L. 356 1811. Quaker Anecdote. CHAP. XIV. His single publication, in which he called himself "A Country Attorney," was one of the hundred-and-one answers to Burke on the French Revolution. His life was prosperous, and alike honourable to himself and, within his limited sphere, useful to others. The latter days of a good man are not a melancholy object, even when one thinks that his moral and intellectual qualities might have been more advantageously employed in a wider field. This alone renders departing excellence a subject of melancholy observation.* A scandal on Quakers. Coleridge's December 28th.-A gossip with E. till late. He related a curious Quaker anecdote, which suggests a law question. One friend, a merchant, proposes to another, an underwriter, to insure his ship, lost or not lost, which ought soon to arrive. The underwriter hesitates, takes the policy home, and says, "I will return it to-morrow, signed or unsigned." Early in the morning the merchant receives intelligence of the loss of his vessel. He knows his religious brother, and sends a clerk (who is ignorant of the loss) to say, "Neighbour A. informs. thee that if thou hast not underwritten, thou needest not do it." The underwriter draws the inference that the vessel is safe. He has not actually signed, but pretending to look for the policy, contrives to sign it by stealth, and says to the clerk, "Tell thy master I had signed." E. assured me that this was a real Occurrence. December 30th.-Attended Coleridge's lecture, in which he kept to his subject. He intimated to me his George Dyer. This biography was pronounced by Wordsworth to be one of the best in the English language. See also p. 156. See ante, pp. 35, 296. Dawn of a New Year. 357 1811. intention to deliver two lectures on Milton. As he had CHAP. XIV. written to me about his dilemma, having so much to do in so little time, I gently hinted in my reply at his frequent digressions-those splendida peccata which his friends best apologized for by laying the emphasis on the adjective. December 31st.-In the evening at a very pleasant Flaxman. party at Flaxman's. A Mrs. Wilkinson there with her son, a most interesting young man, with one of those expressive countenances which imply intellect and heart alike. Flaxman admires him much, and says he would prefer him as a son to all the young men he ever saw. Rem.*-Closed the year most agreeably, in the act, I believe, of repeating to Mr. Flaxman Charles Lamb's prologue to "Mr. H." The society I beheld at the dawn of the New Year consisted of people possessing as high moral and intellectual excellences combined as are to be found in this great city. I had now made up my mind to study for the Bar. This resolution was formed through an apparently insignificant occurrence. It was on the 1st of March, when my sister (who with my brother had been on a visit to London) was about to leave, that Mr. Collier received an application from York to send down a reporter for the State Trials there. He requested me to go, but I declined on the ground of the objection taken to reporters being called to the Bar. Speaking of this to my sister, she said, "For a man who has the repute of having sense, you act very like a fool. You decline. Determi nation to study for the Bar. 358 1811. Sisterly counsel. Determination to study CHAP. XIV. reporting because that might be an obstacle to your being called to the Bar, and yet you take no steps towards being called to the Bar. Now, do one or the other. Either take to newspaper employment, or study the Law at once, and lose no more time." There was no reply to such a remonstrance. On the Sunday following, I went to Amyot to consult with him. There was then visiting him a Norwich attorney, Mr. Adam Taylor, who strongly advised me to go to the Bar, adding, "There is an opening on the Norfolk circuit. I am sure you would succeed. You shall have such business as I have, and as I can obtain." It was this that more than anything determined me. My old acquaintance, Walter Wright, my new acquaintance, Serjeant Rough, and my friend Anthony Robinson,* all supported me in the resolution; but perhaps they all feel as Benvenuto Cellini felt on a similar occasion: "Have you, my lord, really bought the picture, or do you only think of buying it ? "_"What has that to do with your opinion, Cellini ?" —“A great deal. If you have really bought the picture, then I have only to make such remarks as will render * Anthony Robinson (born in 1762), was originally brought up in connection with the Established Church; but, changing his opinions, was educated at Bristol for the Dissenting ministry. Robert Hall was one of his fellow-students. He did not long remain in the ministry, but entered into business as a sugarrefiner, in which he continued till his death. Though, however, he professed to be merely a tradesman, he yet retained a lively interest in social and religious questions, and was a steady and active supporter of civil and religious liberty. He published several pamphlets and articles in reviews. Among the former was an able examination of Robert Hall's celebrated "Sermon on Modern Infidelity." H. C. R. said of him, "as I scarcely ever knew Anthony Robinson's equal in colloquial eloquence, in acuteness and skill, and promptitude in debate, so I never knew his superior in candour and sincerity." Between H. C. R. and his friend there was no relationship, though they have the same surname. you satisfied with your bargain; but if you are only CHAP. XIV. thinking of buying it, then it is my duty to tell you my 1811. real opinion." H. C. R. TO T. R. 56, Hatton Garden, 14th March, 1811. I have at length (after hesitating only from twelve to thirteen years) made up my mind to abandon all my hobby-horsical and vain, idle, and empty literary pursuits, and devote myself to the Law. It is now ten days since I have given words and form to this determination, which an accident after all has occasioned me to make. My sister, perhaps, told you of a proposal Mr. Collier made me, that I should go to York to transact a business which certainly would not agree with the professional character. But my sister did not tell you, because she was not herself aware of the fact, that it was a simple sentence which dropped from her, which made me sensible (more strongly than I had ever been before) of the extreme folly of my conduct. As we were walking down to the Inn on Saturday morning she said-There is something very inconsistent in your behaviour. You refuse a profitable job, because it is incompatible with the character of a barrister, and yet you cannot be made to open a law-book. Now, you ought to do one or the other. Make up your mind at least. In the Spring, and just before I was induced seriously to prepare for being called to the Bar, I translated Announceintention to study for the Bar. ment of CHAP. XIV. "Amatonda," a fairy tale by Anton Wall.* I have 1811. Translations from Richter. already given some account of the work itself. My Amatonda. translation was published by Longman, but I believe fell dead from the press. None but friends ever praised it. I have a letter of praise from Coleridge. And Lamb at least liked the translations from Jean Paul (at the end), which were, I believe, the first transJean Paul lations from Jean Paul into English. He said they were the finest things he ever saw from the German language. The book, so far as I know, was never reviewed, and I obtained no credit from my work. Perhaps happily, for it was the failure of my attempt to gain distinction by writing that made me willing to devote myself honestly to the Law, and so saved me from the mortification that follows a little literary success, by which many men of inferior faculties, like myself, have been betrayed into an unwise adoption of literature as a profession, which after this year I never once thought of. COLERIDGE TO H. C. R. I have to thank you, my dear Robinson, for the pleasure I have enjoyed in the perusal of Anton Wall's delightful tale. I read it first with my eyes only, and only to myself; but the second time aloud to two amiable women. Both times I felt myself in the embrace of the fairy Amatonda. The German critic has noticed as a defect and an oversight what I regard Amatonda." A tale from the German of Anton Wall. London : |