wind brisk from the N.W. Temp, in
shade varied from 46 to 4? .
Thermometeg laid on dry turf, in a place where the sun had been
shining 43 .
The same, a few minutes after, had fallen to 46°, and each time, when
I bent over closely to examine it, it fell one degree in less than a
minute, at twenty minutes before twelve the thermometer in the shade
had fallen to 45 • At twelve o'clock; on the eastern point of the
mountain; the sun appearing at intervals, and the wind much diminished,
the temperature in the shade was 53 •
Glider Fach
But the most important observation I made today was the comparative
dryness of this mountain. I found few bogs that would not permit
me to walk across them, heath was growing on the summit, and I do not
believe that the quantity of water which runs from it in streams is one
tenth so great as from Glider Fach. This surprised me, but on
observing its form, I thought I could account for the difference; Moel
Siabod descends gently towards north, while it is very precipitous to
the South, Glider Fach on the contrary, has its steep side to the N0rth.
Mow this must occasion a prodigious difference in the quantity- of the
sun's rays which they severally receive, and accordingly I think I have
observed that the clouds rest much more frequently on the latter, than on
the former.
175.
Tuesday July 17th Today I ascended the real summit of the G1ider
Fach. The sky was quite overcast, and a thick mist covered Snowdon
and Moel Siabod. The summit of the Glider was however free from mist.
A^ half past twelve a brisk North West wind blowing the thermom. stood
at 45§°. The temperature at Gapel Curig at the same time was 58. At
the bottom of a sort of cavern formed by enogmous loose masses of stone
on the very summit a thermometer stood at 43 , and the sides of the
cavern were quite wet. I found the height by my barometer 2504 feet
above the Inn, 100 feet more than marked in Furnival's map , but I
subsequently discovered that the instrument is not to be depended on,
some moisture having insinuated itself into the tube. In coming down,
I,measured the temperature of two springs, taking their elevation at
the same time. That of the first was 47| , height above Gapel Curig
1553 feet. The second 50 , height 1206.
Wednesday July 13th Ascended the southern summit of Snowdon. Set
off on a pony, with a little boy to bring it back, my barometer slung
behind my back. I foundthat the pony outwalked the poor boy, who soon
began to lag; I therefore dismounted
x See July 3! - PI of subsequent vol.
Southern Summit of Snowdon 17'
and set him on the animal, which immediately set off with him, and did
not stop till it left him on the road. He soon, however, jumped up
again, and after shedding a few tears, succeeded, by going round into
the field on the side of the road, in catching the pony again. This
valley of Gwne Duli, leading towards Snowdon, as well as that of Nant
Francon, leading to Bangor, consists principally of peat moss, where the
road becomes too steep and rocky to ride. I sent back the pony, and
proceeded on foot. On approaching Llyn Glas, which lies in the bosom of
the mountain, I was startled by a loud and melancholy cawing over my
head, and looking up, saw some large birds, not unlike seagulls, except
in having the upper surface of their wings black, and in being of a
larger size. Coming to the shore of the lake, I saw vast numbers of
these birds, some sitting on a little island; others wheeling about in
the air, uttering such strange discordant sounds, and so strangely
reverberatedthe rocks, on all sides, that I repeatedly took them
for human -^rtfices, and looked round to see if any of my own species were
near me. It was my intention to reach Y Wishfa, the central and highest
peak of the mountain, but taking a wrong track, I found it impossible
to attain my purpose, and was forced to content myself with the Southern
peak, which is considerably inferior in height. I made it 2254 feet
above Capel Curig. This summit, which is marked in Furnival's map as
Clawdd Coch, "Red Mudd Wall", consists of an exceedingly sharp ridge,
which displays an almost perpendicular face of rock towards the lake,
on the eastern side, and loose sliding stones towards the West. The
sky was mostly clear, with a vegy light southerly breeze. I found the
temperature in the sun about 59 , in the shade 57 , but the thermometer
varied continually one or two degrees more or less. Unfortunately, I
could not find a hole deep enough for ascertaining the temperature of
the interior of the mountain.
Thursday July 19th 1821 Remained at Capel Curig, and took a sketch.
Friday July 20th Confined by bad weather. Hade some experiments
to ascertain the quantity of water which issues from the lake at the
bottom of the garden, which I found to amount to seven cubic feet per
second.
Llanberis. Y. Wishfa. Bangor. Carnarvon I77
Saturday July 21st To Llanberis, a temperature of a copious spring
which issues from the rocks on the north side, near the bottom of the
pass of Llanberis - 46 .
Monday July 23rd To Llanberis, whence I ascended the back of Snowdon.
- U p -
Tuesday, July 24th Received a letter from Jos. Janson, announcing
his arrival, and a few minutes after discovered he was actually in the
house, having arrived the same morning early, while his letter had been
detained a day by being mis-sent to Carnarvon. We spent the morning in
strolling about Moel Siabod and in the afternoon went on the lake.
Gave duplicates of my dried plants to Lady Strongford's daughter Miss
Smith.
Wednesday July 25th Ascended the highest peak of Snowdon with J.J.
I found a spring a little way below the summit, near the road which
leads from the copper works on the eastern side to Llanberis, of which
the temperature, measured very carefully close to the place where it
issues from the earth, was as low as 37 . This is the spring I believe,
at which visitors normally procure water for drinking. By an observation
of my barometer, I found this spring to be 474 feet below the summit.
The summit itself (Y Wishfa) my observation gave 2331 feet above Capgl
Curig, being 100 feet less than the height marked on Furnival's map.
Thursday July 26th To Bangor, where we called on Mrs. Dawson. Dined
at the Inn at Bangor Ferry, tolerable. Crossed the ferry with J.J. to
see the works of the new bridge of suspension across the Menai. In the
evening to Carnarvon, Anglesy Arms, good.
Friday July 27bh A delightful sail from Carnarvon to Plas Newydd, the
seat of the Marquis of Anglesea, to see the Cromlech which stands in his
grounds. Several cormorants passed us on the wing, and on coming near
Plas Newydd, numerous crows were perched on the trees or wheeling about
in the air. From there J.J. and myself walked to Caer Leb "to see
the reported remains of the principal seat of Druid superstition. We
x See July
Footnote-
1. CASR LEB LLANIDAN
An archaeological authority describes it as "an impressive
embanked enclosure close to the River Briant". The same authority states
"I am intrigued to learn that it was considered the principal seat of
Druid superstition" and have not found any other contemporary writer who
makes that connection. However, that corner of the island had, since
Henry Rowland's Hona Antiqua appeared, been associated (perhaps rightly)
with the "sacred groves" cut down by Paulinus in AD60, and almost any
obviously ancient site was likely to be linked to the Druids".
The date of construction of the earth work is uncertain, but the
finds indicate occupation during the third century or later. There
seems little doubt that the ditches were water-filled, and this emphasis
on water defence is foreign to Roman methods.
Tremadoc 'fen y Bwlch I78.
found the spot described in Mona Antiqua Restaurata and other antiquarian
works. It appeared to consist of nothing more than a slight square
trench inside, which an incurious observer might have walked over without
noticing anything remarkable. I could not help being amused in recollecting
the pompous descriptions which I had read of these remains. ' In the
afternoon from Carnarvon to Beddgelert (Goat - tolerable). The situation
of this little village is very delightful.
178.
Saturday 28th July To Tremadoc and Tan y Bwlch, intending to reach
Gapel Gurig the same evening, but could procure no horses. Landlady
rather indifferent. We walked before dinner to Rhaidr Du, and in the
afternoon to Festiniog, which I was surprised to find, is not situated
in the Vale to which it gives name.
Sunday July 29th 1821 Back to Beddgelert, where we attended church
(i.e., J.J. and myself) before we breakfasted. A large building,
compared with most of the churches in the neighbourhood. It formerly
belonged to a Priory of Augustines. The congregation very small, most
of the people, as we afterwards heard, attend a meeting of Jumpers.
From Llanberis to Capel Curig to dinner.
The same evening J.J. left us. He had engaged to be in London on
Tuesday morning, and the mail being full, he set off in a postchaise for
Shrewsbury.
Monday July 30th A rainy day. I tried the experiment what difference
of temperature would be indicated by a naked thermometer and a thermometer
of which the bulb was surrounded with sponge. V/hen the sponge was
dr^, the thermometer of which it covered the bulb stood on an average at
2\ above the other. I supposed at first that this proceeded from an
absorption of vapour, as the window was open, and the atmosphere extremely
damp, but on weighing the sponge after half an hour's exposure, I
found it not perceptibly increased in weight. I suppose therefore the
effect to have been photometrical. When the sponge was wet, the naked
thermometer stood half a degree higher than the other.
JUHH ii/vHTUU ' •-> JUUllNAb
,— T v rv > \
r " . f \ vol. iv
Chester Auk 20th 182*5 I begin this fourth volume of my Journal
under feelings of much depression and humiliation, but for that very
reason perhaps, the record of my state of mind may prove more useful -
under the influence of such feelings, vie are led to reflect more
maturely and morn impartially on our own conduct and character than
when in buoyant spirits.
The immediate cause of my depression is the disappointment of
a hope long fondly cherished of obtaining, the hand of a lovely and
interesting girl . Under every discouragement, I clung to the belief
that her attachment would sooner or later overcome whatever obstacles
opposed themselves to my happiness. But her last letter has I think
quite convinced me that I must hope no longer. While at Norwich, in
the beginning of June, I received a letter from my sister, informing
me that my mother had consulted Dr. Hancock, who recommended a
journey to Buxton - but she felt unwilling to travel northward just
as I was returning to the South after so long an absence. I therefore
offered to accompany her to Buxton - which offer she accepted. Prom
Buxton I immediately went forward to Glasgow, that I might visit
Blochairn before the end of June, which was the time fixed for Susan's
return to Scotland. At Blochairn I remained a week - towards ttv>>end
of which time I renewed the mention of my attachment to Mrs. P.^ ' It
is too painfully fresh to record the particulars of our conversation -
the result however was that I might write to Susan, and wait in the
Highlands for her reply - I therefore wrote as follows -
Footnotes-
1. Susan Parker
2. Mrs. Parker
It is with feelings beyond the power of language to express that
I once more address the object of my undiminished warmest and tenderest
attachment, on a subject which has never ceased to engage my thoughts
during two long and weary years - a subject which has mingled itself
with every pursuit - and given its colour to almost every thought. Do
not think too hardly of me if love has proved too strong for control,
and induced me to disobey your injunction never to renew the mention
of this subject, even at the risk of forfeiting your esteem. If you
knew how inexpressibly I have longed to hear one word of your health
and happiness, during many a sorrowful hour - you would not too severely
blame me. I have been at Blochairn some days, and Mr and Mrs. Parker
have given me permission to write to you - and let me entreat you my
dear, dear Susan, not lightly to pronounce a sentence which must I fear
destroy my hopes of happiness in this world - for sad experience has
convinced me that no length of time or absence can ever efface the
impression which you have made upon my heart, For twelve months I have
resolutely endeavoured to reconcile myself to losing you - scarcely
during that period hearing or mentioning your name - yet has your
image seldom been about an hour together from my thoughts - and each
succeeding month has rendered more intensely painful my uncertainty of
your welfare and of the continuance of your regard - and though I trust
God will give me strength to submit with resignation to whatever trials
he may see fit to appoint for me, I hope I do not impatiently seek to
counteract his will concerning me, in thus giving way to the impulse of
my fondest attachment.
The request which, with an anxious and agitated heart, I have
now to make to you, is that you would suffer me to see you once more,
and once again to hear the sound of that dear voice whose accents are
treasured in the inmost recesses of my head - I shall not lo.ok on such
a permission as implying any more than a continuance of your' regard
and a willingness to soothe my trouble and even should it be my lot
J
never afterwards to behold you, I persuade myself that the remembrance
of such an interview would shed a ray of tranquillity over my melancholy
solitude. I am going to the Highlands for a few days to wait your
answer, and oh my dearest girl, may God dispose you to do what he knows
to be best. Should that be to renounce me for ever, pray for me that I
may not sink under the anguish of disappointed affection. For your
welfare my prayers are daily offered to the Throne of Grace.
J.B.
I remained a fortnight at the Bridge of Earn near Perth, waiting
for an answer to this letter - and though at first much depressed, my
spirits gradually rose as I persuaded myself it would not be so unfavourable
as I had feared. But I was too sanguine.
Fairlie July 11th 1825.
My dear Sir
It gives me sincere pain from your letter that you still
retain the same feelings towards me, a.nd not less to think that I must
tell you my sentiments remain the same as when we parted, so that 4.
though it may hurt you at present yet I am sure that on reflexion you
will not think me unkind if I put a negative to your request. I feel
it most advisable to make my words as few as possible, only I must assure
you that my feelings of regard and esteem remain the same towards you,
and I hope you know me well enough to he aware how much it cuts me
thus to disappoint you - with every wish for your happiness, believe me
dear Sir
Yours sincere friend
Susan Parker
Papa, Mama and Miss Parker send their very kind regards to you.
On receiving this letter I returned immediately to Buxton -
whence I wrote a farewell letter as follows -
Buxton July 18th 1825
Yes indeed I do know you sufficiently well to be assured that you
would not willingly give pain to any living creature - still less to one
who dearly loves you. Indeed when I asked to see you I well knew how
much suffering such an interview must cause, but wished to discover if
I still possess an interest in your heart, for in truth I have never
been able long together to divest myself of such a persuasion - perhaps
from finding how impossible it is myself to forget an object once loved,
and even now, how can I relinquish the impression, when you tell me that
your sentiments remain the same as when we parted, for assuredly my 5
a,ffection was not then unreturned. Ever will your words, and looks, and
accents live in my memory and ever while this impression remains, shall
I feel as unchangeably wedded to you in affection as if you were wholey
mine. To some indeed it might seem strange thus proudly to cherish a
passion which can yield only the sorrows and. anxieties, without the
enjoyments of love, but from being long associated with the remembrance
of you, it would grieve me to part with them. Yet let not the apprehension
that you h»ve rendered.me'unhappy prey upon you. If the
deprivation of what I most value, during the short remainder of my
continuance in this life, should have the effect, as I am willing to hope,
of directing all my thoughts and desires to another, shall I not have
reason to remember you with gratitude, as the means of procuring for me
so great a blessing?
I feel a melancholy pleasure in thus communicating with you for
the last time, and when I have said all, would willingly begin to say it
over again that I might serve to prolong an intercourse henceforth to •
cease, perhaps for ever. But if so never in this world, at least I hope
to meet you in another, where we shall look back on the cares and troubles
of mortality as on a dream. Think of me sometimes with tenderness - and
- / 6 a -
let me have the satisfaction of believing that your thoughts are sometimes
engaged with mine in that mutual intercession by which alone
either of us can now contribute to the happiness of the other.
After staying three weeks at Buxton I returned with my mother and
sister to Tottenham - passing in our way two days at Matlock. There
I beheld, with feelings of deep emotion, scenes visited fourteen years
before; a few days subsequent to my marriage. My mother's health
seemed at first improved by the cure of the Buxton water - but at last
she came away not much better than she went. On her second day after
our arrival at Tottenham, she experienced a great increase of her
disorder, with severe pain and sleeplessness, which has continued ever
since. I remained about 10 days at Tottenham, hoping that she might
return home with me, but as her disorder continued unabated, I returned
myself on 1.9th of this month. Sincn which I have sold my house in West
Street, and intend to take up my residence permanently at Stoughton -
I long for seclusion - I feel oppressed by
I have heard the question proposed, whether a man would consent to live
his past life over again. I am very sure I should reject the offer -
Scarcely does the retrospect of my life afford one bright spot, except
the mutual affection of my dear Anne and myself - The becoming tenderness
of those mild eyes - full of "the light
It was strange perhaps that T could so soon love another, after losing
her, for never existed a more heartfelt affection than I felt for her.
It seems to me as if I only now began to feel the full desolation of
widowhood, that fearful vacancy of heart which takes place when we have
no one to sympathise in our views and feelings. I have indeed many good
and kind friends, but none of that peculiarity of mental constitution
which I long to meet with - not one of them understands my sentiments
on the subjects which most interest me - even sufficiently to hold
intercourse upon them.
Being thus about to enter, as it were, on a. new era of my life, it
becomes a duty to look forward and endeavour to form some good and
useful resolutions - trusting in the promised aid of the divine spirit
to enable me to fulfill them. I thankfully acknowledge that the sorrows
and disappointments which have been appointed to me by my heavenly
father have been sent in mercy. I have improved in scrivenness and
in humility, and am more regular and earnest in prayer than a year or
two ago. When I look forward into boundless futurity, and consider that
this is no more than the infancy of my being, coupled with the ever
blessed promises of pardon and sandtification to penitent mortals, I
cease to feel that sickening sensation of weariness and disgust which at
other times the contemplation of this world of guilt and misery, and
particularly the humiliating consciousness of my own unworthiness, is apt
to excite. Let me then meditate a few rules for my future observance.
1. Let me every morning solemnly renew the dedication of myself»-
of all my faculties and all my possessions to the service of God,
praying that he would be pleased to direct me how best to employ
them, and give me a heart to obey the intimations of his will
when discovered.
J.B.
- the heavy and the weary weight
of all this unintelligible world.
of pure intelligence and lofty thought
Tempered with maiden softness".
8
2. Let me not be too ambitious or too hasty to do great and visible
things in the cause of religion, but carefully to watch and pray
for the sanctification of my own heart, trusting that God will
in his own time make known to me how I may best employ myself
for his seivice. Yet let me closely examine myself that when an
opening for usefulness do^s occur, I may not from false shame or
mildness, or other like cause, neglect to avail myself of it.
3. Let me see that I do not neglect the little acts of charity and
duty that lie daily in my path, remembering that God measures
not our actions by the greatness of their efforts, but by the
motive from which they spring.
4. Let me from the beginning commence the good habit of setting
apart an hour or two daily for religious reading, prayer and
meditation, and at this period and again on the Sabbath, let me
examine whether I have made any suitable progress towards a
nearer union with God.
5. While I would endeavour to avoid the error of indulging in vast 9
and magnificent projects, to the neglect of little and hourly
duties, I would seek so to arrange the plan of my studies and
pursuits as may best contribute to my ability to serve God and
profit my fellow creatures. But at present I do not see any
undertaking in which I can be immediately useful. Let me therefore
endeavour to enlarge my stock of general knowledge, as well
as preserve my faculties in health and vigour by this regular
exercise.
The works which I propose to read and study in the evening autumn
and winter are
2,
1, Newton's Principia. ' ^
2, Euler - Introductio in Analysia Infinitorum.
3. La Groix Calcul Differential ot Tntegrale
4. Letters of an American Lady 4"
5.. Malthe Bruun's Geography
6. Hortus Gramineus Wobumousis ® „
7. Mignet, Hirvtoire de la Revolution Franchise
8. Thucydides ' „
9» Young's Farmer's Calendar
The formation of this list brings strongly to my mind how far religion is
from being yet duly impressed on my heart. For so far from having a list
of works on this subjec^ I have not one in prospect, after finishing
Romaine's Life of Faith 'which I am now reading. I find it very
difficult to meet with works of this kiyd which engage my attention.
Sheppards Thoughts on Private Devotion which I bought accidentally at
Chalmers and Collins's shop and which I read at the Bridge of Earn,
proved a treasure.
Footnotes-
1. EULER, Leonhard. Introductio in analysia Infinitorum. 2 Vols.
Lausanne 1748.
2. Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727) "holds by universal consent the
highest rank among the natural philosophers of ancient and
modern times". Discovered the law of gravitation, which he
showed to affect the vast orbs that revolve around the sun, not
less than the smallest objects on our own globe. He explained
this in his work in Latin entitled "Philosophia Naturalis
Pri- lathematica" pub. I687.
- I C C —
3- La Croix, Silvastre Francois (I765-I843) mathematician, noted
for his works on the Calculus.
4. Letters of an American Lady - unbraced.
5. BRUUN, Maithe Conrad« Universal Geography 10 Vols. A. Black
Edinburgh 1822-1833.
6. HORTUS GRAMINEUS W0BURNEHSI3 or an account of the Results of
Experiments on the produce and nutritive qualities of different
grasses and other plants usnd as the food of the more valuable
domestic animals instituted by Jolin Duke of Bedford.
Illustrated with dried specimens of the plants upon which these
experiments have been made and practical observations on their
natural habits and the soils best adapted to their growth
pointing out the kinds mosb profitable for permanent pasture,
irrigated meadows, dry or upland pasture and the alternate
husbandry accompanied with the discriminating characters of
the species and varieties.
by George Sinclair gardener to His Grace the Duke of Bedford
and corresponding member of the Caledonian Horticultural Society
of Edinburgh.
London. Printed by B. M'millan, Bow Street Covent Garden.
Printers to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent 1816.
(Described by the Curator of Woburn Abbey as a fine folio volume
bound in brown calf and in very good condition).
7. MIGNET, Frangois Auguste Marie 1 Histoire de la Revolution Franchise
depuis 1789 Jusqu'en 1814. Paris 1824.
8. Thucydides. T^e first scientific writer of history. With an
insight like that of a modern historian, lie traced historical
events to their earthly causes in the world of men where they
occur. Previous historians like Herodotus had ascribed the
fortunes of nations to the will, of the gods. Thucydides was one
of the greatest wribers of simple and beautiful prose that ever
lived. His book which told the story of the long wars resulting
in the fall of the Athenian Finpire was received by the Greeks
with enthusiastic approval, and has been considered one of the
world's greatest classics ever since. Pericles died BC429 and
then soon after Herodotus published his .great workj »bout thirty
years later appeared Thucydides' work.
9. Young's Farmer's Calendar. Arthur Young (T"4l~l820).
Ihe Farmers Kalendar. 215th ed. pub. 1862.
10. Romaine's Life of Faith. Probably Wm. Romaine (173.4-1795),
divine, pub. religious treatise and pamphlets.
11. Sheppards Thoughts on Private Devotion. John Sheppard
(1 '85-I879) Thoughts preparative "r persuasive to Private
Devotion. (1823).
Stoughton Sept.7 1325 J am now once more settled in my country
abode, and enjoy the tranquillity exceedingly. I generally wake before
or soon after sunrise, open my casement window, inhale the freshness
and fragrance of the morning, contemplate the rural sights and listen
to the rural sounds about me - and my heart distends with a sense of
peace and thankfulness. Since my return home I have entered into an
engagement for the sale of my house in Chichester, determined, to make
Stoughton my permanent abode. I am amused a.t the lamentations which
I hear, or hear of, upon my banishment1- people seem to think it
something very dreadful, and anticipate that I shall die of melancholy,
in the winter - we shall see. I am more afraid of my servants being
dull than myself. Poor Mary Ann cried all the way, the day they left
Chichester at the thoughts of her cruel fate. She and Sarah expect to
be blown away by the winds, or washed away by the water, before next
Mayday.
I am making some additions to my farmhouse, to fit it for a
permanent residence. I shall have a library 17 feet by 20 - with the
windows looking up the valley and one looking into the garden behind
the house - under the library will ho a dairy, wine cellars and
entrance hall. The garden will be enlarged by throwing into it the
adjoining orchard, and will ho separated by a low wall from a little
meadow, which I shall appropriate to my cows, one for my own use, and
two vrhich I shall let to two of my labourers - as an experiment 011 the
effects of a system of which so much has been said. My own cow has
been let to my carter since I left Stoughton. This meadow lying on one
side of the house and garden will be just beneath the library windows -
and I propose to ornament it by a little planting at the corners. I
left directions for some planting to be done during my absence last
winter, and among the rest I planted a slip along the upper side of the
Church yard, with permission of the vicar, thinking that when the trees
grow up they will remove that naked look which the church at present
has and which forms the greatest delight to the village.
On Saturday General Crosbie^'found me out at Mr. Freeland's,
where I was dining wishing to obtain my support to the licensing of a
Public House at Walderton, in the parish of Stoughton, and about a mile
below the village. The General finds it inconvenient to lodge the
servants and horses of his visitors at Watergate House. I candidly
told him that I should think it right on the contrary to do all in my
power to oppose his proposition. On Sunday we had a meeting in the
Church after service, and drew up an address to the magistrates 011 this
subject which we compelled Mr Morris, the Curate, to sign, rather
against his will, he being unwilling to offend the General. Mr Pinnix "
says we shall have the signatures of four fifths of the occupiers of
land in the parish, so T trust there is little doubt of our succeeding.
Sopt. 10th Attended the magistrates meeting accordingly, when
General C. withdrew his intention, finding how strong an opposition it
was likely to encounter.
Footnotes-
1. Major General J. Gustavus CROSBIE m. Frances only daughter George White
Thomas Esq., M.P. for Chichester 178/1-1812, Lord of Manor of Donnington.
Resident Watergate House in the hamlet of Walderton within parish of
Stoughton, previously residence of G. White Thomas Esq.
2. John FINNIX of Stoughton, gentleman.
Sunday Sep. 11th 182 5 12.
Looking over Lavater's Journal of a Self Observer*"'when I was at Tottenham
lately, I formed an intention of keeping such a record of my own state of
mind, but in practice it is not easy. I shrink from recording fully and faithfully
all the impurity, the selfishness, the littleness of my own thoughts and
plans and yet unless all this is fathfully recorded, there is no small danger but
such a register should administer more to the gratification of vanity, than to
humility or spiritual improvement.
I have been engaged this week chiefly in attending to my improvements,
and in preparing for a lecture on Pneumatics which I am to deliver on Wed to the
members of the newly established Mechanics' Institute at Chichester - almost every
day I have spent partly in the city, sometimes sleeping at my sister's - one (Jay
driving her over to Stoughton in her pony gig and leaving my horse for Edward 'who
came to fetch his mother in the evening. Twice he has been to breakfast with me -
and one day Joseph and Henry Freeland came over for a day's shooting. These occupations
have engaged my time not unpleasantly - but I lament to find that almost
in exact proportion as my attention is agreeably directed to other tilings my
capacity for religious exercise is diminished. How much ought I to rejoice that
my wishes have not in every instance been gratified and my plans successful.
Footnotes-
1. Johann Caspar LAVATER (1741-1801) author of "Essays in Physiognomy" wrotei-
"Secret Journal of a self-observer; or confessions and familiar letters of
J. C. Lavater" (Edited by A.P.R.) Translated from the German by P. Will.
2 vol. Cadell junior, 1795-
2. No doubt Biward Hack.
3- Joseph Freeland brother of J. B. Freeland the solicitor; perhaps Henry was
his son?
Sep 15th Last year, about this time I measured the circumference of a number of 13.
trees in my woods and copses, marking it on them with a timber-rase. On now
measuring them I find that they have increased, on an average, about half an inch,
or one sixth of an inch in diameter. They were from 7 to 49 inches round, oak, ash
and beech. I could not discover any suitable difference in the degree of increase
either between different species or different sizes - but different individuals
seemed to vary from a quarter to three quarters of an inch.
In the evening mail of this day in a letter from some Pigeon Fanciers of
Verviers to the Lord Mayor of London, monitoring the time of arrival of some of
these birds, which were lately let fly from the Mansion House.
"Of the 32 pigeons which were let fly in your Lordship's presence, one only
arrived at this place on the same day, at half past seven in the evening, and had
thus made the passage from London to this town in seven hours; three returned the
next morning at a quarter after ten, a fourth three days after and four others
several days ago." -
If Verviers near Liege is meant, as 1 supposed, its distance in a direct line
from London appears on the map to be 260 miles - so that the first pigeon must have
flown at the astonishing rate of 38| miles an hour the whole way, without any repose
or deviation from its course.
Sept. 15th. 1825 ^
We had yesterday a thunderstorm, accompanied by such torrents of
rain as are hardly remembered by the oldest inhabitant of the village. Part
of the wall of my new building at the back of the house was washed
14.
down - and a stream of water issued from the chalk road which leads
up the side of Bowhill, carrying with it such a quantity of chalk as
to overspread a span of ninety yards long and three broad - resembling
a torrent of lava from a volcano. The quantity of rain which fell at
Chichester was inconsiderable.
My lecture succeeded well - Mr. Paul assisted me in performing
the experiments of which only on° failed - my audience was numerous
and attentive - and I felt considerably flattered.
Oct. 4th. 1325 Speech for the quarterly meeting of the Mechanics'
Institute tomorrow i-
I think we ought not to let this opportunity pass of pressing our
thanks to the late Mayor for liberally permitting us to have the use
of this room for our meeting and our lecture. Such votes of thanks
are indeed often given as a mere matter of course, and therefore are
of little value, but in the present case, considering all the circumstances,
it does seem to amount to more than a mere matter of form.
