Cornell University Library DA 536 .B86A2 1871 V 1 Life and times ol Henre, Lord Brpuahani, 3 1924 026 426 951 ' ... - ...... .,..^ DATE QUE iWA^^-AJc GP - rj /**^^ \ ■• •■ / CAVLORD PRINTED IN U E A I \\ b4 ' ^' Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026426951 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HENRY LORD BROUGHAM, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. IN THEEE VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FBANKLIN SQUARE. 18 71. ■R hi President White ■ I'brary c. CONTENTS OE VOL. X CHAPTER I. EABI-T LIFE. My Birth and Childhood. — Precocity, as told by my Mother. — Parentage and Ancestry. — ^Why my Father settled in Edinburgh. — His Marriage there. — My Mother's Highland Ancestry, through the Strnan Kohertsons. — ^Death of my Paternal Grandfather. — Savage Festivities at his Funeral. — Anecdotes told me by my Father's Mother. — Character of my Maternal Grandmother. — The High School of Edinburgh. — Dr. Adam the Rector. — Gilbert Stuart. — My Progress at School. — My School-fellows. — Family Reminiscences. — Robertson the Historian and his Father. — The Adams. — John Clerk, of Eldin. — His Naval Tactics. — Lord Buchan and his Brothers Tom and Harry Erskine Page 13 CHAPTER 11. EAKLT LIFE — Continued. I leave the High School. — ^At Br'ougham with a Tutor. — Tale after the man- ner of Rasselas. — I enter the CoUege of Edinburgh. — With Folkstone, af- terwards Lord Radnor. — My early Efforts in Mathematics and Mechanics. — Optics, Chemistry. — Joseph Black, James Watt. — ^My first Speech at the Royal Medical Society. — I study Oratory. — ^I found the Juvenile Lit- erary Society. — Become a Member of the Speculative Society. — Pedestrian Rambles. — Apollo Club, and High Jinks. — ^Feats of Edinburgh Burschen. — Heron's Play damned. — I go on a Yachting Expedition among the Western Isles. — My Fellow-traveller Charles Stuart (Stuart de Rothsay). — mislay. — ^Life at Sea. — St. Kilda. — Stomoway. — Cross to Elsinore.... 51 CHAPTER IH. VISIT TO DENMAKK AND SCANPINAVIA. Journal of Visit to Denmark and Scandinavia. — ^Landing at Elsinore. — Trav- elhng in Denmark. — Copenhagen. — Objects of Interest. — College Library. — Palace. — The Town and the Peoftte. — The Theatre. — The Exchange. — The Constitution of Denmark. — Social Conventionalism. — Administration of Justice. — King Christian and his Court. — Journey to Helsingborg. — Travelling in Sweden. — ^Danish and Swedish Peasantry compared. — Scenery. — Adventures. — Stockholm. — Architecture. — Public Places. — A2 10 CONTENTS. Jealousy of Foreigners. — Science and Letters. — Sitting of the Academy of Sciences. — Swedish Artists and their Works. — Social Condition. — Immo- rality and Crime. — Gustavus III. and Gustavus IV. — Personal Anecdotes of Eoyalty. — Russia and French Influence, and Jealousy of Britain. — The Army. — Revenue. — Trade and Currency. — ^Language. — Police. — Religion. — A Clairvoyant. — Departure from Stockholm to Upsala. — Country Palace of Gustavus III. — Rural Affairs. — Reindeer. — ^Wild Animals. — Runic An- tiquities. — Upsala. Cathedral. — University. — Castle. — Joumey continued towards Norway. — ^Visit by Lantern-light to the Falls of TroUhatten. — Goteborg, or Gottenborg. — Scots Residents. — ^A Ghost-story. — Winter Travelling. — The Frozen Fiords. — Sledging. — Glimpses of Social Life in Frederikshald. — Private Theatricals. — Voyage home. — Narrow Escape from Shipwreck Page 88 CHAPTER iV. THE SCOTCH BAE AND THE "eDIKBUKGH REVIEW." My Opinion of my Friend Charles Stuart. — Death of my Brother Peter. — I am admitted Advocate. — Profession distasteful. — Correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks. — Work at "Colonial Policy." — Leading Men of the Scotch Bar. — Harry Erskine. — Blair. — Charles Hope. — Maconochie (Lord Mead- owbank). — Cranstoun (Lord Corehouse). — James Reddie. — ^Walter Scott. ^Jeffrey. — The "Edinburgh Review." — Sydney Smith's Account criti- cised. — Jeffrey's and Horner's Account. — My own History of it. — The early Contributors, and their Contributions. — ^Progress of the "Review," and its Influence on Politics and Literature. — List of Contributions to the early Numbers, and Names of their Authors. — ^Anecdotes of Jeffrey and his Coadjutors 161 CHAPTER V. A TOUE THKOUGH HOLLAND AND ITALY. Notes of a Ramble on the Continent. — Closed to the British, and necessary to obtain American Papers. — ^The Voyage. — The Helder. — Traces of the British Expedition. — Amsterdam. — Utrecht. — Delft. — Dutch Apprecia- tion of the "Colonial Policy." — Ryswick. — Discussion on the Slave- trade. — ^Projects for Co-operation in Abolition. — The Hague. — A sitting of the Legislative Body. — Haarlem. — ^Dusseldorf and its Picture-gallery. — The Rhine. — Venice. — Pictures. — Joumey through Italy. — ^Naples. — Pompeii. — The Grotto del Cane. — Rome. — St. Peter's and the Vatican 193 CHAPTER VL VOLUNIEEKING PEOJECT, AND MISSION TO POETCGAL. Narrative of Projects as to Volunteers and Militia. — Reception of them by Government. — Estimate of the Efficiency of such a Force in comparison with Regular Troops. — Notices of the younger Pitt. — Lady Hester Stan- hope. — Lord Liverpool. — Lord Castlereagh. — Fox. — Designs of Napoleon on the Spanish Peninsula. — Condition of Portugal. — Special Mission to CONTENTS. H Portugal.— My Share in it.— Lord St. Vincent.— Lord Rosslyn.— General Simcoe.— The British Fleet in the Tagus.— Project for the Seizure of the Hoyal Family, and the Bemoval of them to the Brazils.— Anecdotes of Lord St. Vincent.— Death of Fox.— Ministerial Rumors.- Conclusion of the Mission Page 218 CHAPTER VIL POLITICS OF THE DAY. Home Polities.- Whitbread's Motion on the State of the Nation.— Negro Emancipation and the local Press of the Sugar Colonies.— Continental Politics in 1807. — Correspondence with Lord Howick. — Continuation on his becoming Earl Grey. — Foreign Politics again. — Personal Prospects. — Consideration of the Bar as a Profession.— Selection of the Northern Cir- cuit. — Practice and Politics. — Correspondence about Spain, Portugal, and the First Peninsular War.— Court Politics.— The Queen and the Prince of Wales. — Resumption of Correspondence on the Peninsular War. ... 263 CHAPTER Tin. HOME AND FOREIGK POLITICS, 1809. The Peninsular War. — Sir John Moore, his Retreat and Death. — ^Victoiy at Comnna. — Inquiry into the Conduct of the Duke of York. — ^French and Austrian War on the Danube. — ^France and Spain. — Home Politics. — Attempt to form a Coalition Ministry. — Spencer Perceval and Earl Grey. — Canning. — Criticisms on the Conduct of the War in the Peninsula. — The Princess of Wales and Canning. — Canning, Castlereagh, and Lord Welles- ley. — Estimate of Sir John Moore 299 CHAPTER IX. HOME POLITICS. . Congratulations on the Election of Lord Grenville as Chancellor of Oxford. — Influence on the' "Catholic Claims." — Question of going into Parlia- ment. — Conflicting Claims of Law and Politics. — Duke of Bedford's Offer of a Seat. — Accepts, and is returned for Camelford. — First Speech on Whitbread's Motion against Lord Chatham in reference to the Scheldt Expedition. — Flogging in the Army, and Case of the Hunts. — Jeffrey and the "Review." — ^Lord Erskine. — The Regency Question. — Ministerial Difficulties. — To serve under Lord Grey on a "Supposed Event." — John Archibald Murray. — The Peninsular War. — Seat for Camelford no longer available, and Question of contesting Worcester in the " Popular " Interest. — Prospects of Continental Politics 339 Appendix of Notes 369 Fac-simile Letter from Robertson op Strowan Faces 370 TO THE READER. The following instructions were given bj Lord Brougham to me, as his executor : " Before the Autobiography can be published, you must see that it is arranged chronologically. " If (writing from memory) I have made mistakes in dates, or in proper names, let such be corrected ; but the Narrative is to be printed AS I HAVE WRITTEN IT. "I alone am answerable for all its statements, faults, and omissions. I will have no Editor employed to alter, or rewrite, what I desire shall be published as EXCLU- SIVELY MY OWN. "'Buovg^JlH, November, 1867." In publishing Lord Brougham's Autobiography, the above explicit directions have been scrupulously obeyed. BEOUGHAM & YAUX. Brougham, January, 1871. THE LIFE AND TIMES HMRY, LORD BEOUGHAM. CHAPTER I. EAELY LIFE. My Birth and Childhood. — ^Precocity, as told by my Mother. — Parentage and Ancestry. — ^Why my Father settled in Edinburgh. — His Marriage there. — ^My Mother's Highland Ancestry, through the Struan Eobertsons. — Death of my Paternal Grandfather. — Savage Festivities at his Funeral. — ^Anecdotes told me by my Father's Mother. — Character of my Maternal Grandmother. — The High School of Edinburgh. — Dr. Adam the Rector. — Gilbert Stuart. — My Progress at School. — My School-fellows. — ^Family Reminiscences. — Robertson the Historian and his Father. — The Adams. — John Clerk, of Eldin. — His Naval Tactics. — ^Lord Buchan and his Brothers Tom and Harry ErsEine. I HAD frequently been asked by persons whose opinion I value to write a life of myself, with some account of the many great public events of my time. In undertaking this task, I can not but regret that I did not some years ago be- gin to put down many details which I now may find it diffi- cult to recall, with that accuracy which a narrative professing to be in many respects historical, essentially requires, and to note down many circumstances relating to myself and others" which I may now find it impossible to remember. My pres- ent object is to relate, as far as my memory will serve, some circumstances of my early life, which may form a sort of in- troduction to my autobiography, and to my account of mat- ters of higher importance. I found among my mother's papers, at Brougham, the frag- ment of a notice respecting me she had begun to write a good 14 MASLT LIFM. many years ago. I am tempted to give it exactly in her own words, because it accurately represents her own impressions ; and so little was she given to laudation or exaggeration, that what she has recorded of my early years may be received as perfectly impartial. I only regret the briefness of her notes : "NOTES ABOUT HENBY. " Brougham, Oct., 1826. " In putting down what may hereafter be read with some interest, I feel how unequal I am to the task. His years of infancy and youth passed without my contemplating that he would fill so high a place 'among men as he now does, or I should have kept memorandums that would have preserved in my memory many circumstances that would have thrown light upon his early life, and shown how soon his great mental powers showed themselves. From a veiy tender age he ex- celled all his contemporaries. Nothing to him was a labor — no task prescribed that was not performed long before the time expected. His grandmother, a very clever woman, was an enthusiastic admirer of all intellectual acquirements, and used to compare him to the Admirable Crichton, from his ex- celling in every thing he undertook. From mere infancy he showed a marked attention to every thing he saw, and this before he could speak. Afterwards, to evei-y thing he heard, and he had a memory the most retentive. He spoke dis- tinctly, several words, when he was eight months and two weeks old ; and this aptitude to learn continued progressive. When barely seven years old, he was sent to the High School in Edinburgh, his father preferring that school to Eton or Westminster. He went to school before the 19th of Septem- ber, \1%5, having been born on that'day in the year 1^78, at No. 21, north side of St. Andrew's Square. He went through all the classes with credit, and came away dux of the fifth or rector's class, taught at that time by Dr. Adam. "The examination was in August, 1791, at which time he had not reached the age of thirteen — an age unusually early, considering, too, that he had been only one year, instead of two, the usual number, in the rector's class. "As, then, when he left it, he had not completed his thir- teenth year, he was considered too young to be sent to col- EABLT LIFE. I5 lege ; and therefore we left Edinburgh and went to Brough-' am, taking with us the three eldest boys, and Mr., after- wards Dr., Mitchell, as their tutor. We did not return to Edinburgh till the winter of 1'792 ; and Henry was then en- tered at the class which is called the Humanity class. Next year he attended the Greek class, taught by Professor Dalzell. In addition to these classical studies he attended the classes of natural philosophy and chemistry, and of mathematics un- der Professor Playfair, a great and good man, who bore am- ple testimony to the large amount of knowledge Henry had acquired when he was only sixteen. "When he was about this age, he wrote a very able paper on 'The Refraction of Light,' which gained the prize adjudged to that subject by a Ger- man university. By some mistake, he never got the prize, but he did get the honor. At a very early age he showed considerable talent for speaking in public : really, in infancy, I may say, he showed this tendency ; for he used to get up a make-believe court of justice for the trial of a supposed pris- oner — he himself acting as counsel, prosecuting the prisoner, examining the witnesses, summing up the case, and ending by piassing sentence. Before he was seventeen, he became a member of the Speculative Society, a debating club which met weekly from six to ten in the evening, or even later. There he distinguished himself both for close reasoning and even for speaking that almost amounted to eloquence. But he was most distinguished for close argument and extreme quickness and readiness in reply — sometimes seasoned with perhaps a little too much sarcasm. I have said we took a tutor to Brougham, but really he was more wanted for my two other sons, because Heniy always did his work by him- self, scorning assistance,'and never applying for help when he could possibly avoid it." Among the earliest of my own recollections is the account my father's mother gave me of the circumstance which led to her son's marriage with my mother. My grandmother was born in Queen Anne's reign, so that I have conversed with a person who was alive a hundred and eighty years ago, and who might have heard her relative, Ann Brougham, who lived to the age of a hundred and six, speak 16 EAELY LIFE. 'of events that happened in Queen Elizabeth's time ! This is only conjecture ; but it is, at all events, a certain fact that I, now writing in the latter half of the nineteenth century, have heard my grandmother, being, at the time I refer to, about ninety years of age, relate all the circumstances of the execu- tion of Charles I., as they had been told her by an eye-witness who stood opposite to Whitehall and saw the king come out upon the scaffold. I think the story was told to her about the year 1 Y20, and she talked of her informant as having .been quite old enough at the time of the execution to have carried away a clear and accurate recollection of all the details. Her own memory was most perfect ; nor did the event appear to her to be so very remote, for she herself perfectly remember- ed the attempt of the Pretender in 1715— not that she ever called him by that name, for she was rather a Jacobite, but yet a very High-Church Protestant, continually. fighting with her neighbor Mr. Howard, of Corby, a most strict Papist, about transubstantiation, which she called by a very expressive term, when she referred to one of their angry discussions, which Mr. Howard ended by exclaiming, " It's no good your denj-- ing it. Madam Brougham, for I myself have crunched the bones !"-^-meaning when he took the sacramental wafer. She had a strong feeling for Charles H., and entertained a high regard for her husband's cousin. Father John Hudleston, who attended Charles in his last moments. But to return to my father's marriage. My grandmother told me that he left Eton before the accession of George HI., and for some years travelled on the Continent ; his brother John, then captain of the school, going to Cambridge, as he was intended for the Chur^. On my father's return to Westmorland, he fell in love with his cousin, Mary Whelpdale, the last of a perfectly pure Saxon race. Her father's estate, to which she was sole heiress, was close to Brougham, so that the alliance was all that could be wished. Every thing was in readiness for the nuptials — ^the wedding-coach bought, and all the paraphernalia prepared. The very day before the wedding Mary Whelpdale died. My father, struck down by the shock, lost for a time the use of his reason. He was again sent abroad, but on his return to Westmorland found the scene of his calamity unendurable. EAMLY LIFK 17 A very intimate friend of my grandfather, Lord Buchan, lived sometimes at Dryburgh Abbey, in Scotland, and sometimes in Edinburgh. To him my father was consigned, in the hopes that, introduced by him to the best Edinburgh society, he might find occupation and distraction enough to dissipate his grief.* Accordingly to Edinburgh he went, and there, among other distinguished personages, made the acquaintance of Dr. Kob- ertson, at whose house he met his eldest sister, then a widow, and her only chUd Eleanor. This acquaintance ended in a marriage, and then my father and his bride moved to St. An- drew's Square, to the house in which Lord and Lady Buchan lived, and there I was born on the 19th September, 1778.f It has. often struck me that what seemed to my father an irretrievable calamity may have been the means of saving me from obscurity. If Mary "Whelpdale had been my mother, she would no doubt have materially enriched the Saxon blood I derived from my father ; but I should have remained in the state of respectable mediocrity which seems to have charac- terized my many ancestors, none of whom, so far as I have been able to discover, were ever remarkable for any thing. Many, no doubt, were fighters, but even in that career of doubtful usefulness were rather prudent than daring. Thus Udardus, who had the custody of Appleby Castle, instead of keeping it for his employer, Henry II., allowed "William the Lion of Scotland to take it, and appears even to have gone over to the enemy. This, indeed, is incontestably proved by the Pipe Roll, 22 Henry II., an official copy of which, stamp- ed with the seal of the Public Record Office, is now before me, and is in these words : " Ite de Placitis eorundem in Westmarieland. Vdardus de Broham redd. comp. de q" t* XX. m. quia f uit cti inimicis Reg." After he had paid his fine, as appears by a record of a subsequent date, he turned crusa- der ; but instead of fighting and dying for the Holy Sepul- chre, he returned to Brougham, and there died quietly in his bed. His son and successor, Gilbert de Broham, paid fifty marks to King John, " ut remaneat, ne transfretef, termin' ad passag, * Lord Buchan ; see Appendix I. t Dr. Robertson ; see Appendix II. 18 EAMLY LIFE. Dni Reg.," as appears in the Oblata Roll of the second year of the reign of King John, preserved in the Tower of London ; so, instead of going to fight with the king's army in Norman- dy, he paid this fine, that he might be allowed to stay at home. He afterwards got into hot water with King John, who mulct- ed him of half of the diminished estate he had inherited from TJdard, and gave it to his creature Veteripont, from whom it passed to the Cliffords, and from them to the Tuftons. Nor do I find we improved in intellect even after an infusion of very pure Norman blood, which came into our veins from Harold, Lord of Vaux, in Normandy. I think, then, I am fairly entitled to argue that I, at least, owe much to the Celtic blood which my mother brought from the clans of Struan and Kinloch-Moidart.* I heard also from my grandmother a remarkable story about her husband's funeral. He died at Brougham in De- cember, 1782. Neither my father, nor his brother John, were then in Westmorland. Charles, Duke of Norfolk (fa- ther of the Duke who went by the name of the " Jockey of Norfolk," after his ancestor of Bosworth), was then living at Greystoke, in Cumberland, and being a most intimate friend of the family, attended the funeral as representing the chief mourner. In that character his place was at the head of the table at the funeral feast, where he was supported by all the gentlemen of the county. After the dinner the Duke rose and addressed the guests as follows: "Friends and neigh- bors, before I give you the toast of the day, the memory of the deceased, I ask you to drink to the health of the family physician. Dr. Harrison, the founder of the feast !" Many toasts followed. The guests drank long and deeply. The funeral then proceeded on its way to the parish church of Brougham, called Nine Churches, a corruption of St. Nin- ian, to whom it is dedicated, a distance of three miles, the road winding along the steep banks of thfe river Eamont. Arrived at the church, the hearse was met by the rector, but the coffin had disappeared ! The shock was enough to so- ber the merry mourners. On searching back, the coffin was discovered in the river, into which it had fallen, pitched down * See Appendix II. EARLY LIFE. 19 the steep bank, at a place where probably the hearse, driven by the drunken coachman, had lurched against a rock. The oak outer coffin was broken to pieces, but the lead remained intact at the bottom of the river, too heavy to be carried down by the stream. The shock and the scandal produced by all this had the effect not only of sobering every body, but of putting an end to such disgraceful orgies in the county for the future. The accuracy of my grandmother's story was strongly confirmed by an event which happened many years afterwards. In October, 1846, the wall of our vault in the chancel of Nine Churches had given way : on the vault being opened to make the necessary repairs, I myself saw the lead coffin of my grandfather, battered and bulged from its tumble down the rocky bank of the river. My grandmother well remembered the events of 1745, for she was then past the middle age of life, and the mother of several children, my father having been born in June, 1742. She used to talk of the stirring events of tbat time, the battle of Clifton Moor, the burial of a number of "Willie's dra- goons " (the Duke of Cumberland) in a ditch by the river Lowther, close to Brougham, and the executions at Carlisle. But these w^'e comparatively recent events, and had little in- terest even for me, compared to her account of the execution of Charles. I have alluded to the intimacy that existed between my grandfather's family and the Howards of Norfolk. Among many letters now at Brougham from different members of that family, but on subjects too private for publication, I give, as a specimen of the style and habits of the time, the following, verbatim et literatim : " Norfolk House, March 9 [1778]. " The Duchess of Norfolk presents her compliments to the two Miss Broughams. She has taken the liberty to send 30 yds. of silk, with triming, for a night gown & pettycoat for each, which I hope they will do me the favour to accept of. "The Duchess desires her compliments to Mrs. Brougham. "To the two Miss Broughams.'' So much for my paternal grandmother; but I should be most ungrateful if I said nothing of ray other grandmother. 20 MASLY LIFE. Dr. Robertson's sister, for to her I owe all my success in life. From my earliest infancy till I left college, with the exception of the time we passed at Brougham with my tutor, Mr. Mitchell, I was her companion. Remarkable for beauty, but far more for a /nasculine intellect and clear understanding, she instUled into me from my cradle the strongest desire for information, and the first principles of that persevering ener- gy in the pursuit of every kind of knowledge which, more than any natural talents I may possess, has enabled me to stick to, and to accomplish, how far successfully it is not for me to say, every task I ever undertook. I was sent when very young to a day-school in George Street, Edinburgh, kept by a Mr. Stalker, a sort of infant- school, in which girls as well as -boys were the pupils. Be- fore I went there my father had taught me to read ; but my grandmother, -from day to day, worked with me at my les- sons, so that when I was only seven years old I had outgrown Mr. Stalker's academy, and was sent to Luke Eraser's class at the High School. All the time I was there, my grand- mother was my daily help and instructress : under her care- ful tuition I not only won and kept a good place in my class, but, with a perseverance that almost amounted to obstinacy, I on one occasion made Eraser confess he had been wrong and I right, in some disputed bit of Latinity for which he had the day before punis"hed me. My victory gained me im- mense credit with all my school-fellows, and I was called " the boy that had licked the master." I am bound to say Mr. Eraser bore no malice, and when I left him to go into the rector's (Dr. Adam's) class, we parted the best of friends. I remained in the class of Luke Eraser, according to the course of that seminary, for four years, from September, 1785, when I was seven years old, to October, 1789, when I entered the class of the rector, Dr. Adam, under whom I was two years nominally, but really only the second of these two, having been kept at home by illness almost the whole of the first year.* During some months of that year, before I fell * An account of Luke Eraser will be found in Steven's "History of the High School of Edinburgh," p. 92. Dr. Alexander Adam, the rector, of whom so much interesting matter follows, is sufficiently eminent to be com- memorated in the usual works of biographical reference. EAELT LIFE. 21 ill, I had a private tutor, Mr., afterwards Dr., Mitchell, an ex- cellent scholar, who afterwards went to India as a medical man, and died in the service of the Rajah of Travancore, whose chief physician he became. I had, however, the great benefit, before my illness, of attending Dr. Adam's class, and hearing daily his comments upon the classics which we read, interspersed with his general remarks upon political subjects and allusions to the great events then engrossing the atten- tion of the world, for the French Revolution had broken out three months before his course began. He was a zealous friend of liberty, and in those times and in that place was termed a democrat. Yet with all the violence of party and the influence of the predominant powers — ^the Dundases — no exception was taken to his dwelling on those topics in illus- tration of, and in connection with, the books he taught. Of course, three or four years later, when party violejice was at its height, but when the crimes of the French mob had alien- ated many admirers of the Revolution, he carefully abstained fi'om such subjects, though he still continued of that class which clung to the Revolution more or less, in spite of its crimes. His great learning, his able and useful works, and his irreproachable character, as well as his untiring diligence and exemplary patience in the discharge of his duties, com- manded the respect of all, and endeared him to those who had the inestimable benefit of his instruction. Ho had the faculty of exciting both an ardent love of the subjects he^ taught and a spirit of inquiry into all that related to them. Stirred by his precepts and example, I spent the months dur- ing which I was kept from school by indisposition in reading and trying my hand at composition. The progress I made during this illness clearly proved to me two things : first, the importance of allowing boys sufficient time for reading, in- stead of devoting the whole day, as at school, to Latin and Greek exercises ; next, the great benefit of having a teacher who would dwell upon subjects connected with the lessons he taught, but beyond those lessons, thus exciting the desire of useful knowledge in his pupils. Dr. Adam had been violently assaUed for his excellent grammar by Gilbert Stuart, who had also attacked Dr. Rob- ertson's " History of Scotland," in various reviews both in Lon- 22 EARLY LIFE. don and in one which he established in Edinburgh. Stuart was in both instances, and, indeed, in all his writings, entirely influenced by his violent temper and his self-interest. The historian was attacked because he was supposed to have, as principal, defeated his attempts to obtain a professorship ; the grammarian was attacked because his work had superseded one by Stuart's cousin, Kuddiman. Stuart was a man of ex- traordinary talent and learning, displayed in many works, one of which, published before he was of age, obtained for him the degree of doctor of laws. But his profligate life and want of all principle brought him into contempt ; and his works, some of which have great merit, have sunk into oblivion, in consequence of the spite and the unfairness that runs through them, and deprives them of all trustworthiness.* I returned to school, my health being re-established. The work did fiot at all oppress me, and I left it at the head of the class and of the school — ^what is there called dux. This was in some respects accidental. I was at the head of the class with Keay (afterwards high at the Scotch bar), and ac- knowledged him my superior — ^possibly from his having at- tended the whole of the former year.f I never disputed the place with him ; but on his leaving Edinburgh, before the breaking up and the examination, I succeeded to the head- ship. Horner, a year after, belonged, to that class, but it was his first year under the rector. Next year he also left it at _^the head. Murray (afterwards Lord Murray) had been of his year, but left the school for "Westminster. I had always, ex- cept during the illness I have referred to, the blessing of ro- bust health, only interrupted, when a child, by putrid fever, which produced an extraordinary effect in destroying my memory almost entirely; for I had just learned to read, taught by my father, and I had in those ten days lost all knowledge even of the lettets. I very soon recovered it, and in a few weeks was sent, as I have already said, to Stalker's day-school. It is a great mistake, into which Lord Cockburn and others have fallen, the fancying that I at all distinguished myself at the High School — a mistake caused by persons reflecting * GUbert Stuart ; see Appendix III t See Appendix IV. JEABLY LIFE. 23 backward from one period to another. The only instance I have the least recollection of, was when the Principal of the University (Robertson) visited the school at one of the exam- inations yearly held before the vacation : he said to Mr. Era- ser that I ought to have been at the head of his class. But the answer was, " No ; Reddie is in his right place :" and so he was. My great kinsman was deceived, not by his partiali- ty, but by my having a better voice and delivery : the maimer prevailed over the matter — as I dare to say it has often done since, on greater occasions and with a far less critical audi- ence. Reddie was afterwards in a very high station at the Scotch bar — one of the most learned and sound lawyers of his day. He distinguished himself especially in the great questions connected with maritime rights and international law, and en- joyed the friendship and patronage of Hope, afterwards lord- president; nor did any thing prevent him from rising to the top of the profession, and to the hedd of the bench, but his modest, retiring, and unambitious nature, which led him to accept an office at Glasgow of great importance and of judi- cial functions, though humble compared with what, by the consent of all, he was so well entitled to. It was an inestimable advantage to my studies at all times that they were directed by my great kinsman the principal, af- ter the first impulses they had received from my grandmoth- er, his eldest and favorite sister, and who had lived with him, having the care of his family, for many years before the mar- riage of either. As a matter of course, he was consulted by my father in all that regarded the education of his children. And he used to visit us at Brougham, where I well remember accompanying him upon his walks in the woods, where he would occasionally repeat aloud Greek or Latin verses. We had to deplore his irreparable loss in 1'793 ; but I recollect go- ing to his villa in the neighborhood of Edinburgh, where he resided several months before his death, to tell him of an im- portant debate in the General Assembly, in which his sonj af- terwards Lord Robertson, the judge, had greatly distinguish- ed himself. My youngest brother, although born some years after the principal's death, was named after himj and the sur- name, as well as the Christian, ought certainly to have been given ; but a little Cumberland family pride prevented this. 24 EAMLY LIFK as we supposed. He always recdrnmended translation, as tending to form the style by giving an accurate knowledge of the force of expression, and obliging us to mark and estimate the shades of difference between words in phrases in the two languages, and to find, by selecting the terms or turning the idiom, the expression required for a given meaning ; whereas when composing originally, the idea may be varied, in order to suit the diction that most easily presents itself, of which the influence produced by rhymes, and moulding the sense as well as suggesting it, affords a striking and familiar example. He had much exercised himself, therefore, in translation, and even intended to publish one of Antoninus's Meditations, done while at college. The appearance of a translation at Glasgow prevented this publication, but the manuscript re- mains, and is in my possession ; and the version is very ably and learnedly executed. With this strong opinion in favor of translation, which was also that of his son. Lord Robertson, both of them prescribed it to me, and among other things made me translate all the History of Floras. The following letter to Lord Robertson shows an extremely imperfect taste, and a considerable misconception of the task prescribed, pos- sibly arising from the ambition of the writer : " Brougtam, January 15, 1792. " Deae Sir, — ^You would no doubt be surprised that I did not write to you by Mr. Mitchell, who was in Edinburgh. I was prevented doing this by reason of not having finished the task you were so kind as prescribe to me before i left town — a task which was so very delightful that nothing could, have hindered me performing it, had not Mr. M. begged I would desist until I should make some improvement in my writing, which had been spoiled by beginning too soon to scrawl ver- sions. I was in this manner prevented from making use of your kindness for three or four months. "You will perhaps remember that you allowed me to trans- late either Livy or Floras. I pitched upon the latter — ^not that his style appeared to me any way superior to that of the other ; but as I had read, partly at Edinburgh and partly here, almost the whole of the first five books of Livy (a copy of which was the only part of his works I had), it naturally oc- EARLY LIFE. 25 curred that there would be less field for exertion in translating an author with whose worljs I was acquainted than in trying one whose works were quite new to me. Besides, I was con- firmed in my choice when I recollected that you seemed to give the preference to Florus. That author, though concise and nervous, is not the less elegant and instructive. Full of vigoi-, and just, in his descriptions, relating the conquests of Rome in that rapid manner, as it were, in which they were ac- quired. As he writes in a very peculiar stile, so I thought that by a literal translation his elegance would be lost. I have endeavored, therefore, by taking a little freedom, to trans- fuse his beauties into the English language, without impairing the sense. How far I have succeeded I must leave you to judge. This I can with truth affirm, that throughout the whole of the translation I am indebted to the assistance of no one, and I hope you will excuse its many defects and inaccu- racies, particularly the badness of the writing. I am sorry, dear sir, that I can give you no news, as affairs in the country commonly wear a very uniform aspect. As for my studies, I have read about four books of Virgil's ^neid, beginning at the VI. ; one of Livy ; have got through above three parts of Adam's Roman Antiquities ; and am employed in the Greek verbs. "When business is over I amuse myself with reading, skaiting (sic), or walking. If you can find leisure to write me a few lines, I shall think myself particularly honored by it. As I fear I have already tried your patience, wishing many happy new years to yourself and Mrs. R., the college family — Russells and Brydons — in which I am joined by all this fami- ly, I beg leave to subscribe myself, dear sir, yours with tho greatest respect and esteem, Hbnet Beoughaji." Before I refer to my kinsman's answer, I may interpose a letter which the kindness of a member of the Kinloch-Moidart family has permitted me to use ; and I give it merely as show- ing the local impressions made on me at the early age of thir- teen. " Brougham, July 14, 1792. " My deak Cousiisr, — As my mother, ever since the receipt of your kind letter, has been in a great bustle with company, I, at her request, take advantage of a cover which is going to Vol. I— B 26 EAULT LIFE. your friend Mr. Bell, from a gentleman who dines here to-day with a most abominably formal company ; but if you expect much entertainment from my pen you will be disappointed, for nothing is more true than that the stillness of a country life furnishes few occurrences worthy of a place in black and white. " To go back to April : James and I spent a very agreeable week at Skirwith Abbey, the seat of a neighboring gentleman. The house, which is modern, is a handsome building, some- what like the Physicians' Hall, though without pillars : it is vastly naked, being placed in the midst of a moor, or common, Avith little or no wood of any size about it, and the garden above half a mile from the house. Mr. Yates's agreeable fami- ly consists of two grown-up daughters (the youngest of whom, with her mother, is now in Edinburgh consulting Mr. Bell), and three sons, the eldest about 16, the youngest 9. "About the end of June, Mr. Mitchell, James, and I made an excursion to the Lakes, about twenty-five miles from this,- and staid there a day or two. The lake at Keswick is cer- tainly a most grand, romantic, and agreeable sight. A fine sheet of water expanded in the bottom of a most beautiful valley, surrounded by mountains of Avood, and interspersed with woody islands (one of which is faced with a mock forti- fication, and is the residence of a country squire). The lake begins with a fine cascade and terminates in a beautiful river. The whole of this enchanting scene, lighted up by a most beautiful morning, presented to persons like us, unaccustom- ed to such sights, a picture of beauty and sublimity not to be easily forgotten. At one end is the celebrated vale of Bor- rowdale, at the other the neat town of Keswick, where wo saw a very fine museum filled with great curiosities, both an- cient and modern, but scarcely to be compared with Weir's in Edinburgh, though of a more universal nature. Besides the lakes, I have been much about since spring began, and as I ride a great deal, I have seen every one of the country seats hereabouts. " I think the conduct of your wise baillies during the late riots proves them to be idiots and monsters that ought to be expunged from the face of the creation. I ought to make 1792 apologies to your sister for not answering her very kind EABLY LIFE. 27 letter, which I received by Mr, Mitchell. Read this to her, with my love, in which the rest of this family join,.not forget- ting my dear Peter. " Tell your good mother that Mrs. Syme looks upon her letters, and those of my aunt Nelly (to whom, and all other friends, remember me), as her greatest consolation, and that she expects a letter from them soon. We were all sorry for B. Russell's death ; indeed, except John, I think she was by much the best of that family. " Expecting your answer by a parcel which is coming here from Mrs. Hope this week, I remain your most affectionate cousin, H. P. Beougham." To go back, then, to my holiday task, the translation of Florus. I consider that my learned kinsman was much more lenient in his judgment on the work than his illustrious fa- ther would have been, whom we never thought of troubling with it. The following is his answer to my letter of Jan- uary : "April 21, 1792. " Deae Henet, — I should make an apology for having de- layed so long to answer your letter. The truth is that I re- ceived it during the hurry of the winter session, when I could, not command time ; and since the commencement of the vacation I was prevented for some time by indispositign, and afterwards it took me some leisure times to r^d your work with that attention which I wished to bestow upon it. " I have now perused it with very great pleasure, and com- pared a very great part of it, sentence by sentence, with the original, and I am happy'that I can, with perfect sincerity, say that, high as my expectations from you were, they have been greatly exceeded. Instead of confining yourself every- where to a literal translation, you have often given a turn to the expression which shows that you entered fully into the ideas of your author, and your translation discovers a knowl- edge both of the Latin and of the English far above what could have been expected. I will not say how much your translation has pleased me in another point of view, as af- fording a proof of industry and application, which, when joined with your abilities, can not fail tc^insure your success 28 EARLY LIFK in any line of life which you may follow. I think you should persevere in translating : it is one of the best exercises, and improves your knowledge both of Latin and English. " My father and mother, Mrs. Kussell, Betsy and Elie, are at Lennell. John and Mary are with us. Mrs. Hope and all our friends here are well. Mrs. Robertson desii^s to join me in best compliments to your papa, mamma, and grandmam- ma, and. all the children. I am, dear Henry, your affection- ate cousin, Wm. Robeetsok. "No. 67 Princes Street, April 21, 1792." Notwithstanding any vices in my translation, I certainly had acquired no habit of inaccui-ate version, no contempt of strict oloseness, or such faults must have been cured by sub- sequent experience and reflection, as well as the incorrect taste disclosed in the letter; for whatever I have since at- tempted in prose, and still more the only efforts in verse, which the entire want of poetical faculty has confined to translation, have nothing to distinguish them but the rigor- ous closeness, the whole poetical merit clearly belonging to the original. Of this an example may be given in the com- motion among my Eton. friends caused by my quoting from Horace in the House of Commons, when repelling some most absurd slander of the grossest description. Instead of the Latin — « "Falsns honor jnvat et mendax infamia terret Quern nisi mendosum et medicandum ?" * I gave — False honor charms, and lyjpg slander scares, Whom but the false and faulty? Next day, in Westminster Hall, I was mobbed by Eton friends at the bar, Jonathan Raine at their head, calling on me to say by what right I had used words which they could not find cither in Francis or elsewhere, and requiring me to declare where I had found them, but I would only answer, " Nowhere." No doubt the merit of extreme closeness depends much on ■ Hor. Ep., I., xvi. SASLY LIFE. 29 the frame of the original, and it may be given sometimes word for word without becoming actual prose, as — "Vive vale. Si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus imperti; si non, liis utere mecum."* Live long, farewell : if better i-ules yoa see, Candid impart ; if not, use these with me : which, literal as it is, can not be reckoned more prosaic than the Latin. I have often heard the great historian preach, and, though very young at the time, was struck with the excellence and the usefulness of his discourses. His notions of practical moderation, and the wish to avoid the fanaticism of the High- Church party (what with us would be called the Low-Church, or Evangelical), led him generally to prefer moral to theolog- ical or Gospel subjects. Yet he mingled also three themes essential to the duties of a Christian pastor. He loved to dwell on the goodness of the Deity, as shown forth not only in the monuments of creation, but the work of love in the redemption of mankind. He delighted to expatiate on the fate of man in a future state of being, and to contrast the darkness of the views which the wisest of the heathens had with the perfect light of the new dispensation. He often- times would expound the Scriptures, taking, as is the usage of the Kirk, a portion of some chapter for the subject of what is called lecture, as contradistinguished from sermon: and in these discourses the richness of his learning, the re- markable clearness of his explanation, the felicity of his illus- tration, shone forth, as well as the cogaacy and elegance of his practical application to our duties in life, the end and aim of all his teaching. Such was he as a preacher. But one sermon I can never forget.f The occasion was * Hor. Ep., I., vi. t " Cannes, November, 1S66. ' 'After what Elwin said about the notices of Eobertson, Black, and others, having been already printed in the ' Lives of Men of Letters, Philos- ophers,' etc., I have been doing my utmost to answer his objection, by an at- tempt to rewrite them, but I have entirely failed. I find I can not do this without utterly destroying any merit the original composition may possess. Hence, these notices must remain as I have placed them in the 'Autobiog- 30 MAMLY LIFE. the celebration (5tli November, ITSS) of the centenary of the Revolution ; and his sister, considering that to have heard such a man discourse on such a subject was a thing to be re- membered by any one through life ever after, took me (al- though only ten years old) to hear him. It was of singular and striking interest, from the extreme earnestness, the youth- ful fervor, with which it was delivered. But it touched in some passages upon a revolution which he expected and saw approaching, if not begun, as well as upon the one which was long past, and almost faded from the memory in the more absorbing interest of present affairs. I well remember his referring to the events then passing on the Continent as the forerunners of far greater ones which he saw casting their shadows before. He certainly had no apprehensions of mis- chief, but he was full of hope for the future, and his exulta- tion was boundless in contemplating the deliverance of "so many millions of so great a nation from the fetters of arbi- trary government." His sister and I often afterwards re- flected on this extraordinary discourse with wonder, and I feel quite certain of some such expressions as these having been used, and of his foretelling that our neighbors would one day have to celebrate such an event as had now called us together. We dined with him the same day on leaving the church, for it was the afternoon service that he had per- formed. His eldest son, afterwards Lord Robertson, was of the company ; and when the Principal expressed his satisfac- tion at having had his presence at church (a thing by no means of weekly occurrence), the answer was: "Aye, sir, if you'll always give us such sermons, you may make it worth raphy.' But you may, if you think it necessary, state where I have taken them from : it is no plagiaiy to steal from one's self, and I would rather ' state the fact, than print the notices with inverted commas. They are much too long for notes at the foot of pages ; besides, all foot-notes must, if pos- sible, be avoided. In the MS. of the other volumes; there are notices, and characters, of men at the bar and public men : I dai-e say some of these will be found to have been already printed. Hence, let the best mode of dealing with all these be well considered. You can not do better than consult Fors- ter ; but bear in mind that they must not be omitted, and that I can not un- dertake to rewrite them. Yours, H. B. " To W1LT.1AM BnononAM, Esq., "Brougham, PenMtli, Angleterre." EARLY LIFE. 31 our while." "Ah 1" answered he, " you would hke it, as the boys say," referring to a vulgar taunt. I have again and again asked my learned kinsman to show me the sermon, which he admitted he possessed among his father's papers, fairly written out. His answer was that he wished to avoid giving it publicity, because, in the violence of the times, the author would be set down for a Jacobin, how innocent soever he was at the date of its being preached. Those times have happily long since passed away ; and the sermon having been found among the judge's papers, after a long and fruitless search, I am now possessed of it, written in his own hand, and can see the places where he added passages on the in- spiration of the moment, particularly that above cited, my recollection of which is distinct, and is confirmed both by the conversation upon it I have often had with his sister, and by the judge's apprehensions, who was of the strong alarmist party. It is fit that some mention should be made of Dr. Robert- son's family, and of his private life as connected with these memoirs. His father, a Robertson of Struan, was settled for some years as minister of the Scotch Church in London Wall ; and I recollect when the affairs of that establishment came before me in the Court of Chancery, and one of the counsel connected with Scotland was beginning to explain its nature, I told him that my great-grandfather, the historian's father, had been its pastor, so that I might be excused for taking an unusual interest in its concerns, reminding him of the Scotch saying that blood is thicker than water. He re- turned to Scotland in 1718, and was settled at Borthwick, in the county of Edinburgh, having married Miss Pitcairn, of Dreghorn ; and it was always remembered in the family that Sir Richard Steele, with whom he had become acquainted in London, showed his respect for him by being present at the marriage. The historian was born at Borthwick, 19th Sep- tember, 1721. I have been curious to ascertain the kind of genius which distinguished his father, besides his talent for drawing, of which I possess a specimen showing some skill. It is a min- iature.in Indian-ink of James Earl, of Seafield, one of the for- feited lords, to whom he was distantly related. The family 32 EASLY LIFE. were also said to be descended from John Knox. The his- torian professed himself quite unacquainted with the reasons of this rumor which connected him with " the rustic apostle," whose character and conduct he has described so faithfully aind strikingly. By the kindness of a kinsman I have had the great satisfac- tion of receiving a copy of the only sermon which he ever published, as well as of two or three hymns, translations and paraphrases from the Greek of the New Testament. The sermon is able, judicious, correctly composed both for ac- curacy of diction and severity of taste, and contains passages of great beauty and effect. It resembles what in England would be called an Ordination Sermon or Charge, having been delivered at the opening of the Metropolitan Synod in May, 1737, and is a fuU description of the duties of ministers, the title of it being that " they should please God rather than men." His poetry is elegant and classical : one of his pieces ■ is a beautiful paraphrase of the 14th chapter of St. John to the tenth verse : "1. Let not your hearts with anxious thoughts Be troubled or dismayed ; But trust in Providence divine, And trust my gracious aid. " 2. I to my Father's house return ; There numerous mansions stand, And glory manifold abounds Through all the happy land. "3. I go your entrance to secure, And yonr abode prepare ; Regions unknown are safe to you, When I, your Friend, am there. "4. Thence shall I come, when ages close, To take you home with me ; There we shall meet to part no more, And stiU together he. "5. I am the Way, the Truth, the Life: No son of human race, But such as I conduct and guide, Shall see my Father's face." When I went to Glasgow, in 1860, to preside at the Social Science Congress, and when, as usual on these occasions, I at- EAJtLT LIFE. 33 tended divine service in the Cathedral Church, I recollect be- ing much struck with the accident of this hymn being sung, when, very certainly, I alone of all the congregation knew who was the author, for the hymn-book gives it without any name.* Both sermon and poetry plainly show good taste, as well as strong but sober reason, came to the great historian by de- scent as well as by study ; but that his father held opinions more strict on some subjects than the relaxed rigor of Pres- byterian rule prescribed, half a century later, is proved by his requiring his son's promise never to enter a play-house. This was stated by him in reference to his father when debating the question of John Home's having written the play of "Douglas." It is needless to add that, however much he differed with his father on this subject, he strictly adhered through life to the promise thus given ; insomuch that when Garrick and Henderson at different times visited him, they entertained and interested him by exhibiting to him in pri- vate specimens of the art in which both so eminently excel- led.f The traditional character in his family of the venerable person whom I have mentioned was any thing rather than sour or stern, how severe and iinbending soever may have been his moral feelings. For the sweetness of his placid tem- per, and the cheerfulness of his kindly disposition, I have heard him spoken of in terms of the warmest enthusiasm by such of his children as were old enough at the time of his de- cease to recollect him distinctly. The idea of again meeting him in another state was ever present to my grandmother's mind (who was his eldest daughter), and especially when stricken with any illness. It was with her a common source of argument for a future state — as proved by the light of na- ture, and in her pious mind a confirmation of the truth of Christianity — that, believing in the divine goodness, she could not conceive the extinction of so much angelical purity as adorned her parent, and so fine an understanding as he pos- sessed. Their mother was a woman of great ability and force of character ; but, like many of that caste, women especially, she was more stern and more severe than amiable, and this * See Appendix V. t See Appendix VI. B 2 34 EAMLT LIFE. contrast, unfavorable to the one, redounded to the augmented love of the other. It can not be doubted that the son's char- acter derived a strong tincture from both parents ; but while he, like his father, was mild and gentle in his temper and of an engaging demeanor, his firmness and decision — nay, his incli- nation towards the Stoical system of morals, and even to a cer- tain degree of stoical feeling, too — ^was derived from his mother. The death of these two excellent persons was singularly melancholy, and served to impress on the minds of their fam- ily a mournful recollection of their virtues. Mr. Robertson had been removed to the Old Greyfriars' Church of Edin- burgh in 1'773; and ten years afterwards, both he and his wife, seized with putrid fever, died within a few days of each other, leaving eight children — six daughters and two sons — of whom WiUiam was the elder. William had been educated first at the school of Dalkeith, under a very able teacher of the name of Leslie, a gentleman at that time of the greatest eminence in his profession. On his fathei-'s removal to Edin- burgh, he was taken thither and placed at the University, though only twelve years old. The age of twelve was only a year or two less than usual at the Scotch universities. My contemporaries and myself were barely fourteen when we entered, attending the mathe- matical as well as the Latin and Greek classes, and next year that of natural philosophy. His diligence in study was unremitting, and he pursued his education at the different classes for eight years with indefat- igable zeal. He had laid down for himself a strict plan of reading ; and of the notes which he took there remain a num- ber of books, beginning when he was only fourteen, all bear- ing the sentence as a motto, which so characterized his love of learning, indicating that he delighted in it abstractedly, and for its own sake, without regarding the uses to which it might be turned — " Vita sine litteris, mors." When the London University (now called University Col- lege) was founded in 1825, 1 had a good deal of correspond- ence with Lord Robertson, who strongly recommended tak- ing as our motto this inscription in his father's note-books. I give what is above stated as his gloss upon the motto or text advisedly. EARLT LIFE. 35 His whole life was spent in study. I well remember his constant habit of quitting the drawing-room, both after din- ner and tigain after tea, and remaining shut up in his library. The period »f time when I saw this was after the " History of America" had been published, and before Major Rennell's map and memoir appeared, which, he tells us, first suggested the " Disquisition on Ancient India." Consequently, for above ten years he was in the course of constant study, engaged in extending his information, examining and revolving the facts of history, contemplating ethical and theological truths, amus- ing his fancy with the strains of Greek and Roman poetry, or warming it at the fire of ancient eloquence so congenial to his mind, at once argumentative and rhetorical; and all this study produced not one written line, though thus unremittedly car- ried on. The same may "be said of the ten years he passbd in constant study from 1743, the beginning of his residence in a small parish, of very little clerical duty, to 1752, when we know from his letter to Lord Hailes he began his first work. But, indeed, the composition of his three great works, spread over a period of nearly thirty years, clearly evinces that dur- ing this long time his studies must have been much more sub- servient to his own gratification than to the preparation of his writings, which never could have required one-half that num- ber of years for their completion. In 1741, according to the constitution of the Scotch Church, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh to preach, orders being only conferred upon a presentation to a living or kirk. Two years after, he was appointed minister of Glads- muir, a country parish in East Lothian ; and this event hap- pened fortunately on the eve of the irreparable loss sustained by the family in the death of both their parents, which left his brother and his sisters wholly without provision. He immediately took the care of them upon himself, and would form no connection by marriage until he had seen them placed in situations of independence. He thus remained sin- gle for eight years, during which his eldest and favorite sister superintended his household. In her sound judgment he al- ways had the greatest confidence ; for he knew that to great beauty she added a calm and a firm temper, inherited fi-om their mother, but with greater meekness of disposition. An 36 , EARLY LIFE. instance of lier fortitude and presence of mind was sometimes mentioned by him, though never alluded to by her : a swarm of bees having settled on her head and shoulders while sitting in the garden, she remained motionless until they took wing, thus saving her life, which was in imminent jeopardy. She was married in 1750; and, the year af terj he married his cous- in Miss Nesbitt. She, after a long attachment, married Mr. Syme, minister of Alloa, where her daughter was born. He was a sound divine and a learned man, much esteemed by the principal, with whom he coincided on the great question of lay patronage which then agitated the Church, as it has in our day, having caused the great schism dividing the Estab- lishment into two. He had under his care as pupils the sons of Mr. Abercromby, the chief person in the neighborhood, Sir Ralph and his brother Sir Robert. If such as has been described was the principal's estimate of his sister, it is needless to say that her affection for him, and the veneration in which she held him all her life, and his memory when gone, knew no bounds. I recollect while very young, when he came to Brougham, being much struck with her manner of addressing him. It was always "sir," not brother ; and he called her " Mally " (Molly) ; but this, I -af- terwards observed, did not betoken any distance, or want of perfect and cordial familiarity. His other sisters addressed him in the same manner, but in this case there was not by any means the same familiarity. She was indeed, as her brother always said, a very remarkable person, and this was apparent from his regard for her opinion and advice, as well as from the discussions on various subjects which I have heard between them. I well remember her great admiration of Lord Chatham, and that she did not quite agree with him in his es- timate of the son, who stood a good deal higher in his opin- ion than in hers, not because of his being at all a Pittite, but probably from his friendship with the Dundases (the two presidents), father and son.