on the subject of it. His answer left no room for further solicitation, being a direct negative, accompanied with the remark, that giving an account of the opinions or discoveries of others was a thing he had never been used to, and one that he would not undertake. As he is a man of a very firm and determined character, your proposal to him need not, in my opinion, be any more thought of. This place has been in a state of feverish agitation for the last ten days, owing to the presence of the Foreign Princes. They are now gone, and the tranquillity of the town begins to be re-established. John Bull was very much delighted with the Emperor; he is a stout, good-natured-looking man, with a face more expressive of kindness than of talent; the King of Prussia is much more like a man of ability, but he is melancholy and reserved. They must both carry away a vast idea of the opulence and industry of this nation, and in the next subsidies we have to pay them, this element will not fail to be taken into account. The sentence on Lord Cochrane1 is universally condemned as cruel and savage in the extreme. I cannot think of it without horror; in this country, where justice is thought to be so much more immaculate than in any other, how sad to think that political opinion is not excluded from the seat of judgment! The death of Lord Minto must have made a great impression with you as it has done here. Just returning into the bosom of his family, after an absence of seven years, to be suddenly cut off, is an event that must be striking to the most unconcerned. To his friends and family how dreadful! The weather continues cold and disagreeable beyond all example. I expect to see you in Edinburgh in about three weeks hence. Humboldt was here in the suite of the King of Prussia, and only left us yesterday. He is a very interesting personhis conversation animated, instructive, and various in a degree rarely to be met with, and there is a good humour and openness in his manner that is quite delightful.-Yours, with esteem, JOHN PLAYFAIR. The late Earl of Dundonald. He was sentenced to pay a fine of £1,000, to be imprisoned for twelve months, and to stand for an hour in the pillory. DR. COPLESTON. Oriel College, October 6, 1814. SIR,-You will already, I trust, have concluded that your letter did not come to my hands in time for me to send an earlier answer. I am just returned to England, having been absent ever since last July, and one of my first cares is to reply to a proposal, of the honour of which I am fully sensible. The recommendation of so distinguished a person as Mr. Dugald Stewart, and the prospect of uniting my labours with those of many illustrious men, are powerful motives; but there are others still more powerful, which compel me to decline the engagement. I need not trouble you with a detail of my academical business, or of the literary pursuits which occupy all my leisure. I will only specify one objection, which would alone be sufficient to determine me, even if my leisure were greater than it is, and my abilities equal to so responsible a task. The speculations to which I have devoted most of my time have led me to form opinions on many important subjects widely different from those which are now prevalent, and which have received the sanction of your greatest names. These opinions I can neither disguise or relinquish. On the contrary, my hope and intention is to communicate them to the world at some future time, in a form that may invite a serious and calm attention. You will excuse me for entering thus into my own affairs, but I thought it best, and even more respectful, to explain thus far the reason which makes it impossible for me to accept so flattering a proposal. Your very obedient and humble servant, FRANCIS JEFFREY. E. COPLESTON. August 7, 1816. MY DEAR SIR,—I am afraid I am almost disqualified for the task you suggest to me, by having already explained my own notions on the subject of Beauty, nearly as fully as I think necessary, in my review of Alison's Book.1 At all 1 1 Edinburgh Review, May, 1811. events, I could not make another treatise on the subject without manifestly borrowing almost all the principles of that article; and it probably would not suit your plan either to extract or abstract avowedly from such a work as the Edinburgh Review. Some further account I might give of other theories, and some further development of my own, but I could not conscientiously make the staple anything different. Besides all this, I am occasionally so impotent as to writing, and have so many little things to do during the time you would allow me, that I am afraid to engage, or to lead you to depend on so insecure an auxiliary. I assure you, however, that I am very much flattered by the proposal, and really very willing to comply with it. Few things would give me more pleasure than to have written a tolerable article for a work which will contain so many excellent ones; but that is the only tense of the verb I can look to with satisfaction.