Chapter XXIII: Appendix: D (2)

Wear it awhile, against him led,
With your own blood you’ll dye it red.
But had your brave forefathers worn it,
Great Nassau from their brows had torn it.—V.H.

[* It is a moot point whether divine right can be said to date back in practice to the Wars of the Roses; though, in theory, Sir Robert Filmer (1604-1653), a writer well known for his extreme opinions on this subject, held that the doctrine commenced with the creation of man.]

[192] Napoleon inserted this just remark afterwards in one of his proclamations, and felt perhaps a malicious pleasure in using the sarcasm of Talleyrand against that party to whom he had contributed to betray him.—V.H.

[193] [The Slave Trade was the subject of a special clause in the Treaty, which, however, did not go as far as the enthusiasts on the subject had hoped. The French King engaged himself to combine with the King of England, at a future Congress, for general abolition; and in the meanwhile consented that the trade should cease in French possessions within five years. Lord Liverpool even offered, at the Congress of Vienna, to cede the Island of Trinidad as compensation for the French colonists who believed they would be utterly ruined by an immediate cessation of the trade.]

[194] [Wilberforce and his party.]

[195] I think, on reflection, the King of Prussia only was there that day.—V.H.

[Creevey says of this, in a letter dated June 21 (_Creevey Papers_, vol. i. p. 197): “I hope you admired our little brush last night in the presence of all the foreign grandees except the Emperor.”

(The Opposition, knowing that the distinguished visitors were present, moved a resolution concerning the marriage of Princess Charlotte to the Hereditary Prince of Orange.).]

[196] [William, Prince of Orange (1792-1849), son of William I. of Holland. He was educated in England by Dr. Howley, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and succeeded to the throne of Holland after his father’s abdication in 1840. Huish, in his _Memoirs of George IV._ (vol. ii. p. 184), gives the translation of a passage in a German book, published at Leipsic, entitled, _The History of the Most Extraordinary Events of the European Courts in the Years 1813-1815_. This entirely bears out Lord Holland’s statement; though, conversely, the book may be the source of his information. The Duchess of Oldenburg is mentioned as having been specially sent over to intrigue against the marriage.]

[197] [The bag containing the documents and papers representing the case against Queen Caroline in 1820, which was laid on the table of the House of Lords.]

[198] With whom that scheme originated I cannot positively say; but the Duke and Duchess of York and Lord Anglesey had some hand in promoting it.—V.H.

[199] Of Wales.—V.H.

[200] Lady Jersey gave me the copy of this letter.—V.H.

[201] [The usual scandal was raked up this year by the fact of two Drawing-rooms taking place, which were held by the Queen in honour of the Royal visitors. The Princess signified her intention of being present, but received a notice from the Queen that it was impossible to give her leave to do so, owing to the declaration of the Prince Regent that he would not meet his wife on any occasion either public or private.]

[202] [An interesting account of the Princess’s flight is given in _Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville_. His authority is Madame de Flahault, who was actually at Warwick House at the time. The Princess was much perturbed at the news of the Regent’s immediate arrival, but the first intimation of her departure was ten minutes later, when Madame de Flahault, while changing her gown, heard a workman in the street exclaim, “Why, surely, that’s the Princess running down the street.” The Regent, on his arrival, was furious at her disappearance, and sent Madame de Flahault and the Bishop of Salisbury in search of the fugitive. They found her at Connaught Place; but her mother only arrived later from Blackheath, in response to an urgent message from her daughter. Madame de Flahault stated that the Princess’s return was mainly due to the advice of the Duke of York.]

[203] [Published under the name of _Foreign Reminiscences_, by Henry Edward, Lord Holland, in 1852.]

[204] [Termed _Miscellaneous Reminiscences_. See p. 307.]

[205] [General Charles Richard Fox, who married, in 1824, Lady Mary FitzClarence, second daughter of William IV. and Mrs. Jordan.]

[206] How shortsighted are predictions! In three months or less after writing this, I was invited by Lord Grey to a seat in the Cabinet, and though, from considerations of health, I declined any more active employment, I accepted the seals of the Duchy of Lancaster, an office which brings me in constant and private intercourse with the King, and which, under so direct and honourable a Prince as William IV., is a pleasant and easy, as well as an honourable, occupation.—V.H.

[207] [See _ante_, p. 188. The statement, however, that Alexander would have been otherwise unable to reach Paris seems an extreme view of the case. The Allies had won their way to the capital by force of arms, and whatever decision had been arrived at with regard to the future government of France, they would have been obliged to occupy the city. The failure of the Congress of Chatillon was primarily due, not to the intrigues of the Bourbons, but to the unwillingness of Napoleon to seize the opportunity of making peace.]

[208] [Fouché was made Minister of Police in 1800, and later Minister of the Interior. By siding with all parties of the State as suited the moment, he continued in power at intervals under both Empire and Monarchy, until finally exiled as one of the instigators of the death of Louis XVI.

This advice from the Duke is corroborated by a letter published by Sir Herbert Maxwell in his _Life of Wellington_, vol. ii. p. 100.]

[209] [Sir Herbert Maxwell relates that Louis noticed the rudeness of Napoleon’s generals who had become Royalists, and mentioned it to the Duke. His only answer was, “Sire, ils sont si accoutumés à me tourner le dos, qu’ils n’en ont encore perdu l’habitude.”]

[210] Lord Ossory, in his commonplace, recording the circumstances of his death, thus characterises his neighbour:

“July 6, 1815, was the melancholy termination of the active and useful (in many respects) life of poor Whitbread. He was a most indefatigable man, of eminent talents and many virtues. He had a great irritability of temper, which at last, combined with a natural fulness of blood in the head, produced the fatal catastrophe. Contradiction made him become a vehement advocate for Bonaparte. Bedfordshire used to be called Whitbreadshire, but I deny that he ever governed or ruled me.”—V.H.

[211] [Mr. Robinson’s bill permitting importation when wheat touched 80_s._ a quarter.]

[212] [Lord Grey’s motion was as follows: “To institute a further inquiry relative to the state of the growth, commerce, and consumption of grain, and the state of the laws relating thereto.” He was supported by Lord Grenville and others; but the majority of the House was opposed to the motion, which was defeated by 124 votes to 18.]

[213] [Concluded with foreign Powers, and dealing with the settlement of France.]