* He was, as he told Walpole many years before Chatham's death, a moderate Whig, a * 1. Robert Dundas of Arniston, bom* 1685, Loi'd President of the Court of Session 1748, died 1753 ; 2. Robert, his son, bom 1713, Lord President 1760, died 1767. — Brunton and Haig's History of the Senators of the College of Justice, 507, 623. EARLY LIFE. 3>j Whig of 1688.; to which Walpole says he made an answer that no one ever believed he ventured with such a person. His sister was avowedly a Whig in the mere party sense of ^ the term. But as an orator, Chatham was the model she used to place before my eyes ; and her dreams were, when she heard of my attempts, that her preaching had not been in vain. It was a subject on which she often came with her daughter (my mother), of whom she had a very high and most just opinion, as had the principal. But I greatly doubt if she herself, had she survived to 1830, would have exercised the self-control and self-denial which the daughter showed, in opposing, by her remonstrances and earnest advice, my being chancellor. Some of my grandmother's nearest relatives were persons of eminence, to whicji they had raised themselves ; and both from this and from her brother's great position, gained, like theirs, by his own exertions, she constantly impressed on my mind tlie duty of following such examples ; but always re- quired that distinction should be sought by jlist means; and above all, she used to inculcate the duty of benevolence, and to dwell upon its reward in the pleasure beneficence j)ro- duoed. An ardent love of liberty and hatred of oppression Seemed part of her nature. A horror of war and delight in peace could with diflSculty be overcome by any circumstances that could be urged to create an exception. The words "Peace is my dearest delight" were ever in her mouth. She felt an affection for the Quakers on this account ; and when any one had any thing to say against them, her answer al- ways was, " Well, but it is the only sect that never perse- cute ;" and on the Independents being cited against her, she would say, " But Oliver Cromwell was an Independent, not a Quaker, and if he did not resist toleration, he made war." • If it was hard to find an exception to peace and tolerance, no exception would she ever suffer to the necessity of strict economy, public and private. The necessity of economy must only yield to claims of humanity, irresistible in their natui'e and wholly undisputed. For next to a sense of stiict justice, humanity was a constant topic. Many an argument have I heard between her brother and her on some capital conviction, when she leaned towards mer- 38 EABLT LIFE. cy, and against that kind of punishment. Her view was per- fectly sound, that the smallest punishment which was suffi- cient to prevent a repetition of the offense was aU we had a right to inflict, and that punishing with death tended to counteract one of the objects of all punishment, by turning the feelings in the party's favor through the aversion felt to the punishment. The principal would say that her reasoning was owing to her feelings of misplaced pity for the offender. And this was the case latterly, when her mind had no longer its original strength, and the discussion was renewed with her daughter and the rest of us. We then siw that she was arguing from her feelings. But in former times these were the impressions on all subjects she has left, and they'were in- herited by her daughter. It used to be a joke among us that' she had not inherited her mother's beauty; and we af- terwards found that the extraordinary likeness to Dante of her profile and her bust, so much admired by Chantry, made some amends for the defect. Of the relations who have been alluded to, the Adams and the Clerks were the most remarkable, as they were all first cousins of the principal and his sister. The .Adams were fa- mous as architects, breaking through the old and plain, but bad style, and introducing, with some variations, the Greek and Italian. They were patronized by Lord Bute and Lord Mansfield, and by most of the English nobles who had build- ings to erect on their estates. In and near London those most remarkable are Caen Wood, the villa of Lord Mansfield, and Lansdowne House, forVnerly Bute House.* They took part in Parliament with the Whigs, which lost them the king's (George IIL) office of architect. They represented the coun- ty of Kinross, as did a younger member of the family, who afterwards was Chief Judge of the Jury Court in Scotland. Of the Clerks, the father of Lord Eldin (Scotch judge) niar- ried an Adam ; he was author of the system of naval tactics adopted with such signal success in tiie navy. Sir Howard Douglas has denied this as regards Rodney's battle in 1782 * Of the two brother architects, Eobert and James, a good account is given in the fragment of a general biographical dictionary by the Society for the DM'usion of Useful Knowledge. The well-known fa9ade of the Adelphi, off the Strand, has its name to commemoi'ate the joint work of the brethren. EARLY LIFE. 39 — his father, Sir C. Douglas, having been captain of the fleet. But the fact is undeniable that Clerk had brought his plan to maturity, and communicated the particulars to several per- sons, long before Rodney's action, and while Rodney was abroad; he having gone to the West Indies in January, ITSO, and Clerk, as he states in the preface to his book, having gone to London in 1779, when he met by appoint- ment Mr. R. Atkinson, Admiral Rodney's j)articular friend, and Sir Charles Douglas, his captain, to whom he detailed and explained every jpart of his system, for the express pur- pose of having it communicated to the admiral before his departure with the fleet. Mr. Clerk adds that such com- munication was made ; that the admiral expressed, before he left London, his entire approbation of the scheme ; and after his return openly acknowledged that it was Mr. Clerk who had suggested the manoBuvres by which the victory of the 12th of April, 1782, had been obtained. Clerk's system was followed by Howe, St. Vincent, Dun- can, and Nelson, and with well-known success. The manoeu- vre is, in fact, the same that Napoleon practised on shore — the placing an adversary between the fire of ■ two bodies. What makes Clerk's merit the more remarkable is, that he was not a professional man, and had never even gone a voy- age to sea.* John Clerk's intimacy was very close with the principal and his sister, who both had great confidence in his practical sense upon most subjects, when not perverted by certain odd prejudices and fancies. For instance, she being, like him, a warm advocate of exercise as a means above every thing for promoting health, used to quote him as saying, when asked, " What wei;e you to do in bad weather ?" " Why, run up and down stairs ; there is no better exercise, or better fitted to bring all the muscles into play." Once during the Reign of Terror, a fast-day sermon was preached, which we attended with him ; and after morning service, when we were complaining of the preacher as having exaggerated by charging the Jacobins with sacrificing the priests at the foot of the altar — "Foot of the altar!" said See Appendix VII. 40 EAMLY LIFK John, " that is only a way of speaking ; but it lets the wretches off too easily. They nevei* let them get to the foot of the altar, but murdered them in the streets or the prisons." Dr. Adam was a teacher of the greatest merit, and a man distinguished by qualities very rarely found in combination with his literary eminence. The hardships which he endured from poverty in his early life have seldom been equalled, nev- er exceeded. When he was endeavoring to educate himself, he for some years suffered from actual hunger, his only means of subsistence being the small sum of three guineas a quarter received from teaching, and out of which he had to pay four- pence a week for a miserable lodging, two miles out of the town, and his daily food was oatmeal-porridge and penny rolls. He dispensed with fire and candles : the former, by severe exercise when the weather permitted — when it was bad, by climbing one of the highest staircases in which Edin- burgh abounds ; the latter, by reading at the room of some fellow-student. His temper was never soured nor his spirits distressed ; the zeal of studying and success in it sustaining him, and even making him feel happy. These . particulars have been related by his pupils, among others the first Lord Meadowbank, but were very rarely even alluded to by him- self, and only in general terms when illustrating in his class the value of industrious habits, and the comforts they bring under the most adverse circumstances. For it was one of the greatest merits of his teaching that he constantly lectured his pupils on moral and religious subjects, on their duties to Heaven and to their fellow-creatures, besides dwelling on the illustration of his remarks derived from their learning, classic- al, historical, and geographical. It is difficult to conceive a more useful discipline in all respects than his class afforded. But in no particular was his instruction more valuable than in opening the mind to the contemplation of characters, an- cient and modern, and drawing from them the conclusions in favor of political virtue of every kind. He always spoke with great natural eloquence, and made very deep impression by the force and conciseness of his statements, and the rich illus- trations from history, the constant reference to individuals, and the appeals to classical authority. It would be difficult to exaggerate the effects of his lectures, for such they were. SAULT LIFS. 41 though often consisting of a few sentences interspersed in the lessons as they went on. Among his favorite topics was in- culcating the love of independence, the duty and comfort of making one's own fortune, and relying on one's self alone. Then he would chide a pupil's idleness or inattention ; and if the lad was of the higher orders, " But you will get a post or a pension when others are working their way up-hill." Then the delights of learning in all its branches formed a constant theme, and the mischiefs of all obstructions in the way of its acquirement. "A tax upon paper is a tax upon knowledge," was a frequent expression. He was always extolling the an- cient writers : it was his business. He would point out their beauties, and especially those less obvious, and would say — "It is too late to doubt of them ; whoever should do so would find he had come too late; for all men's minds have long ago been made up on the subject." But he ever dwelt on their works having been the result of the greatest care, and of each being a monument of industry ; describing Sallust, for in- stance, as passing his whole time in composition and careful correction. The eloquence of the old orators he would de- scant on by the hour, and show that its success was duo to diligent preparation. With some exceptions he much under- valued the modern : of these exceptions Chatham was the chief, and he highly commended his method of bringing up his son, notwithstanding he had kept him from a public school. Of that son's eloquence he had formed an estimate strongly affected by his political opinions, which were those of the admirers of the -French Revolution; and although he avoided the expression of them, it was j)retty. manifest how he leaned, even after its crimes had begun to stagger most of its partisans. I found when I had left his class that he was of those who very reluctantly admitted any faults in the Re- publicans. Whatever opinions he held on this subject, he al- ways inculcated the most decided attachment to our own con- stitution. His taste in all matters of composition was sound and severe. If he admired Seneca more than was .strictly just, he gave no preference to him over the purer models ; and his liking plainly proceeded from the great store-house found in his prose writings of moral truths, those which he warmly inculcated. It must, however, be observed, that there 42 HAELT LIFE. are in many parts of Seneca's philosophical writings passages of great eloquence, in none more than the treatise on Provi- dence, in that on the great question of the origin of evil, and that on the shortness of life. The steady honesty of Dr. Adam, his devotion to his prin- ciples, his unwearied zeal and heartfelt enthusiasm in impress- ing them on his pupils, can never be forgotten by those who had the inestimable benefit of his teaching, and of learn- ing, besides that which was the first and main object of his instruction, those other things with which it was connected, and on which no other teacher ever thought of dwelling. I consider myself indebted to him for whatever success has at- tended my life, whether speculative or practical ; and a few of our fellow-pupils were so sensible of the great value of his general comments, and remarks on men and manners, that we made it a common practice to take notes of his observations, and to interchange, and correct, or extend them. Moreover, he inculcated not only the expediency of written translations beyond those which were given in as our exer- cises, but of practising composition and speaking. Two or three of us used to meet of an evening and hold a debate on some subject which he had handled in his class ; and having been taken by my. tutor to hear a debate in a meeting com- posed chiefly of students in the University, but open to all who chose to subscribe, I tried my hand at composing an essay on the subject I had heard debated, " Whether pros- perity or adversity was most favorable to virtue." On showing it to my father, I found a very severe judge, who thought the declamatory speeches I had heard misled me, and set me on other subjects that required argumentation and (being an old Etonian) classical allusions, and even quo- tations. The doctor was more lenient, and gave me encour- agement ; but I found by his questions that he substantially agreed with the judgment of the domestic forum. This ex- cellent man had been a good deal thwarted by the authorities, provoked to personal altercation with unworthy antagonists, and assailed by a corrupt portion of the press. As to the au- thorities, his first work was a. most excellent book on the principles of Latin and English grammar, designed -to pro- mote his great object of making classical studies a help to EARLY LIFE. 43 othei- studies, and not a hindrance — and he wished to intro- duce it in the school ; but he found all the other masters, who had been accustomed to teach Ruddiman's Grammar^ opposed to the substitution of his ; and also the magistrates, patrons of the school, for the same reason, resolved to abide by Ruddiman's. After a severe contest, both in the courts of law and the town council, the latter issued a positive pro- hibition to the school to make use of Adam's Grammar, and he could therefore only indirectly urge his doctrines. I grieve to add that at one time the principal (Robertson) took part against him, who on aU other occasions stood his wai-m friend, and obtained for him from the University his degree. But the question of extramural teaching, in after- times so much discussed, had arisen upon the introduction of Greek in the school by Adam as early as 1782 ; and the professors endeavored, but without success, to prevent this. The principal, who must have strongly disapproved of their opposition, yet yielded to it, probably on the ground of the professor of Greek depending entirely on the number of his pupils, from having no salary ; and on the assumption that, with the frugal habits of the Scotch, few or none would send their sons to attend the Greek professor, if they had learnt a little Greek the year before at the High School. The trouble which the doctor had with some of the mas- ters un(fer him arose from "the improvements in teaching which he endeavored to introduce, at first with great resist- ance and only partial success — in the end, with their perfect assent. During the former period his chief opponent was Nicol, whose violence led to a personal quarrel, which had nearly ended in a duel. The man did not want talent or learning, but was of most intemperate habits and dissolute life. He was the intimate friend and pot-companion of Burns, some of whose best known and most popular baccha- nalian songs bear traces of this intimacy. Of these the one most in favor with the Scotch begins with — . "Willie brewed a peck n' maut (malt), And Rab and Allan cam to pree." The Willie is Nicol, the poet is Rab ; and Allan was one of the Mastertons, at whose school I learnt writing and arith- 44 EARLY LIFE. metic. Nicol's habits -were well known to the boys, as were those of the other masters. They had an uncouth rhyme characterizing their masters. In this Luke is the teacher — Luke Fraser, under whom I was before rising to the rector's class ; Frango was French, a most respectable and learned man ; and Cruikshanks (a very able and successful teacher, as well as worthy man, under whom Horner and Murray were, until the former went to the rector's class and the lat- ter to Westminster) is represented by Crukemshango : "Sandy Adam loves his book, And so do Luke and Prango ; Willie Nicol loves his bottle, And so does Crukemshango."' I am pretty confident that the last line is owing to the rhyme and the contrast, and not to the fact. The attacks of the masters and their friends never gave Adam any uneasiness that had not long ceased when I was under him, and he never at any time made the least allusion to them in his class. The treatment of the press he had a good right to despise, when it came from the same disreputable quarter in whi(!h the principal was assailed. The history of Gilbert Stuart affords a remarkable and an edifying instance, perhaps a singular one, of great talents and considerable powers of work, though irregular, failing to obtain success, or, to keep alive the memory of works distinguished by both learning and ability, owing to the malignant feeling under which they were composed, and their being devoted to its gratification. That these intemperate habits and irregular life would not have produced this effect, there are unhappily too many proofs in the history of authors. An able and leai-ned work on the " History of the British Constitution," made the Uni- versity of Edinburgh give him the degree of Doctor of Laws when little more than one-and-twenty ; and he soon after published his " Views of Society in Europe," being an his- torical inquiry concerning laws, manners, and government. Immediately after this he was a candidate for the Professor- ship of Public Law in the University, and he fancied that he owed his rejection to the influence of the principal. Noth- ing could be more fitting than that such should be the case ; EARLY LIPM, 45 for the life of Stuart was known to be that of habitual dissi- pation, in the intervals only of which he had paroxysms of study. To exclude such a person from the professor's chair would have been a duty incumbent on the head of any uni- versity in Christendom, whatever, in other respects, might be his merits. But no admission was ever made by the princi- pal's friends that he had interfered, or, indeed, that the opin- ions and inclinations of the magistrates, who are the patrons, rendered any such interference necessary. But the disaj)- pointed candidate had no doubt upon the subject, and he set no bounds to his thirst of revenge. He repaired to London, where he became a writer in reviews, and made all the lit- erary men of Edinburgh the subjects of his envious and ma- lignant attacks, from 1768 to 1773 ; the editors of such jour- nals, as is too usual with persons in their really responsible situation, but who think they can throw the responsibility upon their unknown contributors, never inquiring whether the criticisms which they published proceeded from the hon- est judgment or the personal spite of the writers. It is the imperative duty of every one who conducts the periodical press to use his utmost diligence in preventing concealed en- emies or rivals from using his paper as the vehicle of their attacks. He should lay down the rule never again to receive any contribution from a person who had deceived him by suppressing the fact that, he had a grudge or an interest against the object of his former attack. Stuart returned to Edinburgh, and set up a magazine and re- view, of which the scurrility, dictated by private resentments, was so unremitting, that it brought the work to a close in less than three years, when he went back to London, and re- commenced his anonymous vituperation of Scottish authors through the periodical press. He also published in 1779, 1780, and 1782, three works : one on the " Constitutional His- tory of Scotland," being an attack on Dr. Robertson's first book ; another on the " History of the Reformation in Scot- land ; " and the third on the " History of Queen Mary " — being also an elaborate attack upon the principal. The abil- ity and the learning of these works, and their lively and even engaging style, have not saved them from the oblivion to which they were justly consigned by the manifest indications 46 EARLY LIFE. prevailing throughout them all of splenetic temper, of per- sonal malignity, and of a constant disturbance of the judgment by these vile, unworthy passions. The same hostility towards the person of the principal even involved this reckless man in a quarrel with his eldest son : it led to a duel, in which nei- ther party was hurt — an accommodation having taken place on the field. I have heard Stuart's second say that he was obliged, knowing his friend's intemperate habits, to oppose the proposal — which he made with his usual want of conduct, and, indeed, of right feeling — that all the parties should dine together on quitting the field ! That second (Mr. James Gray), an able and an honorable man, always admitted Stu- art's unjustifiable conduct towards the historian, one of whose nieces he (the second) afterwards married. Stuart's dissipa- tion continued unbroken, excepting by his occasional literary work; and he died of a dropsy in 1786, at the early age of forty. Such was the man and such his fate who assailed Dr. Adam with a bitterness and pertinacity as signal as he had shown towards the great historian. His admirable grammar was re- ceived universally by the literary and didactive world (by the scholar as well as the teacher) with the approbation which it so well deserved; but it had one fault — it was on a subject on which Stuart's cousin, Ruddiman, had published a book. This was enough to enlist Stuart's ferocity against both the work and the writer. He published anonymous reviews with- out end, and he also published, under the name of " Busby," a bitter attack upon the personal peculiarities of Dr. Adam. Every one felt unmitigated disgust at such base and unprin- cipled proceedings, and the rector, like the principal, gave the unworthy author the mortification of leaving his assaults un- answered; nor did he even make any allusions to these at- tacks, though he occasionally expressed his regret at the pro- hibition of his grammar by the authority of the town council. The moral inculcated by Gilbert Stuart's failure has been noted. The lesson of temperance and regularity of life is as remarkably taught by the doctor's personal conflict with one , of the masters, Nicol, already referred to as the boon compan- ion of the great lyric poet of Scotland. The temperate habits of our times make it hardly possible that a poet should now- EARLY LIFE. 47 adays attain eminence by bacchanalian songs, and even that ideas should be introduced that owe their point and force to drinking associations, as in the most pathetic of lyrics, "Auld Lang Syne." Even of professed drinking-songs there is this to be said, that they rarely tend to promote intemperance, and are for the most part only displays of wit and lyimor. They are chiefly perhaps to be excused, if not defended, in the same jvay that Voltaire pleaded in extenuation, if not justification, of his " Pucelle," that the most reprehensible passages, how offensive soever to decency and morals, had no tendency to inflame the passions, and were not prurient but witty, though indecent ; a defense which no one of correct taste or sound morals can ever regard as more than an assertion that the matter complained of, though bad, might have been worse ! I don't recollect the doctor ever distinctly casting my horo- scope, as he did that of some others; but the following letter from a daughter, who still lives, of one of the professors, men- tions an odd guess of my own, like that of Erskine's mother, which he used to cite as an evidence of providential inspira- tion — for he never doubted that Providence acted by second- ary causes. The account given in the following letter of the reprimand is in one particular inaccurate. It was not for an essay, but for a message sent by the minority on a division in the Spec- ulative Society, composed of Jeffrey, Horner, Kinnait-d, and myself, and of which Jeffrey was the bearer to Professor Hume, whose class we were attending. The message was of an offensive, perhaps hostile description, complaining of his having said publicly, " Those young men, like their masters the, French, are evidently skilled in political arts." Jeffrey, as instructed by us, asked if he had used these expressions ; and said that if he had we felt bound to declare they con- tained a falsehood. We were all summoned. Jeffrey was out of town, Horner was ill,.as well as Kinnaird, and I alone could attend. The reprimand was perfectly justified by our proceeding, and was most gently administered. The follow- ing is an extract from the lady's letter : " I am sorry I myself was so young during Lord Brough; am's college life as to have paid much too little attention to all that I might have heard. To me he was always most ex- 48 EAULY LIPE. cessively kind, but it was the kindness of a young man to one who was comparatively a child. But I do remember one thing which made an impression on me : I heard that he and Horner and Lord Kinnaird had been engaged in the Specula- tive Society in defending an essay on some political subject, which essay .^and its defenders) was on much too liberal prin- ciples for the tastes of the rulers of the day ; and, in short, the three young men were sentenced (by the Senatus Academicus, I think it was) to submit to be reprimanded by the principal of the college for disseminating French principles and sedition. Of all of the three none were forthcoming but Brougham : Horner was ill or something, and Lord Kinnaird was absent, and Lord Brougham alone came before Principal Baird to re- ceive his lecture. I believe the good principal's admonition was a lenient one, for he was a kind, good-hearted man, who did not in his conscience think the worse of the young gentle- men for their essay ; and so Lord Brougham listened respect- fully and made his bow, and all was over. This was an event that showed the spirit of the times ; for the essay, I believe, contained nothing but what has become since the prevailing opinion and the law of the land. This is the story as nearly as I can remember it ; but if there is any thing materially in- correct in it, I dare say Lord Brougham could tell you the ex- act way of it, if he Or you think it of any consequence. " There is a curious little anecdote which I heard from Mai'y Robertson at the time Lord Brougham was made lord- chancellor. She told me that when she and the Broughams were all children they were invited to a little ball at her un- cle Mr. Abercromby's. We had a house somewhere about Coltbridge or Corstorphine (I do not know which), where the ball was to take place ; and all the children, Robertson's and Brougham's together, were packed into a hackney-coach to go ; but when they came to the toll-bar, not one of the party was found possessed of a sixpence to pay it ; on which, after some consultation among themselves, Henry Brougham jumped up and said to the tollman, ' Oh, you surely will let us pass, for I am the lord-chancellor.' Mary Robertson could not tell me whether he had at that time any idea of belonging to the law, but if it was a mere dash, it was a curious coincidence." If it was not owing to chance that at Edinburgh I received EARLY LIFE. ■ 49 the care and counsels of the great historian, it was not to mere accident that I was indebted for my intimacy with the great • advocate and orator, Erskine, and his brother Henry, only in- ferior to him in fame from his provincial position. The house in which we lived, on the north side of St. Andrew's Square, was under the same roof, and next door to Lord Buchan, eld- est brother of the Erskines, a man of eccentric character and much underrated, but of considerable learning and talents, and so highly esteemed by Lord Chatham that he gave him a dip- lomatic appointment, which he was kept from filling by some quarrel about etiquette and rank ; but Chatham continued his correspondent all his life, and I have seen his letters when I used to visit Lord Buchan at Dryburgh. They were on va- rious subjects, public and personal ; and I recollect the orthog- raphy was very indifferent, as, for instance, does being general^ ly spelt dos or doz. He was exceedingly kind to us as children, and I continued his acquaintance afterwards, his phrase being, " Ye're min ain bairns of the hoose " (you are mine own chil- dren of the house). This led naturally to a great, intimacy with his brother Heniy ; and when I was called to the bar, I had the benefit of his advice and instruction, as well as of profiting by the example of his advocacy, which had the high- est merit, and placed him at the head of the Scotch bar. When I afterwards removed to London, the family friendship was continued by the celebrated brother, with whom my in- tercourse was constant and familiar. Both these eminent men impressed upon me, as the first of qualities in an advocate, that to which they owed their own great success, the sacrific- ing every thing to the cause, and indulging in no one topic, or any illustration, or any comment, or even in a phrase or a word, that did not directly and manifestly serve the cause in some material particular. This rule, perhaps, applies to all the departments of eloquence ; but it is of paramount importance, nay, an absolute obligation, and of necessity to be obeyed in the conducting of a cause before any tribunal, even before a popular assembly. Both the Erskines had been educated at the High School, of which the younger all his life cherished an affectionate remembrance. The University he had not at- tended, having been at St. Andrews for a short time before he entered the navy. The care of his education devolved upon YoL. L— C 60 • EARLY LIFE. his brother (Lord Buchan), who was greatly his senior, and who most liberally, out of his moderate income, supplied all his wants. He died at his brother's seat near Edinburgh. Both these brothers inculcated their political as well as pj-o- fessional opinions very strongly on me at all times. They were staunch friends of liberty, and enemies of oppression, whether exercised over bodies of men or individuals ; and I can bear testimony to the warmth of feeling, as well as the skill and judgment, which Lord Erskine showed at the end of his life in the great case of the queen. The remark made on Loughborough that his Scotch returned to him in his latter days (the phrase being that his English had run out of him by the effects of age), does not apply to Erskine. The taint of the High School of Edinburgh could not be perceived at any time of his life. EASLY LIFE. g^ CHAPTER II. EAELY LIFE — Continued. I leave the High School. — At Brougham with a Tutor. — Tale after the man- ner of Rasselas. — I enter the College of Edinburgh. — With Folkstone, af- terwards Lord Badnor. — My early Efforts in Mathematics and Mechanics. — Optics, Chemistry. — Joseph Black, James Watt. — My first Speech at the Royal Medical Society. — I study Oratory. — I found the Juvenile Lit- erary Society. -^Become a Member of the Speculative Society. — Pedestrian Rambles. — Apollo Club, and High Jinks. — Feats of Edinburgh Burschen. — Heron's Play damned. — I go on a Yachting Expedition among the Western Isles. — My Eellow-traveller Charles Stuart (Stuait de Eothsay). — mislay. — Life at Sea. — St. Kilda. — Stornoway. — Cross to Elsinore. Hating finished with the High School, I passed the next fourteen months, from August, 1791, to October, 1792, at Brougham, where Mr. Mitchell was my first tutor — a man of excellent temper as well as sound learning, who intended to take orders in the Scotch Church. By his conversation on every subject it was impossible not to profit ; and his moral maxims were as enlightened as his opinions on literary and scientific subjects. The time was principally devoted to Greek and Latin ; and I was further instructed in such duties by my father, who retained his love of and familiarity with the classics ; and, encouraged by him, I tried my hand at writing English essays, and even tales of fiction. I find one of these has survived the waste-paper basket, and it may amuse my readers to see the sort of composition I was guilty of at the age of thirteen. My tale was entitled " Memnon, or Human Wisdom," and is as follows : " Memnon one day conceived the useless project of being perfectly wise. There is scarcely any man who has not at one time or other let this folly pass through his head. To be very wise (said Memnon to himself), and, of consequence, very happy, one has only to be without passions, and (as we 52 MARLY LIFE. all know) nothing is easier. In the first place, I shall never love any woman ; for when I see a perfect beauty I shall say to myself, ' These cheeks will one day be wrinkled ; these fine eyes will be fringed with red ; that plum {sic) neck will turn flat and flabby ; that beautiful head will grow bald.' Now, I have only to see all this with the same eyes at present that I must see it with afterwards, and surely that head will never turn mine. In the second place, I shall always be sober. In vain shall good cheer, delicious wines, agreeable society, try to tempt me. I have only to figure to myself the consequence of excess — a heavy head — a disordered stomach — ^loss of rea- son, health, and time ; and surely I shall never eat but to satisfy nature ; my health shall be constant, my ideas always luminous and j)ure. All this is so easy that there is no merit in keeping to it. Then (continued Memnon) I must think a little of my fortune. My desires are moderate ; my income is lodged in the hands of the Receiver-general of the Finances of Nineveh; I have wherewithal to live independent; and that is the greatest of earthly blessings. I shall never have the disagreeable necessity of paying court to any body. I shall envy no one, and be envied by none. Besides, here is another thing equally plain. I have friends ; I shall keep them ; so they can have nothing to dispute with me about ; I shall never be out of humor with them, nor they with me. In all this there's no sort of difiiculty. Having thus formed in his room his little scheme of wisdom, Memnon put his head out of the window. He saw two women washing near his house, under the plane-trees : one of them was old, and seem- ed not to be thinking about any thing ; the other was young, handsome, and appeared much engaged. She sighed ; she wept ; and seemed to have only the more graces. Our sage was moved — not with the beauty of the lady (he wa,s quite confident he never could be guilty of such a weakness), but he was touched with the afilictioii she appeared to be in. He went down stairs, and approached the young daughter of Nineveh, in the intention of consoling her with wisdom. The fair creature related, with an air the most natural and affect- ing, all the injuries she had received from an uncle whom she never had — with the artifices by which he had taken from her a fortune she never possessed, and all the evils she had to fear EASLT LIFE. 53 from his ill-treatment. ' You appear,' said slie, ' to be a man of such good counsel, that if you'll only have the conde- scendence to step home with me and examine my affairs, I'm sure you'll relieve me from the cruel embarrassments into which I have fallen.' Memnon followed her without hesita- tion, for the purpose of examining, safely, her affairs, and giving her good advice. The afflicted lady carried him into a perfumed apartment, and politely bid him be seated upon a large sofa, where they both remained with their legs crossed, and Opposite to each other. The damsel, while she spoke, cast her eyes on the ground, and sometimes dropt tears from them ; and whenever she raised them, they always happened to meet those of the sage Memnon. The conversation was full of tenderness, which redoubled every time they looked at one other. Memnon took her affairs extremely to heart, and felt every moment more and more a desire to oblige so worthy and so unfortunate a personage. Insensibly they ceased (in the heat of conversation) to sit opposite to each other — their legs were no longer crossed. Memnon gave his advice so near and so tenderly, that neither one nor t'other could now speak of business, and they no longer knew where they were. While they continued in this situation, in comes the uncle. As may easily be imagined, he was armed cap-a-pie. His first words were that he proposed (as was reasonable) killing Memnon and his niece on the spot ; and the last thing which escaped him was that he would pardon them, if he was well paid for it. Memnon was forced to give all he had about him.. " These were happy days when one could get off so cheap. America was not then known, and afflicted ladies were not half so dangerous as they are in our times. Memnon went home in shame and despair : he found a card inviting him to dine with some of his intimate friends. If (said he) I stay at home by myself, I shall think on nothing but my sad ad- venture. I shall eat none, and shall fall sick. I had much better go and make a frugal meal with my companions.* The sweets of their society will make me forget the morning's folly. He goes to the place appointed; they perceive him somewhat out of sorts ; they make him drink to drown sor- row. A little wine taken in moderation is a cure both for 54 EARLY LIFE. mind and body, so thinks the sage Memnon ; and, so thinking, he gets drunk. They propose to play after dinner. A little play, well regulated, with one's friends, makes an honorable pastime. He plays, loses all his ready money, and four times more on tick. During the game a dispute arises ; they turn warm. One of his particular friends throws a decanter at Memnon's head, and shuts up an eye for him. The sage Memnon is carried home, mortal drunk, with the loss of all his money, and half his eyes. He throws up a little of his wine, and as soon as his head is a little clear, he sends his servant to the receiver-general for money to pay his particu- lar friends. He is told that his debtor had that morning broke fraudulently, to the alarm of half the families in town. Memnon, quite beside himself, sets off for court, with a patch on his eye and petition in his hand, to demand justice of the king against the bankrupt. He meets in the drawing-room several ladies, who sported, with an easy air, hoops of twen- ty-four feet in circumference. One of these, who knew him a little, muttered (eying him askance), ' How horrid !' An- other, who was better acquainted with him, accosted him with a ' How do, Mr. Memnon ? But, indeed, Mr. Memnon, I'm prodigious glad to see you. By-the-by, Mr. Memnon, how do you happen to have lost an eye?' And so she tri- fled on, without waiting for an answer. Memnon hid him- self in a corner, and waited for the moment when he might throw himself at the monarch's feet. The moment came, and he kissed the ground three times, presenting his petition. His most gracious Majesty of all the Ninevehs received it very favorably, and handed it to one of his satraps to make a report of its substance. The satrap took Memnon aside, and said to him, grinning bitterly, and with a contemptuous air, ' You're a pleasant sort of a blinkard, truly, to address the king rather than me ; and still more pleasant to d^re to de- mand justice against an honest bankrupt whom I honor with my protection, and who, indeed, is the nephew of my kept mistress's waiting-woman ! Leave off this business, friend, I advise you, if you value the health of your remaining eye.' Memnon, having thus in the morning abjured women, the ex- cesses of the table, play, quarrels, and, above all, the court, had been, before night, duped and pigeoned by a fine lady, EABLT LIFE. 55 filled drunk, rooked at play, drawn into a quarrel, robbed of an eye, and had been at court, where he found himself laughed at. Petrified with astonishment and overpowered with grief, he moves homeward, death-sick at heart. He finds his house surrounded by bailiffs, in the act of gutting it on the part of his creditors. He stops half dead under a plane-tree ; he here meets the fair lady of the morning, walk- ing with her dear uncle. She bursts out a laughing at see- ing Memnon with his plaster. The night came on; Mem- non laid himself down on some straw near the walls of his house. A fever seized him ; he fell asleep in the crisis of the disorder, and a celestial spirit appeared to him in a dream. It was clothed in resplendent light; it had six fine wings — but neither feet, nor head, nor tail, nor resemblance to any thing earthly. ' What art thou ?' said Memnon. ' Thy good genius,' replied the being. ' Restore me, then,' said Memnon, ' my eye, my health, my money, my wisdom.' He then re- lated how he had, in one day's time, lost all these. ' These are adventures for you,' said the spirit, ' which we never meet with in our world.' 'And where may your world be ?' said the man of woe. ' My country,' said the spirit, ' is five hun- dred millions of leagues from the sun, in a little star near Sirius ; as you see here.' ' Dear, what a nice country !' said Memnon : ' so you have no sluts who dupe a poor man ; no particular friends who win his money and knock out his eye ; no bankrupts ; no satraps who laugh at you because they re- fuse you justice.' 'No,' said the native of the star, 'none of these things at all. We are never cozened by women, for we have no women. We never commit excess at table, for we never feed. We have no bankrupts, for with us there is neither silver nor gold. We can't have our eyes closed up, because we have not bodies made like yours; and satraps never do us injustice, because in our little star all the world is on a footing.' Memnon then addressed him : ' My good master, wifeless and dirinerless ! how do you contrive to pass your time ?' ' In watching over the other world intrusted to our care,' said he, ' and I am come here just now to console thee.' ' Alaokaday !' replied Memnon, ' why didn't you come last night to prevent me from committing so many follies ?' ' I was with thy eldest brother, Haspar,' said the celestial being. 56 HARLY LIFW. ' He is more to be pitied than thou. His gracious Majesty the King of the Indians, at whose court he has the honor of be- longing, hath caused put out both his eyes for some petty indiscretion ; and he is at this moment in a dungeon with his hands and feet in irons.' 'It's very hard,' said Memnon, * when one has a good genids in the family, that one brother should be blind in one eye, the othef in both — one lying 'on straw, the other in prison.' ' Thy lot shall change,' replied the animal of the star. ' It is true thou shalt always be half- blind ; but then, this excepted, thou shalt be happy enough, provided always thou shalt not form the foolish project of being perfectly wise.' ' That, then, is out of the question ?' said Memnon, with a sigh. 'As impossible,' said the other, ' as to think of being perfectly clever, strong, powerful, or happy. Evien we ourselves are far from it. There is, in- deed, one globe where all that may be had ; but in the hun- dred thousand millions of others which are sprinkled over space, eveiy thing is got by degrees. One feels less pleas- anter in the second than in the first; stiU less in the third than the second ; and so on, down to the last, where every mother's son is an absolute fool.' ' I greatly fear,' said Mem- non, ' that our little terraqueous globe is precisely the little habitation of the universe about which you are doing me the honor to speak.' ' ]srot altogether,' said the spirit,' ' but near- ly so ; every thing must have its place.' ' But stay,' said Memnon ; ' some poets and philosophers, then, are in the wrong to say that every thing is for the best ?' ' They are quite right,' said the philosopher of the upper regions, ' if we consider the arrangement of the whole universe.' 'Ah !' re- plied poor Memnon, ' I shall never be able to see that till I've got back my other eye.' " We returned to Edinburgh for the college session in Octo- ber ; and I recollect, after passing through Carlisle, break- fasting at Netherby, where we saw Sir James Graham, then a child in his nurse's arms. The Bishop of Carlisle (Vernon, afterwards Archbishop of York) and I have often talked of the change which forty or fifty years had made on that in- fant. Under Playfair I then began the course of mathematics. Nothing could be more admirable than his teaching. He EARLY LIFE. 57 • was at all times accessible to his pupils for explaining things left short in the class, and removing doubts or difficulties that occurred in their reading at home. In this respect he was superior to the other great teacher of that time, Dugald Stew- art, under whom we all derived the most solid instruction that lectures could afford, in the most attractive form of eloquence ; but, probably partly from tlie exhaustion of his delivery, and partly from aversion to disputation, which such conferences were apt to occasion, he very often declined to see his pupils after the class rose. Playfair's winter course was six months, and the summer three, at the second of which I attended with Lord Folkestone (now Radnor), whose intimacy, both personal and political, I have since constantly enjoyed, and a better man I have never known, to say nothing of his great abilities. Those who had the advantage of hearing him in the discussions in the House of Lords upon the distress of the country at the end of 1830, and on the Reform, Bill the year after, when he delivered a speech of the most finished excellence, may remember my ref- erence to a still nobler oration in the Duke of York's case in 1809, which no less accomplished judges than Windham, Can- ning, and Dudley, each severally assured me was one of the mOjSt powerful that they ever heard. One great merit of Radnor's eloquence was its being so plainly produced by strong and honest feelings. It proceeded manifestly from the speaker's heart, and it went direct to the hearts of hi* hearers.* In 1794, on an exercise which I gave in, the Professor (Playfair) desired me to wait till tlie class rose,-and then he said that I had hit upon the Binomial Theorem, asking me by what steps I had been led to it ? I of course answered, as was the fact, that it had been by induction. But he said, " This piece of good-fortune ought to make you fonder of the mathe- matics than ever;" and as I wished to master the Fluxional Calculus, which he had done no more than explain the nature of, in that course, I desired to know what he would recom- mend me to read with that view. He said there were two works, either of which deserved to be studied, Lacaille and * See Appendix VIII. C 2 58 EASLY LIFE. Bezout, but he preferred the latter.* I set to work with that, and in a few months showed him that I had profited by the study.' My intimacy with Playfair continued all his life. I used to correspond with him on mathematical subjects, and I remember his letters in answer to mine from the north, ob- serving that " I was as usual on our common subject, when in my aphelion." I recollect when we were volunteers together in an artillery corps. He was particularly diligent in superin- tending our ball-practice, and on the first occasion of it received great delight from the accidental success of his old pupil in levelling the "gun, which shot through the centre of the target. "You see," he said, to those about him, "how we mathema- ticians cari-y the day." He would not allow it to be, as I ad- mitted, a mere chance, and did not approve of my modesty being displayed to the detriment of science. The last time we met was in 1816 at Rome, where we passed part of the winter, the famous year when all the heads of London' society were there — Jerseys, Hamiltons, Devonshires, Cowpers, Bar- ings, Kings,Vernons, Westmorlands. In 1794, '5 I was led away for a few weeks from the cal- culus by the interest I took in a problem proposed by the Academy of Sciences at Berlin for a prize — the deflection of a projectile from the vertical plane ; and a solution having oc- curred to me, or a supposed solution, I drew up a paper (or memoir) and sent it. I never received the acknowledgment •of it, and very properly ; for I am certain, from what I recol- lect of it, that the demonstration was wrong, at least was in- adequate, though I believe the theory was correct, which as- cribed the deflection to the rotatory motion of ttie projectile, and its condensing the air. But I recollect an experiment which, accompanied by my brother James and Reddie, I tried, in order to ascertain the effects of the rotation. It was to fire a" bullet from a fowl- ing-piece, placed horizontally, through a series of screens placed vertically. It was found that the bullet first deviated * Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who died in 1762, author of a host of hooks on astronomy, mensuration, and the higher mathematics. Etienne Bezout, author of "La The'orie Generale des Equations Algebriques," and of several other books chiefly directed towards the mathematical training of the several branches of the French military and naval force. EAMLY LIFE. 59 to the left, and then, on piercing the first screen, swerved to the right, and so at each screen changed its direction — indi- cating, as we supposed, that the direction of rotation was changed by the screens. I, however, soon returned to pure mathematics, and several of the propositions afterwards mentioned in my paper on Porisms. were investigated at, this time. I was also diligent- ly employed in experiments upon light and colors, and con- ceived that I had made some additions to the Newtonian doctrine, which I sent to the Royal Society in the summer of 1795. The paper was very courteously received; but Sir Charles Blagden (the secretary) desired parts to be left out in the notes or queries as belonging rather to the arts than the sciences. This was very unfortunate ; because, I having observed the effect of a small hole in the window-shutter of a darkened room, when a view is formed on white paper of the external objects, I had suggested that if that view is formed, not on paper, but on ivory rubbed with nitrate of silver, the picture would become permanent ; and I had sug- gested improvements in drawing founded upon this fact. Now this is the origin of photography; and had the note containing the suggestion in 1795 appeared, in all probability it would have set others on the examination of the subject, and given us photography half a century earlier than we have had it. The expei'iments and propositions as printed in the " Phil- osophical Transactions " I liave since considered as proceed- ing in great part from confounding colors made by flexion with those formed by reflection, for I am convinced that all the phenomena in my experiments may be explained without having recourse to the supposition of different reflexibility, by considering the colors as formed by flexion and then re- flected. But there is a different reflexibility. The Newtonian is another kind, not of the white rays be- ing separated into their component parts by one reflection, but of the rays being reflected instead of refracted or trans- mitted ; and I showed that this is owing, not to the different rays having different capacities of reflection, but to their hav- ing, in the first instance, been separated by refraction, the ex- periment being not of reflection without previous refraction, 60 EABLY LIFE. but after much refraction, and that their different refraUgi- bility is in truth alone the cause of their apparent different reflexibility. I believe all opticians have admitted the cor- rectness of my reasoning in. this; and that the different re- flexibility of the Newtonian system has long ceased to be admitted at all. In these papers I only had a query as to different flexibility, which Newton does not suggest ; but in papers long since given in the " Philosophical Transactions," and in the " Memoirs of the National Institute of France," the existence of this property is fully shown by various exper- iments. Besides the two optical papers (1796, 1797), there was one on Poi'isms, inserted in the " Philosophical Transactions " the year after (1798). Great as was the pleasure and solid advantage of studying under such men as Playfair and Stewart, the gratification of attending one of Black's last courses exceeded all I have ever enjoyed. In my life of that great man (" Lives of the Phi- losophers") I have attempted to describe this pleasure.