CIX. TO C. J. VAUGHAN, ESQ.

Rugby, Sept. 9, 1835.

It is very hard to know what to say of Hatch as to his bodily health, because, though appearances are unfavourable, Dr. Jephson still speaks confidently of his recovery; but it is not hard to know what to say of his mind, which, I believe, is quite what we could wish it to be. He always seemed to me a most guileless person when in health,-guileless and living in the fear of God, -in such circumstances sickness does but feed and purify the flame, which was before burning strong and brightly. He will be delighted to hear from you, and would be interested by any Cambridge news that you could send him, for I think he must find himself often in want of amusement, and of something to vary the day. I am glad that you have made acquaintance with some of the good poor. I quite agree with you that it is most instructive to visit them, and I think that you are right in what you say of their more lively faith. We hold to earth and earthly things by so many more links of thought, if not of affection, that it is far harder to keep our view of heaven clear and strong; when this life is so busy, and therefore so full of reality to us, another life seems by comparison unreal. This is our condition, and its peculiar temptations; but we must endure it, and strive to overcome them, for I think we may not try to flee from it.

I have begun the Phædo of Plato with the Sixth, which will be a great delight to me. There is an actual pleasure in contemplating so perfect a management of so perfect an instrument as is exhibited in Plato's language, even if the matter were as worthless as the words of Italian music; whereas the sense is only less admirable in many places than the language. I am still in distress. for a Latin book, and wish that there were a cheap edition of Bacon's Instauratio Magna. I would use it, and make it useful in point of Latinity, by setting the fellows to cor

rect the style where it is cumbrous or incorrect. As to Livy, the use of reading him is almost like that of the drunken Helot. It shows what history should not be in a very striking manner; and, though the value to us of much of ancient literature is greatly out of proportion to its intrinsic merit, yet the books of Livy, which we have, relate to a time so uninteresting, that it is hard even to extract a value from them by the most complete distillation; so many gallons of vapid water scarcely hold in combination a particle of spirit.

CX. TO CHEVALIER BUNSEN.

Rugby, September 21, 1835.

I have been and am working at two main things, the Roman History and the nature and interpretation of Prophecy. For the first I have been working at Hannibal's Passage of the Alps. How bad a geographer is Polybius, and how strange that he should be thought a good one! Compare him with any man who is really a geographer, with Herodotus, with Napoleon,-whose sketches of Italy, Egypt and Syria, in his memoirs, are to me unrivalled, or with Niebuhr, and how striking is the difference. The dulness of Polybius' fancy made it impossible for him to conceive or paint scenery clearly, and how can a man be a geographer without lively images of the formation and features of the country which he describes? How different are the several Alpine valleys, and how would a few simple touches of the scenery which he seems actually to have visited, yet could neither understand nor feel it, have decided for ever the question of the route! Now the account suits no valley well, and therefore it may be applied to many; but I believe the real line was by the Little St. Bernard, although I cannot trace those particular spots, which De Luc and Cramer fancy they could recognise. I thought so on the spot, (i. e. that the spots could not be traced,) when I crossed the Little

St. Bernard, in 1825, with Polybius in my hand, and I think so still. How much we want a physical history of countries, tracing the changes which they have undergone either by such violent revolutions as volcanic phenomena, or by the slower but not less complete change produced by ordinary causes; such as alterations of climate, occasioned by inclosing and draining; alteration in the course of rivers, and in the level of their beds; alteration in the animal and vegetable productions of the soil, and in the supply of metals and minerals; noticing also the advance or retreat of the sea, and the origin and successive increase in the number and variation in the line of roads, together with the changes in the extent and character of the woodlands. How much might be done by our Society at Rome if some of its attention were directed to these points: for instance, drainage and an alteration in the course of the waters have produced great changes in Tuscany; and there is also the interesting question as to the spread of malaria in the Maremme.

CXI. TO J. P. GELL, ESQ.

Rugby, September 30, 1835. My situation here, if it has its anxieties, has also many great pleasures, amongst the highest of which are such letters as that which you have had the kindness to write to me. I value it indeed very greatly, and sincerely thank you for it. I had been often told that I should know you much more after you had left Rugby, than I had ever done before, and your letter encourages me to hope that it will be so. You will not think that it is as a mere form of civil words, when I say we shall be very glad to see you here, if you can take us in your way to Cambridge, or in Westmoreland in the winter, if you do not start at the thought of a Christmas among the mountains. But I can assure that you will find them most beautiful in their winter dress, and the valleys very humanized. I have just seen,

you

but not read, the second number of the Rugby Magazine. I have an unmixed pleasure in its going on,-perhaps, just under actual circumstances, more than at some former time, because I think it is more wanted. We shall soon lose Lake and Simpkinson and the others, who go up this year to the University. There is always a melancholy feeling in seeing the last sheaf carried of a good harvest; for who knows what may be the crop of the next year? But this, happily for us, is, both in the natural and in the moral harvest, in the hands of Him who can make disappointment and scarcity do his work, no less than success and plenty.

CXII. TO A. P. STANLEY, ESQ.

Rugby, October 7, 1835.

I am delighted to find that you are coming to Rugby; in fact, I was going to write to you to try whether we could not get you here either in your way to or from Oxford,— as I suppose that, even after all the length of the long vacation, you will be at liberty before us at Christmas. Thank you for your congratulations on my little boy's birth: he grows so much and Fan so little, that I think he will soon overtake her; though it will be well if ever he rivals her in quickness and liveliness.

I think it probable that about the time when his old companions are beginning their new course of earthly life at the Universities, Hatch will be entering upon the beginning of his eternal life. He grows so much worse, that yesterday he was hardly expected to outlive the day. I think myself that his trial will be somewhat longer; but I believe that his work is over, and am no less persuaded that his rest in Christ is sure.

I shall be glad to talk over all things with you when we meet: be sure that you cannot come here too often:I never was less disposed than I am at this moment to let

drop or to intermit my intercourse with my old pupils; which is to me one of the freshest springs of my life.

CXIII. TO AN OLD PUPIL. (B.)

Rugby, October 30, 1835.

I am a little disturbed by what you tell me of your health, and can readily understand that it makes you look at all things with a less cheerful eye than I could wish. Besides, all great changes in life are solemn things, when we think of them, and have naturally their grave side as well as their merely happy one. This is in itself only wholesome, but the grave side may be unduly darkened if we who look on it are ourselves out of tune. I am glad that you have written again to Thomson: his report of you to me was very satisfactory, and I have great faith in his skill. Remember, however, that exercise must not be wearisome, and especially not wearisome to the mind, if it is to be really beneficial. I never have regarded a regular walk along a road, talking the while on subjects of interest, as exercise in the true sense of the term. A skirmish over the country is a very different thing, and so is all that partakes of the character of play or sport.

Believe me that it is a great pleasure to me to hear from you, and you must not think that any parts of your letters are unnoticed by me, or uninteresting, if I do not especially reply to them. I value very much the expression of your feelings, and I think have a very true sympathy with them.

CXIV. TO MR. JUSTICE COLERIDGE.

Rugby, October 12, 1835.

Our visit to Westmoreland was short, for we

returned home early in August, to be ready for my wife's confinement. But I could not have enjoyed three weeks