[214] Many of them had been ceded by treaty to France, and either some other article in that treaty or the peace itself which it established had been in reason and public law an equivalent stipulation in favour of the party who ceded them. They were resumed or rather taken by force from the French, after a capitulation or treaty in which there was no stipulation whatever for their restoration.—V.H.

[215] [It is only fair to the Duke to state that from other contemporary records he seems to have endeavoured to restrain the Allies from overdue harshness in their treatment of Paris. The preservation of the _Pont de Jéna_ from the destructive intentions of Blucher was chiefly owing to his representations.]

[216] He indulged in vulgar abuse of those he had conquered and in sundry other bad habits so much, when Ambassador in 1814, that the punster at Paris called him, “My Lord _Vilain ton_.”—V.H.

[217] [The Duke certainly had no high opinion of Lowe. Compare a conversation of the Duke and Mr. Creevey on this subject, _Creevey Papers_, vol. i. 289.]

[218] At least, so the Black Prince and the English termed him. The French did not, nor did they so consider Napoleon, whom they had chosen Consul and Emperor.—V.H.

[219] [Lord Holland says in his _Foreign Reminiscences_ (p. 194) that this question was actually discussed at the Congress of Vienna. He mentions that his authority was an Englishman of veracity, employed at the Congress, who told it him before the Battle of Waterloo.

Talleyrand must certainly have raised the point at the Congress, as his instructions were to make strenuous efforts to obtain the removal of Napoleon from an island in such close proximity to the shores of France. The Azores or St. Helena were considered more suitable for insuring the safety of Europe.]

[220] [Count Auguste Charles Joseph Flahault, Napoleon’s aide-de-camp in the Russian campaign and at the battle of Waterloo. His name was removed by the influence of Talleyrand from the list of proscriptions, but he remained in England some years, and married Margaret, Baroness Keith and Nairne. He became French Ambassador in London in 1860, and died ten years later.]

[221] I erase _without my knowledge_, for the words convey more than I mean and more than is strictly true. His Royal Highness did, after reproaching me for not showing him the protest before I had entered it, ask me if, consistently with the orders and usages of the House, he could sign it on the third reading. I, of course, told him that he could refer in a dissentient to the reasons of a protest on the same subject on the journals, and he took that course.—V.H.

[222] [It is interesting to find that Lady Holland writes to Mrs. Creevey on January 1, 1816: “There is a strong feeling getting up in the country at our permitting the Capitulation to be broken, altho’ none are sorry Ney suffered.”]

[223] [Printed in the _Annual Register_ for 1816. State Papers, p. 378.]

[224] [Charles, eighth Lord Kinnaird, born in 1780; died in 1826. He married, in 1806, Lady Olivia Fitzgerald, daughter of the second Duke of Leinster, and Lord Holland’s cousin.]

[225] [Antoine Marie, Count de La Valette (1769-1833), aide-de-camp of Napoleon. He was condemned to death, but escaped to England, with the help of his wife assisted by Sir Robert Wilson and two other Englishmen.]

[226] [Neither Ney nor Labedoyère were present in Paris when the Capitulation was signed.]

[227] [Afterwards second Earl of Donoughmore. Commander-in-Chief in Egypt, 1801.]

[228] Underlined in the above copy.—V.H.

[229] [Miguel Ricardo d’Alava (1771-1843), a Spanish general who obtained considerable distinction under Wellington. He was for some years Spanish representative in Paris.]

[230] I once asked an East Indian, who knew the details of the transaction, if his brother, Lord Wellesley, had not raised him from the ground. “The ground?” replied he, “the mire, the filth. He was lost but for Wellesley.” The phrase was no doubt too strong, but there must have been great favour shown to give a colour to such expressions. Subsequent differences between the brothers may and have occurred, and the conduct of the elder has probably been offensive and almost intolerable to the younger; but can it have entirely cancelled such obligations, or justify the neglect with which he has occasionally been treated? The Duke had resumed intimate and even cordial habits with him when out of office, but on his appointment to the Premiership he dropped them entirely.—V.H.

[231] I have been told of this unamiable trait in his character by officers who have served under him. His unpopularity with corps that he has commanded, and especially the Engineers and Artillery, seems to confirm it.—V.H.

[232] At the beginning of the French Revolution Castlereagh was a reformer and even propagandist; he disseminated Payne’s pamphlet in the North of Ireland.—V.H.

[233] [The income tax imposed “for and during the continuance of the war, and no longer.” The Government was defeated by a majority of 37, and the tax repealed.]

[234] [See _ante_, p. 45.]

[235] [Canning was living in Lisbon at the time for the benefit of his son’s health. Lord Liverpool, learning he was on the spot, pressed him to take the post of Ambassador Extraordinary, and his offer was accepted.]

[236] I think I have since heard that £7,000 or £9,000 would have covered all those that could be legally substantiated.—V.H.

[Mr. Rae, in his _Biography_, puts the figure at £5,000, and states that the whole sum was paid by Sheridan’s relations.]

[237] [Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788).]

[238] Her maiden name was Chamberlayne.—V.H.

[239] He assured me, at the same time, that his treatment had created in his mind such an aversion for the stage, that he had never even seen a play when he wrote _The Duenna_; that he engaged in that work from absolute indigence; and that, throughout his life, he had never seen a representation from beginning to end, except of his own pieces at rehearsals. I did not think it worth while to repeat these incredible, or at least exaggerated, stories in the text.—V.H.

[240] [Samuel Parr (1747-1825), classical scholar, and master at Harrow School. Several letters written by him describing young Sheridan’s promise and ability have been published by Moore.]

[241] Mr. Sheridan has more than once observed to me, with great apparent sincerity and warm commendation, the astonishing resources of Mr. Fox’s mind, and the no less astonishing generosity with which he would frankly impart his thoughts and materials to any speaker of his side. “He seemed,” said Sheridan, “to exhaust the subject he spoke upon; yet when he sat down he could, and often did, supply those who came after him with fresh and excellent matter nearly equal to what he had used, and quite new to the person about to speak; and, again, from those whose turn in debate came before him, he never concealed any thought, but on the contrary would communicate to them most readily the best argument and even the liveliest illustration that occurred to him in favour of his view of the question.”—V.H.

[242] [William Howley (1766-1848), appointed Bishop of London in 1813, and Archbishop of Canterbury in 1828.]

