this odium is, I really could have hardly conceived, even with all my former experience. [The rest of the letter is lost.]

C.

TO AN OLD PUPIL. (A.)

Rugby, March 30, 1835.

Just as I have begun to write, the clock has struck five, which you know announces the end of Fourth lesson, so that I fear I shall not make much progress now; I shall let the Sixth Form, however, have the pleasure of contemplating a very beautiful passage out of Coleridge for a few minutes longer, while I write on a few lines to you. It gave me great pleasure to find that you enjoy — -'s society so much, and I hope that it makes Oxford seem at any rate more endurable to you. I was very much interested by your story of 's comment upon a little burst of yours about Switzerland. I suppose that Pococuranteism (excuse the word) is much the order of the day among young men. I observe symptoms of it here, and am always dreading its ascendency, though we have some who struggle nobly against it. I believe that "Nil admirari," in this sense, is the Devil's favourite text; and he could not choose a better to introduce his pupils into the more esoteric parts of his doctrine. And therefore I have always looked upon a man infected with this disorder of anti-romance, as on one, who has lost the finest part of his nature, and his best protection against every thing low and foolish. Such a man may well call me mad, but his party are not yet strong enough to get me fairly shut up, and till they are, I shall take the liberty of insisting that their tail is the longest, and, the more boldly I assume this, the more readily will the world believe me. I have lived now for many years,-indeed since I was a very young man,-in a very entire indifference as to the opinion of people, unless I have reason to think them good and wise; and I wish that some of my friends would share this indifference, at least as far as I am concerned. The only thing which gives me the slightest concern in the attacks which have been lately made on me, is the idea of their in any degree disturbing my friends. I am afraid that is not as indifferent

as I could wish either to the attacks in newspapers, or to the gossip of Oxford about Rugby, of which last I have now had some years' experience, and I should pay it a very undeserved compliment, if I were to set any higher value on it than I do on my friend Theodore Hook and his correspondents in John Bull. It is a mere idleness to attend to this sort of talking, and as to trying to act so as to avoid its attacks,—a man would have enough to do, and would lead a strange life, if he were to be shaping his conduct to propitiate gossip. I hold it also equally vain to attempt to explain or to contradict any reports that may be in circulation; in order to do so, it would be necessary to write a weekly despatch at the least; and even then it would do little good, while it would greatly encourage the utterers of scandal, as it would show that their attacks were thought worth noticing. You will be glad to hear that the English Essays are again very good, and so I think are some of the Latin Essays; the verse we have not yet received. On the other hand, there is constantly sufficient occasion to remember our humanity, without any slave to prompt us.....

CI.

TO SIR THOMAS SABINE PASLEY, BART.

(In answer to a question about Public and Private Schools.)

Rugby, April 15, 1835.

The difficulties of education stare me in the face, whenever I look at my own four boys. I think by and by that I shall put them into the school here, but I shall do it with trembling. Experience seems to point out no one plan of education as decidedly the best; it only says, I think, that public education is the best where it answers. But then the question is, will it answer with one's own boy? and if it fails, is not the failure complete? It becomes a question of particulars: a very good private tutor would tempt me to try private education, or a very good public school, with connexions amongst the boys at it, might induce me to venture upon public. Still there is much chance in the matter; for a school may change its character greatly, even with the same master, by the prevalence of a good or bad set of boys; and this no caution can guard against. But I should certainly advise any thing rather than a private school of above thirty boys. Large private schools, I think, are the worst possible system: the choice lies between public schools, and an education, whose character may be strictly private and domestic. This, I fear, is but an unsatisfactory opinion; but I shall be most happy to give you all the advice that I can upon any particular case that you may have to propose, when I have the pleasure of seeing you in Westmoreland. We are just going to embark on our time of gaiety, or rather, I may say, of bustle; for we shall not dine alone again for the next fortnight. I am going southwards instead of northwards, to my old home at Laleham, which I can reach in twelve hours, instead of twenty-four. You may imagine that we often think of Fox How, and I sighed to see the wood anemones on the rock, when on Tuesday I went with all the children, except Fan, to the only place within four miles of us, where there is a little copse and wood flowers.

CII. †TO H. STRICKLAND, ESQ.

Rugby, May 18, 1835.

