d'CCC
LITERARY REMAINS
OP
HENRY FYNES CLINTON.
LITERARY REMAINS
HENRY PINES CLINTON, ESQ., M.A.
AUTHOR OF THE
'/FASTI HELLENICI' AND 'FASTI EOMANI' ;
CONSISTING OF AN
AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND LITERARY JOURNAL
AND
on
EDITED BY
THE REV. C. J. PYNES CLINTON, M.A.,
HECTOR OF CROMWELL, NOTTS.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BEOWN, GKREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1854.
FEINTED BY
JOHN BDWAED IAYLOB, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.
PEEEACE.
AFTER the decease of the learned Author of the ' Fasti Hellenic! ' and ' Fasti Romani/ who by these works had gained for himself a very high and exten- sive reputation for sound scholarship and for careful and accurate research, it was found that he had left behind him a brief Autobiography of his early life, and a Journal for the last thirty-four years, contain- ing a circumstantial diary of events during the whole of that period (though less full in the latter part of it), interspersed with valuable reflections and remarks 011 a variety of subjects, especially however with re- ference to his literary pursuits ; and therefore styled by himself a ( Literary Journal/
The distinctive features of his character, as dis- played in these records of his thoughts and feelings,
VI PREFACE.
are, an ardent thirst for knowledge, an absence of ambition for worldly honours and distinctions, a pro- found reverence for the Most High, and an earnest desire to consecrate the labours of his intellect to His honour.
It is thought, therefore, that it may be conducive to the interests of classical literature, and may pro- mote even the cause of religion, as connected there- with, to publish portions of the Autobiography and Journal. For it may be useful to the student, as a stimulus to his own efforts, to notice the ardour with which the Author of the ' Fasti ' commenced, and the patient diligence with which he pursued, his classical studies amidst difficulties and discouragements ; and to trace out the steps by which the idea of his great work assumed form and shape in his mind, as his literary stores accumulated, until he committed the results of his labours to the Press, and attained his eminence as a Chronologist. And it must be inter- esting to every right-thinking reader to observe how deeply the studies of so eminent a Scholar were im- bued with sound religion. It will be seen that he regarded the particular line of study, for which his inclinations and previous habits best fitted him, as an
PREFACE. Vll
especial duty marked out for him. by his God ; that, viewing it in this light, he pursued it to the latest period of his life ; and that, influenced by this mo- tive, he sought for Divine help on his Chronological labours, and ascribed his literary success to the aid which he implored.
The remarks upon various authors and upon edu- cation, and occasionally upon political subjects (during the twenty years of his Parliamentary life), which are interspersed, may be deemed not devoid of interest. The notices of his studies will probably be dry and uninteresting to the general reader, but they will not be without their value to the student. They show the course and method of study pursued by an emi- nent Scholar, the quantity read and digested in a given time, and the laborious diligence with which he collected materials for his ' Fasti/
In short, we have here a wise and learned man — a man of great natural abilities and extensive acquired knowledge — freely expressing his sentiments upon a variety of subjects, noting down his own experience and progress in the paths of classical literature, and exhibiting sincere and unostentatious piety.
"Whatever in this volume is not altogether of a
Vlll PEEFACE.
literary nature, is published simply for the purpose of giving a connected and, narrative form to the whole, and of displaying the lineaments of the Author's character as a man and as a Christian, in his various social and domestic relations.
The passages included within brackets, inserted in the text in smaller type, are the remarks of the Editor, introduced for the purpose of explanation, or illustration, or connection.
September, 1854.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
1781-1818.
Early Years : [ancestry — anecdote of Norreys Fynes and of Har- rington].—1789 : Southwell School.— 1796 : Westminster School. — 1799 : Christ Church, Oxford — Passion for books — Symmons. Conybeare. — 1801 : Commencement of diligence in study. — 1802 : Examination. — 1803 : Degree — Private pupils. — 1805 : A new prospect. — 1806 : Yisit to Clumber — Eeturned to Parliament — Eeflections on his Oxford life. — 1807 : Attendance at the House of Commons — Opinions on the Catholic claims — Publication of * Solyman,' a tragedy. — 1808 : Statistical studies — Eeflections on public speaking. — 1809: Marriage — Chronological studies. — 1810: Domestic calamity — Narrative of mournful events — Eeflections — Eesumption of classical studies. — 1811 : Extant quantity of wri- tings of ancient authors— Plans of study — Eesidence at Wing- Visit to Clifton, and Bangor. — 1812 : Marriage — Welwyn ; resi- dence of Young — Observations on authors — Studies at Bangor. — 1813 : Scheme of literary chronology. — 1814 : Course of reading. — 1815 : Diligent study. — 1816 : Extant Greek literature, con- sidered either chronologically ', or with reference to the subjects treated of, or the merit and value of the cow/position — Two me- thods of study : which preferable ? — Authors to be studied dili- gently— Proposed course of reading — Literary pursuits at Wel- wyn— First thoughts of publishing. — 1817: Season in Dean's Yard — Studies at Welwyn — Eeligious studies — Methodical ar- rangements for study — Studies of the year. — 1818 : Journey from Bangor to Cromwell — Dean's Yard — Welwyn — Theological studies — Studies of the year — Lists of Authors . . pp. 1-108
X CONTENTS.
PART II.
1819-1852.
1819 : Studies from 1810 to January 1, 1819 — Authors to be read — Reflections at "Welwyn — Orators and writers compared — Re- marks on Mitford, on Curtius, on Eusebius — House of Commons —Parliamentary matters — Studies in Dean's Yard — Plans of future literary labours — Filial piety — Remarks on Josephus — Visit to Snowdon — Literary projects — Remarks on Isoorates — Prayers — Summary of studies — Theological remarks — Reflections on official life. — 1820 : Remarks on Suetonius — Reflections and prayers — Recollections of Bangor — Visit in Notts — General Elec- tion— Parliamentary business — Manuscript compilations — Esti- mate of time for study — Beauties of Plato — Remarks on Dion Cassius, on Heliodorus, on Aristides, on Isocrates — Slow progress of great works, Wolfius, Wyttenbach, Mitford, Barthelemi — Studies of the year — Prospective studies — Grateful reflections. — 1821 : Prayers and resolutions — Art of rhetoric — Varieties of talent with regard to style : Aristophanes, Demosthenes, Johnson, Mitford, Cicero, Dryden — Observations on Journals — Southey's Life of Wesley — Parliamentary business — Commentary of Eusta- thius — Pleasing recollections — Clinton pedigree — Scripture Chro- nology— On the purchase of books — Classical authors necessary for a student — Ecclesiastical writers — Different plan of study pursued — Literary employments of the year. — 1822 : Summary of Apollodorus — Labours in Chronology — Dr. Burney's Frag- ments— Retrospect of studies — Importance of literary pursuits — Studies of the year. — 1823 : Association of authors with the scenes in which they were read — Recapitulation of studies since 1810 — Specimen of the ' Fasti' sent to Oxford. — 1824 : Political matters — Reception of the ' Fasti' — Literary projects — Filial piety — Dr. Gaisford on the « Fasti'— Studies of the year.— 1825 : State of classical literature — Small encouragement given to classical studies — Boaden's Life of Kemble — Charterhouse Greek Grammar — Photii Bibliotheca— Cudworth— Studies of the year.— 1826 : Cor- respondence with Professor Gaisford — The ' Fasti' in Germany — Reflections on his political life now terminated — Second edition of the ' Fasti' — Studies of the year. — 1827 : Further publications projected — Vota precesque — Remarks on Eratosthenes — Removal to London — Bangor — Death of his father — Office of Librarian of the British Museum — Disappointment — Studies of the year. — 1828 : irpoa-evxal Kal Xiravtiai — Return to London from Bangor- — Remarks on Zonaras — Studies of the year — Three great objects in education — Advantages of a classical education. — 1829 : Distribu- tion of tune — Second edition of the ' Fasti' — At Speen — Studies of the year.— 1830 : Preparation for Third Part of the « Fasti'— A lite-
CONTENTS. XI
rary object necessary — ' Foreign Review' on the ' Fasti' — Grateful reflections. — 1831 : Various incidents — Six months' studies — Pro- ject for a Fourth Part of the ' Fasti' — Six months' studies. — 1832 : Self-reproaches for waste of time in early years — Anticipations — Reflections on leaving his residence in London — Literary pursuits of the year.— 1833 : Death of his next brother—' Fasti,' Part I.— Reflections and prayers. — 1834 : Self-communing — Studies of the year. — 1835 : Arrangement of time — Studies of the year. — 1836 : Visit in Notts— Preparation for Part IV. of the 'Fasti'— Studies of the year. — 1837 : Studies of the year. — 1838 : Departure to Tours — Incidents at Tours — Studies of the year. — 1839 : Reflec- tions and prayers — Archbishop of Tours — Affecting narrative — Last days at Tours — Return to England — Interesting recollections of Tours — Reflections. — 1840 : Works to be consulted for ' Fasti Romani' — Studies of the year. — 1841 : Boswell's Life of Johnson — Bennet Langton — Distribution of time in London — At Rams- gate — Studies of the year. — 1842 : Remarks on Mosheim — Rams- gate — Survey of his mind — Testimony to those through whom he had derived moral benefit — Best classical studies — Studies of the year. — 1843 : Correspondence with Dr. Gaisford — Return to Rams- gate — Studies of the year. — 1844 : Ramsgate — ' Fasti Romani.' — 1845 : Literary employments at Ramsgate. — 1846 : At Salisbury, etc. — Studies of the year. — 1847 : Studies of the year — Plan of study. — 1848 : Knebworth — Maresfield — Studies of the year. — 1849 : Observations on the synthetic and analytic forms of lan- guages.— 1850: 'Fasti Hellenici,' vol. iii., new edition — 'Fasti Romani,' vol. ii. — Studies of the year. — 1851: Funeral of the Duke of Newcastle — Highnam Church — Epitome of ' Fasti Hellenici' — Studies of the year. — 1852 : Marriage at Clumber — Bacon's philosophical works — Remarks on Bacon, Cudworth, Plato, Democritus — Epitome of ' Fasti Romani' — Dissolu- tion— Oratio Censoria at Christ Church — List of his published works . pp. 109-364
PART III.