[243] [Sir Gilbert Elliot (Lord Minto) writes to Lady Elliot of this speech: “It was by many degrees the most excellent and astonishing performance I ever heard, and surpasses all I ever imagined possible in eloquence and ability.” (_Life and Letters of Sir G. Elliot_, vol. i. p. 123).]

[244] [See _Memoirs of the Whig Party_, vol. i. p. 34, where many curious and interesting anecdotes of him are related.]

[245] [Lord Stanhope left practically the whole of his disposable property to his executors. The estates devolved on his son and heir. The rest of the family, however, obtained nothing under the will, on account of their conduct at the period of Lord Stanhope’s separation from Mr. Pitt, except such sums as they were entitled to by marriage settlements.]

[246] [Major John Cartwright (1740-1824), the descendant of an old Northamptonshire family. He served in the Navy and Militia, and became an ardent reformer and political pamphleteer.]

[247] [William Cobbett (1762-1835), political writer and originator of the _Weekly Political Register_.]

[248] [Henry Hunt (1773-1835), reformer and orator. Originally a successful farmer in Wiltshire.]

[249] “Valentine Day,” and “Post office at Maidstone.”—V.H.

[250] [The scene here referred to took place during a discussion of the Alien Bill on December 28, 1792. Burke, who had quarrelled with Fox over the French Revolution, mentioned that an order had been given at Birmingham for 3,000 daggers, and, hurling one suddenly on to the floor of the House, exclaimed, “This is what you are to gain by an alliance with France.”]

[251] [Thomas Cochrane (1775-1860), son of Archibald, ninth Earl of Dundonald, on whose death he succeeded to the titles in 1831.]

[252] [The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended during the greater part of the year 1817.]

[253] I transcribe this book in 1838, and this clause is added to my sentiment: Burdett’s defection and recurrence to High Tory principles being in 1837.—V.H.

[254] [William, fourth Earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833), Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, 1794-1795.]

[255] [The secret Committee appointed to inquire into the cases which had occurred of meetings alleged to be dangerous to the public tranquillity.]

[256] [Horner was only thirty-eight years old when he died.]

[257] [The book here referred to by Lord Holland was said to be by Santini—Napoleon’s gamekeeper, haircutter, and tailor. It is in reality a fabrication, and “was written by Colonel Maceroni, an Anglo-Italian follower of Murat’s, who has left some readable memoirs.” (Lord Rosebery’s _The Last Phase_).]

[258] [Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.]

[259] Mr. Brougham was particularly averse to meddling with a matter he deemed so unpalatable to the Court and the country.—V.H.

[260] [Hugh Fortescue, afterwards second Earl Fortescue (1783-1861).]

[261] [James Abercromby, afterwards created Lord Dunfermline (1776-1858). Speaker of the House of Commons, 1835-1839.]

[262] [Alexander Baring (1774-1848), created Lord Ashburton in 1835.]

[263] [Carlo Andrea (1764-1842), a Corsican, born at “Pozzo di Borgo,” near Ajaccio, whence he took his name. He entered the Russian service after the final capture of Corsica by the French, and was Russian Ambassador in Paris from 1815 to 1834, when he was transferred to London.]

[264] [William Hone (1780-1843), writer and bookseller. The work was written satirically against the Government, and parodied the Church Catechism, Litany, and Athanasian Creed. He was brought to trial, but was acquitted on all counts; and was afterwards presented with the sum of £3,000, raised by public subscription.]

[265] [Thomas Philip, third Lord Grantham (1781-1859), who succeeded his maternal aunt in 1833 as Earl de Grey.]

[266] [In Bedfordshire. The estate was sold at Lady Holland’s death in 1845, and passed into the hands of the Duke of Bedford.]

[267] [A Bill brought forward to indemnify various persons for apprehending and restraining those who had taken part in the late treasonable practices and unlawful assemblies.]

[268] [The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act.]

[269] [Philip Henry, fourth Earl of Stanhope (1781-1855).]

[270] [The Act in question was one passed by the Scotch Parliament in 1695. It contained a clause, which constituted as naturalised subjects of Scotland any foreigners who held shares in the Bank of Scotland; and these were naturalised as English subjects by the terms of the Act of Union. The _ex post facto_ clause seems to have been moved in the House of Lords by the Lord Chancellor, and not by Lord Melville, as stated by Lord Holland.]

[271] [Pierre Étienne Louis Dumont (1759-1829), Swiss author and tutor to the third Lord Lansdowne.]

[272] In Sir Samuel’s MS. Memoir the following passage occurs: “Our family had been increased and enlivened by two female cousins, the children of my Uncle Isaac, who had been left orphans by the _premature_ and almost _sudden death_ of _both_ their parents _within a few days of each other_.”—V.H.

[No evidence can be found to support Lord Holland’s statement that Sir Samuel’s uncle also committed suicide.]

[273] It has been published in this year, 1840, and edited with great judgment and taste by his children. The picture of so pure a mind or, as Lord Jeffreys happily expresses it, such serious sweetness in a first-rate man, delights everybody.—V.H.

[274] [Mr. Ponsonby, who had led the party since 1808, died in 1817. Creevey certainly thought little of Tierney’s chances of success, and wrote that his life had been in “direct opposition to all Whig principles.”]

[275] [William Philip, second Earl of Sefton (1772-1838), who succeeded to the title on his father’s death in 1795.]

[276] [John Charles, Viscount Althorp (1782-1845); Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1830-1834. He became third Earl Spencer in 1834.]

[277] Mr. Fox, whose fearless and generous nature abhorred all refinement and suspicion, always undervalued Mr. Tierney’s sagacity, and felt less confidence than he ought to have done in his professions and principles.—V.H.

[278] [The residence of the Duke of Portland.]

[279] [Afterwards created Earl of Durham.]

[280] [The meeting was held at Smithfield.]

[281] [This must be a mistake. The number of people present was probably about 80,000. From twenty to thirty persons were wounded by sabre cuts, but the majority of the injuries were received by those who were trying to escape from the danger, real or imaginary.]

[282] [Edward Stanley (1779-1849), Bishop of Norwich (1837), and father of Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster.]

[283] [January 12, 1834.]

[284] [The Duke of Kent was Commander-in-Chief in British North America, 1799-1800, and Governor of Gibraltar, 1802-1803. His death was caused by a sudden chill.]