-Ever faithfully F. JEFFREY. yours, November 10, 1816. MY DEAR SIR,-I at last send you this article of mine. I am afraid, among its other faults, that it is much too long. I would rather you should not try to read it till you see it in proof; and, indeed, I do not think it very likely that you will be tempted. I shall be glad to hear any suggestions you have to offer when it is in a readable shape, though I give you fair warning that I have no knack of making alterations, and I fear shall have no time for them. At all events I commit it to your mercy.-Ever very faithfully yours, F. JEFFREY. January 13, 1817. MY DEAR SIR,-I have time only to say that I am ashamed of your profusion both of compliments and of money. My paper is really not worth half what you have sent of the latter, nor one-tenth part of what you have lavished of the former. However, as the compliments cost little, except to your conscience, and will not lessen your ability to reward better deservers, I accept of them with great pleasure, as proofs of your personal kindness and disposition to be pleased. But as to the money, I really have scruples about taking so much more than I can possibly persuade myself I have earned, and seriously beg you to consider whether you are not throwing away upon me what would otherwise be bestowed upon more valuable contributors. I am not so much pleased with my last performance as to engage lightly for another, and feel every day that I have no leisure but for my professional avocations. It is a comfort to me, however, to have done this; and as I undertook it very much to oblige you, and from a sincere wish for the success of the work, it is of itself more than a sufficient remuneration to know that it has not materially disappointed your expectations, and is not likely to be any discredit to the publication.- Believe me always your very faithful friend, F. JEFFREY. JAMES MILL. London, July 2, 1816. MY DEAR SIR,-Upon turning the subject in my mind, which I had not time to do just at first, I think it will be impossible to separate the matter of an article on the word "Beggar" from the subject of Pauperism in general. If you contemplate nothing more than a description of the artifices of the professional beggar, this is, properly speaking, a branch of the art of imposture and swindling, and really belongs to that head, not to that of Pauperism at all. If the persons who solicit charity from passengers in the highways, and from door to door, are to be considered as a class, and with reference to the operations of the legislator, you cannot separate the subject from that of pauperism in general. The first question is-What are you to do with beggars? If you suppress them, you must make a legal provision for those who fall into want, otherwise you inflict a capital punishment upon poverty, and in that case you enter upon all the difficult questions relating to a poor's rate. My own opinion therefore is, that the subject of mendicity should be treated under some title which would embrace the whole of the questions relating to pauperism. Under the title "Beggar," without anticipating the general subject, you can do nothing but address yourself, without any public utility, to the idle curiosity of those who wish to hear strange stories, and write an article fit for a catchpenny magazine, but by no means for your noble Supplement. Nevertheless, if you are of a contrary opinion, I will write the article as you desire, and give you the stories in the House of Commons Report, with my own commentaries, which will detract not a little from the marvellous with which some of them are seasoned. From this and other sources an entertaining article might no doubt be made, if not a scientific one. I am looking forward to your calls on the article Government, and shall, I trust, be well prepared for you by the time, as I am now drawing to a close with a heavy load which I have long had upon my shoulders.-Most faithfully yours, J. MILL. Ford Abbey, Chard, October 23, 1816. MY DEAR SIR,-On turning to your letter for the purpose of answering it, and observing the date, I see I have reason to be ashamed of myself. I am not, however, so faulty as at first sight I may naturally appear; for, seeing it would not be in my power to give you an article on Botany Bay, I endeavoured to find out a person who I thought would do it, and as well as anybody whom you had much chance of finding. The person I mean is Major Torrens, who has written several very good pamphlets on different parts of Political Economy, and who I knew had been at pains to collect information. respecting Botany Bay, having projects of being sent out to be its Governor. Torrens, I find, is just now wandering about in Ireland, and I conclude has not received my letter, for I have not heard from him at all, though I have no doubt he would have liked much to have contributed the article. Of India I have undertaken to give no less than a complete history, in which I aim at comprising all the information in which we Europeans are very materially interested; and, thank God, after having had it nearly ten years upon the carpet, I am now revising it for the press, and hope to begin to print as soon as I return to London. It will make three 4to volumes, which, whatever else they may contain, |