"ATAKTA. .
I. Four Grand doctrines of Revelation. — II. The Deist. — III. Mind and Matter. — IV. Reason and Revelation. — V. Inspiration. — VI. Success of the Gospel— VII. Mystery of a First Cause.— VIII. Spirit and Matter. — IX. Mosaic account of Creation. — X. Immor- tality of the Soul.— XI. Bounties of Redemption.— XII. Moral Code of the Heathen. — XIII. Natural Law and Gospel Law. — XIV. The only laudable motive of action. — XV. Tune and Eter- nity.—XVI. Hints to a Young Preacher.— XVII. The Tractarian School.— XVIII. On Nelson's Fasts and Festivals . pp. 365-387
AUTHOES BEMAEKED UPON.
PAGE.
Mitford 118
Q. Curtius . 119
Eusebius 120, 139
Josephus 130
Isocrates . 135
Suetonius 142
Plato 158
Aristides 159
Southey's Life of Wesley .... 172
Eustathius 176
Apollodorus . . . . 189
Burney's Fragments 192
Faber 200
Boaden's Life of Zemble . . . . 233
Memnon apud Photium .... 238
Cudworth 240,356
Middleton' On the Greek Article' . . 271
Zonaras 272
Boswell's Life of Johnson .... 332
Mosheim 355
Nelson's « Fasts and Festivals ' 384
EEEATUM.
In page 53, cancel the last sentence, beginning " In this house," and substitute the following : " This house was visited by Dr. John- son on June 2, 1781. For the account of his visit, see Boswell's Life of Johnson, under that date."
LITERARY REMAINS
or
HENRY FYNES CLINTON,
PART I. AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
1781-1818.
THE first eight years of my life were passed at Gam- ston, in the county of Nottingham, where I was born, January 14M, 1781. I still imperfectly remember that part of Nottinghamshire, and some of the inci- dents of my early years. In March 1789 my father removed to Cromwell, in the same county.
[Dr. Eynes Clinton, the father of Henry Fynes Clinton, was born February 29th, 174|-. He married, in July 1779, Emma, daughter of Job Brough, Esq., of Newark. He was Vicar of Newark, 1777 ; preferred to the Rectory of Gamston, 1778, by Henry Piennes (or Eynes) Pelham Clinton, ninth Earl of Lincoln and first Duke of New-
^ AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
castle.* In 1788, through the influence of the same pa- tron, he became Prebendary of Westminster, and in 1789 vacated Gramston for the Bectory of Cromwell, which, as well as G-amston, was presented to him by the Duke of Newcastle. In 1797 he became minister also of St. Mar- garet's, "Westminster, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of the Abbey Church of St. Peter's.
Dr. Eynes Clinton was descended, in an unbroken line, from HeDry, the second Earl of Lincoln, who died 1616.
Henry, the second earl, married (first) Catherine, daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon ; from which mar- riage is descended the present twelfth Earl of Lincoln and fourth Duke of Newcastle (of the family of Clinton). He married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Eichard Morrison, widow of Lord Norreys, and mother of the Earl of Berkshire : from this marriage was descended Dr. Eynes Clinton, the father of Henry Eynes Clinton.
A remarkable incident befell Norreys Eynes, alias Clin- ton, the grandson of the second Earl of Lincoln, and the great-great-grandfather of Dr. Fynes Clinton, It is thus recorded in an ancient manuscript : —
" Norreys was in the service of Charles the First, du- ring all his wars ; in which he received several wounds. He was taken prisoner at Northampton by the Parliamen- tarians, and condemned to be hanged, as a spy. But Prince Eupert, having taken one Mr. Wright of Uxbridge, ob-
* First of the family of Clinton, but second, reckoning Thomas Pelham, as the first of the new creation.
EARLY YEARS. 3
tained an exchange ; and the trumpeter came just in time, the rope being about the neck of Norreys Eynes, and he at the gibbet in the market-place, and the 13th Psalm singing ; which concluded, he was to be hanged. The Prince sent sixty marks to bear his charges to Ux- bridge, and if dead to bury him."
Thus it would seem that the very existence of the future author of the ' Fasti' depended upon the length of the psalm sung by the Parliamentarians on that occa- sion in the market-place of Northampton. If it had not been for this canting custom of singing psalms before the execution of their prisoners, the trumpeter with the exchange would have obtained only the dead body of Norreys, who would have died childless, all his children having been born subsequently to this event. He died in 1693, aged seventy-eight.
The same manuscript records a singular circumstance respecting Norreys' younger brother Harrington.
" There is a tradition that Sir Henry Fynes, his fa- ther* (the son of Henry, second Earl of Lincoln), being out hawking, killed a blackbird with a half-moon on his breast ; upon which he said, ' Pray God Harrington be well ! ' By calculation it proved that at the same hour of the same day Harrington was killed. He was basely slain by a pikeman in an orchard, where he had fought with an officer, whom he had either killed or wounded."
* For Memoirs of Sir Henry Fynes, written by himself, see ' Gren- Ueman's Magazine,' vol. xlii., pp. 87, 161-164, A.D. 1772.
B 2
4 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
The father of Dr. Eynes Clinton, Norreys Fynes, was appointed Governor of the important island of Jamaica, in 1757. Before however he could leave this country to enter upon his government, he died of gout in the sto- mach. Emma Brough, the mother of Henry Eynes Clin- ton,, was descended from an ancient Nottinghamshire family, which distinguished itself on the Eoyalist side in the time of the Great Rebellion. This family traces its descent, in common with the Lords Brough, Borough, or Burgh, of Gainsborough, from Hubert de Burgh, Jus- ticiary of England in the time of Henry the Third, " the ablest and most virtuous minister that Henry ever pos- sessed."]
In the summer of 1789 I was taken to Southwell school, where I remained seven entire years, — till the summer of 1796. In that time I acquired a com- petent skill in Latin, and made some progress in Greek. Our master, the Rev. Magnus Jackson, was very severe, but thoroughly versed in the Latin lan- guage. Of his acquirements in Greek I was not so capable of judging. His manner of teaching was ex- cellent. He was especially attentive to grammar, in which he was accurately versed. It was his practice to make the boy who construed read over a whole period of the author throughout, and then to require him to point out the principal verb in the sentence, which being found, the words of the sentence were to
SOUTHWELL SCHOOL. O
be read according to the grammatical order of their construction, and then the English of the whole was to be given at once, — an excellent method, and much superior to the practice of rendering each clause or word separately.