[285] [Known as the Cato Street Conspiracy. The delinquents made preparations to murder the whole of the Ministers on February 23, when they had arranged to dine together at Lord Harrowby’s house in Grosvenor Square. The plot was, however, divulged before the day, and the conspirators were arrested by the police and military when on the point of setting out to achieve their fell purpose.]

[286] [He died on January 29.]

[287] [She was not to assume at any time the rank and title of Queen of England.]

[288] This was not an unusual practice with him; and as it was not only in speeches, but in correspondence, paragraphs, and pamphlets that he resorted to such contrivances, he was for such an effusion of ink not inaptly compared to the ink fish, who, to elude its pursuers, environs itself in clouds, or rather floods, of that dark and liquid composition.—V.H.

[289] [Early in April Lord Liverpool made the same proposition to Brougham as is mentioned on the last page, but raising her annual allowance from £35,000 to £50,000. This proposal, however, does not seem to have been communicated to the Queen, nor did she hear of it until it was communicated by Lord Hutchinson, on June 3, at Saint Omer, when on her way to England. She then entirely refused to consider the matter, and, continuing her journey, arrived in London on June 7. Negotiations were at once opened to persuade her to leave the country; but popular opinion was on her side, and she remained. Early in July Lord Liverpool brought in a bill in the House of Lords to deprive her of her prerogatives as Queen of England and to dissolve her marriage, but, finding it injudicious to persevere, dropped the whole affair in November.]

[290] [Garter King-of-Arms.]

[291] [This Constitution was drawn up by the Spanish Cortes, in session at Cadiz in 1810-1812. Its aim and object was to limit the power of the Crown, and the deputies by their action showed their determination, without any actual disloyalty to the House of Bourbon, to strictly limit Ferdinand’s power whenever he was successful in regaining the throne. On his return to Spain in 1814, Ferdinand’s first act as King was to dissolve the Cortes and abrogate the Constitution, promising another in its stead. The promise, however, was never carried out, and, with all the old Royalist abuses springing up on every side, a veritable reign of terror ensued. In 1820 the standard of revolt was raised in Cadiz, and the movement spread throughout the country. The King at once gave way and restored the Constitution in its original form.]

[292] [On the occasion of the “Massacre of Peterloo.”]

[293] [A bill to disfranchise the borough of Grampound, on account of the gross corruption which had there taken place.]

[294] [John Pike Jones (1790-1857). He obtained the living of Alton, Staffordshire, in the gift of Lord Shrewsbury.]

[295] [Hon. Shute Barrington (d. 1826).]

[296] [Sir Matthew Wood (1768-1843), son of a serge-maker in Tiverton. Lord Mayor of London, 1815-16, and 1816-17. He was one of those who rendered pecuniary assistance to the Duke and Duchess of Kent and was made a Baronet by Queen Victoria soon after her accession.]

[297] [“By this Act, none of the descendants of George II., unless of foreign birth, can marry under the age of twenty-five, without the consent of the King; at and after that age, after twelve months’ notice given to the Privy Council, they may contract such marriage, which shall be good unless both Houses of Parliament shall disapprove.” (Hadyn’s _Dictionary of Dates_).]

[298] [Sir John Leach (1760-1834), appointed Vice-Chancellor of England, 1818, and Master of the Rolls, 1827.]

[299] See his _Letter to a Constituent_, p. 537 of Chronicle, in _Annual Register_, 1820.—V.H.

[300] [Charles Greville says: “The military in London have shown alarming symptoms of dissatisfaction, so much so that it seems doubtful how far the Guards can be counted upon in case of any disturbance arising out of this subject.”]

[301] An account of my conversations with Sir John Leach in June, 1820, may be found in a letter from me to Lord Grey, dated Holland House June 12, 1820, and a copy of it should be kept among the _Pièces Justificatives_ of this work.—V.H. [See Appendix C.]

[302] [Charles Greville (_Reign of George IV._, vol. i. p. 43) says: “_February 7._—The King went to the play last night (Drury Lane) for the first time, the Dukes of York and Clarence and a great suite with him. He was received with immense acclamations, the whole pit standing up, hurrahing, and waving their hats.... A few people called out ‘the Queen,’ but very few.”]

[303] [Sir Arthur Pigott (1752-1819), Attorney-General, 1806-1807. He died on September 6, 1819.]

[304] The _tibia_ in Negroes is said to be slight and slender; and the _os calcis_ long.—V.H.

[305] [Those of Hardy, Horne Tooke, Stone, and others, for conspiracy to raise a rebellion.]

[306] [A prospective and retrospective clause to prevent the annulling of marriages on slight informalities previous to the solemnisation. (_Annual Register_, 1820).]

[307] [The Revolution at Naples, fostered by the secret society of the _Carbonari_, attained its object without serious difficulty. King Ferdinand, who had been restored in 1815, accepted the Constitution as proposed to him, though in a letter to the Emperor of Austria he protested that he had done so under constraint.

The Portuguese Royal Family were still in the Brazils; and the rising planned to obtain an amendment of the Constitution took place at Oporto in 1820. It is worthy of note that Marshal Beresford and the other English officers who had assisted the Portuguese against the French were sent out of the country.

The Treaty of the Holy Alliance had been concluded during the negotiations for the second Treaty of Paris in 1815, at the instance of the Czar of Russia. The other signatories were the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, their object being to maintain the peace of Europe by a system of collective diplomatic pressure and intervention. Great Britain had refused to become a party to the Treaty, as her representatives, though cordially concurring in the desirability of these views, considered them visionary and impracticable.]

[308] Chronicle, _Annual Register_ of 1820, p. 537.—V.H. [Also see _ante_, p. 286.]

[309] [The _New Monthly Magazine_.]

[310] [The first meeting of the three great Powers composing the Holy Alliance took place at Troppau in October, 1820. The sovereigns circulated a manifesto to the great European Powers stating their views on intervention, and invited the King of Naples to meet them at Laybach. The Congress was held in January, 1821, and Lord Stewart, the British Ambassador at Vienna, represented Great Britain. King Ferdinand, whose absence from Naples was only permitted on condition that he renewed his oath to preserve the Constitution, renounced all his engagements on his arrival at Laybach. The Congress decided to restore the King by means of an Austrian army, and successfully carried out their design. Great Britain and France remained neutral on this occasion, but issued no protest against the action of the Powers.]