For an institution professing to extend the benefits of scientific
information to the working classes of the community can hardly be
expected as yet to obtain universal approbation. Within the period
of my memory the majority of educated persons seemed rather to dis- 15*
courage the instruction of the body of the people, even in the
simplest elements of learning. By degrees however it was discovered
that to teach boys and girls to read their bible might be very proper
and laudable, but a.s for teaching them to write what purpose could it
possibly answer except to induce them to scribble love letters. I
dare say there are some of you who can distinctly remember to have
often heard this very observation. In time however it was acknowledged
that reading, writing and even the four first rules of arithmetic
might be very useful to a poor man, but to go beyond Compound division
was out of the question, and if boys should get an insight into the
rule of those, no one could tell what might be the consequence.
There must be hewers of wood and drawers of water, it was urged, and to
cultivate their minds would only serve to render them discontented with
their condition. And above all and this was the great argument - of
what use could this or that branch of knowledge possibly be to a
working man?
Sir, when I hear this inquiry, as every one must have frequently
heard it, I would not reply in the manner of Madame de Stael that of
all questions this, and such like arc the most vulgar, though I
heartily concur in that sentiment. But I would not make such a reply,
because that reduces the thing to a matter of taste, and about matters
of taste, as an old proverb says, there is no discussion. I would
therefore meet the inquirer on his own ground and would reply that
when he has settled what he means by usefulness then I will tell him
in what way this or that branch of knowledge may be useful for a working
man. If he calls no acquisition useful which does not enable the
possessor to make money by it, then I readily admit that scientific 16.
instruction is not likely to be generally useful to an artizan. But
perhaps there are few persons who would ohoose to avow a sentiment so
openly gross and mechanical as this - there are few perhaps who would
like expressly to admit that this usefulness of knowledge is to be
always and exclusively estimated in pounds shillings and pence. But
that which these partizans of utility, in their dim imaginations, figure
to themselves is this - that any branch of knowledge, to be useful,
must realize itself if not in money, at least in the production of some
valuable, that is to say, some saleable commodity. They readily admit
chemistry to be an useful science because it serves to improve the
processes of dying and bleaching, or of smelting and refining. They
admit the science of navigation to be useful, because it furnishes us
with the production of foreign countries. They even admit mathematics
to be useful, insofar as they are calculated to assist navigation - but
other branches of mathematics which are not, nor are likely to be '
employed in navigation, or any of the arts, they term speculative and.
deny their utility altogether.
I trust to show you in a few words that this distinction is as
groundless as it is petty and mechanical. I would address myself
again to the partizan of utility, and would say to him - you admit
that those sciences are useful which enable you to obtain a greater
variety and abundance of luxuries and conveniences. Now when you
have obtained the luxuries and conveniences what is the use of them?
Does it not consist in the pleasure or gratification which they are
capable of yielding you? Well then, if the acquisition of knowledge
is itself a pleasure - if the exercise of the understanding affords
to me as much gratification as the enjoyment of these luxuries and. 17
conveniences does to you, how can you deny that such knowledge is useful?
If I derive as much satisfaction from the solution of a
mathematical problem as you do from drinking a bottle of wine, is not
the problem as useful as the wine? What signifies is whether the
problem if of practical application or not, if it contributes to my
gratification directly is it less useful than if it ministered to my
gratification indirectly by furnishing me with the means of regaling
my senses. Either admit therefore that the speculative sciences
may be equally useful with those denominated practicalt or, which I
should like better, continue to apply the term useful to those branches
of knowledge which minister to the vulgar and transitory gratifications
of sense, and find some new term to distinguish those pursuits which
minister to the higher and purer enjoyments of the intellect.
Gentlemen I should not have dwelt so long on this subject but
for the sake of removing an objection frequently urged against the
extension of scientific instruction to the class of artificers. For
I will confess that in my estimation, the question of the desirableness
of these institutions does not rest on any such grounds. To
those who seriously regard men as the heir of immortality, it can
hardly be worth while to enquire very curiously into the comparative
merit of different plans for amusing an idle hour. It is with
reference to higher consideration, and more enduring interest, that the
question must be determined - and in this point of view, it does
appear to me of great importance to secure some intermediate subject
of reflexion and conversation. Some point of transition between the
everyday concerns of life and the elevated Contemplations of religion.
A mind exclusively engaged In the acquisition of wealth, or even in
providing the means of daily subsistence, necessarily contracts a kind
of sordid grossness , which must increase the difficulty of 18
directing the attention to the things which are unsure and eternal.
On the other hand, if religion be made the constant theme of familiar
intercourse, great is the danger of lessening those feelings of
reverence and humility which ought to surround such a subject. I wish
to speak with tenderness of the failings of well meaning persons, but
I fear that very many, perhaps the great majority of those sometimes
denominated serious Christians, indulge too much in a kind of religious
tittle tattle in which characters are discussed, anecdotes are retailed,
a strong line of distinction is drawn between us the religious public,
on the one hand, and the people of the world on the other - and thus an
intercourse which was originally intended to be innocent, and even
edifying, unconsciously degenerates into a. sort of complacent self
approbation, accompanied sometimes by uncharitable censures upon others,
particularly upon those who differ from them in opinion. I may be
wrong, but it appears to me that religion, if pure and genuine will
rather be apparent in the whole tone of a man's actions and conduct,
than often be put conspicuously forward in conversation. It certainly
is so with our other strongest feelings. Children who love their
parents with strong filial affection are more disposed to show that
affection in deeds, or in manner, than by frequent protestations of the
warmth of their attachment, or by trite reflexions on the duties of
gratitude and obedience. In short the emotions of the heart are rather
to be felt than talked about, nor can they be often and copiously made
the subject of conversation without sullying their purity and freshness.
But if religion cannot with propriety be made the chief staple
of our conversation or even of our thoughts - there are other subjects
which have such an affinity with religion that the mind passes with
facility and by a kind of easy transition, from one to the other -
Such are the various branches of natural Philosophy, and that not merely
— f ? \ —
because they present very striking display of the wisdom and power
of the Creator, though this is undoubtedly a great advantage, but
chiefly because they tend to lead the mind into a calm and elevated
frame, after it has been ruffled and harassed by the petty anxieties
and troubles of life. We have most of us, I dare say, heard on some
occasion or other a transitition suddenly made from the details of a
keen bargain to some pious ejaculation, and been struck with its
violence and harshness. On such occasions one cannot help lamenting
that the faculties, when they cease to be employed directly about
religious topics, should not be furnished with some other employment,
a little nearer the confines of religion and a little more remote from
Self.
Now let it be said that an artizan has no time for thinking on
scientific questions. This indeed is often said, but it appears to me
completely a misconception. It is true that so far as related to the
occupation of their hands their time is pretty much filled up, but
their employments are very seldom of a kind wholly and exclusively to
engross the thoughts, like those of professional men, or even of
Master tradesmen. It is needless however to reason on a subject which
admits of being brought to the test of experience. If I do not
greatly mistake, we might find ample oroof within the limits of our
own Institution that a man may be a good and industrious workman, a
good Christian and at the same possess very considerable scientific
attainments. But as I might not be justified in admiting more particularly
to instances so near home, I will mention some circumstances
which lately came to my knowledge in another part of the country. I
was travelling in the mail from Edinburgh to York, a little way from
Newcastle a gentleman got into the coach who seemed to be intimately
acquainted with the habits of working colliers in that neighbourhood.
He told me many of them have taken extraordinary pains in the improvement
of their minds, and with great success, having in some instances
made considerable advance in mathematics. One man had saved enough
to buy a Polyglott Bible, that is a bible in several different
languages. I think this was in five, English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew
and Syrian., an expensive work. I asked what might this man be
earning oer week and the gentleman said he believed about a guinea.
I then said to himi- Let me ask you, Sir, how far your experience
confirms or refutes a sentiment which I have heard expressed, that if
working men were instructed in the higher branches of knowledge it
would indispose them for receiving the humbling doctrines of the gospel.
He replied - I can assure you from my own knowledge that never was a
sentiment uttered more completely false, for I find almost universally
that the men who take most pains in the improvement of their understanding
and likevrise those who are most in earnest about religion,
and the very individual I first mentioned to you, who saved money to. buy a
Polyglott Bible is an excellent and industrious workman, as well as a
pious and exemplary Christian.
The latter part of this speech, distinguished by a line in the
margin, was not spoken, and the former part with considerable difficulty
and embarrassment owing to my finding no responsive expression of
intelligence or sympathy in the countenances of my audience. The
.- countenance of my friend Marshall was the only one where I could discover
symptoms of intelligence.
On Wednesday October 6th I executed the conveyance of my house in
West St. to the Rev. John Kirby - the price £1,400. Attended the
Annual Meeting of the Library Society and the quarterly meeting of the
Mechanics' Institute in the evening.
Thursday Oct. 7th 1625 To Tottenham for the purpose of seeing my
mother, of whom I had received alarming accounts - an appearance like
the Thrush having become visible in her mouth. Found her cheerful and
rather better than I expected.
October 10th To Carshalton |ious<? ho sloop - on returning to ^
Tottenham the following day, I was surprised to find my sister M.H.
and my Aunt and Uncle Bigg.''
Oct. 14th Returned to Chichester with my sister by the stage,
leaving my mother much in the onno situation as before. The eruption
in the mouth after disappearing rnturned slightly yesterday. She has,
throughout her illness, expressed an unvarying belief that it would
terminate fatally - and has been blessed with the ability to contemplate
that event with resignation, showing much calmness and patience, not
withstanding great constitutional irritability of temperament.
Footnotes-
1. Maria HACK
2. Thomas BIGG and his wife Susannah (nee Home) younger sister
of Elizabeth, mother of John Barton.
November 21st 1825
Wm. Rumsy, formerly b. pupil in our Tower St. School] "is at present
and has been for the last two months, working as a carpenter in my
house - observing that he had cut out an elliptical arch, for the ceiling
of the landing, I inquired how he did it - a.nd showed me a method
which was new to me - t QM
A slip of wood IG fv j
is cut with two 1 (t '
shouldersj one of which, yj J
at F, is held against (
the line DE and the other ^ c
i
r i \
K H at K, against the line ARt / p
then the curve is described I fj
by the extremity G - I was not quite sum at first whether the curve
thus obtained is really an ellipse or not. But that it is so, I
satisfied myself in this way -
Assume AC = a, DC ~ b, FG - AC ~ a, FK - (a-b) which incidently
appeaxs when the rod GI comes into the position DE -
2 ^
Assume CH = x - MG Then I IF - (a'"-x') f
By sim. tri. nFG x MF s: FK j OF „
or a: (az-xc)^ :i a-b s OF - (r,-b)(a' -x^H
a
The Ordinate GH = MF - CF = (a2-x2)| - (a-b)(a2-x2)| = b (a2-x2)§-
a a
which the equation for an ellipse
Footnote-
1. TOWER ST. SCHOOL - LANCASTRIAN SCHOOL for boys.
Dec.5th 1825
i have met vrith a severe loss, in the death of my dear nephew
Eiward Hack, whose almost unequalled gentleness and sweetness of
disposition had won for him the love of all who knew him. He seemed
just entering into life, with the fairest prospects of happiness and
success; he was just about to wi»id up the accounts of his first year's
business, which promised to turn out well - notwithstanding the
rivalry of his late foreman, and his own youth and inexperience. He
would have been two and twenty tomorrow. This day three weeks he
rode over to dine with me at Stoughton, by his own appointment. We
took a walk through the William Wood together - and he opened his
mind to me on the subject of an attachment which he had formed. -The
next day he felt rather unwell - an^ before the end of the week his
disorder was pronounced to be Typhus fever, "till, no danger was
apprehended till yesterday week, wh^n he was attacked by a sort of
fainting fit, followed by violent delirium. Farly on t,b" following
- i y \ —
morning I received a note from his mother - and on going over to
Chichester found that he could not, in the opinion of his medical
attendants, survive many hours - and so it proved. He died that
evening at a little after seven o'clock. His brother Barton and
two of his sisters are now ill of the same disorder - but I hope
likely to recover.
I felt deeply impressed with this sad event - and hope I
have derived some spiritual benefit from it - but upon the whole I
find my solitude at Stoughton more favourable to religious quiet
and improvement than mixing in society.
From a letter to J.J.
I was extremely interested by your letter, and not a little struck
with that prospective sagacity which enabled you long ago to predict
the storm which now rages so violently in the Commercial and Financial
World. You to declaim against Political Economy.' who owe so much of
your present sound wisdom and foresight in this matter to the attention
you have given to the Theory of Circulation - not that I mean to say,
or that I believe this theoretical knowledge would avail anything in
such a case unless combined with much practical skill and ability.
But remember if you please that with regard to the Bank Issues the
Political Economists have been the advocates of sound doctrines and
the practical men of the contrary, from the days of Ricardo and
Bosanquet to this hour. I am a little amused by your half contemplative
way of speaking of our new fashioned liberal ministers, and a little
gratified, for in substance I agree with you. They have been led astray
by that monstrous utilistic assumption, that national wealth is
in itself good - the great sin of Political Economists of all denominations
- and I suspect they have fallen into a mistake of which, with
submission, you were once guilty, by supposing that the price of gold
affords a correct test of the existence and extent of an over issue of
paper. The latS events have remarkably shown the fallacy of such a
criterion. The first symptom of an overissue seems to be a superabundance
of money, then a tendency to extravagant speculation, often
combined with a disposition to embark in foreign loans and likewise
with excessive importation (cotton to wit) then turn the exchange
against us and consequently the price of gold rises. This I conceive
to be the series of operations by which the overissue of paper affects
the price of bullion,andit is evidently slow as well as irregular in its
force. I have little doubt of the fulfilment of your prediction that
the labouring classes will be distressed next spring, at least the
manufacturing labourers and should that distress be so severe as to
compel them in any considerable degree to retrench their consumption
of food, it will undoubtedly extend to agriculture. Our new ministers
will probably sink a good deal in general estimation - nothing is more
unfortunate for a public man than to be over rated at first - people
are sure to revenge on him their own mistakes.
I have not much fault to find with your classification of
Political Economists but I think I should put Smith a little lower,
and Ricardo a little higher than you do. I suspect you are grown more
Pulchristic since the days when you read the Wealth of Nations, and
would now be struck with a good deal of utilism which did not then
offend you. Ricardo is avowedly a pure utilist - but the extraordinary
force and brilliance of £is analytical investigations almost amounts to
a Pulchrism. MacCulloch 'I give up. his writings are the very dregs
of nauseous utilism.
But it is not fair to write you a whole letter on subjects which
savour so strongly of
"The smoke and stir of this dim spot
"Which men call Earth"
- \ ~7 lf~
25.
Let ine tell you of the occupations pleasures of my peaceful solitude,
which I enjoy viith still deeper and deeper delight. I have bought a
large Newfoundland dog, a most intelligent, gentle, affectionate creature
who is almost wild with delight when T. unloose him to take a walk or a
ride. Then I have been working great alterations (improvements, I call
them), by throwing my garden and orchard into one, and am at present
planting a little meadow adjoining, which 1
Footnotes-
1. Dr. Mam Smith (1723-1796). In 1776 pub. his great work on
political economy - "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
the '.fealth of Nations".
2. John Ramsay McCulloch (1789~1«64) Statistician and political
economist. Pub. "Principles of Political Economy" I825.
Prof, of Political Economy at London University 1828-1.332.
Pub. Essay on the Circumstances which determine the Rate of
Wages and the Condition of the Labouring Classes 1826.
intend to take in next year, that I may have ample room for horticult- 26.
ural pursuits and experiments. I have engaged a good old man as gardener
who is to inhabit, with his wife and children, one of my cottages and
then they will all be filled to my satisfaction, the shepherd at one end,
the carter at the other, and in the middle the school, of which Gilpin
is the master. I have followed your pi an, which I believe to be the
sound one, of beginning gently, so I merely asked Mrs. Mills, the
inhabitant of the centre cottage (of the three fronting the road),
whether she could take in a young man to board who wished to improve
himself, and he might teach some of the children a little of evenings.
It has answered admirably - better I suspect, entre nous, than a certain
other institute in this county, founded by a philanthropic friend of ours.
I was present at the lesson this evening - there were my two Carter boys,
Mrs. Mills's two grandchildren, the two sons of my head carter, and sweet
little blue eyed Anny Parker, my shepherd's daughter. They learned a
little reading, a little spelling, a little cyphering, a little geography
and a little natural history. It Is a sight that would do your heart
good, when you are sick of cash and discounts; come and be healed by
breathing the atmosphere of Stoughton.
On Friday Dec. Qth. I went to Tottenham to see my mother - whom I found 27.
very weak and still suffering much, but with less appearance of
immediate danger than when I was last with her.
I returned on Saturday Dec. 17th.
Owing to Edward's death, the duty devolves on me for the present
of keeping the accounts of his business, which calls me to Chichester
almost daily - and it will still be necessary for me to attend frequently,
even when Barton is well, enough to perform this office, as he is yet
under age, and unacquainted with th" leather trade, as well as very
inexperienced. Is there not an important lesson for me, in the present
circumstances of my friends? Had my "ver dear Susan accepted me and I
in consequence removed to Edinburgh, must I not at present have been
incapacitated from performing important service and consolation to my
mother and sister. Oh that my heart were duly affected, as my understanding
is convinced. But the separation from one deeply and tenderly
loved is still acutely painful.
Feb. 14th. 1826
28.
Let the body be projected horizontally
from the point D - and let VG represent
the space through which it would move
in the first second, independently of
the action of gravity. Also let Vn represent
16 feet, the space through which it
would fall during the same interval by the
action of gravitation alone.
A
I I k
Now in the Parabola y = y JXL
E>
_ c »
\ G~
, p being the parameter. Hence yc_ — /j.
™ the velocity of the Body at A, or the original velocity of the
V2"
projection - and since S = (Vol. 2 p.149) the space through which a
body must fall to acquire this initial velocity of the projectiles
DV if DX be the Directrix of the Parabola.
VG,
6
Now the velocity at any other point E is represented by EG, making FG
also EG - 2-t-
Now EF may be considered as the fluxion of the abscissa, and FG of the ordinate.
Hence if FG
I
foe A-A^zil JXL'
•2. jxl"^—•
V
EG - L 4 ^ i n ) and since S
V ( V
fall to require the velocity of the projectile at E
- KH + HE = KE
the space through which a body must
ILf, - K T f J X ^ + x;
-Tj-
May 11th 1826
I find on referring to the last volume of my Journal, that twelve months
have elapsed since I returned from Scotland to York. Five years of late have
passed over my head with so little intellectual improvement, yet I think the
interval has been marked by some slight progress in spiritual good. The neglect
of mental cultivation is however a sinful misuse of a valuable faculty, and I am
willing to hope that it may be in some degree remedied by renewing this diary
and by laying out anon a plan for the systematic employment of my time. Suppose
then the day to be thus distributed -
29.
Before breakfast, an hour from
After breakfast
7 to 8, Religious works
9 to 11 La Groix Calcul Differentiale
11 to 12 Methematics - Original
Investigation
12 to 3 History and first
Mignet Revolution Franchise
After dinner
After tea
- Ride 1.
Mair 'and Xenaphon' 2.
If any letters to write, or accounts to settle, let it be done at twelve o' c l o c k ,
before commencing historical reading.
This determination has been prompted in part by an attack today of rat!)or
more than usual depression of spirits. I sat down after breakfast to finish an
investigation begun yesterday, and as I thought nearly accomplished, viz.
to prove that d^v + d^v = o, if v = acnX Cos. ny - ^ as stated in
dx2 dy 2
2 2
5? I did not at this time understand the notations confusing dx with d.x.
Footnotes-
1. Mair John (1810-1802). Orientalist. Founded Sanskrit and Comparative Philosophy
professorship, Edinburgh 1862. Pub. an Introduction to Latin Syntax $
a new edition with additions by Alex. Stewart pub. Edinburgh I83I.
2. Xenophon. (c.435"354 B.C.) Greek historian and essayist and military
commander. He has left some 14 works including "Anabasis", and works on
hunting and horsemanship. He commanded the Greeks in many campaigns,
including the retreat up the Tigris, after Cyrus was killed, when he took
command of the 10,000 Greek mercenaries and brought them back to Byzantium.
"Anabasis" is a modest account of this raid into the Persian Empire, explains
the military operations involved, a.nd was one of the treatises on military
science which then began to appear.
M. Fourier's Mouvement de la Chaleur dans les Corps Solides 30.
Failing in my attempt, I became discouraged, took up Haslitt's Table Talk^"'
and read a little, which as usual with light reading in such circumstances,
increased my feeling of despondency. At once I mounted my horse and rode by
Pitlands Farm: up the Haslet Coppice, along the ridge of the hill above Compton,
past the gate of Up Park 'and to the top of the down beyondj thence returned by
North and East Marden. The day was fine, and the scenery very beautiful: - the
first part also was new to me and the ride would have been delightful, had it
been preceded by strong, and successful, and systematic intellectual exercise.
I returned just in time for dinner at four. After dinner sat down to Haslitt's
Table Talk again. Bead the Essays on the Indian Jugglers; On Living to One's
Self; On Thought and Action. The author is powerful, original and eloquent; but
destitute of religious feeling, and its accompanying tranquillity of mind. 'Die
Essay on Living to One's Self presents a striking picture of a mind corroded by
its own reflexions.
After reading an hour or more I became extremely depressed - and sought
refuge in prayer, at first with little relief, but after a time my feelings
became more calm, and more intelligible. I was able to pass the greater part
of the evening in serenity, and to arrange some plans for a more systematic
division of my time than I have followed of late.
Footnotes-
1. Hazlitt, William (1778-1830); pub. a metaphysical treatise on
"The Principles of Human Action"; "Characters of Shakespeare's Plays";
"A view of the English Stage"; 2 vols of "Table Talk"
(182.1-1822) in which he attacked Shelley; "Spirit of the Age",
besides others, and his most elaborate work a "Life of Napoleon".
- ( 7 7 —
Chambers Literature 1854 - "One of the most remarkable of
the miscellaneous writers of this period".
2. Seat of Sir Harry Featherstonehaugh, Bart.
I have been rather elated by discovering, or fancying that I have
discovered, within these few weeks, the true expression for the central
heat of a sphere; expressed to a given heating cruse - which I have
been puzzling at for years - and this perhaps contributed to increase
the feeling of despondency this mjrning at being unable to make out
what is just stated by M. Fourier 'as a matter of course. How I
should dread that my weaknesses and follies, my despondencies and
fancies should be known to those about me. But for assisting in self
examination and self abasement, such records may not be without their
use.
I have derived comfort from writing these two or three pages. It
serves to establish my hopes of better times and more continued application.
2
May 19th 1826 H.J. "has been at Chichester this week, and I have
been engaged with him in arranging the concerns of my sister's family.
In a lecture on Geography which I delivered before the Mechanics
Institute at Chichester on Wednesday evening, I said that the commonly
received notion of clouds being attracted by mountains, and turned out
of their course, appears to me absurd. Marshall, dining here yesterday
with Mr. and Mrs. Freeland, told me that Dr. Sanden intends to argue
this point with me. I have this morning made some calculations
respecting the force of attraction of a mountain as compared with the
force of the wind. See next page -
Footnotes-
1. FOURIER, Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron de (I768-I830), French
mathematician.
2. Halsey Janson.
Let G be the position of a cloud,
suspended at an uniform elevation
equal to that of the summit of the
mountain, and let it be required
to determine the distance AC, when
the attraction of the mountain
becomes a maximum.
f 7 P>-
32.
Take AB the height of the mountain ™ a, and BE the half base = b,
(supposing its form conical)»•=!- Then will its solid content = \ f^ &
and since the centre of gravity in a cone is distant from the apex 3/4ths
of the height -
AD = t ^ The force with which the cloud is drawn
i . . , JL h ^ (rtowards
OC P
'7Z
OIf
A C - A J>CL% -t Force of attraction towards D = A,
-t- Jx:
76 ^ "
and by the composition of forces, the attraction towards
a - i ri
Z x C ^ f ^ )
which by the terms of the question, is to be a maximum - consequently
i h ^ ' . , i i / 7 v
( 7 S ^ ' f'? " , x ' ^
whence, by reduction, t*i( ofrjkl^ \ —.
^ - 3 A
2-.
In the same circumstances, ,>w<* (2 7) - / -f
V 32-
Force of attraction towards D " »^ - j , U.
4 1 s T t r
.v-
Force of attraction towards A = 3 2 I? 6 ^ x \J - K V 4
- i l V 32- 3
Now if we take the semi diameter of the Earth ^ V , its solid content = 33«
h hv *
or (since the mean density of the Earth is about double that of
the rocks at the surface) = j^y ^
The force of attraction at the Earth's surface - ^ A V — _3-i
Thence the attraction of the mountain is to that of the I&rth
as " X I I ' oras X v / T ^ > V.
51 A V * 27^
Now if we assume that the height of the mountain = 1 milej its half Base = 1 mile
and y , the semi diameter of the Earth = 4,000 milesj
- n c i -
Thence-the attraction of the mountain is that of the Earth as 1 to 46770•
Now the attraction of the Earth is measured by the initial velocity of a
falling body = 16 feet in a second. The attraction of the mountain =
16 of a foot per second = 1 th nearly
46770 3000
By Rees's Cyclopaedia, article Wind, it appears that the velocity of a
jist perceptible breeze is from 3 to 4 feet per second. Therefore the
attraction of a mountain one mile in height and 2 miles in diameter at
the Base is no more than from 1 th to 1 th part of the force of
9000 12,000
such a breeze. A Pleasant brisk gale is said to have a velocity of from
14 to 22 feet in a second. Therefore the attraction of a mountain of
the above dimensions is no more than from 1 th to .1 th part of
42,000 66,000
the force of such gale, and this under the most favourable circumstances,
viz. when the cloud comes just within such a distance of the summit of
the mountain that the attraction is a maximum.
Sunday, 4th June 1826
This day completes the 37th year of my life. The retrospect of this
(as it appears to me) long period, affords much ground for sorrow and
humiliation, and some for rejoicing and thankfulness - I first humbled
at the thought how much I might have done for the welfare of myself and
others - had I rightly and conscientiously employed the means which God
has placed in my hands. Yet he has been pleased to preserve me from
gross and open sin, and I think lias done more, has enabled me to make
some progress in religion, though slow and imperfect. I do not remember
the time when secret prayer has been so much practised by me as during
the last 12 months - and my sabbaths are better than they were formerly.
I have derived some spiritual good from yielding to a conviction of duty
some time felt before it was attended to, in having the children of my
labourers to family prayer on Sunday evenings. I read a short passage
from the New Test, to them, make such observations as have occurred to
me upon it, and conclude with an ex tempore prayer, and to my surprise
as well as joy, however dull and insensible I may have previously felt
I have not yet been ever deserted by the spirit of prayer on these
occasions.
But in one respect my mental, condition is less healthful than it was
three years ago. I have much greater difficulty in continuous and
Voluntary application of the attention to intellectual pursuits. This
I attribute partly to habit, having been unavoidably engaged a great
deal in other ways last winter. But surely a sense of duty, a sense of
the necessity of maintaining health of mind by the exercise of the
mental powers, should be sufficient to overcome my indolence. I am
apt to stroll into the garden after breakfast, and there I wander to
peep at my flowers and shrubs to see how they grow, or rather to escape
from the effort of attention to less amusing employments. But it is
never too late to make good resolutions. I propose to return to my old
practice of recording my weekly reading, and for this purpose I commence
with setting down what I have done since May 11th -
Lacroix 1 Vol.1 p.l to 64 of introduction
Xenophon Cyropaedia' p.l to 76.
Some of Muir's Latin Exercises - about a page a day, ending p.100.
Gilpin's Life of Latimer SI to 7.
Footnotes-
1. Xenophon. "The Cyropedia or Institution of Cyprus". Many editions in
English from 1552.
2. Rev. Wm. GILPIN (1724-1804) Vicar of Boldrei in the New Forest,'Hants.
Author; advanced educationalist. Life of Latimer pub. 1755.