* Not a little of this extreme interest certainly belonged to the accident that he had so long survived the period of his suc- cess — that we knew there sat in our presence the man now in old age reposing under the laurels won in his early youth. But, take it altogether, the effect was such as can not well be conceived. I have heard the greatest understandings of the age giving forth their efforts in their most eloquent tongues — have heard the commanding jDeriods of Pitt's majestic or- atory — the vehemence of Fox's burning declamation — ^have followed the close-compacted chain of Grant's pure reason- ing — been carried away by the mingled fancy, epigram, and argumentation of Plunkett; but I would without hesitation prefer, for mere intellectual gratification (though aware how much of it is derived from association), to be once more al- lowed the privilege which I in those days enjoyed, of being present, while the first philosopher of his age was the histo- rian of his own discoveries, and be an eye-witness of those experiments by which he had formerly made them, once more performed with his own hands. * See note, p. 29. EARLY LIFE. 61 His Style of lecturing was as nearly perfect as can well be conceived ; for it had all the simplicity which is so entirely suited to 8cienti&c discourse, while it partook largely of the elegance of all he said or did. The publication of his lec- tures has conveyed an accurate idea of the purely analytical order in which he deemed it best to handle the subject with a view to instruction, considering this as most likely to draw and to fix the learner's attention, to impress his memory, and to show him both the connection of the theory with the facts and the steps by which the principles were originally ascer- tained. He would illustrate his doctrine of latent heat by referring to what is seen and felt, but passed without re- mark, in the boiling of a kettle, and the steam coming from its spout, of different heat at different distances ; or would remind us of the surprise expressed by finding that boiling water is cooled far more quickly than could be foreseen upon the addition of a very little cold ; or that a hot chestnut which the mouth can not bear is in an instant made bearable by the least drop of wine sipped with it, and the wine not becoming sensibly hotter. His experiments were often, like Franklin's, performed with the simplest apparatus — indeed with nothing that could be called apparatus at all. I forget whether he showed us the experiment of a bladder filled with inflammable air and rising to the ceiling, which he had often shown to his friends in private, and which was the origin of the air-balloon ; but I remember his pouring fixed air from a vessel in which sulphuric acid had been poured upon chalk, and showing us how this air poured on a candle extinguished the light. He never failed to remark on the great use of sim- ple experiments within every one's reach, and liked to dwell on the manner in which discoveries are made, and the practical effect resulting fi'om them in changing the condition of men and things. The scheme of the lectures may thus be apprehended — the execution imperfectly ; for the diction was evidently, in many instances, extemporaneous, the notes before the teacher fur- nishing him with little more than the substance, especially of those portions which were connected with experiments. But still less can the reader rise from the perusal to any concep- tion of the manner. Nothing could be more suited to the oc- 62 MARLY LIFE. casion : it was perfect philosophical calmness ; there was no efEort, but it was an easy and a graceful conversation. The voice was low, but perfectly distinct and audible through the whole of a large hall crowded in every part with mutely at-, tentive listeners \ it was never at all forced, any more than were the motions of the hands, but it was any thing rather than monotonous. Perfect elegance as well as repose was the phrase by which every hearer and spectator naturally, as if by common consent, described' the whole delivery. The accidental circumstance of the great teacher's aspect, I hope I may be pardoned for stopping to note, while endeavoring to convey the idea of a philosophic discoverer. His features were singularly graceful, full of intelligence, but calm, as suit- ed his manner and his speech. His high forehead and sharp temples were slightly covered, when I knew him, with hair of a snow-white hue, and his mouth gave a kindly as well as a most intelligent expression to his whole features. In one department of his lectures he exceeded any I have ever known — the neatness and unvarying success with which all the ma- nipulations of his experiments were performed. His correct eye and steady hand contributed to the one : his admirable precautions, foreseeing and providing for every emergency, secured the other. I have seen him pour boiling water or boiling acid from a vessel that had no spout into a tube, holding it at such a distance as made the stream's diameter small, and so vertical that not a drop was spilt. While he poured he would mention this adaptation of the height to the diameter as a necessary condition of success. I have seen him mix two substances in a receiver into which a gas, as chlorine, had been introduced, the effect of the combination being perhaps to produce a compound inflammable in its nas- cent state, and the mixture being effected by drawing some string or wire working through the receiver's sides in an air- tight socket. The long table on which the different processes bad been carried on was as clean at the end of the lecture as it had been before the apparatus was planted upon it. Not a drop of liquid, not a grain of dust remained. The reader who has known the pleasures of science will forgive me if, at the distance of much more than half a centu- ry, I love to linger over these recollections, and to dwell on the EARLY LIFE. 63 delight which I well remember thrilled me as we heard this illustrious sage detail, after the manner I have feebly attempt- ed to portray, the steps by which he made his discoveries, illustrating them with anecdotes sometimes recalled to his mind by the passages of the moment, and giving their dem- onstration by performing before us the many experiments which had revealed to him first the most important secrets of nature. Next to the delight of having actually stood by him when his victory was gained, we found the exquisite gratifi- cation of hearing him simply, most gracefully, in the most calm spirit of philosophy, with the most perfect modesty, re- count his difficulties, and how they were overcome ; open to us the steps by which he had successfully advanced from one part to another of his brilliant course; go over the same ground, as it wei"e, in our presence which he had for the first time trod so many long years before ; hold up, perhaps, the very mstruments he had then used, and act over again the same part before our eyes which had laid the deep and broad foundations of his imperishable renown. Not a little of this extreme interest certainly belonged to the accident that he had so long survived the period of his success — that we knew there sat in our presence the man, now in his old age, reposing under the laurels won in his early youth. But, take it alto- gether, the effect was such as can not well be conceived. One thing was very striking in his lectures, as also in his conversation, and it was equally remarkable in his friend and pupil. Watt — the great care, even to minute particulars of evidence, which he took to appropriate to every one his share in the discoveries of which he was treating. His love of jus- tice was one of the mast marked characteristics of his nature, as it was of the Duke of Wellington's. I well remember Denman saying, when he saw him rush forward to defend some officer unjustly attacked, or to obtain for him the share of commendation that he thought had been inadequately awarded, " Of all that man's great and good qualities, the one which stands first is his anxious desire ever to see justice done, and the pain he manifestly feels from the sight of in- justice." This observation came with peculiar grace from one who in such attributes was the greatest judge of the day. It is somev/hat remarkable that both Black and Watt have 64 MARLY LIFE. suffered more than almost any who can be named from the plagiarisms of others, and their unfairness, sometimes from national, sometimes from personal prejudices. They bore this with different degrees of equanimity. Black seemed never to regard it at all ; indeed he was singularly exempt from either vanity or ambition, and only cared for the prog- ress of science, by whomsoever it was assisted, though re- garding as essential to that progress the due ascertainment and positive declaration of each person's merits. I have heard him with astonishment, in bearing testimony to the great merits of Lavoisier, both as a great discoverer and gen- eralizer of facts observed by others, and bestowing praise un- stinted upon his works, without even making the least allu- sion to the entire suppression in them of all reference to his name as founder of the new school of chemistry, by the dis- covery of latent heat and permanently elastic fluids ; and this after he had received, years before, letters in which Lavoisier expresses his " zealous admiration of the profound genius and discoveries which had made such revolutions in science;" and the year after, " that he had for a long time been accus- tomed to regard him as his master, and only lamented not having been able to convey his admiration in person, and rank himself among his disciples." When Black saw that the dis- covery of latent heat was distinctly claimed as Lavoisier's own, after it had for twenty years been described in the pro- fessor's lectures, and been recognized all over Europe as his discovery, he was not a little surprised at the conduct of his correspondent. These strange proceedings of Lavoisier were, as we learn from Professor Robison, only treated with a si- lent contempt expressed for the flattery of his letters. Four- croy gives Black the full credit of his discoveries, and disr tinctly states that they had been the foundation of the new system (" Elem. de Chym.," i., 30, 40 ; " Syst. de Cour. Chy- mique," i., 28, 40). I remember the first time I ever was in his society. When I went to take a ticket for his class, there stood upon his ta- ble a small brass instrument for weighing the guineas given. On learning who I was, he entered into conversation in a most kind manner. He said he concluded I was not a medical stu- dent, as all but two or three of the class were ; among whom EAJRLY LIFE. 63 were Messrs. Vogt and "Watenbach, of Hamburg, and M. Koe- nig, of Dresden. He asked what classes I had attended, and expressed himself much pleased with what I told him of the great interest I took in mathematics and natural philosophy, recommending the study of Newton's Optics, both for the substance and the method. When I was going away he said : " You must have been surprised at my using this instrument to weigh your guineas, but it was before I knew who you were. I am obliged to weigh them when strange students come, there being a very large number who bring light guin- eas; so that I should be defrauded of many pounds every year if I did not act in self-defense against that class of stu- dents ;" and he particularly mentioned one class, describing them. The qualities which distinguished him as an inquirer and as a teacher followed him into all the ordinary affairs of life. He was a person whose opinions on every subject were mark- ed by calmness and sagacity, wholly free from both passion and prejudice, while affectation was only known to him from the comedies he might have read. His temper, in all the cir- cumstances of life, was unruffled. This was perceived in his lectures; when he had occasion to mention any narrow preju- dice or any unworthy proceeding of other philosophers. One exception there certainly was, possibly the only one in his life. He seemed to have felt hurt at the objections urged by a Ger- man chemist called Meyer to his doctrine of causticity, which that person explained by supposing an acid, called by him aci- dum pingue, to be the cause of alkaline mildness. The un- sparing severity of the lecture in which Black exposed the ig- norance and dogmatism of this foolish reasoner can not well be forgotten by his hearers, who both wondered that so ill- matched an antagonist should have succeeded where so many crosses had failed in discomposing the sage, and observed how well fitted he was, should occasion be offered, for a kind of exertion exceedingly different from all the efforts that at other times he was wont to make. Against this Meyer he had no prejudice of a national kind whatever. One subject of his constant praise was Magroff, whom he held up as a great example of skillful and judicious analytical investigation, and placing him greatly above Potts. 60 EARLY LIFE. Of Bergman he had by no means a great admiration, but Ma- groff was less ambitious in his researches, and Bergman claim- ed the place of a discoverer, which Black was unwilling to al- low him, appearing to join with those who pleasantly said his greatest discovery w.as the discovering Scheele. It is need- less to add that of Scheele he had the greatest admiration. In truth he placed him at the head of all; and except Sir Isaac Newton, I do not remember any name so devoutly re- vered by him as Scheele's. When, a year or two after, I pass- ed in my Swedish tour one night through Koping, where Scheele lived, though a native of Poraerania, I well remember being haunted by the recollection of Black, an account of whose death had reached me just as I was setting out for Stockholm.* Among others who have since been distinguished, Thomas Young and George Birkbeck were my fellow-students under Black.! Long before entering the Speculative Society, and when only somewhat trained in the young Debating Society, after little more than one session at the college, I had an opportu- nity of trying my voice at a great meeting, that of the Royal Medical Society, a chartered body, to which almost* all the medical students, and one or two others, belonged. The meetings were weekly, and between 100 and 150 were often present, including a small number of visitors. The subjects, of course, were almost always medical, or connected with med- ical science, but occasionally subjects were broached which had little or no connection with it. The business consisted of one or two papers which were read, each member being re- quired, in his turn, to give in a paper; and the whole having been read, without debate, by the secretary, a second reading took place, at any part of which all present might introduce objections or discussion on popular topics, but of a scientific description. The debate was often of considerable length, and sometimes even adjourned. The subject on which I spoke was the much-vexed question of "liberty and neces- * Charles William Scheele, the Swedish chemist, bom 1742, died 1786. t George Birkbeck, bom 1776, died 1841, chiefly known for his exertions in the establishment of Mechanics' Institutes. George Young, celebrated for deciphering the Eosetta inscription, bom 1773, died 1829. EASLY LIFE. 07 sity," and, according to my recollection, I spoko after Mr. Woolcomb, subsequently an eminent physician at Plymouth, and a man of great learning and ability, universally respected through life; but whether my contention lay with him, or others who had espoused the same side — that of "necessity" — is not in my recollection. I, however, found that, after the first alarm had abated, I had no difficulty in making my way, and my speech was far better received than it deserved ; the impression made being very much owing to my youth, which appeared very clearly from my person, and might have done still more from my topics. The Logic class which I was then attending furnished many of the terms used ; as, for in- stance, I not only charged one of my antagonists with petitio principii, but had the pedantry to charge another with an idolum theatri^ Bacon's expression for a vulgar error. It is pretty clear that, whatever merit the delivery or com- position might have, or whatever town as well as college gos- sip it might give rise to, the argument was far from unan- swerable ; for it mainly consisted in an attempt to prove that a denial of free-will was inconsistent with the foreknowledge of the Deity, whereas the necessitarian side of the question is often supposed to be more aided by that topic. In truth, there is .some difficulty in this view of the question; and that is perhaps best avoided by the assumption, quite well grounded, that with Omniscience there is no such thing as before and after, all times being alike present to the infinite and eternal mind. The success of this attempt impressed on me more than ever the necessity of care and attention in preparing for any such occasion, and the necessity of going beyond books, and even not resting satisfied with the most important study of all, as preparation for eloquence — the oratory of the ancients. It became, theref ore,imy constant practice to hear all the speak- ers and preachers who were most admired. The Court of Session always, and the General Assembly in the month of May, were accessible ; and I was not only frequently taken there by my father, but also went with one or two of my com- panions. At that time it was impossible to enter into the par- * EtduAov Bearpov. 68 EASLY LIFJS. ticular merits of different speakers : liittle more could be learn- ed than their excellence or defects of manner, with something of the difference between oratory as read or as heard. The great speakers and preachers left a lasting impression, and from some of the most eminent I really may be said to have brought away lessons or suggestions that have been turned to account. Even thus early I profited not a little from the great leaders of the bar, and somewhat from great preachers, both masters of declamation and of pathos. From one whose elo- quence was remarkable, and in pathetic passages especially, I learned a use of the voice which was thus impressed on my mind when very young, and which I have often employed in after-life — namely, of dropping the voice at particular passages, to command general attention, or enforce silence. It was • from the use of this expedient that some, as Abercromby (Dunfermline), used to talk of " Brougham's whispers," allud- ing .to my power of whispering through the House of Com- mons to the very door and wall. The pi-eacher from whom I learned this had a very feeble voice, which probably suggest- ed it to him. I certainly had not the same reason. Of the great advocates, Hope had a most powerful voice ; Erskine one of great variety, but of sufficient compass ; Blair a strong but inarticulate one, his manner dignified, Avith his matter making amends for the defects of his voice. In those days, however, it was little more than the manner that was studied and remarked. After my return from the Continent, I was admitted an ad- vocate early in 1800, but I had for several years before been devoting myself to the practice of public speaking ; having begun this by establishing, with some of my friends, a debat- ing society, which was founded in December, 1792. I have' now before me the original minute-book, in which the first en- try is as follows : "This society was formed in December, 1792; and at tbe first meeting, on the 22d day of December, 1792, received the name of the Juvenile Literary Society." Then follows a list of the members, twenty-one in number, headed by my name as founder and first president. Among the first members were Horner, Henry Mackenzie (afterwards Lord Mackenzie), John Forbes (afterwards Lord Medwyn), EAJiLT LIFE. 69 James Keay, who rose high at the bar ; Andrew Wauchope, who distinguished himself in the Peninsular War ; and An- drew Thomson, the eloquent preacher and leader in the Church courts. The laws were very strict. Absence without excuse, to be inquired into by a committee, was fined. Coming late, half an hour beyond the time of meeting, was also fined ; and oc- casionally, though very rarely, expulsion was inflicted for re- peated breach of the rules. The laws were sometimes revised by a committee of inquiry, and altered upon its report. At the end of the session and commencement of the six months' vacation a commission was appointed, on the model of that in the General Assembly, to look after the affairs of the society. The meetings were on Saturday morning, when there were no college classes. The members presided in rotation, and ah essay was read from the chair, and submitted to criticism. The questions were put into a list, upon the report of a com- mittee. One was given out for each meeting, and a member appointed to dej)ate it on each side ; any other afterwards taking part in the discussion. Many of the speeches were read, but sometimes an extempore debate was had on a ques- tion proposed by the president, without any notice. The poli- tics of the day were generally excluded; but from a letter from Forbes (Lord Medwyn), addressed to the secretary in 1794, there appears to have been an apprehension of their in- troduction. I see one debate was on theatrical representations being in- jurious to virtue, and decided in the negative by four to one. On the question whether Elizabeth was justified in putting Mary to death, I stood alone against Elizabeth, which shows that the answer I gave at Edinburgh two years ago had not been an opinion recently formed. Having attended the draw- ing-room given by Lady Belhaven (his grace the lord high commissioner's wife) in Holyrood House, I was taken to see the chamber in which Rizzio had been murdered, and the queen's bedroom adjoining ; and on my expressing the nat- ural feeling of horror at the assassination, and the outrage also to her feelings, with some observations upon the conduct of Elizabeth, they said, " Then of course you consider Mary as innocent of all that has been laid to her charge." I an- 10 EARLT LIFE. swered, " Quite the contrary ; I regard her conduct in the worst light possible as regards Scotland, my only doubt being upon her share in Babington's conspiracy." On the question whether the lawyer or the divine is more useful to society, it was given in favor of the divine, all the lawyers voting in the majority! That Brutus was unjustifi- able in killing Caesar, was decided in the affirmative, as I well recollect, after an excellent speech by Horner on that side of the question. " Whether the prodigal is a worse member of society than the miser;" I voted with the majoritj', Horner the other way. " Whether man is happier in a rude than in a civilized state ;" both Horner and I voted in the minority, I grieve to say, the decision being for the civilized state. " That benevolence is a stronger principle of action than in- terest ;" Horner voted with the majority, I with the minority. On looking over the rules and the proceedings of this so- ciety, it is very remarkable to find the extreme regularity with which' the business was conducted and the order which pre- vailed ; so that the example of these boys njight be a lesson to their seniors in other assemblies. Such of us as were destined for the bar afterwards entered the Speculative Society, which had been long established, and had a hall and libraiy of its own in the college. Men older than ourselves were among its active members ; but of our standing were Jeffrey (though a little older), Horner, Murray, and Moncrieff, Miller, Loch, Adam, Cockburn, Jardine — and there were several students who had come from England. Of these, the most distinguished were Lord Henry Petty (af- terwards Lansdowne) and Charles Kinnaird (afterwards Lord Kinnaird), Lord Webb Seymour, and somewhat later the two Grants, Glenelg, and his brother Sir Robert. Political differ- ences ran high at that time, and there was a personal quarrel with the professors, who had accused us of French principles. There was another quarrel from an attempt to exclude Wil- liam Adam, when Charles Hope (afterwards Lord President) behaved, as he always did', most honorably, and with a totaj disregard of political differences. Notwithstanding these im- pediments, great progress was made in the practice of debat- ing, which many of us showed in after-life that Ave had well learned ; and I remember Lord Medwyn, when he came to EARLY LIFE. 71 Loudou during the session of Parliament, saying that when he heard the debates he recognized his old brethren of the Spec- ulative, as well as their speeches there.* It is fit to mention that the great lights of the Scotch bar at this time were Erskine, Tait, and Charles Hope, as speak- ers ; Blair and Ross, as lawyers.f Admirable as Harry Er- skine was in all respects, both as an advocate and a speaker, the person who struck me most, and gave me the first con- ception of an orator, was Hope. I had never been in Lon- don, and had heard none of the great speakers. The effect produced on me by Hope's eloquence was beyond any thing I could previously have conceived ; nor have I ever forgotten it. He was a very powerful speaker in all respects, but his declamation was of the very highest order. Even his violent political opponents confessed this. I have heard Gillies and Malcolm Laing assert, that if he had been earlier introduced into Parliament, he would have proved superior to Pitt. Gillies himself had great powers as a speaker ; and for close logical argument, Cranstoun (afterwards Lord Corehouse) was never surpassed. This was the opinion of all our law- yers who heard him at the bar of the House of Lords. Peel said he was the finest speaker he had ever heard, except Pitt — ^which was not a very happy comparison, as no two styles of speaking could be more entirely different. Indeed, Sir William Grant was the only Parliamentary speaker of the same order as Cranstoun. Between 1V95 and 1799, 1 generally (as my father did not care to return to Brougham) took advantage of vacations to make walking tours through different parts of the Highlands. These were wild scrambling excursions, but abounding in mirth and jollity ; for we were young, active, and overbur- dened with high spirits. My companions generally were, my brother James, John Russell, my cousin (his mother being a daughter of Dr. Rob- ertson), James Ferguson, and Charles Stuart, my most inti- mate friend (afterwards Lord Stuart de Rothsay). I kept no journal of our tours ; and only recollect that we visited the * See Appendix IX. t These wiH be fount! commented on in Cliapter IV. 72 EARLY LIFE. Falls of the Clyde, Stirling, Loch Katrine and its romantic scenery, and a large portion of the "Western Highlands. We must have been indefatigable walkers ; for I well remember, on one occasion, Stuart and 1 had not only walked the feet off our stockings, but also the soles off our boots. Some charitable friend near whose house we then were, but whose name I utterly and most ungratefully forget, re-equipped us, and then we went on to Inverness. These walking expedi- tions were the pleasantest times of my life ; for I was then working very hard, and while in Edinburgh allowed myself no relaxation. And yet this is not strictly true ; for there ' was a set of us guilty, at occasional times, of very riotous and unseemly proceedings. After the day's work, we would adjourn to the Apollo Club, where the orgies were more of the " high jinks " than of the calm or philosophical debating order; or to Johnny Dow's, celebrated for oysters. I do believe it was there that I acquired that love for oysters which adheres to me even now ; so much so, that on coming to an inn, the first question I generally ask is. Have you any oysters ? But sometimes, if not generally, these nocturnal meetings had endings that in no small degree disturbed the "tranquillity of the good town of Edinburgh. I can uot tell how the fancy originated ; but one of our constant exploits, after an evening at the Apollo, or at Johnny's, was to parade the streets of the New Town, and wrench the brass knockers off the doors, or tear out the brass handles of the bells ! No such ornaments existed in the Old Town ; but the New Town, lately built, abounded in sea-green doors and huge brazen de- vices, Avhich were more than our youthful hands could resist. The number we tore off must have been prodigious ; for I re- member a large dark closet in my father's house, of which I kept the key, and which was litei-ally jllled with our spolia opima. We had no choice but to hoard them; for, it is pretty obvious, we could not exhibit or otherwise dispose' of them. It was a strange fancy, and must have possessed some extraordinary fascination ; for it will scarcely be cred- ited, and yet it is true as gospel, that so late as March, 1803, when we gave a farewell banquet (I think at Fortune's Hotel) to Horner, on his leaving Edinburgh forever, to settle in Lon- don, we, accompanied by the grave and most sedate Horner EAMLY LIFE. 73 (set. 25, or, to speak quite correctly, 24 years and 7 months), sallied forth to the North Bridge, and there halted in front of Mr. Manderson the druggist's shop, where I, hoisted on the shoulders of the tallest of the company, placed myself on the top of the doorway, held on by the sign, and twisted ofE the enormous brazen serpent which formed the explanatory an- nouncement of the business that was carried on within. I forget the end of the adventure, but I rather think the city guard exhibited unusual activity on that occasion, and that we had a hard run for it. Looking back to those pranks re- minds me of the inexhaustible fund of spirits we possessed, and how that capital foundation of never-tiring energy and endless restlessness enabled some of us to work on with un- failing strength *to the end of life; and even now, writing at nearly ninety years of age, I can recall those, not boys' but young men's freaks with pleasure and even exultation ; yet I agree with what the old beggar Ochiltree, in the best of all Scott's novels, says, '^Aye, aye — they were daft days thae, but they were a' vanity and waur."* I remember another occasion, which, however, had none of the riotous element, but was only a piece of sober fun. There was a man called Heron — at least I think that was his name — who was addicted to writing plays — execi'able stuff; and yet he contrived, through some intimacy with the the- atrical people, to get one of them put upon the Edinburgh stage. I totally forget the name of the piece ; but I perfect- ly remember going with some of my merry friends to witness the first performance. It dragged wearily through two or three acts, the audience showing unmistakable symptoms of impatience, when, at a scene representing a dinner or supper, one of the actors after giving a toast said, " What shall we drink now ?" To which I, from the middle of the. pit, rais- ing my lanky figure, replied, " We'll drink good-afternoon, if you please !" The effect was electrical ; not another word of the play would the audience hear ; and after vain entreaties fi"om the manager that they would permit it to proceed, the curtain fell amidst shouts that must have well-nigh been the death of the poor author.f * See Appendix X. t SeeAppraidixXI. Vol. I.— D H EAELY LIFE. Late in the summer of 1799, 1 joined an expedition fitted out by John Joseph .Henry, an excellent and enterprising man of large fortune in Ireland, nephew of Lord Moira, who afterwards married the Duke of Leinster's daughter. He had attended the College of Glasgow under Professor Miller, and occasionally came to Edinburgh, where I became ac- quainted with him. Charles Stuart, who was at Glasgow under Professor Young, also knew him, and joined the expe- dition.* Its purpose was to visit Iceland, and examine the various objects of interest in that island. But after cruising about the Western Islands, lona, Staffa, St. Kilda, and oth- ers, it appeared to Stuart and myself manifest that the season was too far advanced, and that the voyage to Iceland must be given up, as in fact proved to be the casfi. While, how- ever, we were among the Western Isles, I wrote the follow- ing letters to my kinsman, Lord Robertson : " May, August —, 1799. " Mtdeae Sie, — Hei'e we are safely moored in a comforta- ble berth, for which we gladly exchange our good ship and bad cabins. You must excuse various things in this letter — jvant of arrangement, poverty of matter, and. bad, or at least careless style. As for the egotism of the epistle, debit it all to the traveller, and to my confidence in the interest which you are pleased to take in my rambles. " We made a much longer stay in Glasgow than I either wished or expected. Gents of £16,000 per annum are al- ways in a harry, and do little — always busy, and lose time. However, I believe you will agree with me in thinking my time neither disagreeably nor unprofitably spent when I in- foi'm you that after a pleasant visit to Stirlingshire I passed the rest of the fortnight constantly with a set of ten or twelve military men, of long standing in the army, famous for knowledge of the world, and besides, in general, men of the best abilities and temper. The evenings (if sober) were diversified by visits to the Glasgow natives, whose golden bru- tality served to render our private society doubly agreeable. " We came to Greenock for the purpose of superintending * See Appendix XII. EARLY LIFE. 15 our preparations several times ; but as these trips were gen- erally made in company of the above parties, and always in the night, our amusements were not interrupted. "On Sunday last I went aboard, and our parties continued much in_^the same style. I must, however, out with toict ce qui s'est passe before we weighed. Our adventures prior to this period would have filled a volume. The duly part of them which I look back on with regret is the bottle depart- ment ; and over this scene I shall decline leading you, because I draw a curtain over it, and you'd run a great risk of cut- ting yourself, in the dark among the fragments of innumera- ble dozens of empty bottles. "A circumstance occurred to detain us two days after we went on board, but to me its tenor was so flattering as to. compensate for the delay. Several applications had been made to Government, by Lords Bute and Moira, for a pro- tection against pressing. These were point-blank and uni- formly refused. I thought of writing to Sir J. Banks, who applied, and sent me notice by return. Next post came a . second letter, stating his having obtained his request at once, on putting it upon the footing which I suggested. " The protection accordingly arrived, to our great joy ; and to mine in' particular, as it was inclosed to me, with a very polite letter from Mr.' Secretary Nepean. " On Tuesday we dropped down, almost becalmed. A de- lightful day and charming scenery made us forget the slow- ness of our motion ; and a gentleman, with your humble serv- ant, performed the pleasant feat of dining in the maintop. We drank freely to our success, and superintended a salute fired on our land friends going ashore. I can not describe, with any degree of justice to the subject, the joyful nature of this scene. All our spirits afloat, a fine vessel, good crew, prospect of a pleasant voyage in the bush, and good weather 171 hand, enchanting scenery and agreeable company, render- ed us completely cheerful. When in this humor, our pass- port, etc., before described, arrived from port, to my great joy. As soon as the new spirit of life Avhich this imparted had subsided, a pleasant breeze again enlivened us ; and scarce had our joy become, for a second time, calm, when, turning a point, the homeward-bound West India fleet arrived in full 76 EAMLY LIFE. view and full sail. The setting sun showed us such a sight as I shall never forget ; and while they passed ns with a sa- lute, slowly fired, I could not help thinking that if a romance- writer had wished to select circumstances for an outset to his piece, or indeed for any part of it, his fancy might, tep to one, have never conjured up such a collection of agreeable traits as conspired to illuminate our d^ut upon the sea. This you'll think mighty romantic for one who at that moment was sitting aloft with a pint tumbler of claret in one hand and a searbiscuit in t'other ; but true it is and of verity we were all sympathetically struck. As we got down towards Govan, and the Channel, I went to deck ; and after viewing the luminous track of the ship's wake, sometimes from deck, sometimes in the boat hoisted for me, I retired to the cabin, where we supped in perfect harmony. I took a last walk, and then slept for an hour aloft : this put me in mind of bed, so to bed I went. Turn the leaf, and you'll find fortune be- forehand with you. "At four in the morning I awoke, and found the vessel roll- ing and pitching, the wind blowing, the captain swearing, and the sailors, as is usual, all abroad. Force brought them to their posts, and fear, more than shame, kept them at work. We were making for the Mull of Cantire, the doubling of which is more dreaded than twenty West India voyages. This I knew, and had prepared for, keeping myself quiet and easy, by stripping naked in my berth, and taking towels, etc., to bed with me. By nine the storm increased. I seemed destined, within twenty-four hours, to experience every differ- ent feeling. Now «all was confusion and bustle : the captain alone was calm as I am at present. I heard his orders in the wind : as things blackened he stripped, and became, if possi- ble, more cool, as did the men. In this posture of affairs I heard him say, ' God ! there's nothing for it !' but instanlly the ship righted, though the rolling continued and the sea- sickness increased, all men vomiting but myself, who had taken care to shut my eyes for half an hour at first. Next night it grew calmer, and before that we had a hot dinner. The greatest of my foes was a cascade of rum, the cask being beaten through our cabin window ! The immediate conse- quence was intoxicatioji ; but this soon went off. JSAMLY LIFE. ^7 "Making Islay at H o'clock, we landed; and after a little rough admiration, divided into two parties ; one attended Shawfield to Islay House, the other went along the coast to view the country and see a wreck lying at some distance. You may easily believe I was of the latter division. The bay in which the. brig was wrecked is nine miles long, and the finest I ever saw : we only wanted a storni to complete the scene. The vessel was cast ashore last November, and is quite dry at low-water. The sailors were all busy trying for the last time to float her round a point of land to Bowmore harbor, where we were landed ; and in a few hours they actual- ly succeeded. We saw the wreck raised along by a few bar- rels, though her bottom is battered to pieces, and her masts cut off by the maintop and foretop. She arrived at two in the morning, and we had her captain to see us all drink. Af- ter a botanical and mineralogical walk, our appetite reminded us of dinner ; so a pot was boiled in tent, and a fine live sal- mon being caught was introduced. After a few turns in the warm water he became quiet — ' vitaque cum gemitu f ugit in- dignata sub umbras ' — either the shades below, or the shade of our awning, or the uninvited guests {umbrce) who fldeked round us. You have no idea, sir, how good boiled salmon is. To acquire this, three things are requisite — a stormy voyage, then a rustic entertainment without knives and forks, and chiefly the utter and absolute and animated freshness of the fish. I would turn up my nose at your callee Edinburgh fish. We concluded our meal, or rather feast, with some fine mut- ton ; and then, on a green bank, and in a fine evening, with our faces towards the wreck and the Irish coast, Giant's Causeway, etc., quaffed goblets of the delicious nectar of Bor- deaux and the Rhine — in other words, claret and old hock from pur ship. A short walk up the country sobered us com- pletely, and we returned to the village to tea. At supper we had the heads of the town, and {inter alios) a man who has written wisely against tea, and still more wisely against the Newtonian theory. It is amusing to find in this remote and barbarous corner a carle who holds Sir Isaac in utter contempt. Next morning, after visiting the ship, we went to Islay House, where we have remained ever since, to our vast edification. Every day we have made excursions through the island, and 18 JEABLT LIFE. constantly found materials for gratification and amusement. The country is fertile, and only needed cultivation, -which Shaw- field is giving it in great abundance. The natives are a very simple and worthy set of men, and the women either very handsome or intolerably ugly. Shawfield's family is truly agreeable, and we all live together like brothers and sisters. We have hopes of Seeing Lady Charlotte herself, should our vessel be wind-bound ; but though the temptation is great, our eagerness to reach the main point is still greater. "Monday evening. " I must now think of finishing this long letter, and shall fatigue you fui'ther by giving you some idea of our plan. It may hereafter be modified by circumstances, but the outline will most likely remain the same. You may communicate this or any other part of the present letter to our folks, just as you please and how you please. We sail to-morrow or nest day; and after touching at another island, St. Kilda or the Lewis, we make dii-ect for the Faroe Islands, and reach them probably in eight or ten days. There is as much to be seen in them as at Iceland. Thence we go (perhaps changing our vessel) to Iceland ; and after travelling there about six or eight weeks, we determine whether we return by the east or west, and this must very much depend upon the state of the privateer- ing and the facility of obtaining neutral ships to convey us. If we go by west, we take a full view in the best season of the Hebrides, Orkneys, etc., and conclude all by going to Ice- land for some time — perhaps for a considerable time. If we go by east — or if, instead of making Iceland, we go from Faroe to Norway, which is possible (and which, if you see my moth- er uneasy, you may tell her is the plan resolved on) — then our Continental tour must occupy a longer time, as perhaps the temptations of the season may draw us to Petersburgh. This, I confess, is my wish — winter is the time for Russia and Lap- land. So good-night, and a merry Christmas ! I shall write a line from our next point of wppui. H. B. " Should you be from home when this arrives, I leave you to judge whether it may not be proper to drop James a few lines, informing him that I am well, etc, ; but as you please. "H.B." EAMLT LIFE. 79 " Stomoway, August 14, 1799. "Mt deae Sie, — ^I am much afraid that you begin to be tired of my letters, but I trust more to the interest you were so good as to express for our success than to any chance which my details can possibly have of amusing you or giving any important information. My last was dated from St. KUda, but you will not receive it for six or seven weeks. It con- tained little or nothing, was written in a pelting hurry, and more for the sake of the joke than any thing else. We had a most favorable run from Islay. During two days and nights the wind was fair, the sky clear, the sea calm ; .but my enjoyments were sadly damped by a very unwelcome guest — a seasoning sickness ; it lasted all that time : and about fifty hours after our departure from Islay we came in sight of St. Kilda, or Hirta — the most remote, and, I think, most singular of all the British Islands. We put off a boat with several of our party, ordering them to hail the natives, and to send out a country bark, well-manned, to carry us over the neighbor- ing surf. They got slowly to shore, and landed with difficul- ty on a very rocky coast, with a heavy rolling sea. We after- wards found, by their not making signal and some other cir- cumstances, that we were taken for a French privateer, and avoided as such, all the inhabitants preparing their all for a flight to the mountains. We in the vessel stood round, and had a full coasting view of this most singular spot and its adjoining rocks and islets. A more awful scenery you can not imagine. The grandeur of the scenery was heightened by the fineness of the day, and still more by the idea that a single pufE of wind might prove fatal to us, by raising the whole fury of the Western Ocean. At last came two boats, one belonging to the place and ours besides, but both manned by the savages. This alarmed us : we thought that our party must be lost or taken, and the ai;m-chest was instantly open- ed ; but the boats approaching, we found the natives quite pacific, and several came on board — among others their priest, without whom nothing would induce them to venture near us. The worthy man partook of our cabin cheer, and we prepared to go ashore with some provender. We found him and his compatriots in a state of ignorance truly singular : they had heai-d of the war with France, but knew nothing of- Lord 80 EARLY LIFE. Howe's victory, nor any subsequent event ; yet the proprie- tor's tacksman goes there twice a year : but we were told that he carefully conceals every event from them if success- ful, in order to keep up their alarms, which, we fouud, he turns to good account. "We were amused with this miniature of what some in the great world are accused of doing, and still more diverted with the simplicity of these savages, who can thus be duped and made to believe their wretched resi- dence and miserable possessions a bait sufficiently alluring to the ' grande nation.' Yet so it is, that they live in as constant dread of invasion as if all the wealth of London and Liver- pool were stored- up in St. Kilda. About eight o'clock we set off in the St. Kildian boat with above twenty of the natives and ten of ourselves. The sea was a little threatening, so we had to keep round by west. Our crew talked most infernally, and rowed very ill. Seeing that this proceeded from laziness and loquacity, I desired the first (who alone could speak a word of English) to promise them a dram if they rowed bet^ ter, and to bid them be more quiet. The efEect was instanta- neous, and immediately the song arose, extempore in compo- sition and far from unmusical in execution ; of course pleas- ing in point of effect. I lay snugly wrapped up in my boat- cloak, which I beg leave to introduce you to as the envy and admiration of our whole pai'ty. We now weathered the gi- gantic rocks of Borera, which surround St. Kilda to the north and north-east ; and as it was past eleven, I allowed myself to be lulled asleep by the cadence of the chorus and the oars. About half-past twelve I heard a little confusion, and found the steersman quitting the helm to give place to a more ex- perienced one. Upon looking round, a scene presented itself which beggars all description. We were roughly and rapidly rolling through such a frightful pass as you can not form any idea of. On each side huge masses of broken and impending rock stretched up to a terrible height above our heads. These were towards their bases pierced with large, dark, rough caves, into which the sea dashed with stunning noise. Around our crazy overloaded bark lay huge masses of broken rocks, which rendered our course very serpentine, and every instant the keel grazed with a heavy and petrifying noise along the sunken rocks. EARLY LIFE. 81 "A circumstance occurred which, if you ever were at sea, must add vastly in your mind to the charms of this fine scene. Every stroke of the oars was attended with a vivid and dura- ble stream of fire, thi'owing out sparks on all sides still more bright. My attention was called from this grand spectacle to the ludicrous panic-struck pickle of our worthy doctor. ' Good Lord, sir ! — Oh, sir — oh, sir !' ' Well, doctor,' said I, ' here is a $ne scene for you.' ' 'Deed, my dear sir, I fear it won't do.' ' Look at that cavern.' ' We touch the bottom !' ' Is not this light delightfully horrible ?' ' Hear ! hear ! how we touch the sides !' ' Only see, doctor, what a noble scene — the flashing of the water, the foaming of the sea, the majesty of the rocks !' ' Oh dear ! I am sure our boat can't weather it.' ' Then, doctor, the craziness of the vessel, the shallowness of the water, the horrible gulfs near us. By-the-by, don't Mr. Burke- reckon terror the basis of the sublime ?' ' Mr. Brough- am, sir — sir, I am just looking where .we shall leap out, for a last chance, when the boat is dashed to pieces !' At one o'clock, after much perilous navigation, and a vast deal of grand scenery, we opened into a fine safe bay, and in half an hour more landed. We were conducted to the town (of which more hereafter), and entered the priest's hcuse. A more wretched hovel never sheltered beast from the storm than this ; and yet it is the only thing tenantable in the island, except the tacksman's. We refreshed ourselves a little, with his wife and mother ; then, your humble servant being super- intendent of stores and servants (ex officio), repaired with his train and provisions to the other house, was surrounded by many of the savages, ordered a fire, boiled a kettle, and bless- ed his own providence in the first instance for thinking of so charming and refreshing a beverage. I always make a point of landing in full uniform. My command over the stores and servants gives me. vast dignity and patronage. Besides this, a joke goes about of giving us all nicknames. One is ' Lark;'' the doctor, from his crawling after weeds, stones, and puddles, is 'Toad'; and I, from some foolish mistake or other, 'Billy Pitt.' So that from hence wherever we go I am believed to be related to that 'excellent minister.' You can not conceive, therefone, how all these items procured me respect and wor- ship ; all the island was at my nod in a second. While tea D2 82 EARLY LIFE. was preparing, I marshalled them thus : servants at ray elbow, for aids-de-camp ; provender in the rear; male natives in front ; female ditto at some distance from our gentlemen — a most nec- essary precaution to prevent jealousy. To each native I dis- tributed a ration of tobacco and a dram— their two greatest prizes, though neither had been in the island for two and a half years. "We then drank tea and fine milk till three in the morning. Several of ours went to bed; others slumbered- over the fire. I sat up with the clergyman, whom I instantly put under the question, and talked over on all topics (insular ones) till near five o'clock, when we sallied forth to view the island in four different parties, the priest with us. And now for the first time we had a view of the city. Conceive, if you • can, a sort of green bosom, at a quarter of a mile's distance, with steep green mountains, and on one side with a fine bay opening into rocky scenery ; at one corner the dreadful pass, which I described before, and which appeared almost as bad by daylight. The rest of the scene is all ludicrous. The green bosom is divided into 400 ' rip ' or fields of barley and oats and potatoes — twenty-five feet by three \ in the centre several green tufts of grassy sod, upon heaps of loose stones — these we at last discovered to be the houses, twenty-sLs in number : on the hills, more such molehills, rather smaller, for cutting peats. This is the town, or city of Hirta, or St. Kilda. It contains 100 inhabitants ; and the rest of the island is only browsed by some sheep, horses, and cows. " The view of this village is truly unique. Nothing in Captain Cook's voyages comes half so low. The natives are savage in due proportion; the air is infected by a stench al- most insupportable — a compound of rotten fish, filth of all sorts, and stinking sear-fowl. Their dress is chiefiy composed of a coarse stufE made by themselves, somewhat like tartan. They wear this chiefly in trowsers and jackets, with coarse brogues, also made by themselves. They make brooches of clumsy iron rings, with pins across : these are worn by the women to tuck up their plaids. Needles coarse in propor- tion ; thong-ropes for ascending the rocks in quest of nests and birds ; fish-hooks finer than the other articles ; thread and horn-spoons are the remaining manufactures ♦of this place — infinitely coarser and more clumsy, and made in EARLY LIFK 83 smaller quantity and less variety, than those which naviga- tors have found in any of the Pacific islands, iSTew Holland in the south excepted. A total want of curiosity, a stupid gaze of wonder, an excessive eagerness for spirits and tobac- co, a laziness only to be conquered by the hope of the above- mentioned cordials, and a beastly degree of filth, the natural consequence of this, render the St. Kildian character truly savage. To all this our people added the leading trait of furtivity of disposition. ' We were in a constant jeopardy of pocket, so nimble-fingered are the savages. Bottles, sticks, etc., etc., all were seized ; but so simple-minded were the filchers that ^e as speedily recovered the said chattels.' My dear boat-cloak fell, among others. I went in suddenly upon the suspected house, and drawing my sword, an instantane- ous tremor pervaded the house, and I was told one of the servants had got it. The servants being called, and another flourish of the sword given, the simple men of St. Kilda lifted up a board, and tremblingly gave me back the dear stray. These apparently trifling traits in the character of these poor people will, I trust, be excused, as the best mode which my hurry and confusion can leave me of conveying to you an idea of the manners of a tribe which exemplifies piost re- markably the old proverb, ' One-half the world don't know how the other lives.' We made several remarks on the state of the island, and the mode of management to which it is . subject. Were its extent, fertility, and population of suffi- cient consequence, no better method of improvement could be fallen upon than to send a school-master, and then to abol- ish the present iniquitous method of collecting its produce. The tacksman (whom the people think a steward) resides twice a year there, to plunder under the name of Macleod's factor. He pays £20 sterling only to Macleod, and makes above twice as much himself. For this purpose all the milk of cows is brought into his dairy from May-day to Michael- mas, and all the ewes' milk together for the whole year. Every second lamb-ram and every seventh ewe go to the same quarter ; and this sanctified to his use under the name of a tenth. The rest of the rent is, made up in feathers, at the rate of 3s. per stone, and the tacksman sells them in the Long Island for 10s. He is quite absolute in dispensing 84 EAJtLTLIFM. justice ; punishes crimes by fines, and makes statutes of his own account, which are implicitly obeyed. There are no murders ever known here ; and the priest told us, innocently enough, that the only adulteress in St. Kilda is the steward's dairy-maid, who comes from the Long Island. There is no money current here — nothing like barter — and the rate of assessing the rent to Macleod is the only criterion of the prices of articles. According to this we fouijd that a fat sheep is valued at 3s. 6d., a cow at 30s., a horse at 20s., bar- ley at 16s. per boll, and potatoes at 3s. per barrel, which may contain about eight pecks. The inland parts of the island (if it can be said to have any) are as fit for grazing sheep and cattle as almost any other places in the Western Isl- ands ; and several other spots besides the • one where the town is appear equally susceptible of cultivation — i. e., capa- ble of producing no light or mean crops of barley. Upon the whole, I should suppose that with crops, with cattle, and with the vast resources of sea-fowl, eggs, and fish, St. Kilda is capable of supporting a population of 1500 souls with ease. The only mortals among the present inhabitants whom we found in any degree civilized above the brutes, were the priest and his family. He comes from the Long Island, and has been here fifteen years. He is a missionary, placed here with a salary (£25 sterling) by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. If in the course of your calls you ever see Mr. Kemp (who corresponds with him once in an olympiad), pi'ay give Mr. Ziocldan M'lieod^s respects to him, and tell him that he complains grievously of his short allow- ance. This will make me quit of my promise to him ; — to say the truth, I think he has quite enough, unless that it re- quires some bi'ibe to keep a man in St. Kilda. "After a cheerful breakfast on good milk, etc., etc., we heard divine service performed audibly and fluently by our host in his kitchen, his only church. An altar stood in me- dio,-viz.,a kettle simmering on a fire. The savages stood round, and the priest performed in a corner. He read, sang, and spoke in Gaelic, if I can judge, better in point of harmo- ny, fluency, and attic smoothness et ore rotunda, than any I ever heard. I sometimes thought he was reading Homer, and reading him with justice. I find this letter has run to EARLY LIFE. 85 such au unconscionable length that I must now beg to sub- scribe myself your most obedient servant,* "Henet Beougham." " Stoi-noway, August 19, 1799. "Mt deae Sie, — Again you hear from me. Since my last letter has appeared to be worthy of your notice, any an- ecdotes or remarks collected here must, relate to the party more than the place, and an account of Lewis would only be a repetition of what must already have been printed. My reasons for writing, then, are truly selfish — to let you know what we have done to kill time, and to give you a further sketch of our plans. Every morning we shoot grouse, hares, snipes, and deer till five o'clock, then eat the most luxurious dinners of game and fish, drinking claret, champagne, hermit- age, and hock : at night we are uniformly and universally dead (drunk). Your humble servant being in the chair (ex officio), does his best, and having a good capacity enough for wine, does odd enough things. Yesterday our mess fell of£ — Campbell and I and two natives set in to it, and among four had twelve port-bottles : the natives and Bob being stowed away, I finished another bottle and a half of port with an old exciseman, major of the volunteers. This morning I went out and found aU Stornoway in full tongue at my aston- ishing feat ; went to the moors, walked it off, and killed a brace of hares at one discharge (keeping their skins for shoes) above a hundred yards off, and a grouse soon after still farther; and to-night we give a ball. Now for busi- ness : my friend Stuart and I separate from the party at Faroe and try Iceland; after this go abroad for twelve months, and first to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark ; live cheap, and study at Upsal ; then take Kussia. Now, could not you give us a letter or two of recommendation, either to your own or your father's friends abroad, or the colonel's ? By-the-by, don't you know Mr. Coxe ? Mr. Stuart is the late Lord Bute's grandson, and the Duke of Ancaster's nephew. He could get recommendations from his friends, but (like myself) is on a concealed march tUl he is forced to draw. * See Appendix XIII. 86 MARLY LIFE. "If anything in my power can atone for this trouble, name- it. T believe you can not. I have moved heaven and earth to send you a huck and some birds, but it won't do till the cold weather. " With great respect, Henkt Bkougham." " On board the Privateer Ullapool, Sept. 1, 1799. " My deae Sie,'-^Yqu are, I dare say, not a little surprised to receive another letter still from me. My excuses for this offense- are now so stale that I shan't any longer trouble you with repeating them ; but, worse than all this, my epistles have been so frequent to you that I am really at a loss to re- member where my last was addressed from, and in conse- quence am in some danger of plaguing you with repetitions. Taking it, however, for granted that you left me under way, or really so far from Lewis, I proceed to inform you that the captain accuses my friend Stuart and myself of having forced him to sea in a storm against the opinion of every man in the vessel. In truth we were now grown impatient enough on every account at our various and many delays, so I believe our remonstrances had some weight with the after -cabin council — i. e., the captain and his mates. We then put in to the Birken [Orkney ?] Isles, and failing to make anchorage from the running of ebb tide, we stood out again and got north of the Pentland Firth, into the much-wished-for North Sea itself. In the dead of night we were in a storm indeed. The sailors all expecting to see Dairt in half a shaJce, and the captain (who was twenty years a North Sea smuggler, and has been twelve times and a half wrecked) crying, ' I don't know what to do ! As damned a tool this ship as ever dipp'd her gob in salt brine since Adam wrought at hemp-picking in Chatham dockyard — d n his soul !' So he applied to the doctor, as the oldest man on board, for his advice — but, I be- fore told you, a terrible mucJc (coward) ; and he voted for in- stantly making nearest port. We were still keeping to our course, if possible, and if she would not lie to it, we wished to run through the Pentland — any thing, in short, rather than turn. But the rest were of a different opinion, and the helm was tried. Happily she did not miss her stays, bat obeyed rudder, and with a huge grin and volley of oaths the word EARLY LIFE. 87 was given. Thither we came, and here we have been again at the flesh-pots and shooting and drinking. Before depart- ing, I beg to trouble you with this request, ' that any letters not yet sent for me, or any lohich you may procure previous to the next Baltic or Elsinore ships, m,ay be sent in a small parcel to Mamsay and Williamson^ s at Leith, where they will be called for by a Northern friend of ours, master of a Baltic ship, and kept by our agent in Elsinorefor us till we arrive. This you may tell also to our friends ;'' and any obtained af- ter that opportunity sails, may be sent per post to Copenha- gen, not to Drontheim, by the next ships— 1 mean those that sail about the 20th of September. Your favors are so numer- ous, and my requests so well proportioned to them, that I am almost ashamed to say that a recommendation from Sir W. Forbes to Mr. Beiberg at Copenhagen would be worth its weight in gold to us all. You might, I think, jsrocure this through the Russells (to .whom my love, as to all yours) with- out letting my request be known. Again excuse brevity, troublesomeness, etc., etc. Hejtry Beougham." The voyage to Iceland being thus abandoned, Stuart and I left the rest of our party in Scotland, and crossed over to the east coast, arriving there in time for the Baltic autumn fleet. After a week's voyage with fine weather, except a gale in the Cattegat, on a bad lee-shore, when the wind, contrary to all expectation, shifted and saved us, we arrived at Elsinore on the 30th of September. We passed about a week at Co- penhagen, whei'e we saw a good deal of Mr. MeiTy, the Charge d' Affaires in Lord Robert Fitzgerald's absence, and spent the early part of the winter at Stockholm. I kept a journal of this tour, which is as follows. 