When I left this school I knew Virgil, except the Georgics; almost the whole of Horace; the Gallic War of Csesar; Sallust; and the Catilinarian ora- tions of Cicero. In Greek, I had read St. John's Gospel ; the first four books of the Cyropsedia ; and the first four or five of the Iliad.
We read, among other English books, Goldsmith's History of Rome, and the Lives of Plutarch by Lang- horne (I think) ; together with Pope's Iliad.
I acquired at Southwell, from these sources, some knowledge of Roman history ; I had not much im- pression of the history of Greece.
Notwithstanding the severity of the discipline, I always think of Southwell with delight. I associate any favourite book that I may have read with the re- collection of the place where I first studied it. Thus, Thucydides or Demosthenes carry me back to Oxford ; the idea of Bangor is associated with Josephus and Arrian ; the recollection of the Isle of Wight with Isocrates and Xenophon ; and I always connect with the recollection of Southwell and its scenery, the striking and splendid passages of the Roman history,
6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
the story of the first Cyrus, and the sublime images of the Iliad. On these accounts I remember South- well school with delight. My obligations to Mr. Magnus Jackson are very great. I owe whatever I may have since learned to that rigid discipline, and to the habits of application and attention which were taught me at Southwell school.
In September 1796, at fifteen and a half, I was re- moved to Westminster School. I remained there till Easter, 1799. In this period of two years and a half, I did not make so great progress as I might have done. The necessity of application was not imposed upon me. I was not pressed with grammatical questions, nor watched with the rigid accuracy of my old South- well master. What was appointed for my school bu- siness was performed without much exertion ; because no other Latin books were put into my hands than Virgil, Horace, and Sallust (and these I had already studied at Southwell) ; and because in Greek, which was principally Homer, I found there was not the same demand for laborious accuracy which there had been in my former place of discipline. There remained to me much more leisure-time than I had been formerly accustomed to have. This leisure I employed in ranging over the books that happened to please my fancy best : so that the opportunity of confirming and fixing upon my mind the habit of close attention,
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 7
which I brought from Southwell, was not duly culti- vated.
I added nothing at Westminster to my stock of Latin authors. In Greek I went through the Iliad and Odyssey, four plays of Sophocles, two of Euri- pides, and the funeral orations of Lysias, Thucydides, and Plato. These were the extent of my classical ac- quirements. For the rest, my private readings were, Johnson's ' Lives of the Poets/ the works of those poets themselves, many dramatic pieces of Bell's e Bri- tish Theatre/ and Mitford's History of Greece. I had access to these works in the chambers of my most kind and affectionate uncle, Job Charlton Brough, a barrister of Lincoln's Inn ; and by the advantage I enjoyed of consulting his excellent maps, I acquired a taste for geography,
On April 6, 1799, my father accompanied me to Oxford; and in the evening we were introduced to Dr. Cyril Jackson, the Dean of Christ Church ; with whom we found in his library Marsh, my future tu- tor, and Mr. Carey, afterwards successively Bishop of Exeter and St. Asaph, at that time Censor of the College, and subsequently the successor of Dr. Vin- cent, as Head Master of Westminster. The next day my father returned to London, and left me to myself. This commencement of my Oxford life was singu- larly pleasant : I found myself in possession of a new
8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
kind of liberty, being for the first time in my life considered and treated as a man. I was surrounded by my former companions and schoolfellows of West- minster, and with these I enjoyed the time at my disposal.
I remained at Christ Church, residing the whole of every term, for seven years and eight months, till December 1806, when a new scene opened upon me.
I carried with me to the University a more limited stock of classical reading than ought to have been possessed by a boy of eighteen, who had been ten years subjected to school discipline. But I had con- ceived a strong passion for literature, especially Greek. My curiosity to read through the Greek historians had been inflamed by the perusal of Mitford's His- tory, and by the praise which he bestowed upon the original writers from whom he drew his materials. Fortunately Herodotus and Thucydides were the first authors that were put into my hands. I admired Demosthenes, though I had only read portions of him. Plato was my favourite. But the most solid literary advantage that I derived from Westminster was a taste for the Greek tragic poets, which was awakened in me by the study of the four plays of Sophocles, and the two of Euripides above mentioned, recom- mended and embellished by the able exposition of Dr. Vincent.
PASSION FOR BOOKS.
I was seized, at my first entrance upon Oxford, with the desire of collecting books, especially Greek. My ambition was to have a legible text of each, without the encumbrance of Latin versions; for I had im- bibed from my old master at Southwell a dislike and contempt for versions, clavises, and all the pernicious helps by which the labour of learning is shortened to the student. He had taught us that the meaning of an author was to be sought by diligent application to dictionaries and lexicons ; that expedients for shorten- ing the labour encouraged the negligent in their neg- ligence ; that what is easily learned is easily forgotten. My zeal in the adoption of these principles was such, that I mutilated my books to purify them from the accompanying Latin versions ; and I at this time pos- sess Brunck's Sophocles and Aristophanes, and the Euripides of Musgrave, from which I detached and destroyed the Latin versions.
In indulging my passion for collecting books, I often made great mistakes, from ignorance, and from the want of judicious advisers; sometimes purchasing a bad edition at a high price, sometimes parting with a valuable book in exchange for a worse.
My literary zeal was much increased by the con- versation and example of two of my companions and contemporaries in particular — John Symmons and John Conybeare. Conybeare had no great depth of
B 3
10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
learning, for he had not the necessary diligence ; but he had quick natural talents, a ready flow of elo- quence, and a good taste. He delighted to talk on literary subjects, and had the talent of expressing himself plausibly, with a show of greater learning than he possessed. He had an excellent collection of books, of which he liberally permitted the use to his companions. In these conversations, questions of li- terature were started and discussed with ardour. I often found, my literary inclination increased by his discourses, and by turning over the books which adorned his apartment. Symmons possessed in rea- lity all that learning of which the other could only talk. Having had the advantage of good early in- struction, he came to the University with a degree of erudition and critical knowledge of Greek, to which the usual course of academical reading could add but little. His extraordinary faculties, his wonderful me- mory, his strong relish for the beauties of literature, added to great application, qualified him to rise to the very first rank of critical scholars. The conversations and discussions of Symmons upon Greek literature inspired me with a zeal for those pursuits. We some- times studied together ; and, from the occasional in- formation which fell from him (although information was not willingly given), but more especially from the enthusiasm of his discourses, inflaming me with a de-
DILIGENCE IN STUDY. 11
sire to emulate him and to acquire the same know- ledge, I derived more advantage than from the in- structions of the authorized teachers of the College.*
These were my chief associates for almost the first two years of my College life. During this time, how- ever,, I was indolent : for the first time in my life I found myself at liberty, and master of my own time, and I abused that liberty. My reading was desul- tory, and an amusement rather than an occupation. I wandered from book to book in search of striking passages, till at the end of term my required portion of reading was still unprepared ; and I was obliged to get it through by a hasty application of a few days or nights. The first time that I began to study regu- larly was on the 17 'th of January, 1801, when I com- menced the ' Prometheus' of ^Eschylus, which I read, with the commentary of the German editor, in three weeks. I employed another fortnight upon the ' Seven Chiefs/ which I studied in the same manner and with the same care. I then proceeded to the perusal of Livy for the first time, and finished the first Decade in about six weeks.
During the progress of these studies I removed to FelPs-buildings, a situation better adapted for study,
* Both these companions of ray youth are now dead. Poor Sym- mons, I have been informed, died in the summer of 1830, at Paris, in much distress.
12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
in the month of May 1801 ; there I resided from that time till I quitted Oxford. From this period my studies became more systematic, my diligence was greater, and I no longer turned over books for amuse- ment merely. From this period, January 1801, 1 date the beginning of a more useful habit of study and literary occupation.
The five months of vacations in each year I passed with my father, sometimes at Westminster, sometimes at Cromwell. Occasionally I pursued some branch of classical study there, but more frequently omitted these studies altogether, and either idly wasted the time, or unprofitably employed it in desultory English reading.
1802.
In the spring of this year, I was diligently em- ployed in preparing myself for examination, in the Public Causes of Demosthenes, and in JEschylus, and in the ' Rhetoric' of Aristotle. My examination took place in the beginning of June. The persons examined were Parry Jones, myself, Symmons, Ge- hagan, Heathcote, and Impey. The new system had been just established, and we were, I think, the second set that were examined under the new regulations. We all acquitted ourselves pretty well. For myself, the Dean expressed himself satisfied, treated me with
EXAMINATION. 13
great kindness, and eventually made me a student of Christ Church.
