Sir S. Romilly on Eldon. Lord Cochrane. 431 learned lawyers who ever lived; yet he considers his CHAP. XVII. infirmity as a practical doubter so fatal, that he infinitely prefers Erskine as a Chancellor. Though his mind and legal habits are of so different a class, his good sense and power of prompt decision enable him to administer justice usefully. 1814. June 18th. This was a high festival in the City, the Procession. corporation giving a superb entertainment to the Prince Regent and his visitors, the Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, &c. Took a hasty dinner at Collier's, and then witnessed the procession from Fleet Street. It was not a gratifying spectacle, for there was no continuity in the scene; but some of the distinct objects were interesting. The Royal carriages were splendid, but my ignorance of the individuals who filled them prevented my having much pleasure. My friend Mrs. W. Pattisson brought her boys to see the sight, and she did wisely, for she has enriched their memories with recollections which time will exalt to great value. It will in their old age be a subject of great pleasure that at the ages of eleven and ten they beheld the persons of the greatest sovereigns of the time, and witnessed the festivities consequent on the peace which fixed (may it prove so!) the independence and repose of Europe. June 21st.-Again in the King's Bench. The sentence of the pillory was passed against Lord Cochrane and others for a fraud to raise the price of stock by spreading false news. The severity of the sentence has turned public opinion in favour of his Lordship, and they who first commiserated him began afterwards to think him innocent. His appearance Lord Cochrane. 432 1814. Walk with C. Lamb. CHAP. XVII. to-day was certainly pitiable. When the sentence was passed he stood without colour in his face, his eye staring and without expression; and when he left the court it was with difficulty, as if he were stupified.* Lamb. A walk to Enfield. June 29th.-Called on Lamb in the evening. Found him as delighted as a child with a garret he had appropriated and adorned with all the copperplate engravings he could collect, having rifled every book he possesses for the purpose. It was pleasant to observe his innocent delight. Schiller says all great men have a childlikeness in their nature. July 3rd.-A day of great pleasure. Charles Lamb and I walked to Enfield by Southgate, after an early breakfast in his chambers. We were most hospitably received by Anthony Robinson and his wife. After tea, Lamb and I returned. The whole day most delightfully fine, and the scenery very agreeable. Lamb cared for the walk more than the scenery, for the enjoyment of which he seems to have no great susceptibility. His great delight, even in preference to a country walk, is a stroll in London. The shops and the busy streets, such as Thames Street, Bankside, &c., are his great favourites. He, for the same reason, has no great relish for land * Lord Dundonald, in a note to an extract from Campbell's "Lives of the Chief Justices," where it is mentioned that he was sentenced to stand in the pillory, says: "This vindictive sentence the Government did not dare carry out. My highminded colleague, Sir Francis Burdett, told the Government that, if the sentence was carried into effect, he would stand in the pillory beside me, when they must look to the consequences. What these might have been, in the then excited state of the public mind, as regarded my treatment, the reader may guess."— The Autobiography of a Seaman. By Thomas, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B. Second edition. London, 1861. Vol. II., p. 322, note. C. Lamb's Peculiarities. Tiarks. 433 1814. scape painting. But his relish for historic painting is CHAP. XVII. exquisite. Lamb's peculiarities are very interesting. We had not much conversation-he hummed tunes, I repeated Wordsworth's "Daffodils," of which I am. become very fond. Lamb praised T. Warton's "Sonnet in Dugdale" as of first-rate excellence.* It is a good thought, but I find nothing exquisite in it. He praised Prior's courtly poems-his "Down Hall"-his fine application of the names of Marlborough, so as to be offensive in the ears of Boileau. July 4th.-Took early tea with Flaxman, to whom I Flaxman. read an admirable criticism by Hazlitt on West's picture of the "Rejection of Christ." A bitter and severe but most excellent performance. Flaxman was constrained to admit the high talent of the criticism, though he was unaffectedly pained by its severity; but he was himself offended by West's attempt to represent this sacred subject. July 6th.-Dr. Tiarks + breakfasted with me, and we Dr. Tiarks. spent an hour and a half very pleasantly. Tiarks says that he understands Buonaparte said to the Austrian commissioner, "The king of Saxony is the honestest king in Europe. If the allies dethrone him they will do a more tyrannical act than I ever did. I have dethroned many kings in my time, but I was a parvenu, and it was • This Sonnet was "Written in a Blank Leaf of Dugdale's 'Monasticon.'' † A Frieslander by birth, he became a candidate in theology at Göttingen, but had notice that he had been drawn as a conscript, and would be seized as such. Flying from the army, he begged his way to England, where he maintained himself first as a private librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, and afterwards, with considerable success, as a teacher of German, Greek, and mathematics.H. C. R. He was employed, about 1826, by the Government in astronomical determination of the Canadian boundary. He died in 1837. VOL. I. F F CHAP. XVII. necessary for my safety. The old legitimate sovereigns should act on other principles. 1814. Bentham. James Wordsworth's July 29th.-Mr. Wakefield called on me with Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon," and he occupied me till one o'clock. Wakefield belongs to Jeremy Bentham's select society. He is voted nobody, i.e. free of the house. He gives an interesting account of the philosopher's abode, where a Panopticon school is to be erected. Bentham's constant inmates are Koe, whom I have seen, and Mill, whom I dined with at Hamond's, and whom Wakefield represents as one of the greatest men of the present day. He is writing a history of India. Wakefield says that Bentham has considerable respect for Hamond's understanding. July 31st-Read Bentham's "Panopticon " and first Appendix. All that respected the moral economy of his plan interested me greatly, but for want of plates I could not comprehend the mechanical structure. The book is (as all Bentham's are) full of original and very valuable matter. But it would possibly have had more effect if it had contained fewer novelties in substance and in language. Men are prepared to oppose when novelty is ostentatiously announced. August 13th.-(At Norwich.) Accompanied some Excursion. friends to the theatre. The actors did not edify me. Stole out to call on Madge, at whose apartments I found the great new poem of Wordsworth, "The Excursion." I could only look into the preface and read a few extracts with Madge. It is a poem of formidable size, and I fear too mystical to be popular. It will, however, put an end to the sneers of those who consider, or affect Kastner. Mrs. Pattisson. 1814. 435 to consider, him puerile. But it will possibly draw on CHAP.XVII. him the imputation of dulness. Still, I trust it will strengthen the zeal of his few friends. My anxiety is great to read it. Kast August 18th.-Tiarks brought Kastner to me. ner is an enthusiast, but his enthusiasm impels to action, and it is accompanied by talent of very high rank and great variety. Having distinguished himself as a chemist he became Volksredner (orator for the people); and he is now striving to interest the Government in favour of freemasonry, in order to oppose priestcraft, which he thinks is reviving. He also conducted a newspaper, and assisted in raising the Prussian Landwehr. Having fought with this body in France, he came to England to solicit a grant out of the contributions for the Germans in favour of the Landwehr. Though every one thought his attempts vain, he has succeeded in obtaining £1,000, and hopes for much more, out of the Parliamentary grant. H. C. R. TO MRS. PATTISSON. Bury St. Edmunds, July 27th, 1814. Though my own plans were in some measure disarranged by it, I was sincerely glad to hear that you had resolved to undertake the northern journey. I trust it has proved to you a source of other pleasures than those for the sake of which you made it. The reward which Solomon received for a wise choice of the blessings of life I have very frequently seen conferred on a small scale.. . I should be very glad if some accident were to bring you acquainted with any Kastner. |