88 VISIT TO DENMARS. [1799. . CHAPTER III. VISIT TO DENMAEK AND SCAiTDINATIA. Journal ofVisit to Denmark and Scandinavia. — ^Landing at Elsinore. — Trav- elling in Denmark. — Copenhagen. — Objects of Interest. — College Library. — Palace. — ^The Town and the People. — The Theatre. — The Exchange.— The Constitution of Denmark. — Social Conventionalism. — Administration of Justice. — King Christian and his Court. — Joumey to Helsingborg. — Travelling in Sweden. — Danish and Swedish Peasantry compared. — Scenery. — Adventures. — Stockholm. — Architectm'e. — Public Places. — Jealousy of Foreigners. — Science and Letters. — Sitting of the Academy of Sciences. — SweSish Artists and their "Works. — Social Condition. — Immo- rality and Crime. — Gustavns III. and Gustavus IV. — Personal Anecdotes of Royalty. — Russia and French Influence, and Jealousy of Britain. — The Army. — Revenue. — Trade and Currency. — ^Language. — ^Police. — Religion. — A Clairvoyant. — Departure from Stockholm to Upsala. — Country Palace of Gustavus III. — Rural Affairs. — Reindeer. — Wild Animals. — Runic An- tiquities. — Upsala Cathedral. — University j — Castle. — Journey continued towards Norway. — ^Visit by Lantern-light to the Falls of TroUhatten. — Goteborg, or Gottenborg. — Scots Residents. — A Ghost-story. — Winter Travelling. — The Frq^en Fiords. — Sledging. — Glimpses of Social Life in Frederikshald. — Private Theatricals. — "Voyage home. — Nan-ow Escape from Shipwreck. • JOURNAL. 1799. Sept. 2Uh to the 30th. — We had a slow, but agree- able enough passage of a week. The weather was bad, par- ticularly in the Cattegat, where we were very near a bad lee- shore with a gale : the wind shifting, almost contrary to ex- pectation, saved us ; and after beating off and on, we made the straits of the Sound early on Monday, the 30th. At 9 o'clock A.M. we saw the coasts on both sides of the Sound — the Danish seemed finely wooded to the very shore, on which several houses- were scattered. At some distance we saw the town and castle of Helsingor, Elsingor, or Elsin- goer, or Elsinore, or Elsineur, or Elsinoor — for it is spelt in each of these different ways. On the opposite side is Hel- singborg, a Swedish town ; and in sailing up to anchorage we ^T.33.] AND SCANDiyAYJA. 89 observed on the Danish coast a neat white house, ■well situ- ated among the woods, and surrounded by. gardens and ter- races, apparently in the English taste. The captain called if Matilda's Palace, and at Elsinore we found it was called by Englishmen Hamlet's Palace. It is said that the murder hap- pened in the garden. It is now occupied by a ranger of the parks. Sept. 30. — After having a salute for our convoy from the fort, we anchored, and dressed to go ashore. In the roads there were a vast number of ships, and several Danish men- of-war ; yet we were told that the anchorage is often infinite- ly more crowded. No less than five boats came off to us, each asking less than the former one ; so that from nine dollars their demands sunk to three. We remarked also the singular simi- larity that seemed to prevail among the natives. I don't think that I could easily have distinguished one face from another. No sooner had we landed than we found ourselves surrounded by a mob of merchants' clerks, who lay in wait for the ship, and tried to entrap each with the cry of " My dear friend, do you clear with us ?" Our captain went to Howden's, and we accompanied him, delivering our letters from Hutchins. We then went to a tolerably good inn, kept by a man who was educated at Musslebro ! After an indifferent dinner, but good claret, we paid our captain the enormous sum of twen- ty guineas for our passage, to which we added one for the men. Mr. Howden called before dinner, and behaved very civilly. We drank tea v^ith him, and went to the subscription-rooms, which are large and commodious. A hundred gentlemen, chiefly merchants, pay ten dollars per annum, and have the liberty of introducing strangers. After lounging in these rooms, seeing the gardens by candle-light, and looking at some billiard-play performed by English sea-officers, we were taken by Howden and his nephew, nicknamed " Caliban," to the subscription news-rooms, wh'ere we met a company of British worthies, and had a slangish conversation, adapted to the humor of the society. Howden then turned to us, and presented a dreadful account of Paul's customs about dress, passports, and the knout. Every thing showed us that this brute of a tyrant and tyrant of brutes wishes to keep his sav- 90 VISIT TO DENMASK - [1799. age empire in. a state of closeness and insularity as inaccessi- ble as that of China. Oct. 1. — After sleeping comfortably on English beds, -we had coffee in our rooms, and went out to Howden's, whose civilities in procuring us letters to Copenhagen, and letting us draw for fifty pounds, and introducing us to Fen wick, the English consul, a gentlemanly and obliging young man, pleased us much. We found all the merchants croaking over the hard- ness of the times — the failures in Hamburg — the impossibility of selling their bills — sugars selling with difficulty at sixty per cent, under' prime cost, and the other consequences of the Dutch expedition. Mr. Howden had to lament £700 worth of bills lying dead at Hamburg, besides being obliged to pay specie to Government from clearances. After giving order to a Scotch tailor, we set ofE at twelve for Copenhagen in a stuhl wagen, or oblong cart, with a couple of seats across, on springs, and one for the driver in front. The horses are large and strong : two easily drew us and our luggage all the way. The road is indeed excellent — well raised, even, and smooth. "We also took with us for half the way a ship's captain, at Howden's recommendation ; and for the rest of it a young man who begged our permission. The day was damp, and rainy at intervals. The face of the country is- de- lightful — disposed in ridges and flats, with clumps of fine trees, and some very thick woods. The cottages are situated in the most romantic spots imaginable ; and were it not for the ap- pearance of the houses, whose roofs are very upright and in several planes, and whose walls are studded with windows, one might suppose himself in the southern parts of England. The dress of the peasants is grotesque, and varies every league. It consists in general of a long wide doublet, usually red and laced ; a waistcoat down to the knees, and leather breeches. The coat and vest are covered with a profusion of silver but- tons, which constitute, in some measure, the peasant's wealth. We saw some ploughing in very broad ridges — ^the plough like the common English ones, only that some had two large wheels in front. The ground seemed rich and soft, and we saw some fields of grass, heavily manured, which in England would not be touched. The mile-stones are large stone obelisks at every quarter ^T.22.] Aim SCANOmAVlA. 91 of a mile — that is, at eveiy English mile. On the top part is a large crown, with the cipher of the king in whose reign it was raised, and with several ornaments. The business part of it: — namely, the number, seems scarce attended to. We passed several gentlemen's houses, not remarkable, and also some manufactories, particularly a cotton-mill three stories high, with seven windows in a row, and a .reservoir behind. We saw no river, few streams, and, of course, many wind- mills. The road, which scarcely makes any turn, runs beauti- fully through thick woods, and sometimes through a variety of moorish and wild ground, iu'which we saw one or two deer. The game-laws are very strict, and almost all the country is monopolized by the Crown. We arrived at Hirscholm at three o'clock, and as we were past the hour of dinner, we could only get cold things to eat. We had very good light Rhenish, which only cost three marks and a half. The land- lord talked good French, and the inn was really a very good one. The village is neatly scattered among trees and water. Near it we passed the palace — a fine building, with coppice and gardens laid out by Queen Matilda, in the English taste. Near this lives Count Horn, the accomplice of Ankerstroem : he is quite cut at Copenhagen, and tried in vain to get into society at Elsinore. As we approached Copenhagen, the country got more open. About four miles from it, we passed the palace and fine gar- dens of Prince Carl. After a heavy rain, came in sight of the town. Saw the palace on the right ; at the gates under- went a most strict examination of our baggage. The road comes to a point before arriving at the gate, where the differ- ent avenues break off, each planted with rows of trees. The ramparts are lai'ge, but out of repair. Coming to Rouch's Hotel, in the Great Place, were refused admittance. Same at Lubell's and Miller's ; with a laquais de placets assistance got into Leof t's. All the people here ignorant of every language but their own, except a child who had been born in London. The landlady being at the play, we could get no supper till she came home ; and then it was very bad. Oct. 2.-^Walked.with our laquais de place to pay visits, having sent our letters. Only found Brown at home, but overwhelmed with business. Dined at Rouch's. Mr. Merry, 92 VISIT TO DMNMAitK [1799. the Charge d' Affaires in Lord Robert Fitzgerald's absence, called in the evening, also Howden, who was croaking like an old frog, and read more Hamburg failures from his note- book ; but he joined in Merry's tune of its being so much the better, as it must hurt the enemy. Oct. 3. — ^Dined at Lubell's. Mitchell, the English consul in Norway, was there — a violent MinisteriaHst, and great ad- vocate for the late King of Sweden, of whom he talked much. Said he was in a coffee-house in Stockholm at the time of the revolution. Oct. 4. — Saw Thorkelin, who behaved in a very easy and agreeable manner to us, and showed us every civility, taking us about to the college and library. He is keeper of the ar- chives, which he showed us aU over, and told me, at the same time, to conceal it, as I was the first foreigner who had seen them.* There is a vast collection of treaties, well arranged and preserved : the principal ones which I looked over were those with Cromwell in 1651 — Elizabeth — Joseph II. — Peter the Great ; the Danish Corpus Juris, beautifully written in 1681 ; the Danish Magna Charta in forty articles, and on ten folio pages, dated 4th November, 1665 ; the famous Act of Cession, dated January same year, carefully wrapt up, wrote on two pages folio, with signatures on above twelve — sixty names and seals on each page, being the tUrs Hat. To the charter is fixed a superb gold seal. Thorkelin, on our putting several questions to him, told me that we must not mention what he said, if we published our journals, and added that Coxe's imprudence had made every one cautious of speaking to strangers, and even of receiving them.f The town stands on a flat upon the sea, which intersects it in several places, and has almost everywhere a stagnant and dirty appearance. The streets are in general narrow but even, and the houses high. The roofs being perpendic- ular, and in several planes, give them an ugly look. The * Grim Jonnson Thorkelin, a celebrated Scandinavian archasologist, a na- tive of Iceland. At the period of the visit he was well known in society in Britain, having spent several years in this country pursuing researches into the connection between the Scandinavian nations and the British Islands. t In allusion to "Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark," by Archdeacon Coxe. -ET.33.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 93 single buildings, such as inns, offices, and chateaus, are very- large and handsome, though built without any form except the oblong, and abounding too much in windows. The best part of the town is the Great Place, or market, in which is the theatre, opera-house, guard-house, and two very fine inns. But the finest building, of course, is the palace, which stands in another part of the city on a port of the sea. This, how- ever, like the rest of the town, has suffered from the fire of 1'795, of which one finds traces in every part. The streets are filled with rubbish. Every other house is building, and scaf- folding is as common as walls. The consequence of this has been that few have sufficient capital to build. Lodging is extremely scarce. Mr. Merry could find none at first by any means, and even yet has got very miserable rooms, in which he is not settled. There are several table d'hdtes, but only two of any reputation. Rouoh's we found to be a mere sci-am- ble, and frequented by indifferent people. Lubell's is more select and regular, being in the nature of a private dinner, at which the landlord and his family appear ; but the eating was bad. There is also a club, or private society of mer- chants and others, which we were not present at. The palace is a noble building, though at present nothing but the walls remain in the quadrangle ; the inside is burnt or pulled down in consequence of the fire, which seemed to have attacked one side chiefly, as there the freestone facing is completely torn off from the brick of which the walls are built. The great quadrangle is five stories high (including the small ones between), and twenty-five windows in front. On each side is a circular sweep, and each sweep terminates in a circular wing, the whole ending in a noble gateway, to which an elegant bridge and street leads. The wings or sweeps have ninety windows in the row ! The ornaments, which in general remain entire, are handsome. The style of architecture mixed — chiefly Ionic. In the rooms of the quad- rangle pdor families live, having built huts against the walls, and two of the front windows of the palace are filled up with the casement windows of these houses. In the front is a Latin inscription, beai-ing that the palace was built by Chris- tian VI., in seven years, ending 1740. The climate of Copenhagen's unhealthy. No one is to be 94 nSIT TO DJUNMAUK [1T99. seen with a decent set of teeth or good eyes — either quite rotten or " sesquipedales." The people are fair and watery- looking. The streets uncommonly dirty ; the mud has a pu- trid smell. The winters are so severe sometimes that Lord R. Fitzgerald told Mr. Merry he has heard them firing at de- serters running across the ice to Sweden. The stoves in the rooms are iron, and not only look gloomy, but exhale a most odious smell, and are besides unwholesome. The diseases most frequent are gout and' rheumatism, owing to the ex- treme dampness which prevails, except during frost. The only public amusement here is a play three times a week. The theati'e is about the size of old Drury — heavy, but rather grand. The ornaments are gilt upon an olive ground, which is the prevailing color. The house is dark, the light being all thrown upon the stage during the perform- ance. Thei-e are only twenty lamps ; eight more are let down from the roof over the pit between the acts. The band is good — about thirty performers. The acting appeared good and chaste. The people seemed critically inclined. They were in morning dresses, and sat as stiff as pokers : no flirt- ation nor gallantry. The play was, " She Stoops to Conquer ;" and Tony Lumpkin was well done, though the song was omit- ted. The scenery was bad, but a ballet was given at the end, with some good dancing, and the dresses would have put the Bishop of Durham into fits. The Exchange is an old building in the mixed Gothic style. The inside is filled with shops, through which are walks, and a reservoir at one end. Auctions are held in the corners. It was always crowded, and we saw in it several Polish Jews. The University is an old and shabby quadrangle. "We were present at an examination of the students, who were very mean-looking, and seemed to be questioned by the master, who sat in his chair, like boys at school. There are eighteen professors, the richest of whom have from 1500 to 3000 rix- doUars a year. The Royal Library is a noble institution. It contains about 25,000 volumes, and is unlimited for new pur- chases : it is kept in a fine suite of apartments in a wing of the palace. Two of these are called "Bibliotheca Septen- trionalis." There is a public reading-room, and every one may take home books with him. We looked over several of iBT. 22.] A^D SCANDmAYIA. 95 these, and found all sorts of works, some remarkably splendid. There is also a Royal Museum, but this we did not see. The style of society was pronounced by Merry to be in- sufferable ; and though we found reason to believe that he had exaggerated a little (from the nature of his situation), yet so duU is the place that the Russian general, Knox, who passed through lately on his way to Holland, staid only three days in Copenhagen, and a month at Elsinore. The visiting is con- fined to winter : in summer the merchants go to the country houses and boxes, and even in winter the parties are said to be dull : the Court is uncommonly so. At present the only min- isters are the Russian, French, Dutch, and Swedish, all of whom live exceedingly private. The government of Denmark is absolute, as every one knows. The Act of 1645, which made the crown elective, was abolished, and in 1665 the crown was made hereditary, and unlimited in jiower. The former Act being abolished, Di-. Thorkelin mentioned to me that no mention is made in it of the comparison with the government of our state ; but I sus- pect he misunderstood my question. It has, indeed, every appearance of a despotic government. There are no states acknowledged, no control on the king's power. He names the privy council, who do all in his name. He levies taxes, makes peace and war, publishes edicts, alters, annuls, and makes laws. The titles are Graf, or Count, and Baron. But court employments or other great ofiices conferred by the crown constitute the great and almost the only difference of rank and station. These oflBces, it is true, are only given to such as are noble ; but then letters of nobility are easily obtained. Thus the merchants who have made money become noble, and hold places. Mr. Selby is ia this way a baron, and Mr. de Konig is besides a councillor of state. The mercantile in- fluence is very extensive, though Merry seemed to attribute a good deal more to it than was due. Certainly a government so much in want of money must depend much on the moneyed men ; but how far these have a direct influence is another mat- ter. However, Mr. Merry mentioned a circumstance which, if true, must prove that influence to be very great indeed. He said " that he was astonished at finding so many people em-, ployed secretly in trade ; that every day he made discoveries 96 VISIT TO DMNMARK [1799. of this kind ; and he scrupled not to afBnn that almost every- body in Copenhagen was more or less concerned in commerce. The ostensible merchants who have the trade in their hands are few in number, and have the ear of the Court." Mr. Otto, on the other hand, seetned to laugh at Mr. Merry for ascribing hy his behavior so much to his (Mr. Otto's) brethren ; he said that Merry was constantly running up and down, and crying, "Why don't you join the coalition?" All these merchants are enemies to the present war — talk without scruple against England — and are peculiarly irritated by the Dutch expedi- tion. Nothing can make them join but our success in Holland : while matters are doubtful, they keep on the safe side, and remain as they are. The Government is very poor. Last spring, when Hamburg* was threatened, four frigates were equipped for the defense of Altona and Holstein. A fuss was made about a tax for this. The impost on land had been raised formerly, and was changed. Merry did not know ex- actly how it was raised ; but, after all, it did not produce £200,000. This he finds from documents among the ambas- sador's papers. Notwithstanding the long peace which the country has enjoyed, yet there is little specie in it ; what one sees is miserably adulterated with copper ; but, except some small money, nearly all the currency is papei". The want of states and other causes must render the Crown, in case of war, utterly dependent either on the rich merchants or foreign subsidies. The administration of this Government, execrable as is its theory, is in practice mild and gentle. Every liberty of speech and writing is practised, to a degree of licentiousness unknown in England, or known only to be severely punished. ■ Of this the natives seem perfectly con- scious, and laugh at English liberty, which they call a mere name. Two days before we were there, an instance of the Crown's power occurred. The press had grown so scandal- ously licentious, and even libellous, that an edict was published September 28th. This was, however, occasioned (in reality) by an advertisement appearing from a set of Jacobins, rather of the lower kind, who used to frequent Grouvelle's (tbe French minister's) house. It proposed that a literaiy society jras to be formed, which was known to have politics in view. Paul instantly withdrew his envoy, and forbade in the strict- ^T.22.] AND SCAIWINAYIA. 97 est way all communication between the two countries. The edict was instantly drawn up and hurried through the council, then sent off by Baron Blum to St. Petersburg. It sets forth in a long preamble the evils of licentiousness, prohibits under the highest penalties expression against government or mon- arclfy in general, and in fact destroys at once the liberty of speech and writing ; but as every one knows that it is done to serve an end, people' openly turn up their noses at it. Meantime a prosecution has been entered into against the editor of an obnoxious journal, but he is expected to get off, or at most to pay a trifling fine. The criminal jurisprudence is mild in the extreme. There are, indeed, no juries, but the judges proceed with the greatest caution and inquire into the circumstances in the minutest manner possible. The sentence is not valid till ratified by the king, who can not make it more severe. Sedition is pun- ished by imprisonment or a gentle fine. Murder and treason only are capital : the former happens not once in two years ; the latter not since the time of Struensee, who was univei'sally esteemed the victim of a party, and all the world sided with Matilda. For other offenses, the punishment is confinement with labor, and wearing chains. One sees several of these half-prisoners walking about in Copenhagen. The Danes think it does good in the way of example, a thing which ad- mits of doubt in this case. There are two courts of justice : one civil, called the Under Court, which is private, and does all business in writing ; the other is open, and takes cognizance of criminals. The taxes are well levied, and easily for the people ; they amount to one and a half millions a year, which does not come to more than Is. in £20 at a medium, chiefly on consumption. The army is beyond proportion : they call it about 70,000, but I believe the Government would find it difficult to produce a disposable force of 30,000. The pay is two skellings and a half per day, but the soldiers work for themselves, and have two reviews a year. They are no terror to the people, who indeed seem to care little either for the army or noblesse. The fleet consists of about forty sail of the line, which lie in a very convenient dock in Copenhagen ; but we did not go to see them. Vol. I.— E 98 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. The King of Denmark is an idiot. Dr. Thorkelin, however, talked mysteriously on the subject, and seemed to think that the ruling party kept his majesty down by this accusation. Mr. Merry said that ambassadoi-s, etc., have to be drilled, as it were, beforehand, when they go into his presence, in case of his exposing himself. Lord Robert Fitzgerald used" fre- quently to play at cards with him, and said he used to run out of the room suddenly and ^yithout cause. If any one an- swered him he was apt to be outrageous, sometimes spit in people's faces and boxed their ears. His own family never answered him. Mr. Otto told me an odd anecdote of him. A favorite of his had been removed by the influence of the Court, on which there was sent him, to light his fire, a com- mon porter ; him he created a lord of the hedchamber, and the man had to get a considerable pension to induce him to retire ! Mrs. Howden saw him one day come to the garden wall, near the palace. He leaped over ; but being told there was a gate near, he leaped back again and entered by it ! In short, he is humored in every thing, and appears to be in truth an idiot. In the mean time the queen-dowager and crown prince man- age every thing. Count Schonneny, the finance minister, is said to be the most powerful of the ministry ; but Selby (at Stockholm) told me that Bernstoff (the son of the great min- ister), who is only thirty, and a very able man, is in great in- fluence. I rather believe, however, that he is only the organ of the Council. Indeed it matters not what he is at present, as the crown prince is to all intents and purposes prime-min- ister. The king signs his name and appears at court ; he is, however, a mere puppet. The prince's brother is not in fa- vor, and, I understand, does not appear at court. The ambassador Grouvelle (who read the sentence to Louis XVI.) lives very retired.* I see, however, that he is pop- ular among the prevailing powers, the merchants. I have heard young Selby excuse him by making him say that " if people knew all the circumstances they would not blame him so much." The Dutch minister also is popular. Lord Rob- * Grouvelle, frequently mentioned in the "Monitenr"as " litti^rateur et diplomate," was sent as ambassador from the Republic to Denmark in 1713. ^T.22.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 99 ert Fitzgerald is violent against both, and withdrew his name from the society at Rouch's. When Grouvelle came he handsomely retired ; but as the others did not, the matter re- mains. Both the French and Dutch ministers were received at the society -with open arms. "We were told at Elsinore that people were of late grown much less violent on politics, merely from being tired of talk- ing so much on the subject. Lord Robert Fitzgerald is apparently on congi; but his house and effects being sold, and Mr. Merry being settled here as consul-general and charg6 d'affaires, he is now known to have retired for good till elsewhere provided for. He had been three years here, and his departure was supposed to be owing to a publication in the English papers relative to the Danish East India Company. It is evident that he was not used in the best manner possible at Copenhagen. Mr. Merry calls the literary men here " a set of the greatest Jacobins on the face of the earth." Upon the whole, it appears that the mercantile government of Denmark is afraid of joining the coalition on two accounts ; first, because its commerce is sure of suffering in the first in- stance ; and, secondly, because the consequence must be an immediate increase of expense, which in its present situation it could not meet. What service it could render the com- mon cause, even though it could be induced to take a side, I can not conceive. It must be subsidized by England for very indifferent troops, and for any assistance, which, in the present state of men's minds in Denmark, could not be hearty. At the same time the country seems quite in the hands of Russia and of England, so that the strictest neutral- ity is necessary.* Oct. 5. — After writing letters and cursing the fleecing hab- its of this place, we set off to Elsinore in a decent covered carriage. Saw nothing worth notice on our way, except the corpse of a woman who had been drowned ; it lay on the roadside, without attracting the least attention. After stop- ping for coffee at Hirschholm, got to Elsinore at ten, the night being very fine and starry, and went to the clab, where * See Appendix XIV. 100 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. we found the natives uncommon civil. Received more atten- tion from Mr. Howden. Oct. 6. — Early in the morning vee got ready — by docking (of course) our tailor'e bill — breakfasted with Mrs. Howden, who resembles much the Queen of- Sweden. 'The quay as usual, for the Elsinorers keep no Sabbath. Had a pleasant passage to Helsingborg, a Danish mile over. It is a neat enough town, airily situated, and built wide. The inn is very bad : a villainous landlord, who had been two years at Sun- derland. He has wagons of all sorts for sale, as people on leaving Sweden generally sell their travelling carriage; for these he asks the most extravagant prices, and- 1 believe is generally sure of selling you, as people are not a little in his hands. For a very shabby uncovered one we paid thirty rix-doUars, and, after having it covered, could only sell it at Stockholm for ten ! Our stay here was spent in running up and down after carriages and horses, and specie — for which we paid a premium of nearly five per cent. Near Helsing- borg are the springs of mineral-water to which the Swedes resort every summer from Stockholm, and the town is said at this time to be very gay. After a bad dinner and much im- position, we set out. The road was good and smooth, so we drove pleasantly enough with one horse, the country general- ly flat, though rising here and there ; a little cultivated. Saw some hay in stacks, but it seemed very indifferent. Some wood, however, was well scattered over the country ; the rest appeared very marshy and damp. "We met many carts of the peasants in different forms, all as simple as can be imagined, carrying casks, tubs, and boxes of wood and iron, made up the country. They were driven by peasants who put us in mind of gypsies. Many of the carts were drawn by oxen, and somS by cows. We got to Astorp after a chilly drive. It is a small hamlet of wood, pleasantly enough situated; indeed all the Swedish hamlets are romantic in the extreme. We were struck by the great diflEerenee between the peasantry here and in the places near to Denmark. We had tea, and dis- patched the forebote, or courrier en avant, carrying our baggage, to travel all night, after having the sedel, a paper of instructions, written by a learned peasant, the only one iET.22.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 101 in the parish. Had Swedish beds — that is, lay between two. Oct. 1. — Got ofE between five and six to follow the fore- bote. The country as before — the roads also good. Met scores of natives, and cars of iron, wood boxes, etc. Saw some parties at breakfast on the road. Crossed a shallow lake, as all in this place are : the car drove into a large flat boat -without our dismounting. Came to a more wild and rough country — also more woody — all natural. The houses are all wooden, the fires also. They are open, and set in a wide chimney at the corner of the room; a damper is let down as soon as the room is suflBciently warm. They use pine laths for candles, holding the light downward. Candles they also have, but exceeding small and very bad. We went pleasantly on, sometimes taking two horses. The road winds through a variety of woods, some of them very thick. The trees are of different sorts, some firs ; but the finest and piost plentiful are oaks and beech, besides birch, aspen, nut, and alder. We saw also many heathber- ries, some cranberries, and a vast abundance of sloes ; also Osmunda regalis. The cattle were chiefly pigs, running in the woods, and very lean, of course : cows and horses small, but fleet. We went on very quick, only stopping at the inrts to get a crust of bread or an apple. At Markavid met a stu- dent of Lund (in Scania) who spoke German and French. After Markavid, saw many lakes among thick woods : these were universally very shallow, from the gentle slope of their sides and their general appearance. They had many islands, also wooded. We met several travellers. They rode, wrapped in surtouts, in open carriages holding one (some- times two), driven by servant or self, and always smoking. At Travyd we got late. The driver had stopped to tie his spare horse to a tree before getting in sight of the next inn, a trick often played to save taking another spare horse next stage. Found the people here very civil, and got some sour milk and cold potatoes. The night cold, and a little rainy. Rode by a pretty large river to Hamnade, where by mistake the forebote had stopped, so we had to stop here. A miser- able place. Coffee got, after much surprise at first, and honey for sweeting. Slept in one wretched bed, taking the 102 VISIT TO DUNMAMK ' [1799. precaution of showing pistols, and we afterwards found this was not unnecessary. On paying next morning the man made a charge for water ! Oct. 8. — A very wet day, at times raining very hard. The road lay over an open green turf all the first stage, and near the river. At Lingby found a Swedish servant who spoke good English. We breakfasted on blood-puddings, eggs, and milk. Next stage, two miles (Swedish), at a foot's pace, owing to the sulkiness of the driver : pouring the whole time, and no wood to shelter us, so got completely wet. Coasted a very large lake for two miles and a half without coming to the end of it. In the middle several isl- ets ; one large, with wood and houses on it. The houses in this part of the country are very neat, both outside and in- side, and intermixed eveiy now and then with church spires, constructed in a most fantastical manner of wooden billets representing tiles, which gave the landscape a very singular and romantic appearance. Passed what appeared to be a large shallow lake, with several houses scattered over it ; but it proved to be only the overflowing of a river which runs through this valley. At Waramow found a good enough inn, compared to what we had been used to of late. Though it was now late, yet we resolved to go on. The road lay through impenetrable forests, and was so bad we could scarcely crawl along : it was perfectly dark, and we got shook to pieces, yet I slept through the greater part. From the next post we took the way by a shorter cut through a wood into the great road, which also lay the whole of the way through forests of pine, broken only here and there by an acre of land cleared, with a cottage on it. At midnight we came to a green break in the wood, where the inn of Sky- lingaryd stands. It was snug, and most agreeable to us : we had some potatoes, milk, and ham, with our own tea, a couple of good beds, and a fire, so that I feel myself rather comfortable while writing this, though I have more than half the journey before me ; and so I shall proceed to note down a few observations on the country through which we have passed, the wildest and most unfrequented in the south of Sweden. The manners of the natives are the same nearly through this quarter — I mean through Ska- ^T.S3.] AND aOANDINAVIA. 103 maand and the greater part of Smaland, towards Jonkopyi- chage. 1. The difference is striking between Elsinore and Hel- singborg, the opposite side of the Sound. The peasantry, from the moment you enter Sweden, have a much finer ap- pearance than the Danes. Their countenances more healthy, and without that watery white look which is so disgusting in Denmark. Neither have they that uniformity so remarkable among the Danes. , They are much more agreeable in tl!eir manners, and, with the exception of the inn-keepers and peo- ple concerned on the roads, more honest. 2. Their dress is plain; none of those absurd ornaments before described are to be seen here. Their clothes are large and comfortable — of a warm woollen in summer, and sheep- skin in winter. In Scania (province on the southern coast) we observed they were chiefly white ; after that we came among blue: the poorest boys' who drove us had good cloth- ing, and stockings and shoes. At work they use wooden shoes, but we saw them always with leather when unemployed. 3. Their houses are all good and clean — magnificent, com- pared to those of the English peasantry, and much better than the Danish. They are built of logs, with white plas- tered chimneys, and windows. They are generally painted red, and either thatched or covered with timber planks; and to preserve them from wet, they are raised on four small pUlars of stone, sometimes of wood ; eometimes, in the bet- ter sort, a dwarf wall is built ^ few feet up. Almost every house, if it has offices, has a large may-pole ; in many places parts of the flowers remain, and often a weather-index is placed at the top. The fires (of wood) are lit in a large stone chimney, opening into the room, in the corner. The damper is generally a movable plank, tied to a string which is pulled and fixed to a nail by the chimney, and as soon as the fire is half burnt out it is let down. In many houses the damper is fixed on a pole, which moves round on a prop between two uprights, and is pulled up or let down by another pole. All this is on the outside, and has a singular appearance enough. The consequences of letting down the damper too soon are often dangerous, both in these houses and the ones heated by stoves. 104 VISIT TO DENMAJiE [1799. 4. The food of the peasants is chiefly a soup of gruel made of meal, beans, peas, and turnips chopped small ; to this meat is sometimes added. But oftener their food is hog-puddings, either made of the blood or of meat and the inside, like a haggis. They don't seem to feed so much on the flesh, at least the peasants and servants ; they eat a great deal of cold boiled potatoes and boiled milk. Their bread is of rye and barley, made either in hard cakes or in thin flat loaves, with a hole in a middle for hanging them up. They are baked twice a year, but keep quite well, and the beams in the roof of the houses are studded with them ; they have them also thick, but not for keeping. They preserve blueberries and cranberries for sauce, and stew apples and pears. Their meal is very good, and they use it for porridge. They make a drink of warm milk, of which they are very fond ; and the better people use beer and eggs. Their hrandwein is ex- tremely fiery, and resembles gin or whisky; but they can make it very good, and season it with seeds ; this the better sort of people drink in Stockholm. On the whole, the peas- antry live more comfortably in every respect than in England. 5. They all work in iron and wood ; in the former clumsily enough, in the latter very neatly : they use the adze for every thing. They make neat boxes, and vats of a large size, hoop ed and tipped with iron. These we met in whole caravans on the road, and the boxes often filled with cheeses, all going to fair and market. • 6. The number of lakes is very striking, but still more so farther to the north'. We saw few rocks the first two days, but the third we found great blocks here and there among the woods. The country was in general flat during all these days, and seems iavorable to inland navigation. 1. The roads are excellent ; they are made of gravel, and kept up by the proprietors through whose gi'ound they run. Everywhere we saw stuck up by the roadside something written, which we afterwards found to be the name of the peasants or proprietors who were bound to keep that part of the road in repair ; so that the governor or road-surveyor can challenge the faulty person at any time. The consequence of the goodness of the roads is, that the least roughness or steep- ness, which in England would be disregarded, is here deemed JET. 23.] AND SCANDINAVIA 105 impassable, and the least rising of ground is labored up as if it were a steep hill. The horses are very tractable, and easily driven : the peasants drive very skillfully, but crawl up the least rising, and then go down at full gallop as soon as they reach the top. 8. The peasants are obliged to find horses, and both they and the inn-keepers are under the strictest nominal discipline. If a holcar (man who gives the horses) asks drink-money, he is to receive so many lashes ; if an inn-keeper imposes on the journey, he is to get lashes; more for the next, and, for the third offense, he is to be sent a slave to a fortress. Like, all severe regulations, these are never enforced. Yet there is a book printed which has these regulations at the beginning, and is distributed to every inn, with blanks for the name of the passenger, the date, hour of his arrival and departure, number of horses, where from and whither going, also for his Complaints against the people, and theirs against him. Once a month the surveyor examines this ; but we observed that, except in the remote provinces, the people did not seem to care about it. The price is eight skellings (eight pence) a Swedish mile per horse, of which ten make a degree, or near seven English. They drive, and seldom ride, their horses. 9. In these southern parts we saw chiefly growing rye, bar- ley, beans, and a few peas and oats. They dry these grains in three ways. That which we saw in the south was simple enough : it consisted in piling up the sheaves loose upon long poles stuck through them ; these are scattered round the house or barn, and have a singular enough appearance. Another method is that of placing three sheaves triangularly, leaning against each other at the top ; on this they placed a fourth, tied tight at its upper end, diverging over on the others like a beehive, so that the rain runs off as if it had been thatched. The third is chiefly used in Finland : a barn is built of three floors, with a division in the middle for threshing and laying out the' grain ; on the ground-floor, on each side, is built a large oven of stone, reaching up a few feet into the second ; it is lighted and made quite hot, while the wet grain is laid loosely on the floors. Nobody can enter it for some time after it has cooled, but it dries effectively. All this we heard afterwards. E 2 106 VISIT TO DENMAIiK [1799. 10. The agriculture of the south, where we have passed, seems backward. The fields slope often to the very middle, and the furrows are so broad that they seem in most cases merely intended for footways or divisions : when they are meant for drains, they are often laid in the most injudicious way possible, sloping and slanting across the rising. The plough had one handle, and was in some respects good enough : they chiefly use oxen. 11. The fences of the first kind in Scania are very good, and indeed peculiar to the country. They are composed of every sort of wood easily raised ; turn a corner, or mount and de- scend again with equal facility. They appear so frail that no beast will attempt climbing over, and are too high to be leap- ed. They are easily repaired. 12. The mile-stones are more simple and useful than the Danish, and quite conspicuous : a pile of stone roughly hewn and neatly put up, on the top a flat iron plate or stone witli . the number of miles ; but these are confused in one respect, that they don't all count from town to town, but often from mile to mile. Oct. 9. — Our journey had been through forests, only inter- rupted here and there by pieces of cultivated plain, and occa- sionally great masses of rock, the inns being generally bad. At one of them we had our pistols broken, and one of them stolen. The excuse was that they had been left out, and that there were many passengers beside ourselves. But as our writing-desks and the rest of our luggage had been in our bedrooms, and we never absent except for half an hour while our supper was getting ready, and while we were in the kitch- en to hurry them with it, we therefore never thought of ex- amining desks or luggage, and only found next day (October 10), on our arrival at Jonkoping (a singular-looking town half fortified on the Wettern Sea), that our desks had been open- ed and the greater part of the money taken. October 10 was spent in going to the judge to have a proclamation published, offering a reward through all the churches, and in our writing to Copenhagen to have the bills which had been taken stopped ; so we did not leave Jonkoping till eleven at night. Our car- riage having now got a canvas covering on it, we resolved to travel all night as soon as a driver could be found ; and in the ^T.33.1 AND SCANDmAVM. 107 state of our broken arms, we were comforted by being told that a Jew had been robbed and murdered not far from the town. We concluded it would not be very cold, from having killed a viper on the road as we came. Nevertheless, after a little travelling, it grew bitter cold, and we could only go at a foot-pace, the horses being knocked np. I, of course, fell asleep, and my dreams experienced a singular change as soon as the cold and the breeze began. I first thought I was on board a ship in a piercing wind, and tried in vain to get into the cabin below. I awoke for a minute or two, and again was asleep. But now I was walking on the pier of Leith in a cold day. Then I was in rooms where there was no fire, and all the windows open, so that the wind blew through one's very body. I again woke, but soon slumbered again, and then I was near a blacksmith's forge, and going in for the warmth of the fire. The bellows were turned against me and blew cold wind, and then, unable to struggle longer against the ele- ments, I gave up all further attempts to sleep. Oct. 11. — ^Arrived at the end of the stage, we had to wait till half-past eight, and then proceeded pleasantly enough, the day fine, and the road showing a charming view of the lake — the banks woody, and also very rocky. On this day the couu. try was well cultivated, often indeed veiy rich ; barley, oats, rye, flax, and young wheat. Some places had been thickly wooded, but cleared now ; the roads remarkably bad. On the road to Uncta met great crowds of market people, some well- dressed, substantial-looking farmers. At TJncta found a crowd, all drunken and smoking; the scene was odd enough. We then rode on, in a charming moonlight, through a cultivated country to Esta, where we had to wait till half-past twelve, and then to Molby. During the intervals of sleep, consoled ourselves with the idea of comfort there, as it is the best inn on the road. At three we arrived, after the variety of a horse restive and running away, but met with grievous disappoint- ment, owing to the people absolutely refusing us any grog whatever. The kitchen had a fiery furnace lit for baking. In about an hour and a half a dozen damsels turned out of one bed in the corner. We found that the house was brimful of a General Quilfelt and suite from Stralsund. After much waiting, got some of our own tea made. The suite were soon 108 VISIT TO BENMABK [1799. all astii- to set out about four. Stuart went to one of their beds, while I buUied, and made tea by main force ; then had a long conversation with the general, whom I found very gen- tlemanly. "We dispatched a forebote, and ordered our horses at nine to Shrobick, where we expected to meet the general again to- morrow night — ^I ought to say to-night, as I am writing be- tween four and five, just going to bed in one of the aid-de- camp's nests. Oct. 12. — After napping in the nest, scarce cold from the aid-de-oamp's carcass, got up at eight, and breakfast being dis- cussed, remarked the odiousness of the hogs here : they per- form the office of scavengers orally. Stuart was literally hunt- ed by them. Molby is situated on a quick-running river of considerable size, on which are a great number of mills ; in- deed no room is wasted, the rocks in the river being joined to the bridge over it by a small lateral passage, all of wood, and mills constructed on the same : from this number of mills the town receives its name. We set out to follow our fore- bote, and travelled slowly (the roads being very heavy) through a flat, cleared, and cultivated country : the remarkable feature ■of rocks continued in the flattest groimd. All this day it struck us much that, instead of being abrupt and high masses, as before, these had gradually become low and smooth, ap- pearing in single patches in the middle of the fields. Here and there were seen also some more abrupt and rug- ged blocks, chiefly among clumps of trees. At the first inn we came to, were kept two hours for horses. Drove on very quick, through fine woods. Passed a plain where a few works were thrown up. Supped at a place for exercising artillery and reviewing. Came to Lynkoping, a pretty large town with some good houses in it, and one or two large public buildings. By the merest chance in the world found our luggage, the forebote having stopped. Met a very civil young man (Mr. Wenman) who was stopping here in his way to England. He had been there for two years, and spoke English ; was very civil indeed in getting rooms. We set off, leaving Ifed to follow with the baggage when horses should be got. The country again fertile. The roads this stage were under repair. Every twenty or thirty yards we saw the country carts un- MT.22.] ANB SCANDINAVIA 109 loading, which they do by taking off one side. They don't put any bottom, so that the roads are very soft in damp weather. When the road is much broke in woody countiy they throw in pieces of wood, and sometimes we saw ledges of plank at the side for the water. At Thumble we arrived by moonlight, and had a bad supper of eels, and pig, and milk. Such a devil of a landlady I never saw. Were joined by some travellers to Carlscrona, who rode on with us to our next stage. Ned coming up, we continued — I driving for pleasure, as the night was charming and mild. Every half English mile, a' lake — woods now and then — several gentlemen's seats — a vil- lage or two — ^passed also a few rivers. At Brink got cattle immediately; indeed we afterwards learned that General L. had ordered horses for us all the way as he passed. Contin- ued to Nordkoping. The scenery much the same, though more woody. Passed two very fine chateaux : one, of free- stone, with two wings and large oflSces, belongs to Count Fer- sen. No gardens nor pleasure-grounds appai-ently ; all rocks, wood, and water. Oct. 13. — ^At one o'clock in the morning arrived at Nord- koping, the largest town we saw between Copenliagen and Stockholm ; indeed it is the third in Sweden in point of im- portance, and the Gottenborgei-s say it is larger than Gotten- borg. It stands on both sides of a very rapid and noisy river of considerable breadth, over which is a good wooden bridge. The houses are chiefly of wood, and w^ell built, many of them covered with copper. There are a vast number of streets, some of them very long and not very narrow : a great num- ber of mills on the islands, as at Molby. The horses not being ready, we sported the courier, and got on with the last ones to Aby. It began to grow foggy and disagreeable. My drowsiness got the better of my driving, which became rather ticklish, and frequently had near played the devil ; however, got safe to Aby about half-past two, but with the loss of our whip in an unlucky nap. I slept on to Shrobek, giving up the whip. Found we had missed the KoU by one hour, he having set off at five. In our way on from the next inn we met the provost-clerk with several funerals, the first we had seen here. The cofiin and mortcloth was laid in a peasant's cart, like the gravel, and as we saw two or three coffins at the 110 VISIT TO DENMAUK tl™9- same funeral, supposed every club to bury on a Sunday in preference. The country is of the same kind to Nykoping, where we arrived at two, hungry — nay, ravenous, having gone all night, since Six o'clock in the evening of yesterday, with- out food. Ate a hearty dinner in a large and good inn, where the rooms were indeed handsome. This town is large and handsome, the streets are wide, and there is a fine exchange or town-house. The country round is very well cultivated. Indeed this is the best province in Sweden in point of fertility. The agriculture from Molby, or even Jonkoping, improves vastly, though the furrows are still too wide, and not always raised enough. Great quantities of cervises were growing wild these two days, the first I ever saw. Continued to , where we stopped to refresh oiu-selves with milk and the first good beer we had seen. The baron forebotized for us, and was very civil, as indeed we found every body except the road people. Stuart had a very rough ride from hence in a post-wagon. I went thus too, after trying to get on in the gig. The night was very fine, and the "woods and lakes thick as usual. Found the people growing more imposing and insolent as we approached the capital. Oct. 14. — ^At the two next stations there were no houses in- habited, so we had to wait in the cold for the horses. Soder- telge, the most rascally kennel we ever saw : all accounts agree in this. Left Ned to follow, and went on slowly to Fitja, where we had coffee, and were obliged to wait till eleven for bed. Met with a clergyman and some officers who talked bad French. Were much surprised at the de- mands of the Sodertelgean for additional hire, but afterwards found the case not peculiar to South Sweden. At Fitja is a very fine piece of water on both sides the road. It is finely wooded down to the very brink, and has islands also wooded : we saw several sails on it. It grows very wide in view, but is still quite land-locked. All the stage between Fitja and Stockholm is absolutely barren — nothing but woods and rocks ; a house now and then looks like nothing less than the approach to a capital. Stockholm appeared at first like a village scattered among rocks and rising grounds, but grew somewhat better as we approached. Crossed a bridge to the JET. 32.] AWO SOANDINAVU. Ill gate, where we underwent a very close examination of every article. More rocks, only inclosed, and a few oaks scattered. Again thought the town abominable ; but were much struck with the fine show of iron, chiefly bar, at the depot. At two we arrived at our inn, to our infinite joy. -This inn is very indifferent, in a bad part of the town, and has a very large table (Phdte, where we dined for- two or three days till we were introduced to the society. As we went to the play this evening (though we were too late), we saw enough of the quay, palace, buildings, etc., to raise our opinion of Stockholm. It is a large, well-built city, and contains above 80,000 in- habitants. Its situation is strikingly romantic — more so, in- deed, than that of any other capital in Europe. It stands upon barren rocks intersected in every qiiarter by the sea or the Meier Lake, which here runs into an arm of the Baltic with considerable rapidity. The heights around are all rocks covered with firs ; and two sheets of water, part of the Meier above, and part of sea below, are remarkable features in the view. The city of Stockholm, properly so called, stands on an island. The streets in it are for the most part ill buUt and narrow ; but it contains the chief public buildings, and a very noble quay of hewn stone (granite) of great length, and in such deep water that vessels of any burden may lie touching it. The custom-house stands here, and is a large building of hewn stone, with pillars at the door rather heavy, and an in- scription purporting that it was built by Gustavus III. The quay continues in this direction the whole length of the isl- and ; and then, interrupted by the bridges, it is again con- tinued on both sides in another direction.^ The Exchange is also in Stockholm. It is an older building ; but large, and with a handsome front. The business place is a spacious room with a wooden floor, and a small apartment off ft. There are two busts in the large room — one of the architect, the other of a remarkable citizen. Above stairs are rooms where subscription-balls and public dinners are held. Near the palace is a large old church, with an inscription bearing it to have been erected where a very high tower formerly stood (Turris stupendee altitudinis). It has a very fine organ, and one or tw6 large pieces of sculpture on the 112 VISIT TO DENMARK [ITOQ. monuments. The desk and pulpit are also very handsome. The palace is a superb structure, much larger than the Co- penhagen one. It consists of a quadrangle with wings, and a bow behind. In the empty space, or between the wings to the quay, there. has been a sort of garden, forced upon bare rock. It was the work of the regency. Under the stair which leads from the quadrangle ont to the gardens is a marble statue of Venus (de Medicis), a good deal damaged, particularly in the fingers of the right hand. There are four staircases, all very splendid, f oi-med of Swedish granite, pol- ished, and in vast massive pillars, banisters, and porticoes. In the interior of the staircase there is also porphyry. On the balustrades along the garden, between the wings of the quadrangle, there are .some china vases belonging to Charles XII., with his cipher on them. There is a court for the parades of the Guards. It was here that the late king addressed them on the morning of the Revolution.* They are paraded here every morning, and the king frequently attends himself. There is in the palace a very fine collection. After two or three rooms full of pictures, chiefly by Flemish masters, and several by Swedes, thrown together in confusion — but some of them very good — you are led into the long room where the drawings are kept. These are indeed extremely valua^ ble. They are in ten large volumes — in the whole, between three and four thousand — by the first masters of all the schools. There are also several fine pictures in this room — as Venus blinding Cvpid, after which the common pi'int (Strange's)f is engraved. There are two galleries of statues, brought from Italy by the late king, disposed with great taste and effect. The most remarkable of these is a Sleeping Fawn, placed at the bottom of one of the galleries, and the principal figure in it. It is of very great value. The re- mark which struck us all on viewing it was the masterly rep- resentation of sleep, without any appearance of deaih. This * The Bevolution accomplished by Gustavus III. in 1772, when he over- threw the constitution and became absolute. He charnied the, soldiers and people by addressing them in their own language. t Sir Robert Strange, a distinguished engraver, bom in one of the Ork- ney Islands in 1721. iET.32.