In November, the two * * * were given to me as private pupils. They were exceedingly ignorant ; never attempted Greek, and but little Latin. During the two years that they remained (till July 1804) they derived certainly no benefit from my instructions, nor was the office of their instructor desirable. It gave me however a footing in the College, and I became a student in December.
1803.
March 17, 1 took my Bachelor's degree. The long vacation was passed in Nottinghamshire. I do not remember much application to books. It was the sum- mer in which the Hoveringham Cricket Club had their meetings, which I frequented. Returning to Oxford October 15, 1 was appointed by the Dean private tutor to the Earl Gower (the present Duke of Sutherland). I remained in this charge till June 1806, three aca- demical years. Lord Gower was a young nobleman of regular habits, disposed to application, desirous of acquiring knowledge, and was of attainments very much superior to most young men of rank who come to the University. As I trust our readings together were of some service to him, so they certainly were of advantage to myself in a literary point of view. The
14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
necessity of being prepared to do justice to the author who was the object of our studies, obliged me to an accurate attention which, without that motive, I might not have bestowed ; and the course of reading that we went through together, was precisely that which I should have desired for myself. We read through the Odyssey, the whole of Thucydides, the three ora- tions of j^Eschines, the best orations (that is to say, the longest) of Demosthenes, and the whole of Pindar.
1804.
In June, I experienced new marks of the Dean's kindness, in being appointed to the commemoration speech, and in receiving the first Bachelor's prize : Moysey had the second.
The long vacation was passed in Nottinghamshire. During the summer I read through Aristophanes, with the notes of Brunck : I finished the eleven co- medies in about six weeks, at Cromwell. I do not recollect what other studies occupied the remaining period of the vacation, or whether any. In October I returned at the usual time to Christ Church, and to my office of assisting the studies of Lord Gower. The two brothers, my former pupils, had quitted Oxford before the vacation ; but their place was now supplied
by Sir James , to whom the Dean introduced
me as private tutor. He was a young man of the
A NEW PROSPECT. 15
most amiable dispositions, not however very much versed in literature. Greek he had no chance of ac- quiring, and in Latin he was no proficient. These deficiencies however were to be imputed to his in- structors : he had been wretchedly taught, and wretch- edly grounded. In his own inclination he was suf- ficiently desirous of knowledge, and was anxious to attempt much : I willingly gave him my time, as it was my duty to do. Between him and Lord Gower my morning hours were pretty well engaged and oc- cupied.
At the end of this year I was much shocked by the death of my Uncle Frank Brough. This unexpected event, which happened in his fortieth year, first taught me by personal experience, in the untimely loss of one so near to me, the uncertainty of human life. I have since witnessed many other instances, and this lesson has been but too often impressed upon me.
1805.
I had now begun the twenty-fifth year of my life, without any other views for the future than those which were contained in the profession of a clergyman. I believed myself destined for an academical life, which was to end in my taking orders. In March, of this year, a new prospect was opened to me. On the 17th of that month Mr. Gardiner made himself known to
16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
my father. He told him, that his nephew being lately dead, he found himself, at eighty-one years of age, without an heir by the father's side, to whom he could bequeath his possessions j that he looked around him for the relations of his mother, from whom he had in- herited the greater part of his property, and to whose family he was anxious that it should revert. He there- fore sought my father, who was the great-nephew of his mother, and fixed upon his eldest son as his suc- cessor in his landed property. On the 27th of April, I went up to Westminster to be introduced to this new friend and benefactor, and passed two days at my father's house for the purpose of becoming acquainted with him. Mr. Gardiner particularly stipulated that I should not take orders. His desire was that his heir should be a country gentleman, and capable of secular employments. My design of taking orders was con- sequently abandoned. I returned however to my usual literary occupations, and looked upon an academical life as my probable destiny for some time to come.
This year I was examined for the Master's degree, and, as a preparation for it, I had employed the Christmas vacation in London in the careful perusal of Sophocles, with the Scholia ; and the Easter vaca- tion in reading over the whole of Livy. To these I added Thucydides, who had become familiar to me in the course of my readings with Lord Grower. After
17
the examination, I passed the first six weeks of the long vacation in London, and at this time began the composition of the tragedy of ( Solyman/ After the latter part of the long vacation at Cromwell, I re- turned to Oxford, October 14th, and took my Master of Arts degree.
1806.
This last year of my Oxford life began inauspici- ously, with the death of my most excellent and kind- hearted uncle Job Brough, who followed his brother to the grave, thirteen months after, at the age of forty-seven, by a lamentable accident. He was killed by a fall from his horse in hunting. This event happened in the beginning of January. I carried with me to London my brother Clinton,"* then a boy of thirteen, and passed on to Oxford on the 21st of January, at the moment when the whole nation were in anxious apprehension of the death of Mr. Pitt, whose recovery was then declared hopeles^. I con- tinued in the charge of my two pupils till the month of June, when Lord Gower quitted the University. The last books that we read together were Pindar, and the ( Rhetoric' of Aristotle. Our last literary in- terview was on the 20th of June ; I took my leave of him with sentiments of regret and esteem.
* Afterwards student of Christ Church, and subsequently Barrister at Law, and M.P. for Aldborough, Yorkshire.
18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
After the vacation had commenced I remained at Oxford till the 12th of July, engaged in the study of the Orators, in Reiske's edition. Among other parts of the collection I read Andocides, and a great part of Lysias. On the 12th of July I returned to Cromwell for the last long vacation.
I do not remember any literary occupations of im- portance during the three months that I passed in Nottinghamshire, except that a part of the fifth act of my play of e Solyman' was written in July. This period was more occupied with engagements and visiting, than any former vacation. Thus I plea- santly passed thirty-six days out of the three months of my stay. I made two visits to Clumber* ; and the Clumber family, that is to say, the Duke, General Craufurd, and the Duchess Dowager, passed three days at my father's, at Cromwell, in the beginning of September. I notice these visits, because they may have had some influence on my future destiny.
On the. 17th of October I returned to Oxford. There I resumed my academical occupations with Sir James , now my sole pupil. I had al- ready explained to the Dean my reasons for declining to engage any further in the tuition of the college, and he had taken my resolution in good part, and was satisfied with my reasons. But I still looked forward to literary occupations, although not official
* The seat of the Duke of Newcastle.
RETURNED TO PARLIAMENT. 19
duties, in the University, and was applying my atten- tion to objects of classical study, when about a week after my return I was surprised by a letter from my father, announcing the Duke of Newcastle's parlia- mentary intentions, and conveying an offer of bring- ing me in for Aldborough. My father mentioned this as a matter which required no hesitation, and to which there could hardly be imagined an objection ; and that he had therefore accepted the proposal for me. Accordingly, on the 3rd of November, 1806, I saw myself declared one of the representatives for Aldborough.
There could not be at that moment in the whole kingdom one more astonished at finding himself called to the duties of a Member of Parliament, or more unprepared and unqualified for such a situation, than I was. It was a station which I had never .con- templated as within the reach of probability. Till four-and-twenty I had lived with the persuasion that my destiny was the Church ; and to this profession I was well, though not ardently, inclined. I had for the last three years exercised the office of private tutor in the college; and notwithstanding that Mr. Gardiner had altered my views of taking orders, yet I still felt myself destined to an academical, or at least a literary life : my studies, my tastes, my habits, were all academical ; and they might well be so, after
20
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
almost eight years5 residence at the University, dur- ing the most critical period of life, from eighteen to twenty-six, with these occupations and prospects.
I immediately began to qualify myself, if possible, for my new calling, by laying aside my classical pur- suits, and by seeking for such knowledge as the short- ness of the time would allow. The interval between the 3rd of November and the meeting of Parliament, forty days, I devoted to the study of Smith's ' Wealth of Nations/ and Smollett' s ' Continuation of Hume/ for English history since the Revolution. I took my final leave of Oxford on the 15th December, 1806.