[311] [Charles William, third Marquess of Londonderry (1778-1854), half-brother of Lord Castlereagh. No mention is made by Sir Archibald Alison of his absence from Laybach.]

[312] [Sir Robert Gordon (1791-1847), diplomatist, son of George, Lord Haddo, and brother of George Hamilton, fourth Earl of Aberdeen.]

[313] [The Russian Ambassador in England.]

[314] [_Foreign Reminiscences._]

[315] [Lord Holland published in 1822 Horace Walpole’s _Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II._, and prepared his _Memoirs of the First Ten Years of George III._ This latter work was published after his death by Sir Denis Le Marchant in 1845.]

[316] The elder brother of that famous wit, courtier, and infidel, who is satirised by Pope under the names of Sporus and Lord Fanny, who fought a duel with Pulteney, corresponded with Mr. Middleton about the Roman Senate, was a favourite of Queen Caroline, and died 1749.—V.H. [He died in 1743.]

[317] [An Etonian publication, which was first brought out in 1786. The chief contributors were Bobus Smith, Canning, and Hookham Frere. See p. 314.]

[318] [Joseph Goodall (1760-1840): Assistant Master at Eton, 1783; Headmaster, 1801; and Provost, 1809.]

[319] [William Hayward Roberts, D.D; appointed Provost of Eton in 1781, and died in 1791.]

[320] For a long time Resident Senior Fellow of King’s College. He had taken an active part in the Chatterton controversy, and maintained to the last the authenticity of the poems. I knew nothing of him but his appearance. That was not prepossessing. He had the reputation of a saturnine and sarcastic wit, but was known by his intimates to conceal a very warm heart under that rugged exterior. He it was who said of Porson, that it was “a pity so much wit should be in a fool’s keeping.” Mr. Smith (Bobus) related an incident which occurred when he was sitting with him in his study at King’s, and which, as it illustrates his whimsical character and at the same time redounds to his credit, may be worth repeating. They heard a strange noise and clacking on the staircase, which, when followed by a knock at the door, greatly discomposed the morose old bachelor. However, he exclaimed with a resolute voice, “Come in,” and an ill-dressed old country-woman, with a magpie on her wrist, made her appearance. Glynn, it seemed, from charity had frequently, and ultimately with success, visited her sick daughter gratis at a distance from Cambridge, and the grateful old goody had trudged over from the fens with the only remuneration her slender means could supply, _viz._, “her favourite magpie.” The studious Doctor was appalled at the prospect of so troublesome an inmate, and yet unwilling to mortify the kind feelings that had brought him. So, after sundry gesticulations and grotesque exclamations of “Pretty Meg,” “Charming bird indeed,” he archly and good-humouredly said, “Thank ye, Dame, thank ye from the bottom of my heart. I like the bird vastly; I enjoy the present exceedingly. And now I’ll tell you what you shall do; you shall board it for me at half a crown a week, for I know you will take care of it, and mind you do: but I should be called out to my patients and neglect it.”—V.H.

[Robert Glynn (1719-1800), physician. He was a firm believer in the authenticity of the _Rowley Poems_, and bequeathed the originals, at his death, to the British Museum. These poems are now undisputably known to be the work of Thomas Chatterton, the youthful genius who poisoned himself at the early age of eighteen in despair at his poverty and the ill success of his forged essays and verses.]

[321] William Barford, D.D. (d. 1792)

[322] Dr. George, however, seems to have been an elegant scholar, and a good writer of Greek and Latin verse. Some of the best specimens in the _Musa Anglicana_ and _Musæ Etonenses_ are, if I recollect right, of his composition. In one addressed to the Prince of Wales,

Tu destinatus imperare liberis
Parere primum,

are lines happily imitated from the Greek adage,

οὐκ ἔστιν ἄρχειν, μὴ ἀρχθέντα:

a maxim Dryden might have introduced in a tragedy and rhymed thus,

“Stoop then to rise; Ambition’s sons, they say,
Are taught to rule by learning to obey.”—V.H.

[William George, D.D., Headmaster of Eton; and Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, in 1743. He died in 1756. His wife was Miss Bland, daughter of his predecessor at Eton.

Lord Holland’s quotation is obscure, and is, besides, scarcely legible. It is suggested that ἄρχε πρῶτον μυθὼν ἄρχεσθαι was the line which he had in mind.]

[323] [Lord Henry Spencer (1770-1795), second son of George, fourth Duke of Marlborough, and Lady Caroline Russell, daughter of John, fourth Duke of Bedford.]

[324] He died, Deputy-Paymaster of the Navy, in 1827.—V.H.

[325] [Robert Percy Smith (1770-1845), eldest son of Robert Smith, a London merchant, and Maria Olier, the daughter of a French refugee. He married in 1797, Caroline, daughter of Richard Vernon and Evelyn, first Countess of Upper Ossory. Their son, Robert Vernon Smith, was created Lord Lyveden. Lord Holland’s mother, Lady Mary Fitzpatrick, was a daughter of Lady Upper Ossory by her first marriage.]

[326] Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Greeks in insurrection when this was written in 1826.—V.H.

[327] [William Robertson (1721-1793), Principal of Edinburgh University until 1792.]

[328] [Hon. Henry Erskine (1746-1817), second son of Henry David, tenth Earl of Buchan. Lord Advocate in 1783 and 1806. Second brother to Lord Buchan and elder brother of Lord Erskine, whom he greatly resembled, and nearly equalled both in his genius and his foibles. He was almost as vain; in vivacity of parts, suavity of manners, and playfulness of fancy fully equal to him; and in forensic talents and eloquence, though inferior, very like him.—V.H.]

[329] [Thomas Warton, the younger (1728-1790). Poet Laureate from 1785. He wrote _A History of English Poetry to the End of the Sixteenth Century_.]

[330] [Henry Kett (1761-1825). Appointed a fellow of Trinity College in 1784. He drowned himself in a fit of depression, to which he was subject.]

[331] [William Crowe (1745-1829), poet and divine. Son of a Winchester carpenter.]

[332] [As Chancellor of Oxford University.]

[333] [John Sibthorp (1758-1796).]

[334] [Cyril Jackson (1746-1819), Dean of Christ Church, 1783-1809. He declined preferment to a bishopric, which was on several occasions offered to him.]