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 113 gallery itself is very fine, having two rows of pillars, between which are statues of the Muses. The Fawn is the only one that fronts in the area. An inscription bears that the build- ing was finished in 1V96 by the regent. The library is a spacious room, lined altogether with white- wood. It is, however, a contemptible collection, only 35,000 volumes, which were a present from the king, though, fi-oni the privacy of the establishment, it appears that he gave vei-y little away in making the gift. In a separate gallery on one side is % collection of manuscripts, and another of classics. Here, too, are the only remarkable books in the whole — viz., the Great Bible, called The DeviVs, from a book on magic being affixed to it ; the exercises of the late king when a boy — one of these is a little singular, being an ode of Rousseau's violently in praise of freedom, and abusing tyrants in a very pointed way ; and lastly, a beautiful manuscript copy of the . evangelists. The rooms of the palace are large and elegantly furnished, containing a variety of superb mirrors, the floors of wood curiously inlaid, the prevailing furniture blue velvet and satin with gold, and, above all, many fine pictures, chiefly Flemish, though there is a vast crowd of inferior ones. "We remarked particularly Venus and Adonis, by Vandyke ; Mer- cy, by Rubens ; and the Judgment, by ditto ; an old Hermit, by Rembrandt, also his mother. In the king's sitting-room there are two statues (small), one a Venus, representing a lady actually living at Stock- holm ; the other a male statue, both by Sergell. There are also several busts, particularly one of the queen-dowager, by the same. We ' regretted not having seen the large room called "La Salle des Gheoaliers" where the States assemble, and also the private chapel, as both of these are said to be very fine. On the north side of the palace there are two bronze statues of lions, but this part is not finished. In the Place des Nobles stands the Salle des Nobles — a very singu- lar-looking old building, oblong, with a light coach-roof, a statue at each corner, and plain pilasters. There is a title on it, "Palatium equestris ordinis" and a Latin inscription in a line running along the top of the front, . . . Majorum con- siliis atque sapientia virtute etfelicibus arm,is. The staircase in the inside is very broad, above twelve feet, with massive 118 VISIT TO DENMABK [l'<99. isters and such as they introduced ; but it has become now much enlarged, and the number of members fixed at three hundred, each of whom can introduce a stranger, who has then the run of the rooms for two months. The regulations are very good, and the scheme excellently managed. The rooms are very large and handsome, consisting of a reading- room, where the Swedish and foreign papers are received, with maps and periodical publications ; a drawing-room, with sofas and tables ; a large ball-room, where cards are played on common occasions ; billiard-room, card-room, and dining- room; besides dressing-rooms and apartments belonging to the mattre (Vhdtel, who is a Frenchman, and keeps six or sev- en servants. There is a most excellent table in the French style, where you dine for thirty-two skellings, or about two shillings — or forty-four skellings with claret. The thirty-two was lately raised from twenty-four. At this society all the most fashionable men in Stockholm attend. Some of the first merchants subscribe, but seldom or never go there. Those who go seem to spend their whole time chiefly in billiards and card-playing. The bulk of the company are officers. Sometimes as many as sixty dine. They play very well at billiards, almost always Carolina ; and a good deal of gam- bling goes on at this as well as at cards, the favorite games at which are Ombre and Dummy. When we first came to Stockholm the club was not so well attended as afterwards, owing to families being out of town, and no visiting taking place. Indeed at best there is very little of it here, and none for strangers, except among the for- eign ministers, your banker, or any other citizen to whom you have an introduction, and who gives you one formal feed. The Swedes are a veiy polite people, the oflScers particnlan- ly, at least as far as bowing and etiquette ; but of real polite, uess we saw very little, owing to their extreme rudeness to strangers. The Court's fear of being thought dependent upon any foreign power descends to individuals ; and at the time we were there every stranger complained. The only way to avoid this state of coup&e is to cut all the diplomatic people ; for, with one exception (the Spanish secretary, who had been here fourteen years), not a soul among them is asso , ciated with. ^T.22.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 119 MEN OF LETTERS, ETC. There arc three learned societies here — the Swedish Acad- emy, the Royal Academy of Sciences, and the Academy pf Belles Lettres. The first is wholly for the improvement of the Swedish tongue. It was founded by Gustavus III., and is at present engaged in a dictionary ; but the members have been rather remiss, and only a few of them have finished their lettei's. The other two publish their memoirs in Swedish. I was present at a sitting of the Academy of Sciences. They have a large house in the city, where the oifice-bearers have also apartments. Their museum of natural history is far from rich. There are, however, a considerable number of snakes, and a room full of South Sea dresses, etc., brought by Mr. Sparman, who went with Cook. The Sortus siccus, too, is well filled. The library is very small, being of very late date. The Academy met, when I saw it, in a plain, good room, hung round with pictures of its most eminent members and encouragers. There were twenty present, who sat all round a long table ; and the unfortunate visitor was obliged to sit solo' beyond the circle, at the wall. A number of the members (indeed the greater part) had orders, and were no- blemen. The chair was filled by an old gentleman who had been minister for foreign affairs. The subject of conversation was, " The propriety of extending the knowledge of Lapland ;" and the plan for the purpose was carried by a ballot almost unanimously. A paper was also read giving an account of a new steam-engine, invented by a gentleman w^ho resided many years in Russia and Sweden, and is now counsellor of mines. The talking was carried on rather too quickly, and without much distinctness or any order. I was made acquainted (by Mr. Sparman) with Mr. Swanberg, the professor of astronomy ; he lives at the Observatory, and was very obliging in assisting me with letters for Torneo, of which place he is a native, though I was surprised to find he knew little or nothing of Lapland. He was up last summer at Torneo examining the measure- ments of the French Academy, as the Academy here means to repeat these on a great scale, taking in two degrees. This work they are already preparing, and think to begin the sum- mer after next, though want of money is a great obstacle. Mr. 120 VISIT TO DENMAME [1799. Spavman is a very worthy creature, and, I believe, skillful enough in his profession, but his scientific knowledge seems confined altogether to natural history. He complains that Vaillant (whom he calls charlatan) has copied his map, and says that Lieutenant Paterson used him much better. He is a Swedenborgian. Mr. Sjostrom is one of the secretaries, and a great electrician. He lectures in the Academy's great hall, where they meet in summer : it is very handsome, and he has a good apparatus. He has translated " Cavallo's Electricity " into Swedish ; and is busy with a discovery he has made late- ly, and which he explained to us. He finds that all parts of the body which do not perspire sensibly, will show evident signs of electricity by being pressed hard and the electricity suddenly raised. To Mr.Melanderhjelm I was introduced by Mr. D'Asp ;* he is an old man of about eighty, but with his faculties entire. His delight is mathematics, and he had published various works and papers on this subject, particularly a treatise of astronomy. There is no university at Stockholm, but sever- al lectures are given. The learned men are not on the whole much esteemed or well known, and are stigmatized as pecu- liarly Jacobinical; indeed the number is not considerable. There are two sets, one belonging to the Academy, the other (perhaps those of most merit) are private. There is a review written by one of these, said to be very severe and much dread- ed by the Academy ; also a periodical miscellany, called " La- vingegen Blandade." It is a collection of translations and original pieces, some of them very exact. We particularly admired a Swedish translation of "Alonso and Imogene." There are a great number of pieces translated from the " Wealth of Nations." All that class of men are freethinkers. The fine arts are in a flourishing state here, considering how few amateurs there are among the rich. There is an Acade- my of Painting and Sculpture founded by the late king. Mr. Fredenheim is at the head, a gentleman of taste, who has trav- elled much and has several good things, particularly a fine col- * Daniel Melander, incremented to Melanderhjelm on his being ennobled In 1778, bom at Stockholm 1726, died 1810. A list of his works and a ref- erence to biographical notices of him in Swedish works will be found in tlie " NouveUe Biographic Ge'ne'rale." ^T.33.] AXD SCAXDmAVIA. 121 lection of coins, chiefly Roman, inter alia a Niger. He is son of Melander, the late Archbishop of Upsal. The Academy has produced a set of young artists of great merit in drawing and modelling. The terms are very reasonable. The first artist here is Mr. Sergei, a statuary.* He was some time at Rome, and was obliged to leave it owing to the jealousy of the artists, and to one (supposed to be Canova) of whom only he was inferior. His last work, not yet finish- ed, is the bronze statue of Gustavus IH., which the citizens of Stockholm have caused to be made, and it is to be placed upon the quay, before the palace, on a pedestal of Swedish porphyry. This is a most superb statue, fourteen feet high, weighing thirty tons with, and twenty-four without, the knobs. The attitude is that of the Apollo Belvedere. His left hand is leaning on a rudder, round the top of which is a laurel wreath. In his right is an olive-branch, rather too small. He is sup- posed to be returning from the Finland war with the peace, and stepping from his boat to the palace. "We could not help remarking the extreme dissimilarity of the two sides of his face. The left has more slope and less angle than the right, in the cheek ; and the left brow falls away flat and hollow, the skull becoming round and large on the opposite side, to which it looks twisted ; the forehead large, and the expression of the face fine. It resembles the bust of Mr. Fox between the eyebrows, and' the nose is somewhat aquiline. It is strik- ingly like (as D'Asp told us, who was constantly with the late king) ; only Sergei said the twist in the face was rather great- er in the original. This is the first thing of the kind that has been done at Stockholm, and succeeded perfectly well. It took a fortnight to cool. In return for this statue there is an obe- lisk erecting in the space between the palace and Exchange, commemorating the loyalty of the inhabitants of Stockholm during the Finland wai\ Mr. Sergei has several good statues ; two particularly at the end of the room, besides vases, a dying Octriades, and a fawn, * Johan Tobias Sergei, bom at Stockholm in 1 744, .died 1814. He en- deared himself to his countrymen by declining munificent offers from Cath- erine of Russia, that he might spend his days and exercise his art among them. The most easily accessible account of him is perhaps that in the " Bi- ographie Universelle." Vol. I.— F 122 . VISIT TO DUNMAMK [1799. after that in the palace, are the best of his OTrn aboye stairs. Below is his theatre, where we saw his two masterpieces — Mars holding Fenws, wounded by Diomede, and JLove rais- ing Psyche. The body of Venus is finely expressed. There are also medallions of Gustavus III. and IV. extremely like, and casts of Trajan's column of the real size, executed by Ser- gei at Rome, by order of the late king, for whose temple at Haga most of these things are intended. The best painter here is Mr. Breda, a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and one whose works are known in London. He painted the Turkish ambassador, which was exhibited in Lon- don, and then engraved. It is now here; but he has several others better. Mr. Martin is an R.A. of London ; his forte seems t6 be caricature-painting, for his landscapes are daubs. One of his pupils is a most wonderful drawer of figures, but nothing in landscape.* Mr. Belanger is a most excellent landscape-paint- er, both in oil and water-color. The manners of the people in this capital are extremely dis- solute, particularly of the people of fashion. The instances of profligacy about Court almost exceed belief in so northerly a situation. The women of fashion carry on their amours in the most scandalous and public manner. Madame de L , whose husband is minister at the Hague, lives openly with Baron D'E . Her sons, two of the most fashionable young men in Stockholm, are very intimate with the baron, and with the minister too. She is daughter of the late Count J . On her husband complaining to him soon after his marriage,he asked him, " Have you any paper, any writing, any title-deed, by which to plead exemption from the common lot of hus- bands?" This kind of instance might be multiplied to an endless extent. This profligacy seems to descend to the low- er orders. Their manners are growing corrupted too. While we were at Stockholm several instances happened : a man kill- ed his wife because she would not assist him in corrupting his * This Martin can not be David Martin, the portrait-painter, celebrated for the picture of Lord Mansfield, which he afterwards engraved, as he died in 1797. Nor can it be John Martin, celebrated as the author of " Belshazzar's Peast," and others of the like character, for he was only ten years old at the period. ^T.33.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 123 own daughter. Three men were hanged for forgei-y (one of them a nobleman). They continued forging notes even while in prison. A gang of thieves robbed a noble's house with the assistance of his servants. Another gang formed a plan to rob and murder indiscriminately, throwing the bodies into the sea; and this they actually perpetrated on several. The causes of this profligacy among the lower classes may be partly owing to the state of the currency and deamess of provisions. The conduct of the late king gave rise to the profligacy of the Court.* Gustavus III. endeavored by every means in his power to render Stockholm a second Paris. He increased the splendor of the Court, invented the Court dresses, and encouraged the arts, besides erecting a number of public buildings. He in- troduced and encouraged effeminate habits, and pursued a system of favoritism that led to his own destruction ; for we were told that the real caus,e of Count Horn's joining in the conspiracy to assassinate him — ^nay, of his originating the con- spiracy itself — was his loading with honors and making gov- ernor of Stockholm a young man who, from some cause, had made Horn his implacable enemy.f The highest office under the Crown is Governor of Stockholm : but this has been kej)t vacant since the death of Gustavus. The consequence of the present king's utter want of econo- my, has been that the country is quite drained of money, and from this the greatest inconveniences arise, besides the real loss. They havfe notes down to twelve skellings : each skell- ing at par. is above one penny sterling, there being six rix- doUars to the pound ; but when we were there the medium of the exchange might be reckoned six ,rix - dollars thirty- two skellings to the pound sterling, or a plate equal to one * It must be held as corroborative of the,accuracy of the account here given of the amount of social immorality and of criminality in Sweden, that a like picture is given of the country by an acute traveller there nearly forty years later — see "A Tour in Sweden in 1838, comprising Observations on the Moral, Political, and Economical State of the Swedish Nation ;" by Samuel Laing, Esq. The popular Swedish novels of Miss Bremer let their re.ader into the secret of social life by her reference to those sins which prove sore temptations to the heroines whose virtue overcomes them. t Gustavus III. was shot dead at a masked ball on the 10th of March, 1792. 124. VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. shilling, and, a rix-dollar to three shillings. It is perhaps a consequence of the fluctuating state of the money that there is the most surprising uncertainty in the prices of articles. There is no sort of level or standard. In the same part of the town you find in different shops the same article different by half the price almost. This remark Mr. Hailes made in the most positive manner. There is no such thing as tracing a lost note, for the numbers are not always changed in the new yearly issue. To get specie you must pay a heavy agio, which at that time was about fifty per cent., so much was the paper depreciated. The states of the kingdom are the secu- rity for this rix-gelt, and the bank for the banco-gelt, which is of the same value with specie. The king is allowed to issue a certain number of notes ; but as he issues to supply the waste, there is no check upon him in this respect. It was for the purpose of obtaining the diet's sanction to the last issue that the meeting at Gefle was held : the king, also, wished to have the hank into his own hands, but this he could not ac- complish. The late king made specie somewhat plenty by borrowing from Holland near a million specie, which he cir- culated ; but this is now drained off also. The old plates (of copper) went to Denmark chiefly. At this diet bribery was exercised in a very open way, though on a small scale. Thus pensions were given of a rix- dollar per day. Indeed the late king ruled very much by corruption, which, from the poverty of the nobility, he found no very difficult thing. One of the engines* of bribery was orders: of these are four. 1. The Seraphim or Blue Mibbon, which is held by a few only. 2. The Sword, a military order of merit — a yellow ribbon, distributed with immense profusion to almost all the army above captains. It is this which Sir Sidney Smith has. 3. The Polar Star, a black ribbon given to civil officers, learned men, etc. 4. Vasa or the Wheat-sheaf, a green ribbon given to emi- nent merchants, agriculturists, etc. The Sword and Vasa were invented by the late king, and distributed in great profusion, as well as the Polar Star and letters of nobility in the way of douceurs. Indeed this con- ^T.23.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 125 tinues, as we saw at the queen's lying-in, when three columns of the newspaper were filled with a list of creations. The dissimulation of the late king was consummate. He retired to Upsal for two winters, and cultivated the acquaint- ance of the learned men, attended lectures, etc., while in fact he was busy planning the Finland war, .which surprised not only Russia, but all Europe. He came to dine at Ekolsund, and seemed quite degage. Walked about with Seton, and pointed out the improvements required about his place. That afternoon he set off, and travelling with his usual dispatch, two Swedish miles an hour, arrived at Hedmora in the morning, where he ha- rangued the Dalecarlians, and raised them for the relief of Gottenborg. This rapid mode of travelling he always used. He had his bed in his coach, and undressed regularly at night. He used, if going too slow, to put down the win- dow, and ask the coachman (Molman) " whether he was car- rying eggs to market." That evening Seton asked one of the lords who was with him where they were going ; but he told him, "we know nothing more about it than you do." He laughed much at English liberty, and hated the English, admiring and copying the French in all things. When set- ting off from Ekolsund, happening to talk of the safety of travelling in Sweden, he said : " By-the-way, Seton, how can the King of England possibly allow highway robberies? Were I thei-e, I'd order three or four regiments of horse to patrol the roads ; but oh ! that would be reckoned an in- fringement upon liberty," with a sneer and laugh. De Lisle, the French consul, saw him at Gottenborg (in 1788), just as the accounts had come of the order for assem- bling the States General in France. He said in a very sad way to him, that it would not end there — that a revolution dreadful to all Europe was at hand — and spoke as if he knew it otherwise than by mere conjecture : he added, " I must hasten to finish my revolution before this begins, and before it becomes dangerous to call together the states." The most extravagant accounts are given of his eloquence — of his uncommon powers of persuading and talking people over, and his irresistible faculty of producing tears in his audience. Yet he did not understand Swedish as well as 126 VISIT TO DBNMABK [1799. French, and used to write his speeches in the latter, and then have them translated. He contrived, by his address and eloquence, to ingratiate himself wonderfully with the people, whose power he wished to balance against that of the nobles. While he was in Finland he was himself outwitted by the Danes. General Mansback (whom we saw and conversed a great deal with at Friedric's Hald) was sent over on a mes- sage of compliment to him, and staid a week entire with him, but in fact to be a spy on his intentions ; and the king's constant tone was, " I am sure Denmark will do nothing against a peace so necessary," etc., etc. But all of a sudden the general (Mansback) and the prince royal broke into Sweden, and had well-nigh taken Gottenborg, had not the English minister (Elliot) threatened to bombard Copenhagen. The present king is totally unlike him, both in person and character. He is wholly managed by a junto, who direct every thing, to the great discontent of the rest of the nobili- ty. Of this junto the chief are Count TJglas, governor of the province of Stockholm ; Count Fersen, who commanded the regiment of the Swedes (Sweders Ronol) in Fi-ance, and made a very narrow escape from the guillotine for his zeal in assisting the royal family's flight in IVQI ; and Admiral Rosenstein. Some are, however, of opinion that the king's abilities will break forth, and indeed there is some reason to think that he will endeavor to imitate his supposed father; at least he re- called all those whom the regent had displaced, and has late- ly appointed the wife of Armfelt governess to the young crown prince, which makes people expect that he himself is to be recalled. The regent by his conduct displeased every body, particularly by his choice of Reuterholm for his minis- ter. He is a man of very inferior abilities; and instead of his brother's determined spirit, his government was marked by timidity and indecision. He was never popular even be- fore, and his loss of the Swedish fleet at Wiborg had greatly incensed the people against him. He displaced the chief fa- vorites of his brothers, some of them openly, others more in- directly. Thus D'Essen threw up his oflices, and quitted the court, on some economical regulations being proposed in his department. JET.W.] AND SCANDnfAVTA. 121 The dismissal of Munk was another act of his, and has been much misrepresented. In the course of Gustaf III.'s extravagance and constant want of money, he had borrowed a considerable sum from Munk, who was a particular friend of his. Munk wanted his money very much ; and the king, to pay him, ordered him to get a sum nearly the double of what he owed. Munk got this done openly in the king's name by an artist in town, and, being paid out of the sum, the king got the surplus. The notes were sent to Finland by a Jew, and drained that country of money. Munk, having got no order under the king's hand, on his death was ordered to leave the country, and the estate in Finland, bought with his money, was confiscated. He went to Italy and bought an estate in the Cisalpine Republic, whence, of course, he is now drivcuj and lives at Hamburg on a small annuity, which he still has. The lenity with which all Gustaf's murderers (except Ankerstrom) were treated, and the duke's connection with the masons of higher orders, of which he was master, has given rise to a report, doubtless unjust, that he was privy to his brother's murder. I read a book in Stockholm ~ where this is roundly asserted ("Assassinat de Gustave III., par un ofEcier Polonais"). , Mansback (who is a great mason) told a story of the duke and himself having met in a church in Stockholm, and being about ghost-r9,ising, when the duke approached the wall, seeing a spirit, as he thought, on it. When going to address her, she asked an indecent question, to the extreme confusion of the party, who did not recover it for a long time. It was, in fact, a woman of the town who had got into the church. The assassins are now much scattered. Horn is in Iceland, Ribbing is said to be in Paris, and Lilienhorn is a school-mas- ter in an obscure town in Poland. It is thought to have been very lucky for the peace of the country that the king lived some weeks after his brother, as, had he died without making the proper arrangements, there is little doubt that the discon- tented party would have taken the opportunity of attempting a revolution. The power of Russia, of course, keeps them in awe. The antipathy of the people is very violent ; in playing at cards (for instance) they call in joke your adversary " the Russian." This antipathy swallows up any pLque against the 128 VISIT TO DENMARK [IWg. Danes, -withr whom they would willingly join against Kussia. The Court, however, must bend to their power. Accordingly the late proclamation was written to please it. This absurd piece was written with the king's own hand. The present politics of Sweden are very singular : a fear of dependence seems the great spring of all the Court's mo- tions ; yet the favor shown to the Russian ambassador, who is treated on every occasion with peculiar distinction, seems inconsistent with this principle. He alone is allowed to sit at table with the royal family ; and at the opera-house he was placed in a place quite separate from the other ministers. It must, however, be observed that he is the only full ambassa- dor now in Stockholm. The king was to have been married to one of our princesses (Mary), but the match was broken off, for fear of dependence on England. Then he went in person to Mecklenburg, where every thing was ready for his marriage with one of the princesses there ; and when all was arranged and publicly notified, he suddenly broke off, for fear of Eng- lish influence. He went to Petersburg (forced to break off the . other, it is said, by the emperor) and was waiting there in ex- pectation of being married to one of the grand-duchesses, but he seized the opportunity of the empress's death and returned home. He then married the Princess of Baden (who at first disliked him and the country), and with whom (except her beauty) he got nothing, neither friends nor money ; hut then her insignificance secured his apparent independence. The people, especially the merchants, are violent against the English ; laugh at our liberty, which they call gilded slavery ; talk of Pitt as a monster, and the war as the greatest of all curses. They indeed smart from it, and declare that their trade is ruined. The successes of France always increase the public prejudice in her favor ; and on these depend also the motions of the Government. It is supposed that the king has a mind to follow out some of his father's plans, especially with respect to a Russian alliance. The governors of provinces have the whole district also al- most completely under their power; the different chancel- lories, or the parliaments, being wholly under their direction, while the bishop governs the Church. Finland and Pom'erania are distinct and separate govern- ^T.S3.] AND SCANDINAriA. 129 ments. The raising of. taxes is left to the governors of the provinces, and is done as follows : Every province is divided into hundreds ; and formerly there were subdivisions of tith- ings,a distinction now lost. In each hundred the governor selects a jury of nine — three nobles, three ecclesiastics, and three peasants. .These meet in the chief town of the hundred and fix the sum to be paid annually by the district. When a general tax is to be laid on the nobles, it is by an assessment laid on the ploughs of land, into eighty thousand of which the whole country is divided, as England formerly was into Hydes and Knights' fees, and as many parts of Germany now are, into " whole-farmers " and " half -farmers." The people in office are in general very poor, and their in- fluence in no way formidable. It is a great deal if they can support a trifling household upon their appointments, and ofBces (at court) are so poor and yet so eagerly sought for ; yet scarcely an officer of State has sufficient influence to give away a place of a hundred rix-dollars a year. The same pov- erty extends through every department of State, though mag- nificence is aped by having a multitude of officers with small salaries in order to oblige many dependents. Thus there are four secretaries of State with £200 per annum salary, though quite in want of employment. The minister for foreign affairs has £400 ; the postmaster-general, £150. The judges have £100; but this is so taxed that they do not get above £80: the consequence is bribery. The diplomatic men are well paid— indeed beyond all proportion. Thus the Swedish min- ister in London has £1500 per annum. The nobles, whose fortunes are extremely unequal, but in general very small, are reduced to the necessity of oppressing their peasantry, of which we saw the effects in our journey to Stockholm; though in the North, we are told, where the peasantry hold of the Crown — in Bothnia, Jutland, Angermanland, and Helsing- land — the contrary is observed, for there the peasantry are rich and independent. The Court itself shows a curious mix- ture of poverty and state. For while they pay 80,000 rix- dollars for the opera, they and the town were afraid to have an illumination at the queen's delivery, for fear there would not remain enough of candles. The queen's state-coach is an old one formerly belonging to an English minister. There are so F2 130 nSIT TO DENMARK [ITOQ. seldom court days that strangers are presented in a private y^ay after the parade, otherwise they must wait eight months ; and a regiment of two hundred and fifty uncommonly tall men (Swedes) were obliged to be disbanded very lately, lit- erally because the expense of feeding, etc., was too great. Though there is scarcely a party given in a whole year by any individual nobleman, yet they haxepiques-tiiques, at the expense and profusion of which a stranger is surprised ; and occasionally great /etes are given by the society, most remark- ably splendid — ^for instance, one (while we were gone to Upsal) where five hundred people were present, and a most magnifi- cent entertainment ; but not above £200 were allowed them monthly for expenses. The partiality for a French alliance exists yet ; all the men of property and consequence wish that, whatever government is established in France. The old alliance may be established between France, Poland, Prussia, Spain, Turkey, and Sweden, as a bar to Russia on the one hand, and England and the em- peror on the other. For England they do not conceal their hatred; and though their ships have been seized by both sides, they are silent as to the one, and load the other with abuse. When the fleet (said fo be worth half a million ster- ling) was lately seized and condemned, to the great loss of the mercantile interest in general, and the utter ruin of one, the commander of the convoy who gave them up was tried and condemned to be shot, and, though pardoned on the place of execution, yet sent for six months to the fortress of Sveaborg. The King of Sweden, too, wrote a letter with his own hand to our king, who (some accounts say) left it all with his ministers and judges; others, that he gave no an- swer at all. One of the accusations against Mi\ Hailes was, his having appeared on 'Change the very day the news of the capture came. D'Asp was recalled from London, it is said, because our king turned his back on him, which the King of Sweden pointedly did to Hailes, and treated him with every mark of disrespect. The people were furious, crying that he deserved to lose his crown if he did not take vengean~ce. Bonaparte's return occasioned a dinner of a large company, composed of some respectable people, and others, as clerks, etc., to drink his health ; Suwarrow's was drunk in cold wa- iET.aS.] AND SCANpmAYIA. 131 ter ; and the French consul, who presided, gave the fraternal embrace once round, and then again ; and being asked a third time (as the story goes), was so fatigued he could not. A singer (Dupuis) was immediately sent out of the country for having sung there, but was to have been pardoned ; but com- ing on the stage one night when the king was there, the first sentence of his part happening to be, " I don't go, but stay here," was prodigiously applauded as being Apropos. The king said to the officer who sat with him, " But he shall go." Accordingly the man was sent off, but a great subscription made for him, and loaded with presents, and impostures were practised to get more from the king. The French consul, too, sent to make his apology to the minister of foreign affairs." The wives of ministers are not received at court unless they wear the Swedish court dress. The only one who has submitted to this is the Portuguese minister's lady, Madame de Correa, who does not find herself a whit better received than before. This dispute about the dress originated with a minister of the emperor, whose wife was literally turned out of a ball-room by order of the late king. The population of Sweden does not exceed three millions, of which one must be allowed to Finland and Lapland. The last has now only 10,000 inhabitants. The army nominally amounts to 80,000 men, including mi- litia : they support in time of peace only enough to garrison the forts, and for the guarcts. The greater part of these stand- ing troops, including two yeomen regiments, are divided be- tween Stockholm, and Pomerania, and Finland. The most important garrisons are those of Sveaborg and Marstrand — the former in Finland, the latter on the frontiers of Norway. These are esteemed the keep^ of the empire, being both built on inaccessible rocks, at the distance of three or four miles from the coast, and Sveaborg commands a fine harbor. The rest of the army is jather a militia, but upon a sin- gular footing, and, I believe, unparalleled in Europe. Each province furnishes a regiment, which is called after its name.* The men, who are all peasants of the place, have no pay, ex- . cept at stated times when called out. Besides this, they are obliged to parade every Sunday at the church-door of the parish. They are found in a house, and a small portion of 132 VISIT TO BENMAUK [IWO. ground, which the proprietor is obliged to take care of when the holder is in the field or at exercise. In this way each estate is burdened with a certain number of men. Their houses are marked by a square board, with a number inscribed on it. The children of soldiers in general become soldiers too, and, being trained to the musket from their youth, do not differ from the soldiers of other armies. The officers have farms in the same provinces with their reg- iments — the captain in the midst of his company, and the colonel in the middle of the province. The same plan is ex- tended to sailors who are quartered along the coast ; but this does not answer so well, and it makes the navy full of old men, as the young take care to get employed among the mer- chants, who are obliged, however, in time of M'ar, to furnish a certain quota of men to the navy. The army in Sweden is thus extremely economical. The king's guards themselves are only paid twopence per day when on duty, and at other times have to work for themselves. However, the soldiers are often supported by the public works, in some of which they are the chief laborers, as at Trollhatta. The officers are for the most part very poor, though men of family. Thus, a lieutenant has only one hundred and twenty rix-doUars per annum. The chief officers at present in the Swedish service are Count Fersen; Flatten, the governor of Pomerania; and Shlimpston, the commander-in-chief in Finland. The navy is powerful in proportion to the other establishments : forty sail, chiefly frigates, of which the greater part are at Carls- crona, one of the finest harbors in the world, though some are laid up in ordinary at Stockholm. Many of them are old and ill-built; but those which have been laid down of late are on the most beautiful models made by Admiral Chapman, who lives at Carlscrona, and is one of the first naval archi- tects in Europe. The last time the king was at Carlscrona, a frigate was launched, and the keel of an eighty-gun ship laid down. Though beaten at Wiborg by the Russians, they perfectly retrieved their credit by a victory at Suensk-sund. The revenues of Sweden amount to about two millions ster- ling, but are rather on the decrease, from the expension of the mines ; and they are burdened with about eight millions national debt, the interest of which they find it difficult to iET. 33.] AND SGANBINAVIA. 133 pay. The commei'ce, particularly up the Gulf, is greatly in- creasing : several ports have been opened of late. Stockholm is situated very advantageously for shipping, not only from the excellence of the harbor, but its distance (six or eight miles) from the sea, so that ships have to be warped up between narrow channels almost all this way. The staple articles are flax, hemp, iron, and deals ; and chiefly flax and iron, of which last particularly there is a magnificent depot at Stockholm. Gefle is a large trading-town up the Gulf, and is reckoned the fourth in Sweden ; it fits out ships of seven or eight hun- dred tons burden. Sundsvall,' Hudiksvall, Havosund, Lulea, and Tornea, and several large places up the gulf, have lately been made free towns, and have added very considerably to the commerce of the country. In the West Indies, Sweden has some small trade, from the possession of St. Bartholomew, ceded by France. It is a bai-ren rock, and now literally a d6- pot for smuggling. The governor had behaved so ill to the inhabitants, that deputies were arrived in Stockholm, while we were there, to complain of his conduct. Their trade in the East Indies used to be very considera- ble, and Gottenborg the head-quarters, though at present it is in a bad way, the India House being actually shut up, as we heard then, and the people complaining most dismally that their trade is ruined. The consequence of all this is, that coffee has been forbid, in order to encourage tea, to the great annoyance of the people. Indeed, while Lord Henry Spencer was our minister at Stockholm, so violent an altercation arose on this subject among the ministers, that several are said to have been obliged to quit the court, and Lord Henry sent on the subject a courier-extraordinary to England. French bran- dy was also forbidden ; but (from some instances of discon- tent which occurred) it was found better to take off this pro- hibition. The great obstacle to commercial improvement is the de- preciation of the rix-doUar, which introduces endless confu- sion, as well as loss. Thus, in retailing, if a person wishes to buy an article Whose price is not expressed by any note, he must either pay more than the price or give specie, by which he loses ; for, if you give away specie in common dealings, 134 VISIT TO DENMARK [1T99. the agio is- not allowed, which, you paid to. get it. Thus, too, all officers under Government are paid in the rix-doUar, so that, since its immense fall, the value of the salaries has fallen in proportion, while the price of provisions rises. Besides rix-dollars and banco, they have lately issued a note of very singular kind — ^viz., a piece of copper intrinsically worth one- sixth of a skelling, which is made worth a half-skelling, and is called a. pallet. It is singular enough that a number of prices remain so much the same. Thus, that of posting was not different in 1736, as we see by Duther's voyage — and how long before I know not. It seems not improbable that some violent convulsion will take place from the state of events. The language of Sweden is evidently sprung from the Teu- tonic, and that it is a very pure remnant of that stock may be inferred from a curious circumstance. Almost everywhere else we find in names of persons end places remnants of dead language, and not to be understood by the present natives, though easily understood by knowing the roots of the ancient local tongue. But in Sweden the case is quite different; all the names are modern Swedish, and any one moderately. acquainted with that language as it is at present spoken there can easily discover the meaning of each appellation. For instance, one can form a very good guess at the situation, etc., of a place before seeing it. Names of persons can almost all be traced as easily ; and this is connected with another peculiarity. No one but a noble can properly have any surname, though merchants, etc., do take them. Then, in courts of law these names are not ac- knowledged — they are called in deeds and citations, James, Jameis son, and Anne, Jameses daughter. The lower classes, as peasants, have actually no surnames at all, being constantly called by their Christian names. Thus a parish register is an unintelligible list of Christian names with the fathers' affixed. When a gentleman hires a servant, he often wishes to distinguish him ; this he does according to his fancy : thus Seton calls- his coachman always " Preston," after his Scotch estate. This prevails also 'in Iceland and Norway. The people have thus derived their names from circumstances; thus one of the oldest families is called ^T.23.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 135 JBonde (a peasant), and Vasa is a wheat-sheaf. When the clergy take a name, or continue their father's, if he had one, they add the termination "us" to it: thus the Archbishop of Upsal's father was called Trail, he himself Troiliis, and when ennobled became Von Trail. Almost all the names ending in " ander," as Dryander, Polander, etc., come from the province of Smaland. There are, of course, various dia- lects in Sweden. That spoken by the common people in Stockholm is by no means good ; and I perceived the grea't- est change in the dialect of Western Gothland, where could not always make himself understood. I believe it soft- ens down more and more as you get into the Danish prov- inces. The purest Swedish is spoken in Wermeland, in Dalecarlia : the natives speak a dialect quite different from the rest of the Swedes, who can not understand them ; but they also speak Swedish, and are shy of using their own tongue except among themselves. It very strongly resem- bled Anglo-Saxon, and many words which we heard repeated in Dalecarlia are quite good English. Besides, they retain the th and w, which none of the other languages except the English do. The manners of these people are as different from the other Swedes as the language. They are by much the best of them, and the bravest as well as simplest. Gus- tavus III. was peculiarly anxious about cultivating their good opinions, but he never succeeded well. The Swedish lan- guage has been much cultivated by the natives — at least they have many more authors than the Danes or other Northern nations, perhaps from their being more insulated and having less intercourse with foreigners. The history of their own country has been written by their two best authors, Dahlin and Lagobring. The latter, being written according to a clear method, and without the tedious prolixity of the for- mer, is esteemed the best. The Chevalier Ihre, famous for his knowledge of Northern antiquities, has published a work of great labor and information, " Dictionarium Suedo-Gothi- cum."* Their chief poet is Kelgren, who, besides several * Johan Ihre, bom at Lund 1707, died 1780. The Dictionary referred to was published at Upsala in 1769, in two volumes folio. A list of his -works will be found under his name in Adelung's Supplement to the "Allgemeinea Gelehrten Lexicon " of Jocher. 136 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. poems and imitations, is celebrated for his opera of " Gustaf Vasa," in the composition of which the late king is said to have had a share. The poetry is said to be extremely fine; and the decorations, etc., are splendid in the performance, be- yond conception. But probably much of its merit consists in its being a grand national subject. Besides, I am told, it is a good deal imitated from Richard III. Their other chief authors are Leopold, who has written some small poetical things ; and Silvertalp, a satirist-and author of the " Ser Re- view." There are, besides, a multitude of translations from English, French, and German, and many authors of political pamphlets, which they are at incredible pains to get trans- ported into Russia, as the difficulty of procuring such publi- cations there makes them sure of a ready sale. The law of Sweden is founded partly on the civil law, partly on the old Gothic constitutions. The code is small and very distinctly drawn up, occupying only one small vol- ume. The criminal code is extremely mild, and (except An- kerstrom's) no execution had taken place at Stockholm for twenty years. One happened while we were there, that for forgery {vide supra), and was performed in a cruel manner. The culprits were hung up by the middle, their head and heels almost touching; then the executioner gave each a kick on the neck, so that the numerous spectators actually heard it break. They were so shocked at the spectacle that it was feared for some time after a tumult might take place. The police of Stockholm is very bad indeed. The lieu- tenant de police was turned out of town by the late king for infamous practices. The rogues about town are chiefly soldiers, and it is extremely unsafe to walk at night in any but the most frequented parts of the town. Thieving is uni- versal. The religion of Sweden is Lutheran, though they admit bishops who are for the most part ennobled, and prelates of orders. Von Trail was created Archbishop of TJpsala — the only Lutheran archbishop in the world — by Gustavus III., rather as one whom he could make sure of in his political intrigues, than for any shining talents. In 1789, when the Act of Security was to be signed, Troil was so much intimi- dated by the nobles, that he durst not consent — on which the ^T.S3.] AND SCANDINAYIA. \Z1 king- desired bim to have &Jit of the gout, which he complied with, and the Bishop of Lynkdping (the next) signed. He has since had the gout in eai^nest, and was confined with it when we saw him at Stockholm. His revenue is £1500 per annum, and some patronage of small livings, a great thing in Sweden, where there exists literally scarcely any such thing as patronage at all. The inferior clergy are for the most part selected at Upsala, Lind, and Abo, the three universities, from the poor students. The livings are small, and the parishes very extensive. In order to have an opportunity of seeing the rural econo- my of this country, and alscf of visiting Upsal, we accepted the invitation of Baron Seton, a Scotsman, and spent several days with him, both in going to Upsala and in returning. Seton had been well acquainted with Gustavus HI., and en- nobled, some said from the king's love of a joke, his name being Baron, which he changed for an estate left him by his uncle, called Seton. I remember seeing on one of his win- dow-shutters a few words written by Gustavus, importing that on such a day he had come there from the revohition : of course the date was 1772. There was then at Stockholm a great sculptor, Sergei, whose works were well worth seeing, and who had many anecdotes to relate of former times.* It must be 'added that nothing we heard of Gustavus III. tend- ed to raise our opinion of him in any respect, but for his tal- ents. His public conduct is well known ; but he had left a very indifferent impression in society of his private and per- sonal character. This was the opinion of others, as well as ours, of whom he mentioned Edward Daniel Clarke, and his pupil Cripps. They came to Stockholm while we were there on their Scandinavian tour, which they extended to Greece ; and Clarke has publish- ed a full account of it.f We became acquainted with one who proved another author of " Travels " some years after — Acerbi — who with his friend Beletti had come from the Mi- lanese, and was afterwards in Marescalchi's mission to Paris. He amused us with an account of a famous clairvoyante who * See above. t To be found in the six volumes of "Travels in various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa," well known as Clarke's- Travels. 138 YJSIT TO DMKMAUK [1799. had operated upon his friend and him with different results. When the question was put to Beletti, " Doit-on aimer sa pa- trie ?" he answered, " Quand on en a une " — which Acerbi said was clairvoyant^ s power, not only in getting an answer from one in a trance, but such an answer was above his friend's capacity in his natural state. Lombardy at that time was neither Austrian nor French. Napoleon only two years after made Melzi vice-prefect before he assumed the iron crown himself. The country between Stockholm and Ekolsund is rocky and woody — some lakes; and the road lies chiefly along branches of the Malar. After Hhe first stage, however, you get into cultivated country ; indeed, the whole province of Uppland is plain and fertile. The house and estate belonged to Gustavus III., having been given to him by the States as a provision when prince. It consists of two large wings join- ed by a low colonnade of ofiices. The house is very elegant, and well furnished ; but so much too large that Seton is wish- ing to sell it. The estate is one of the largest, perhaps the largest, in Sweden. The grounds are laid out in the old French style, of straight avenues, mazes, etc. We saw the rooms which Gustavus's court occupied. He was very fond of the place ; and on the windows are some inscriptions written with his own hand. One in particular, dated September, 1'7'?2, " Jag komt hit ifran Revolutionen." The ground is uneven where the house stands, and high, well wooded, with a veiy extensive avenue. On one side it stretches down to the Malar, which gives an easy communi- cation with Stockholm ; on the other side it overlooks an ex- tensive and cultivated plain, in which the chief part of the es- tate lies. On the lake he has a large brick and tile work. A great part of the land is let out to tenants on long leases, which he has introduced here from Britain. Some is let out for life on quit-rent, and a third portion remains in his own hands — no tenants at will. The part in his own hands he cultivates to the best advantage, and on a very extensive scale. The land is pretty equally divided in the cultivation of wheat, barley, peas, etc., nearly as in England. But it is remarkable that the plough which they use, and have used for ^T.23.] AND SCAlWmAVIA. 139 two hundred years — called the Helsingland plough — is the very same which the Agricultural Society lately introduced into England. They chiefly used yoked oxen, which work through land lately cleared of wood, and studded with large stones and roots in a surprising manner. They raise their furrows very imperfectly in the middle, making cross-cuts and sweeps to carry off the moisture, which does it very im- perfectly. The climate is well adapted for reindeer. One of these we saw at Ekolsund, where he has been kept some time, being bought from some Laps, who sometimes come as far south as Stockholm. It is a dark brownish-gray, the horns pointed, two flat lying back, and two forward ; he is the size of a fallow-deer, and stretches up his head, when he runs, in a singular manner. His pace is a rough trot, and his hoofs almost as large as those of an ox, with dew-claws, spreading when he runs, to prevent him from sinking in the snow. The accounts of his speed are much exaggerated. He can go seventy miles a day for three or four days, but is sure to be killed by it. After three or four hours they tire ; the least weight annoys them. The sledge is more properly a boat in every respect, and the common rate is about forty miles. In the woods here, besides game of all sorts, except wild boar, there are bears, and abundance of wolves. While we were there, a flock of six or eight came so close to the house that the watch shot at them ; and they constantly de- stroy the dogs, etc., if they go any distance from home. The elk is sometimes met with, a creature of great size, though harmless. In the king's menagerie they have one, twenty hands high to the back. There are also lynxes of two sorts, both beasts of prey, and valuable for their furs. Of game-bii-ds we have here cocdubois, a large and excel- lent bird ; the snoripa, moor-game, and, above all (from the Korth), the xerpar, a small bird about the size of a chicken, quite white, and exceedingly delicate, sometimes carried as far as Paris, and sold for two guineas a piece. At Ekolsund there is a runic stone with an inscription, bearing that it had been erected by Gotho, widow of an an- cient hero, to his memory ; also that the same hero had been the founder of Ekolsund, by its old name of Harvista. Be- sides several runic remains scattered up and down the coun- 140 nSIT i'O DENMARK [1799. try, they still make in Norladthe runic sticks, or almanacs, which were formerly used, and which represent the proper- ties, etc;, of the month by hieroglyphics. Ekolsund was built by Count Jott, one of Gastavus Adol- phus's generals. From Ekolsund we went up to Upsala in a carriage lent us by Seton, and accompanied by Mr. Halsted, who was educated there, and knew every .body. After travelling through a fiat country, we arrived at Upsala, and sent our letters, waiting for that night in a snug though poor inn enough, called the Cellar, or Skellar. In the next room, where a great number of the students have an ordinary, they sung the whole time almost^some of them extremely well, but in general without words. The " Marseillaise " was the most conspicuous tune, and oftenest repeated. The town stands in the middle of a very fine plain, on a river small but bright, the hill on which the castle is situated standing almost alone. The town counts about five thousand inhabitants, is built chiefiy of wood, and interspersed with gardens. The four principal streets meet in a great square. The cathedral is a very large pile of building, though of brick ; it has two towers of copper, which make a fine ap- pearance. It contains the tomb of Gustavus Vasa (whom the king lately exhumed, and found M'ell preserved), St. Eric, the families of Geer and Stuve ; Archbishop Menandi, a very elegant one, erected by his son, M. de Fredenheim ; and Lin- naeus, lately put up. It is composed of one block of Swedish porphyry and a medallion of the great man. The altar-piece is very fine. We then saw the public hall or theatre, where an oration was holding, by Professor Gotling, on the birth of the prince, in Latin, written by a professor. Then the library, which is a large collection, but disappoints one in point of rare old books, when one considers that Gustavus Adolphus pillaged from the German libraries, and all the treasures of these were lodged here. We saw, however, the celebrated Silver Book (Codex Argenteus), or Gothic Testament, which has made so much noise. It is the only Gothic book extant, except the Codex at Wolfenbuttel, to which, however, it is infinitely su- perior. It is written in silver letters on purple vellum, and iET.23.] AND SCANDmAVIA. 141 the boards are silver. The letters, however, in many places ' have eaten through the vellum on which they. were -written. "We saw a remarkable manuscript of the Edda, which has been the subject of a controversy between Professor Schlo- zer, in Germany, and the late Chevalier Ihre.* In the same room with these manuscripts is placed a very large and valuable chest, carefully locked with several locks, chained and sealed, containing all the private papers of the late king, which he ordered here before his death, and left to be opened fifty years after his death. We then dined with the family of M. Wetterstedt, the gov- ernor of Uppland, he himself being at present at Stockholm. After dinner, went to see the collection of Professor Thun- berg, the Japanese traveller. He is in bad health, and very old, so we did not see him : he lives in the house that former- ly belonged to Linnieus.f "We saw also the garden and green- houses, where there is a small collection, not in bad order, formerly arranged by that great man. The green-house and garden are to be transferred to the chateau, where handsome buildings are already erected; but as only a certain sum year-, ly is allotted, the work goes slowly on. In the evening wo went to see a literary curiosity — a traveller, M. Odman : he has not stirred out of his room for sixteen years. His sole occupation is abridging voyages, of which he has published above one hundred volumes in Swedish. He talked French so ill, that it was difficult to converse with him. He lies lounging on a bed, from which he seldom stirs. He has a family, and tolerably good appointments. We then went to the reading-room, where the students go ; it is uncommonly well stocked with foreign newspapers, and Swedish, of course. Next morning we went to see the collection, chiefly miner- alogical, of the Royal Society of Upsala : this we found in a neat small house well filled up ; in one of the rooms the So- ciety meets. Among other specimens are some very good native silver ores from Sala, and in general a complete collec- tion of Swedish mineralogy. I * See above, p. 135. t Carl-Peter Thnnberg, the great Swedish botanist, bom at Jonkoping in 1743 ; died at Upsala in 1828. A li^t of his works will be found under his name in the "Nouvelle Biographie Gen€rale." 142 VISIT TO DMNMAUK [1799. The shells are also numerous, and there is a large flora. Professor Lilieblad, who showed us the place, has published a " Flora Suecica." We then went a second time to the chateau, a long and in- elegant red building not finished, having a round tower at one end, and not the other. We called on M. Adam Afzelius, lately returned from London, where he resided some time un- der D'Asp in a diplomatic capacity. D'Asp introduced us to him by letter. He was a long time in Sierra Leone, and has brought home a large collection of rarities from thence :• he has not arranged them, but means to publish an account of his voyage. The castle is built on the site of the old for- tress, of which the ruins still surround it. We saw the cell where Steen Sture was murdered by Eric IL The king stabbed him in the arm ; he drew out the dagger and kissed it, then returned it to Eric, who in a fury of rage dispatched him. From the castle there is a fine and very extensive view. Gamla (or old) Upsala is distinctly seen half a Swedish mile off. This is only remarkable for the Mora Stehi on which the ancient kings of Sweden were crowned ; besides a num- ber of barrows, under the most remarkable of which it is thought that Kjalman, one of these, is buried. I visited also the professor of chemistry, who lives in the house and labora- tory of Bergman, who arranged his mineral collection. The laboratory seems very excellent, but I did not see the collec- tion. The University is not in so flourishing a state as formerly. There are six hundred students, who are divided according to their provinces or nations of Sweden from which they come : each nation is under the care or inspection of one pro- fessor. The morning after we arrived, each nation received a private reprimand from its professor for having showed in- decent violence in politics ; and particularly for having com- posed indecent songs ridiculing the birth of the prince. Two weeks after this, the king came to Upsala himself, resigned • the chancellorship after a violent speech to the .professors, etc., accusing them all of Jacobinism, and ordered them to choose another. They pitched on Count Fersen, with which the king was well pleased. iET.22.] Aim SCANDINAVIA. 