[The energy of my brother's character was remarkably displayed in the industry with which he thus immediately set about preparing himself for the duties of his new situation. Pew young men of his age, if thus unexpect- edly 'placed in Parliament, would retain the equanimity and composure of mind requisite for calm and steady application at once to a new branch of study. The novelty of position, so wholly unlocked for, would natu- rally produce a temporary distaste for intellectual pur- suits. But a serious perception of responsibility, and a resolution to discharge conscientiously the duties to which he might be summoned, were, throughout his life, prominent features in my brother's character. There- fore he instantly relinquished for a time his favourite studies, and quietly set to work to make himself master
REFLECTIONS ON HIS OXFORD LIFE. 21
of such books as he thought would assist him in qualify- ing himself for his new duties.]
The last two or three years of my Oxford life were passed very pleasantly. It happened at this time that an unusual number of my contemporaries re- mained resident, as Bachelors : so that I found myself, after taking my degree, still surrounded by my former companions, without being driven to seek for new society among those who were below me, or those who were above me, in point of standing. It is sufficient for me to write the names of Jones, Gais- ford, Impey, and Mackenzie, in order to recall the memory of many hours pleasantly passed in the enjoy- ment of cheerful conversation, joint studies, literary discussions, and friendly meetings, in which some part of almost every day was spent. By the society of these four, I found my evil propensities corrected, my habits of regularity confirmed, my better affections improved. There were not a few of the hours which I passed with other companions (who, though very pleasant, were not sober-minded associates) which I remember with regret, and could wish to have been otherwise employed : but I have no cause to repent of any hours that were passed in the society of Jones, Gaisford, Impey, and Mackenzie.*
* Jones, Impey, and Mackenzie were my schoolfellows at West-
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Though I had pursued classical learning with zeal, yet, at my leaving Oxford, my acquirements in Greek and Latin were not extensive. I was versed in the language, but unacquainted with the writers of an- cient Greece. Not only the less obvious Greek authors were unknown to me, but many of those who ought to have been in the hands of one who had passed eight years in these studies. I had never heard, for instance, of Dion Cassius ; I had never seen Isocrates, or Athenseus, or Pausanias, or Strabo, or Appian. I had not read any part of Plutarch in the original. Among the poets, neither Callimachus, nor Apollonius, nor Theocritus, nor Hesiod were known to me ; and fourteen of the tragedies of Euri- pides were still unread. In Latin, my acquaintance with the chief authors was proportionably limited. Except the Orations, read at Southwell, I had not studied any part of the works of Cicero. I was ig- norant of Quintilian, and Tacitus, and Pliny. I had twice perused Livy with attention; and this author formed the only addition to the stock of Latin which I brought with me from Southwell.
The amount of what I read in Greek in the seven
minster, and were intimate with me from the first : my acquaintance with G-aisford (now Dean of Christ Church, and Eegius Professor of Greek) was of a later period, and did not begin till the fourth* year of my residence at Oxford.
STUDIES AT OXFORD. 23
years and eight months of my Oxford life, between April 6, 1799, and December 15, 1806, did not equal in quantity the fifth part of what I have since read in the same space of time, — between April 1810, and December 1817. I went through, at Oxford, about 69,322 verses of the Greek poets, and about 2913 pages of prose authors ; making together an amount of about 5223 pages. The course of Greek reading which I had completed in the latter period, estimated, for the sake of a comparative view, by the same scale of pages, makes a sum of 28,887, being almost six times the amount of the former quantity.
The few authors however which I had read, I knew well ; and they were the best. At the time of my leaving Oxford, I possessed the following writers.
Homer ,. . verses 27,000'
Pindar 5,560
^Eschylus .... 8,139 Sophocles .... 10,341 Aristophanes . . . 15,282 Of Euripides . . . 3,000
Thucydides ... pp. 786] Demosthenes (harangues
and Public Causes) . 775
^Eschines 220
Lycurgus 51
pp. 2,310
pp. 1,832
.pp. 1,181
24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Andocides 81
Lysias (half) .... 100
Of Plato 500
Of Aristotle (Rhetoric,
Poetics, Ethics) . . . 500 J
5,323
(I forbear to add Herodotus, Polybii libb. i. ii., Dio- nys. Halic. Critica Opera, because these were works which, though I often inspected, I did not accurately study.)
By the careful and repeated study of these few works, I had acquired, if not (in the language of Gibbon) " a deep and indelible knowledge of the first of languages" yet at least such a facility in it as to be able to read any writer that presented himself without much help from a lexicon : a degree of pro- ficiency which seems necessary in any language be- fore it can be resorted to from choice, as a recreation ; — before the study of it can become a pleasant occu- pation, instead of an unwilling labour.
I made however another acquisition of far greater importance, by applying myself, in the last two or three years of my residence at Christ Church, to the diligent study of the Holy Scriptures. I had never been a sceptic : my opinions, if the crude notions of a schoolboy may be called opinions, were those of a believer in Revelation. But I had no sound impres-
HOUSE OF COMMONS. 25
sions on religious matters : I easily joined in profane jests and light discourses, and with respect to these subjects was careless, childish, and ignorant. By degrees, time, reflection, more sober society, together with the necessity of making some preparation for the office of a tutor and the profession of a clergy- man, brought me to better habits. I read through in order the whole of the Old Testament, devoting every Sunday to this study : I carefully noted down all the passages which prophetically applied to the Messiah. Proceeding then with the Greek Testa- ment, I read St. Paul, with the Commentary of Locke. This course of study produced upon my mind the happiest effects.
1807.
The first impression which I had upon my mind, when I was settled, in the last week of 1806, in my father's house in the College garden, was that of sur- prise at finding myself, so unexpectedly, attending the duties of the House of Commons. This surprise was not unmingled with pleasure, and with hope. During the first year of my Parliamentary life, I diligently attended the business of the House, and was certainly at this time not without the ambition of becoming a speaker in Parliament. My classical studies during this year were almost entirely laid
26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
aside. During the whole of this short session, the novelty of the scene, the spirit and energy which marked the debates, especially towards the close of the session, upon the change of Ministry, interested my attention. The Catholic question was one of those few which I zealously entered into : I had al- ready formed the judgement, which I have ever since retained upon it, that by the claims of the Papists there was proposed for our consideration whether we should adhere to the wholesome institutions which our ancestors had purchased at the price of much blood and bitter persecution, or whether we should agree to give the ascendance again to that pernicious sect from which they had endured all this, and which was harmless now only because it had no power. I could not agree to the manifest absurdity of giving to this sect that which would enable it to be mis- chievous again. With these sentiments I heartily joined the new Ministers, and rejoiced in the dexter- ous and fortunate pertinacity of the King. This Parliament was dissolved on the 29th of April, after having sat about a hundred and thirty-five days.
During this period I had little inclination for study. I printed, however, the tragedy of ' Solyman/ which I brought with me from Oxford nearly finished. It had no sale ; scarcely fifty copies of it seem to have been called for by purchasers. In January I read
ELECTION AT NEWARK. 27
much of Gibbon's History. March the 30th, and the following days of the Easter recess, I read Kennel's ' Memoir of Indostan.' April 3rd, began Plutarch's Lives, in Langhorne's translation ; arranging them in chronological and historical order; comparing with the Roman Lives Cicero's Epistles, with a view to the history of that period.
May 4th, I went to Newark to represent Sir Staple- ton Cotton* (now Lord Combermere) at the Newark election. I returned with Willoughbyf on the 6th to London. The new Parliament, in which I was a second time returned for Aldborough, met on the 22nd of June. I remained in London, and was pre- sent at all the debates, till the 30th of July, when I went with my father's family to Cromwell. I re- mained almost six months in Nottinghamshire. In this interval I amused myself with visiting in the neighbourhood.
In engagements of this kind my time was fully oc- cupied : my studies were little or nothing. However, August 24th I read Lord Chatham's Memoirs, a col- lection in four volumes, belonging to my father, con- taining his speeches in Parliament, and other public
* Sir Stapleton Cotton, who was afterwards created Viscount Combermere for his military services, had married Lady Anna Maria Pelham Clinton, the sister of the late Duke of Newcastle.
t The other member for Newark.
c 2
28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
matters, probably compiled for the most part from magazines and other periodical publications. No- vember 9th I finished an abstract of the chief events in French history for the last twenty years, and pe- rused a History of Ireland, from which I collected some contemporary information. My object was to gather some knowledge of the passing events of the day, and of the leading and obvious transactions of recent European history, — parts of knowledge in which I was deficient. Classical literature was almost wholly neglected : I hardly opened a Greek book du- ring this whole year. Nor did I cultivate Theological study. Upon the whole, there has been hardly any year, before or since, in which I less improved my- self by reading ; although I acquired in it some prac- tical knowledge, which might have been improved into a capacity for business.