Jir
To Samuel Tuke1"'
June 14th 1826
My dear friend,
Accept my best thanks for thy kind letter. I vras quite surprised
and disappointed to find that I have missed an opportunity of seeing thee,
and ha.d I known the time of thy arrival at Chichester, no engagement
should have prevented my riding over to meet thee during some part of thy
stay there. I should have been glad, to see thee and to converse on the
subject of thy letter; which I could do with perfect unreserve to thee,
because I am conscious there exists that general similarity in our habits
of thinking which would enable m* to explain my views better than to many
persons. In most of the sentiments contained in thy friendly communication
I cordially concur, and particularly in thy views with respect to that
which constitutes the essence of religious worship. But I think thou wilt
be ready to admit that the practice of assembling together for silent
worship may become as empty a form as any - and that with many persons it
does so - that true spirituality consists neither in the use nor disuse of
any particular mode of worship, but in attention to that which is, as
ought to be, the end of them all, and that the spirit of formality consists
in attaching an undue importance to the means of grace. and in
particular in the wish to impose on others what we find or imagine to be
best for ourselves. It is not very certain, I think,
1. TUKE, Samuel (1734-135?)
Son of Henry (1755-1814)and Mary Maria Tuke of York. In 1810 he
married Priscilla Hack (1786-1323) daughter of James (I758-I829)
and Hannah Hack of Chichester; James vras the eldest brother of
Stephen Hack (1775~1823) who married Maria Barton, John Barton's
half sister.
Samuel Tuke was a Quaker minister, and "specially serviceable in
the administration of the discipline as well as through his
writings on Friends' principles". He was concerned with education,
the mentally ill, and in the relief of destitution and distress.
1835-41 he served as Clerk of the London Yearly Meeting during
the stormy period of the "Beacon" controversy. He was active in
the anti-slavery cause.
The Beacon controversy was due to a book published by Isaac
Crewdson, a Manchester Quaker, entitled "A Beacon to the Society
of Friends". It brought to a head an already rather uneasy and
scarcely defined division which already existed between Friends
who fully accepted the pre-eminence of the "Inner Light" as a
spiritual guide, and those who stressed the importance of the
Scriptures. Crewdson declared the doctrine of the "Inner Light"
to be unscriptural and a "delusive notion", and said that it was
a great "error" to believe that silence and stillness were essential
to true worship.
- 1 S t -
37.
that the same spiritual regimen suits every mental constitution, any
more than the same diet or medicine suits every physical constitution,
and without attempting to decide what is best for the majority of
Christians, I find it sufficiently difficult to determine what is best
for myself. I acknowledge that I find the growth of a devotional
spirit more promoted by the active, than by what I may call the
passive form of public worship. This may proceed from a low degree
of religious attainments; indeed it certainly does so, for to a
perfectly spiritual mind all circumstances would be indifferent. But
the question for me is, with an admitted want of spirituality, how to
attain to better things - and I think I should not do right to omit
what I find experimentally most beneficial. I have not that invaluable
quality by which a person can single out the free minds engaged in true
worship, and sympathise exclusively with them, without pretending to
any skill in the discerning of spirits, further than that derived from
the common and instructive principles of physiognomy. I am unable to
divest myself of a conviction that, nine tenths of those round me are
engaged in anything rather than Communion with the deity, and the
consciousness of this operates like a wet blanket on any little spark
of devotional feeling which might otherwise arise, and accordingly I
feel more able to enter into silent worship in my solitude at Stoughton
than in a friends meeting.
I may be asked why, with such views, I do not at once declare my
separation from the Society - I reply that T see nothing so objectionable
or unchristian in the principles of friends as to require such a 38.
protest. They entertain some scruples which I do not, but this does
not separate them from me, however it may separate me from them - I
love the Society and its members - and in the better and more consistent
part of them I see much unaffected piety, much Christian integrity and
benevolence. I am sorry to differ from them on points which appear even
more important to them than to me, but 1 think I have already sustained
injury by resisting convictions which I have entertained ever since I
was of age to think and inquire for myself. Another consideration which
prevents my declaring my separation is the relation in which I stand to
my sisters family - I do not wish to do anything which might bias her
children, for I do not disguise from myself that the restraints and
peculiarities of Quakerism often induce young people to leave it without
adequate consideration or conviction.
I refrain from entering into argument, entirely feeling with thee
that religious controversy is for the most part something more than
useless, being particularly unfavourable to that sweetness and serenity
which we most wish to maintain, but I feel relieved and gratified by
an opportunity of thus simply stating my views and feelings, being sometimes
apprehensive that my silence and apparent reserve may seem to
proceed from a want of that love which I wish to feel for my friends,
whereas if I know my own heart it proceeds singly from a conviction that
no words could render my sentiments intelligible unless to those who
happen to have, to a certain extent, the same general habits of thinking
as myself.
Believe me with sincere regard
Very affectionately thine
J.B.
June 24th 1326 30.
We have had two contested elections in Chichester. One for the City,
the other for the County, Sir Godfrey Webster" "being the unsuccessful
candidate in both. In the former I took no part, for the reasons
1st. that the two rival candidates Sir G. W. and Mr. Poyntz profess the
same or very nearly the same political sentiments, 2nd. That each party,
employed without scruple the means of corruption to obtain votes.
^ I <2 2/
On the evening of the day preceding that on which the nomination
for the County was appointed to take place, Sir G.W. finding himself
behind on the poll for the city with little or no chance of success,
declared his resignation, and at the same time announced his intention
of standing for the County. I had Previously determined to make some
observations at the Hall, at the County nomination, but on going in was
strongly requested by S. Wooldridge to undertake the nomination of Sir
G.W. to which I ultimately assented. The following is part of my speech,
that part which gave me most satisfaction on reflexion. It was never
written down before it was spoken, but much thought over -
"Gentlemen, I would not have undertaken the task which I this day engage
in, were I not conscious that I do in fact represent the sentiments of a
great majority of the freeholders of Sussex. (Cries of no. no.) - with
regard to those resident in the City of Chichester, this sufficiently
appears from the Poll Book. For of those freeholders
Footnotes-
1. Sir Godfrey Vassal Webster of Battle Abbey, Sussex.
6th Baronet, d. 1353-
2. William Stephen POYNTZ, II.P. for Chichester I823-30.
three fourths voted for Mr. Cavendish1""and three fourths of that three
fourths gave plumpers. With regard to the freeholders in the neighbouring
country, it is true that many who were in their hearts favourable
to the Hon. Baronet, and who had. even, many of them, promised me their
votes for him, did afterwards submit to be driven like a gang of negroes
to the hustings, there to vote for the two gentlemen who now sit before
you. I do not indeed accuse these gentlemen or their friends of anything
like inconsistency in resorting to such measures;- it is perfectly
natural and perfectly consistent in those who maintain that it is right
and fit for members of parliament to be influenced, (or to use a more
homely, though as I think a more correct form of expression, those who
think it is right and fit that the consciences of members of parliament
should be hired) by the Crown; it is quite consistent that the same
persons should deem it right and fit for members in turn to hire the
support of their constituents. With regard to this question of
influence, which may be said to form the cardinal point of difference
between our own sentiments a»d those of our political opponents, I wish
to put the whole upon one simple, short and intelligible issue. Does the
man who submits to be so influenced, or hired, vote agreeably to the
dictates of his conscience or not? If he does not - if for the sake of
his own private emolument, he gives his support to men or measures such
as he believes in his heart detrimental to the best interests of his
Country, what name shall I give to such a man? What name softer than
that of traitor? Is there anyone who seriously believes, that the
national welfare can be truly promoted by such a system of organised
dishonesty as this? Never will I
Footnote-
1. Probably Charles Compton CAVFJiiWSH, son of Lord George CAVENDISH.
believe such a slander upon the author of our being as that he has made
the deliberate violation of those principles of rectitude which he has
implanted in our breasts, conducive to the essential welfare of the
community. If on the other hand, the man so influenced votes agreeably
to his conscience, is it not clear that he would have voted just the same
had no such influence been employed, and consequently that the money
employed in influencing him is just so much wasted? And not merely
money wasted, for that is a trivial consideration, but is it not further
evident that such instances of rapacity, particularly when exhibited by
the higher or more influential class of society, must tend to foster the
growth of that great moral disease, that leprosy of selfishness,, with
which we are already but too deeply taintedt and in so doing inflict a
deeper and more incurable wound on the national prosperity, than all the
wars, and all the taxes, and all the other national calamities which can
- I
115.
occur in three centuries together. For if there is one thing which
history proves more clearly than another, it is this. That of all
national misfortunes, one only is irreparable, and that is the loss
of national virtue. Do you doubt it? Look round you at the condition
of the neighbouring states - you can hardly lay your finger on a spot
in the map of Europe, except perhaps in some of the half barbarous
regions of the North, where the people were not once free and with
freedom, happy and prosperous. Look at the poor and miserable, and
servile discontents of the once high spirited Spaniards. Look at
Greece, once the day star of the world. Look at Italy, walk through
the echoing courts of her deserted palaces, see the fiddlers and 42
buffoons, sole remnants of nations once the most illustrious in Europep
and then turning your eyes homeward, see in the present state of the
countries, the future conditions of your ovm descendants, if you suffer
yourselves to be corrupted as they were. For those nations were once
as free, as proud, as powerful as you are; and as little thought it
possible that they could fall beneath the yoke of the oppressor. But
they suffered themselves each man to be separately persuaded that his
single voice could avail little to the welfare or the safety of the
state;- and they, each pursuing his own particular interest, at the
expense of the general interest of the whole community, were they
individually corrupted, and collectively enslaved. I say each man
following what he supposed to be his own particular interest. But
most mistakenly. For by degrees, however at first they might congratulate
themselves on being freed from the turbulence of contending
factions (just as the superfine nerves of some persons at the present
day cannot endure the wholesome bustle of an election) and however they
might flatter themselves that the acquisition of tranquillity must be
favourable to the cultivation of the arts of peace, and the improvement
of the national resourcesyet insensibly did they find, they knew not
how, that the courage of their armies had degenerated into contempt,
and the wisdom of their senators into folly; and the awe which theizname
had been accustomed to inspire among surrounding nations into
indifference or contempt; their population decayed, their commerce 43-
slipped away into the hands of more enterprising rivalsi their fields
went out of cultivation, their houses fell to ruin - for in truth, that
living spirit was wanting for which they had been indebted, unknown to
themselves, for all their dignity and power and prosperity and glory.
And thus did they lose even those outward and vulgar and tangible advantages
to the attainment of which they had sacrificed the higher and more
refined blessings of liberty. And do .you hope to escape, if you suffer
yourselves to be polluted by vices which have ruined every nation under
heaven that has yet indulged in them. Do not, I beseech you, foster
so dangerous a delusion. Cherish with affectionate reverence that free
constitution which you inherit from your fathers« maintain unimpaired
that second edifice of liberty which they established with their blood,
and then may you safely leave the Corn Laws, and the currency, and fifty
other such trumpery questions to Shift for themselves.
I am aware that there are persons to whom all this is utterly
unintelligible. These frigid and calculating politicians (turning to
Mr. Curteis and his supporters) with their debtor and creditor statements,
their system of prohibitions and restrictions, and all their fiddle faddle
schemes of mercantile policy; cannot so much as conceive the true elements
of national prosperity. They would manage the concerns of a mighty
empire on the same principles as those of a chandler's shop. To reason
with them would be absurd, for they have not that on which all reasoning
must be founded. It would be like reasoning with a man born blind on
the beauty of a prospect, or with a man born deaf on the merits of a
piece of music. From so thankless and so unprofitable a task I turn to 44.
you whose hearts beat with loftier unctions. You cannot stop to draw
out a statement of profit and loss before you determine whether to love
your country. You love that country first as you love your parents, with
the deep instinct of unreasoning affection, and secondly, that instinctive
affection is confirmed and extended by the memory of all that England has
been, and still continues to bei- her high destiniesj- her bright and
romantic career of gloryi - her illustrious recollections of ancient
chivalry«her affecting memorials of departed genius and virtue t her
long ages of freedom, and all the splendid results of that freedom, manly
Sentiment and hnrhie enterprise, • an4- uncontaminated morale, g.nd pure and
— I #4- —
undefiled religioni- these are the blessings which you inherit from your
fatherst these are the blessings which, if worthy the name of men, you
will leave unsullied to your posterity - and long may that posterity
cherish them, for so long will England bo the mistress of the world".
Dec. 17th.1'
On the afternoon of the day of nomination I felt much depressed: my
enthusiasm sunk into dogbt and anxiety. I rode over to Huntington, and
after tea Corbyn Janson "came with me to fit ought on-- In our wa.y^he showed
me vrhere to find the Orchis Oonoosea and Api^era. ^'on Bow Hill '. In
the evening we looked over my collection of foreign dried plants. I felt
relieved in some measure by retiring into these simple pleasures.
Footnotes-
_ ^ ) 1 •
1. He presumably mistook the date.' It must have been 17th June.
2. CORBYN JANSON. Presumably offspring of Thos. Home Janson (b.1735)
and Sarah Corbyn.
3. Anne Pratt in "Flowering Plants of Great Britain" names them as
Gymnadenia Conopsea and Orchis Apifera.
4. Horsfield's History of Sussex includes Appx. No. II on BOTANY
(19 large pages) by Thomas Henry Cooper F.L.S. He states that
the plants of the lower parts of the country correspond to those
of Belgium and the North of France.
July 13th 1826 By coach to Epsom - where I took a postchaise to
Carshalton House.
l4th Spent the day at Croydon School with W.F.R. and E.B.1'
15th In London. 16th to Tottenhauj, dined at Aunt Martha's with T. and S.
Bigg ' - drank tea with J.J. in his new house, in Church St.
17th To Norwich by the Phaenomena Coach.
18th Rode to Sprowston and Horsford, miserable crops particularly at
Horsford.
19th Rode to Fundenhall.
20th To Bamby and Lowestoft. In the evening agreed with Ilr. Reeves
for the sale of my two farms at Barnby for £6500.
21st Mr. Millard brought me as far as Barnby in his gig. I wished to
collect some plants which I had seen in the ditches the day before,
and which were new to me. Among the rest the Sagittaria. Walked
back to Lowestoft. In the evening by the Telegraph to Woddbridge.
22nd. Spent with my brother at Woodbridge.
23rd Sunday. Attended Woodbridge meeting - dined at Alex Jessup's'f' In
the afternoon in a postchaise with B.B. and Lucy^'to James Ransome's
at Rushmere, where we drank tea - suoped at Jn. Mawe's at Ipswich -
where I had not been for nineteen years. His eldest daughter, then
a little girl of two years old, appears dying of consumption. At
night by the Telegraph to London.
24th Engaged at Clapham, copying the minutes and accounts of my co-executors.
25th. Meeting of Executors at Acre Lane. In the evening walked to look
at some houses lately erected on the Copyhold land at Stockwell.
Met E. florae in my way and called on his mother.
Footnotes-
1. William Foster Reynolds and hie daughter Elizabeth.
2. Thomas and Susannah Bigg - see footnote to page 21 of this vol. of his
Journal.
3. Joseph Janson
4. Alex Jeseup - probably Bernard Barton's father-in-law.
5. Bernard Barton and daughter Lucy.
6. Mward Home, nephew of John Barton's mother.
July 35th 1826. In London - Visited the paintings from Carlton House, now
exhibiting at the British Gallery. I do not remember to have seen a less
interesting collection.
July 27th Returned by the Stage.
28th Dined in L. L.^with Thos Smith.
29th 2 1 T.S. with my sister and Barton^'dined with me at Stoughton. Had some
talk w^th him respecting a partnership which he has suggested with
J.B.H.
While in London I sent as a present to Susan Parker a copy of Emily Taylor's^*
Poems. It was not accompanied with any letter but in the first page I wrote
Susan Parker
August 18th
1823..4...5....6
It was at first my intention to have written under the following lines but on
further consideration I thought they might have the appearance of petty
complaint on my part, and might give her some needless uneasiness1 I therefore
omitted them.
Spring's early smile had waked a flower
That drank with joy her fragrant breathj
But winter soon resumed his power,
And doomed its opening scents to death
Footnotes-
1. L.L. - probably Little London, Chichester.
2. T.S. - presumably Thomas Smith
3« Maria Hack's second son, John Barton Hack.
4. J.B.H. - John Barton Hack
5. Belly Taylor (1795-1872), authoress» Sister of Edgar Taylor.
That flower its head no more can raise
And though its foliage still is green,
Yet never, in succeeding days
Its stem a second bloom hath seen;
But stands a blighted, mournful thing,
Memorial of that treaohorous spring.
115.
Yet He, who called the Assyrian King
From his long pilgrimage of woe,
That Power Divine can surely bring
The wounded soul fresh peace to knows
Breathe then the secret prayer for one
Whose heart will beat for thee alone.
Through his dark days of thickening gloom
Close only in the silent tomb.
In passing a shop window in Chichester just before my late journey I saw a
miniature so like Susan, that few portraits I think are so like to the person
for whom they are intended. I bought it of the painter, and found it to be a
miniature of a young lady of the name of Worth, at Brighton.
September 2nd 1826 48
I have been thinking that instead of employing the general term of an
infinite series, it might be convenient sometimes to make use of the expression
which denotes the relation between two Consecutive terms - thus
General Term Proposed Expression Generating Function
- ,T
-4-t / —-X_
-f-
/ , -Z. , y-^
A\ 1
+ X " ^ - 2-X . CcS
/. Z .3. . H sH / /H— '
2- L
Two things must be observed in employing this mode of expression. First, that
the Series be in every case supposed to begin with 1. Therefore, in the Series
which expresses the value for instance of Log (I of which the first term is
X* 1 must be added. Secondly. That the relation in question between the
successive terms of a Series is not affected by any quantity contained in all
the terms. Thus, in the first example, the relation between the several•terms
is expressed by x, which is the case not only in the Series —
/ -t-.X -f- jc^ -f- X 3 ~f 4- (~c—
but also in the Series X ^ X ^ y^
I
Since +
2_
X
I
Now the general term of this Series is and the relation between the Several
Consecutive terms = I X
-ti
- IS 7 —
Also X - J E + -XZ-
3 4-
Iherefore I - ^ -f- ^ — EH?" t- ^ -
3>
The General term of this Series is
-M
4\ + (
and the relation between the Several Consecutive terms - —
We have also ^ - ^ f / ^ V ^ = Arc of rad 1 and TangJl
/U
= JC 0 PC
5
X
6T ~7
C~<~ Substituting z for JX j x V i - f- -t-^
3» iT
k
of which the general term is
terms is ^2. ^u — I
-VI
(" a n d t h e relation between the Consecutive
2 - / ~
answering to X X Arc of Rad 1. and Tang Z J^
-H
X —
'f
/M
DC
X
-f- I ^jjC
IX
Generating P n ^ ? "
(
September 4th 1826
In addition to the preceding expressions, I may set down the following
Qengral Terms Ratio of SimnesBive Terms
- / • 2 . 3., .
--frw ^ " t — 1 3 • • ^ ~ ~ I ^
/ . -2- .'2,, r ^
^ ^ — . > ^ - ^
C ' ^ y
- (
•X
a
o .
^t y
/ - ^ )X
(W^ - -a- ) • » - s u . ^ i
50.
/. Z .7 0 -4-H — 2—
2. 3> » , A
4^-h/
I
— I ¥ £ —
51.
Pot. 1st 1826
I find on winding up my farm accounts that I am poorer by about
£1.000 than if I had let my land when I bought it, near three years ago.
It would be absurd to call this a trial, except so far as all vexations
are a kind of trials. It has however had the effect of leading me to
reflect on past events and feelings, and as such circumstances are wont
to do - it has revealed to me some of the secrets of my own heart. In
particular, it has shown me that my virtuous disgust, twelve months ago,
at the vulgarity and littleness of those with whom my lot happened to be
cast, was little else than a sickly and sinful fastidiousness. I laid
awake an hour or two last night, and these were my reflections - "What
a noodle not to give up farming a year ago, which would have saved me
£800. I might have seen that if the concern scarcely cleared itself
when prices were rising, it must have a heavy loss when they took a turn
the other way - all this was for want of looking the thing fairly in the
face, and acting accordingly. But what does it signify? Have not I
gained this year by the resale of my Suffolk property nearly enough to
cover the discrepancy? And even were it otherwise, is a man possessed
of £24.000 happier on an average than one possessed of £23,000? Do I
not sometimes expatiate to others on the folly of supposing wealth
essential to our comfort - nay, could I have supposed last July twelve
month, while smarting under a disappointment which then seemed worse than
death, that any loss of property could seriously vex me?
Upon this I prayed with more than usual earnestness that my vexation 52.
such as it is, may turn to my spiritual good and was enabled to rejoice
in a consciousness that (for the moment at least) my prayer was answered.
This morning as soon as I was dressed, I went over to my shepherd and
inquired if he had found smother place. He said he had not and seemed
much depressed. I talked a little kindly to him and his wife and promised
to make the baby a little.present on her birthday.
I have had several ups and downs as to property in the course of my
life - very trifling ones in amount - some of them - but sufficient to
elevate and depress me to a degree most humiliating to reflect on. My
first yj) was my marriage to a you ng woman with £10,000 down and £2,000
a year. This did not elevate me it is true, but rather the contrary and
yet I scarcely know why. Nor can I well explain how, within twelve months
after that event I got into anxiety and trouble about money, though I did
not meet with any actual loss. In 1814, the third year of my marriage, I
lost some hundred pounds in business, and the year following much more.
This year , 1815, was one of the most depressed and unhappy of my life -
and yet to look back upon it, can anything be more ridiculous. That I
should have suffered the loss of £2,000 to £3,000 so to annoy me appears
little short of insanity, and still more Inexplicable the year following
that in which I lost a wife tenderly loved, and with her more than the
third of my income, was not by any means a year of depression. What a
strange, inconsistent, paltry mortal! Surely these reflections ought to
have the effect of enabling me to appreciate the insignificance of pecuniary 53.
considerations, and teach me my own littleness.
My times of depression have been always, I think, coincident with
mental inactivity, and I suspect that the nlind, unfurnished with proper
occupation, naturally preys upon itself, and seizes upon some imaginery
grievance which in such circumstances appears to the imagination of
unnatural magnitude. I am shocked and distressed to think how little a
conviction of the duty of preserving health of mind by suitable exercise
has had the effect of inciting me, during the last two or three years, to
steady application. There is something quite wonderful in the fluctuations
which I have experienced in this respect. FYom the period of my return
from the Continent in 1818 to the end of 1823 or beginning of 1824, my
powers of application progressively increased and I hoped they would go on
increasing} but since that time I fear I must say they have been progressively
diminishing. If the vexation of my recent loss, together with the
deliverance from a subject of uneasiness, should have the effect of
restoring those powers, it will prove a blessing indeed.
- i g q —
Phenomena of Springs
Nov. 28th 1826
Hithin the last few weeks, an explanation of the phenomena of springs
has occurred to me, which appears to me more satisfactory than that commonly
received. It depends on the recently discovered fact that at a certain
depth below the surface of the earth, a permanent temperature of 80 or
upwards prevails, in climates where the mean temperature of the air does not
exceed 50'. The effect of this must be a constant transmission of aqueous
vapour from the internal parts of the earth to the surface, and its condensation
there, just as we see in the newly built wall of a room, that if a fire
is lighted within the room, the outer surface of the wall becomes damper,
while the inner surface of the wall becomes drier, or as the workman
expresses it - the fire drives the damp through the wall. How in the summer
time, when the temperature of the surface of the earth approaches to that of
the interior, little of this condensation will take place, and consequently
the springs will be low, in time of frost it will be greatest, and
consequently at such a time the springs will be high, and we have thus a
simple explanation of a fact commonly observed among country people, that
frost and not rain breaks the springs or causes them to rise - an observation
so irreconcilable with the commonly received theories that in former
times I have been ready to doubt its correctness. But this morning I have
had a remarkable confirmation of the truth of the vulgar operation, several
of the wells in the village having been observed to contain rather more 55*
water than before, though we have had no rain, or scarcely any, for several
weeks, but several days past have been frosty. I have plumbed my well, in
order to observe the progressive rise of the water. It is about 49 feet
deep, and at present has about 6 inches of water at the bottom.
This theory once suggested, we have a ready explanation of many
phenomena which would not be easily accounted for otherwise.
1st. The Annual rain at London is given by Luke Howard1,25 inches - the
annual evaporation of the surface of the ground 20 inches - Climate of
London Vol 2, pl85 and Table E at the end of the volume. The excess of
rain is therefore 5 inches, and even this excess I am persuaded would
disappear, did the evaporation take place from a surface of moist earth (as
it ought to be arranged) instead of from a surface of pure water, on account
of both the absorption of light and consequently increase of temperature, and
the increase of surface from the roughness of the earth. From what source
then are springs fed, if the annual evaporation is equal to the annual rain,
unless it be from the interior of the earth.
2nd. The water in my draw well is now 48 ft below the surface of the earthiin
the spring it is not more than 2 or 3 feet below the surface. Now the
quantity of rain which falls (on an average of 20 years) from the end of
November to the end of March, does not exceed about 5k inches. To say
nothing then of the evaporation during the same period, is it credible that
5i inches of water poured on the surface can raise the level of the springs
below 45 or 46 feet.
footnotg-
1. Luke Howard (1772-1864) Pioneer in Meteorology. Pub. "Climate of
London" 1818-1820 and enlarged 1830.
3rd. The same theory will furnish a solution of the wetness of the surface 56.
of mountains, and the copious springs which issue from their sides, often at
a small distance below the summit. See my Journal July 25th 1821. These
springs never cease to flow, even in the driest seasons. This phenomenon
has long excited my admiration, and I formerly supposed that the summits of
mountains must be habitually colder than the surrounding air - causing a
perpetual condensation of moisture upon them - and during my stay in Carnarvonshire
made many trials to discover if this is really the case, but was
- n o -
disappointed in my expectations as my Journal shows - and the fact remained
a mystery til] this hypothesis suggested itself to my mind, as it is well
known that thfc mean temperature at the summit of mountains is lower than an
inferior level, in the same proportion must the condensation be greater of
the vapour arising within its mass from the interior of the earth.
December 4th Within the six days since the preceding remarks were
written the water in my well has risen about a foot.
Dec. 11th In the last week the water has risen 2% feet being now 4 ft
derp.
Dec. 17th 1826. Sunday
Another long interval - in spite of resolutions oft repeated to keep
up my Journal regularly. I neglect it for the same reason that an insolvent
man neglects his accounts, because I am ashamed of the results, and unwilling
to look at them steadily.
Within the last-^month I have read Walpole's Hemoires - and Sargent's
Life of Henry Martyn I have also been engaged in preparing for publication
a lecture on the Geography of Plants which I delivered before the
Mechanics Institute.
This has been a day of dulness and depression - yet even more than
commonly blessed at the period of evening prayer, when, as usual, the
children came in from my cottages. I read the account of the first giving
of Manna to the Israelites in the desert i a double portion on the sixth
day. I took occasion to say a little on the duty of making the Sabbath a
spiritual rest as well as an outward rest. I thought myself more prepared
than usual - my feelings and understanding seemed stagnated - and indeed my
remarks were anything but fluent or well digested - yet to my joy and
surprise, the attention of the children appeared rivetted to the subject.
I caught their solemnity, and was enabled to pray with fervour. How
wonderful a condescension to one so full of pollution as myself that I have
not yet once been deserted in these Sabbath evening devotions. They now
form my sheet anchor - on them seems to rest all the little good I can
boast of - to prepare tor them am I led to hallow the proceeding part of
the day by reading, meditation, and prayer.
It is a depressing situation in which I am placed. With regard to
spiritual sympathy and society I am almost as much alone as Henry Martyn
in the centre of India.
Footnote-
1. Henry Martyn (1781-1812) Missionary. Translated New Testament and
Prayer Book into Hindustani.
This is perhaps the consequence of my own blamable fastidiousness.
But yet I think it is not without ground I am disgusted with the views and
sentiments of my evangelical acquaintances in the neighbourhood. My best
friend in this respect is Rhoda H. We understand one another's views and
approve each other's feelings much more than is the case with those to whom
I am allied in outward communion. I sometimes think of writing down what
it is what I cannot like in the conversation of my religious friends, but I
dread to lose the sweetness and simplicity of Christian love by being drawn
into controversial discussion, yet with prayer and watchfulness it might
perhaps be done safely and usefully - usefully I mean to myself, as it might
lead to closer scrutiny of my own heart, and serve for future reference and
comparison.
Dining one day last week at the house of a gentleman in Chichester, with
half a dozen companions who make no profession of regard for religion, I
felt strongly that such society would be quite intolerable to me if often
thrown into it. I was annoyed at the prevalent littleness, vulgarity,
sensuality, of conversation untinged by philanthropy or elevation of thought.
But then, is this religion? Dr. Gordon said to me one day that the first
impression he formed of my character was that of "a light and romantic
philanthropy! something very like Christianity, but not the very thing itself."