[335] [William Jackson (1751-1815), Bishop of Oxford, 1812-1815.]

[336] [Thomas Beddoes (1760-1808), physician. He resigned his post of Reader in Chemistry at Oxford in 1792, partly owing to his sympathy with the French Revolution.]

[337] He published a pamphlet with his name, in which he denominated tithes, and I believe the Church establishment, a remnant of Popery; and he did not conceal his earnest wishes and expectations of seeing them suppressed.—V.H.

[338] [John Ingenhousz (1730-1799), physician. Born at Breda, and came to England about 1765. He was an intimate friend of the first Marquess of Lansdown, and died while on a visit to Bowood.]

[339] [The first Lord Lansdown always signed his name without a terminal _e_, the spelling adopted by his successors.]

[340] [Samuel Parr (1747-1825), son of a Harrow apothecary, and a master at the school. He left there in 1771, from pique because the governors refused to appoint him headmaster, in succession to Dr. Sumner. He set up for himself, and afterwards took the living of Hatton in Warwickshire, and kept private pupils. Many of his letters are preserved at Holland House.]

[341] [Martin Joseph Routh (1755-1854), President of Magdalen College from 1791 until his death.]

[342] Dr. Parr was well aware of the characteristic caution of the head of our college, and of the college itself. “When I leave my card at the Deanery,” said he, “I shall write on it,

“Carpere vel noli nostra vel ede tua”;

and, speaking of the whole society, he often said, “Litus amant.” It must be owned that the fate of the little _Phalaris_* bark, which they launched at the close of the preceding century, was enough to deter them from a second venture. It was prudent to lay up their great vessels if they had any in ordinary.—V.H.

[* _The Epistles of Phalaris_, said to have been written by Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum in Sicily. The scholars of Christ Church determined at the end of the seventeenth century to publish a new edition of these letters, upholding their genuineness, and entrusted the task to Charles Boyle, afterwards fourth Earl of Orrery. His work was attacked by Richard Bentley, who proved conclusively the weakness of the case.]

[343] [Joseph White (1745-1814), theologian and orientalist; Laudian Professor of Arabic, 1775-1814.

He tried to obtain the return of his letters, after Samuel Badcock’s death, from the latter’s sister. This request was refused, and the matter obtained publicity from the unwillingness of White to meet a bond for £500 found among the papers.]

[344] Of his _simplicity_, especially in money matters, many ludicrous and even incredible stories were recounted.—V.H.

[345] Canonry of Christ Church and Hebrew Professorship.—V.H.

[346] I am not sure that he did so much in virtue of his office of beadle; by profession the man was a barber.—V.H.

[347] [A Latin preface to a new edition of three treatises by William Bellenden (d. 1633), into which he infused a political current, by dedicating it to the _tria lumina Anglorum_—Burke, Fox, and North, and by denouncing the leading men of the other party.]

[348] [Richard Porson (1759-1808). Born of humble parents, his marvellous memory as a child attracted early notice, and he was sent to Eton on the Foundation. A fund was specially raised to maintain him at Cambridge, where he was entered at Trinity College. He was elected Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge in 1792.]

[349] The King of Clubs, instituted by some lawyers and men of letters. Among its founders were Mr. Robert Percy Smith, Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Dumont, Mr. Sharp,* and Mr. Whishaw.† It lasted near twenty years, but expired soon after the death of Sir Samuel Romilly, who was more constant in his attendance than Mr. Sydney Smith, Mr. Brougham, and other persons of eminence who had been chosen members thereof.—V.H.

[The club was first instituted about the year 1801.]

[* Richard Sharp (1759-1835), known as “Conversation Sharp.”]

[† John Whishaw, Secretary to the African Association.]

[350] I do not insert it, for in all probability it has been or will be printed elsewhere.—V.H.

[Porson, who had been elected a fellow of Trinity, was obliged by the statutes to resign his fellowship within seven years unless he had taken orders. This he was unwilling to do, and when he applied to Dr. Postlethwaite, the Master of Trinity, for one of the lay fellowships which would enable him to remain a fellow, his request was refused. On the Greek Professorship becoming vacant in 1792, Dr. Postlethwaite wrote urging Porson to become a candidate. The latter, thinking he would be obliged to sign the Thirty-nine Articles, at first refused, but on finding out his mistake, came forward, and was unanimously elected. One of the passages in the letter referred to by Lord Holland is: “The same reason which hindered me from keeping my fellowship by the method you obligingly pointed out, would, I am afraid, prevent me from being Greek Professor.”]

[351] His birth and family were very humble indeed. Mr. Rogers, who is so uniformly accurate that one can quote his conversation as testimony to a fact, says he is pretty confident that his father was a sexton or gravedigger in one of the Eastern counties in England.—V.H.

[His father, a worsted weaver by trade, was parish clerk at East Ruston, near North Walsham, Norfolk.]

[352] [These “letters” were the result of Porson’s researches in divinity at the period when he was seeking to make up his mind about taking holy orders. George Travis (1741-1797), Archdeacon of Chester, in his _Letter to Gibbon_, had upheld the genuineness of the text, 1 St. John v. 7; but his conclusions were ruthlessly pulled to pieces by Porson’s superior reasoning.]

[353] If one added to the list such names as Hooker, Newton, Locke, Tillotson, Middleton, Paley, and Low, one should not perhaps vary materially from the judgment formed of those writers’ opinions by the respective champions of the two doctrines; though, in direct words, none of them have avowed, and some have distinctly denied, all doubts of the Trinity. They are not, however, such Trinitarians as exclude Arians or even Socinians from the pale of Christianity.—V.H.

[354] [Thomas, seventh Earl of Elgin (1766-1841), Ambassador to the Porte from 1799 to 1803, and collector of the “Elgin Marbles,” now in the British Museum.]

[355] [Joseph Dacre Carlyle (1759-1804), chaplain to the mission.]

[356] [Richard Wooddeson, the younger (1745-1822); fellow of Magdalen College and Vinerian Professor, 1777-1793.]

[357] [Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780).]

[358] [Thomas Francis Wenman (1745-1796); Fellow of All Souls College, and Regius Professor, 1789-1796.]

[359] [John Robison (1739-1805). Elected Lecturer on Chemistry at Glasgow in 1766, and described by Sir James Mackintosh as one of the greatest mathematical philosophers of his age.]