1808.
The first three weeks of this year were still passed in Nottinghamshire, in a course of the same amuse- ments.
January 15^, Willoughby came to Cromwell, with whom, on the 18th, I proceeded by the way of Cam- bridge to London. On the 21st we were in London, and present at the opening of the session. I was in the House from three till half-past twelve on this
STUDIES. 29
first day. I occupied my father's house in Dean's Yard alone this year. I had immediately a great number of dinner engagements, and several parties of my own ; at which I entertained, among others, the two Edens, sons of Lord Auckland. Notwith- standing these engagements, I pursued and completed a plan of study which I have found highly useful.
My great deficiency was in statistical knowledge, and that kind of information which is necessary for statesmen, and for those whose business it is (as it was mine) to watch the operations, and follow the reasonings, of statesmen. Accident first guided me to seek for knowledge of this kind, upon occasion of a discussion of an Indian question in the House of Commons. February 23rd, I read the papers and documents on the subject of Oude, and studied the map of India. This led me to statistical calculations, and geographical observations upon the map of Persia, and Western Asia generally. I was assisted in these researches, and indeed invited to the inquiry, by the excellent collection of maps which I possessed, by the kind bequest of my good uncle, Job Brough ; the last mark of his affection and regard. With the help of these I pursued a course of geographical study for four or five weeks with great eagerness and diligence, working many hours every day at arithmetical calcu- lations. From March 12th I laboured for some days
30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
successively at a series of computations which illus- trated the area of different countries, compared with their population.
April 3rd, I engaged in studies on the origin of nations, from Genesis, chap. x. On the 8th I read and abridged Sir W. Jones's treatise on the Persians, in the ( Asiatic Researches/ On the 13th, began the chronology of modern Asiatic history. Geographical computations on the area of ancient Greece engaged me from the 16th. I continued these labours to the 22nd of April ; the last book which I studied, apply- ing to it my new principles, was WraxalPs ' Northern Tour/ My chief helps in this course of study were the invaluable discourses of Sir William Jones, in the ' Asiatic Researches/ RenneFs Memoir, and Pinker- ton5 s Geography. The first hint for my computation of a scale of square contents in each successive parallel of latitude was taken from a pamphlet on the land-tax.
I did not wholly neglect at this time theological study; being employed on the Sundays in reading the book of Daniel, the Epistle to the Romans, and Mau- rice's volume on the Trinity. For the chronology of the period between the flood and Abraham I was not yet prepared ; not being in possession of materials for stating the question of the longer and the shorter ge- nealogies,* and being, in fact, as yet ignorant upon
* See his ' Fasti Hellenic!,' Appendix, vol. i. section v.
REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC SPEAKING.
31
that subject. Upon the whole, I have no reason to repent of the manner in which this portion of my time was passed.
I still was diligent in Parliamentary attendance ; I began however to lose the hope of becoming a speaker in debates. I felt that I was attending rather as a spectator than as an actor upon that great theatre. My natural reserve was a great difficulty. Besides, I wanted readiness of expression : even upon subjects which I might understand, I should have been obliged to meditate when I ought to speak. Nature had formed me, after long meditation upon a subject, to unfold my conclusions upon paper (and that not flu- ently, but with much study and many revisals), ra- ther than to pour forth my ideas upon it promptly in oral discourse. I felt this so strongly, that the more thoroughly I had considered a subject, the more re- luctant I became at the thoughts of expressing myself in extemporary speech ; because I perceived that there was always something which had as yet escaped my observation, and which was nevertheless necessary for the discussion of the subject. When, therefore, I could not have satisfied myself, how could I expect to have satisfied others ? I remained however, though silent in the debates, a diligent attendant of the House for the first three months of this session.
I do not think it necessary to set down all that oc-
32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
curred during the remaining eight months of this year. I continued in London till the 29th of June ; the space between the 3rd of June and the 16th of July was oc- cupied in a tour to the Kentish coast, in which I visited Ramsgate, Dover, Folkstone, Winchelsea, Hastings, and Tunbridge. On the 4th of June I made a visit of three days to my friend Impey, at his father's house at Newick, in Sussex. I found both pleasure and ad- vantage in the scenery surrounding Newick, recom- mended by the hospitality and the sensible and cheer- ful conversation of my friend.
On the 28th of July I went to Cromwell, and passed three months of this period in Nottinghamshire. The ninety-seven days of my residence there would have had all the recommendations of former times to make my stay desirable, had I carried with me the same mind as formerly.
1809.
[On the 22nd of June in this year my brother was united in marriage to Harriott, the eldest daughter of the Eev. Dr. Wylde, of Nottingham ; a union which was destined to be abruptly severed, after a brief season of domestic happiness, by her death. Such of the events of this pe- riod, as had an influence on his future life and his lite- rary career, are given from the Autobiography ; as well as his own reflections upon the effects which this calamity produced upon his mind.]
CHRONOLOGICAL STUDIES. 33
December 18th, we returned to Cromwell (where we had passed the first weeks of our marriage) for the last time together. On the 30th my sister Emma came to us there, unconsciously bringing with her the fatal seeds of the measles. The year however closed upon us without any indication of the impending ca- lamity.
In this period of six months and upwards from the day of our marriage, I had not neglected reading. I began at Cromwell to collect dates into the form of a chronological table. I applied myself to the arrange- ment of the Old Testament Chronology with better success than I had done twenty months before, because I found in my father's library information on the sub- ject of the genealogies. The scope of my compilation rather was to illustrate general history, to exhibit modern, and especially Asiatic chronology, than the Grecian or classical portion of it ; this last I already destined for a separate and larger exposition. My scheme for a chronological table was founded upon, or rather suggested by, a general view of the history of the world, contained in a small volume entitled f Bigland's Letters on History/ I pursued this study with eagerness. Besides this subject, works of poli- tical economy, statistics, and geography, occupied my time. The Greek language was still neglected.
In these occupations and studies, giving additional
c 3
34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
zest to the satisfactions of domestic life, the days passed rapidly. Still possessing the alacrity and sanguine temperament of youth, I awaited the future with a blind security, not suspecting the possibility of a re- verse ; wishing for no change, I dreaded none ; satis- fied with the present, I trusted that the future would be as the present
1810.
For a considerable time after my loss, I
was incapable of contemplating it ; my imagination shrank with horror from the picture, and whenever it recurred to my thoughts, I made an effort to divert them to another subject. In this spirit I obliterated as much as possible all traces of the seven months of my first marriage. The lapse of years, and new ties, a more disciplined mind, assisted by philosophy and the experience of maturer life, have softened the impres- sion ; and I now recur with a pleasing remembrance to the satisfactions of that short period ; and I write with calmness the fatal circumstances with which it ended.
The recollection of that passage of my life is even useful, and I cultivate the memory of it as a necessary discipline for my mind, abounding in important lessons for the time to come ; teaching me vigilance and cau- tion, thankfulness to God for his many and unspeak-
SERIOUS REFLECTIONS. 35
able gifts, faith, and reliance upon Him as the only power able to secure us from the dangers and accidents to which we are every hour exposed, /ought especially to form my mind to these sentiments, because in the first impressions which the sense of that calamity made upon me, a feeling of acquiescence in the Divine Will was not conspicuous. I felt the full weight of the blow that oppressed me, but I did not duly recognize the undoubted right of the Creator to determine the amount and measure of his own gifts. In my mind there was somewhat of a contumacious resentment. It is wholesome therefore to keep alive in my heart the memory of all those circumstances, that I may call forth in myself more acceptable thoughts. It is especially incumbent upon me to remember with daily gratitude the astonishing goodness with which he has repaired the evil. I did not practise the patience of Job ; and yet that same Providence who recompensed Job, his virtue, and his patience, instead of dealing with me ' ( according to my folly," has blessed even my present days more than my beginning ; bestowing upon me a wife and children, and health, and leisure, and domestic satisfactions, and a competent indepen- dence for which I toiled not.
I write down the dates of the events which followed each other in rapid succession, on the first days of this unfortunate year.