I congratulate you on your prospect of exploring Asia Minor, and I should be most happy to give you any assistance in my power towards furthering your objects. You know, I dare say, a map of Asia Minor, published a few years since, by Colonel Leake, and showing all that was then known of that country. The Geographical Society will give you all information which you may need as to more recent journeys; but I imagine little has been done of any account. What is to be done, may be divided naturally into two heads, physical research, and moral, in the widest sense of the term. As to the former, you can need no suggestions from me. I am curious to know about the geology-whether the salt lakes of the interior belong to the red marl formation, or whether there are any traces of coal. With regard to the botany, every observation, I suppose will be valuable,-what trees and shrubs appear to be the weeds of the soil; and whether there is any appearance or tradition that these have changed within historical memory ;-whether there are any traces of destroyed forests, and whether the sands have encroached or are encroaching on the available soil, either in the valleys or elsewhere. Again, all meteorological ob

servations will be precious:-variations of temperature at different levels or distances from the sea; suddenness of changes of temperature; prevailing winds, quantity of rain that falls, &c. All facts that may throw any light upon the phenomena of malaria are highly important; and I think it is worth while to bear in mind the possible, if not probable, connexion between epidemic disorders and the outbreaks of volcanic agency and electrical phenomena. The return of crops-how many fold the seed yields in average seasons, is also, I think, a fact always worth getting at.

Now for matters relating to man. Asia Minor has little historical interest, except as to its coasts: you will not find any place of note, but you may find inscriptions, and of course coins, which may be valuable. The point for inquiry, as far as it may be possible, seems to me to be the languages and dialects of the country. The existence of the Basque language, as well as of the Breton and Welsh, shows how aboriginal dialects will linger on through successive conquests in remote districts. Turkish can hardly be the universal language, or, if it is, it must be more or less corrupted with a foreign intermixture; and then, any of these corrupting words may be very curious, as relics of the original languages; and Phrygian, we know, had, even amongst the Greeks, a character of high antiquity. If you find any unexplored libraries, look out for palimpsests; in these lies our only chance of recovering any thing of great value; and though you will not have time to spell them out, yet a cursory glance may give you some hints as to what they are, and may enable you to direct the inquiries of others. All old or actual lines of road are worth attending to, and of course, all statistical information. If possible, I would take a Strabo with me, and an Herodotus; also, if you go to Trebizond, the Anabasis. I should like to explore the valley of the Halys, which, I suppose, must be one of the finest parts of the whole country; but the greatest part of it, I imagine, will be sadly tiresome.

CIII. TO MR. JUSTICE COLERIDGE.

Rugby, May 20, 1835,

I have just been setting my boys a passage out of your edition of Blackstone, to translate into Latin prose, and while they are doing it, I will begin a letter to you. I have had unmixed satisfaction in all I have heard said of you since your elevation. So entirely do I rejoice in it, both publicly and privately, that I could almost forgive Sir R. Peel's ministry their five months of office for the sake of that one good deed. I do hope I shall see you ere long, for I yearn sadly after my old friends. I live alone, so far as men friends are concerned, and am obliged more and more to act and think by myself and for myself. It was therefore very delightful to me to get your little bit of counsel touching the delay of my book, and I am gladly complying with it. But I have read more about it, and for a longer period, than perhaps you are aware of; and in history, after having reached a certain point of knowledge, the after progress increases in a very rapid ratio, because the particular facts group under their general principle, and gain a clearness and instructiveness from the comparison with other analogous facts, which in their solitary state they could not have.

Your Uncle said, many years ago, that "it could not be wondered at if good men were slow to join Mr. Pitt's party, seeing that it dealt in

such atrocious personal calumnies." I think I have had within the last three or four months ample reason to repeat his observation. Had you not been on the Bench, I should have consulted you as to the expediency of noticing some of them legally; and now, as far as you can, with propriety, I should much like to hear what you would say. The attacks go on weekly, charging me with corrupting the boys' religious principles, and intending, if they can, to injure me in my trade. I am assured that many copies of the paper in which most of these libels appear, are sent gratuitously to persons in Ireland, who have been supposed likely to send their sons here; and the same tone of abuse was followed for some weeks in the John Bull. I think that this spirit of libel is peculiar to the Tories, from L'Estrange and Swift downwards: just ask yourself, if you have known any Tory not more engaged in public life than I am, and having given as little ground for attack by personalities on my part, who was abused by the Liberal papers as I have been by the Tories. I often think of the rancorous abuse which the same party heaped upon Barnett, and how that Exposition of the Articles, which Bishops and Divinity Professors and Tutors now recommend, was censured by the Lower House of Convocation as latitudinarian. δέχομαι τὸν οἴωνον.

