54 CHAP. IV. 1799. Sharp and Unsettled Life accompany the Children of Israel on their taking possession of their country, the Holy Land. Indeed, I think I shall have much to do in the transplanting of the nation. I have received my instructions, and I have to inform you that you also are to accompany them. I know from authority that you are of the seed of Abraham.' I bowed and intimated my sense of the honour done me by the invitation, but said it was quite impossible. I had other duties set out for me. On my return from Rome, I bought this house, and established myself here, and here I must maintain myself and my family. 'I am aware of all that,' said Sharp, and I have arranged everything. I know very well you are a great artist, I know too that you are a great architect as well as a great sculptor. I shall have intrusted to me the office of making all the chief appointments on this journey, and I pledge myself that you shall have the rebuilding of the Temple.'" The same mental delusion showed itself at the dinner at Holcroft's. On leaving the table Sharp called his host out of the room to say that Buonaparte was quite safe -it was communicated to him last night by authority. There had been a great battle yesterday in Germany. Sharp was one of the objects of suspicion to the English Government during the famous trials of 1794. He was a violent Jacobin and an extreme and passionate partisan of the Republicans. There is to be met with in the cabinets of the curious an admired engraving by him of Thomas Paine, as also of Brothers, whom he regarded as the messenger and sent of God.* . * Sharp's engraving of "Richard Brothers, Prince of the Hebrews," is a In London. 1799. 55 Revolution. Gilbert Wakefield. It is well known that the French Revolution turned CHAP. IV. the brains of many of the noblest youths in England. Indeed, when such men as Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, caught the infection, no wonder that those who partook of their sensibility but had a very small portion of their intellect were carried away. Many The French were ruined by the errors into which they were betrayed; many also lived to smile at the follies of their youth. "I am no more ashamed of having been a republican," said Southey, "than I am of having been a child." The opinions held led to many political prosecutions, and I naturally had much sympathy with the sufferers. I find in my journal, February 21st, 1799, "An interesting and memorable day." It was the day on which Gilbert Wakefield was convicted of a seditious libel and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. This he suffered in Dorchester gaol, which he left only to die. Originally of the Established Church, he became a Unitarian, and professor at the Hackney College. By profession he was a scholar. His best known work was an edition of "Lucretius." He had written against Porson's edition of the "Hecuba of Euripides.' It is said that Porson was at a dinnerparty at which toasts were going round; and a name, accompanied by an appropriate sentence from Shakespeare, was required from each of the guests in succession. Before Porson's turn came he had disappeared beneath the table and was supposed to be small square, dated 1795. Below it is inscribed: “ Fully believing this to be the Man whom GOD has appointed, I engrave his likeness.-WILLIAM SHARP." * In Euripidis Hecubam Londini nuper publicatam Diatribe Extemporalis. 1797. 56 CHAP. IV. 1799. Unsettled Life insensible to what was going on. This, however, was The prosecution was not intemperate, but he gloried in what he had done, and was actuated by the spirit of martyrdom. Nothing could be more injudicious than his defence, though in a similar trial an example had been set him just before by Erskine of what such a defence should be. My friend Rutt was one of Wakefield's bail. On being brought up for judgment he spoke in mitigation, but in a way which aggravated the offence. I accompanied him in a hackney-coach to the King's Bench prison. While his friends were arranging with the Governor about rooms there were brought to the prison. two young men named Parry, editors of The Courier newspaper, who had been sentenced to six weeks' impri In London. 1799. 57 sonment for a libel on the Emperor of Russia. The CHAP. IV. libel consisted in a simple paragraph, stating that the Emperor had acted oppressively and made himself unpopular with the nobility by a late decree prohibiting the importation of timber. Such was the liberty of the Press in the days of William Pitt! H. C. R. TO T. ROBINSON. Dear Thomas, (No date.) One of the most interesting occurrences here has been Wakefield's trial. How I wished that you had been here then! My acquaintance with him perhaps heightened the effect; but I think to a mere stranger his delivery of his own defence must have been one of the most gratifying treats which a person of taste or sensibility could enjoy. His simplicity quite apostolic, his courage purely heroic. The energy and dignity with which he conducted himself have certainly had no parallel of late years. You saw a report of his speech in The Courier. It certainly was not a good defence, but as Anthony Robinson observed, something better than any defence-a noble testimony. I dined in company with him on Monday and yesterday. His spirits are not in the least depressed. Publisher. Johnson, the Unitarian publisher in St. Paul's Johnson the Churchyard, was convicted of a libel for selling Wakefield's pamphlet; he was imprisoned in the King's Bench for a few months. For a consideration he was allowed to occupy apartments within the rules. My first visit to him in prison was in company with Mary Hays,* * She professed Mary Wollstonecraft's opinions with more zeal than discre 58 CHAP. IV. 1799. Unsettled Life a very zealous political and moral reformer, a friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, and author of a novel called "Memoirs of Emma Courtney." I called on Johnson several times and profited by his advice. He was a wise man, and his remarks on the evil of indulging in melancholy forebodings were applicable to a habit of my own. He described them as the effect of dreamy indolence, and as liable to increase from the unhealthy state into which they bring the mind. Though he did not cure me of my fault, some of its consequences were mitigated. I was especially unhappy from my inability to come to any satisfactory conclusion as to my plan of life. I hated the law, yet I knew not how otherwise to attain any social station. I was ambitious of literary distinction, but was conscious that I could never attain any reputation worth having. My desire to go to Germany was rather a pis aller, than from any decided preference of the comparative advantages of such a course. One other political prisoner occasionally visited by me was Benjamin Flower, who had been committed to Newgate by the House of Lords for a breach of privilege. H. C. R. TO HIS BROTHER. My dear Brother, (About) Fune, 1799. I suppose the fame of "Pizarro" has already reached you. It is unquestionably the most excellent play I ever saw for variety of attractions. The tion. This brought her into disrepute among the rigid, and her character suffered--but most undeservedly. Whatever her principles may have been, her conduct was perfectly correct. My acquaintance with her continued till her death.-H. C. R. |