36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
In the first week of January we paid a visit to Os- sington ; after our return, my sister Emma was visibly indisposed, and the disorder was pronounced to be the measles. We instantly planned the removal of my wife to my good grandmother's house at Newark. On Fri- day, the 12th, my wife took her last leave of Cromwell, with some emotion, as if a presentiment possessed her, that she was to see it no more. We remained a week at the house of my grandmother ; we were then advised to prosecute our journey, as no appearance of disease indicated the measles. Accordingly I wrote to my old relative, Isaac Gardiner, appointing a day for introducing my wife to him, on our way to Lon- don; and on the 19th we began our journey, reach- ing Stamford on that day. The next day brought us to Cambridge. Obscure symptoms of disease had al- ready appeared upon my wife ; but she slighted them, and indeed it was necessary to go on. On the 21st we reached the inn at Chesterford ; the next morning the fatal malady was too visible : it increased rapidly in virulence, doubtless aggravated by the journey un- dertaken in winter, in a very inclement season. On the 26th, the Friday after we had taken leave of New- ark, my wife gave birth to a son, which was alive, although its full time was anticipated by more than two months. But the force of disease which it brought with it into the world, rendered the life of the infant
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS. 37
hopeless. After lingering fifteen hours, it expired on the day of its birth ; seven days after, on Friday, Fe- bruary 2, it was followed by its unfortunate mother.
I accompanied Dr. and Mrs. Wylde to Notting- ham, whither the remains of my wife and child were conveyed. On Friday, the 9th of February, the day appointed for the funeral, I was seized with a danger- ous illness. The skill and attention of Dr. Storer saved me ; in eleven days I was out of danger, and left my room for the first time on the 20th of February. My father and mother had hastened to Nottingham on the first intimation of my condition, and remained there with me till I was able to travel. On the 26th of February we left Nottingham, and in three days reached Dean's Yard, Westminster.
As I now began that course of study and occupation which I have since continued, I set down, from the Journal written at the time, an account of the state of my mind during the first months of my widow- hood.
The effect of the illness at Nottingham on my mind was very remarkable. After the fever had abated, I found my thoughts upon my recent calamity much more tranquil than I could have imagined ; the sense of my loss was much less keen than it became some time afterwards; and I was surprised at the calmness with which I regarded it. I found in myself
38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
a great facility in diverting my attention to books, to which I applied, even while I was yet too weak to sit up, with great eagerness. Between the 15th of February and the 26th, I went through, in the Uni- versal History belonging to Dr. Wylde, the history of the Carthaginians, the Achaean League, the Etrus- cans, the Jews from the captivity ; and I read a large quarto volume on the History of Morocco. I never read a greater quantity in an equal space of time. This occupation of my thoughts was undoubtedly of the greatest service.
When settled in Dean's Yard, in my father's house, I found society of any kind inexpressibly irk- some; and I determined to begin some course of diligent study as a resource and occupation to my thoughts.
[The Autobiography, transcribed from notes written at the time, contains notices of the studies in which he was occupied during the next six months, interspersed with frequent pious reflections and petitions, expressed mostly in Latin or Greek. Some extracts are given, as illus- trations of the state of his mind at this period, and as in- dicating that his studies were now generally tending to his great work.]
March 15. Miserrimo quanquam peccatori, Deus tamen ad hunc diem dedit piam et castam recorda-
DIARY. 39
tionem TWV TeOvrjKorwv. Walked out today for the first time, in veteribus illis locis, longa consuetudine pene charis.
March 16. Ad hunc diem totus in studiis geo- graphicis, chronologicis, historicis; et in theologia partim : hinc maxime requiem invenio.
March 19. Ad hunc diem hsec legi : Butler's Ana- logy; Pentateuch, with Universal History, as far as Leviticus ; Sacred Chronology, to the captivity, from Dr. Hales.
March 26. At the House of Commons ; returned, attacked with a relapse of my disorder. 28th. Fi- nished Foster's Travels.
April 19. In these days completed the Lyric Poets, and began the Tragicorum Fragmenta. Jam per multos dies rarior et inconstans ev rot? 0etW, ideoque animo labante.
April 21 . Finish the Tragic Poets.
April 30. College garden, alone, two hours. Ani- mus jam languidior in studiis, ideoque nulla occu- patio qua abstraham me a contemplatione malorum.
May 1. TlavTunracriv e^p^ai VTTO fyoftov, /cal iroOov, KOI arywvias, fcal fjbvrj/ji'r)*; rcov cvyaOwv TWV Trapaffe- PTJKOTCOV teal afyavicrOevTwv.
May 2-11. Grsecse literse: Mitford's 'History of Greece/ Isocratis Chronologiam constituo.
May 12. From this time attended by Baillie and Home.
40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
May 14-18. These days were employed in Greek chronology; arranging the times and writings of the poets and orators in proper columns.
May 30 — June 2. Per hos dies corporis dolores mentis aciem hebetant, et labor es et studia perhibent.
July 5. Adhuc debilis sum, impotensque in studiis: nullis laboribus animum a malis abstrahere possum.
July 11. Redeo ad Isocratem. Non tamen animi vigorem recuperavi.
July 20. Legere incepi Gorgiam, cseterosque So- phistas in ed. Steph. folio.
August^. Gillies' ' History of the World;' Geo- graphy of Crimea, from Clarke's Travels. Between April 7 and August 4, descripsi fragmenta Lyricorum et Tragicorum, Comicorum nomina et historiam; com- piled and wrote out the Civil and Literary Chronology of Greece from B.C. 550 to B.C. 280; and from B.C. 280 to B.C. 30, sketched out from Gillies' < History of the World/ preparatory to Polybius.
August 7. Mr. Home (Sir Everard Home) took his leave : he had attended me thirteen times. Ad geo- graphiam revertor.
In this manner were passed the first six months of my solitude. Among the disadvantages under which I laboured, in this early period of my bereavement, I may reckon the want of a due sense of the duty and necessity of submission to the Divine will. Another
REFLECTIONS. 41
disadvantage was the injudicious kindness of my friends, who endeavoured to obliterate in my mind the sense of my calamity by urging me to forget it, and by making haste to forget it themselves. This deportment irritated my feelings exceedingly : I felt that the memory of the departed was injuriously treated/ and I determined, in a spirit of indignation, to persevere in my sorrow, and to magnify to my own imagination the greatness of my misfortune.
The most solid advantage, which I possessed at this period, and the most effectual resource, was the love of reading, and the faculty of creating for my- self an interest in the objects of literary pursuit. Literary occupation, useful to all men, under all cir- cumstances, for the purposes of discipline and im- provement, is most especially beneficial to him who labours under some severe misfortune, by relieving him from the greatest of all possible dangers, the want of occupation. From this perilous condition I was rescued by my love of study : to which I applied with an ardour that even bodily indisposition did not subdue. Returning in these six months to my classical studies, I laid the foundation of that habit of literary application which has since remained with me, and from which I have reaped the most important advan- tages.
Upon returning to the Greek language, I found my
42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
readiness in it, by three years' omission, somewhat impaired. I soon however recovered my former knowledge, after the first fortnight's study; and I formed the design of collecting, and perusing, all that remained of the literature of the first period, before the death of Alexander. In prosecution of this design I laboured, as already mentioned, at the fragments of the tragic, the comic, and the lyric poets. I had however but slender assistance from books, and was not yet instructed in all that had been done by critics in these departments. I there- fore wasted much time in labouring very superflu- ously to do that which, in many cases, had been done already. In the Isle of Wight, during the en- suing months, I prosecuted a more systematic and more useful plan of study.
August 15. Left London with my mother, Charles, and Caroline, and reached Petersfield that evening. On the 16th we travelled to Portsmouth, and crossed over to Hyde.
On the 24th my father and my other sisters arrived at Hyde. We passed eighty-three days in this de- lightful island, which we left on the 7th of November. During the first month of our abode at Ryde, the novelty and beauty o,f the scenery, and the oppor- tunities which a beautiful season afforded me of daily walking abroad, after having been so long confined to
ISLE OF WIGHT. 43
the house, refreshed my imagination, and restored the vigour of my mind and body. I accustomed myself to range along the sea-shore, and among the woods of St. John's and St. Helen's, for five or six hours every morning. The rest of the day was devoted to reading, and to forming future plans of study. All the Orations of Isocrates, with ab- stracts of each ; the Hellenics of Xenophon, carefully compared, for the purpose of fixing the chronology, with Mitford's History of Greece, were the classical acquirements of these twelve weeks ; making about pp. 876. The whole period of our stay here is grate- fully remembered ; but the first month of the time especially, is a portion of my past days which I look back upon with particular delight.