I hope you saw Wordsworth when he was in London, and that you enjoy his new volume. I have been reading a good deal of Pindar and of Aristophanes lately,-Pindar after twenty years' interval, and how much more interesting he is to the man than to the boy. As for Homer, it is my weekly feast to get better and better acquainted with him. In English I read scarcely any thing, and I know not when I shall be able to do it. We go on here very comfortably, and the school is in a very satisfactory state. I had the pleasure of seeing some of the best of my Rugby pupils here at Easter, and one of the best of my Laleham ones was here a little before. It is the great happiness of my pro- fession to have these relations so dear and so enduring. I had intended to go to Oxford to day, to have voted in favour of the Declaration instead of the Subscription to the Articles, but I could not well manage it, and it was of little consequence, as we were sure to be beaten. It makes me half daft to think of Oxford and the London University, as bad as one another in their opposite ways, and perpetuating their badness by remaining distinct, instead of mixing.

CIV. TO REV. DR. HAWKINS.

Rugby, May 27, 1835.

I sincerely congratulate you on being honoured with the abuse of my friend the Northampton Herald, in company with Whately, Hampden, and myself; and perhaps I feel some malicious satisfaction that you should be thus in a manner forced into the boat with us, while you perhaps are thinking us not very desirable companions. It was found, I believe, at the Council of Trent, that the younger clergy were far more averse to reform than the older; just at the Juniores Patrum at Rome, were the hottest supporters of the abuses of the aristocracy; and so the Convocation has shown itself far more violent and obstinate against improvement than the Heads of Houses. It is a great evil-a national evil, I think, of very great magnitude; for the Charter must be, and ought to be, granted to the London University, if you will persist in keeping out

Dissenters; and then there will be two party places, instead of one, to perpetuate narrow views, and disunion to our children's children. For it is vain to deny, that the Church of England clergy have politically been a party in the country, from Elizabeth's time downwards, and a party opposed to the cause, which in the main has been the cause of improvement There have been at all times noble individual exceptions, and, for very considerable periods, in the reign of George the Second, and in the early part of George the Third's reign, for instance, the spirit of the body has been temperate and conciliatory; but in Charles the First and Second's reigns, and in the period following the Revolution, they deserved so ill of their country, that the Dissenters have at no time deserved worse; and, therefore, it will not do for the Church party to identify themselves with the nation, which they are not, nor with the constitution, which they did their best to hinder from ever coming into existence. I grant that the Dissenters are, politically speaking, nearly as bad and as narrow-minded, but then they have more excuse, in belonging generally to a lower class in society, and not having been taught Aristotle and Thucydides. June 1st. I was interrupted, for which you will not be sorry, and I will not return to the subject. I was much obliged to you for your letter and pamphlet; but though I approve of the proposed change, yet of course it does not touch the great question.

CV. TO A PERSON DISTRESSED BY SKEPTICAL DOUBTS.

Rugby, June 24, 1835.

I have been very far from forgetting you, or my promise to write down something on the subject of our conversation, though I have some fears of doing more harm than good, by not meeting your case satisfactorily. However, I shall venture, hoping that God may bless the attempt to your comfort and benefit.

The more I think of the matter the more I am satisfied that all speculations of the kind in question are to be repressed by the will, and if they haunt us, notwithstanding the efforts of our will, that then they are to be prayed against, and silently endured as a trial. I mean speculations turning upon things wholly beyond our reach, and where the utmost conceivable result cannot be truth, but additional perplexity. Such must be the question as to the origin and continued existence of moral evil; which is a question utterly out of our reach, as we know and can know nothing of the system of the universe, and which can never bring us to truth, because if we adopt one hypothesis as certain, and come to a conclusion upon one theory, we shall be met by difficulties quite as insuperable on the other side, which would oblige us in fairness to go over the process again, and to reject our new conclusion, as we had done our old one; because in our total ignorance of the matter, there will always be difficulties in the way of any hypothesis which we cannot answer, and which will effectually preclude our ever arriving at a state of intellectual satisfaction, such as consists in having a clear view of a whole question from first to last, and seeing that the premises are true, the conclusion fairly drawn, and that all objections to either may be satisfactorily answered. This state, which alone I suppose deserves to be called knowledge, is one which, if we can ever attain it, is attainable only in matters merely human, and only within the range of our understanding and expe