[360] He added that an Oriental scholar from Hungary or Bohemia had been invited to decipher the Arabic MSS., as no resident Oxonian was equal to that duty; and that the poor foreigner, after sundry vexations and indignities, and notwithstanding his laborious execution of his task, was unhandsomely dismissed without sufficient remuneration either in money or in fame. I have forgotten the man’s name, but I think it was “Uri.”—V.H.

[361] [Thomas Hornsby (1733-1810); Fellow of Corpus Christi College and appointed Savilian Professor of Astronomy in 1763.]

[362] [John Randolph, D.D. (1749-1813). He held many professorships at the University before becoming Bishop of Oxford in 1799; became Bishop of Bangor in 1807, and of London in 1809. It is related that most of his divinity lectures were delivered by candlelight, and though notes were to be taken, his supposed listeners were usually asleep.]

[363] [John Grosvenor (1742-1823), proprietor and editor of the _Oxford Journal_. He was admitted to the privileges of the University in 1768.]

[364] [Sir Christopher Pegge (1765-1822), appointed Regius Professor of Physic in 1801.]

[365] [Sir Henry Halford (1766-1844), son of Dr. James Vaughan. He changed his name on inheriting a large property in 1809. He practised in London, and was made a baronet by George III., whom he attended, as well as George IV., William IV., and Queen Victoria.]

[366] On one of those occasions, in commending the younger students for their diligence and exhorting them to persevere in it, his phraseology, pure and Ciceronian as it was, exposed him to the saucy waggery of some punsters, for he began one of his earnest paragraphs with these words, “_Pergite_, Adolescentes, _Pergite_, inquam, Adolescentes.”—V.H.

[367] It would be uncharitable to attribute the selection of Glasgow to any persuasion in the testator’s mind that the Northern University had fewer scruples than its neighbours, when anything was to be got by concealing or overruling them. There is, however, a story current that a Mr. Zachary Boyd once left a valuable collection of MSS. to that Learned Body, on condition that a Bible in doggerel verse of his composition should always lie on the table of the library. The translation was not, indeed, in intention a _travesty_, but it had all the effect of one. The University was sorely perplexed between a due reverence for the sacred writings and an unwillingness to forego a valuable legacy. At length they hit upon an expedient by which they hoped to secure the bequest, spare their students and visitors the scandal of seeing the scripture in so unbecoming a garb, and yet adhere to the letter of the conditions. They nailed the book to the table, enclosed it in a heavy wooden binding with ponderous clasps; and if they did not prohibit, discouraged all examination of it, as well as resorted to every artifice to prevent its attracting any notice whatever.—V.H.

[368] [John Hunter (1728-1793), the celebrated surgeon and anatomist. Born in Lanarkshire, he first practised cabinet-making in Glasgow, but at the age of twenty went to London, where he commenced his studies in anatomy. He took part in Keppel’s expedition to Belleisle in 1761, and was appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to George III. in 1776.]

[369] [He was flatly contradicted by one of his colleagues when speaking at a board meeting at St. George’s Hospital. He retired to an adjoining room, where he almost immediately fell dead.]

[370] [Johann Gaspar Lavater (1741-1801), the famous physiognomist, and a minister at Zurich. He was wounded during the capture of that town by Massena in 1799, and died from the effects.]

[371] [John Baker Holroyd, first Earl of Sheffield (1735-1821), who edited Gibbon’s _Miscellaneous Works_ and _Memoirs_.]

[372] [In 1779. The remaining lines of the stanza are:

Thought no way so sure
His pen to secure,
As to give the historian a place.

Wraxall says that, notwithstanding Lord Holland’s contradiction of the fact, he always understood that the verses were of Mr. Fox’s composition.]

[373] So Sheridan told me, but Lord John Townshend assures me it is a mistake,* and that Mr. Fox, anxious to make Sheridan’s acquaintance, prevailed upon Lord John to give them a dinner at the St. Albans Tavern, where these two great orators met one another for the first time.—V.H.

* “Jack Townshend called it by a coarser name,” one which I am afraid he has never much scruple in applying to Mr. Sheridan’s assertions.—V.H.

[374] Query: _’Tis scarcely odds_.—V.H.

[375] [At Winchester.]

[376] His bust is placed among those of the friends of Mr. Fox in the Temple of Liberty at Woburn Abbey.—V.H.

[377] [It is related that Fox, when receiving congratulations on his first speech in Parliament, remarked, “Wait until you hear Hare.”]

[378] [William Mitford (1744-1827).]

[379] [William Coxe (1747-1828), fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.]

[380] [_Memoirs of the Administrations of Henry Pelham._]

[381] [John Douglas, D.D. (1721-1807); Bishop of Carlisle, 1787-1791; and of Salisbury, 1791-1807. He was the origin of the discovery of the forgeries of William Lauder, who accused Milton of imitating the works of the seventeenth-century Latin poets, and who, to prove his case, had produced garbled and inaccurate quotations.]

[382] [Thomas Burgess, D.D. (1756-1837); Bishop of St. David’s; 1803-1825; and of Salisbury, 1825-1837.]

[383] [William Scott, Lord Stowell (1745-1836), son of a coal-merchant in Newcastle. Barrister; and Judge of the High Court of the Admiralty, 1798-1828. He was knighted in 1788, and was raised to the peerage in 1821. His friendship with Dr. Johnson dated back to their Oxford days.]

[384] [The original Literary Club, or “The Club,” founded in 1763, and held at the Turk’s Head, Gerrard Street, Soho, till 1783. It was originally a weekly supper, but after 1772 it became a fortnightly dinner during the Parliamentary Session. Late in 1783 Dr. Johnson formed another club, held at the Essex Head in Essex Street.]

[385] Miss Mary Palmer (1750-1820), niece of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who married, in 1792, Murrough, first Marquess of Thomond. Sir Walter Armstrong, in his _Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds_, states that the _Dialogue_ was first printed privately in 1816.

[386] The story is told of Annibal Caracci; and if Sir Joshua said it, as I have been often assured he did, he stole it from the same biographical account of that painter.—V.H.

[387] [The picture is at Petworth, and belongs to Lord Leconfield.]

[388] George III.—V.H.