193
Is it not possible that the taste may be revolted by the littleness of
irreligion, when the heart is not pained by it? And may not the very
same fastidiousness lead me to dislike the company of sincere Christians,
if they happen to be narrow in their views? But
Footnote-
1. Rhoda Hack, wife of Thomas Hack, see footnote to p.137 of this Vol.
of his Journal.
if I find myself fretted and thrown out of composure by intercourse with 59•
such persons, is there any reason why I should expose myself needlessly to
temptation? Perhaps if by an effort I could overcome my repugnance, I
might profit by their conversation. But is it not likewise possible that
I might suffer injury? I remember hearing that Mrs. H. More J comparing
the state of religion among the serious young men at Oxford and Cambridge,
said the religion of those at Oxford is more pure, just because they are
fewer in number - it has less of party mixed with it.
December 29th 1826 A sweet peaceful eveningj preceded as usual by an
interval of depression, though less severe than sometimes. Last night I
sat up till after one o'clock perplexing myself with a question which I
accidentally saw in an old Ladles Diary - "To find two numbers such that
their differences; the difference of their squares, and the difference of
their cubes, may be all even squares". It is a great error to let my
attention get too deeply entangled by such means, the effect is a sort of
mental intoxication which, like other intoxications, leaves the power of
the mind enfeebled. I am thankful however, to find the effect of continual
attention to intellectual pursuits becoming less difficult than it was.
Within the last few weeks I have been engaged in preparing for publication
a lecture on the Geography of Plants which I delivered to the Members
of the Mechanics Institute of Chichester about the beginning of last month.
I found this an interesting employment and I think it has done me good by
contributing to revive ray love of study. Jan 4th 1827 - Twenty three feet
of water in the well today. Feb 5th. The very same height.
Footnote-
1. Hannah More (I745-I853). Religious writer. Issued series of cheap
tracts called "Cheap Repository Tracts" led (1795) to formation of
Religious Tracts Society.
From a work entitled "The Bounties, Harmonies and Sublimities of Nature" 60.
Vol. 2. p.160.
The following works throw considerable light on the subject of botanical
geography''.
Linnes Coloniae Plantarum1'
Stromeyer. Tentamen Historiae Geographicae Vegitabilium '
Humboldt De Distributione Geog. Plant. "
ditto Lignes Isothermes *
Wahlenberg's Introduction to the Flora Lapponica; Flora Carpathiae, Flora
Helvettia - with their respective maps . ,
Parrot on the distribution of plants in the Caucasus.
Humboldt on the distribution of plants in the New World.'*
Brown's Observations on the distribution of plants.
Wildenow's Observations on the difference between the Vegetation of Extratropical
Regions in the Northern ^cd Southern Hemispheres.9'
De (Jandolle's Memoir on the Geography of the Plants of France. j|
Boue's Ihesis on the Geography of plants, particularly those of Scotland".
- I l l
Linnaeus or Linne, Carl (1707-1778), a Swede; founder of modern
botany.
Stromeyer, Frederick; Commentatio inauguralis sistens historiae
vegetabilium geographicae specimen. Gottingae 1800.
Humboldt, F.H. Alexander, Baron von (I769-I859).
De Distributione Geog. Plant.
Voyage aux regions e<quinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, fait
en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804 par Al(exandre) de
Humboldt et A(im<?) Bonplaud. Paris 1805-1834)
Group V (1 vol) contains the work on plant geography; Essai
sur la geographie des plantes accompagiv? d'un tableau physique
des regions equinoxiales.
Des Lignes isothermes et de la distribution de la chaleur sur le
globe. Arcueil, Mem. de Phys. Ill, 1817, PP 462-602. Edinburgh
Phil. Journal III, 1820 pp 1-20, 256-274; IV., 1821 pp 23-38,
262-281; v., 1821 pp 28-39. (Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific
Papers 1800-1863. London I869).
Wahlenberg, Goran; brought out "Flora Lapponica" in 1812;
"Flora Carpatorum" in 1814; and "De Vegetatione et Climate in
Helvetia" in I813. A Swede.
Parrot, Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm (1792-1841), German-born
physician and botanist; studied at Dorpat (I809-II); to the Crimea
and Caucasus 1811-12; military physician with Russian Army 1815?
prof, medicine Dorpat 1821; visited Pyrenees 1824, climbed Ararat
1829; to North Cape I837.
With M. von Engelhardt pub. Reise in die Krym und den Kaukasus,
2 vols. 1815.
The sixth and last group of his Voyage aux regions equinoxiales du .
Nouveau Continent (18 vols) deals with botany; Plantes equinoxiales,
Melastomacees, Nova genera, Mimoses, Synopsis plantarum. (Dictionary
of Scientific Biography I972 U.S.A.)
Brown, Robert (1773~1858), botanist, educated Aberdeen and Edinburgh;
naturalist to Capt. Mathew Flinder's (1774-1814) Australasian expedition
I8OI-5. Commissioned to circumnavigate Australia pub. "A voyage
to Terra Australis 1801-1803", 1814.
9. Wildenow, Carl Ludwig, German naturalist. (176.5-1812). prof, natural
h'.otory Berlin 1798. Held that plant geography reveals hictory of
plants. 1st to appreciate essential unity of Hydropterldeae
(Fllicineae).
10. Gandolle, Augustin Pyramus dej wrote several works, including with
Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de MONET DE LAMARCK - "Synopsis plantarum
in flora Galllea descriptarum", Paris I806, and another edition
1823.
11, Boue, Ami. (1794-1881) Dissertatio inauguralis de Methodo Floram
Regionis cujusdam conducendi, exemplis e Flora Scotlca, etc. ductls,
illustrata. pp 63. 8° Edinburgh, 1817•
Jan 21 1827
Rode over to Funtingdon, to call, on Friday - Elizabeth asked me to stay
and dine, which I did. Mr. Bliss was from home - Priscilla and Ann Grandy
were staying with Elizabeth. In the course of conversation she asked me -
"How do you manage with the parents of the children in your school? We have
such complaints and disturbance 1 - the parents cannot bear their children to
be punished". And then she told me a history of Lucy Clements being carried
by her father to school by main force, kicking and screaming - Lucy Clements
is a grandlaughter of Mrs. Mills, who lives in one of my cottages at Stoughton,
in which Gilpin's little school is heldi- and is, when at home with her
grandmother, one of Gilpin's scholars. At present she is on a visit to her
father, who is coachman to Sir James Duff, at Funtingdon. Now I never heard
of Lucy, or any other of the children, expressing any dislike to attend the
school here 1- on the contrary they take great pleasure in it. I have indeed
heard of one of my little ones crying because her mother would not let her go
to school. Today I asked Mrs. Mills, whether she had ever known Gilpin
punish the children1 which could not happen without her knowledge, as the
school is kept in the room where she and her husband live. "Sir", she replied,
"I would not tell you a story if it was to gain the In.iiesi he has never laid
the weight of his finger on one of them since he came here - and it is
surprising to see how fond they are of him and of their learning - indeed if
they wasn't fond of it they would never improve as they do.
"There's Jn. Green, who when he is left to take care of his little
sister will sometimes come in and say, Gilpin will you set me a sum? Eliza
seems quiet now and I think I could do a sum".
It is indeed wonderful what this young man has accomplished and that
without possessing quick abilities, by a mild and judicious system of management.
Those who have been accustomed to violent and harsh methods, and imagine
that children must be scolded and beaten to keep them in order, cannot believe
in the truth of my representations, when I describe the state of my little
school and urge it as a proof of the success of mildness. The school master
at Funtingdon, who flogs his pupils till he sets all their parents in an
uproar, is spoken of as a most superior manager - he has received a prize from
the Committee of the National School as a mark of their approbation; and
Elizabeth dreads that if the Master of the Central School should happen to be
removed, this man may be taken to supply his place, now, to me, frequent
floggings are art unequivocal proof of bad management. It would be more
sensible, I think, to flog the master than the scholars when a school gets
into confusion.
I rejoice with thankfulness that my powers of voluntary application to
intellectual employments is restored, and with it my depression of spirits
has almost disappeared. Winter was always my best time, but last winter was
broken in upon by the necessity of attending to the business of my sister's
family, and the winter before, spent at Edinburgh, was less favourable to
study than at my quiet home. A day at Stoughtonis now a luxury - I read
a little Xenophon, study a little mathematics, read Humboldt, and make
extracts relating to the geography of plants and animals. Tomorrow I am
to deliver a lecture before the members of the Mechanics' Institute on the
Geography of Natural History.
Jan. 27th 1827 Received today a letter from A.R. Barclay1; saying that
he has been applied to by Dr. Villerme, a physician at Paris, who is about
to publish a work on Population, "earnestly desiring to be informed whether
the facts which he has met with in a periodical work (The Philanthropist)
respecting the probabilities of life among the members of the Society of
Friends are to be depended oni viewing these statements as most valuable".
A.R.B., finding it is a paper of mine, requests to know whether it is
possible, as there stated "that half of the born in the Society live to 45,
and that the proportion of persons living to 80 is 1 in 8|, both of which
appear to him very far from being the case". He has the numbers of the
Quarterly Meeting of London as obtained by Geo. Harrison, as follows;
in 1810 - 3091
1817 - 3258
1825 - 31
1
He finds the proportion of births in the last ten years J1.6 and of
1
marriage 232.
Footnote-
1. Abram Rawlinson BARCLAY (1793-1845). Edited Letters of E^rly Friends
1841| Letters of John Barclay (A.R.B.'s brother - I797-I838), 1841f
and an edition of William Penn's A Testimony to the Truth of God and
other Extracts, I836. He held a valued place inthe Religious Society
of Friends in his time.
To A.R. Barclay Jan. 27th. 1827 64
My dear Friend
Thy inquiries and observations have pleasantly revived my interest in
a subject which I had half forgotten, and I have been looking over my former
speculations, comparing them with the light since obtained by study or
reflexion on the progress of population, that I might be enabled to give a
satisfactory answer to thy inquiry how far the statements in the paper which
I sent to the Philanthropist fourteen years ago may be depended on. The
result is in general that I believe those statements are well founded, but
that they are less extraordinary than I once supposed them to be. I was not
at that time aware either of the very remarkable diminution in the rate of
mortality in recent times; or of the difference between the rate of mortality
in different ranks of life. I am now disposed to believe that the proportion
of births, deaths and marriages In the Society of Friends differs little, if
at all, from that which prevails in the middle ranks of society generally.
It is among the extreme poor that the principal mortality takes place, and
among them too happen the great number of early marriages. Now as we have
few or none of this description of persons, our tables of population must
and ought to exhibit a different face to those of the community at large.
My statementsw«ro drawn from the registers of the Quarterly Meetings.
Those registers are, as thou remarks, not strictly to be depended on, since
they do not contain exclusively the births and deaths of members, but they are
I believe as near to accuracy as the parochial or other registers from which
writers on these subjects have drawn all their conclusions. These documents, 65
even if subject to various sources of error, admit of being checked in so many
ways that an attentive inquirer can hardly be misled with regard to the broad
facts, though many of the numerical proportions may be more or less incorrect.
It is impossible, for instance, to doubt that the rate of increase by procreation
—I Q
in the Society is much slower than In the community at large. This is
proved both by successive circumstances of which thou hast given a specimeni
by comparing the registered births with the burials; the excess of births
being very Inconsiderable; and by common observationi- it being rare, as we
all know, to see marriages take place among friends with that utter thoughtlessness
of the future which is common among the extreme poor. With respect
to the rate of mortality, it admits of being determined with greater
accuracy from registers where the ages are marked of the persons buried
than from a comparison of the annual deaths with the number of the community,
and I am disposed to think the Tables of this kind which I have given vary
little from the truth. The manner of constructing them is explained at
length in the 2nd Essay of the 2nd volume of Price on Annuities. I do not
see anything incredible, or even surprising, in the statement that one half
of the born in the Society live to 45, and that 2/l?ths live to 80. Dr.Price
says that in the Parish of Arbroath, for 20 years ending 1767, half of the
born lived to 46, and l/l4th to 80. In some other places which he mentions
the proportions are not very dissimilar, and though these may be considered
remarkably healthy situations, yet the statement comprehending the poor as
well as the rich, and being taken at a time when the average length of life
was much lower than at present, these circumstances may balance the
superior salubrity of the situation. I find upon looking at the ages of
the males in Great Britain, in the returns of the last Census, that one half
of the born live to 30, and l/l3th to 80, but as the rapid increase of the
population causes the number of young persons to appear disproportionately
great, the length of life is here under rated.
In short, the simple truth is that the members of the Society of
Friends belong to that prudent middle class, where very hasty and improvident
marriages are uncommon, and where pressure of poverty is seldom so severe
as to shorten the duration of life. It appears that the Society just keeps
up its numbers, whereas the privileged classes, where those classes are kept
distinct, as in many parts of Europe, are invariably found to lessen in
number, if not recruited from the bourgeois, because their vanity induces
them to think that they cannot afford to marry, unless they have the means
of supporting large establishments.
Feb. 9th 1827 To Clapham by the Stage in company with my sister M.H.
March 7th Returned by the same conveyance.
On the 16th attended by appointment with Robt. Forster1', the Committee
of the Borough Road School, in order to obtain admission into the house for
Gilpin; that he might be in the gay of obtaining a situation as school master.
On stating my request, Wm. Allen who was present, inquired if the young man
was acquainted with Geography and the like subjects, beyond the Common Execution
of Lancasterian Schools. When I replied in the affirmative, he
expressed an inclination to take him for the master of his school at Lindfield,
and then comically enough, Miller the Secretary, and some of the other
Committee men present began to cry out, and say they ought to have the first
choice, they were much in want of intelligent young men for masters - though
R. Forster had before asked me 10/- per week, (2/3rds of his estimated cost
of Maintenance) during his stay at the Borough Road. After the Committee
had finished its sitting, I walked up to the City with Wm. Allen, and he told
me he wished for a suitable young man as Schoolmaster1 Charles Green, who at
present fills that station, being too noisy, and not, as far as I could
collect, very successful in his management. W.A. added, very flatteringly,
that he wished to have a master from my hands. He said he proposed to grant
instead of a fixed salary, the 3d per week paid by every boy, which I thought
a good plan 1 only taking care to leave him just a maintenance at all events.
W.A. asked me how much I thought he might like, I named 10/- per week. He
said he would undertake to make it 15/-• I thought myself very fortunate in
finding such a situation for my poor laddy.
Footnotes-
1. Robert Forster of Tottenham; a prominent member of the British ard Foreign
School Society.
2. William Al l e n w a s treasurer of the BFSS; a great philanthropist.
115.
"Geography of Plants" - Mr. Hughes - Irvino
I gained a good deal of information during my stay in the neighbourhood of
London respecting the Geography of Plants. Mr. Rickman lent me Humboldt's
Prolegomena J which I had long wished to seei and Wahlenberg's Flora Lapponica
an excellent work. I also lgoked over R. Brown's appendix to the narrative
of an Expedition to the Congo J and to Flinders Voyage to Terra Australis. I
met with a few hints also in the I.innean Transactions^'and the Horticultural
Transactions "j of all these I took copious notes, and-intend now to write my
lecture over again. I also went to Loddige's nurserjr at Hackney, and was
much interested in the sight of the Palms, the Bamboos,the Plaintains, the
Mimosas, and other forms of tropical vegetation mentioned by Humboldt -
whose glowing descriptions made me almost wild with desire to see the plants
themselves.
I accompanied J. Janson on Sunday Feb. 18th to the Protestant French
Church in Threadneedle Street, where I listened with extraordinary pleasure to
a sermon by Mr. Scholl, one of the officiating ministers - on the text,
It is better to go into the house of mourning than into the house of feasting
etc. I never met with a more beautiful specimen of mild, persuasive clergyman.
On the followinggSunday I accompanied Mr. Hughes to the Caledonian
Chapel, to hear Irvine '- a preacher of a very different, and in my estimation,
of far inferior character. Of his manner I would only say that it is fitter
for the theatre than the pulpit. As to the matter of the discourse, it
appeared to me very fantastical, and not very scriptural. The principal
subject was the suffering of our Saviour during the time of his
Foo Lnotes-
1. Friedrich H. Alexander Baron von Humboldt. Humboldt de Distributione
Geographica Plantarum, secundum coeli temperiem et altitudinem montium
Prolegomena, 8°, Paris 1817. (Handwbrterbuch zur Geschichte Der Exacten
Wissenschaften, gesammelt von. J.C. Poggendorff, Leipzig I863)•
2. Expedition to the Congo 1816, commanded by James Kingston Tuckey
(1776-1316) Cdr. R.N. and explorer. Died of exhaustion but left a
narrative. R. Brown wrote Appendix III to the report which deals with
botany. Ref. R. Brown see footnote 3 to p. 60.
3. Linnaean Society of London pub. Transactions S e r . l . 1791-1875* Vols. 1-30.
and other serials later.
4. Horticultural Society(of London), pub. Transactions 1810-1848. (See
British Union Catalogue of Periodicals).
5. Loddiges' Nursery. Conrad Loddiges & Sons at Hackney. Run by Conrad
Loddiges (c,1739"*l826) until his death when taken over by his eon George
Loddiges (1734-1846). It folded in 1860.
6. IRVING, Edward (1792-1834), Scottish divine and mystic. I8I9 appointed
assistant to Dr. Thos. Chalmers at St. John's Glasgow. 1322 called to
Caledonian Cburch, Hatton Garden. The title of Catholic Apostolic
Church was assumed by his followers in 1832.
115.
descent into the region of separate spirits; which, the speaker assured us,
were far more severe than those which he endured when on earth; a conclusion
which is at least I conceive wholly unwarranted by Scripture, if not contradicted
positively by that expressive w o r d , A 6 ( T i ^ L w l t h which he breathed
his last.
March,8th 1827 On returning this morning to my cottage at Stoughton, I
was struck and deeply delighted at its air of peacefulness and repose. All
looked cheerful and clean, and every face looked happy - but what a different
species of happiness to that felt by the inhabitants of the "Great Babel".
After dinner I went over to my little school, where a sweet feeling of tranquillity,
almost of solemnity, seemed to prevail. Gilpin tells me that the
elder of the little Hopkinses, my last admitted scholars, has made wonderful
progress in the six weeks he has been at school. He knew nothing of arithmetic
when he came and is already in multiplication. He carries a
multiplication table in his pocket and learns it while tending sheep on the
hill. From the school I went in to my old gardener's cottage, to carry him
some flower seeds which I had bought in London. His wife was sitting on one
side of the fire working, and he on the other, platting straw to make a straw
hat, which he did, to my fancy, very neatly, but seemed half ashamed to be
detected in such am effeminate employment. His wife showed me a very neat
liat which he had just finished for their youngest boy.
The sight of this quiet valley brought to mind today the epithet applied
by the Spaniards of South America to the high pastures of the Andes. "Paranos
de la Summa Paz", translated by Miss K. M.Williams "Wilderness of Supreme
Repose".
March 11th 1827 I observed today a worm writhing on a gravel walk in 70.
the garden, and looking attentively at it, I observed that an animal about
an inch long had fixed itself upon the worm at a short distance from the
tail and appeared to be sucking its blood. Laying hold of the creature to
detach it from the worm, the tail dropped off at the place where the former
had fastened itself. Its head which is armed with a formidable pair of
pincers was quite buried in the worm's body. It has six legs and two horns
at the tail and consists of about 'rings. I should like to know its
name.
March 17th Receiving yesterday a letter from Wm. Allen, as appointed, I
set off this day with Gilpin in the Brighton coach, for Linfield. * At
Brighton I called on John Glaisyer, to inquire if he had heard anything of W.A.
and receiving an answer in the negative, took a postchaise and arrived about
nine in the evening at the place of destination. Borrowing a lanthorn from
the landlord of the Inn, I walked up to the school and inquired of Mr. Greeniwhom
I had not seen since he was turned out of our Chichester School, rather
in disgrace, 12 or more years ago. I was apprehensive the sight of me might
awaken some uncomfortable feelingsi happily, however, this did not appear to
be the case. Inquiring again of him for W.A. I found he had been that day
at Linfield, but was gone on to Brighton. I determined therefore to wait
quietly till Monday, this being Sat. evening.
Sunday March 18th After breakfast walked with Gilpin to the school,
passing in our way through the village, which has a sweet tranquil air of old
fashioned simplicity,
Footnotes-
1. This space was left blank.
*
2. From a Description of the Plan and Objects of the Rural Colony at
Lindfield pub, in 1814.
This experiment was started in |.825 by John Smith and Wm. Allen, "with a

• "It is finished".

70
view to better the condition of the Farmer's Labourer, and to render him, by
degrees, independent of parish relief.
"The School Rooms, Workshops, Public Kitchen, and Cottage were erected in
1825, by Wm. Allen, upon four acres of land, situated a quarter ofaa mile
from the village of Lindfield, near Cuckfield, in Sussex, on the right hand,
close to the side of the road to Brighton. Here a School is maintained for
Boys, another for Girls, and one for Infants from two to six years of age.
Schools of this kind will serve for a radius of two miles, the schools being
the centre; or for a district of twelve square miles....
"As it was deemed of the utmost importance to give the children habits
of industry, some of the elder boys are employed upon the school farm, others
in the printing office in the boy's workshop, where also are four looms for
weaving linen, in which art some of the boys have been instructed. The
girls are taught needlework, knitting, and other employments peculiar to their
sex.....
"Soon after the establishment of the Schools, John Smith, M.P. purchased
the estate of Gravely, consisting of about one hundred acres of land, in the
immediate neighbourhood, and built cottages upon it. These cottages now
amount to twenty-five 1 eighteen of them were designed for farmers' labourers,
and seven for persons who were to support themselves entirely upon the produce
of five or six acres of land, to be cultivated by the spade, on the garden plan.
None of the cottages have less than three bed-chambers, in order that boys
and girls may be kept separate. They are furnished with ovens, iron boilers,
pig styes and other conveniences".
Each of the labourers' cottages had a quarter of an acre of garden, with
another acre as well. "The acre is to be cultivated lialf in potatoes and
half in corn
"Allotments of land have been found most excellent means for taking off
the surplus from the labour-market....
"It has been proved In this colony that a labourer, though possessing an
acre and a quarter of land, can do full justice to the farmer who employs him.
He, being better clothed and better fed, has more strength and spirits for work
than those who are deprived of these rights and privileges....
(I should have thought that he might at times feel a little over-tired?).
— I Q 9 —
"The results of the experiments made in this colony..., prove, that
if he receive twelve shillings p er week wages - if he be moral in his
conduct and industrious in his habits - he may, with the advantages here
given him, support himself and family, independently of parish relief,
except under extraordinary circumstances of affliction".
All tenants had to sign agreement before occupying their cottages.
They were "to observe moral v.aducti not to suffer any spirituous liquors
to be sold on the premises, nor used in their families, except for the
purpose of medicinei to send their children to schooli to cultivate with
the spade, on the plan laid down for them, or not to vary without leavei
not to underlet or take lodgers without leavei with other covenants as to
manure etci and to give quiet possession, upon due notice"; and they were
to keep no horse without leave.
It was suggested that if this plan were adopted elsewhere, it might
bring relief to the peasantry in Ireland, Schools of Industry and Agriculture
might be supported for poor orphans and other children, workhouses in
country places might be supported, reformatories or penitentiaries for
juvenile and other criminals might be supported and that the general adoption
of these plans would nearly annihilate the poors'-rates in agricultural
districts. It was suggested also that the moral character of the poor would
be raised.
Helena Hall in her history of Lindfield pub. in about I965 relates
that the new Colony was later nicknamed "America", and although the cottages
were demolished for rebuilding in 1944, just a hundred years after Wm. Allen's
death, the place is still known as America, while Allen Road and Hanbury Park
are reminders of the chemistry works, Allen & Hanburys. Wm. Allen died in
Gravelye Cottage in 1843, "revered and loved by all in Lindfield, the
village he had saved in the days of its poverty".
just as a village should have. After introducing Gilpin to Mr. Green, and
walking through the School rooms, we went together to the Cottage farms,
which are about half a mile distant, across the common. The white houses
look very picturesque along the side of a woody hill, as seen from the schoolroom
window. At one of the cottages, inhabited by the printer, it is
intended that Gilpin should lodge. There are six of these cottages in pairs 1-
above is a larger pair, with five acres of lanj to each - one of this last
pair inhabited, occasionally, by Anna Bradshaw J who I was told is a capital
farmer. Still higher up the lane is a small house built by Wm. Allen for
his own residence. He means, as he says, to spend one quarter of his'time
there. It is a pretty place, but alas I the lane which leads to it is so
deep in mud that W.A. and his wife were under the necessity of getting out
—- O rvr^i -—
of their carriage at the bottom of the hill, and being conveyed to the house
in a cart. However, this is shortly to be rectified, in common with various
other imperfections. Indeed, to confess the truth, the great misfortune at
Linfield is that so much remains in the future imperfect tense. The design
is benevolent, the execution splendid, as far as it goes. Noble schoolrooms,
one for boys and another for girls, each capable of containing 250 children!
spacious rooms for them to spin, weave, make shoes etc., a comfortable house
in the middle, occupied by Green, the superintendent - an extensive garden
behind - no expense spared - as may be supposed from Green's saying that the
establishment has cost £7000, and stands the philanthropic undertaker in £500
per annum, a great part of this sum however is said to have been squandered
unnecessarily by the builder.
Footnote-
1. Ann Maria Bradshaw (1001-1862). Actress .and vocalist, nee Tree.
Retired 1825.
March 19th, 1827 -After breakfast went again to the School with Gilpin,
and began examining the boys, preparatory to a fresh classification of thnm.
About eleven o'clock a carriage drew up, and in came the Philanthropist, as
cordial and kind hearted as ever. He appointed Gilpin and myself to dine
with him at the cottage at three o'clock. Nothing could be kinder than
this reception of my poor laddy's who was quite overjoyed at his good fortune
in obtaining such a comfortable situation, under so kind a patron, and said to
me, "Well, Sir, i| I do not make this answer.' I think I never deserve to get
another situation '". After dinner accompanied W.A. and his newly married
wife to Cuckfield, where they lodgedi not, I suppose thinking the Inn at
Linfield good enough!- though it might do for a philanthropist. I had not
been at Cuckfield for eight and twenty yearss- when I passed through it on a
journey to Brighton, the first journey I ever took. It is a disagreeable
placei bearing evident marks of being on the high road to Brighton!- such
flaming red wallsi such Cockney gardensi such attempts at tastei enough to
make one sicki very unlike Linfield. I amused myself in the evening by
inking over a sketch of the valley of Linfield, with the cottages and school
etc., which I had taken during the day.
March 20th Returned to Linfield - W.A.at my request has kindly consented
to make Gilpin independent in his own school - and to make sure of avoiding
ca,uses of future dispute I removed with my own hands a sort of cupboard with
printing types etc. belonging to Green and other things in the school desks
and drawers, which I then locked up and gave the keys to Gilpin. At three
o'clock I came away by a coach which passes that way from London to Brighton.
A watchmaker residing in Linfield happened to sit next to me on the roof and
we fell into some talk about W. Allen and the school. The watchmaker told me
at first he sent his own son there - but was obliged to remove him because of
the bad management of the young man placed there as masteri- a raw lad of
sixteen, with no other recommendation, that I could discover, for such a post,
except that he happens to be the son of Wm. Allen's coachman. In fact, the
number of boys has declined - as Green told me, from about 90 to 60. On
neither of the days which I was there did the number present exceed 40.
Footnote-
1. Gilpin no doubt proved his worth, for in the Description of the Plan and
Objects of the Rural Colony at Lindfield pub. in 1834 is noted - "These
schools, which have now been in operation about eight years, have
produced a striking moral effect upon many of the children who have
attended them".
Sunday April 8 Every succeeding Sunday have I to lament my dulness of heart;
my insensibility to spiritual things; yet, blessed be God, when the period of
evening prayer arrives I have very seldom failed to experience the divine
influence on my soul. But I make no progress. My last return from Scotland
vwas an era of good - which was confirmed and sealed, as it were, by the
- 2 o l —
adoption of my present plan of having the children from the neighbouring
cottages on Sunday evenings, exhorting them and praying with them, notwithstanding
some grievous lapses. I have, on the whole, maintained more
of the spirit of religion since that time. But unless I could feel something
like progress, this affords small encouragement. Two things have
occurred to me today, in searching after the cause of my want of favour -
one, to visit daily one or more of the villagers and attempt to d» them
some little good, either temporally or spiritually - Another, to provide
diligently a succession,of religious reading. A month or two ago I read
some of Mrs. Sherwood's 'and her sister's little tales with edification
and with pleasure.