143 The students here are for the most part extremely poor : very many of them are farmers' sons. The professors here seem of a rank superior to the common run of those on the Continent. There are several travelling pensions or bursa- ries, and we saw many who had been in Lapland with these, even the length of Enaratraok. The Society publishes the Upsala "Acta ■ Eruditorum ;" and corresponds, with the Societies of Abo, Stockholm, Got- tenborg, and the Physiograpliical Society of Lund. They have many leading members — Thunberg, Lilieblad, Afzelius, Gotling, Moravius. The University is much split into parties, the professors al- Avays quarrelling. Ihre was much annoyed by some of them. His retorts are much talked of, for he was a man of wit. One of them meeting him on the bridge, said, "I never go out of my way for a knave." " But I always do," said he, stepping aside. The students, instead of fighting as in Ger- man universities, are rather given to drinking and singing, but not to great excess. They seldom have strangers, and are extremely civil and kind to you ; this we experienced from the professors and the governor's people very universally. After taking another view of the theatre, where a Swedish oration was this day held (ladies being admitted) on the same subject, we set ofE for Ekolsund, where we arrived at ten o'clock at night, after a very cold and slow ride, the roads being exceedingly heavy. At Seton's we found. Baron Schwerin, a poor nobleman. Dec. 16. — Drove rapidly through woods, our path good; v/aited atHofve near two hours, then through one of the most extensive and thickest forests I have seen to Hasleror. WhUe sitting waiting for horses, I amused the people by an involun- tary feat, the carriage running back about a dozen yards down a slope, but received no hurt. The horses are not changed at Mairiestadt, as towns are al- ways avoided if possible, from the diiBculty of finding horses. However, as I wished to see the quarters of the man who had committed a recent murder, I stopped a little ; was told, how- ever, that he was still whole in prison, as a robber, murderer, and incendiarj'. Went to the inn, and, seeing a small table d''h6te laid, had the curiosity to wait to sup at it. 144 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. However, I had to eat alone, as the company kept walking up and down, to the number of eleven, while I fed. Their star- ing amused me a little ; but I met with the utmost civility. Some herrings which I ate here, from Wencon, tasted exactly like those of Loch Lomond.* This town stands on the Wennern Sea, and is a pretty large place. I saw several genteel people enough. In passing on, one of the horses fell at his length. The driver, swearing he was dead, would stop us. After getting it round, found the cause of the fellow's noise was my Rus- sian brute's having threatened him with his sword if he "did not drive quick. After satisfying the one and terrifying the other of our cattle, got on. Dec. 1 7. — Got on through the next three stations, Biorsa- ter, Enebaken (good), and Kollanger, without dismounting, sleeping chiefly. Passed through Lidkoping without s'top- . ping. It is a good-looking town on a bay of the Wennern, with a stream running past it, and vessels. There is a large, neat square in it, with some good buildings. At Molby, stopped to get some refreshment from the soup, etc., being sadly galled and torn, and continued to Tang. This forenoon the road went through a country where wood w-as not to be seen. The road, striking off to TroUhatta, be- comes execrably rough, and now from the frost peculiarly so ; and near that place it is even dangerous. On the right is a fine rocky hill, with columnar top, much wood behind. Arrived at Tang at four, and before horses and guide could be got it was quite dark. Dined in a very snug inn, and then went out by the light of a lantern to see the works and hear the falls. The view, though obscure, was quite satisfactory, and even sublime. The road of scaffolding being all a sheet of ice, the ladders and planks also, by which we had to crawl up the sluices, we had a very difBcult business to keep our- selves safe. After crawling up and down for above an hour, we returned to our inn, highly pleased, though much fatigued. After coffee, and looking over the traveller's book at the inn, and adding a note, set off at ten, and had a very slow and hazardous drive along the rocks which form the road. It * Probably Loch Fine. iET.23.] AND SOAMDINAVIA. 145 was bright moonlight, and the night agreeable. At the first station, had to wait an hour aijtd a half for horses. In going to the next, were overtaken by a storm of snow, and had to crawl ; were stopped at the next also. Dec. 18. — At th,e second had coffee, and, as it was morning, proceeded through the most rocky part of Sweden I had yet seen. Remarked pa-rticularly a valley and a vast plain, with a river running through it (almost frozen), and all surround- ed by masses of absolutely bare rocks, some of them of very considerable size. The valley turns, and continues apparent- ly well cultivated ; the rocks ranged on each side, with a few trees scattered over them, and several clumps up and down the valley, and some neat gentlemen's seats and boxes. There is a good wooden drawbridge over the Gotha, which ia here very broad, and at the end appears Gottenborg. The day being now fine, the prospect was very pleasant. Several streams and one considerable river cross the road and fall into the Gotha. Entered Gottenborg at two o'clock, along a canal with trees planted on the sides, and the boxes of the merchants. Gottenborg. — The merchants who compose the body of this place are all croaking at the times, the effect which the war has had on the country. The India House is actually shut up, and the Exchange almost deserted. A few houses engross all the trade, while there is a multitude of small mer- chants and traders almost starving. The principal merchants are British, chiefly Scotch, who unite the English style of living with the Swedish way of drinking. The town is large, and chiefly of brick — some pretty good buildings. It was built by the Dutch, in the style of Rotterdam, with canals and trees. -The inhabitants are in great discontent with the present state of their trade, and have lately shown marks of it. The use of French .bran- dy having been forbidden, the distilling of Swedish spirits be- C9,me extremely unpopular, particularly at Gottenborg, from the quantity of grain consumed in it. The mob rose and de- stroyed the works, warehouses, etc. The governor employed conciliatory measures, and the mob was appeased. The king was furious, and severely reprimanded the governor by letter for not having made the soldiers fire, for which there was no Vol. I.— G 146 VISIT TO SENMABE [ITOa pretext. The popularity of the governor is excessive among all ranks. Dec. 19. — We set out from Gottenborg at nine, determin- ing to make for Norway, in the almost certain expectation of finding a vessel there for some port in Scotland. After driving up the valley, and crossing the river by the draw- bridge, we came to a ferry under the Gastle of Bohus, now in ruins, but which must have been a place of no small strength. Its ramparts are of stone, and very high. It is built on a rock, and surrounded wholly by the river's branches. The view from it is extremely romantic; every- where around are huge rocky masses, with a few trees scat- tered about. The valley on one side ; on the other the river's branches meeting under the neat town of Kongelf, and dis- appearing among the rocks. The wooden bridge here was destroyed by the Danes in 1787, the stumps only remaining, so that a ferry is now established ; and we were stopped for about two hours, in the most intense cold, till the ice could be broken. At Kongelf we stopped to eat some of our Cold provisions, and then continued our journey in the dark. The carriage being shut, we were not actually frozen, but the road was execrably rough, and we went on a foot's pace ; besides, it was more hilly than is usual in Sweden. At one in the morning, arriving at a decent inn, we decided to stop for the night, and found a couple of comfortable rooms. Tired with the cold of yesterday, I was glad to take ad- vantage of a hot bath before I turned in. And here a most remarkable thing happened to me — so remarkable that I must tell the story from the beginning. . After I left the High School, I went with G :, my most intimate friend, to attend the classes in the University. There was no divinity class, but we frequently in our walks discussed and specu- lated upon many grave subjects — among others, on the im- mortality of the soul, and on a future state. This question, and the possibility, I will not say of ghosts walking, but of the dead appearing to the living, were subjects of much speculation ; and we actually committed the folly of drawing up an agreement, written with our blood, to the effect, that whichever of us died the first should appear to the other, and thus solve any doubts we had entertained of the "life after ^T.32.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 147 death." After we had finished our classes at the college, G went to India, having got an appointment there in the civil service. He seldom wrote to me, and after the lapse of a few years I had almost forgotten him ; moreover, his fami- ly having little connection with Edinburgh, I seldom saw or heard any thing of them, or of him through them, so that all the old school-boy intimacy had died out, and I had nearly forgotten his existence. I had taken, as I have said, a warm bath ; and while lying in it and enjoying the comfort of the heat, after the late freezing I had undergone, I turned my head round, looking towards the chair on which I had de- posited my clothes, as I was about to get up out of the bath. On the chair sat G , looking calmly at me. How I got out of the bath I know not, but on recovering my senses I found myself sprawling on the floor. The apparition, or whatever it was, that had taken the likeness of G , had disappeared. The vision produced such a shock that I had no inclination to talk about it, or to speak about it even to Stuart ; but the im- pression it made upon me was too vivid to be easily forgot- ten ; and so strongly was I affected by it, that I have here written down the whole history, with the date, 19th Decem- ber, and all the particulars, as they are now fresh before me. No doubt I had fallen asleep ; and that the appearance pre- sented so distinctly to my eyes was a dream, I can not for a moment doubt; yet for years I had had no communication with G , nor had there been any thing to recall him to my recollection; nothing had taken place during our Swedish travels either connected with G or with India, or with any thing relating to him, or to any member of his family. I recollected quickly enough our old discussion, and the bar- gain we had made. I could not discharge from my mind the impression that G must have died, and that his appear- ance to me was to be received by me as proof of a future state ; yet all the while I felt convinced that the whole was a dream ; and so painfully vivid and so unfading was the im- pression, that I could not bring myself to talk of it, or to make the slightest allusion to it. I finished dressing ; and as we had agreed to make an early start, I was read ji by six o'clock, the hour of our early breakfast. [Brougham, Oct. 16, 1862. — I have just been copying out 148 VIJSIT TO DMNMAEK [1799. from my journal the account of this strange dream : Gertis- sima mortis imago I And now to finish the story, begun above sixty years since. Soon after my return to Edinburgh, there arrived a letter from India- announcing G 's death ! and stating that he had died on the 19th of December!! Singular coincidence ! yet when one reflects on the vast num- ber of dreams which night after night pass through our brains, the number of coincidences between the vision and the event are perhaps fewer and less remarkable than a fair calculation of chances would warrant us to expect. Nor is it surprising, considering the variety of our thoughts in sleep, and that they all bear some analogy to the affairs of life, that a dream should sometimes coincide with a contemporaneous, or even with a future event. This is not much more won- derful than that a person whom we had no reason to expect should appear to us at the very moment we had been think- ing or speakjng of him. So common is this, that it has for ages grown into the proverb, " Speak of the devil." I believe every such seeming miracle is, like every ghost- story, capable of explanation. There never was, to all appearance, a better authenticated fact than Lord Lyttleton's ghost. I have heard my father tell the story ; but coupled with his entire conviction that it was either a pure invention, or the accidental coincidence of a dream with the event. He had heard the particulars from a lady — a Mrs. AflBleck, or some such name — during a visit he made to London about the year 1'780, not very long after the death. The substance of what he heard was, that Lord Lyttleton had for some time been in failing health; that he was suffering from a heart complaint; that a few days before his death he related to some female friends who were living in his house in London an extraordinary dream, in which a figure appeared to him and told him he should shortly diff; that his death, which, really took place a few days after the dream, had been very sudden, owing, no doubt, to the heart disease. My father was convinced that the female tendency to believe in the marvel- lous nalllrally produced the statement that the moment of the death had exactly corresponded with the time as predicted in the dream. The story was told with corroborating circum- ^T.33.] AND SClSDINAyiA. 149 stances — one of which was, the attempt to cheat the ghost by altering the hour on the clock; and the tale obtained a sur- prising degree of credit, considering the unsubstantial foun- dation on which it really rested. • On all such subjects my father was very skeptical. He was very fond of telling a story in which he had been an actor, and, as he used to say, in which his unbelieving ob- stinacy had been the means of demolishing what would have made a very pretty ghost-story. He had dined one day in Dean's Yard, Westminster, with a party of young men, one of whom was his intimate friend, Mr; Calmel. There was some talk about the death of a Mi-s. Nightingale, who had recently died under some melancholy circumstances, and had been that day buried in the Abbey. Some one of the party offered to bet that no one of those present would go down into the grave and drive a nail into the coffin. Calmel accepted the wager, only stipulating that he might haije a lantern. He was accordingly let into the cathedral by a door out of the cloisters, and then left to himself. The dinner-party, after waiting an hour or more for Calmel, be- gan to think something must have happened to him, and that he ought to be looked after; so my father and two or three more got a light and went to the grave, at the bottom of which lay the apparently dead body of Mr. Calmel. He was quickly transported to the prebend's dining-room, and re- covered out of his fainting-fit. As soon as he could find his tongue, he said, " Well, I have won my wager, and you'll find the nail in the coffin ; but, by Jove ! the lady rose up, laid hold of me, and pulled me down before I could scramble out of the grave." Calmel stuck to his story, in spite of all the scoffing of his friends; and the ghost of Mrs. Nightingale would have been all over the town but for my father's obsti- nate incredulity. Nothing would satisfy him but an ocular inspection of the grave and coffin ; and so, getting a light, he and some of the party returned to the grave. There, sure enough, was the nail, well driven into the coffin ; but hard fixed by it was a bit of Mr. Calmel's coat-tail ! So there was an end of Mrs. Nightingale's ghost. This grave afterwards became remarkable for a very beautiful piece of sculpture, by 150 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. some celebrated artist, representing Mr. Nightingale vainly, 'attempting to ward from his dying wife the dart of death. My father always instanced this as the best piece of monu- mental sculpture in the Abbey.* After this long digression, it is time to return to my journal.] Dec. 20. — ^Up at six; and after coffee — which, a& usual, was served as tea and eggohl, a sort of caudle of eggs, sugar, ale, and milk, much used by travellers in Sweden, and excel- lent for keeping one warm, we set out slowly, the road being bad, and a good deal of snow having fallen. The country similar to that which we had of late been in — namely, more ■hilly by a great deal than the rest of Sweden. The natives quite difEerent in their appearance from the other Swedes we had seen ; very ugly, and dressed differently — loose jackets, boots, with trowsers ; apparently all having to do with the sea, as fishermen or sailors. The inns were better; but the people of all kinds more insolent, and very greedy. In short, I never saw so strongly-marked a difference in so short a space. The road wound up and down some very steep hills, over- hung by high rocks covered with snowi.bnt much varied by firs perfectly green, and sometimes by purple birch, which had a very pleasing effect. We went extremely slow, and arrived at Qvistrum about eight. The landlady is the wom- an mentioned by Mrs. Wollstonecraf t, but we could not dis- cover her wondrous beauty. This day we passed Uddevalla, situated on a firth of the sea, which was quite frozen, and had people skating on it. It is a neat town ; the houses tiled, and built in a way quite different from the usual Swedish houses. There are some good shops and houses; and the shipping is considerable, though now laid up. All this day very mild indeed — I sup- pose from the neighborhood of the sea. Dec. 21. — Ready at six ; pass the bridge where the battle was fought, or rather was said to have been fought. Mrs. WoUstonecraft tells a lie upon the subject. We heard from Mansback how Armfelt, a cavalry officer, was posted at the * The celebrated monument to Mrs. Nightingale in Westminster Abbey is understood to be the work of Roubilliac. 2BT.a3.] AJfD SCANDINAVIA. 151 pass beyond the bridge, to defend it, with about seven hun- dred Swedes. Mansback offered a deserter of his own, who knew the country, his life, if he would carry him by another road through the hill, which he did ; and then he surrounded Armfelt, and took him. For this Armfelt was broke. Mans- back thinks this very harsh, and says he was not at all to blame. As for the bridge, he said he could have passed the river easily, half a mile above, in twenty places.* Dec. 21. — ^The bridge and pass are very romantic, the rocks, trees, etc. ; indeed, all the day the road went through a great variety of the finest rock-scenery, often through flat, culti- vated country, and sometimes in sight of bays of the sea, all frozen, but chiefly among vast masses of rock quite bare, rising abruptly, and whole hills, perhaps three hundred feet high, of not an inch but these masses, some of them as flat as a wall, others rough, and in general each is one undivided block rising out of a plain, or the sea. We proceeded with little refreshment. Once I tried the brandwein with water, and found to my cost that what I had heard was true (of its being impossible to take it diluted from its emetic tendency) ; for, though I only sipped a little, I was really sick and ill the whole night. Dec. 22. — AH the night the road was over very steep and dangerous hills, so that we were obliged to get out every now and then to walk. This we did not regi-et, as the scenery was always interesting. Once wo were overturned, though lucki- ly on level ground, and not hurt; the carriage, however, was much damaged, so that we could not descend or climb a hill with it safely. At the custom-house at Svinesund we were stopped for examination of passport, dues^ etc., etc. It stood at the bottom of a tremendous descent. The scenery around is inexpressibly grand, the river or firth being on each side surrounded by high rocky masses, with a few trees scattered. Got over the ferry (at twice) which separates the two coun- tries ; on the other side stopped only to get a little milk, the landlord speaking good English. Had another hill to climb * A good English account will be found of this eventful period of Swedish history in a Life of Armfelt, by the late Thomas Watts of the British Museum, in the fragment of a General Biographical Dictionary issued by the Sosiety for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge. 152 VISIT TO DEKSIAMK [ITO. equal to what we descended before ; and after being consid- erably fatigued with the long and heavy walks, slept on to Helle, where we breakfasted, and by the charges, etc., found we were really in Norway. Hence to Frederikshald, our bags on sledges, the scenery growing more and more mountainous : arrived at ten. Frederikshald is a considerable town : it stands pleasantly on a firth, with, a river. It is very neatly built, chiefly of wood. Some of the houses are very large and elegant, and the rest comfortable. The sea was all frozen, and the shipping laid up, but the commerce is very considerable — almost wholly with England, in deals and iron. The castle commands the town completely, stands very high upon huge rocks, and is formed of fine stone works, absolutely impregnable on the side of the town, and commanding the neighboring hiUs, which are indeed inconsiderable- heights. The inn was wretched, and the charge most exorbitant, being six rix-dpllars for two nights — breakfast and bed. It has a good view of the water among rocky heights ; on these people were skating and driv- ing traineaux to a great distance. Mr. NUs Anker calling, we, after dressing, returned his visit, and were taken by him to Mr. Dank, junior's, where we dined with a very Jarge and ele- gant party, among whom the Governor-general ffllansback, some officers, and all the principal natives — no ladies except the mistress of the house. We were amused with the custom of drinking thanks after dinner, which runs round the table. ** Tank, tank," " tank for mit " (thanks for meat). After cof- fee, went to a private play, where all the ladies and gentlemen of the place were assembled. The theatre was very small, and a sort of make-shift — the play a Danish translation of Kotze- bue's " Brothers," and acted in general ill ; but one actor play- ed very decently, and the company seemed much pleased. Af- ter the play some of the men retired to billiards and smoking, and the theatre was immediately cleared into a ball and sand- wich room, where waltzing and eating went on till four in the morning, without fiddling, however, as it was the regimental band. We remarked that not one of the officers belonging to the place were thei-e. Indeed there exists, as is but too com- mon, a complete division between the natives and soldiers. The women struck us as very pretty. iET.33.] AND SOAHDINAYIA. 153 Dec. 23. — Having last night met with Mr. Paulus, the late French consul at Christiansand, I went to breakfast (by invi- tation) with him and his daughter, in the same inn with our- selves, and was kept so long there in conversation that we could not go to the castle. Dined at Anker's with a large party, chiefly of the same class as yesterday, but much more select. Afterwards the men smoked in a room per se, then cards (with chasse cafe on the table), then sandwiches — a visit of ten hours. Were much disgusted with the barbarous way in which the master and mistress seem the whole time the very slaves of the company, running up and down, etc. Tho mercantile gentlemen talk English for the most part. Dec. 24. — At nine o'clock went up to see the fort, and the spot where Charles XII. was kiUed, having had an order from the governor. However, we were detained some time at the gate. He was standing near a stone looking over a small rail, and a cross two feet high is upon the spot instead of a low pyra- mid formerly placed there. On the cross is cut a rude in- scription—" C. XII. fell. Dec. 1718." It is about four hundred yards from the part of the castle whence the shot is said to have been fired. There are two rising grounds, one on the side of the cross, and within pistol- shot of it ; and if he was assassinated, it must have been from one of these. The mask taken from his hea^ after death (a cast of which is at Brougham) represents the wound in a dif- ferent place from the one supposed to have been inflicted by the shot from the fort. Frederikshald, Dec. 24. — ^The inhabitants of Frederikshald enjoy great immunities from their patriotism on this occasion, when they burned their houses to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Swedes. The example was set by the family of Colbionzel, whose antipathy to the Swedes is noted. The story of Anna Maria Colbionzel is well known. She de- tained a regiment of Charles's (up the country), by giving no- tice to the Norwegian troops, and detaining the enemy in her house. We met with the only lineal descendant of this cele- brated woman at Mr. Dank's, at Frederikshald. The N'orwegians, in their poems and conversation, talk of Charles XII. as a victim to then- liberties sacrificed on the al- G2 154 7ISIT TO DENMARK [1799. s tar of Frederikshald, and say that there was no prospect of his succeeding in his attack on Frederikshald, or in his expe- dition, even if he had taken it. This, however, is assuredly not a just view of this case. Dec. 24. — Set off, after breakfast, at eleven o'clock, and travelled all day on the snow, the trainage being completely established. Passed the river frozen, but had to unharness the horses and leave our carriage, as the ice was not sufficient- ly strong. Had to regret not seeing the celebrated cascade.* Passed an inn kept by one Alexander, a Scotsman — miserable indeed. Came through some woods, in which we remarked that there was much more underwood than in Sweden. The day was very dark and bad, snowing copiously. Had to wait at one station two hours for horses in this disagreeable even- ing, and carn^e on very heavily, owing to our wheels. At Moss we arrived at eleven, and found a very good inn, kept by a Frenchman, with supper and beds all ready, thanks to the f orebote. Dec. 25. — MoSs is a considerable town, the houses neatly built of wood. There are a vast number of saw-mills, the water of which, being almost all frozen, had a very singular effect — the icicles, iced cascades, etc., being innumerable. The magazines of timber are immense, and there is also a great iron-work belonging to General Anker. As a great quantity of snow had fallen during the night, we were obliged to put our carriage upon a sledge and pack up the wheels. The natives were driving about very finely in their small traineaux to church, it being Christmas. We passed through, an extensive forest on very high ground, then came to culti- vated country, which lasted most part of the way. The inns which we saw were all uncommonly good, and we were every- where invited to eat, according to custom. The last stage be- ing very hilly and bad, we did not arrive till twelve at Chris- tiania. During this day we did not feel it very cold. Found good beds, a very good inn, and comforted ourselves with wine, as we could only get a sandwich for supper. Dec. 26. — Called on Squire Haygerup, the mayor, Mr. Lee, the English vice-consul, and Mr. Matheson, a merchant. The * Of the Glommen. JET. 33.] _ AlW SCANDINAVIA. 155 governor and Mr. Anker and all else being out of town, as is the custom at Christmas, experienced much hospitality. Dined en famille with Mr. Haygerup, and heard the Norwe- gian song. Supped at Mr. Lee's. Dec. 27. — Went to buy books and maps, and found the town miserably provided in these — very few, and enormously dear. The furs we found equally scarce, but saw some un- common fine lynxes. ' The town is very regularly built. A considerable part of the houses are of brick, and some very large and handsome. So regularly are the streets buUt, that one can not easily find his way. At the meetings of the streets are placed large square cisterns or reservoirs of water, sup- plied by copious streams. These were smoking to-day like boiling caldrons. The streets are spacious and even; the houses built chiefly of timber, though 'many of them are of brick and stone, covered with a rough coat of stucco. Among the public buildings we noticed the school or university, the' prison, and the fortress — which is separate from the town, called Aggershuus — the old name of the city, and the name of the province to this day. The town stands on an arm of the sea, far indeed from the ocean, and so retired as never to feel its storms. At this time all was frozen, and sledges with any burdens could pass over the bays ; but the ice in these firths is extremely treacherous, for a sudden change of wind or weather carries off in a few hours every flake of ice from masses which appeared before immovable. The valley of Christiania is extremely beautiful; but we quite agreed with Mrs. WoUstonecraft in wondering how Mr. Coxe could discover glaciers, as the flat is surrounded by ris- ing grounds so gently sloping and so trifling in height as hard- ly to deserve the name of hills. Among the houses which we remarked as splendid wei'e those of Mr. Anker and Mr. Collet. Mr. Anker's is a large building, disposed in a quadrangle, with every convenience of outhouses and offices, and with all sorts of sumptuous and , luxurious accommodation^as we after- wards experienced. After dining on tolerable venison, we re- ceived an invitation in the most polite terms, by express, from Mr. Anker, who was then spending the Christmas holidays (according to the custom of the place) at the country-seat of Mr. Collet, fifty miles up the country. Our letters of intro- 156 VISIT TO BENMASK [1799. duction had been sent off from the town that morning, and ■^e received the letter of invitation at five in the evening — no bad example of expeditious travelling. Dec. 28. — At seven o'clock in the morning a couple of sin- gle sledges, with most excellent horses, were ready at om- door. After fortifying ourselves with coffee, we set off, each sledge having a servant to stand behind and drive. We flew rather than drove through the town, my sledge soon breaking down from the rapidity of the motion; but we soon mended the broken parts, and got on as swiftly as before. The trainage was most excellent; and I reckoned, by comparing our pace at this time with the slower rate of travelling we afterwards went at, that we did not take more than three minutes to the mile — indeed the -motion was disagreeably rapid, the horse sweating, and myself bbliged to shut my eyes, and even then complaining of pain and oppression. The hill ground to the west of the town relieved us ; but we were surprised to find that it did not retard our pace more than we wished. With- out attending at all to the road, our guides sprang up the sides of the knolls, and kept the sledges from stones, hollows, and stumps, by dismounting and balancing with their feet and hands. Admired the fine situation of Christiania from these heights ; changed horses without stopping ; and then, at the next station, came out to warm ourselves, as is usual, every now and then, in this mode of travelling. We had come hither chiefly through woods. Now we went on the ice the other two stages. The river Glommen being well frozen and smooth, we whisked along quickly, though now and then the ice broke — i. e., the surface-ice without water. Passed im- mense timber magazines belonging to Mr. Anker; came to the lake, a mile broad and three long, and soon were at Mr. Collet's, at Fladebije. The house is a large one, roughly built on an eminence, and bitter cold, but only used twice a year — now and in the hunting season. We here met with every civility, kindness, and hospitality that can be imagined, and so much of the style of living and manners of the natives. The party was quite on the frolic and " vive la bagatelle," The most unbounded liberty was allowed — the" young people constantly mingling in aU sorts of innocent freedoms ; indeed ^T.23.] AMD ^CAMDINAVIA. 157 the quantity of kissing grew quite tiresome, every game end- ing in a kissing-match. The pai-ty consisted of twenty-nine, without us two ; and was afterwards increased to thirty-one, but afterwards amounted to thii-ty-five in all. The host and hostess {pbervert and oiermrtina) never seemed at all differ- ent from the rest of the company, except that their healths were drunk at dinner. A couple was appointed to the office of host and hostess for each night, the order being arranged at first, and each cotiple with a few others performed a small dramatic piece contrived or imitated by themselves. The theatre is the end of the sitting-room, loosely and roughly fitted up, as nothing but paper is allowed to be brought from town. The parts are studied, but the words are left *o the occasion, except in one instance, where there was a French drama from the " Taming of the Shrew," by De la Toenaye, a French traveller, one of the company. At the end of the play, the couple invite the company to spend the next day with them ; and accordingly, during the whole of it they act as host and hostess, sitting at the head of the table, order- ing and arranging every thing, etc., etc. The day is chiefly spent as follows, but every one enjoyed the most perfect free- dom of doing exactly as he pleased, without any one so much as asking where he was : After breakfast (which is not a formal meal, but continues two or three hours as the company drops in), we walked out, conversed, read, rode in sledges, called at each other's rooms, and some took the amount of the slee, others (chiefly the old gentlemen) played at Ombre and Boston, and smoked. Af- ter luncheon, as a whet before, dined at two, and sang con- stantly, drinking toasts at the same time — such as Salletel- skop, " the whole company ;" JBensJcip's skoal, " friendship's health ;" Piger's skoal, " girl's health ;" JVbrge's skoal,* etc. In the middle of the table was placed an emblematical figure of some kind, having a reference to the subject of the last play. Round the dining-room and in the ceiling are hung a vast number of these figures, collected for thirty years past, during which time this custom has continued in the family. After dining, and drinking a claret and burgundy, bishop * Norway's health — a toast. 158 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799. (BischofE), retired to the next room, each gentleman leading his own lady; and after the ceremony of kissing hands, cof- fee and pipes, then tea, some game of romps, or a dance, cards and pipes, supper, play, dance, and cards; and the evening ended with the last host and hostess {vert and verti- na) sitting in the middle of the room and being kissed — ^he by all the ladies, she by all the men. The last night, a rude masquerade instead of the play; and some of the servants danced the Saling dance, a very curious wild dance from the interior of the country, of immense difficulty, requiring great strength and agility, on the heels and toes chiefly, round the room, whirling the partner round, and leaping and twisting over her. This one of the ladies danced with a footman ! In autumn Mr. Collet has the same sort of party for the chase, which may be carried on here, as there is a great deal of flat ground. There are not many bears in this quarter; but Mr. Bank's (of Frederikshald) father killed eleven during his life. There is a considerable number of wolves. The game is hares, of which we saw one or two, as white as the snow ; ceders (the coryctu verus, our capercailzie), rupo (par- tridge), and hierpati. We eat reindeer-venison also, exceed- ingly fine, and far superior to our other deer-flesh. Mr. Col- let's house here stands above the lake ; around it are woods and cultivated grounds, but no pleasure-grounds, of course. We went to see his saw-mills, and brick and tile works — ^both on a very large scale. Drove on sledges — very cold, indeed, and believe it was from this that I got a boil on my cheek, which proved exceedingly troublesome. The following is a list of the company who were at Flade- bije : Mr. and Mrs. Collet — [illegible] — and Lady Anker, Miss Collet, Miss Klaason, and - — - Kaas, Mr. and Mrs. Jul- stoup, Mr. and Mrs. Julin, Miss Talma (sister of the great actor), (the governor of the province). Miss Kaas, Miss (Young Ankers), Captain Nilson, Lieutenant Carlson, ( ), ( ), Cadet Keaason, Mr. de la Toenaye, Gen- eral Anker, Mr. Gram, Mr. Collet, Mr. Anker, Mr. Maribeau ; among other chance visitors, Mr. Rozencraz. The arrival of Bonaparte in France, and his proceedings at Paris, had been known at Stockholm before we left it, and .-ET.SS.] Aim SCANDINAVIA. 159 the expectation of a revolution entertained. But the event of ISth Brumaire (9th Nov., 1799) had not been known, and the first account we had of it was at Fliidebije. De la Toe- naye was determined to return to France if the emigrants were allowed; and instead of the promenade autour de Scandinavie, which he meant to add to his former travels in Great Britain, he had to be content with a promenade autour de mes Foyers. He even doubted whether the return of the emigrants would be allowed. The sleigh is much used here. The skates are above six feet long and turned up at the ends, requiring the balance to be thrown before by bending the knees forward. A pole, with a round plate at the end, is also held in the hand to bal- ance by. Accidents often happen, either from falls or split- ting up, by the feet running off separately. They go in this way very quick down any steep, and take great leaps off em- inences. They have a regiment of (I believe) seven hundred men on these snow-shoes, of which they are very proud. This troop once drew a Swedish force of cavalry down a steep, where it was either cut to pieces or destroyed by the fall. The people are all extravagantly fond of sledging. The common people enjoy it in a great degree, and seem to feel the greatest pleasure in the motion and driving. Children and boys either skate or go upon a small double patten of two pieces of wood shod with iron, on which they sit and run down hills or descents, etc. We set out for Laurvig late in January, at which port a vessel to England was expected to sail. We were kept a week or ten days there, and embarked on a timber-laden ship, happily for us, as to this cargo we owed our safety. The weather being very good, indeed a calm, though it was Feb- ruary and in the North Sea, when we had our pilot on board at Lowestoft, on the coast of Norfolk, the vessel, a few miles from shore, struck on a sand-bank, the rudder was carried away, and such a leak sprung as kept us at the pumps for three or four hours ; but the leak defied all our efforts, the ship became water-logged, and was only prevented sinking by our cargo. We made signals of all kinds, and fired guns to make them put off boats for our assistance ; but the sea had increased, and the only one they tried was swamped ! so we 160 VISIT TO SENMASK AND SCANDINAVIA. [1800. had to remain at the mercy of the only anchor we had, the captain considering that his old and crazy vessel would hold together unless it came to blow hard and to drive us ou shore, or the wind shifted and we were driven out to sea, in neither of which cases could she hold together. It was no small relief to us, therefore, when a Newcastle collier came in sight and she approached near enough to learn our condi- tion. She threw a rope on board and towed us into Harwich, where we slept, and next day came to London. There I only stopped to take the maU for Edinburgh, where I arrived safe. Here my journal ends. ^T.23.] CMAMLES STUART. 161 CHAPTEE IV. THE SCOTCH BAE "AND THE " EDINBURGH EEVIEW." My Opinion of my Friend Charles Stuart.— Death of my Brother Peter.— I am admitted Advocate. — Profession- distasteful. — Correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks.— Work at " Colonial Policy."— Leading Men of the Scotch Bar. — Harry Erskine. — Blair.— Charles Hope. — Maconochie (Lord Mead- owbank). — Cranstoun (Lord Corehouse). — James Eeddie. — ^Walter Scott. —Jeffrey.— The "Edinburgh Review."- Sydney Smith's Account criti- cised.— Jeffrey's and Homer's Account.— My own History of it.— The early Contributors, and their Contributions.— Progress of the "Review," and its Influence on Politics and Literature. — List of Contributions to the early Numbers, and Names of their Authors. — ^Anecdotes of Jeffrey and his Coadjutors. It was observable that during our shipwreck, Stuart, who was an old traveller by land and by water, and never for a moment was disconcerted or lost his presence of mind, yet had a much worse opinion of our chances of escape, and was much more impressed with the dangers of our situation than I, a mere novice in travel. I was sanguine because I was in- experienced. During our whole intimacy for seven months, I had constant occasion to mark, more than I had ever done before, those great qualities which distinguished him, and carried him to the head of his profession in most difficult times. It is enough to say that the duke placed in him the most unbounded confidence when he was our minister in the Peninsula, and when he afterwards succeeded him at Paris. He is the most remarkable example I know of the great evils attending our political system, at least in its administration — the conferring all the important offices in the State on per- sons who possess the debating power. Stuart, but for his never having cultivated that faculty, would have filled the highest place in the conduct of our affairs during the many long years that the party ruled to which he was, both he- reditarily and personally, attached. I speak of his great and 162 MY BROTSES'S DEATB. [1800. good qualities after constant and cordial intimacy of much above half a century. 1800. — In this year happened the greatest misfortune of my life — greater than any, save one, that has ever yet befall- en me — my brother Peter, the most beloved, the most highly prized of all our family, was killed in a duel by Campbell, of Shawfield, Even at this distance of time I feel as if it were a recent affliction. At the time I was nearly distracted ; in- deed, I verily believe my mind was for a time unhinged, for I left Edinburgh and wandered about I know not where. My prevailing idea was to avenge his death. As the duel had taken place at St. Salvador, on his way to India, Campbell was far beyond my reach ; but I vainly thought he ought to be indicted for murder. I must have written to this effect to my uncle, Mr. Lowndes, who then lived in London ; for I find by a letter of his that such must have been my hallucination. Early in 1800, Peter had got his commission as ensign in the 85th Regiment, and was ordered to embark at Portsmouth with troops under the command of General St. John. On the 31st of March, I. had written' to Stuart, then living at . Whitehall, to tell him. of my grief at parting with Peter, and that I felt more than ever disinclined to remain in Edinburgh and work at my profession : " I still continue more and more to detest this place, and this cursedest of cursed professions. He (Peter) will see you as he passes through London, and I really wish you could manage to procure some letters for him. He does not know what station his regiment is to go to, and has a number of recommendations on chance already. One or two more in the same way (I mean whether he knows and can tell you where he is to go or not) will do quite well." I have said that I was so distracted by this dreadful blow, that I wanted to have Mr. Campbell brought to justice. My father would not hear of any such proceeding, and my uncle was equally against it. He wrote to me as follows : "London, 1st November, 1800. "My dear Henet, — No one can lament more sincerely than I do the very unfortunate event which is the subject of our correspondence. If I had not known Peter, I should ^T.33.] MY BROTHER'S DEATH. 163 undoubtedly have lamented his death, and commiserated the feelings of those more near to him, but I should soon have thought little of the subject ; but having known him, and, knowing him, loved and admired him, my sorrow for his un- timely end will be very lasting, and often will he have a tear to his remembrance. i " With such sentiments towards him, therefore, I am sure you will believe that the advice I am about to give is the result of consideration and regard to the memory of your brother. " That advice is, to let the matter drop, and not to bestow one thought more upon a public prosecution." I acted upon this advice ; and after a time I resumed my le- gal studies, as it became necessary that I should prepare my- self for the examination in Scotch law, and also for the public examination preparatory to my call to the bar, which took place early in the month of June, 1800.* I went the summer circuit, attending the Assizes held in the counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Selkirk — my chief, I may say only, business being to defend prisoners who were too poor to pay for pro- fessional assistance. I had an invincible repugnance t<5 the pro- fession I had chosen, and constantly wrote to Charles Stuart, then settled in LonHon, expressing my desire to escape from it, and that if any opening could have been found for me in diplomacy how gladly I shguld have accepted it. It had oc- curred to me that my father's old friend and school-fellow. Sir Joseph Banks, who had on several occasions expressed an in- terest in my welfare, might have it in his power to help me. I have, through the kindness of a friend, been furnished with the copy of a letter I wrote to Sir Joseph, with whom I had been in correspondence on some matters relating to science, and also on the subject of my future career. The letter is as follows: "Edinburgh, Dec. 10, 1800. " SiE, — ^I was honor'd with the receipt of yours in course. I beg you will believe me when I express my satisfaction at your prospects of speedy recovery. I am only afraid lest * See Appendix XV. . 164 TKE SCOTCS SAS. [1800. your goodness towards me may have led you to exert in writ- ing before it was quite safe, still more before it could be con- venient. It would surely be superfluous to return my warm- est thanks for the new proofs which your letter contains of the interest you are so kind as to take in my trivial and humble concerns ; but I avail myself with pleasure of the lib- erty which you give me to trouble you once more upon the subject. " My resolution is still unaltered to attempt an opening in the political line. The difficulty, however great, is not suffi- cient to deprive me of some hopes that such an opportunity may occur. I believe I mentioned in my last that perhaps pome private connections of your own might afford you a chance of hinting something in my behalf. I did not venture to expect that you would set about finding such opportunities. I only begged of you to have me in your eye should any occasion offer. More active exertion on my behalf was beyond what I had ever hoped. In the mean time, I am endeavoring, by cul- tivating as much as possible the duties of my profession, to secure a retreat for myself in case the other plan should fail. My aversion to it as an ultimate object continues the same — not to*mention that it exposes one to the worst part of par- ty politics, and that to succeed in it requires almost as much interest as to rise in the diplomatic line. I beg you will not put yourself to the trouble of writing sooner than your health and convenience permit. I should not have answered your last at this time, had it not appeared necessary that you should be put in possession of my resolutions, in case of chances offer- ing, at the present very singular crisis. "With great respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, sir, your most obliged humble servant, Heney Bbougham, Junior. " Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, " Soho Square, London." All this, however, resulted in nothing ; and so I continued to work at my distasteful profession, in hopes that some day or other business might come to me. But much of my time was occupied with literary and scientific pursuits, and chiefly by compiling a work upon the Colonial Policy of the Euro- pean Powers. I was employed upon this during the greater JET.23.] . EXRnr EMSKIKE. 165 part of 1801 and 1802, relieved only by weekly discussions at the Speculative Society, where I was a pretty constant attend- er and debater ; and during a portion of the time by arrang- ing with Smith, Jeffrey, and others the establishment of the " Edinburgh Review." The Scotch bar afforded the amplest occasion at that time for profiting by the example of great talent and professional learning. The violence of party and exclusive spirit had con- siderablj* abated ; and although there was both in society and on the bench still a tendency to discountenance those who were on the wrong side of the question, there manifestly was felt a great improvement upon those times. Harry Erskine had been removed from his place at the head of the profes- sion (Dean of Faculty) for merely attending a public meet- ing to petition against the Sedition Bills (called the Pitt and Greenville Bills). I attended that meeting, and can an- swer for it that he strongly urged them to disperse quietly ; and there was nothing like violence of any kind in the pro- ceedings. Of professional business there was now pretty nearly an equal distribution ; officially, all was of course in the hands of the Tory or Dundas party. The learning and talent were almost equal in both parties. Harry Erskine, both in society and in public, was the most popular advocate — indeed the most popular man. His edu- cation was entirely confined to Edinburgh, but he had none of the accent or other provincialisms of the place. His taste Avas well cultivated, but far from severe ; and, like his broth- er's, his acquaintance was confined td the English classics. His speaking was of a very high order. The language was admirable, expressive, wholly without affectation, fluent, never verbose, and his manner perfect, both in action and delivery. It was impossible to have more variety, or to suit the style more perfectly to the subject and the occasion. In state- ment and explanation he excelled, and his illustrations were copious. His wit was renowned, and, as it made him the life of so- ciety, placed him as the first favorite of the courts ; but it also was used in excess, partly owing to the audience whom he addressed, the fifteen Judges, who requir?d to be relieved 166 THE SCOTCH MAS. [1800. in their dull work, and, as soon as he began, expected to be made gay. Hence a very great mistake was committed by by-standers, or generally by those who' either heard, or heard of, his speeches, and fancied they were all joke, all to amuse the court, or at best to turn his adversary and his arguments into ridicule. He was a tnost argumentative speaker ; and if he sometimes did more than was necessary, he never for an instant lost sight of the point to be pressed on his audience by all the means he could employ, and which really^were ev- ery weapon of eloquence except declamation and appeals to the tender feelings. Of course a great cause placed him more under restraint, and more called forth his exertions ; yet it was singular how much he would sometimes labor even the most ordinary matters. However, if I were to name the most consummate exhibition of forensic talent that I ever witqessed, whether in the skillful conduct of the argument, the felicity of the copious illustrations, the cogency of the reasoning, or the dexterous appeal to the prejudices of the Court, I should without hesitation at once point to his ad- dress {hearing in presence) on Maitland's case ; and wei-e my friend Lauderdale alive, to him I should appeal, for he heard it with me, and came away declaring that his brother Thomas (Lord Erskine) never surpassed — nay, he thought, never equalled it. Gillies was a speaker of a different cast, but of great ex- cellence. He reasoned clearly and powerfully, but he also had great resources of declamation and of sarcasm. I heard his speech on the great case of Sir John Henderson, the first occasion on which he distinguished himself for mere oratory, and which drew from Hope and others the expression that they had been taken by surprise. The cause was remarkable — Sir John taking occasion to throw out a challenge to Hope, who said he trusted he had the courage to refuse as well as accept such a defiance. Indeed, he had fought, a few years before, a duel with Wylde (afterwards professor of civil law), for whom Burke had conceived the greatest admiration in consequence of his book on the French Revolution, cried up as a triumphant answer to Mackintosh's " Vindiciae Gallicse." It was one great drawback upon GiUies that he saw all things with the feyes of the Edinburgh Whig party, a thrall- ^T.23.] WILLIAM TAIT.—rBESIDENT BLAIB. 167 dom from which Harry Erskine (as well as his brother, in the southern sphere of that party) had emancipated him- self. I have never observed so great capacity as a speak- er, generally so much cramped and enfeebled, as in Gillies's case.* William Tait was one of the most accomplished lawyers of his time. John Clerk had as profound a knowledge of law, especially the feudal, in all its branches, and not merely in its theory, but in its most minute details of practical ap- plication ; and would argue points of the greatest difficulty, and propound original views which sometimes at first startled himself, but by degrees won his assent and were obstinately persevered in. But he had not that acuteness which distin- guished Tait, nor that marvellous fertility of resources, nor that singular clearness of concise statement, when his legal points were urged one after another, which I recollect led MoncriefE to describe his argument as a bundle of the best- polished and sharpest-pointed spears ; nor that manner which Avas a model of graceful delivery. With all his merits. Clerk was in manner and language singularly defective. Of Matthew Ross, the subtlety and extensive ingenuity with extraordinary learning could not be exceeded^ but he seldom gave oral arguments ; and the display of his unrivalled acuteness and rich stores of legal fancy was confined to the papers which, under the old system of the Court, contained almost all the arguments of counsel; while Tait's penetrat- ing acuteness, almost preternatural — and quickness, of which he was sometimes himself the dupe — were, in spoken argu- ment, constantly remarked with wonder.f Blair was a speaker of a very high order, without those qualifications which distinguished Tait. Of a bold and mas- culine understanding, extreme sagacity, and profound re- flection, with little fancy in inventing topics, and no great nimbleness in meeting or escaping objections, he yet always * Adam Gillies, brother of the historian of Greece, raised to the bench as I/ord Gillies in 1811. A notice of him will be found in "Peter's Letters." t William Tait, admitted a member of the Speculative Society in 1776, died in 1800. Was sheriff of Stirlingshire, and in Parliament for the King- horn burghs, in Fifeshire. — History of the Speculative Society, p. 131. Of Clerk, see above. . < 168 TEE SCOTCH BAR. [1799. brought to bear upon his subject a plain and homely vigor, to which almost all diiEculties yielded, and before which al- most all antagonists gave way. His style, too, both of rea- soning and diction, bore the impress of his nature ; they were plainly suited to the man; they were racy and they were apposite. The hearer never for a moment doubted that the speaker thoroughly understood the whole matter in hand, and was perfect master of it. Despising the vulgar arts of ordinary advocates, he unfolded the subject to all exact- ly as he saw it himseH ; and his comments had so much force, were so plain, yet so strong, and»clothed with so much dignity of expression', as well as presented with" so much gravity and yet earnestness of mianner, that his discourse seemed rather judicial than forensic, and he appeared to decide the cause he was pleading. So earnest a manner is generally an abatement of dignity, yet in this speaker it proved not so. His vehemence, even though not sustained by fluency, and set off by less felicity of diction, never for an instant led the hearers or the spectators to undervalue him and withhold respect, as is wont to happen when, in the fervor of declamation, the orator, seeming to lose com- ■ mand of himself, is nearly sure to lose the sway over his audience. We have spoken of his fluency as inconsiderable — but this had no bad effect ; for, as you saw a mind strug- ghng with the topic, you perceived that the ideas were too many to find easy utterance. There was none of the unpleas- ant anxiety attending a hesitating speaker, and which is un- pleasing because it gives alarm. The thoughts were there and struggling for birth, and, in one way or another, were sure to reach the audience. Occasionally he rose to a higher pitch than merely the height of argumentation, if indeed any higher pitch there be. No one who had the advan- tage of hearing his noble speech in the case of Heriot, the descendant of the founder of the hospital, will easily forget the fine burst of impassioned and indignant eloquence with which he denounced the cruel injustice of disputing the founder's wish for his kindred : " What avails it, my lords, that a great benefactor of his species should generously de- vote the hard earnings of a long life to the sacred uses of charity, if no sooner laid in the gj-ave than all he most fond- iBT.23.] CHARLES HOPE. 169 ly favored are repudiated, all his cherished objects cast into oblivion, all his darling plans scorned ?"