[389] [Lord Holland probably refers to an exhibition of Hogarth’s pictures held in the Gallery of the British Institution in 1814, succeeding one of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ in the preceding year.]

[390] Yet with all its defects it is a well-coloured (piece) picture.

To the reader of my MS., perhaps the double sense of my original word in the above note made it a more correct description of the work, but for that very reason I expunge it.—V.H.

[The picture is now in the National Gallery, to which it was bequeathed, in 1879, by Mr. J. H. Anderdon. Hogarth attempted to follow the lines of Correggio in the composition.]

[391] [Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828). He was born of humble parents in a small village in Aragon, and never studied painting till after the age of sixteen. He spent some years in Rome, and returned to Spain in 1774.]

[392] [Don Gaspar Melchior de Jovellanos (1744-1811), statesman and poet. He was a member of the Supreme Junta during the first years of the Peninsular War, and took an active part in the direction of operations against the French. Joseph, when King of Spain, offered him the post of Minister, which he refused.]

[393] [Antonio Josef Cavanilles (1744-1804). He went to Paris with the Spanish Ambassador in 1777, and remained twelve years in France.]

[394] [Alleyne Fitzherbert (1753-1839), created Lord St. Helens in 1791. Ambassador at Madrid, 1791-1794.]

[395] [Antonio Canova (1757-1822), the celebrated sculptor, born at Passagno, near Venice.]

[396] [François Xavier Fabre (1766-1837), a French painter of portraits and historical subjects. He lived almost entirely in Italy until 1826, when he returned to his native town of Montpellier, where he died. Several of his pictures are preserved at Holland House, including a portrait of Lord Holland, painted in 1796.]

[397] [Louise de Stolberg-Goedern, Countess D’Albany (1753-1824), widow of Prince Charles Edward, “the young Pretender.” She lived for many years at Florence with Alfieri, the celebrated dramatist and poet, but seems never to have married him. After his death in 1803 she became attached to Fabre, and by her will left him everything she had.]

[398] [John Flaxman (1755-1826), sculptor and draughtsman.]

[399] [Lazaro Spallanzani (1729-1799), naturalist, and director of the Museum at Pavia.]

[400] [Aloisio Galvani (1737-1798), the discoverer of the action of electricity on the muscles of the human frame—a power called after his name. A native of Bologna, he became professor of that university in 1762, and remained until 1790, when he was deprived of his post because he refused, from religious scruples, to take the oath prescribed by the Cisalpine Republic.]

[401] [Fontana was born in 1730, and died at Florence in 1805. He was appointed Professor of Philosophy at Pisa by the Grand Duke Francis, but was recalled by the Grand Duke Leopold to Florence, and placed at the head of the Natural History Museum.]

[402] [Giovanni Fabroni (1752-1822), who succeeded Fontana as Director. He was appointed Overseer of the Roads and Bridges, by Napoleon, and to him is due the commencement of the Corniche road.]

[403] [Giuseppe Parini (1729-1799), a native of Milan, whose chief work was _Il Giorno_, a satire.]

[404] [Vincenzo Monti (1754-1828), Italian lyric poet and dramatist.]

[405] [Juan Andrès (1740-1817).]

[406] [Girolamo Tiraboschi (1731-1794), an Italian author, who published a _History of Italian Literature_, etc.]

[407] [Melchiore Cesarotti (1730-1808), Italian poet and professor of Greek and Hebrew at Padua. He translated _Ossian_ into Italian blank verse.]

[408] [William Roscoe (1753-1831), historian. Member of Parliament for Liverpool, 1806-1807, in the Whig interest.]

[409] [Horace Walpole.]

[410] [James Currie, M.D. (1756-1805). Originally a native of Dumfriesshire, he emigrated to Virginia and spent seven years of his life in America. He studied medicine at Edinburgh with the intention of returning across the seas; but hearing that a doctor was wanted in Liverpool, he settled there in 1780.]

[411] [William Shepherd (1768-1847), Dissenting minister of Gateacre, near Liverpool, and author of a _Life of Poggio Bracciolini_.]

[412] [Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775-1818), son of a large land-owner in Jamaica. He was for a short time attaché at the Hague, where he wrote _The Monk_; and sat in the House of Commons 1792-1802. Sir Walter Scott said of his verses, “He had the finest ear for rhythm I ever met with—finer than Byron’s.”]

[413] [Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), physician. Grandfather of the more celebrated Charles Darwin. He married, as his second wife, the widow of Colonel Chandos-Pole, of Radbourne Hall, Derbyshire, where he lived for some years. He died quite suddenly of heart disease.]

[414] [William Godwin, the elder (1756-1836), philosopher and novelist. He married, in 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft, the authoress, who died the same year. _The Adventures of Caleb Williams_, a novel, was one of his best-known works.]

[415] [John Curran (1750-1817), the Irish orator and judge.]

[416] [Thomas Holcroft (1745-1809), son of a London shoemaker, who fell into difficulties and turned pedlar. Young Holcroft accompanied his father on his wanderings, and became a stable-boy at Newmarket at the age of thirteen. Returning to London, he worked for some time at the shoemaking trade, which he then abandoned for the stage. He began to contribute articles to the newspapers about the same time, and to write plays with some success, _The Road to Ruin_ being his best-known composition. He became deeply imbued with the principles of the French Revolution, and was indicted, in 1794, with Thomas Hardy and others, for high treason; but his case was dismissed without a trial. He was four times married.]

[417] [James Kenney (1780-1849). He married Holcroft’s widow, not his daughter.]

[418] [A weekly review founded by Canning in 1797. _The Needy Knife-grinder_ was also the joint production of Canning and Frere.]

[419] [Robert Southey (1774-1843), the poet and historian.]

[420] [Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773-1850), Scottish judge, and editor of _The Edinburgh Review_ from 1803 to 1829.]

[421] Bayle, in speaking of too great a fastidiousness or apprehension of coming before the public, says, “Ce defaut n’est pas fort commun parmi les auteurs et néanmoins on peut dire qu’à certains égards _il ne l’est que trop_; car pour l’ordinaire ce ne sont pas les mauvais auteurs ou les écrivains médiocres qui en sont coupables, ce sont _les plus excellentes plumes_”: and surely the productions of nine or ninety-nine bad or middling works is not so serious an evil to the public as the suppression of one excellent or useful one.—V.H.

[422] [“Tenui Musam meditamur avena.”]