Footnote-
1. Mrs. Mary Martha Sherwood (I775-I85I) daughter of George Butt.
Married Gapt. H. Sherwood I803.
Good Friday April 13th 1827
Heard the cuckoo and saw the blackthorn in blossom for the first time
this year. James says he heard it the morning before. In London's
Encyclopoedia of Gardening, the return of the cuckoo is assigned to the
first week in May, and the blossoming of the sloe to the first week in
April.
Today I received a letter from Gilpin, giving a pleasant report of his
situation at Linfield. He desires to be remembered"to Master and Mrs. Mills
and particularly to those children whom he so much regretted to leave". I
went over to deliver his message and read the letter at the cottage, and the
good old people I observed each wipe away a tear as I finished.
April 14 Saw the first swallow at Chichester - none at Stoughton yet.
April 15 First blossom of the cherry expanded.
Aipril 16 First blossom of the plum.
April 18 Returning yesterday evening from Chichester - I observed a
phenomenon, which affords a proof of the descending currents of air at the
sides of hills during calm and clear nights. Mr. Hipkin had been setting
fire to some heaps of furze and bushes on the top of Bow Hill, near the
tunnel - and as I came out from Stoke Park, I saw the smoke pouring down
the steep face of the hill into Kingly Bottom in a well defined stream
which reminded me of the appearance of the Staubach in the Valley of Lauterbrunnen.*
Footnotc-
1. Switzerland near the Jungfrau, waterfall dropping 980 ft. in the
Canton of Bern.
April 24 1827 In the 1st and 2nd numbers of a Revue Modicale. published
at Faris - which Dr. Forbes has lent me, are some notions of a very curious
paper read by M. Dupin 'before the National Institute. Sur les effets de
de 1 'enssifcnement Populaire sur les prosperity de la France. The author
it appears has constructed a map of France in which the different provinces
is marked by darker or lighter tints, a line drawn from Geneva to St. Halo,
separates la France eclairee from la France obscure; the former, to the
north of this line, containing 32 departments and 13 millions of inhabitants
t the latter to the South, containing 54 departments and 18 millions
of inhabitants -
La France Eclairee La France Obscure
Chidlren at school 740,846 375,931
Do. per million of the population 56,988 20,885
Amount of Impot Foncier 125,634,765f i25.4i2.969f
Do. per million of acres 6,820,000f 3»599,700f
Do. of Patentes 15»254,456f 9,623,733f
Do. Do. p. million of people l,174,958f 534,652f
— 2- —
la France Eclairee La France Obscure 75
Brevets d'invention1791-1825
Prizes presented by the University (leaving
out the departments of the Seine)
Members de 1'Academic des Sciences
Medals given by the Govt, at the annual
exhibition in 1019 des produits de
1' Industrie nationals )
168: 415
107 36
48 17
293 107
Footnobe-
1. Probably DUPIN, Francois Pierre Charles (1784-1873) who wrote
extensively " on economics, mathematics, science and military
and naval matters. He was created Baron in 1824.
In a second part of the same memoir, M. Dupin compares the 43 depart- 76.
ments in which education is most general and those in which it is least
general -
First Series Second Series
Number of children at school 885,589 177,420
Proportion of illegitimate schildren at school 1.26 1.6
Average duration of life 40y 5m 38y 9m
Annual increase of Population 110,054 83,024
100,000 Inhabitants of Glasgow sent to school 14.736 children
100,000 " Paris " " " 4.202
The author then compares the three most enlightened of the Arrondissements
of Paris with the three least enlightened. The proportions are
Average duration of life 43-47 years 24-25 years
Bastards in 10,000 inhabitants 158 232
July 12. 1027 77-
Walking through the copice, near my beechwood some time ago, a hen
pheasant flew up, and as she rose from the ground let drop a young bird,
which she seemed as if intending to carry off in her claws. I caught the
little bird, and at first thought of bringing it home, but on second
thoughts let it go again among the bushes.
As the mowers were cutting the grass in the meadow under my window last
month, one of them passed his scythe completely over a hen partridge without
touching her. Seeing them stand around, looking at some object on the
ground, I went down into the meadow and found the bird still sitting, where
she remained motionless till she again heard the sound of the scythe, when
she flew up and I discovered she had 12 eggs under her. Thinking there would
be no chance of her hatching them in such a situation, I took the eggs and
put them under a hen, which however did not sit on them and they were all
spoiled. Two partridges haunted the spot every evening for sometime afterwards
- the unfortunate parents as I suppose of the intended birds.
Three young starlings were taken about the same time by my gardener
from a nest under the eaves of his cottage; two of them he kept in a cage
himself, and one he gave to a man down the village. The mother bird for
sometime after came and fed her young ones through the cage bars.
July 12 1327 I have again fallen into indolence and dejection, though 78.
less severe than last summer. Oh that my time were heartily and continually
occupied in some beneficial and active manner. Notwithstanding my firm and
abiding conviction, founded on long experience, that an industrious application
to philanthropic pursuits or to the improvement of the mind, goes
hand in hand with tranquillity and happiness, yet do I suffer lassitude and
inactivity almost daily to creep over me. I cannot think without grief of
the manner in which this last three or four years of my life have been wasted.
- z 0 3 -
Sunday 22 July
115.
Mr. Morris, the late curate of Stoughton has resigned his office -
which for th® present is filled by Mr. Davies - a change much for the
better. At Michaelmas, a son of Mr. Hardy, the Vicar, is to succeed to
the curacy. His father inquired of me the other day respecting lodgings >
wishing his son to reside in the village. Which will be a great acquisition
if the young man has his heart in his profession, as I believe his
father has. Stoughton has not enjoyed the benefit of a resident clergyman,
Mr. Hardy says,during the last hundred years.
Mr. Davies regularly calls here, and puts up his horse at my stables.
Ho is just now on a three weeks excursion to Scotland. I have sent by him
a copy of Miss Taylor's "Sabbath Recreations to Ann Chalmers and the same to
Janet Gordon, two little girls, daughters of the doctors, with a letter to
each of the
Footnote-
1. Helen Taylor (1818-1855) writer of religious works for children.
doctors themselve. I have ordered a third copy for the purpose of sending 79-
it to Susan Parker on the lSth August and last night composed the following
lines to be inscribed therein -
"Oh that I had wings like a dove.'
"For then ifould I fly anay and be at rest"
And where then dost thou hope to find
That peace which thou must feel no more
Till, leaving Life's dark waves behind,
Thou seest a far, far distant shore?
For whether in some lonely glen
From all the moiling world apart,
Or midst the busy haunts of men,
Still bleeds thy deeply-wounded heart.
Where would thy drooping wings repose?
In thy own warm and much-loved nest?
Bit should that home against thee close,
Cold - changed - a gone - Oh spare the rest.'
Think not to end thy weary flight
Till thou canst reach the Realms of light.
Reflecting upon them this morning, I felt dissatisfied with their spirit - 80.
and added the following stanzas as an amendment -
Cease, selfish man, thy murmuring tone;
Cease for thyself alone to feel:
E'en were that heart, that hand, thine own -
Couldst then each pain or sorrow heal?
In hours of sickness or of care
What couldst thou do for one so dear,
But breathe for her the secret prayer?
But shed for her the silent tear?
And though for ever now removed
From sight of that "sweet opening flower",
So long, so deeply, only ioved -
Is not this still within thy power?
And, though perhaps she thinks not still
Of thee, and of thy faithful love,
Yet has thy heart no generous will
E'en then thy constancy to prove?
z o
115.
Oh, yes! Th'impatient mood forgiven
That o'er my soul, bore transient sway,
I now could so enjoy to live
For blessings on her head to pray.
July 23rd 182? 81.
My cousin J. Janson spent a few days with me at Stoughton last month,
among other discussions, we had some talks on the etymology of the Greek
and Latin preposition PD , and the English Jj2£. I wrote the following
remarks afterwards, as part of a paper which I intended to send to the New
Monthly Magazine, or some other periodical work.
Every reader of the Diversions of Purley^(and who, among educated
persons, is not of this number) knows how delightful it is to behold the
entangled and apparently inextricable web of language resolved at once, by
the magic touch of the Etymologists' wand, into order and simplicity. In
the same manner as Newton, while he pushed his researches into the
Constitution of the Universe further than all preceding inquirers, furnished
the world at the same time with an improved method of analysis, and thus
enabled his successors to enlarge the limits of his own discoveriesi so did
Home Tooke by th* new and simple view which he took of the formation of
language - by displaying Hermes in the very act of adjusting his wings -
afford to coming generations an instrument before unknown for the discovery
of truth, and prepare the way for an indefinite progress in the investigation
of this inberesting subject. His inquiries concerning the derivation of
particular words in our own or in other languages arc chiefly valuable as
illustrations of those general principles which form the essential part of
his work; and those writers who imagine
1. The "Diversions of Purley" by John Home Tooke (1736-1812) the son of a
poulterer named Home who had added the name of his friend William
Tooke to his own in 1732. He published E/T6C* TTT^POC VT(& or the
"Diversions of Purley", a philological work emphasising the necessity of
studying Gothic or Anglo-Saxon, in 1?86 and 1795, which established his
reputation as a philologist.
they have overturned the reasonings of the author by attacking his individual 82.
etymologies show that they are incapable of appreciating the true spirit and
meaning of his investigations.
It is with no such view as this that I propose to offer a few remarks
on the origin of the Greek and Latin preposition pro, with the corresponding
English preposition for; and to prove that the account of them contained in
the Diversions of Purlfiy is by no means complete and satisfactory. Far from
thinking by this means to overturn the fundamental principles laid down in
that work, I hope to furnish additional confirmation of those principles,
by employing them to resolve one more of the troublesome knots which have for
ages perplexed the grammarians to untye.
The Greek prepositionTfPO is well known, sometimes signifies priority
of place, sometimes priority of time, sometimes, like for, it signifies cause
or motive.
Footnote
ante fores
ante tempus
— r
/ ^
0 /f tfvt £ 10 V Kcxl Y u V / X l K w y dimicare pro liberis et omnibus
h £ <fQo<i
115.
The latin prjw h?.e precisely the same ambiguity of meanings and so, if tie
attend to its compounds, has pros which is the less to be wondered at since
'may be supposed that the Romans adopted this particle from the Greek,
with all its significations. But this appears not a little remarkable,
that our Saxon for, or fore (which I take to be the same word) presents the
b.'u-3 kind of amMguity. When we find such a remarkable analogy existing in 83
i'h>!ly remote and uvconnectod dialects, it cannot fail to excite a suspicion
i)v->, the concurrence Is not simply accidental, but has its foundation in the
structure of the human mind.
Let us see then if a connexion cannot be traced between, the meaning
vC ,gzo signifying priority, and pro signifying cause or motive.
'His ill ciuccess of the earlier etymologists pro-coeded from their
f.vro-s-iU'J theories respecting the origin of language.
Literally - the erroneua theories went before the ill success. But
','iioh ir universal"ly understood to signify that the erroneus theories were
?.!;•> c,i-.ne of the ill success; and may consequently be translated by the Saxon
;>c.« thu?.
Tue earlier etymologists met with ill success, for they had formed
•?<rviV.-UG theories respecting the origin of the language. Indeed since the
n"it:;.Oil of a Consequence, as something that follows, is perfectly familiar
to our mlndisf why should we hesitate to admit that a cause is simply someiLing
which goes before.
There is a curious chapter in Aulus GeLlius"1",' where the author, after
ffuncrating various significations of the Latin pro, concludes by saying
thai in hi3 opinion "whoever imagines these words to be altogether
rjKjtootej-
1. Avlus Gellius b. c.A.D.130. Latin author and grammarian j composod
nilsoellany entitled "Moctes Atticae" in which are preserved many
fragments of lost works.
like each other, or of equal efficacy or yet differing from each other in 84.
every particular, falls into an error. For I esteem that the variety of
their signification is to be traced to the same origin and fountain, though
not to the same end". Vol. 2 p.281. Eng. Trans.
Further to illustrate the natural connexion between cause!, or motive,
and priority, it may be observed how familiarly we employ words of time to
express preference.
Beforj? I would submit to such an indignity, I would endure any hardship.
Sooner than I would submit etc.
teUjor than I would submit etc.
Bather, as Home Tooke has shown, is the comparative of Rathe, early -
"Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies"
I...ttotl% (]>liy$ fcfPt) quo sourcettre.
J. have said that I consider for and fore as the same word. That such
is the case may be conjectured from observing how uncertainly the final e is
dropped or retained in the compounds of this particle, e.g. therefore, for
that} wherefore, for which) forward for foreword, former, instead of foremer.
But the inference becomes irrestistible when we advert to the use of the
same word in the sister dialect of Germany, according to Adelung the preposition
vor signifies
~2-0>C—
lst priority of time - Drey Tap;o vor der Hochzeit - three days before the
wedding.
2nd priority of place- Vor dem Thore stehen To stand before the door.
3rd a cause Vor Freude weinen To weep for joy.
4th a preference Grade vor Recht ergehen lassen To publish mercy
for (instead of)
Judgment.
Whatever then may be thought of the analogy between the meanings of
the English for or fore, and the Greek JYf? Q , no doubt can be entertained
of the existence of such an analogy in the case of the German vor.
It is to be wished tha.t some person acquainted with the Celtic, the
Oriental, and other dialects not allied to the Oreek or Gothic would observe
whether a similar analogy is to be traced between the particles employed in
these languages to express priority, and causality.
It may be worth while to observe, though not immediately connected with
the precedin g remarks, that as 7T FOJJO £ appears to be the superlative of
7T P O , we have
Positive Comparative Superlative
In Latin prae prior primus
In English for first
In like manner the German erst appears to be the superlative of a word no
longer existing in that language, but whose comparative ere is still found
in our own kindred dialect; signifying both preformed, and priority of time.
I suspect that the Greek 1) P , or f c* p , signifying both the dawn of day,
and the season of spring, is from the same root; as well as the adverb
early.
In deriving the Preposition for from the Mocso-Gothic Fairina. which
signifies cause, Home Tooke has, I think, exposed himself to a portion of
the same ridicule which he has liberally bestowed on the lexicographers.
For if not iprnotum ab ifqiotius, this etymology is at least ignatum ab
ignoto. J.t merely places the elephant on the tortoise. When he proves
the derivation of our English particles from some sensible object, or from
some verb expressive of an action of daily and hourly occurrence, as when
he shows that through means a door, and that if is the imperative of the
verb to give, we feel that he has let in new light on the operations of the
human mind, and the construction of language; but when his investigation
finishes in a term of the most abstract and metaphysical kind; (a noun,
indeed, according to the technical phraseology of grammarians, but certainly
not the najne of anything capable of being an object of sense) we feel that
he has merely shifted the burden from one shoulder to another.
Of the other words which I have endeavoured to trace he gives no
account, so far as I am able to discover.
July 24th 1027
I have today made an alteration in two of the stanzas of my elegy -
thus -
"Where would thy drooping wings repose?
On that once warm and faithful breast?
Would not that home against thee close,
Cold, changed and gone - Oh spare the rest!
Yes - Oh my God, may haste forgive;
Chase my impatient thoughts away;
And while thou will'st it, let me live,
For blessings on her head to pray.
' - 2 O 7 -
This afternoon I rode over to drink tea at Bowley.' I walked with James II.
to see a young cuckoo, which the mowers found in a titlark's nest in the
marshes. It was alone, and they supposed the mother cuckoo had sucked the
lark's eggs when it laid Its own. The little animal opened its mouth very
wide and vary fiercely at the intruders, and Burton's dog seemed afraid of
it, though very much disposed to attack it. I took it up and carried it
home to Ann Gravely to be reared, thinking it would be trodden on by the
cattle or killed by some mischievous boy if it remained on the grotuid
unfledged. Burton assured us it would end by "devouring its feeder", viz.
the titlark stepmother.
Footnote-
1. BOWLEY Farm,SOUTH MUNDHAft, PAGHAM, which belonged to James Hack.
Iiorsfield's History of Sussex lists James Hack as one of the
principal land proprietors of Pagham parish.
To the M i tor of the Tines
Sir
Permit me to point out to public attention through the medium of
your Journal the disastrous tendency of the present proceedings of the
Directors of the Bank of England and of Ministers. We are running over
again the same career as in the years 1824 and 1825, and shall encounter,
if the same system of policy continues to be followed, such another storm
as occurred a year and a half ago. The overabundance of the circulating
medium will lead to a renewal of speculationi - the balance of payments
will be turned against this country:- a demand for gold will be felt at
the Bank of England> Commercial credit will be suddenly abridged; and a
new convulsion will be the consequence.
If proof should be required of the existence of such an excess of
circulation, I reply that such proof is abundantly supplied by the present
state of the money market. For it is certain that if our issues of paper -
currency were confined within their legitimate bounds, the market rate of
interest could never remain long together below that rate at which the
Bank discounts. This will be evident to anyone who considers that the
whole amount of notes lent upon discount must at all times be returned
within the space of two or three months to the hands of the directors:
and if fresh applications be not made in the meantime for the discount of
other bills (which will not be the case if the money can be borrowed on
lower terms elsewhere) the circulating medium will be diminished by the
whole of such amount. Suppose ten millions in value of the notes of the
Bank of England were at this time representing ten millions worth of Bills
discounted by that establishment, and remaining in its possession, it is
evidence that as these Bills were successively taken up (no fresh discounts
being asked for) a certain amount would be daily subtracted from the
circulationj and this amount, at the end of three months, when all the
Bills had run out their time, would be equal to ten millions, the total
value of the Bills. Long before this time, however, such a scarcity of
money would be felt, owing to the diminished amount of notes in circulation,
that the market rate of Interest would rise to the discount rate.
It is certain, then, that the issues of the Bank of England at this
moment are in excess and greatly in excess: in other words that they
greatly exceed the amount of Gold and Silver which would circulate in their
stead, if the currency of the country were wholly motalic* and the result,
as Adam Smith long ago proved, must be a convulsion, unless this excess be
withdrawn before matterr come to a crisis.
At present, while ;e are in the first stage of the process, this excess
of paper produces no inconvenience or loss to any one excepting to those who
have money to lend; these persons find it difficult to obtain more than
ten percent for the use of their capital for short periods, and in some
cases they <""inot obtain even so much. This is a trifling evil if an evil
at all. But an excessive and unnatural abundance of money never continues
115.
long without leading to improvident speculation. For a certain time Bankers
and others who have money to lend prefer employing it at a very low rate of
Interest, or even holding it quite unemployed, to encountering any risk by
lending on questionable security. But by degrees they become tired of a
daily loss to which they see no prospect of a speedy termination; their
confidence is gradually raised by the contemplation of that apparent
prosperity and security which is always observable during the only period
of over issuei their vigilance insensibly relaxesi they become less scrupulous
and difficult in making advancesj tradesmen of inferior credit are able
to enter the market with those of the first ranki and increased competition
of purchasers takes place, and a speculative rise of commoditiesi which is
not immediately felt as an evil, since all parties engaged in trade or
manufacture, and even the labourers themselves, participate in the advantage
of that increased life and activity which are felt for a time in every
department of Commerce.
Thus for all is smooth and successful; everyone is satisfied; everyone
praises the Bank Directors, who have given such a happy stimulus to trade,
and the ministers who by their judicious measures have brought us to such a
pinnacle of prosperity. But in the meantime the enhanced price of
commodities here has led our merchants to give large orders to their foreign
correspondents, while the very same enhancement rather checks the orders 91,
which foreigners might be disposed to give for British goods; thus our
imports exceed our exports, and the balance of payments is turned against
us. This balance is rendered still more unfavourable by Loans from our
Capitalists; who unable to obtain an adequate compensation for the use of
their money at home, send it abroad to see more profitable employment there.
These loans are partly made in the way of private transactions to commercial
loans in other parts of the world, partly to foreign states, partly in the
way of advances to work the exhausted mines of South America, or In some
other such crazy undertakings. However these insane speculations may be
deprecated by wiser and cooler heads, they never were, and probably never
will be wanting when a great excess of circulating medium exists at home.
How comes the time of alarm. To meet the unfavourable balance of
payments caused by those loans, and by increased imports unaccompanied by a
proportionate increase of exports, a demand for gold arises. This demand
the Bank of England is bound to meet, since everyone is at liberty to
require gold in exchange for their notes. The Directors take fright;
they appeal to the Treasury; mutual criminations and recriminations are
heard; at length both parties join to lay the blame on the Country bankers,
or the speculators, or any one else who may take it off their own shoulders.
In the meantime the drain of gold becomes daily more alarming. The 92.
consternation increases; and at length the dilemma presents itself.
Either a new Bank restriction act must be immediately passed, or the
circulation must be checked so suddenly as to cause a general crash.
1 am sure that everyone who has attended to the Commercial and
financial events of the last three years will recollect the steps of this
process; and will see in the present circumstances of the money market,
symptoms like those of the year 1824. Whether or not we are destined to
experience another paroxysm like that of Christmas I825 depends on the
measures which ministers may now think fit to adopt. They alone will be
responsible for the consequences if they do not enable the Directors of
the Bank of England to lessen the amount of their circulation, while it is
yet possible to do so without causing a general convulsion. It will be to
no purpose to accuse the Country Bankers, or to lament the madness of
speculators, the public will know how to trade the evil to its fountain
head. As for the Dank Directors, however competent they may be to
conduct the affairs of that Institution, considered as a private
commercial establisliinent, it is almost needes to say they have never
exhibited such enlarged views, and such a correct knowledge of the general
principles which govern the value of currency, as to qualify them for the
very difficult task of regulating the amount and value of the circulating
medium, and therefore indirectly the price of every line of commodity,
and every kind of property. Hor is it reasonable that any small junto 93.
of individuals should be entrusted with such a power; least of all persons
not chosen by the nation at large, or by representatives of the people,
but by those few persons who happen to be proprietors of Bank Stock. But
while Government remains so heavily indebted to the Bank as at present,
tills,difficult function is, >ri"* "" or unwillingly, imposed 011 the
Directors. Let ministers do their duty, by refunding a part of this debt,
and thus allow the Bank to return to its natural and legitimate business
as a Commercial establishment; a sense of prudence and a regard to their
own security will then induce the Directors to bring their circulation
within just limits. Or f they refuse to do so, they, alone will have to
bear the weight of public indignation, which will fall heavily enough
when the storm arises, and that storm is known to bo the result of their
mismanagement.
Notes on two Lectures on Geology, delivered before
the Members of the Mechanics Institution at
Chichester
Lecture First
Succession of strata observable
between Chichester and London.
jame strata traced cast and west.
Succession of strata from London
to Scotland.
Same arrangement in other parts
of the world.
Stratification and Dip.
Angle of inclination increase as
we approach the earlier rocks.
Highest mountains consist of
lowest rocks- Alluvium ot Diluvium-
Organic remains, wanting in
earlier rocks, not of the same
species now living.
Strata distinguished by their
fossils -
Fossils of mountain Limestone, of
Coal Measures, Lias, and Chalk
strata over the chalk.
Fossils scarcely mineralized -
Often the same with recent shells
Alluvium contains remains of
extinct quadrupeds -
Me.Tatherium, Buenos Ayres
Bones of quadrupeds seldom mineralized.
Submerged forests, Lincolnshire
300 miles long.
Fir, Birch and Oak distinguishable.
Trunks flutted.
Trees found in the Seine, wood
like ebony.
No fossil remains of man
Cave of ICirkdale, discovered 1021,
contained Bones of Hyaena, Tiger,
Bear, Wolf, Fox, Weasel, Horse, Ox,
Elephant, Rabbit, Rhinoceros,
tlirec species of deer etc.
More than 300 canine teeth of
Hyaena collected, disposition of the
Stalagmite Caverns at Oreston, near
Plymouth.
Few alluvial districts which do not
contain some fossils, particularly
of elephants, rhinoceros, horse and
oxen.
In all Siberia, not a river without
them. At mouth of the Lena, some
islands almost composed of them.
Origin of the word mainmo th.
Fossil Ivory of Commerce.
Frozen elephant at mouth of the Lena.
Mastodon of the Ohio
Elk of Ireland 14 ft from horn to
horn.
Hesalonyx Virginia - of the Sloth
family and of the size of an Ox.
Boulders on the surface, traceable
to their source.
How they got aci'oss the Vallies?
Boulders of earlier rocks in late
strata.
Formation of Vallies.
Not produced by the action of the
present streams.
Lecture Second
Primitive Haths, how distinguished
.
1st by the absence of Organic
Remains.
2nd by inferiority of position.
3rd by being heavier, harder and
more crystalline,
difference between chemical and
mechanical deposits.
Granite the lowest rock, unstratified.
Transition into Greiss, Mica State
Clay State.
Transition rocks, origin of the
term.
Intermediate in point of dip.
Have an argillaceous instead of
1 I D -
Irregul.ar position of Coal Fields
Dip compared with red marls -
Whin dykes, like walls, depth
unknown, immense length, vary in
widtli from a few inches to several
hundred feet.
Sometimes project above the surface.
One near Giants Causeway runs into
the sea a distance of 372 feet.
Frequent on the coasts of the Hebrides
-
Generally nearly vertical, and cut
the strata at right angles L
Traverse all rocks that lie in their
way.
Effect on Coal, on sandstone, and on
shale.
Galeur, Cement; coal measures,
Sandstone and Shale.
Mountain Limestone, yields lead.
Coal pit described, Coal in
strata. Iron in same pit. Iron
generally diffused.
Formerly smelted in Sussex,
Merthyr ly^vill
Trap Rocks 'affect the magnetic
needle. Tendency to break into
regular forms.
Columnar structure - Giants
Causeway - mostly hexagonal
columns 12 to 15 in diam.
Cave at Staffa.'
Basalt, Greenstone, porphyry,
Amygdaloid.
Cavities of amygdaloid variously
filled
Agates, Ruby, Sapphire, Hyacinth-
Process unknown by which they are
filled.
Case of a Lead Furnace -
Wernerian and Huttonian Systems
Trap rocks found in all the strata.
Not themselves stratified.
Rsemblance of Basalt to Lava in
appearance and composition -
When faced and cooled slowly
returns to a stony form -
100 extinct volcanoes in France
Avowal of Daubuisson
800 square miles of Trap in Ireland
Trap rocks in Hebrides, Perth,
Edinburgh.
Foot.notes-
1. T'rap Rocks.
Werner (1750-1817) founder of Mineralogy and Geology as modern sciences, in
about I78O classed rocks into primitive (as granite, mica-slate and clay-slate);
transition, highly inclined like the primitive; secondary (floetz or flat strata)
more horizontal. Trap-rocks, which resemble lava, were referred to Volcanoes,
but in general Werner referred to water.
(A Million of Facts by Sir Richard Phillips I859).
2. Cave at Staffa.
Staffa is a very small island (circum. approx. miles) off the West Coast of
Scotland between Mull and Tiree Island. Geologically it is composed of Volcanic
tufa and trap rock. In I83.I Turner painted his picture "Staffa, Fingal's Cave"
which was shown at the R.A. 1832; a vignette of the subject appeared in Scott's
. Poetical Works I834 (Rawlinson No. 512). (Turner I775-I85I; pub. by order of the
Trustees of the Tate Gallery 1974). On 30 Bee. I986 the Daily Telegraph reported
that Staffa has been presented to the National Trust for Scotland by its American
owner Mr. Jock Elliott, who has often in the past raised money for the trust, and
that "Mendelssohn was moved to write the Hebridean Overture and its haunting
melody after a visit to Fingal's Cave, a cathedral-like cavern on the island".
3. Sir James Hall Bart. (I76I-I832); Scottish Geologist. Founded experimental
geology.
Mostly parallel - Sixty in the North
of Ireland which all lie S. East and
N.W.
Composition. General characteristics of Trap
Rocks.
Large proportion of Iron. Rusty colour.
Highest summits of the Andes consist 96-
of Porphyry.
Transition of Basalt into Greenstone
St.enir to Granite.
Contrary transition of Granite into
Gneiss, Schist.us, Graywacks etc.
Experiments of Sir James Hall "on
carbonate of lime and on coal.
Presumption igneous origin extended
from trap to granite.
Veins of granite passing into higher
strata
Veins common in the earlier rocks
Occasionally resemble in Composition
the inclosing rock, but more pure and
crystallized.
Most of the metals are found in veins.
Generally irregularly mixed with quartz
etc. Sometimes the contents of the
vein are arranged in layers parallel to
its sides.