* The person who made the greatest impression on my mind of all these eminent advocates was Charles Hope, from whom ray first idea of eloquence was derived — that is, of oral as contradistinguished from written eloquence. He had the ad- vantage of an English education, which kept his pronuncia- tion pure : his voice was magnificent. His professional knowledge ; his manly and vigorous understanding, which de- spised trifles, and loved to grapple with the main body of the subject ; his bold and self-possessed manner, to some judges unpleasing, but to the best not distasteful, and his nervous eloquence — seldom equalled, perhaps never surpassed, Avheth- er we regard the language or the tones in which it was con- veyed — soon placed him in the first rank of advocates. That I am not using too strong an expression in thus characterizing his oratory, I may venture to give two proofs. Few men had less party or personal leaning towards another than Laing (the historian) and Gillies (afterwards the judge), and no one will question their capacity to form a judgment of eloquence ; the latter, indeed, was himself a first-rate speaker. Both gave it as their opinion, and at a time when party ran high in Ed- inburgh, that Charles Hope's declamation excelled all they had ever heard; and they made no exception whatever, though they had often heard all the great speakers in Parlia- ment : and these men were very far from prizing as of any value mere declamation, unaccompanied with argument or statement. The other fact to which I appeal is the admira- tion expressed, both by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, of his speech in defense of himself and his conduct as lord advocate in 1804, when Mr. WMtbread brought it under the review of the House of Commons. Of the opinion expressed by these two great orators there is no doubt; but the circumstance to which I allude is, that several persons present, who had heard him on former occasions — that is, in Edinburgh — ^regarded his speech in the House as a failure, so much impressed had they been with the merits of his eloquence from their recent * Robert Blair, lord president of the Coart of Session in 1808, died sud- denly in 1811. Notices of him will be found in " Peter's Letters," Lock- hart's "Life of Scott," and Cockbunl'& "Life of Jeffrey." Vol. I.— H 1'70 THE SCOTCH J3AM. [1800. recollections of it. I sat with Horner in the gallery, and, greatly prejudiced against him as he was, owing to Edin- burgh party politics, this was his clear opinion with my own. But noble as was Hope's oratory, and richly as any account of it might be illustrated by examples of its success, facts are known to me which illustrate qualities far above all excel- lence, parliamentary or forensic. When the party to which he belonged came into oflBce in 1804, he was, as before, lord advocate; and when the place of justice-clerk, the highest ju- dicial place but one, was as a matter of course offered to him, he declined, insisting that Henry Erskine should be appoint- ed, and was himself the bearer of the communication, in order that the party feelings of that excellent man, but staunch par- tisan, might be consulted. Fully sensible, as he ever after proved, of this generous conduct, the advice of the party made him decline, and it was not till then that Mr. Hope was raised to the bench. His conduct made, as well it might, a deep impression on Harry Erskine : towards Hope and his family he ever after retained the warmest feelings, notwith- standing the hostility, personal as well as political, iu which they had passed their lives. Nor was this trait in the fine character of the man confined to his riper years. I remember Dr. Adam telling me an in- stance of self-sacrifice and noble feelings ; that when he was a pupil, and had risen, in the first year of his attendance, to be first {i. e., dux) of his class, a blind boy of the second year be- ing next to him, Hope yielded his place, but would suffer no one else to pass him, and had himself the first place the year after. The doctor used to dwell on this trait as marking a feeling and generous nature, and it obliterated in his mind all recollection of the wide difference in political principles which at the time separated them, and the acrimony which then prevailed. One can plainly see that the same boy was the man who afterwards acted the like pai't to Harry Erskine. The latter's disqualification for the highest place was certain- ly not natural, but still was decisive ; it was the belonging to a party that had not the choice, which Hope's party and him- self alone could exercise.* * See Appendix XVI. ^T.33.] LORD COEEHOUSE. 171 Allan Maconochie (afterwards Lord Meadowbank) was per- haps the most thoroughly grounded in legal principles, and indeed had received the most general legal education, of any man at the Scotch, perhaps at any bar ; for, besides being deeply versed in Scotch and civil law, he studied and attend- ed court, and kept terms, with a view o^ being called to the English bar, particularly studying under Lord Mansfield : he also, for several years, attended the French courts of law, the Parliament of Paris. His general education, under the ad- vice of his kinsman. Dr. Robertson, whose ward he was, had been carefully conducted, and he was the only private pupil that Adam ever had. He made him a distinguished classic- al scholar. He had even attended lectures on divinity and Church history, and was so familiar with medical subjects that he lent assistance to an eminent physician (Dr. Gregory) in preparing his thesis on taking his degree. He was profes- sor of the law of nature and nations, and prepared an elabo- rate course of lectures on the subject. In business, which he had to a great extent, lie was distinguished by his great learn- ing, his close reasoning, and his clear, lucid statement of facts. But his great fame is in his judicial character, having proved one of the very best judges that ever sat on any bench ; nor on Scotch cases is there any one whose authority weighs, to this day, more in the Lords.* Among those of less standing at the bar in those days, Cranstoiin (afterwards Lord Corehouse) stood highest. He was a most accomplished lawyer in every branch of jurispru- dence, and his arguments were admirable in aU the qualities most fitted to that kind of speaking. It was strictly and purely a legal argument of unbroken fluency ; not so devoid of ornament, but more various in illustration than Sir Wil- liam Grant's, which had copious illustration, but taken almost entirely from legal topics. Cranstoun's mind was enlarged by general education, as well as disciplined by intercourse with speculative men, especially with Dugald Stewart,, who had married his sister, and with whom he lived in constant and familiar intercourse. He was allowed to be not only at * Allan Maconochie, bom 1748 ; raised to the bench by the title of Lord Meadowbank in 1796 ; died 1816. 172 TSS SCOTCH BAR. [ISOO. the head of legal arguments after Tait had left the bar, but to be alone in his particular line ; for his arguments, though never departing from the subject of Scotch lavf, were illus- trated by appeals to general maxims of law. Out of the pro- fession his wit was eminent, and it was refined ; but he hard- ly ever took advantage of it even as far as a sarcasm upon, or reductio ad absurdum of, an opposite argument. When on several occasions he was heard at the bar of the House of Lords, he- created such a sensation as I never recollect among the great English conveyancers. I heard Preston rising into enthusiasm in his admiration at what he said possessed every one merit of argument. A lay-hearer gave a less judicious testimony to his merits. Peel having once heard him, said he was the first speaker since Pitt — which was not much more, happy in discrimination than if he had said he was the finest speaker since Catalan! or John Kemble; for assuredly the two things, though each greatest in its kind, were so abso- lutely different as to admit of no comparison. They did not profess to effect the same purpose; they were incom- mensurable quantities.* The rare accomplishments of Meadowbank for the profes- sion have been mentioned. Next to him I am not aware of any one who had so diligently prepared himself for it as Red- die. I knew him intimately from the time we were together at the High School, under the same masters — Fraser and Adam. At Fraser's class, during the four years we were in it, he was without intermission constantly at its head, no one ever dreaming of entering into competition with him. In the rector's class, where he only remained one year, his modest nature kept him back ; and Wishart, whose second year it was, not he, left it at the head, no one ever conceiving it pos- sible for a one-year's boy to attempt that place. Next year, which was my second nominally (I having been detained at home by illness all the first but six weeks), he had left the school, else there can be no doubt neither Keay nor I would have had a chance with him. At college he applied himself * George Cranstoun, raised to the bench in 1826 ; took the title of Lord Corehouse. JET. 23.] JAMES REDBIE. 1'73 to scientific and literary subjects diligently, and then to the civil law and general jurisprudence. He passed some time under Professor Miller at Glasgow, and very few men ever came to the study of the Scotch or English municipal law after so ample a preparation, by having examined the legal principles common to all systems. He began his pi'ofessional life without any patron or party to rely upon, or any recom- mendation but his own great learning, solid, though not bril- liant, talents, and a sound judgment, which well fitted him alike to advise a client and to conduct his cause. In the course of two or three years his extraordinary merit became known, notwithstanding his modest and retiring nature ; and Mr. Hope, then lord advocate, afterwards lord president, dis- tinguishing him among his contemporaries without any re- gard whatever to the differences of his political opinion, con- tributed greatly to his professional success. It was in some prize causes which involved the questions of neutral right, so much agitated towards the close of the first Revolution- ary war, that he became first known in the courts, and show- ed himself not more deeply versed in the doctrines of pub- lic (sometimes now termed international) law than capable of close and logical reasoning in their application. His argu- ment on the right of search, connected with the case of the Fladoyeu, was very long remembered at the Scotch bar, and at- once pointed him out for advancement in the profession. Nor can any doubt be entertained that, had he continued at the bar, the highest place both in practice and ultimately on the bench would have been within his reach. This was held by all men (save one) of every party as an incontestable proposition ; but his own modest and little adventurous na- ture led him to prefer an humbler path, and he listened to the suggestions of some friends at Glasgow, whom he permit- ted to propose him as a candidate for the respectable and very important ofiice of town-clerk, the assessor of the magistrates, and presiding judge in the town court, the principal civil court of that great commercial city. As soon as it was known that he was willing to take the office, the other candidates — six in number, all professional men of eminence — one of them sher- iff of the county, another professor of law in the University — retired from the contest, and he was chosen unanimously. 1T4 THE SCOTCH BAIt. [1800- He entered upon the duties of this office in 1804; and until 1822, when, by the appointment of a resident sheriff, many causes were removed into that court, the number that came before him, including the small debt jurisdiction, was nearer six than five thousand a year, of which many were of great importance in principle as well as value, the jurisdiction being unlimited in amount, and in eveiy kind of personal action. The satisfaction which his judgment^ gave was almost unex- aflipled ; they were rarely appealed from — most rarely alter- ed upon appeal. In affirming one of those which ultimately came before the House of Lords (1833), the lord chancellor observed that it "well became even the most eminent judges upon the bench to approach with the greatest caution and deference a judgment upon a point of law pronounced by so distinguished a lawyer ;" and this remark met with the uni- versal concurrence of the profession.* The great professional success of Jeffrey was owing to ex- traordinary abilities cai'efuUy cultivated, and his literary su- periority was helped by the opportunities which the Scotch bar affords of cuMvating letters without interrupting its pi"ac- tice. The law is not so jealous a mistress there as with us in England : the literary reputation which would inevitably prove fatal in Westminster Hall, rather aids than impedes the lawyer's progress in Edinburgh. So at least it was in Jef- frey's time ; but I am not aware of any other in which great eminence was attained in both departments. Sir Walter Scott had no success at the bar ; and the works of Monboddo and Kaimes were rather the fruit of their leisure, when they had been raised to the bench, than of the intervals between session and session while struggling at the bar. Jeffrey had studied partly at Edinburgh, partly at Glasgow, and was for some tirae at Queen's College, Oxford. He had well ground- ed himself in the principles both of the civil and the Scottish law, and he had diligently applied his great talents to the cul- * It is to be regretted that every thing about the personal history of Eed- die is lost after his leaving the Edinburgh circle. Those who remember the portions of that circle remaining, between thirty and forty years ago, will re- member his name often refeiTed to in the same tone of high praise. He died in Calcutta, where he was first judge of the Court of Small Causes, 28th Nov., 1852 (obit. Gent. Mag.). ^T.33.] LORD JEFFREY. 175 tivation of eloquence, as well in speech as in written composi- tion. His classical education was that of an accomplished scholar. "With all the poets especially, whether of Greece or of Rome, he had a most familiar acquaintance ; and his skill in these languages remained unimpaired through after-life, in- somuch that to the last he read, for relaxation, the Greek clas- sics almost as easily as the Latin. It was probably from his natural love of poetry that he somewhat undervalued the great orators of the Attic school ; partly, too, from a prone- ness to paradox, allied with the extraordinary ingenuity of his mind and his disposition to grapple with great difficulties. In the Speculative Society he bore a most distinguished part ; and its members never can forget the brilliant display so often made in that seminary, of his singular readiness in debate, the subtlety of his reasoning, and the extraordinary liveliness of his fancy — a fancy ever under control, and used always for the purpose of aiding the argument, or arriving by a short route at the conclusion. I well remember a speech in which the resources of the Russian empire having been largely dwelt upon as proving its foreign influence, and the mild course of criminal justice under the Empress Elizabeth, as showing how a despotism might be administered in mercy, he gave such' a picture of the colossal body as, without reducing its dimensions, made it viewed without alarm, and such a sketch of Elizabeth's clemency as rendered the Siberian journey more horrible to contemplate than the passage across the Stygian ferry. The picture of Russia was so full of fancy, the com- parisons introduced so various, so happy, each more unexpect- ed than the last, that we all listened in breathless silence anS wonder, until our feelings of admiration and astonishment, reflected upon the speaker, for a while suspended his utter- ance. On another occasion, the question regarding the obli- gation of representatives to obey the instructions of their constituents, his argument was the usual one, but urged with a closeness and a force amounting to seeming demonstration, by carefully concealing the fundamental error of assuming the representative to be only commissioned to speak for his constituents, and not to deliberate for them. A most conclu- sive answer was given by Henry Mackenzie, perfectly well reasoned, and happily turning into ridicule the meeting of 1T6 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF [1803. men to debate, when fettered by the orders under which they assembled — a meeting which was utterly absurd, if it did not at once end in a vote without a word of discussion. He had been eight years at the bar, and had during the more recent of those years obtained a fair share of practice. He married in 1801 — a bold step — for his father was unable to assist him ; his wife (Miss Catherine Wilson) had no for- tune, and his professional income did not exceed £100 a year. They took a house — or, to speak more correctly, a third floor or flat — in Buccleuch Place ; but in May, 1802, they removed to an upper story in Queen Sti-eet. This brings me to a subject on which I naturally feel deep interest — the history of the " Edinburgh Review." A some- what inaccurate and even fanciful account of the origin of the Review is given by Sydney Smith, as follows : " Towards the end of my residence in Edinburgh, Brough- am, Jeffrey, and myself happened to meet in an eighth or ninth story^ or flat, in Buccle uch Place, th§ bond, and to use any ships in bringing over their goods from that country. This intelli- gence they keep as secret as possible. " I leave town to-day for Yorkshire, and shall perhaps go as far as Edinburgh, in which case I will avail myself with great pleasure of your kind invitation. " If Lord Lauderdale or Lord Ponsonby are now with you, I beg my compliments to them, and desire my respects to Lady Howick, being, with great respect and esteem, faithfully yours, , H. Beotjgham. " The people about the offices give out that they do not ex- pect the Copenhagen business to be over in less than three weeks. Lord Sidmouth says 'he may, in less than three weeks, be ashamed of being an Englishman,' alluding to vio- lent measures against the town." TO THE TISCOTTNT HOWICK. , " George Street, Edinburgh, Oct. 2, 1807— Friday. " Mt deae Loed, — On my arrival here I found JefErey very anxious to insert in his next Review proper discussions of the American and other neutral questions. As it is pub- lished about the end of this month, I think it will produce a very salutary effect if we can manage to deposit there all the right views upon the important and little understood sub- jects.* By this means we shall be able, I think, to furnish proper arguments and information to friends indifferent situ- ations, and various parts of the country, and to give the tone to the press (in so far as it is favorably disposed), better and more conveniently than in any other manner. I have, there- fore, promised to supply Jeffrey (whose own opinions on these subjects are perfectly liberal and enlightened) either with some articles, or, at any rate, with materials for these ; and I should be glad to have any suggestions that may occur to you upon these subjects^in addition to those which you have already mentioned in the course of conversation. I wish you would also take the trouble of mentioning this to Lord Lauderdale, in case any hints should occur to him, as it might * See the first article of the " Edinburgh Review " for October, 1807, a re- view of three pamphlets on America and neutrality. • 270 POLITICS OF TSE DAY. [1807. rather seem odd if I were to write to him upon a thing con- nected with the ' Edinburgh Review.' "I perceive a great change in the language and behavior of the people here since my last visit (in 1805). The Mel- villes have none of the confidence and haughtiness which they formerly had, and, though very happy with the present flour- , ishing state of things, manifestly look up to their adversaries with fear and doubt. With my best*respects to Lady How- ick, I remain, with much esteem and respect, most faithfully yours, Henet Beougham. " The Hollands are expected here in six or seven days, and talk of remaining about a week on their way to Dunbar." TO THE VISCOUJSTT IIOWICK. " George Street, Edinburgh, November 7, 1807. "My deae Loed Howick, — Since I was favored with your last letter, I have heard several times from London re- specting the consequences of the Copenhagen business. It seems to be generally admitted that the public were please(f with the whole affair, and that the ministers have, upon the whole, gained considerably by it. Nevertheless, I find the abuse of it, which the opposition papers have very properly indulged in, and of which the * Morning Chronicle ' has set the example ever since it received the hint, is producing daily some impression. One advantage, at least, is gained by this means, that ministers are compelled to defend their conduct instead of raising a great exultation about the success of it. I strongly suspect they will be still worse off in Portugal, for the emigration of the prince to Brazil is a step which I never Avill suspect him of till I see him there. The most notable point, however, is the concession to America. This is all very well in itself, but comes with a sad grace from them, and must injure them incalculably with the country. I learn from my brother James, who has been in London for a few days, that the consternation of the class of people who are always with ministry, but especially with the present set, is great beyond description, and that the ridicule which this proclamation excites is very amusing. You will remark that the point conceded does not leave the other rights claimed in a situation at all more comfortable or easy than before. I iET. 30.] AMEBICA AKD NEUTRALITY. 211 drew up a statement of the whole American question for Jef- frey's review ; and having procured a copy, I shall inclose it to Lord Lauderdale, and request him to forward it to you when he has read it. He was so good as to write me a letter on some points, at your desire ; and I also had the benefit of consulting with Lord Holland and Allen respecting the nego- tiation with America. I should be very glad to have your opinion respecting the general principle which I have ven- tured to propose for satisfying the Americans without giving up our search of merchantmen — viz., redress in our common law courts, and not our Admiralty. " Wilberforce, having promised to let me know as soon as he heard any thing certain about the meeting of Parliament, has written me two letters, stating that one of the ministers (I presume Perceval) told him they hoped there would be no occasion to meet before Christmas : and Lord Melville says here that it will not meet till the end of January. Though I know you will not dislike this, I am sure you must admit it to be a most reprehensible thing during such a state of affairs. " I have received several letters from a friend of mine of the Orange party in Holland. The communication is so much interrupted that he can not send me a tnSmoire which he has just had the boldness to publish on the abolition of the Dutch slave-trade. Their anxiety for peace knows no bounds. " Lord and Lady Ossulston were here for a day ; and I find he has resolved, at aU events, not to come in competition with Sir Charles Monk, unless he should find the sense of the county decidedly with him. Indeed, he says he does not care about it.' I remain most faithfully yours, • " H. Beougham. " P.S. — I have to beg pardon for having misled you as to Lord Grenville being returned from Cornwall. I understood this from the Kings, but I now find that it was in Devon- shire, on his way down, that they had seen him. He had not returned a fortnight ago." TO THE EAEL OP EOSSLYir. "Edinburgh, Nov. 8, 1807. "Mt deae Loed Rossltk, — I have just received a let- ter from Mr. Warre, our consul at Oporto, and I inclose it. 272 POLITICS OF THE DAY. [1807. not only because it contains some late intelligence from that quarter, but because he seems to wish that the contents of it should reach the Foreign Office, which I think might be best effected by your desiring Vincent to look after it. I should have sent it direct to Hammond without troubling you, but I have- understood there is some dryness between him and Warre. The case of the people at Oporto, and of poor Mr. Warre especially, is most pitiable. What he says of neglect- ing his own concerns, in looking after the factory under his care, I verily believe to be strictly true. He is, of all the mercantile men I ever saw, by far the least sordid ; and I saw with my own eyes how constantly he sacrificed his private in- terest to his situation, which was indeed his hobby ; and you will observe that, after all, he was only a vice-consul, receiv- ing nothing like a repayment of the necessary expenses of his office ; but he loved to play the old Castilian, and considered himself as the father of the factory. His zeal in the service last year was most exemplary ; and I am certain that the best (indeed, for any thing I could see, the only good) information they have at Lisbon comes through him. You will "remark that his remaining at his post for further orders is very laud- able, for the risk is great. From Lisbon you can escape at a moment's warning, but the bar at Oporto is frequently im- passable for six weeks at a time, and may probably have be- come so the day after the convoy sailed, in which case he must find his way to Lisbon as soon as the French come near ; and will most likely be stopped for want of a vessel to bring him off, when things get so far on. As to the Brazil scheme, I still believe it never will be done as we desire it without our interference. They may send a part of the fam- ily over, but it will be to keep us out of the concern. The ministers are stark mad if they do not make Sir Sidney call in his way out ; but Lord St. Vincent would have been the man for that business. H. Bkougham." TO THE EARL OF EOSSLYX. "Holland House, December 1, 1807. "Mt dear Lord, — Having come here for a couple of days, I shall have time to give you the political gossip which I promised some time ago. ^T.30.] WHITBREAD. 273 In general, things have been pretty dull and uniform since ray return. Lord Howick's appearances in the House of Lords have exceeded considerably the highest expectations that had been formed of them ; but his speeches of last night for the negotiation, though certainly able, and perhaps supe- rior in. oratory to any of his former ones, are not very much approved of by those who like prudent and calm avowals of principles in leaders of parties. It must, I fear, be admitted that he is a little too warlike ; and in general I fancy he is more Grenvillian, both in opinions and indeed in cast of char- acter, than the rest of the remains of the Foxes. In his of- fice he is, I should conceive, an excellent man of business. And he has appointed Stratton to the envoyship at Stock- holm, though he was only known to him by his merit and services, having no friends nor influence. " But the talk of the day is Whitbread's opposition, which I assure you is pretty fierce, and was even personal to Grey.* It seems to be generally admitted that he acted from princi- ple, though I hear some peoiDle hint that he would in no wise dislike having his hands tied up by a high office — and this, I must say, I do not at all believe ; and though I can not but think he liked the ^lat of the thing after he had resolved*to speak in this way, yet I am sure he acted a most conscien- tious part in forming his resolution. " His praise of Yarmouth (whom it is really impossible not to blame, and whose appointment all our friends, I am sure, re- gret) was very like a little common factious opposition. Still more so was his putting the motion in Grey's former words — this is considered, I think, as rather spiteful. And in several points I coticeive even those who agree with him in the main must admit that he argued his cause too high. By-the-way, he had no want of men to second him. The sensation excited is very considerable. I am quite clear the ministry will suf- fer by it — ^but most of all the Fox part of it ; and this seems admitted. "All is hitherto entire cordiality between the two parties in the cabinet. Nevertheless, no one can deny that there * See the debate on Mr. Whitbread's motion, "That a committee be ap- pointed to inquire into the state of the nation," July 6, 1807. — Cobbett's De- bates, ix. 704. As strangers were excluded, the report is only an outline. M2 274 ' POLITICS OF TEE SAY. [1807. is a sort of liaukering after Lord Grenville on the part of Hawkesbury, etc., which will look suspicious if it lasts much longer. It must be observed that the opposition (I mean the regular opposition) do not stand very well united. It is evi- dent that they take different grounds ; and I know that there are violent dissensions, in which I shall not much wonder to see Hawkesbury and Castlereagh wheel off. " Most of the Foxites talk calmly and rationally on the state of affairs ; build a little on the chances of Bonaparte be- ing defeated by the Russians — a little more on his failing to beat them, if he advances far — and a good deal on our own naval or colonial experiments. " They are in the main rational, also, on the subject of peace, though certainly not sufficiently clear and steady in their views of that question. I don't think they have a very .right view either of the state of our connections with Russia or of the questions relative to Sicily, expecting a good deal too much from the former, and not seeing all the evils' of our attempts in favor of the latter. Buenos Ajtres is not quite given up ; but at any rate they think it must have been re- taken by our expedition. •"The merchants are a good deal laughed at for having been taken in by the scheme to such an extent, and Popham is given up by almost every body. " The king's health is pretty good ; but on Irish affairs he is by no means more sound than formerly. This part of the subject is very ticklish, and has of late given very great un- easiness; but nothing is to be done in the way of emancipa- tion, though I much fear a petition will be presented, and, of course, opposed by Lord G. and the Foxites, which would be rather unpleasant. I believe they say within these two days that things are looking better in Ireland than before. All this is quite extraneous. "The prince has been really ill, and is still in a very unpleasant way, though somewhat better. He is reduced to water or iced punch and turtle, and no wine nor animal food. " This I know for certain. I have been down at Brocket Hall during the holidays, and the Melbournes (who, by-the- way, expected him there as an invalid) say he is exceedingly ^T.30.] SHEBIDAN.—WINBHAM. 215 touchy about bis health, so that he will neither take medi- cines nor allow any body to say he is ill. The stoiy of his being so much in love with Lady Hertford is quite true, but certainly is not the sole cause of his lowness. She has treat- ed him pretty cavalierly. Yarmouth's row about Hanover was all addressed to the prince, who has the family twist very strong. " The elections are still much talked of. Sheridan says he is secure, and I rather suppose Paul may give in before many days elapse. But Windham, I fear, will be thrown out, as well as Coke, for treating, and so will their antagonists. " They have all bungled it sadly, and there was a com- promise not to petition, which was rendered ineffectual by a couple of rich old maids taking part, and raising a petition against them. For the mean time, ministers are to secure Windham a borough, and I suppose Coke also. Indeed all the loose seats are picked up, God knows how, before one hears of there being a vacancy. " The chancellor is going on, I hear, as indiffei'ently as pos- sible in his court, and the bar are greatly displeased. "The ministry are resolved to abolish the slave-trade ia good earnest, and I hope ■vyill refuse to hear any evidence. I fancy this will be the great measure of the session, which, however much one must approve of it, is certainly not all that is wanting. Wellesley will certainly be screened. I fancy a whitewashing motion will be made ; and then I should think his admission into place is almost certain. " Every thing in this house goes on as usual, only little Souza is here almost every evening. They are coming to town next week. "I shall not fail to write such intelligence as may interest you from time to time ; and in the mean time I remain ever faithfully yours, H. Beougham." TO BAEL GEET.* "Albany, December 31, 1807. "My deae Loed Geet, — As there are various stories in * Lord Howick became Eaii Grey on the death of his father — 14th No- vember, 1807. 276 POLITICS OF THE DAY. [1807. circulation among the newspapers aboiat late events, I trouble you with, a few lines to mention what I conceive to be the truth of the matter. "Respecting the Lisbon business, Strangford complains bitterly that they have garbled his dispatch ; but while he says this to me, and one or two others, who are likely to know the truth, as an excuse for the bragging which appears in his letter, he tells people whom he thinks he can take in, that, if the whole dispatch had been published, it would have appear- ed how much more concern he had in the transaction. I doubt not, indeed, that the original contained a great deal more bragging ; but, unluckily, enough is published to deprive both Strangford and "the ministers of every atom of credit which they may wish to take for the event. For the rest, the articles in the ' Morning Chronicle,' with another which will appear to-morrow, meet the opinions of all our friends, except- ing the conjectures as to Bonaparte not wishing to detain the Court. This many people think a refinement ; among whom are the Holland House folks. But I may add that some per- sons lately returned from Paris rather confirm it, by report- ing that the wish there was that the Court might escape. I should be very glad to know your, opinion upon this part of the subject. " Every one is agreed that the chgice of a minister to Brazil is of infinite moment, and could not have been worse made. It is conceived that Strangford has been appointed in order to give 'eclat to the management of the affair on our part, and to make the country think that we did the business. This, indeed, is quite of a piece with Gambier's peerage.* Minis- ters reverse the old rule, and reward men, not because they have performed important or difficult services, but in order to give their services an air of importance and difficulty. " You will perceive contradictory statements as to Oudi- not's marching towards Astrakhan ; but I know it for a fact that the directors believe he is. .The deputy-chairman said so at Hertford College last week to Malthus, from whom I heard it. It is supposed Oudinot will settle matters in Persia * Admiral Gambier had just been raised to the peerage for his services in the bombardment of Copenhagen and the removal of the Danish fleet. ^T.SO.] FENINSVLAB WAR. 211 for an attack upon India after some interval ; and the proba- bility is they will enter the peninsula by the Punjaub, for ob- vious reasons. Such a movement will raise the Mahrattas and the Southern powers almost as certainly as if it were be- gun nearer the Carnatic, or Bombay, against AvTiich there are insuperable objections. If we lose India, there will be infinite clamor ; but we shall be more frightened than hurt — thanks to the Company's monopoly, which has so much stunted our commerce with that country. " The colonies, especially Jamaica, are all in an uproar ; and to play such difScult cards the Duke of Manchester is sent with all his wisdom. Really, appointments like this are too bad, and, one should think, not beyond Parliament's interference. Gambler's peerage I should conceive clearly within it. " I trust you will command me freely if you have any com- missions which I can execute for you before your arrival in town. And I remain ever most faithfully yours, " H. Beougham." FEOM EAEL GEET. " Howick, Januaiy 3, 1808. " Deae Beougham, — * * * My hopes are a good deal revived about Spain. We have now, I think, evidence enough that there is no want of spirit among the people. There has been nowhere any submission ; the loss of the French has, I have no doubt, been much greater than they allow, while that of the Spanish armies is not stated, even by them, to have been very considerable, and the strongest part of the Penin- sula yet remains to be conquered. But what cheers me most is the march of Moore upon Valladolid ; it is a clear proof that he did not think things desperate. It is a bold and a decisive measure, not unlike what I think Bonaparte would have done in similar circumstances. It places the two armies in a situation more anxious and critical than any that I re- member, as a battle seems inevitable, and under circumstances in which there appears literally to be ' nulla salus victis.' I only hope Moore, now that he has taken this step, will not hesitate, but push on, and attempt to strike some important* blow before Bonaparte can turn upon him. 218 POLITICS OF THE DAT. [1808. " You know I approved of the declaration, not of the style or the Canningisms ia it, but of the thing done in rejecting an overture which could not, under the existing circumstances, be listened to, more than I have reason to believe many of my friends did. But in the answer to Pinckney, I think Can- ning has outdone himself. I am sorry it has not been more attacked and exposed in our papers. " So ' all the ladies and gentlemen damced well,' as Jack Lee said of the figurantes at the opera. This conclusion of the military inquiry must, I think, give general dissatisfaction, and furnishes the strongest ground for some parliamentary proceeding. I. do not understand how Lord Moira, etc., rec- oncile their condemnation of the armistice and convention with their unqualified approbation of all the generals. " The Hollands, I find, are not coming home. Pray write whenever you have any news, and have nothing better to do. " Ever yours, GfiBT." TO EAEL GEET. "Albany, London, April 21, 1808. "My dear Loed Geet, — The Liverpool and Manchester delegates are gone at last, all tolerably well satisfied, except old Rathbone, who neither got his speeches out in the Lords nor Commons. The London merchants, however, kept him quiet, and the whole petitioners in a body met and passed a very handsome vote of thanks to me. The Londoners also invited me to practise in the Cock-pit, where they have the whole business in their hands, and have adopted me as Ste- phen's successor. I have ordered a copy of the report of my speech to be sent to you in an office cover. It is tolerably accurate — the four first and twenty last pages, I am sure, nearly verbatim. Stephen is more outrageous than ever. He has completely quarrelled with me, first, for saying what I did say, and next, for not preventing its being published. He says it is an incendiary and pernicious speech, and can only do mischief. But the real truth is that he does not like being attacked, and he finds Perceval is the, only man who defends him. His witnesses all failed, and did more good to us than ■ to the ministry, which exasperates them the more ; and George Rose goes about saying he blames him greatly for not ^T.30.] . HOME POLITICS. 279 stopping me at every other sentence. They bitterly repent having allowed our petitions to be gone into. Burdett gave Stephen an unmerciful thrashing the other day, and is more wonderfully improved, I understand, in speaking than could have been thought possible. Paull had only lost £300, but he was quite ruined. " Ever most faithfully yours, H. Brougham." TO EAEL GEET. " Middle Teraple Hall, May 31, 1808. " Mt dear Loed Geet, — I ought long ago to have thank- ed you for your kind and friendly letter, respecting both the speech on the Orders in Council and my plans in general. I am extremely obliged to you, indeed, for the interest you take in these matters, so trifling to every body but myself. Not- withstanding this, however, I shall so far presume on your patience as to mention what I feel upon the subject. " From accidental circumstances, I find myself placed in a situation which enables me to command a considerable de- gree of success in the professian of the law, and however odi- ous that profession is (as God knows there are few things so hateful), I am quite clear that it would be utter folly in me to neglect so certain a prospect. I have, of course, been con- tinuing my study of law, and pleading as diligently as possi- ble — indeed, it naturally becomes easier and less disagreeable every day, and in a year or so more, I doubt not, I shall know moi-e about it than is requisite. But I have resolved, in the mean time, to risk an experiment, which, I fancy, you will think not very prudent, and which, I own, is not quite safe. By means of a special motion at Lincoln's Inn, I may manage to be called to the bar early in July, and thus to ga the next Northern Circuit — which I prefer to any other, as being the largest field, and in every respect the first thing in that way. I shall do this at the present moment, because, from my re- cent intercourse with Liverpool and Manchester folks, the iron in that quarter is hot, and should be struck before it cools. I set out with too slender- a provision of law, no doubt, and may very possibly never see a Jury until I have to ad- dress it, my stock of practice being so slender that I never yet saw a nisi-prius trial. But the points of law are few on 280 POLITICS OF THE DAY. [1808. a circuit, and by good-fortune none of any difficulty may fall on me, and, as there are no great wizards go the Northern Cir- cuit, I may push through the thing with a little presence of mind and quickness. Besides, nothing was ever done without risk, and nothing great without much danger. Therefore I have taken my determination, and shall be ready to set out for York when the Circuit commences. " In short, being so fairly in for it, I must make the best of an indifferent bargain, and addict myself to whatever will carry me upward at the bar. There are many openings — no formidable obstacles ; and one may hope in time to make the profession a little more like what it used to be of old, when mercenary views were out of the question, and it was certain- ly the finest of "all civil pursuits. "The worst of all this is, that it forces me to give up every thing political, and in prudence should keep me clear of all party views' and connections, for these, I daily see, are almost fatal to professional men. Now here lies my great and only difficulty. I could cease to think of a seat in Parliament, or, should I ever obtain one, I could manage to keep such an oc- cupation very subordinate — that is easy enough; but to take no side in questions where my opinions happen to be all pret- ty strong, where I can not help feeling interested both in the actors and in the subject, would be next to impossible, cost what it may. So that I am in this dilemma, that one party stands plump in my way on every occasion, because I am po- litically attached to the other, while that other must of course in every case look to the interests of such lawyers as are di- rectly engaged with them in politics ; in short, do what I can, I am likely to be too much a politician for one set of men, and too much a lawyer for the other. This is a real dilemma; for I need only hint at Scarlett's case to show what power the chancellor, for the time being, has over a man's profes- sional advancement — ^I mean by withholding a silk gown. So strongly does he feel this, that it is quite contrary to his ad- vice that I think of the bar at all. I have troubled you much too long with my plans and difficulties to force on the one and to conquer the other. I believe the step above described to be the only means, and as such I embrace it without any great fear as to the result. When I shall once be fairly start- iET.30.] FOX. 281 ed, I must trust to the chapter of accidents for getting out of the other dilemmas. " Ever yours, Heney BEOUGitiM." TO EAEL GKET. " Middle Temple, June 4, 1808. "Mt dear Loed, — ^I trouble you with a few lines to- say how Fox's book is flourishing. The cry is loud and universal in its favor.* All classes — political, fashionable, and literary — talk of nothing else, and talk in the same strain. Even Lord Aberdeen — whom I chanced to meet in company the other day — was in raptures, though a prodigious lover of kings and priests, and a pupil of Pitt and Melville — indeed, one of ¥\tCs favorites. And Lord Camden says he read it at a sitting with infinite avidity, and admires every line sepa- rately. Tou wiU say this is a proof of his stupidity, for, if he understood it all, he must necessarily be shocked at some parts of it. "I expect it will still raise a cry, especially in the pulpit, and that you will soon see letters to Lord Holland, and per- haps yourself, by J. Bowles & Co., and hear of sermons by Rennel and all manner of holy animals.f Biit still the cause of liberty and liberality of opinion is prodigiously refreshed by it, and all its inferior' supporters countenanced and en- couraged. As a party event, too, you are great gainers. It is a rare set-off to such meetings as Pitt's birthday dinner, where, by-the-way, the chancellor covered himself with ridi- cule. Faithfully yours, "Heney Beougham." I wrote the following letter to Lord Grey, partly to give him some news about Spain, but chiefly to convey to him the * "A History of the early part of the Keign of King James the Second. "With an Introductory Chapter. " t John Bowles, barrister-at-law, the author of a multitude of pamphlets, chiefly directed against the Whig party, and some of them especially directed against Fox. Thomas Kennel, dean, of Winchester, author of " Principles of French Republicanism founded on Violence and Blood-guiltiness," and other pamphlets of a hke tenor. The chief attack on Fox's book was by the Bight Honorable George Rose. 282 POLITICS OF THE DAY. [180& disappointment and disgust I was then suffering under from the spiteful proceedings of the Government in stopping my call to_, the bar. It is difficult to find a reason, much less an excuse, for a proceeding which I may call unparalleled. It might be that the Government had a foretaste of the fate of their Orders in Council; but it indicated pretty plainly to me what I was to look to in the future, and the kind of injus- tice I might expect to meet with in my professional cai-eer. TO EAEL GEET. " Middle Temple HaU, July 2, 1808. "Mt dear Loed Geet, — I expected to learn some- news about Spain which might be worth communicating. There is, however, nothing authentic arrived. Portuguese people have no letters, but believe that Oporto is freed from the French, and that Junot is intrenching himself somewhere about Lisbon. There is a tendency in Spain, no doubt, to rise ; but one can not safely trust the flattering prospects held out until it appears that the insurgents have actually begun operations, and proved their constancy as well as their cour- age; for it is obvious that the former is more material in a contest which, if it is to do any thing at all, must be of no short duration, and quite unfavorable to the insurgents at the outset. As to the wild story which every man of every party was believing all yesterday, and I think even to-day, that the insurgents have defeated the French in a pitched battle and killed twelve thousand of them, I leave you to say what sort of evidence would be necessary to convince you of such a thing, when you recollect the campaigns of 1795 and 1796, 1805 and 1806, with the best regulars and leaders in Europe. Meanwhile, all is hope and castle-building here, literally ' batir des chateaux en Espagne.' People ai-e busy fortifying the Pyrenees against new invasions of the enemy; contriving terms of peace which he may not be able to accept, and which will lead to a campaign in France ; raising a fifth coalition in Germany, and bringing back the Bourbons. The first act of the peace, the defeat in Spain, is of course never doubted. I verily, believe at this moment there are scarcely ten men in London who would give Bonaparte £100 a year of half-pay to retire to Ajaccio, and live quietly as an invalid ofiicer the ^T.30.] rUNimULAS WAS. 283 rest of his life. So incurable a malady is hope, notwithstand- ing the largest quantities of bitter disappointment which rftay have been administered to strengthen us against it. Materoza is a fine boy of eighteen, very promising, and I dare say well born. The other I have not seen, but hear him well spoken of. Argaelius is with them, whom I knew when he lived here last year and the year before. He is a sensible and accomplished man, infinitely sanguine on the present occa- sion. " To drop down to a very trifling subject, I have been de- feated in my plan of being called to the bar this term. To my great surprise they sent down the attorney and solicitor general, who frightened the benchers, and, leaguing with Saint Allan Park (one of the greatest knaves in the profes- sion), rejected my application by a majority of one vote. Evefy one admits that this is a vile political job, and scarcely ever before attempted. They luckily can not easily prevent me next term ; but I am infinitely injured by the delay, be- sides the foretaste it gives me of what I have to expect in fu- ture when I shall stand in need of a silk gown. " Believe me ever most sincerely yours, "Henet Beougham." to eael geey. "Temple, Jnly 21,1808. " * * * It is a very strange thing that the ministers have contrived to pick out a staff for Spain and Portugal which contains not one man who ever served there, except Sir H. Dalrymple, who is a mere name. I am persuaded the Duke of York, after the first success, will follow with the Guards, and-^bring all back again. It must be admitted, however, that things are looking very well in Spain, and great things may follow if they go on in the same way ; but I am no believ- er in the duration and steadiness of popular feelings, and a great believer in regular armies and well-bred officers. " I am heartily tired of London and special pleading, es- pecially the former, every body being gone out of town, and nothing remaining but heat, dust, and dullness. I shall shake myself loose in a week or ten days at furthest, and steer northward. Pray let rne know if you are likely to be at 284 POLITICS OF THE BAY. . [1808. Howick in about a fortnight or sixteen days, that I may shape my course so as-to find you at home. " Believe me yours very faithfully, "Heney Beougham. " I shall write to you to-morrow or next day, and send yotf the Portuguese communications which Warre promises me." TO EAEL GEET. "July 22, 1808. " Dear Loed Geey, — ^I wrote you a few lines yesterday, and mentioned that "Warre had promised me the details, pa- pers, etc., about Oporto. I have now gone over them, and they are very curious indeed. " The bishop is at the head of every thing, and the Church is all up in arms. The Chapter and all the convents have em- bodied themselves, and form a large corps of stout and "zeal- ous soldiers. Part of the town, all the churches, hospitals, and some of the forts, are guarded by monks, with cocked hats, muskets, and their cloaks cut short off. The press is in equal activity with the Church. I have run over no less than seventeen proclamations issued by the Supreme Junta of Oporto in one week. They are very violent, some of them not at all badly written, though inferior to the Spanish, and talking much more about religion and the Church. The rib- bons worn by the people, three of which Warre received, are about Jesus Christ and the. faith, ' por lo fee veneer o mo- rir,' etc. The Spaniards say ' per la patria veneer,' etc. So far the former are likely to be more zealous and more rash than the Spaniards. They have too many priests meddling, and too much fanaticism afloat, to act very wisely ; but if well supported in the other quarters, they will do much good in spite of it. " They have got hold of a part of a guillotine, in posses- sion of the French, which exasperates them much. They have marched the French, consul, merchants, soldiers, etc., on board of a ship and sent them to England ; and Warre's correspondents all state the numbers in arms to be fifty thou- sand. They are very anxious for assistance of any and every kind from this country. So far Warre. " The Hollands are still very sanguine about the whole af- JET.SI.] PMNINSULAB WAS. 285 fair, and I hear you continue to be so too. But they admit that if the Seville Junta goes on by itself and does not call a general Cortes, the Arragonese will not submit to them, and that the whole wiU be blown up. They think our Govern- ment have' very bad notions on these points, and this is the only thing which makes them doubt of success. " Yours, etc., H. Brougham:." The conduct of our Government in regard to the war in Spain, when ministers took no .warning by the disastrous events of the Portuguese campaign — their treatment of Sir John M«ore, placing over him generals in many respects in- ferior to him — and other matters connected with these sub- jects, had been the occasion of much discussion and corre- spondence between Lord Grey and me. In some of the fol- lowing letters he refers to many written by me to him, which, I regret to say, I have been unable to find. I kept no copies, and the originals are not among the great mass of my letters, which my dear and lamented friend Lady Grey sent to me after her husband's death, most kindly placing them at my disposal, and of which kindness it will be found that I have throughout this memoir largely availed myself. Indeed, the appointment of such officers as were selected to take the command must have been as offensive to Sir Arthur Welles- ley as it was unjust to Sir John Moore ; for it is undoubted- ly ^e fact that after Vimiera, and Burrard's command suc- ceeded by Dalrymple's, Sir Arthur wrote to Lord Castle- reagh, distinctly stating his earnest desire to quit the army, and urging as his reason for this step that, after having been successful as a commander, he could never serve in a subor- dinate situation with satisfaction either to the officer placed over him or to himself. The following letter from Lord Grey shows his opinion of the vexata questio, the convention of Cintra, and also what he thought of the conduct of ministers and their treatment of Sir John Moore : PEOir EAEL GEET. " Howick, Sept. 29, 1808. " Mt deae BEOiTGnAM, — I received your letter last night. 286 FMNmsULAB WAR [1808. There can be but one sentiment with respect to the conven- tion, and I believe there has never existed a case in which the public feeling was so generally and so strongly excited. It is, therefore, an opportunity of attack too favorable to be neg- lected. But that it will overset the Administration I am not sanguine enough to believe. Nothing can do so till there is a body of men capable of succeeding them ; and while the Catholic question remains in its present state, where are they to be found ? " The leading features of .the case are sufficiently obvious, and the circumstances which led to the delay of the expedi- ^tion, and to its being sent piecemeal, as it was, are all^I think, adverted to by you. " Thd folly of sending Sir John Moore to the Baltic, where it was impossible he could do any thing, and where, by his prudence alone, I believe, we were saved from a scrape which ministers had in a manner contrived for him, productive as it was of so heavy a loss both of time, and means, is undoubted- ly one of the points' chiefly to be insisted on. ; With respect to the choice of. a commander, I am in general inclined to be very tolerant, not only-because the attack coming froin us, I am aware of the obvious retort about Whitelock, but because I know the difficulties which the army list presents to min- isters on this point. In the present case, however, I think there is a good deal to be said. It is not only that ministers erred in making a bad choice, but that the cajxse of it wa^an intrigue to give Wellesley a separate opportunity to distin- guish himself. If they had thought him the fittest man to command in a service of such vital importance, they ought in a manly way to have given him the command at once. If not, another commander should have been selected, who should have been fully apprised of the views of Government, and sent from the beginning to conduct operations, the suc- cess of which depended so much on uniformity of measures, on local knowledge, and, above all, on the absence of all jeal- ousies among the officers at the head of the army. , Looking at the matter in this view, the conduct of ministers has been as unjust to an individual as it has been injurious to the pub- lic service. When Sir John Moore came home from Sweden, they could not withhold the most unqualified approbation of ^T.31.] AND SIM JOHN MOORR 287 his conduct. But at the same time that they made this acknowledgment, you must remember how very little paius were taken to conceal their discontent and dislike of him. Nothing was omitted to give him disgust, and to make him relinquish his command. But not succeeding in this, and not being able to put Wellesley over him, they determined to reduce him to the level of Wellesley, by putting Sir Hew Dalrymple, who had never seen any service, over both, and in the mean time detached Wellesley, with his division, that he might find the opportunity of which he availed himself, be- fore the arrival of any other officer of higher rank. It is not, therefore, only the fault of having made a bad choice that is imputable to ministers, but that they did so for the express purpose of keeping the command from Sir John Moore, whom the general voice of the whole army, supported by his former services, would have pointed out as the man best qualified for it. " With respect to the details of the expedition, and its de- ficiency either in cavalry or in any other article of necessary appointment, I am entirely ignorant. But I can not imagine that the want of cavalry could have prevented their advanc- ing. On these matters, however, you have one of the best sources of information at hand in Lord Rosslyn. " With respect to Spain I can not agree with you. That a most tremendous battle, still remains to be fought is certain. Bonaparte, whether it be from choice or necessity, seems dis- posed to stake every thing on the conquest of Spain, and the effort he will make is not to be looked at without great solic- itude for the event. But I am not dismayed ; and if I was sanguine some months ago, when you all seemed to pity me for my folly, I am much more so now, for I think the situa- tion of Spain much improved. Bonaparte, you say, was sur- prised by the resistance. But were not the Spaniards sur- prised by the attack ? and when you recollect that he had in the month of May an army of one hundred and five thousand men in possession of all the fortresses, and of a strong posi- tion in the heart of the kingdom — that the provinces were cut off from the means of communication with one another, were without leaders, without arms, and subject to every dis- advantage which a people could suffer, and yet that they have 288 PMNINSULAB WAR [1808. driven that army, with a loss of at least fifty thousand men, to the frontier — why are we to despond, even if a great army should be ready to be poured in upon them under the com- mand of Bonaparte in person? He has made, and no doubt wiU make, great preparations. But the Spaniards have had time also for preparation, and have secured other advantages which are incalculable in their effect. And in whatever way I consider this subject, it appears to me that their means of resistance and their chance of success are both infinitely great- er, as opposed to any army which Bonaparte can now bring against them, than they were when he began openly to at- tempt to enslave them at the commencement of last May. With these opinions, therefore, I can not approve of the dis- couraging language which you have held in the ' Edinburgh Review,' qpd which you hold in your letter. Even if my own hopes were less sanguine, I would willingly deprecate you from using such language publicly. To assist the Span- iards is morally and politically one of the highest duties a na- tion ever had to perform. And to check those feelings whose operation is of so much importance to the success of our at- tempt may do great mischief, but can not by possibility pro- duce any good. On the passage of which I complained I will say little, because I confess it is a subject which I feel pain- fully. To be accused of abandoning, when in power, the prin- ciples I had maintained in opposition, is a severe charge even from an enemy ; but for a friend to entertain, and to think it necessary to promulgate, that opinion, must inflict a much deeper wound, the more especially as I had hoped that all who knew me, and most of the members of the late cabinet, must have been convinced that, though we might have mis- taken the road, we were sincerely desirous of peace. To Fox, at least, that credit has been allowed ; and it is not one of the hardships that we have to complain of least, that a sefja- ration is made between him and those who survive on the question. The truth is, that we never departed from his views ; and at the time he wrote the dispatch of the 14th June, the last he ever wrote hifnself, he considered the nego- tiation as having failed. I have said more than I intended, so will not add one word more, but that I am ever yours, « Geey." -BT.31.] AND SIR JOHN MOOBE. 