In Cornwall, nearly all the metalliferous
veins lie east and west.
Their extent and depth unknown, never
having been worked to the sides or
bottom. p
Daleoath the deepest mine in Cornwall
worked to 228 fathoms from the surface.
- 2~ d~
115.
4. Werner (1775) ascribed all rocks to an aqueous origin, and even denied
existence of volcanoes in primitive geological times, and had many
followers, Kirwan, De Luc etc. - HUTTON (1788) supported by Playfair
(1801) warmly opposed Werner's views and asserted that the principal
c'langcs in the earth's crust are due to the energy of fire. The rival
parties are hence termed Neptunists and Vulcanists. In 1807 the
Geological Society of London was established. By collecting a great
mass of new facts, it greatly tended to check the disposition of
theories, and led to the introduction of viewd midway between those of
Werner and Hutton. (Haydn's Dictionary of Dates I876).
5. DQlcoath.
DOlcoath mine stretches upwards of a mile from east to west, penetrated
by innumerable shafts. Its depth is 1200 feet. Five large engines are
employed in bringing up ore and rubbish, and three in freeing the mine
of its water. The persons employed, men, women and children, amount to
1,600.
(A Million of Facts, Sir Richard Phillips I859.)
DQLCOATH mine, in the parish of Camborne was worked continuously for
longer than any other mine in Cornwall, and was the deepest. "Lost in
the mists of time its origins are unknown but by the mid-eighteenth century
details of its organisation begin to emerge". In I909 it was still the
premier mine in Cornwall, and sold more than a quarter of the tin raised
in the County} it had, however, reached its zenith, and in 1921 it was
closed down. After an unsuccessful attempt at revival the mine was
eventually sold to South Crofty in 1936) two years later some of the
buildings were converted into classrooms and a gymnasium for "Dolcoath
Technical School", and they now form part of the Cornwall Technical
College.
From "Dolcoath - The Qjeen of Cornish Mines") Trevithick Society 1974,
by T. R. Harris.
"Tin Mining and Smelting in Cornwall" and "The Cornish Beam Engine",
both by D. B. Barton give the full story of Dolcoath.
The above information was supplied by the Camborne School of Mines.
115.
Ben Nevis - Little Trap in Ehgland.
The Cornish Veins are generally from
one to three feet in width. Some
few 30 feet. A Tin Vein only 3 inches
in width has been found worth working. ^
The vein of Veta Madre. near Guanaxuato
is from 45 to 50 yards widei it is
worked 7 miles in length and 550 yds in
depth. It yields annually Silver to the
amount of more than a million Stg.
Metallic veins irregularly ramified
Drusy cavities.
Often crossed by Trap Veins, in which
case the former are generally displaced.
These trap veins have the advantage
of confining the water on one side.
Manner of draining by steam engines and
Mits. Theory of Springs. Imperfect.
Proposed Amendment.
Wells not practicable in all situations
e.g. Paris. Rome. Edinburgh.
Boring for water in the Basin of the
Thames, in Flanders, at Ehisworth,
Cornwall, Horndean etc.
Chalk affords few springs. ^
Wells at Carisbrook and at Upmarden.'
At Portsmouth, water is found at 30
and at 60 ft but of hard quality. A
well sunk in the Dock Yard, about 30
years ago, to the depth of 202 feet,
yields abundance of excellent water.
Footnotes-
1. Guanaxuato.
It appears that he was referring to silver in Peru - Sir Richard Phillips
in A Million of Facts I859 writes - "The mines in the Cordilleros, in
America, are remarkable for their richness. The most important are the
silver mines; and there are several of gold, quicksilver, copper and lead.
In Chile are several silver and some important copper-mines. The richness
of the silver mines of Potosi may be judged from the fact that above 1300
millions of dollars have been coined there since 1545; but the ores are now
poor. On the opposite side of the chain, in a low plain, are the silver
mines of Guantajaya, famous for the large lumps of solid silver, which they
formerly furnished, and of which one weighed 800 lbs. In Peru, there are
40 districts particularly famous for their gold and silver mines. Gold
is found especially in the provinces of Guailas and Pataz, and silver in
thedistricts of Guantajaya, Pasco and Chota".
2. Upmarden.
Situated in West Sussex, 7 miles S.W. of Midhurst.
- 2 I 3 > -
115.
Sat. Evening - Aug 4th 1827
This has been an interesting day. In the morning I made, or
fancied that I had made,-,a considerable mathematical discovery - detecting
an error in M. Fourier's 'paper on the distribution of heat which
received a prize from the National Institute, an error which affects
Place's 'reasoning on the change of duration of the day in the 5th Vol. of
his Mechanique Celeste. In the afternoon, riding over to Chichester as
I do several times in a week during the summer, I found Mr. Davies
returned from Scotland, bringing me a letter from Dr. Chalmers with the
intelligence that Susan Barker is in good health at Fairlie. Immediately
afterwards, as if he knew or suspected my attachment Dr. C. adds -
"May all dejection and despondency be done away from your heart
by the cheering assurances of the Gospel".
On opening the Evening Mail I found my letter to the Editor with
the flattering addition of an article of some length in the great letters;
intimating the Editor's concurrence in my views and recommending them to
the Director of the Bank and to Ministers.
Lastly, a small matter in comparison of the others, I received a
letter from Millard informing me of the sale of my Horsford farm for
1,000 guineas.
Enable me, Oh Heavenly Father! to turn my heart from all these
things and to devote thy Sabbath to the worship of thee uninterruptedly.
Footnotes-
1. FOURIER, Jean Baptists Joseph, Baron de (I768-I830) French
mathematician, accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt in 1798, and
contributed largely to the "Description de l'E&ypte". Created
Baron in 1808. His chief work - "Theorie Analatique de la Chaleur"
1822.
2. LA PLACE, Pierre Simon de, Marquis (I749-I827), mathematician and
astronomer. "Traite de Mecanique Celeste" 5 vol (I798-I827)
(stands alone amongst works on mathematical astronomy" - Chambers
Biographical Dictionary).
To the Blitor of the Times and Evening Mail 99.
Stoughton Aug 1827.
Sir
'Die course of events during the few weeks which have elapsed since
the date of my former letter, has shown that the apprehension expressed
in that letter of a return of Commercial difficulties were not without
foundation. There is not perhaps a man in the kingdom acquainted with
115.
the subject, viho does not now perceive the danger we have escaped, and is not
sensible that the late turn in the exchequer might have been followed by fatal
consequences if not counterac ted by that salutary watchfulness and alarm at
present generally felt in the Continental world upon the slightest appearance
of such a reaction. But if the symptoms have been for the present happily
averted, let us not flatter ourselves that the predisposing causes of disease
are removed. There is no reason to believe that any considerable reduction
has taken place in the issues of the Bank of England; and till such a reduction
takes place we shall have 110 security against the recurrence of similar
dangers. They will even become more formidable, in as much as unthinking
persons, seeing that the late alarm has passed away without being followed by
any immediate evil, will be emboldened to disregard the presages of approaching
distress in time to come, and will be less anil less inclined, as often as
these symptoms appear and pass away again quietly, to take the needful precautions
for averting the threatened storm. It was indeed reported EI few
weeks ago that the Bank Directors had determined to reduce their issues, but
the state of the Money Market proves that such resolution, if ever formed,
has not been carried into effect, or not to the required extent. I am 100.
therefore induced again to address you, for the jmrpose of urging upon
ministers the indispensible duty of enabling the Bank to make such a
reduction. Nothing can be more easily effected} the Directors have only to
sell in the market such an amount of Exchequer Bills as may suffice for
raising the market rate of interest to the level of the discount rate.
Since the termination of the late war, we have passed through a series
of Cominerical embarrassments, with short intervals of an unnatural and
fictitious prosperity, which, it is to be feared, ha.ve each of them in
their way contributed to injure the character of our mercantile men, and to
lessen the national resources. These violent and mischievous fluctuations
may, I think, all of them be traced to the mismanagement of the Bank Directors
and the Government: chiefly of t.he Government since there is reason to
believe ministers have in some sense compelled the Bank to maintain an excessive
amount of circulation, by borrowing from that Institution more than it
could properly or commercially 1end. it is true the Directors might have
refused to grant this accommodation: and they certainly proved they were not
aware of the injurious tendency of so increasing their issue, in as much as
at the very time of these advances, they were also lending money on mortgage
and to the East India Company. But perhaps we have 210 right to expect that
the Bank Directors should understand Political Economy; while we certainly
have a right to look for such knowledge in a Finance Minister.
Lord Godericii'and his colleagues have probably bean misled by a nation
very generally entertained, that the price of gold affords an adequate and 101.
sure criterion of the existence or non-existence of an excess in the circulating
mediunii In one sense this proposition is undoubtedly correct. A
market price of Gold higher than the Mint price decisively proves that the
Bank issues are too large: and it may also perhaps be asserted with truth
that any considerable excess of paper cannot long exist without raising the
price of gold. But such a rise, considered as a practical test for the
guidance of those who are entrusted with the office of regulating the amount
of the Currency, is liable to this insuperable objection, that it never
makes Itself manifest till the disorder has arrived at a degree of dangerous
violence. .So that a minister who knows no other. ;neans than this for
detecting the existence of over issue is like a physician who, unable to
distinguish the presence of fever by the pulse, waits for the appearance of
delirium before lie applies the lancet.
If the subject, considered in detail, were not too dry for the majority
of newspaper readers, it would be interesting, and perhaps instructive, to
trace the series of causes and events which have proceeded each of the late
periods of Commercial distress: first an increase in the amount of Bank
Issues, accompanied by a general super abundance of floating Capital, and a
fall in the market rate of interest: secondly a speculative rise of prices:
thirdly an unfavourable balance of payments, exhibiting itself in the
depression of the exchanges; fourthly an exportation of Gold; lastly
consternation and ruin. The inference to be drawn from this research might
be
- ^ / - D -
101.
Footnote-
1. Hon. Frederick John Robinson, First Lord of Treasury 1827-8; created
Viscount Goderich 1827; Earl of Ripon 1833 (his son created Marquess
of Ripon 1871).
strengthened by showing that so far as records have been preserved of the circumstances
attendant on a depreciated currency in other times and in other
countries, the very same progress appears to have taken placei in our own
country, for instance, at the time of the suspension of Bank payments in 1797i
- in Scotland, at the time of the formation of the Ayr Bank; in 1769, and in
France, at the time of the celebrated Mississippi Scheme. Everyone who takes
the pains to institute for himself such a comparison will, I am persuaded, be
irresistibly convinced that our repeated difficulties within the last twelve
years are attributable to an excess of circulation.
This letter was not inserted in the Times 1 perhaps the Editor did not like
to give currency to anything reflecting on the judgment or abilities of the
present Ministers. At Mr. W. Brownrequest, I wrote from Memory while in
town an imperfect copy for the Luis 'paper.
Footnote-
1. The spelling appears as such - perhaps an old spelling for Lewis?
(NOTE1 The next page is numbered 109 - some of the pages having been removed.)
November 11th 1827 I09.
I have been reading De Verel* The style is rather prosy and tiresome, but
I have been interested by the author's remarks on the comparative happiness of
persons in different stations and different circumstances 1 which brought to my
recollection the pleasure of reading Rasselas 'many years ago. His theory is
not, I think, complete or satisfactory. He is right thus far, that neither the
excitement of public life on the one hand, nor the tranquillity of retirement
on the other hand, are sufficient to ensure happiness; but he fails to show what
is the ingredient wanting. Some would cut short the matter by the word religion 1
but this does not quite satisfy me. I want an explanation of the mode in which
religion produces happiness. In short, I wish to come at the result by analysis,
rather than synthesis. I would say then that happiness depends mainly on these
two things 1 action and systematic employment 1 and the exercise of the social and
benevolent affections. Employment must not only be provided in sufficient
quantity, but it must have reference to an end, to some large plan of aetion,
such as to give scope for the pleasure of hope on New Years day, and the Pleasure
of Memory at Christmas. Life is never thoroughly enjoyed unless there is a
sensible progress, an object in which all our pursuits may centre. This is one
principal ingredient of happiness, and it is admirably described
Footnotes-
1. De Vere. This must have been "De Veres or, The Man of Independence"
by the author of "Tremaine", who was R. Plumer Ward; it was
published in 1827, so it was a new work.
2. "Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia" by Dr. Samuel Johnson, fist pub.
1759* A didactic romance - "Rasselas thinks that "surely happiness
is somewhere to be found*; but he finds it nowhere".
by Forster1'in his essay on Decision of Character. To complete our felicity 110.
there must be an exercise of the affections - connected with this great
scheme of employment. Newton was undoubtedly a happy man while occupied in
investigating the laws whicij regulate the motions of the planets; but it is
equally certain that Howard "was a still happier man (caeteris paribus)
wiiile occupied in his researches among Prisons and Hospitals.
- 2 - 1
110.
Now religion furnishes a great scheme of action to which all other
pursuits may be rendered subordinate, and at the same time gives scope to
the highest and widest exercise of the affections.
For my own part I am much happier than two years ago. My powers of
voluntary application are greater; and this is perhaps the chief proximate
cause of the happy change; but I believe the ultimate cause was a disappointment
of the affections, which deprived me of that tranquillity of mind
necessary for the successful cultivation of intellectual pursuits. I have
been gradually recovering for twelve months past, and my late visit to Smeeth
has I think nearly completed the curei if it does not plunge me into such
another sea of troubles. I think indeed that I am belovedi but so I was by
Susan. Let me not however repine. Again and again I prayed that God would
bring me to himself by whatever means he sees best, and however low my
present spiritual condition. I cannot help feeling, when I look back, that
my disappointment and consequent suffering have been blessed to me.
Footnotes-
1. He meant FOSTER, John (1770-1043), Baptist minister and essayist; a
republican and severe critic of ecclesiastical institutions. Son of
a weaver and farmer of Halifax. Was Baptist minister at Chichester
1797-1799• Wrote "Essays, in a series of letters to a friend, on
the following subjects« 1. On a man's writing memoirs to himself.
11. On decision of character, ill iv (3rd edition.
Longman 1006.) In 1074 his book was published as "Decision of
Character and other essays".
2. John Howard (1726-1790) Philanthropist. High Sheriff of Bedfordshire
1773. Pub. "State of Prisons" 1777 and made 3rd Inspection of
British Prisons 1733.
December 2nd 1327 111.
I have just finished the Cyclopaedia,which was begun, I think, in
the spring of last year, when my books were unpacked, and I took possession
of my new built library. This is very slow progress indeed. I fear I
cannot say I have made any improvement in Greek in the last four years, for
I then read an octavo page, on an average, in about 20 minutes, and so I do
now. I have begun Thucydides since finishing Xenophon.
I trust however that I am still making gradual improvement in application.
I seldom miss reading a little Greek after breakfast, and then
mathematics till I go out, which is generally at one or two o'ckock. In the
evenings lately I have been reading Sir W. Scott's Life of,Bonaparte and
M. Ferrand's Histoire des Trois Demembremens de la Pologne." Almost every
evening I go over to the school to hear the elder boys read part of a
Chapter, and question them upon it. They are deplorably deficient in comprehension.
I am mortified to find how much so, and cannot imagine why I
neglected to make Gilpin question them in this way.
On the whole I am by no means unhappy now, a little depression at
times, but generally cheerful. The art of bending the attention to
difficult subjects, as it is a species of self denial, has a very beneficial
operation on the spirits. How wonderful is that arrangement of our Creator
which decrees that the direct pursuit of present pleasure should infallibly
- 2 1 7 -
lead to satiety and nauseai while self denial leads to tranquillity and joy.
Footnote-
1. FEBRAND Antoine Francois Claude - "Histoires des Troi demembreinens
de la Pologne": 1820.
On reflexion I find I have been unusually remiss since my return
home from Ramsgate, in visiting my poor neighbours and conferring on them
little acts of kindness. Independently of any systematic plan of charity,
it is right not to omit these little acts of almsgiving; were it only lor
the sake of keeping up the spirit of philanthropy in the heart. I have
been considering whether the Fifty guineas which I gave while at Smeeth for
a horse, which, strictly speaking, I do not want, might not have baen
better bestowed in relieving some of the wants of my poor neighbours. But
I have enough still for this purpose t- it is only to mortify the desire of
accumulation, instead, of mortifying the desire of being handsomely mounted.
last year I estimated my income at £770 and my expenditure at £570. This
year I calculated my expenditure would bo less, from several expenses of a
kind not likely to recur which happened in 1826. But with the purchase of
this horse and of a hogshead of wine, it will I believe considerably
exceed £600. Well and if so, may I still not expend the other £100 in
charity. "But then", says mammon, "recollect how much you lost by farming
ten years ago, and suppose you should marry, and suppose you should have a
family, and increased expenses, and suppose" - Fie! I Hush to write down
my own thoughts.' I scarcely ever read a biographical work without complaining
that it fails to present a true and full picture of the mind of
the person described, and yet how little could I bear to present myself at
full length to the world.
Distance of water in my well froii the surface
Pistance Thermometer at 9 o'clock a.m.
22 fee t 52°
From this time we had a succession of mild weather with a great deal of
rain till
Dec.17 - when the distance from the surface was 16 feet
Still a great deal of rain till
Dec.21 - When the distance was only - 6| feet
22 - 'Ihe water began to run down the road before my house
26 - Water only 8 inches from the surface.
Dec. 10th 1327
I have been looking over some of the volumes of the Annals of Philosophy
to pick up such interesting facts as they happen to contain. In Vol
.is an interesting paper by Sir James Hall, containing an account of soge new
experiments of his in illustration and support of the Huttonian Theory.' He
filled a large iron pot with sand and brine, and exposing it to a strong
fire, the brine was kept boiling some weeks, while the bottom of the vessel
was red hot. The saud was found to be consolidated in a form very like
natural sandstone. The author suggests that sea-salt sublimed may have been
the medium of consolidation in breccias, causing a partial fusion on the
surface of the fragments, in the same manner as it glazes the surface of
pottery when thrown into the baking furnace.
In Vol.27 p.331 is an interesting article by Berzelius^*, on the property
of Isomorphous Bcdies to replace one another in indefinite proportions,
which touches on a question that has long puzzled me, viz. How to reconcile
the variableness of the ingredients in particular minerals with the doctrines
of definite proportions. It seems that M. Mitscherlich , by an opportune
and unexpected discovery has "ascertained that bodies composed of different
elements, but of an equal number of ^toms similarly combined, assumed the
same crystalline form". M. PI. Rose,^'Bonsdorff and Trolle - Wachtmeister
have already profited by the light which this d* over '-as thrown on
1327
Dec.10
115.
mineralogy, and proved that the species called pyroxene amphibole. and garnet
contain a great number of different compounds, formed in an analogous manner".
Thus, according to M. Trolle-Wachtmeister "the composition of garnet is
ir §1 + 2R Mi - where tf may be either Lime, Magnesia, Protoxide of Iron, or
Manganese, either one of them alone, or several, or even all of them together,
and that R may be either alumina, or Deutoxide of Iron, sometimes alone, sometimes
combined with each other".
N.B. - I presume that (Si) in the above formula signifies Silex -
Pyroxene, according to Daubuisson is an Augite and volcanic -
Amphibole is Hornblende.
Footnotes-
1. This space was left blank. Probably the article on the consolidation of
the strata of the earth in Vol. XII, 1826, pp 299-310. Sir James Hall
Bart. (I76I-I832) Scottish Geologist, sought to prove theories of his
friend and master BUTTON in the laboratory, and so founded experimental
geology.
2. Hutton, Charles (I737-I823) mathematician; prof.maths Woolwich Academy
1773-1807. F.R.S. 1774. LL.D. Edin. 1779 - Computed mean density of
earth - I778. pub. "Principles of Bridges" 1772; "Mathematical Tales" 1785
and similar works; abridged "Philosophical Transactions" I809.
3. Annals of Philosophy, New Series, Vll, 1826. BERZELIUS, Jons Jakob,
Baron (1779-1848) Swedish. One of the greatest chemists. Discovered
several elements, produced our system of chemical symbols.
4. Mitscherlich, Eilhard, German chemist - (1794-1863) studied with BERZELIUS
in Stockholm 1820-21. F.R.S. 1828. Discovered isomorphism I8I9, dimorphism
1826, besides making other discoveries. One of the first chemists to
recognise contact action (now called catalysis).
5. ROSE, Gustav (I798-I873). Started as a mining engineer but owing to
inflammation gave this up to become a scientist. Worked under Berzelius
in Stockholm. 1826 Extraordinary Professor of Mineralogy and in I839
Ordinary Professor at Berlin, later Director of the Royal Mineralogical
Museum in Berlin. Travelled extensively and in 1829 with von Humboldt
and Ehrenberg to the Ural, the Altai, Caspian Sea and boundary of China.
Helped Mitscherlich discover isomorphism.
6. Trolle-Wachtmeister, Hans Gabriel, Count 1 See TEGNER (E.) Anteckningar
och Minnen af H.G. Trolle-Wachtmeister.
7. D'AUBUISSON DE VOISINS, Jean Francois, French geologist (1769-1841)
Traite de geognoise (at the time most complete book on geology in
France) I8I9.
~ 2 J 3 —
115.
On Tuesday tljie 11th I dined at Dr. Forbes*s - he has with him the
Revd. Dr. Johnson 'whom I had never seen before - and in whose case I felt
deeply interested. He labours under the same distrssing feelings of
religious depression as poor Cowper, and appears to have the same gentle and
amiable temper. During the greater part of dinner he appeared tolerably
cheerful, but on my speaking of riding frequently over to Chichester to see
my mother, he became extremely agitated. One of the reflexions that most
strongly weighs upon him, is, it seems, an apprehension of not having paid
sufficient attention to his own mother, who died a few months ago. His
eyes filled with tears, he ran from the table, took Dr. Forbes's hand, which
he pressed affectionately; then came round to me and did the samei and left
the room - Not long after, we went up to the drawing-room, where he soon came
in, and began to talk to me of his feelings and his sufferings. On two
clergymen of the city coming in he lit a chamber candle and by signs
entreated
Footnote-
1. This must have been Rev. DR. JOHN JOHNSON of Petworth, Sussex.
Matriculated at Queen's College on 29 June 1793 aged 17 and awarded
BA in 1797. Between 1800 and 1827 fellow of Magdalen College.
Awarded MA in 1800, BD in 1807 and DD in 1821. Rector of Northchapel
(about 5 miles north of Petworth) in Sussex from 1816 until his death
5 July 1831. He seems to have suffered from the same worry as the
great Dr. Samuel Johnson.
me to follow him to his own room, where hr renewed the conversation. What 116.
he has suffered by night and day for the last ten months, he assured me,
is not to be believed. He had never, he said, been a scoffer at religion,
but the sins of a self-indulgent useless life, most of it spent at Oxford,
where he is fellow of a college, press upon him heavily. I endeavoured to
comfort him, and remind him that the very same scriptures which decla-re the
displeasure of God against sin; contain the most express and repeated
promises that no penitent sinners will ever be rejected. He seemed tranquillised
by the conversation, and intreated me to pray with him, which I
did. I have been glad to hear since from Dr. Forbes that he has been
better since my visit.
Sunday, 16th Dec. 1827 My own spirits and happiness have been progressively
improving for more than twelve months. I wish I may rightly employ the
blessing thus afforded me. Every morning I sit down diligently to study
Thucydides after breakfast, reading about four pages daily; and proceed to
mathematics. I h^ve been inspired with fresh spirit by finding that I can
understand Lacroix ^pretty completely. The more so as I remember a remark
of Henry Thornton's.' Speaking of his own mathematical studies at c dlege,
that his tutor had given him the essence of Lacroix, which proved a great
advantage, as the style renders the work itself
Footnotes-
1. LA CROIX, Silvestre Francois (1765-1843) mathematician, noted for his
works on the Calculus.
2. lIEHar THORNTON (I76O-I8I5) philanthropist and economist. Governor of V-i
Bank of England. Wrote on effects of paper credit of Great Britain in
1802. One of the Clapham Sect who did so much to stop the Slave Trade.
Z ' ZO
LX, .
very difficult to understand. Yesterday I discovered a method of investigating
the Radius of Curvature in any curve analytically. The method given by
Dealtry,'which is the only one I have studied, being geometrical. This
gave me much encouragement, for I remember the problem in question
appeared to me one of the most abstruce and difficult parts of Dealtry's
work. In the course of the winter I hope to complete the reading of
that part of Lacroix which relates to the integration of differential
Equations.
Dec. 17th 1827 This morning being calm and nearly cloudless, with a
white frost, I resolved to make an experiment on the descending currents
along the sides of hills. Taking a lanthorn in one hand, and^a wisp of
straw in the other I mounted to the steepest part of Bow Hill "which
fronts nearly due north. There, laying down the straw, I fired it with
the taper from the lanthorn. At first, the strength of the flame caused
the smoke to ascend; but as the fire began to smoulder, I had the
pleasure to see the smoke point directly downward into the bottom, as I
had anticipated. A doubt however soon after arose in my mind whether
this result is to be wholly depended on. For on ascending to the higher
and more exposed part of the hill, I felt a sensible breeze from the
South West, and it occurred to me as possible that the descending current,
which I had just observed might be only an affect of this general
direction of the wind, though the smoke of the village in the valley below
still pointed from the North Bast.
Footnote-
1. William Dealtry (1775-1847) Archdeacon of Surrey. Fellow Trinity
Camb. 1798-1814. D.D.I829. Prof. Maths at E. India College,
Haileybury. Chancellor diocese Winchester I83O. pub. "The
Principles of Fluxions" 1810.
2. Bow Hill - 702 ft.
I hope to repeat the experiment some morning before sunrise, 118.
trying it successively on each side of the valley. Should the smoke
descend from either side towards the centre, it will, I think be decisive.
Sunday DRc. 30th. 1827 Our new curate, Mr. Woods, preached today. I
had not seen him before. His performance gave me much pleasure; his
manner is quiet, but with feeling and propriety. The sennon too, I thought,
was much above pari it was on the parable of the Prodigal Son . May I
venture to hope that this is an answer to my prayers, unworthy as those
prayers have been of the greatness of the blessings sought, and of the
holiness of the Being to Whom they were addressed? Mr. Woods talks of
coming to reside in the village, and I am to go with him tomorrow to look
at the house occupied at present by Mrs. Catchlove, which has been thought
of for his lodging.
Tomorrow being the last day of the year, I have been reflecting
a little on the past twelve months. I fear I cannot affirm with confidence
that I have made any progress in religion, and yet I am not conscious of
going back. Sorrow and dejection first led me to God. Oh may tranquillity
and joy never separate me from him.
, During this month I hayejread P.7 to 90 Thucydides Vol.1, Lacroix
Traite Elementaire du Calcul Diff\ p273-277-p287~329-pl28-135
Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon Vol. 1 to 7.
Yesterday I had an opportunity of seeing in great perfection II9.
that phenomenon described by Seattle
L.Ly .
Sometimes the mountain's summit he would climb
When all in mist the world below was lost;
What dreadful pleasure there to stand sublime.
Like shipwrecked mariner on desert coast,
And see th'enormous waste of vapour, tossed
In billows lengthening to the horizon round ^
Now scooped in gulphs, in mountains now embossed.'
The two concluding lines I must omit, as not applicable to the scene which
I witnessed.
And hear the voice of mirth and song rebound
Flocks, herds and waterfalls, along the hoar profound.
It was on the top of Bow Hill, returning from Chichester, that I witnessed
this spectacle. I went a little out of my way to the north eastern summit,
for the purpose of observing it more minutely. The clouds were like a sea
of the softest cotton. They lay impenetrably thick over the plain and the
sea beyond; the spire of Chichester Cathedral just keeping above them. On
the northern side they were less regularly spread, showing at intervals
the hills and woods between them. I thought I could distinguish the process
of their formation on the ridge of Stoke Downs five films of fleecy vapour
seemed to be gathering on the turf, and rolling down towards the South,
whence by another current they wore wafted up King ley Bottom
r'oolenotgs-
1. Verse XXI of Book I of "The Minstrel; or the Progress of Genius",
which
which according to Thomas Miller in "The Poetical Works of James
Beattie, LL.D. and William Collins", pub. MDCCCXLVI, readsi-
"And oft the craggy cliff lie loved to climb.
When all in mist the world below was lost.
What dreadful pleasure I there to stand sublime,
Like shipwreck*d mariner on desert coast.
And view tli'enormous waste of vapour, tost
In billows, lengthening to th'horizon round,
Now scoop'd in gulfs, with mountains now emboss'd!
And hear the voice of mirth and song rebound,
Flocks, herds, and waterfalls, along the hoar profound!
2. Horsfield's History of Sussex relates that the principal house in West
Stoke is the residence of Charles Scrace Dickins Esq.. - "In the
beautiful valley below, now called King-lye Bottom is a grove of yew
trees of astonishing size and uncommon luxuriance. The lover of the
picturesque will be amply repaid by a visit to this ucite".
Their appear .ices were very transitory, the mist began to gather 120.
about tliree or four o'clock, and at seven it had dispersed. The evening was
nearly calm and the sky overhead exhibited only a few thin cirri.. I was
interested in reflecting on the causes of this phenomenon. It appears
undoubtedly owing to the abundance of evaporation at the surface of the
earth, caused by the late copious warm rains, and now followed by a gentle
wind from the north, sufficient to lower the temperature of the atmosphere,
but not sufficient to disturb the natural tendency of the cooled air to
settle in the lower grounds.
- 2.-2-
115.
I have found my Gaelic Grammar and W«lch Dictionary, and think I have
obtained some fresh light on the Philological questions which I discussed
July 23rd, see page 31. The preposition For is in Welch Hr, which appears
to be a fragment of the same origin with our Ftre, and Early, the German
Erst, and the Greek £c* F\ In Gaelic the corresponding all- has a remarkable
variety of signification. It is joined to verbs and participles for the
purpose of marking past time, and it is employed as a preposition, both by
itself and in combination with other particles. Fo^ is expressed in Gaelic
by air son, which appears to be composed of Air and
Footnote-
He failed to finish this sentence.
NOTE- Facing page 120 is a newspaper cutting of a letter on Friendly
Societies written by John Barton on 14 Jan 1328 and pub. in the
Evening Mail 21 Jan 1323, a copy of which is attached.
Jan 3rd 1828 /mnals of Philosophy Vol. 25 121.
p. 74 - Is an interesting article on the level of the Baltic, showing from
numerous recent observations that the water recedes about 1 to 2 feet in
40 years - see also an Important Article on Solar light and heat by the
Rev. B. Powell.'
January 31st During this month I have read
Thucydides p.91 to lj4
Lacroix - Traite Pflemen. p.355-3^3, p.366-389
Scott's Napoleon Vol. 8 and 9 -
Quarterly Review No..73
On 11th I delivered a Lecture before the Members of the Mechanics'
Institute "On the Moral Influence of Intellectual Cultivation".
Footnotcs-
1. Powell, Baden (1796-1360). Savilian professor of Geometry;
F.R.S. 1824; Savilian professor at Oxford (l327~6o) and
known for his researches on optics and radiation; active
in University reform; engaged in theological controversy
from a latitudinarian stand point.
2. Lacroix, Silvestre Fran?ois (1765-1843) mathematician,
noted for his works on the Calculus.
3. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1331?) pub. "Life of Napoleon" in
9 vols. 1327.
Facing p.120
The Evening Mail January 21st 1329
Sir - I observe in your paper of Wednesday, an account of a meeting held
at Wells, whereat the Marquis of Bath presided, for the purpose of establishing
a County Friendly Society. I rejoice that the attention of
benevolent persons has been turned to the establisliment of these valuable
institutions. It has been too much the fashion to decry them as tending
to encourage drunkenness, and as affording no adequate security to the
contributors. Objections so completely extrinsic to the principle on
which these societies are constructed, that it would show more good sense
and more philanthropy, to instruct and assist the poor in reforming their
management, than to find fault with them in the gross. This has been
especially the practice of those who are desirous to extol the advantages
of savings banks; which is as if an orator should employ himself in
declaiming on the advantage of eating as compared with drinking, or
magnify the benefit of a pair of shoes over a hat; so little is one of
these institutions calculated to supersede the other. Innumerable are
the labourers who can afford to put Ly a shilling or eighteenpence per
month as a provision against sickness or casualty, compared with the
fortunate few who accumulate an available sum in a savings-bank. Adopting
the principle of mutual assurance, the sickly man receives, perhaps,
in the course of his life, five times the amount of his total contributions,
while the strong and healthy cheerfully make their stated payments, not
knowing when they may themselves be placed in the same circumstances of
necessity.
But while thus strongly persuaded of the great utility of such
associations, I must as strongly deprecate county friendly societies, as
destined to inevitable ruin, and to the great injury and confusion of all
concerned in them. I am perfectly sure, having long taken an interest in
the prosperity of those institutions, and closely observed their proceedings,
that without the increasing jealous vigilance of neighbours and
co-paxtners in the concern, frauds will inevitably be committed to such an
extent as to cause ultimate bankruptcy. Bvc-n in small societies, where
every member feels that a pound improperly paid away takes sixpense out of
his own pocket, the difficulty is extreme of preventing the intrusion of
such lazy persons as find it more agreeable to be sick and receive 10s per
week, than to work hard and receive 15s. Putting on a rueful face when he
meets one of the fraternity, complaining bitterly of aches in the head, and
pains in the limbs, dodged by spies if he goes near the Red Lion, or takes
a hanmer in his hand (for working or drinking, either of them exclude him
from the promised benefit), still the sly rogue contrives to outwit his
pursuers, and lives on the contributions of their industry. But in a
county society, supported and patronised by marquises, bishops, and esquires,
who have assured the members that the new institution is established on
unfailing principles, and therefore not liable to the chances of insolvency,
who will be so kind, so unneighbourly, so mean, as to turn informer, and
deprive his poor neighbour of the means of support for such peccadillos? -
particularly when it is believed, as every contributor will believe, that
an immense and inexhaustible fund of wealth is contained in the hands of
said nobles and gentles, applicable to the purposes of the intitution.
Many are the lazybones that will ava.il themselves of so tempting an opportunity,
duly receiving the phials of medicine, which will no doubt be
supplied to them by the society's doctor, and as duly emptying their contents
in the sink; till at the end of 20 or 30 years (for while all the members
are young the question is never brought forward in a shape to alarm the
managers of the funds) a discovery will be made, that the surplus in hand
is utterly inadequate to make good the promised allowances. Then It must
be determined whether the honorary members, who have persuaded the labourer
w dcp-slt his aonoy under an assurance of its safety, are bound to make
<pod LUs ucfioieucy; and according to every principle of equity, if not of
law, the question must be answered in the affirmative.
If gentlemen of property and information wish truly to benefit their
poor neighbours by putting friendly societies on a better foundation, let
them confine themselves to instructing the framcrs of such societies in the
principles on which they may be safely established, as fully laid down' and
explained in an admirable report published by the Highland Society of Scotland
— 9 U. —
i'^C-UiK p. -L.-U
in the year 1824; at the Game time providing a suitable place of meeting
for the members, that they may not be driven to the necessity of
assembling at a public house, and contributing such pecuniary aid as they
may think fit, but refraining scrupulously from all interference in the
management of the funds; and taking care not to enlarge the number of
members so far as to prevent each individual feeling a strong personal
interest in the prudent and vigilant administration of the society's
affairs.
JOHN BARTON
Stoughton Jan 14.
«
- 2
115.
Read in the month of Feb. 1823
Thucydides Pl> to 241
Lacroix Traite' Elementfire p.390 to 427
1st Vol. Had. de Stael 'de i'influence de la Literature
1st Vol. Hallam's 'Constitutional History of England.
March 8th I had today an attack of depression of spirits, the first
this winter. It was accompanied, as usual, with an inability for intellectual
exertion; but I cannot ascertain which is the cause, which the
effect. It did not appear connected with any derangement of the bodily
health.
How little do strangers know of the secret-bitterness of the heart.
Speaking of low spirits the other day to Dr. 5. he said he should imagine
that was a sensation I never experience'1.
Sunday March 9th My sabbaths are so much alike that the history of one
may almost serve for all. A little freedom in prayer in the morning, but
accompanied by an inability to keep my attention steadily fixed on spiritual
contemplations long together - so that I have much painful struggle
till towards evening; often up to the moment when the children assemble for
our accustomed devotions. At that time I scarcely ever fail to obtain a
suitable flow of devotional feeling - and it is generally followed by a
sweet season of thankfulness and peace.
Footnotes-
1. Madame dc Stael in 1797 (approx.) published her famous "Literature
et sa influence avec les Institution Sociales".
2. Henry Hallan.
Pub. "The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of
Henry VII to the death of Georgo II" 2 Vols. 1327.
3. Dr. S. - Doctor SANDEN.
I have comfort in reflecting that though much beset with wandering thoughts 123
in the early part of the day, I have never so far given way to them, since
I came to Stoughton, as to abandon the conflict, and turn to temporal
pursuits, excepting perhaps for a time that I have allowed my attention to
dwell for an hour or more on mathematical speculations in my own mind.
In the evening after prayers, I have sometimes read a portion of Cicero,
under an impression that I required such a change after the struggle of the
day, but I am doubtful of this reasoning.
There is one means of spiritual improvement which I have never or
scarcely ever triedi and that is fasting - While I neglect this, surely I
ought not to expect to make any signal progress.
March 13th To London by the stage - I returned by the same conveyance 124
April 1. During the fortnight I made some extracts from Bishop Heber's '
Indian Journal and from Scoresby's'5" Account of the Arctic Regions, for the
purpose of contributing towards a lecture on the Geography of Animals,
which I propose to publish.
On 23th I dined at Mr. Brown's Hotel in company with Mr. Easthope,
David Hodgson and J. Janson.
I met my co-executors twice, and persuaded them to consent to the
appointment of a regular agent, for collecting the rents and managing the
concerns of the landed property for which we are in trust. They threw the
responsibility of chosing an agent on me. I accordingly selected Robs
Forster, engaging to give him 5% in the net proceeds of the estates. On
the 29th I went with him to Teddington, Kingston and Esher and introduced
him to several tenants.
—• 2 Z c -
115.
Sunday April 6 th I have had a painful day, my mind was so led astray
from religious meditation and right ends during the fortnight I spent in
the neighbourhood of London, that I found today more than usual difficulty
in effectual prayer or devout reflexion. But as usual the season of
evening prayer was blessed. Oh may this continued forbearance and Goodness
of God not lead me to presuntion.
Footnotes-
1. Bishop n9ginald Heber (1733-1826) Bishop of Calcutta.
2. 3C0RESBY, Rev. William (1789-1857), son of William 3coresby (I76OI829).
The son served with his father, an arctic navigator (1300-
1006). Captain in Greenland fishery, made scientific observations
in Arctic. F.R.S. 1324. Wrote - "An account of the Arctic Regions,
with a history and description of the Northern Whale-Fishery". 2 Vol.
Constable 1820
I flatter myself that I have found two openings for usefulness - I am 125.
going to commence a series of lectures 011 Political Economy before the
members of the Mechanic's Institution at Chichester, and to write a letter
on the subject of iinigration to the Times. If my views are well founded,
and I succeed in awakening public attention to the subject, I hope to
prevent much misery and also to assist in counteracting the frightful
increase in crime. I resolve to begin with a special prayer for divine
assistance in the undertaking.
April 14th My lecture passed off pretty well. The audience seemed to
understand me, and generally to be interested in the subject. I was
however deficient in the quantity I had prepared and terminated before the
close of the hour, finding as I have done before, that after preparing a
part, I could not well go on extempore with the rest. I did not however
read the lecture, that which I had previously written was for the most part
sufficiently impressed 011 the memory to enable i,ie to deliver it without
referring to the M.S.
Yesterday Mr. C. Hardy came over the for purpose of administering
the sacrament at our pa.rish church. There were 56 communicants (myself one)
the largest number ever remembered here. lie is blessed with a great
capacity for devotional feeling 1 and both on this occasion and at Christmas
when he also performed the same duty, he was so deeply and evidently moved
during his discourse that it called forth much sympathy from the congregation.
He was to preach at Ghidham in the afternoon, and as he did not know 126.
the road, I offered to ride with him. In our way ire saw the first swallow
that I have noticed this year. After service I stayed dinner at Mr.
Fostlethwaite's "- where I was told the cuckoo has been heard this spring.
On reutrning from Clapham, the 1st of this month, I found a. few
scattered blossoms on the plum trees 1- the difference was striking between
the advance of the season here and in the neighbourhood of London - there
the plum trees were in full bloom and some going off, and a few blossoms
open on the pear trees. Here the a.pple and pear buds were only beginning
to swell
Sunday April 20th 1323 On the 8th of this month, I wrote to Mr. Hughes
reminding him of his promise to pay me a visit. I did not receive his
answer till last Thursday the 17th. During the latter part of this
interval, I began to feel that any disappointment would be heavier than I
haxl imagined. His letter was, however, satisfactory on all points but
one - he says Fanny has been an invalids for some months, a trouble of which
I had. no apprehension. As Mrs Hughes said she had. hardly ever been .unwell.
Mr. H. talks of coming this week, if the debate on the Corn T.aws should be
- ZZ v115.
deferred.. This has put me completely to the rout, as I am in the midst
of papering, painting, etc.
Footnote-
1. ILr. Postlethwaite was married to Ellen daughter of James Ilickman
and is listed in Horsfield's History of Sussex as one of the
principal land proprietors of Harting (South) parish.
The following letter was sent to the Times, but not Inserted - 127.
Stoughton Apr.8 1828.
Sir
The indifference shown by Parliament and by the Public at large, to
the question of Emigration, can only proceed, I think, from their overlooking
the terrible consequences which must result from the present excessive
Increase of our Population, upon the first considerable failure of the annual
produce of the earth. There is good reason to believe that more than three
millions have been added to the inhabitant™ of the United Kingdom in the last
ten or twelve years and equally good reason to believe, that no sensible
addition has been made within that space of time to our annual growth of
corn. The abundant harvests of the last four or five years have concealed
from us erstwhile the consequences of this enormous and growing disproportion,
but upon the first failure of the crops these consequences will astonish us
like the fall of a thunderbolt.
That I have not overrated the late increase of population will bo
admitted, I think, by everyone who has attended to the subject. In the ten
years from 1901 to 1811, and again in the ten years from 1811 to 1821,
the increase of people in Great Britain amounted to 15 per C2nt. (See the
Introductory Observations to the Census of 1321). Now, taking the population
of Gt. Britain and Ireland together at 20 millions, as determined by
actual enumeration, the increase in ton years at the above ratio amounts to
three millions of souls. On the other hand with regard to our annual
growth of corn, many persons who havs raid attention to this subject are of 128.
opinion that instead of increasing, it lias actually lessened during the
above mentioned, period. Our farmers having abandoned that system of
expensive cultivation which they maintained while prices continued high.
How then are those three millions of additional mouths to be fed, in
the event of an unfavourable season? Mill it be said that we may import a
sufficiency of corn from abroad for that purpose? If anyone is to be found
who entertains such a belief, he may be assured that he is utterly mistaken.
Even should a failure of the crops here coincide with an abundant harvest on
the Continent, it may be doubted whether a supply could be maintained
adequate to our necessities. But such a coincidence very rarely occursi it
much more frequently happens that the same causes which injure our crops
affect also those in other parts of Europe Let us then appeal to the
experience of former years, for the purpose of ascertaining what quantity of
food we may expect to obtain from foreign parts under such circumstances.
In the year 1316, the crop of corn failed to such an extent in this
country that the Gazette price of wheat rose in the month of August to 80/-
and continued rising till the end of the year, when it reached upwards of
100/- during the first six months of 1817, fluctuating between 98/- and lll/-
yet the whole quantity of wheat and wheat flour imported from foreign parts
during the year I8I7 amounted bo 110 more than 209.655 quarters, about 129
enough for four clays consumption of the people of the United Kingdom. So in
the Year lOOO, that remarkable year of scarcity, the quantity of foreign
wheat brought in was only 447,870 quarters, though a bounty was offered
by Parliament 011 its importation - See Report of the Committee 011 Agricultural
Petitions - 1321 Vol. 9 - Appendices Ho. 1 and No. 6.
Are we then to suppose that the Poles, or the other agricultural nations
of the Continent, can now furnish us with a larger supply of food than they
did in 1.317? If we may believe the operation of Mr. Jacob, the very reverse
is the fact; large tracts of land on those countries formerly under the
plough having of late years been laid down to pasture. Besides, population
has been increasing rapidly of late years all over Europe. Surely
then we have no reason to expect any sensible relief from importation, in
the event of a failure of our crops at home, and the question recurs, how,
under such circumstances, are our three millions of additional mouths to
be fed?
It may be asked by those who have not attended to all the bearings
of this question, why has not this difficulty ever been felt before? We
have always erstwhile, it may be saidi found the supply of food adapt
itself to the wants of the existing populationi and why should we suppose
that it will not continue so to adapt itself in time to come? I reply
that the supply of food has not always adapted itself to the wants of the
populationi that two centuries ago the overgrowth of the people, relatively
to the supply of food, led to repeated famines, followed by no less
terrible pestilencej and that since the time of the last pestilence, in
1665, England has never witnessed such a disproportion between the extent
of the population and the annual supply of food as at the present day.
During the last century, the annual increase of people was trifling,
compared with that which we now experience. This is not the place to investigate
the cause of such a remarkable change in the circumstances or habits
of the time1 it is enough that we have direct evidence of the fact. Until
we go back to the reign of Elizabeth we meet with nothing analogous to the
existing state of things. It might be shown, I think, from such Incidental
notices as have been preserved, that the circumstances of those times
exhibited a striking resemblance to those of our own era, in the growth of
population, ia the progressive decline of the recompense of labour, and in
the accumulating pressure of the burden of maintaining the poor, and in the
increase of crime. To adduce full and satisfactory evidence on all these
points would be to write a pamphlet, instead of a letter; but it be well to
advert, by way of illustration rather than proof, to a few of the more
striking faots.
The increase of population in Elizabeth's time may be inferred first
from the terms of an act passed in the 31st year of the reign, entitled,
An Act against the erecting and maintaining of cottages, which after
reciting that "great inconveniences have been found by experience to grow
by the creating and building of great numbers and multitude of cottages,
which are dally more and more increased in many parts of this realm", enacts
that, for the time to come, no tenement shall be erected, unless four acres
of land shall be attached to it. The same inference may be drawn from a
proclamation issued in the year 1581, forbidding the creation of new buildings
within three miles of the gates of the City of London, and limiting the
number of inmates in a house to one family.
This rapid increase of population was followed, as in our own time, by
a decline in the recompense of labour. Not to enter into a detail of
particulars which might occupy too much time, I will content myself with
saying that on comparing the rate of husbandry wages, as recorded in the
appendix to Sir F. Eden's work on the Poor, "with the price of wheat at the
same periods, it appears that the income of the labourer declined from I99
pints of wheat in 1495 to 82 pints in I593 and to 46 pints in 1610.
That the burden of maintaining the poor should become daily more oppress
lve was a necessary consequence of this diminution in the recompense of
labouri but whoever wishes for more direct evidence on the subject, will find
it abundantly in looking over the numerous statutes passed during Elizabeth's
reign for relieving the necessities of the indigent, and for the punishment
of beggars.
Footnote-
1. Sir Frederick Morton Eden (I766-I809; wrote "The State of the Poor" I797
115.
The severe and general distress of the labouring classes was followed,
as usual, by a frightful increase of crime. Out of the many passages which
might be adduced in support of this statement, it may suffice to mention
one, written by an eminent J.P. in Somersetshire in the year 1596 - "Forty
persons", he says, "had been executed in that county in a year, for robberies,
thefts and other felonies 1 35 burnt in the hand; 37 whipped, I83 discharged 1
that those who were discharged were most wicked and desperate persons, who
never could come to any good, because they would not work, and none would
take them into service 1 that notwithstanding these great number of indictments,
the fifth part of the felonies committed in the county were not
brought to trial1 and the greater number escaped censure either from the
superior cunning of the felons, the remissness of the magistrates; or the
foolish lenity of the people 1 that the rapine committed by the infinite
numbers of wicked, wandering, idle people, were intolerable to the poor
countrymen, and obliged them to a perpetual watch of their sheepfolds,
pastures, woods, and cornfieldsj that the other counties of England were
in no better condition than Somersetshire, and many of them were even in a
worsei that there were, at least, 300 or 400 able bodied vagabonds in every
County, who lived by theft or rapine; and who sometimes met in troops to
the number of sixty, and committed spoil on the inhabitants; that if all
the felons of this kind were reduced to good subjection, they would form 133
a strong army; and that the magistrates were awed by the associations and
the threats of confederates, from executing justice on the offenders".
Strype's Annals 'iv 29. Quoted by Sir F. Men, On the Poor Vol. l.p.lll.
And now let me ask, is there anyone who does not see in the circumstances
I have enumerated, a most striking resemblance to the state of
things at the present day? The same rapid growth of population - the same
progressive fall in the recompense of labour; the same complaints of the
intolerable burden of maintaining the poor, the same frightful indications
of increasing depravity of manners. The catastrophe remains to be told.
After several years of dearth, the terrible consequences of an excess of
population began to make themselves fully felt in the year 1603- In that
year a plague broke out, which in the metropolis alone carried off 36,000
persons. The removal of so many hands from the overstocked market for
labour seems to have lightened the evil for a time; but in the year 1625,
a similar visitation took place, after an interval of ten years it
returned, though with somewhat less violence. From that time till 1665,
London never sppears to have been completely free from contagion 1 and in
the last mentioned year the disorder raged more fiercely than ever; not
less than 68,000 persons being its victims. That this dreadful scourge
had its origin chiefly in the distress of the labouring part of the
community, scarcely, I think, can be disputed. "That deficiency gf nutriment
is the principal source of epidemic fever", says Dr. Bateman '"will
scarcely admit of dispute - "On Contagious Fever p.4.
Footnotes-
1. STRYPE, John. "Annals of the Reformation" 4 vol. London 1725-31.
2. Thomas Bateman - "A succinct account of the Contagious Fever of this
Country".
Let us not then shut our eyes to the consequences of the existing state of
things. Our present annual growth of corn, even in plentiful years, is
insufficient for the maintenance of our actual population - for we have
found it needful to import yearly several hundred thousand quarters of
foreign wheat, though in the last five years we have had two super abundant
crops, and none deficient. In the event of a lean harvest, we have
no reason to believe that any considerable additional supply will be
obtained from abroad. Unless therefore, we resolve upon the adoption of
a plan of Emigration, upon a scale very different from anything hitherto
seen, we must make up our minds to the recurrence of famine, followed by a
pestilence like that which desolated London in I665.
— —
P.S. It is not improbable that the advocates for a free trade in corn, and
the advocates for restriction, may each of them think that the facts above
stated tend to support their particular views. The partisans of restriction
will maintain that since the supply of corn obtainable from foreign parts
in years of dearth is found to be so trifling in amount, it proves the folly
of depending on other nations for a supply of food. The partisans of free
trade will maintain that since our population so far exceeds a just
proportion to our annual growth of corn, we ought to give the fullest scope
for importation. On this subject I will only say that I apprehend neither
of the two opposite systems, apart from Emigration, will avail to save us
from the calamity that is impending over us.
Sunday April 27th 1828
Looking over the pages of this journal, I have been struck this evening
with observing how much more interesting are those passages which record
feelings of sorrow and depression, than those written in times of higher
spirits. The former seem to make me intimately acquainted with my former
selfj the latter relate rather to the objects of my pursuit than to the
condition or feelings of my inmost soul. I find too that some of those
periods of depression afford a more agreeable subject of introspection than
periods of enjoyment«- there is a sort of quiet satisfaction in looking back
on past suffering, if that suffering has been endured with an honest
endeavour to submit to God's will. It is otherwise with sufferings which
burden the heart, which they sometimes do, as I know by sad experience.
The consideration of this sort of peaceful pleasure arising from the
recollection of former sorrows may serve to throw some light, I think, on
the manner in which afflictions in this world are made to conduce to the
welfare of the immortal Spirit.
Mr. Hughes's visit is postponed to the second week in next month -
partly in consequence of Fanny havingssuffered a relapse. I have written
to beg that Mrs. H. will send me an account how she is. It has been my
frequent prayer that God would grant her the blessings of his Spirit, and
perhaps this illness, of which I little thought, may be the means in his
hands of Spiritual Grace.
Samuel Darton"*"'told me when I was in London that about 500 copies of
my lecture on the Geography of Plants have been soldi being £rd of the
whole addition. He recommends my preparing for the press a lecture on
the Geography of Animals. I have made some little beginning at thisbut
to confess the truth, I feel rather humiliated at the notion of being
a mere compiler. The Geography of Plaints, it is true, was no more than a
compilationj but then it was chiefly from foreign works, some of them not
easily accessible, whereas the Geography of Animals would consist chiefly
of extracts from common Ehglish books. On the other hand! I have an
ulterior object - the hope of gaining the public ear, for I have many
things that I wish to say if I could be sure of being listened to. My
two pamphlets on Political Economy attracted scarcely any attention - I
forget the exact number sold - but I think less than 100 of each, out of
500 printed, and this although the latter of them was well spoken of in
the Monthly and Eclectic Reviews, and at some length - also by Sismondi
in the Annales de Economic Politique et de Legislation, published at Geneva.
Footnote-
1. Samuel Darton (1785-1840) Son of William Darton (I755-I8I9) and
father of Thomas Gates Darton - all of the pub. firm of Darton &
Harvey, Gracechurch Street.
On Tuesday May 13th I received a letter from Mrs. Hughes, announcing the
arrival of the party on the following day. On that day I therefore rode
to meet them, which I did at Hampneti- dear Fanny looked very pale and
agitated, tut not much reduced by her late illness. I returned with them
to Chichester, where we had tea at my mother's, and in the evening
Josephina rode over with me to Stoughton on horseback. As I stood at my
Mother's door putting a pair of new white reins on the mare, who was
saddled for a lady, Mrs. D and her nieces happened to pass, and looked with
eyes of no little curiosity at my proceedings.
-
Thursday l | t h Spent the morning in walking round the top of Bow H i l l.
Mr. Kirkby 'dined with us.
Friday 16th In the morning to £he h i l l at the back of Up Park.
Josephina rode with me - Mr. Hardy 'dined with us.
Saturday 17th To call at Lavant. Fanny rode with me. She told me in
the way that her attention had been much called to religious thoughts
during her late illness, which was occasioned, Mrs. Hughes says, by her
attention to a poor man on his deathbed, many years a servant of Mrs. H.,
the exertions she made being beyond her strength. We did not talk at any
great length on the subject, but the little that passed, combined with
what I have heard at other times from Mr. and Mrs. H. prove to me that her
heart has been effectually touched by the Holy Spirit.
Footnotes-
1 . Probably Rev. John KIRBY who bought his house at West Street,
Chichester.
2. Rev. Robert HARDY, Vicar of STOUGHTON 1792-18^3?
May I not consider this a direct answer to the prayers which I have
almost daily offered for her? Oh what an encouragement s t i l l to redouble
my efforts, my aspirations to the Throne of Grace, for her, for myself,
for a l l my friends!
Sunday May 18th In the morning I read prayers at home, the Service at
our church being in the afternoon. In tljie evening, we went by appointment
to drink tea at Lavant. James and Rhoda "met us there. Rhoda seated herself
on the sopha between Fanny and Josephina and had much talk, with
Fanny in particular. I had a minute's opportunity of asking R. the result
of her observations just as we prepared to go away, and she expressed the
warmest admiration. I was rejoiced at such a confirmation of my own
impressions respecting Fanny's Character, having a very high opinion of
Rhoda's penetration. I could no longer resist my inclination to declare
myself, and as Fanny rode home with me over the hill, a beautiful moonlight
evening, I told her I loved her, and she acknowledged a mutual attachment.
Monday May 19th Fanny rode with me as far as Havant in our way to the
Isle of Wight. We had much pleasant talk, with sweet confidences and
openness. It seemed as if a barrier were removed which before inspired
us both with a certain feeling of restraint. Josephina rode with me from
Havant to Portsmouth, where we visited the dock yard, had an early dinner,
and then crossed by the Steam-packet to Cowes. A pleasant walk in the
evening, and afterwards . a ride to Newport in a sociable.
Footnote-
1 . James Hack and his wife Rhoda (nee Ticehurst Gravely). James Hack
(b.1787 m.1810) second child of James Hack (I758-I829) leather cutter
of Chichester, Stephen Hack's eldest brother. Horsfield's History of
Sussex lists James Hack as one of the principal land proprietors of
Pagham parish.
Tuesday May 20 Made an excursion from Newport to Carisbrooke, Freshwater
and the Needles - returned to Newport to sleep.