289 To this I answered immediately, as follows . " October 6, 1808. "My deab Loed, — I find you mistake me a good deal about the review of Spain, more especially if you think I ever wrote a word which accused you of swerving from your op- position principles ; most especially if you imagine that I ever could fancy a distinction between you aq^ Fox on this mat- ter. In truth, I always thought that the most scandalous piece of injustice that ever was dealt out to a party, for the mere dates must have convinced any man that Fox's death had no more influence on the negotiation than Pitt's, or any other person's. But I won't trouble you further on this un- important matter. "I write at present to mention my having learnt with much surprise that the Hollands are going to Spain in good earnest, a plan which I had all along viewed as mere talk. Now it strikes me that such a proceeding will not only hurt Lord Holland incalculably, but wiU seriously injure your par- ty. As for their returning to Parliament, that no one can be- lieve ; and certainly a more important session has not been known as the next is likely to prove. " I can fancy nothing more certain than Canning's, etc., gibing and referring to R. Adair's Peterburgh mission, every time there happens a difference between our Government and the Juntas. Xor will the country be slow to blame Lord Holland for whatever goes on wrong in our communication with the Spaniards. But leaving that out of view, I am per- suaded, fond as the people of this country may at present be of Spain, that rambling over there under the present circum- stances will infallibly alienate their confidence from Lord Hol- land, or rather, I should say, will prevent them from viewing him as the steady and English sort of man whom they re- quire for a statesman. I think he will assuredly be damaged by it, and at the moment when he was rising into very great estimation. " Perhaps you don't think with me, but if you do, I wish you would vfrite to him and her, to dissuade, for I know per- fectly well that no other person can attempt it with half the chance of succeeding. Believe me very faithfully yours, " H. Bkougham. Vol. L— N 290 rUNINSVLAB WAR [1808. " P-S. — I am greatly indebted to you for your kind expres- sions, but suppose you misunderstood me. Any parliamenta- ry plans would, I believe, do me much harm for some time to come, and though I should like to have a share in running down the present drivellers, yet the satisfaction of doing so, and the trifling service I could render the party, would scarce- ly be a fair inducement to make me interrupt my profes- sional pursuits." TO EAEL GEET. "Temple, November 25, 1808. " Mf DEAE LoED Geey, — ^I have come up quicker than I intended, from meeting a newspaper at Darlington with a no- tice that the Cock-pit met to-day, and I knew I had a point of importance to argue. I accordingly came day and night, and got here about eight this morning, when, on going to the court, I found the cause compi'omised. "I have a letter from Lady Holland, dated 9th, de- sponding somewhat, and abusing Ward greatly. He did not sail with them, which, I fancy, was rather beginning un- favorably. "At the Cock-pit I had much conversation with St. Ste- phen, and found his tone about politics greatly altered and quite lowered. He is melancholy about the convention, an- gry at the generals, and has not the smallest hopes of Spain. I presume he speaks Perceval's sentiments to a certain de- gree. He denies the meeting of Parliament till after Christ- mas or the birthday, positively. Wilberforce is going to Bath for a month, so he must have changed his opinion, if he ever had the one mentioned by Tierney. " It is singular to see how changed the public sentiments about ministers are. Every one of all parties (and I have seen more Tories than whigs) admits that they are damaged to the greatest degree. I can not help regretting that none of our friends are on the spot. " Canning is on bad terms with his colleagues, talks loud- ly against the convention, and indeed washes his hands of all concern with the expedition, which was concerted by Castle- reagh and Perceval, with scarcely any consultation of military men. Perceval wrote the answer to the address (as I always ^T.31.] AND SIB JOHN MOOBE. 291 thought). This you may rely upon, and that Canning disap- proved of it. " The king and Dake of York violent against every thing Spanish and Portuguese, generals, etc. The official people de- spond about Spain. " Now for the last piece of news which I have just heard in Ridgway's shop, where a man came who had been one at the Duke of Portland's, and said that the duke had received intelligence of Blake's defeat after long fighting, but a very complete defeat. The report of the evening is either that he was taken prisoner or had fled to the mountains. I much fear the substance of this dismal rumor will prove true. " Believe me ever yours most faithfully, " Heney Bkougham." to eael geey. "Middle Temple Hall, Dec. 2, 1808. "My deae Loed Geey, — Knowing that any little thing one happens to hear in town is worthy of notice to the un- fortunate persons who live in the country, I just put down what occurs, however unimportant in itself, when I have a moment of respite from John Doe and Richard Roe. " Touching Spain, I am more sanguine to-day than I have ever been, which you will not be surprised at (though most people might), because it is founded on your own view very nearly. The Spaniards have been beaten, but certainly after such stifE fighting as I never had expected. If their spirit continues equal, or nearly equal, to this last exhibition of it, I shall have scarcely any fears. Government is still quite as desponding as formerly. In truth their fears are founded on their wishes. " It is quite certain that there was a flirtation, if not an intrigue, with the Doctor ; but Lord EUenborough is repre- sented by people who dined with him yesterday as exceed- ingly factious and violent. "Having received a sort of complimentary message from Miranda, I went to see him — rather to prevent his coming to see me, than from any wish to make his acquaintance — but I found him veiy clever and entertaining, and frank about his own plans and secrets, in a degree that is only to be found 292 FENINSULAJi WAR [1808. among finished adventurers (at least so I have generally found them).* He is furious at the ministry, though he seems still to be connected with them; admits that he and Wellesley were on the eve of setting out for South America with an army, when the~ Spanish deputies arrived; curses the folly of this Government in changing their certain plans in New Spain for any such chances as Old Spain affords ; and denies that an army is the right way of aiding the Spaniards. He mixes a good deal of truth with much narrow, Peruvian, and selfish error on the subject ; but I was struck with one argument on the small numbers of the patriots. ' Cadiz has 100,000 in- habitants ; it is said to be full of patriots ; and all Andalusia is open : yet they have raised a battalion of galley-slaves from the hulks and prisons of that town !' His details of the French commissariat are curious and frightful. It is on the plan of the flying-artillery, and organized with infinite nicety and care. Miranda was, you know, second in command at Jemmappes, and says the system was formed in that cam- paign. I should like to know whether you had any commu- nication with him when you were in office. " Sydney Smith found in Yorkshire a sixteenth edition of Plymley, five cheap ones having been sold in the West Riding.f " The last review — about Cevallos — ^has given infinite of- fense here ; but in Edinburgh I learn that both friends and foes are offended. "The Hollands are retrograde, as appears from letters. "Ward, his uncle says, has arrived at Bath, but I have not heard from him. " The faint attempts at defending the convention and the ministry, which their papers began, have died a natural death. They now turn their whole force against the ' Edinburgh Re- view,' which every one ministerial newspaper has now been at- tacking almost daily for above a week. They have set on new hands to this work, some people think Cooke — some Ward. " Ferguson's story of the dispatch about Moore not being * Don Francisco Miranda, a Spanish soldier and politician of great renown in his age. t The celebrated " Letters from Peter Plymley to his Brother Abraham," anonymous, bnt well known to be the work of Smith. iET.31.] AND SIM JOHN MOORE. 293 received till after the llTth, turns out erroneous, as we suspect- ed. The re-embarkation at Mondego is correct. He (Fer- guson) says Wellesley could not produce his case in Bur- rard's absence, for it consists in throwing the whole blame on Burrard's refusal to allow their pursuit. Burrard is to put all on want of cavalry. The Duke of York will be with him, I presume, so here is a new scrape for Government. Charles Adam, who brought home L'Oison, says they talk of the busi- ness exactly as Xh& people here do. "Seeing nobody but dull lawyers, and conversing only about pleas and issues, I assure you writing a • letter to you is a very great luxury, as it approaches to tolerable society. This must excuse the length and unimportance of the present letter ; and the paper and ink, which make it nearly illegible, must be set down to the account of the coffee-house where it is written. Believe me, dear Lord Grey, ever your faithful friend, Hbnet Bkougham." TO EAEL GEET. " Temple, Dec. 14, 1808. " Dear Loed Geet, — ^I take it for granted the melancholy accounts given of affairs in Spain by Moore and Graham in their private letters must have reached you ; but as they are very important in considering the whole question, I shall state their substance in case you should not have heard it. Moore, by letter to Abercromby, of date November 26, says the army had advanced well and comfortable in every re- spect, but that the people were quite indifferent and torpid, not well disposed to us. He adds that he hears everywhere of Spanish armies, but sees none, and that the inactivity of the Central Junta is quite fatal. Graham (with Castafioa) writes to T. Grenville the same account, and that the Spanish armies are very small in number. I fear the truth is that the enthusiasm has partly evaporated ; that the Junta have been too sanguine and supine, that they have not been half revo- lutionary enough, and that the moment is irrevocably gone when the people might have been made to save the country. Allen's last letter to Sydney Smith admits that the Junta has acted with shameful remissness, and that it childishly thought Joseph's flight was the end of the business. 294 PENmSULAB WAR [1808. "But our ministers are more to blame than even I had thought, for they squandered away the golden opportunity, which now appears to have been so short and so irretriev- able. " The ministry give all up for lost, and seem resolved to abandon the nonsensical plan of a stand in Portugal. A stand in Andalusia may still be attempted. William Har- rison (of the Treasury) abuses them loudly, and declaims against them for blindfolding the country, and the country for liking to be blindfolded. He allows aU our blunders in the execution as well as the plan, and cries out for a Spanish revolution as the only salvation of Europe. Such rebellious talk in the Treasury is ominous ; in truth, we see at present an odd spectacle — the Government deserted by all, even its own followers and friends, who only rest its case on the un- popularity of their adversaries. I trust that the ensuing ses- sion will remove this only prop of the ministry. You have the game in your own hands, and I doubt not that both the constituent parts of the great body which you lead will agree in such a view of the subject as may eihable your particular branch to regain some of its former popularity, a thing easy in itself, as well as highly important to both the party and the country. " Wellesley is raising his head, and ministers too are going to crow over Burrard. They, and not he, nevettheless, are to blame, but this must really be speedily enforced in Parlia- ment, otherwise it will be disbelieved by the country. They are to give him a court-martial. In great haste, ev-er yours truly, H. Beougham." TO EAEL GEET. " December 15, 1808. " Deae Loed Geet, — I snatch a moment, as usual during dinner, to say that I have just seen H. Bouverie, who tells me his regiment, which was countermanded yesterday, is re- ordered to-day ; that this is said at the office to be owing to a telegraph from Plymouth, announcing from the authority , of the Indefatigable, which was off the Spanish coast, that Baird, Moore, and Eomana ar-e joined; which ministers be- lieve, and disbelieve the French bulletins at the same time. JET. 31.] AMD SIS JOBS- MOOSE. 295 "This seems rather improbable; but one thing is certain, every degree of confusion reigns at the offices. All are at cross-purposes, and complain that they have no head, and no arrangement to help them, ^he prevailing belief now is that Mulgrave and Castlereagh -will go by the board ; and I heard of preparations in Canning's office for his departure. "I lament nothing so much as the want of a statement such as I once wrote to you about, and feel my conscience smite me for sufEering even the law to prevent me from do- ing it myself. But there is no help for impossibilities. It will be better done by debates. " In haste, yours, etc., H. Beougham. " P.S. — ^Bulletin from Admiral Young's secretary at Plym- outh. " News up to December 3d. Junta going to Toledo. No doubt of Hope and Romana joining Moore. Romana at Seco, having collected 20,000 of Blake's army." TO EAEL GEEY, " December 16, 1808. "Dbae Loed Gebt, — The post is just going; but as there are different rumors about the fatal news, and some deny it, I write this to assure you it is as bad as possible. A letter from Allen, December 1, eight p.m. (Corunna), says that ad- vice had just arrived of Castanos's total defeat, and Moore and Baird's retreat, the former to Ciudad Rodrigo, the latter to Gallicia — ' by directions from Castanos himself ! !' I copy this literally, with the two (! !). This is the whole letter, and, being to Perry (who showed it to me), I am confident Allen did not write it rashly.* " Ronald Ferguson saw the people at the offices to-day, and Hope of the Admiralty yesterday. They believe in the whole of the worst parts of the news, and say that Govern- ment have it in Baird's dispatches. Hope says the shipping is ordered round to Vigo to take in Baird. Ferguson is giv- ing over his brigade for lost, it being with General Hope at Madrid. " In haste, yours ever, H. Beougham." * Perry, well known as the editor of the " Morning Chronicle." 296 rENINSULAIt WAR. [1809. TO EAEIi GEET. " Woolbeding, January i, 1809. "My dear Loed Gkey, — ^I rejoice greatly on account of the country that you are coming to town ; but I must say if your health is one of the causes of it, as I understood from Petty, I had much rather have heard of your -wintering at Howick. I am the more disappointed at this, if correct, be- cause your friends had of late been flattering themselves with the prospects of your complaints being entirely removed. " I have been here these thi-ee days, and return to-morrow to town ; but having heard from London, and before I left it, some things which seem authentic, I shall set them down. " The regency story is not, perhaps, true, but I really be- lieve it had some foundation. It was talked of at Mans- field's (the chief -justice) the other day in a Tory company, among whom was the attorney-general, and no sort of con- tradiction was given to it by any body ; only all agreed in la- menting that 'so excellent a woman as the queen is in private life ' should allow herself to be so much under the prince's influence. I suspect, therefore, that the project was enter- tnined at Windsor, and went off on some objection about the Duke of York. I should add that Lord Robert Spencer's man, Kent (whom he gave an office to, and who is much about the public offices), says he heard it stiU talked of at the Treasury as a thing to be brought forward. I guess this to be untrue, however. A very odd thing happened the other day. A report of the king's death prevailed so much that black rose in price, and the tailors were all in confusion, buy- ing and running about. It was spread all over this part of the country as certain ; yet the Archbishop of Canterbury told Mansfield he never had seen the king better than on Christ- mas-day. It strikes me as possible that there may, neverthe- less, have been some alarm, perhaps an unfounded one, among them ; and this would account both for the talk of a regency among themselves, and for the strange report of a dissolution of Parliament which prevailed about the same time. "I have a letter from Allen at Yigo, dated December 13. They are going to Lisbon by land, and expect to winter in Andalusia, not having heard of Madrid being taken. But I ^T.31.] PJEmNSULAJR WAB. 297 conclude you have received letters from themselves by the same conveyance. "A few days ago the intention of the ministry was to de- fend Lisbon, and sixty pieces of cannon, with engineers, etc., were embarking, as Ferguson assured me. Whether the ad- vance of Baird and Moore has changed their plan I know not, but the report among the Guards at Portsmouth is, that they are going under Spencer to Cadiz. This is a wiser plan cer- tainly. Indeed, notwithstanding all the sanguine expectations of the London folks, I shall be greatly surprised if Moore ven- tures between Bonaparte and Soult, at least if the statements of their force are correct. I hear Lord Grenville is decidedly of opinion that the whole conduct of Government must be fully discussed, as he objects to every thing they have done ; and Wickham is, if possible, more desponding about Spain than ever. But this you have of coui-se heard directly from Dropmore. "Believe me, etc., H. Brougham." TO EAEL GEEY. "Jannaiy 6,1809. " My dear Loed Geey, — * * * The Hollands were at Oporto on the 26th of December, and give, I understand, a bad account of the Portuguese, which can surprise nobody. The ministers affect to speak with great admiration of Moore's retreat, but their supporters keep cavUling at him. Lord Melville is certainly to speak at first against Government, but I fancy his opposition will be a very qualified one. He has desired his friends to stay away, and I know several who have complied. Ferguson was to have gone to Corunna in the ship which was appointed to convey the expedition, but it is stopped, and both he and Harry Bouverie are now at Wool- beding. I presume the whole are to be sent round to Cadiz. Was there ever such wavering, childish behavior yet seen, even upon ordinary occasions, as the ministers have shown through the whole of this greatest of all affairs ? " Lord Moira is much praised for his view of the conven- tion, but some wonder is expressed at his joining in the vote about zeal, etc. The extravagant praise of Lord Moira in the ' Courier,' and their constant attacks on ministry, are very cu- N2 298 PENINSrrLAR WAB. [1809. rious. HusHsson says the ' Courier ' is an unmanageable pa- per, and I suppose it looks merely or cMefly to its sale ; so that its attacks are rather a symptom of public opinion than of any disunion among the ministers. "Always yours, most faithfully, H. Beougham." TO EAEIi GEEY. "Saturday evening, 6 o'clock, Jan. 21, 1809. " Deae Loed Gebt, — ^I have only a moment to say that the arrival of Charles Stewart (Castlereagh's brother) seems a proof that Moore's army is out of danger ; though certainly the transports had not all arrived, but were coming into Co- runna, and there is a report that the news brought by Stew- art is bad. It seems to be certain that we have lost consider- ably in constant skirmishes, and that all our artillery is gone. One account says, all the troops, except one regiment, had em- barked when Stewart came. This is not true. The utmost extent of the ministerial information is that the cavalry had embarked. Senseless stories are told by people in oiEce, such as Brodrick, whom I heard mention, with much exultation, that the Duke del Infantado had retaken Madrid, and that Moore was occupying a position, and making a stand, a diver- sion, and I know not what, at Corunna — and without his artillery ! ! " If he waited three days at Corunna for transports, Bona- parte must either have been in smaller force than is supposed, or must have gone to Vigo. The date of Moore's dispatches is January 11. " The Hollands at Lisbon, on the 4th, only heard that day of Madrid being taken. H. Beougham." iET.31.] PENINSITLAR WAR. 299 CHAPTER VIII. HOME AND FOREIGN POLITICS, 1809. The Peninsular "War. — Sir John Moore, his Ketreat and Death. — Victory at Corunna. . — Inquiry into the Conduct of the Duke of York. — French and Austrian War on the Danube. — France and Spain. — Home Politics. — Attempt to fonn a Coalition Ministry. — Spencer Perceval and Earl Gr^. — Canning. — Criticisms on the Conduct of the War in the Peninsula. — The Princess of Wales and Canning. — Canning, Castlereagh, and Lord Welles- ley. — Estimate of Sir John Moore. "January 23, 1809. " Deae Loed Geet, — ^You will naturally be anxious about this sad news.* R. Ward and Hanison say six hundred men were killed. Baird died of his shot. Baggage, etc., gone ; though Lord Paget hopes the artillery may be in part saved. But it is admitted that the debris of the army must come home. Thirty-one hundred were eijibarking safely when he came away. Craufurd and four thousand-gone to Vigo, but not heard of. Greenwood says we lost five thousand or six thousand altogether on the retreat. Bi'andf showed me a letter from Graham,J who was with him, dated 13th January. He states that the French refused battle when offered at Lugo ; that the English army is unfit for any thing but fight- ing ; harassed by all wants, and by disease from climate and fatigue, and dying in great numbers. Of course this is before the battles. "Altogether, I imagine a more disastrous affair has seldom been known. "Buonaniti has just received a letter from the Hollands, at Lisbon. They are to go from thence to Gibraltar. This is, to be sure, just the proper time for running about from port * The retreat of Sir John Moore, his death, and the battle of Corunna. Sir David Baird lost an arm, but recovered. • t Afterwards Lord Dacre. t Afterwards Lord Lynedoch. 300 HOME AND FQBEION POLITICS. [1809. to port, and seeking any thing rather than home. I suppose they are now prepared to believe every thing except the real presence; for their frequent disappointments seem never to undeceive them, or to lessen their faith. " In haste, H. Beougham." TO THE EAEL 'GEEY, " January 24, 1809. "Deae Loed Gket, — I understand the dispatches are come, but contain nothing more than Lord Paget brought. The loss of the army is great on the retreat, but its abom- ina|(le conduct in plundering, murdering, etc., etc., is much worse. So much for Lord Cathcart and Copenhagen. This I learn from one who was with the army the whole way, and an officer of rank. " The Spaniards, who disliked us at first, of course now de- test us, in that part of Spain at least. The information of all our emissaries — Frere, Stuart, Dyer, etc., etc. — is described as having been ridiculously incorrect ; and the want of informa- tion in our army from spies, etc., is quite unintelligible. My informant says all the bribes in our military chest could not get the Spaniards to give any intelligence. Our men plun- dered our own ammunition, provisions, etc. Lord Paget lost his whole property in this way. Three men were just going to be executed for these things and others, when the French attacked us, luckily for the culprits. The army was drawn up to witness the execution. "Sir Arthur Wellesley says the loss at embarking was about one thousand ; R Ward, six hundred. I believe the former is nearer the truth. " The four thousand under Craufurd were heard from at St. Jago ; and it was supposed they could get safe off, there being no tidings of any French thereabout. Junot com- manded the attack. He sent back titiree women prisoners be- fore the battle, with compliments from ' Junot and the army of Portugal.' The Hollands are going by land to Seville. I really wish they may not get into a scrape, though they do deserve a good fright. " Poor Vincent ! What a sudden an(J melancholy fate ! They are of course all in great distress. It was the first ^T. 31.] PENINSVLAM WAR. 301 thing Lady Rosslyn heard on her arrival ; and you may be- lieve she was dreadfully affected, though she exerts herself with great fortitude. I seriously think Lord Lauderdale should not put his name to the East India pamphlet.* Do advise him not to do so, if it strikes yon in the same way. Every Body objects to his writing it at all, but perhaps that is going too far, though there is something in it. As to the want of a name, we can easily puff it into proper notice and supply such a defect. It might, and indeed must, soon be known; but in the mean time its whole effect will have been produced without the impediment arising from the feelings in question. Pi'ay do not expose yourself to cold in this most dreadful weather. I saw an instance the other day of the effects. H. B." Lord Grey had, throughout this period of the war in Spain, been strongly impressed with what he considered the gross mismanagement of our affairs, and the incapacity of minis- ters. He was persuaded that Spain would never have ven- tured to disturb the French army behind the Ebro, well knowing that reinforcements were surely at hand, and that while the Spaniards were suffering under a most feeble gov- ernment, our ministers were sending a British army into the heart of the Peninsula to march to certain destruction. The case against our rulers was no exaggeration of political op- ponents or of party feeling ; it was clearly proved by the very papers laid before Parliament by ministers themselves. Their defense was by no attempt at justification, but .bj- blaming or criticising the measures of the very officers they had themselves selected for command; and all this time while they had at their disposal a force amply sufficient to have rescued Spain, if the proper use had only been made of it at the proper time. Lord Grey, in April, 1809, brought the whole subject be- fore Parliaiftent, with that great ability which he of all men best knew how to apply, to make intelligible details of the * Perhaps the pamphlet, or rather book, by Lord Lauderdale, called " The Government of India under the Superintendence of the Board of Control." Edinburgh, 1809. 302 HOME AND FOREIGN POLITICS. [1809. most complicated description ; but in spite of the dignified eloquence, the admirable temper he displayed, so peculiarly- appropriate in dealing with so delicate a subject, our legisla- tors decided against him. The object of Lord Grey's motion was to represent to the Crown the disgrace which the proceedings of the Govern- ment had brought upon England, and the injury which the British nation had suffered from the rashness and misman- agement of ministers, culminating in the loss of more than seven thousand of our bravest troops, together with their gallant commander — all sacrificed in an enterprise conceived without plan, combination, or foresight, without a single pos- sible advantage, and as ill-timed as misdirected. The wisdom of Parliament decided otherwise, and after a debate, in which Lord Grey was fairly supported by Lord Moira, and feebly by Lord Erskine, his motion was defeated by a considerable majority, and it was solemnly decided that the projectors and conductors of the campaign deserved the confidence of the country, and were the most fitting men to be intrusted with the conduct of its affairs. Connected with these disastrous times there was no sub- ject which more deeply interested and affected both Lord Grey and myself than the conduct of the Government in re- gard to Sir John Moore. His judgment and skill were only surpassed by his unconquerable valor ; nothing was more re- markable than the matchless self-denial which on all occasions rendered his own interests subservient to his counti-y's good, and concentrated all his faculties in her service, making him a bright example to the most famous warriors of after-times, when the wretched intrigues that sought to keep him in the background, or to crush him, had passed away, but had not been forgotten, when in future times it would be remembered that the hero of Corunna had fought no vain battles, had lost no trophies, no captives, had abandoned no hospitals to the enemy, had yielded no post of danger to feeble* allies. Yet this was the man who, endowed with all the qualities that constitute the most fitting leader of armies, having successful- ly held the chief command in Sicily and in Sweden, was placed under officers one of whom had never served in the field as a general. ^T.31.] WAR iV GERMANY. 303 TO EAEL GEEY. "Temple, June 19, 1809. " Mt dbae Loed Geey,— I write rather to ask how you and Lady Grey are than from having much to communicate. Is it true that you are going to Scotland ? and shall you be there, or in Northumherland, when our Circuit passes through your part of the country? Also, will you allow me to give Malthus (population) a few lines of introduction to you when he passes by Howick, in the course of July, on his way to Scotland? He writes the serious articles on Ireland in the ' Edinburgh Review.' " Of the Hollands you have probably heard lately. By a letter from Lord- John Russell to the duke, it appears that they refused to come home in the Ocean, because she sailed with convoy, and are waiting for the ship which carries Lord Wellesley out. She has not yet sailed ; nor has Welles- ley, I believe, left town ; so that if the Hollands are home in a month or six weeks, it is as much as can be expected. " One is disposed to doubt this story of the King of Prus- sia coming forward ; he is a weak, undecided character, and he must be certain that, if he fails, he will lose not only the kind of crown he now has, but his very livelihood. thinks it is not to be expected, and he is rather good authori- ty : he saw Count Munster on Saturday, who knew nothing about the reports in circulation (which is pretty decisive as to them) ; and as for Ompteda coming over (the ground with many for believing those reports), the reason of it is his brother having lately gone mad, who is in the German Le- gion, and Ompteda comes to look after his affairs. "What do you think of the late victory? for victory it certainly was, and a pretty considerable one. If it had been decisive, however, what possibility was there of Bonaparte keeping his tete du pont, and being enabled to rebuild his bridges ?* The Austrian bulletin is universally admitted to be a fabrication. Stahremberg (who has never been much elated with the news) denied it from the first ; and Lord Liverpool * In reference to the war on the Danuhe, and the capture of Vienna by the French in May, 1809. 304 HOME AND FOMEIGN POLITICS. [1809. told Scarlett the other day that they knew it to be a French fabrication. This seems to be rather a refinement. " If the victory has not been so decisive as of itself to turn the fortune of the campaign, it should seem that upon a series of subsequent operations Bonaparte is much more likely to get the better in the majority of instances. But it is no small thing, andl am sure quite unexpected, to have seen any doubt arise upon the subject. " What a pity it is that we had not a large army in the Adriatic at the time, or even now ! The talk of sending one somewhere continues ; and I know that General Leith has re- ceived orders to go to Chatham (I think) and report himself to General Hope. Some weeks ago its destination was cer- tainly the north of Germany. I suppose now they are wait- ing for the event of the approaching battle. " The ories of the winter are wearing fast away, and I dare say the kind of apathy which always succeeds is already be- gun. I am confident Wardle is discovered to be no wizard, and that Cobbett is seriously damaged.* His court-martial business is much against him, and would probably have been much more if Sir George Yonge had behaved with tolerable fairness and prudence. "You promised to put down any thing that suggested it- self as hints for some new Plymleys. I think Sydney Smith will still fulfill his promise to me on that score, though his soreness upon the attacks lately made in the ' Quarterly Re- view ' may rather indispose him at present. I forgot to men- tion that General Murray is coming (if not come) home from Portugal. His wife says it is because nothing will be done in Portugal for some time ; but others ascribe it to pique against Wellesley. However, if active operations were likely soon to take place, he could scarcely come away for such a reason. Believe me ever with the greatest esteem, most faithfully yours, H. Beougham." "Howick, June 24th, 1809. "Mt deae Beougham, — I am much obliged to you for * Colonel Wardle, now less known than Cohbett, was celebrated as the promoter of the inquiry into the conduct of the Duke of York. 2BT.31.] WAJt W 6EBMANT. 305 your letter of Monday last. We certainly shall be at home at the time the Circuit passes this country, I have no thoughts, of going into Scotland, and I hope you will give us as much of your time as you can in your way to the North. I shall be exceedingly glad to see Malthus. " From what you say of the Hollands, nothing can be more uncertain than their return. Probably the ship that carries out Lord Wellesley wiU afterwards join Lord CoUingwood. As I think the state of the Austrian war, whatever its ulti- mate result may be, likely for some time to prevent the send- ing any sufficient reinforcements to the French army in Spain, and this may very probably occasion a second retreat behind the Ebro, I shall not be surprised to learn that her ladyship has determined to stay where she is till after her accouche- ment, which I suppose you know is approaching. I had a long letter from Plolland in answer to my speech, or rather to misrepresentations of my speech, in the newspaper. It con- tained, in my opinion, a great deal of false reasoning, and in some instances rested on falsehoods : upon the whole, it was nearly in the same strain as the defense of the ministers, though he imputes considerable blame to them ; and I think it very lucky that he did not come home in time to announce any of these sentiments in Parliament. * * * " Ever yours most truly, Geet." TO EAEL GEET. "June 30, 1809. "Deae Loed Geet, — ^Lord Rosslyn having promised to write to you yesterday, I did not, but I find he has been pre- vented by interruptions of various kinds, though he certainly will to-morrow. He is to have the advanced guard, but does not expect to be off for some weeks. He denies both the Duke of York and Burrard, but I am disposed to believe they are still making a push for the former, although Lord Chat^ ham is certainly acting as if he were the man, and nobody can imagine how the report of Burrard arose. Indeed it is uni- versally disbelieved. Brownrigg's going as quarter-master- general certainly looks very like the Duke of York; but is there any expedition so certain of succeeding as to make it even tolerably safe for the present ministers, to send him? 306 HOME JMD FOREIGN POLITICS. [1R09. To be sure, Lord Chatham is much worse, but his failure would not hurt them so irretrievably. Lord G. Leveson is in the cabinet, and this is perhaps a douceur to Canning for giv- ing up his opposition to Lord Chatham or the Duke of Tork. I have it from undoubted authority that he prevented them last year. "The destination of the force is as uncertain as when I wrote last. I still think it must be liable to alteration from the next news of the Austrian operations ; but it is probably calculated, in the mean time, for some specific object ; perhaps Flushing and Antwerp. There are two battering-trains. Such a thing is surely most absurd, unless all possibility of making a diversion in Germany is at an end. " Peace between Austria and France is much talked of, and certainly Stahremberg has been expressing great apprehen- sions of this. One should infer from such an extraordinary step (if it really is taken) that the late victory was much less considerable than it appears to have been. Charles Stuart (who is at Buda) writes the account which he had from the Primate of Hungary, who was in the battle. This makes it 35,000. Twenty generals disabled, seven killed, etc. " It is very unsafe to infer much from Bonaparte's pres- ent inactivity. He did nothing for months after Eylau and Baylen. " Malthus leaves Hertford to-day, and I suppose will call at Howick in the course of a week or ten days. " I shall write again to-morrow or Monday. " Believe me, etc., H. Beougham." TO EAEL GEET. "July 4, 1809. " Deae Loed Geey, — There are letters from H. Bouverie, dated Abrantes, June 17. They are stopped for want of money, and must remain there a week or ten days. Victor had just sent his baggage, etc., through Truxillo, meaning to retreat by that- way to Madrid. I guess Wellesley wiU.be well enough pleased to let him do so. They complain of Cuesta's obstinacy, but say his army is more respectable than any that had appeared among the Spaniards. Mellish had been with dispatches to him, and gives, this account. You iBT. 31.] PENmSULAM WAS. 301 recollect what a bad one he gave of Silviera's, which is some reason for crediting his praises of Cuesta's. "An intercepted dispatch to Joseph Bonaparte gives Junot leave to return to France, after he shall have fortified the bridge which commands Saragossa, planned a fort at Tudela, and sent all the spare artillery to France. This, with many of the other symptoms, looks like retreating to the Ebro again until things are settled in Germany. " We are full of Wardle and Mrs. Clarke. Best,* I hear, , denies the statements in "Wardle's letter to the people, and says he wrote him (Best) a note during the Irial, leaving, the calling Dodd, etc., entirely to his discretion. But this looks so like madness in Wardle that I shall not believe it to be Best's story until I inquire further about it. " Johnson the smuggler is about this expedition as well as Popham.f This makes for Flushing, etc., Antwerp being its destination. "Lord Percy has been making a fool of himself at Cam- bridge, standing against the Duke of Gloucester as chancellor. " H. Beougham." TO EAEL GEET. "July 10, 1809. "Dear Loed Geet, — Nothing further ie known of the Expedition except that every body seems agreed that its des- tination can not be very distant, or its object likely to take a long time.J The orders are for each man to take two shirts only (one upon his back included), no women, aid-de-caraps a single horse ; short allowance of hospital stores, some say one pair of shoes only, but this I have not from good authority. One is disposed still to conjecture Antwerp and Flushing, though many talk of Brest. Browning leaves town on the 14th, and Lord Rosslyn thinks it can't sail for three weeks, as * Sergeant Best, afterwards created Lord Wynford, 5th June, 1829. He was then Chief-justice of the Common Pleas. t Captain Johnson, known as a daring adventurer, an ally of Lord Coch- rane, aijd deeply concerned in the affair of the false news about the fall of Napoleon, for which Lord Cochrane suffered. t The Expedition to the Scheldt, sometimes called the Walcheren Expe- dition. 308 BUEE OF YORK'S CASS. [1809. they are waiting for those transports from Lisbon, for which a convoy had not been appointed on June 5th. The Duke of York's family are talking loudly against Lord Chatham's ap- pointment, and they really have some reason. " The trial of Wright vs. Wardle has excited great atten- tion. Wardle says he is quite thunder-struck with the per- juries of Mrs. Clarke, etc., for that there is not, from begin- ning to end, a word of truth in the story. He is also out- rageous against Best for not calling Dodd, and otherwise mismanaging his case. We qf the bar generally have a bad opinion of a man's cause when he begins to throw the blame on his counsel ; but Wardle is to make some public manifesto immediately, and to prosecute Mrs. Clarke, etc., for perjury. This will rather be funny, I think, but it will do Wardle more harm than it can do the Duke of York real good. "Believe me truly yours, H, Bkougham." TO EAEL GEET. "July 12, 1809. "My deae Loed Geet, — I am much obliged to you for your kind letter, by which I rejoice to find that you disbe- lieve in the reports of peace at Vienna. I have done so from the beginning, though I assure you it is the prevailing opin- ion here. My iiDtion is that at present it would be too good for the Austrians. It would indeed be their salvation ; and Bonaparte knows full well that he never could expect to see Vienna again if he left Austria at a moment when the regu- lar troops have beaten him in the field, and the people in ev- eiy quarter are in a state of insurrection against him- He must fight again, I should think ; and if he is beat, it will go hard with him, though perhaps it won't be much worse than making peace at present. Negotiation will be always open, unless he is much more completely defeated than I fear we have any chance of seeing him. If he beats the archduke, he will then give him peace, but not such a one as he must give at present. " The Russian army, according to General Bentham (now one of the Navy Board), consists of above '10,000?. They are, of course, ill supplied and commanded ; but when things are so nearly balanced, they may turn the scale. JET. 31.] WALCKEREN EXPEDITION. 309 " This foolish expedition, I find, you view in the same light in which every rational being must see it. Flushing and Antwerp are certainly the objects (unless some unexpected good news shduld come from Germany). I don't suppose there is much risk of its failing ; but the loss of men will be considerable by the military operations, and the climate at the mouth of the Scheldt, I understand, is peculiarly fatal at this season. This will, at any rate, prevent the army from doing good afterwards elsewhere. "A letter of Mellish to Ferguson gives a very favorable account of Cuesta's army — 24,000 foot and 8000 cavalry. He saw them manoeuvre, fire, etc., and speats highly of them ; but Cuesta, he says, is an obstinate, infirm- old man. How many of the regiments he saw one does not know, and I dare say they showed him the best. - " Believe me ever yours most faithfully, " H. Bkougham." TO EAEL GEET. "Carlisle, August 7, 1809. " Mt deae Loed Geet, — H. Bouverie writes from Pla- cenzia, July 12, that the French are moving towards them, and that Wellesley has been at Cuesta's head-quarters con- certing measures for attacking them. Victor's force he states at less than in his last letter, but I can not see whether he calls it 30,000 or 40,000. However, from his saying that the event of the battle will depend on the Span- iards, and therefore must be doubtful, I conclude he means 40,000, for he says our army will amount to 28,000' when joined by Craufurd's brigade and the horse-artillery, which they are waiting for. Our advanced-guard was ordered to move to meet Victor, " C, Stuart is arrived in town, much crippled with rheuma- tism, etc.* He talks most violently against the ministers for the whole of their conduct in Spain, and says that the article on Spain in the last ' Edinburgh Review ' is so true an ac- count of the case respecting Spain, that the resemblance can only have arisen from chance. He and I have long lived on * See above, p. 74. 310 WALCBEREN EXPEDITION [1809. very intimate terms, both abroad (having travelled together) and at home ; but we never agreed on any subject of poli- tics, or indeed on any other ; so this confession comes from him very reluctantly, and he makes it with a bad grace ; but he promises to give me a great deal of information, to con- vince me both as to the behavior of our Government and the impossibility of any body knowing the Spanish question ex- cept by pure haphazard. "I thought these things might interest you. I send in, two separate covers an article on 'Reform,' which Jeffrey has written, but in which, though very able, he has commit- ted some very great mistakes, I think. " Believe me, etc., H. Bkougham." TO EAEL GEEY. "Appleby, August 10, 1809. "Deae Loed Geet, — Lord Rosslyn writes to me as fol- lows : * Many cii'cumstances have concurred to render the re- duction of Flushing much more difficult than I expected, and infinitely more so than was calculated upon. Huntley (who Avas destined for a separate service to secure the Island of Cadsand) has hitherto been unable to effect a landing, and I believe he has shown great good sense and discretion in not attempting it. My division is the only one left on board. They speculate on the reduction of Flushing in ten days, and I am persuaded that nothing can or will be attempted till that is over.' He adds that he expects to be in England before the middle of September, and that he has seen nothing hitherto to alter any opinion or view he had before joining the expedition. You know he had a very poor opinion of it. " Ward is unexpectedly arrived in London, and says the Hollands were about to embark in the Lively. This agrees with Miss Fox's account. She had a letter from Lisbon of the 16th of July, saying they were to embark in the Lively the Wednesday following. I suppose they are now in Eng- land, unless some change of mind has again happened. " Whishaw writes from town that no sort of elation is ex- pressed at the capture of Walcheren, which was so confident- ly expected that it scarcely attracts the least attention. " I shall be glad to hear what you think of Moore's corre- iET.31.] AND PENINSULAR WAS. 311 spondence, after you have had time to read it.* It gives a melancholy picture of the prosjpect in Spain, and I much fear the south is not greatly better. I expect to hear particularly about this from Charles Stuart. " Ever most faithfully and sincerely, " Heney Beougham." to eael geet. "Lancaster, August 11, 1809. " Deae Loed Geby, — The following I copy from a letter I have just received from Charles Stuart: ' The v/hole of our misfortunes in Spain may be ascribed to the loss of the two precious months during which the French were behind the Ebro, when our ministers were solely occupied in discussions respecting that blockhead Sir Hew Dalrymple. During those months no communications took place with Spain. I never received one line from Government, and those beasts the Junta neither sought nor received advice. In short, Spam was as thoroughly forgotten as if it were at the bottom of the sea. I had indeed been told we should not interfere in the formation of the Government — a, determination origina- ting in the desire of ministers to shelter themselves from future blame in case of misfortune, and tantamount to the abandonment of a child at three years old by its parents, with directions to provide for itself in whatever mode it may think most expedient.' "After some remarks on the necessity of our interfering, of which he maintains the whole Spanish nation would have highly approved, the letter prqceeds : " ' Wellesley's victoiy is a great thing as far as relates to the abstract proposition of one Englishman beating two Frenchmen, but with respect to the Spaniards serves only to prove them useless allies in their present state. It will do little for Spain, or even for the security of our army, if he is not able to advance to Madrid, and to direct the population * Narrative of the Campaign in Spain by the Army commanded by Lieu- tenant-general Sir John Moore, with original letters. By James Moore, Esq. London: 1809. Reviewed by Lord Brougham, "Edinburgh Review," October, 1809, Ar- ticle 14. 312 WALCHEREN EXPEDITION [1809. of that capital. Indeed he must go there if only to obtain provisions, horses, etc., whether to retreat or go forward. He will find nothing at Talavera. Marching forward is preferable, because if he retreats he must abandon wounded, artillery, etc., for want of means of transport. If he goes to Madrid, however, he must first drive the enemy from Toledo, and stand another action on the Guadarama, where they will probably make a last effort to save the capital. Having gained Madrid, he may retreat on La Mancha, if attacked by a superior force. '".With respect to Austria, I fear she merely gives us breathing-time. I think Bonaparte will leave the emperor Bohemia, Moravia, and part of Austria ; Poland, Hungary, and the south are probably gone. The archduke's miserable indecision has ruined that country ; the soldier is good, the emperor excellent, but has not the courage to check the evils arising from his brother's influence. I am not quite sure that peace has taken place, though it probably will be the result of the .present negotiations. My only hope rests on Stadion's continuance in office, and until I see his dismissal I shall be sure they have not complied with Napoleon's demands.* The emperor certainly opposed the armisticoj but could not pre- vent it ; indeed he appears to have had very little to say in the events, and subsequent to the affair of Wagram.' " I thought this letter might interest you. " Most faithfully yours, Heney Beougham." FEOM JOHN WHISHAW.f " Saturday, August 19, 1809. " Deae Beougham, — I am much obliged to you for your letter, which I have just received, and which was very accept- able, as I have been for some days very desirous of knowing your address, supposing the Circuit to be ended. " The Hollands arrived last Saturday in good health and spirits, all of them looking very well, indeed much better for their journey. I went to them early this week, and am now there again, staying for a few days. Their views of Spanish * Johann Philip Karl Joseph Stadion, Austrian statesman ; bom 1763, died 1824. t See above, p. 259. ^T.31.] 'AND FENINSULAB WAR. 313 affairs are extremely rational — i. e, considerably desponding. They properly consider the question as in a great measure disposed of by the event of the Austrian war ; but they think it will be a conquest difficult to be retained, and inconvenient and embarrassing to the conquerors. Except in Biscay and among the merchants iu some of the port-towns, there is, properly speaking, no French party. But there is in many places a great languor and indifference, and disposition to side with the strongest party. Still there remains in the great body of the nation an excellent spirit, which deserves to be animated and called out by better leaders. The Junta appears to be feebleness itself, too numerous for an effective or strong government, and too few for any purposes of popu- lar representation ; for indeed they are in other respects al- together unfit. They are divided into committees of finance, wai', interior government, etc., subject in important points to the control of the whole body. Old Jovellanos is an excellent and amiable man, of enlarged views and the most patriotic dispositions ; but he is quite unfit, both by his temper and habits, for political management and intrigue — even that por- tion of it without which no government can be conducted.* His influence, of course, is not very considerable ; and though there are some others, particularly Garay, the secretary of the Junta, and Calvo, of good talents and dispositions, with more activity than Jovellanos, yet, upon the whole, the feebles and procrastinators may be said to prevail. So much for their civil affairs. With respect to military talents, the want of them is sufficiently apparent in the whole scheme of their campaign, and almost in every battle that has taken place. Of all their generals, Blake, one of the most unfortunate, is supposed to be their best. Cuesta is much beloved by the soldiery, brave, and regardless of personal danger ; but be is near seventy, of a violent temper, and of no military talents. They are anxious at Seville to get rid of him, and to supply his place by Albuquerque, a young man of high rank and great spirit, but without any military character. * Don Gaspard Melchior de Jovellanos (or properly JoT^Llanos), barn 1744, died 1811, a statesman and author. He translated part of Milton's " Paradise Lost " into Spanish. His name frequently appears in the political and literary correspondence of the time, though it is now nearly forgotten. Vox. I.— O 314 PENINSULAR WAR. [1809. " With respect to Portugal I have heard them say little, except that the Governhient is most contemptible, and things in the most wretched state. The Spanish colonies in America are exceedingly well-disposed to the new order of things in the mother country (Buenos Ayres only excepted), and have furnished large supplies. " The Hollands are no believers in the original treason of Morla, and the deep plan for delivering up Madrid, so much talked of in the account of Moore's campaign. He is a great coward, and was probably frightened into submission, and afterwards went entirely over to the French cause.* Char- milly also was a mere adventurer, and highly improper to be trusted by Frere, but no spy or traitor. In these opinions they were confirmed yesterday by Charles Stuart, who dined at Holland House yesterday. We had also at dinner the new Secretary at War (Lord Palmerston), who was silent and re- served, as became a Cabinet minister and man of fashion. " But it was still apparent, notwithstanding his discretion and reserve, that they have no great hopes from the Scheldt expedition. It is generally understood that this is more a concern of the king than the ministiy, his Majesty having been gratified with the nomination of the staff in return for his acquiescence in the appointment of Sir A. Wellesley to the chief command in Spain. " Ward is returned to London, but I have not seen him, nor do I think myself s.ufiiciently acquainted with him to put my- self in his way. I hear that his accounts of Spain are very unfavorable ; and he reports of Jovellanos (whom he met din- ing at Frere's) that he is ' about the standard of a second-rate Scotch professor.' This judgment alone would be decisive against him at Holland House ; but there seemed previously to be a complete rupture between the parties. They say that he was only four days at Seville, passed the rest of his time in travelling to Grenada and other places, but saw no peo- ple except inn-keepers and muleteers. I am sorry to hear, that the ' Edinburgh Review ' joins against the sinking cause * Don Thomas Morla, bom 1752, died 1820, a Spanish officer, with an ad- venturous personal career, which subjected him to many accusations. A brief and distinct account of his strange career, by M. Adrien de Lafage, will be found in the Nouvelle Biogi'aphie G^ne'rale. ^T.Sl.] J. W. WAJiD. 315 of the Reformers, who unfortunately (pooi* people) are very harmless and inefficient, and very unlikely to do much good or harm of any kind. " Yours most truly, J. Whishaw. " P.S. — ^If you will let me know where you are to be found, I may possibly, if I hear any thing, send you a few lines be- fore I leave town, which will' be about the latter end of next week." Soon after his. return from Spain, I received from Ward the following letter : FROM JOHN WILLIAM WARD.* " 1 Chestei-field Street, Sept. 14, 1809. " My dear Brougham, — ^I should not have been so slow in answering a letter you wrote to me immediately after my re- turn if I had known your direction. You were then upon the Circuit, and until you got fairly out of those borean re- gions, and quite clear of the company of Alan Park, there was no telling in what direction to fire a shot with any certainty of hitting you.f If indeed, during the late gales, I had seen any old lady sitting upon a broomstick, and riding in the storm, I should have considered myself as having found the safest, quickest, and most regularly official messenger, the proper Corr^o di Gabinete of your satanic majesty. But failing of that mode of conveyance, I was obliged to wait till I heard that you had at last ceased to walk to and fro upon the face of the earth, and had found, for a time at least, a rest- ing-place. "Waiving, however, for the present all discussion as to who is the evil principle, or rather, as to what is the form he now inhabits, we shall agree upon this at least, that there * Afterwards fourth Viscount Dudley and Ward, Secretaiy of State for Foreign Affairs in Canning's Government in 1827, when he was created Earl Dudley. t James Alan Park, Justice of the Common Pleas, author of the well- known standard law-book on Marine Insurance. The following rhymes used to be sung when his health was drunk on grand nights, on the Northern Circuit : James Alan Park Came naked stark From Scotland; Now hatli he cares, And breeches wears, In England. 316 J. W. WARD [1809. never was a moment when he was more triumphant. His sec- ond campaign in Spain, in which one would have imagined that it exceeded even his powers to persuade any dozen of the descendants of Eve (formed by his influence into a Cabi- net) to engage — ^his advance into the heart of the country — ^his vision of a victory with which he deceived Sir Arthur at Tala- vera — his retreat without provisions through Portugal — -.and, above all, his grand expedition to Walcheren under his own ■ general, my Lord Chatham — ^have, without a single exception, fulfilled his views, and carried his glory to the highest pitch. As to poor old Oromades, ' II dort comme un ivrogne ;' and I don't see any reason to hope that he will ever again cut the least figure in life. " I have returned from Spain not confirmed in my original opinion about it, for it needed no confirmation — it could not be stronger ; but astonished beyond measure that a contrary notion could ever have been entertained by a reasonable man. Were any well-educated person to assure me that, upon mature consideration, he believed in the story of the seven sleepers, I should not be more puzzled. And, doubtless, of all people the 'l(iripo, '' /■ \ \ ■'TT'" \ v^... 4 p,s.- -r f "fS*4*™4*'"'* -^-- ^ ^ ^H^" "; M