Wed. 21st. To breakfast at Sand Rock - whence we walked to Blackgang Chine
and Mrs. Hughes and myself, leaving the ladies below, ascended to the summit
of St. Catherine's Hill. Afterwards by way of the Undercliff to Bonchurch
and Shanklin where we slept.
- 2. 3 "ZThursday
22 From Shanklin to Ride - crossed in the steampacket to
Portsmouth. Visited a ship of war in the harbour, and in the evening rode
home to Stoughton.
During this excursion I was continually led to compare my present
feelings with those on a previous visit to the same places in the year 1817
- and found reason to be thankful that I am happier than at that time -
which was a period of gloom and anxiety respecting my dear Ann's health and
about pecuniary concerns, etc. It is striking to reflect how the lapse of
eleven years has completely changed all these circumstances - and to think
of how little avail was all my care - and I strongly feel how much better
it would have been to commit all my concerns to the management of him who
knows what is best. Oh that I could learn to repose this undoubting
confidence in him.
Friday 23rd. Mr. Hughes rode over with me in the morning, to Chichester.
Saturday 24th To Goodwood. Emily1'rode as far as Lavant - afterwards
Fanny. In returning through Chichester we encountered such a heavy shower
that F. was wet through and obliged to change her clothes. I therefore
brought her in a postchaise to Stoughton, where James and Rhoda dined with
us by appointment.
Sunday 25th In the afternoon to Funtington Church, calling at Mr. Bliss's.
Monday 26th To my M°ther's at Chichester to breakfast, after which my
friends left me. Fanny was in good spirits, and seemed to feel less in parting
with me now than at Smeeth. We are soon, I trust, to meet again, for
she has consented to fix the day of our marriage for Monday the 28th July.
I trust I may venture to look for the divine blessing on this undertaking,
for I can truly say that it has been my prayer to be directed to do that
which is right. I feel assured that my dear F. is a truly religious and
virtuous young woman, and that she tenderly loves me, and these I think are
the two principal requisites for happiness in marriage. Ten years ago, I
should undoubtedly have preferred Josephina, who continues with almost
unequalled beauty, much gracefulness both of person and mind, a voice full
of softness and capable of the most powerful expression, with a natural
sweetness of disposition not often excelled. But she is inactive, and I
feared she could not live without the stimulous of society - while Fanny
has abundant resources always at Command and above all I am by no means
sure that Josephina*s heart has yet been awakened to a deep sense of
religion - though I am ready to hope, from the little conversation we have
had, that it may become so. In bringing children into the world, it is
an awful thought that we become the means in the hand of God, of calling
into existence souls destined either to eternal happiness or misery. In
this way the character of the young woman chosen as a wife assumes an
importance superior even to every consideration of our own present happiness.
These were the considerations that passed through my mind when I
became acquainted with the character of the Sisters, before that warmth and
tenderness of feeling had been awakened which an acknowledged mutual
affection is calculated to excite.
After my friends were; gone, I sat down and wrote to my sister-in-law
M.W.S. to W.F.R. and H.J. 'informing them of my engagement. Also to James
Rickman of Stockwell, Fanny's guardian, saying I hope for his approbation -
though not strictly needful to ask his consent, as the young lady is
within a few days of being of age. When a man puts himself in the situation
of a Petitioner, whether seeking for the vote of an elector as candidate
for a seat in parliament, or the approbation of a guardian as candidate for
the hand of a young woman, he stands a chance of hearing things which he
might not otherwise hear, and so it proves in the present case. For J.R.
gives me a wipe which I did not anticipate.
Footnotes-
1. Etoily Hughes - step sister of Fanny.
2. Maria Woodrouffe Smith, William Foster Reynolds and Halsey Janson.
- 3 ^ -
115.
"Except the difference of age" he says"of which inconvenience you must be
the best judge, there is one ground only on which I can have anything to
fear, and although it is very unpleasant for me to mention it) still as
in most cases of the like nature it is best done at the first, and as my
suspicions may be altogether groundless, it may be so now. I think that
I have heard some years back your style of living was so much under what
is usual to persons of your property as to have attracted general
attention. Now if this was the truth it would give me much pain to
think that my niece should not have all those comforts the wife of a
person of such property should have, Although Fanny has always appeared
to me to have less inclination to be in any way expensive than any young
person that I know.
I hope you will excuse the great liberty I have taken, and as some
apology can safely say that i t cannot be more unpleasant to yourself than
i t has been to me".
He adds a postscript. "You do not mention your having any knowledge
of Fanny's property, and l e s t you should think i t more, it.imay be better
at once to say i t i s only about £110 per An. and that i s a l l she has to
expect."
I am not very angry or much annoyed at this; conscious that whatever
avarice may be seated in my own heart, I have not of late years allowed it
often to break out in overt act. I replied to J.R. as follows -
My dear Sir 143.
I am obliged by your letter and so far from feeling your frankness
unkind, I rejoice at i t , having always found perfect openness among friends
and connexions to wear the best. Since the death of my late wife - I have
been accustomed to expend my income, within a t r i f l e , annually. During
her l i f e that was not the cases i t was her wish to l i v e on such a scale
as I might continue to support in the event of her deaths a most affectionate
motive on her parti but one, to which i t i s possible I ought not to have
given way.
With irespect to Ffeinny 's property, I did not, at the time of making her
the offer of my hand, know i t s amount, or whether she possessed any - never
having made any inquiries on the subject - but Mr. H. has subsequently
informed me of her circumstances, nearly to the same effect as you have
stated".
I f anything l i k e i l l humour arose in my mind at J . R . ' s attack, i t was
sweetened by a charming letter received at the same time from my dear Fanny,
informing me of the safe arrival of the party at home. "The happiness l a id
in store for me", says my simple hearted g i r l , "is so much more than I at
a l l deserve or ever anticipated, that sometimes I think - Can i t be
realized? How have my prayers been answered, and more than answered!
and do I really possess the friendship of one so congenial to me in, I
think I may say, every respect?"
Who that ever tasted the delight of being beloved by an interesting
woman would consent for a moment to place in competition with it any
other eai:thly happiness?
Sunday 22nd June 1828 . ^
After much struggle with earthly and wandering thoughts, which seemed
to l i t t l e purpose, I had today a delightful encouragement to go on in
striving. At fchurch in the afternoon I caught sight of Wm. Porter, a lad
formerly in my employ, who l e f t Stoughton at the time of my ceasing to
farm; and whom I had scarcely seen since. He was a regular attender at
the evening school, and came in with the other children to prayers on
Sunday evenings. I regretted losing him, for his heart seened touched,
and I entertained great hopes for him, but feared change of plan and
circumstance might efface his good Impressions. On catching his eye, '
however, this afternoon, I was pleased to perceive an expression which
induced me to believe that my fears were groundless. I spoke to him after
the service, and asked him to come with the other children 1n the evening,
— 2. —
which he thankfully accepted. Here I had again an opportunity of observing his
countenance which indicated much feeling and I afterwards took an opportunity of
speaking to him in private, which satisfactorily confirmed me in the conviction
that Religion has maintained i t s ground in his heart. I gave him Doddridge's
Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.
Footnote-
1 . Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) Nonconformist and divine. Pub. "Rise and
Progress of Religion in the Soul" 1745.
June 26th 1828 I have made the following notes on looking over some of the early 145.
volumes of Curtis's Botanical Magazine -
Vol.3 P.95 Geranium Radula. Rasp leaved Geranium.
"As a Botanist, desirous of seeing plants distinct in their characters, we
could almost wish i t were impossible to raise these foreign Geraniums from seeds;
for without pretending to any extraordinary discernment, we may venture to prophesy,
that in a few years, from the multiplication of seminal varieties, springing from
seeds casually, or perhaps purposely impregnated with the pollen of different sorts,
such a crop will be produced to baffle a l l our attempts to reduce to species, or
even regular varieties".
This passage affords a confirmation of Wahlenberg's remark on the uncertain
limits of specific distinctions, which I have quoted in my Lecture on the Geography
of Plants .
The Common Nasturtium in the Tropaealum Majus 1 the double nasturtium, i s a
variety of Iropaealum Minus.
I t i s remarkable that while the Passion flower, a native of Brazil, the
Buddlea of C h i l i , the White Jasmin of India - flourish in the open a i r - Many of t:tieplants
belonging to the South of Europe require a greenhouse - e.g. the Sap leaved
Cistus.
The Syringa is the Philadelphus Cononarius - Its original habitat is unknown.
Linnaeus assigns it to the neighbourhood of Verona - but with a doubt.
Monday June 30th 1828 To London by the Stage. 146.
July 2nd By the Norwich Mail to Long Stratton, where I breakfasted, and then
went on to Fundenhall, and spent the day in looking over my two farms.
July 4th To Horsford and Sprowston with Mr. Millard. In the evening called at
I . Geldart's and at the Foundry.
July 5th Found my way to Woodbridge by the Stages.
Sunday 6th July Went over with my brother and his daughter to Aldborough and
Leiston Abbey - attended friends meeting at the latter.
July 7th With Lucy to town.
July 14th To Smeethe, where I remained t i l l the 28th the day of my marriage -
proceeded that night as far as Dover - the next day crossed from Dover to Boulogne
- the 30th from Boulogne to Amiens - 31st Amiens to Beaumont.
1 s t August Beaumont to Paris.
Aug. 5th To Versailles to sleep - 6th to Louviere 7th to Dieppe - 8th crossed
to Brighton 9th home to Stoughton.
Smeeth July 25th 147.
Hearing from my sister M.W.S. of the death of Mr. Parker, I thought Susan would
receive kindly a letter of condolence on the occasion - which I accordingly wrote.
On returning from France I found an answer from her f u l l of kindness and expressing
much pleasure at hearing of my intended connexion. I have written today the
following answer -
Stoughton August 12th 1828
I t i s impossible for me to express to you, my dear friend, the mingled feelings
excited by the reading of your deeply interesting letter, which, I have read again
and again with renewed emotion, rejoicing that I can once more hold intercourse
with you as a beloved Sister. How many, many times have I wished, during hours of
deep desolation, that I might be permitted thus to converse with you. I thought I
could have promised most solemnly to confine my intercourse to such as a brother
might hold with the companion of his youth, and to utter not a word that might
renew the memory of the past, so far at least as the past was painful.
But I cannot blame you or think i t hard that you would not consent to such a
manner of communication, for perhaps i t i s too hard for human f r a i l t y to undertake
the performance of such conditions though i t seems always a matter of deep regret
when the impossibility of a nearer connexion separates friends who would rejoice in
cultivating sentiments of mutual regard. S t i l l more when such a communication
might be the means of encouraging each other in good. But perhaps we overrate the
importance of actual correspondence with those we love as much as we underrate the 148.
importance of intercessory prayer. And an hour spent in supplicating for blessings
on one whom we are never again destined to see may contribute more truly to his
welfare than any direct encouragement or exhortation.
But you have now f u l l proof, the only perfectly convincing proof that I could
possibly give, that I have renounced for ever the thought of becoming wholly yours -
and I shall think i t no small addition to my happiness that I am in a situation to
receive the assurance that you s t i l l continue warmly interested in my welfare, and
even to hope that I may one day enjoy the happiness of conversing with you again in
person. To my dear Fanny, as well as to myself, i t would give great pleasure if
circumstances should permit such a meeting, for she i s completely in love with you,
from what I have told her of you. My kindest thanks are due to Mrs. Parker for her
message. I should rejoice to avail myself of i t , but fear Scotland i s too far
distant to give me hope of v i s i t i ng i t again, and I will confess that Blochairn and
F a i r l i e are f u l l of recollections of suffering so acute that I could scarcely v i s it
them without dread. It would not I think be so great an effort for you to come to
make us a v i s i t here, because you are often coming half way, and I should rejoice
to show you my cottage and garden, my l i t t l e school and cottages and to talk with
you of a l l my plans for the benefit of my poor neighbours. Do endeavour to persuade
Mrs. Parker, or Miss Parker, to travel so far South, whenever you are making a v i s it
to England.
You w i l l not doubt that I affectionately sympathise in the feelings caused by 149.
that mournful event of which you have kindly given me so interesting and affecting
an account. In those feelings of mingled sorrow and rejoicing, sorrow at your own
loss, and rejoicing at the far greater gain of the object of affection. I am reminded
of a l l that passed through my own mind on being separated from her whom I loved
best in the world. If at a l l times an undoubting faith in the promises of God forms
the truest foundation of our happiness, yet in no circumstances I think i s the value
of such a faith so possibly felt as in the bitter moment of separation from our
dearest friends. How unspeakably painful would such an event be i f we could suppose
that separation to be eternal. Thank you, my very dear friend, for your wishes and
prayers on my behalf; i t i s , as you truly say, a short lived union indeed that is
terminated by this l i f e , but I have the satisfaction of believing that my dear wife
i s a truly religious young woman, had I entertained a doubt on that point I trust
and believe I should never have united myself to her. Five years ago perhaps, that
would not have been the case, i t was my happiness to admire in you attractions which
happened to be united to religion, but I am far from sure that this would have
appeared to be indispensable, not indeed that I could have loved a frivolous young
woman, but that was a matter of sentiment rather than resting on any higher grounds.
To you I owe a great deal. I should feel grateful even were I not convinced that
your prayers have been the means of procuring blessings for me - but I am convinced
that this was the case. I feel assured that sensible how much suffering you had
been the innocent means of occasioning to one who tenderly loved you, you resorted to 150.
the only means of compensating him to those sufferings by supplications often renewed
on his behalf and I rejoice to afford you the satisfaction of knowing that those
supplications have not been wholly in vain - let us continue, even i f never more
destined to meet in this world, affectionately to remember each other when approaching
the Throne of Grace.
Present my kindest regards to Mrs. Parker, Miss Parker and dear Annie, and
believe me ever your sincerely grateful friend
John Barton
Sep. 8th 1828 Dr. Sanden gave me on Saturday a copy of a mathematical formula 15I.
which Mr. D. Gilbert, the President of the Royal Society carries in his seal.
I t i s as follows -
1 Q 4_ 9 j±L- ^ . 2 o 7 % 7 ? £
- e * =
-h _
1 .2- '2.3.
d
-^T Signifying the same as Q. viz, the arc of a quadrant.
I have been endeavouring without success to verify this formula» and
cannot hglp suspecting that i t should be
s/-7
instead of
I t would then be proved thus. By Lacroix Vol. 1. p.67.
C 4- A 1
Now i f the arc X equals one fourth of the circumference, we have
GosX= 0 Sin X = 1 . and consequently
Zfr r-. .r
C = cfand
l a s t ly
_ 7f
e
y^i
Sep. 10th Dr. Forbes1'has given me the impression of the seal in
question and I find I was right. The formula is
/ T _ <c
e.
and Mr. G. had copied i t incorrectly.
Footnote-
1 . Dr. John Forbes co-founder Chichester Infirmary - after leaving
Chichester was Physician to the Queens Household, 1840.
September 19th 1828
AB an earthenware trough or vessel, three inches in depth
Od a partition of iron, leaving a span of f inch from the bottom of vessel
and having a hole of \ inch diam. in the centre
ef a trough of copper a l i t t l e smaller than the containing vessel
S.S.S. - the space f i l l e d with salt, moistened with water
g.g.g. - a s l ip of metal, connecting the copper trough with the iron plate
in a similar vessel above
Matters being thus arranged, a galvanic action will ensue; the muriatic
acid in the salt will begin to act on the iron, while the alkaline base
will be attracted by the copper. At the same time, in as much as both
muriate of iron and soda are much more soluble than common salt, a
liquefaction will take place at the same time with the decomposition;
the muriate of iron will drain off through the hole in the iron plate,
while the soda will pass through the holes in the copper trough upwards,
till that trough is nearly full. As soon as the fluid rises to the height
of the little syphon k.k. this solution of soda will begin to run off till
the whole is gone, the salt S.S. at the same time gradually dissolving and
the copper trough sinking down.
Proposed apparatus for the decomposition of Sea Salt.
;•• II f I, IfI! R V V.. i'
'••••-. O >< • \ . v \ . _ * X . » x ^ v
- - - - - - * ^ .., _ . _ j !
ay\ ' 1 3
If the proportions of the different parts are properly arranged, the
solution of soda will begin to run off through the Syphon, just as the
whole of the salt is decomposed. The solution of muriate of iron may be
then drawn off at the cock m, and the operation repeated.
It is understood that the vessel AB forms one of a long series of
similar vessels, placed one on the other. The greater the number of
vessels, of course the more rapid the galvanic action.
The slip of metal g.g.g. must be prevented from touching the trough
of copper in the vessel above, by being varnished with a non conducting
material. The vessel A.B. has a slit at n.n. for the purpose of allowing
the syphon to ascend and descend.
September 19th 1828
On consideration, I see that the apparatus drawn in the preceding
diagram would not answer the purpose. The iron plate would be dissolved
long before the end of the process, and the solution of soda would run
out at the slit made for the syphon. These objections are remedied in
the sketch below. SS is a stratum of salt moistened. I I is a stratum of
iron turnings, m.m.m. is a false bottom full of holes to allow the
solution of muriate of iron to drain off as it formed, p is a cock for
drawing off the solution of soda.
The process would be facilitated, I apprehend, by the different
specific gravity of the salts, the muriate of iron being the heaviest and
the soda the lightest. It occurs to me as a question whether it may not
be necessary to contrive means for the solution of soda to pass off as
soon as formed, so that the copper and iron shall contain nothing between
them but pure muriate of soda. This might be done perhaps by making the
copper trough in last diagram to fit closely to the containing vessel, so
that no fluid could pass up by the sides. By the weight of the copper,
the solution would then be pressed up through the Tube R, and fill the
trough, which in that case must not be pierced with holes at the bottom.
- Z V 3 -
Proposed Apparatus for the Decomposition of Sea Salt
If)
V
—-p —11 v II
•O '• »
;-ti I IIii H. u..... r .ii. i' • i p
j1.:. u .. |
March 16th 1829
Being a bright sunshiny morning, I made today some experiments previously
planned, on the prismatic spectrum.
I I placed a prism with one angle downwards on a sheet of white paper in
the sunshine, so that the light falling on one side of the prism was
refracted downwards on the paper below. A narrow line of red light
was observable along one edge of the spectrum, and of blue along the
opposite edge. The space between was white.
II I then stretched a string so as to throw a shadow lengthwise on the prism.
The shadow appeared on the paper below, edged with the same colours as
the spectrum itself, dividing the spectrum in two portions. The position
of the colours was however reversed, the blue edge being farthest from
the prism, and the red edge nearest to it. I found that at a distance of
about two feet, the shadow with its coloured edges disappeared. I mean
when the prism was 2 feet from the paper.
III Placing the prism with its angle downwards on a sheet of paper as in
the first experiment, I threw a spectrum on the opposite wall. Then
turning the prism gently on its axis, the spectrum disappeared and was
immediately succeeded by a spectrum in which the order of the colours
was reversed, the red appearing uppermost. Turning the prism still a
little farther in the same direction, the original spectrum reappeared
in place of the reversed spectrum. This reversed spectrum was evidently
produced by a reflexion from the surface of the white paper, for on
the prism being made to revolve in the same way at a little above the
paper, no such effect took place. The colours of the reversed spectrum
were nearly as bright and distinct as those of the common spectrum.
When I made use of a looking glass instead of white paper, the same
phenomena appeared, but the colours were less distinct. This last
experiment was not planned before, but was the result of accidental
observation this morning.
The two first experiments appear to be at variance with the received
theory of colours. They seem to show that the separation of the rays of
light is not produced by the act of passing through the prism; but by the
principle of inflexion, and seem to confirm a notion which I have long
entertained,that the different colours of the spectrum depend on the velocity
of the rays.
April 19th 1829 Today I observed the first blossom open on a plum tree.
Jas. Hack said he saw a swallow and heard the nightingale on Thursday, the
16th. I have neither seen one nor heard the other yet.
Stoughton Chichester
Nov. 5th 1832
My Lord
I think myself much honoured by your Lordship's request that I would
submit to you such observations as have occurred to me on the subject of
Church Reform. Though I fear the result may be to show that you have much
over-rated the value of my suggestions, it is in those circumstances
equally a duty and a pleasure to give my best attention to the subject.
There are two considerations which have always appeared to me of
great importance in Political changes, though frequently overlooked in the
desire to reform crying abuses. The first is that all such changes are
most effectually as well as safely brought about by gradual means 1 the
second that the moral influence of the proposed arrangements is of far
greater importance than the pecuniary saving. With regard to the first,
there is no doubt this great difficulty, that a secret desire to maintain
existing abuses is often disguised under the pretence of a wish to resist
hasty innovation; and this if the partisans of these abuses can succeed in
lulling the public attention to sleep by an appearance of setting about
the work of Reformation, the matter is too often forgotten. This I fear
has been the case with regard to the feeble attempts made from time to
time to enforce the residence of the clergy. On the other hand, sudden
changes, if they fail to answer their intended purposes, (as often happened,
witness the Beer Shop Bill 'and the New Game Bill ') not unfreqtently
excite a reaction in the public mind unfavourable to all attempts at reformhowever
well directed - with a ministry sincerely disposed to exterpate
abuses, however, the former danger would in great measure cease to exist;
beneficial improvements might be introduced with any requisite degree of
slowness - and their progress watched, so as to modify them as may be
found most desirable.
With regard to the other principle, that the moral influence of
political measures is more important than the pecuniary saving, it seems to
me overlooked by the statesmen and Political writers of the present day to a
greater extent than at any former period. "The happiness of any given
period", says the author of a Catechism on the Corn Laws, which is now in
the Sixteenth Edition "varies as the velocity of increase of the Trade;
varies as the fluxion of T"! Would it not be much nearer the truth to
say, with the ancient moralists, that the happiness of nations, as well as
of Individuals is proportional to the prevalence of virtuous sentiments
and well regulated affections. So far from the extension of trade necessarily
contributing to the happiness of a community I should be disposed to
regard the pastoral population of Switzerland as one of the happiest in
Europe, and the crowded manufacturing population of our great towns as
among the most wretched.
I fear your Lordship will think that I have forgotten the subject
of Church Reform, on which you desired me to write, and gone astray to
attack the Political Economists. My apology must be that the kind of
reform wanted in the Church depends in great measure on the view that may
be taken of the evils of the existing state of things. If the evil is
that we are paying a shilling for services which might be done for sixpence,
one kind of remedy is wanting;- if the evil is that the spiritual
instruction and social improvement of the people is not effectually provided
for, another kind of remedy must be resorted to. For my own part, I should
lament to see the revenues of the Church abridged, though glad to see them
somewhat differently distributed.
A commutation of Tithes for a Tax on Rent would no doubt facilitate
agricultural improvements, and so tend to lessen the cost of production and
reduce the price of food, though not perhaps to so great an extent as is
sometimes supposed. Nor does it necessarily follow, as is frequentlly
assumed, that every reduction in the price of corn adds to the comfort of
the poor. On the contrary there is reason to believe that, in the manufacturing
districts at least, the increase of effective earnings resulting
from such a reduction is too often consumed in idleness and intemperance;
^ 4 - 0 -
I have lately been engaged in an enquiry respecting the influences of the
price of Corn on the rate of Mortality in different years, and I find that,
with the exception of years of severe scarcity, high prices are rather more
favourable than low prices to human life. A more important benefit
resulting from the Commutation of Tithes would be the prevention of those
unseemly disputes which sometimes take place on pecuniary matters between
clergymen and their parishioners, and the removal ofthat odium now thrown
upon the Church by the apparent incidence of Tithes on the cultivation of
the soil.
There is however another point connected with the existing state of
the church, on which an effectual reform seems more essentially wanting
than either in the collection or distribution of its revenues.. The great
abuse, as it appears to me, which lies at the root of almost all the other
abuses in the Church of England, is Hon Residence. Desirable as it
undoubtedly is to augment the Revenues of small livings, the incumbents
on those livings are not the worst paid class of the Ministers of the
Church - the care of these parishes being often consigned to a curate
who receives for his labour only a part of that little. And then there
comes another evil, that a curate seldom if ever considers himself
settled for life, and has not therefore the same interest to make exertions
for the moral and spiritual benefit of his congregationj exertions which,
to offer any reasonable prospect of success, demand the continued and
strenuous exertions of a long series of years.
It is true that there exists a class of clergymen who take no pleasure
in the duties of their profession, regarding these duties as an unpleasant
burden attached to the emolument of their situation. The residence of
such as these, it must be admitted, would do little or no good. But this
class is, I trust, diminishing, and it would no doubt diminish still more
if residence were universally enforced. For if compelled to banish themselves
to remote country villages, these clerical traders would discover
that preferment on such terms, is not worth having, - thus room would be
made far a more useful and efficient class of ministers.
I am not sufficiently acquainted with the history of the acts that
have been passed against Non Residence, to know why regulations might not
be contrived for checking such an abuse in England as effectually as in
Scotland. Does not the failure of the acts arise in part from their throwing
entirely on the Bishop of each diocese the invidious task of enforcing
residence among his clergy. If a return were annually made from each
parish to Government, any violation of the law must immediately become
known, and might easily be remedied.
To enforce universally and without exception, the residence of the
Incumbent, may perhaps appear to your L°rdship too strong a measure, and
would no doubt amount to an act of injustice if applied to the existing
body of the clergy. But I do not see that there would be any injustice
or impolicy in enforcing such a measure prospectively. Even without any
legislative enactment the object would be in a great measure accomplished
if the patronage of the Crown and of the Bishops, or of those Bishops who
desire the removal of the existing abuses (a number which we may hope to
see progressively increase) were exercised on this principle, particularly
if reinforced, as such a measure would be, by the influence of public
opinion.
From the residence of the Incumbent, supposing him truly interested
in the welfare of his parishioners, would spring actually various
beneficial arrangements, and among the rest an extension of the means of
Education to Country parishes. This might be accomplished at a far less
expence in such situations than is generally supposed. A room large
enough to contain the children of a village may generally be found within
the limitsj and for a small gratuity a competent person would mostly be
found glad to devote two hours in each evening to the business of
instruction. An evening school seems better adapted to the circumstances
of a country parish than a day school, inasmuch as the children are taken
as early as nine or ten years old to work in the fields«- and by the same
104
arrangement the expence is very much diminished, since the master's
remuneration need not be such as to maintain him entirely, but merely to
form an acceptable addition to his accustomed earnings. I speak from
some experience on this subject, having myself established such a school
when I came to Stoughton, and I never saw boys make greater progress,
though receiving only two hours instruction per day. This is perhaps the
only way in which we can hope to see the benefits of education become
universal. The system of Drs. Bell and Lancaster, though admirably cheap
where large numbers are to be taught, is scarcely applicable in its mechanical
arrangements, to small villages; though the principles of the system, l65«
so far as relates to the cultivation of the understanding instead of
loading the memory, is quite applicable to both cases equally. But to keep
this principle in vigour and activity, the continual attention and superintendence
is wanting of a person superior to an ordinary schoolmaster
andthis desideratum the clergyman would supply.
In some other respects the existing regulations of the Church of
England seem admirable, if carried into effect. On undertaking the office
of Churchwarden some years ago, I was struck with the excellence of the
queries addressed to me and others holding the same office by the Bishop at
his Visitation, and felt desirous of answering them with care and accuracy,
but was surprised to be told that I might spare my pains, for in all probability
the Bishop would never even read over the answers. In fact, it is
not very easy, I believe, even with the concurrence of the Bishop, to
obtain a remedy for the evils arising from misconduct on the part of a
clergyman, however gross and notorious. In a parish within your Lordship's
diocese, about four miles from Chichester, the parishioners are glad, I am
told, to pay the clergyman to stay away, he being a man of the coarsest
manner and morals, rather than venture on the expense of a process in the
Ecclesiastical Courts. Surely this might be remedied,if upon a representation
from the Churchwardens and Vestry, the Bishop were bound to
appoint a certain number of respectable individuals, (perhaps half clergy
and half laity) to enquire into and pronounce judgement in the case, after
the manner of a Court Martial.
Thus I have ventured, in obedience to your Lordship's request, to
submit to you such considerations as have occurred to me on this important
question; though entirely sensible that with my very limited knowledge of
the subject, they are little likely to prove worthy of your attention.
With thanks for the favourable opinion which induced your Lordship to
make such a request, and renewed apologies for the imperfect manner in
which it has been fulfilled.
I have the honour to be
Yours very obedient Servant,
John Barton
Footnotes-
1. BEER-HOUSES -
the last bill respecting them
passed before his letter was in I830.
2. GAME LAWS -
The Game Act (1 and 2 Will. IV C.32) greatly modifying all
previous laws was passed in I83I, legalising the sale of
game at certain seasons.
166.
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