[The autobiography of this period contains principally notices of the books he studied, observations on the state of his feelings, health, etc. The last entry is the following : — ]
November 5th. Walk four hours and a half to Ashey Down, meditans de originibus Hellenics gentis.
November 7th. Leave Byde at half-past seven. We sailed to Southampton; thence proceeded to Winchester, and arrived in Dean's Yard in. the after- noon of Thursday, Nov. 8th.
In this period of twelve weeks, besides Xenophon
44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
and Isocrates, I read through the latter volumes of Gillies' Greece, and Koscoe's ' Life of Lorenzo de' Me- dici/ Among lighter compositions I met with Ma- dame de GenhV ' La Valliere/ and Mrs. Opie's Tales.
I pursued the same plan of classical study in Dean's Yard during the remainder of the year. November 12, began upon Demosthenes; and on Monday, the 19th, I completed abstracts of the following orations: De Classibus, Pro Megalopolitanis, Pro Rhodiis, Ti- mocratea.
Between November 20 and December 9, besides attendance at the House of Commons in the debate upon the Regency (in which I always voted with Mr. Percival), I was employed in tabulis chronologicis de- scribendis. I completed the perusal of Xenophon's Memorabilia, an abstract of Demosthenes' Philip. 1, and began an abridged notitia literaria of the Greek and Latin authors post natum Christum, from Vossius. Before the end of the year I read Hesiodi Opera, and had about half completed Theocritus.
In this year, 1810, after April 5, when I returned to these studies, I read the following Greek books :—
Gorgias, et cset pp. 60
Isseus 127
Demosthenes 30
Antipho 81
THE BISHOP OF BANGOR. 45
Xenophon's Hellenics . . . .371
„ Memorabilia . . .166
Isocrates . 505
pp. 1340
1811.
January 12, Obiit Isaac Gardiner. His will put me in possession of a comfortable independence. His landed and freehold property was as follows : — an estate in Buckinghamshire, which descended to him from his mother, and therefore originally came from my father's family ; a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, also formerly the property of my father's great-uncle; an estate in Essex, acquired by Mr. Gardiner himself.
March 19. Called on the Bishop of Bangor, who had lately taken a house near my father's in Dean's Yard. March 22. Was at the Bishop of Bangor 's in the evening. I first became acquainted with the Majendie family in the course of the preceding win- ter. In January 1811, I saw for the first time my future wife. A growing intimacy between the two families afforded me frequent opportunities of seeing at my father's house the different individuals of the Bishop's family, in the first three months of this year. I had great pleasure in beholding the good-
46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
nature, urbanity, and benevolence which were marked upon the countenance of the Bishop.
March 23. I dined with Mr. Percival, from whom I always received the greatest civility, and marks even of kindness on some occasions. Had he lived, it is possible that my political life might have been more active.
In solitary rambles which I took in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens on several days at this pe- riod, I was occupied in speculations upon Polybius, whose remains I had now nearly finished. I com- pleted the whole 1495 pages in sixty-two days, in the midst of many other occupations, or about 750 pages in a month.
May 7. In this period, from the time of my return from the Isle of Wight, besides the studies which I have already mentioned, I completed " an account of the principal authors, Greek and Latin, after the Christian era down to the fifteenth century." And as my first undertaking in 1810, when I resumed these studies, had been to bring together the frag- ments of such authors as were lost, so I now at- tempted to collect the names, and time, and descrip- tion of all the authors that were yet extant and published. By some chance I did not meet with Fabricius, who would have been my sufficient and only necessary guide. I was therefore obliged to be
LTST OF AUTHORS. 47
content with Harwood's ' Guide ;' out of which I ex- tracted lists of the authors, and arranged them into classes, according either to their times or merit, or the nature of their writings. Having completed such a list, I next set myself to determine the quantity extant of the writings of each, by computing the contents of the best editions that I could meet with. These contents I reduced from the various pages of folio, quarto, or octavo editions, to one standard ; choosing a page nearly equal in amount to Reiske's edition of Demosthenes; my standard page con- taining 1002 letters, and the page of Reiske con- taining 1050. This variation between the two pages arose from accident ; and when I discovered the dif- ference, after having used such a standard for some time, it was too late to change it. The quantity therefore contained in extant authors, both Greek and Latin, has been estimated by a common standard page of 1002 letters. Herodotus, for example, is equal to 980 such pages ; Demosthenes, to 1327. The works of Plato contain a quantity equal to 2511 such pages. The Lexicon of Suidas contains 3066. In this manner the computation has been applied to all extant authors.*
The utility of such a computation is obvious : it enables the student to calculate his own labour ; to * See the List of Authors at the end of PAST I.
I' ' ' '
48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
ascertain beforehand the time that will be required to complete any particular branch of study ; to com- pare the amount of his past with his present perfor- mances. It is useful to him, for instance, to know beforehand, that when he undertakes to study Plu- tarch, he engages in a course of reading equal in quantity to nearly six times the history of Herodotus.
On collecting into these lists the names and wri- tings of the extant classical authors, I was surprised and mortified to find how limited my knowledge was; how many works remained to be studied that were absolutely necessary, not only to a scholar, but even to him who would derive nothing more than the secondary advantage of discipline and mental im- provement from these studies. How many of the poets I hardly knew by name ! And, not to men- tion other prose authors, those twelve who formed the last in my first class, were alone equal to 22,723 pages, and of these twelve I had only read Polybius.
I determined with renewed ardour to prosecute my plan of study, till I should have completed the pe- rusal, and should be master of the contents, of the best of these authors. I contemplated before me em- ployment for some years; but how could they be better occupied than by prosecuting studies which would enlarge my knowledge, sharpen the faculties of the understanding, secure me against the dangers of
PLAN OF STUDY. 49
want of occupation, and provide me with a resource which was independent of time, fortune, or the ca- price of others ? These were the views with which I continued my studies at this period; — the love of knowledge, and the love of occupation : I had no thoughts at the present of committing myself to the press.
May 7. I left London for Leighton Buzzard ; the next day I visited the parsonage at Wing, which I had engaged as a tenant of the rector, Charles Smelt, for the present year; that I might he able, by re- siding there, to determine upon the prudence of re- pairing the old mansion-house at Burcot, now in my possession by the will of Isaac Gardiner. I had a particular desire also to set up an establishment of my own, that I might avoid Cromwell, the scene of my brief enjoyment, when my father should be again settled there.
On the 9th May, I paid a visit to Dr. Wylde, at Southwell : these fourteen days were among the most delightful of my whole life. My mornings were spent in solitary rambles in those scenes and fields which I had traversed as a schoolboy fifteen years before. The evenings were passed in walks and con- versations with Mrs. Wylde.
June 3. After my return to London, I began to re- sume my literary occupations, which I had discon-
50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
tinned since May 6. From June 6 to 11, I was em- ployed in various domestic affairs and arrangements preparatory to my establishment at Wing, and in Parliamentary attendance.
From July 7 I passed thirty days at Wing, the first twenty-five entirely alone : I employed this space in very diligent application to Greek literature. I be- gan the eleventh book of Diodorus on the 15th, and finished the nineteenth book on the 2nd of August. These nine books, equal in quantity to 1262 pages, were completed in nineteen days, together with the notes of Wesseling. The next five days were occu- pied in the Cyclops and Hippolytus of Euripides, in reviewing Diodorus, and in transcribing my collec- tions into my chronology. I employed the intervals of study in solitary walks in the neighbourhood.
On the Sundays, at church. 0 1 quam recordatio ecclesia Cromwell, conjuge comitante, sapius intratce et frequentata angit animum !
During this period I laboured diligently with my pen in my hand, seven or eight hours a day; and on some wet days that occurred, when I could not leave the house, considerably more. I found this course of ardent application of infinite use. It tran- quillized and occupied my thoughts : by imposing upon myself a stated task, I found the days pass without tediousness or languor.
VISIT TO CLIFTON. 51
August 7. My father and mother came, with two of my sisters and my brother Charles, to visit me at Wing. They remained four days. On Monday, Au- gust 12th, we set out by different routes, — I to Clif- ton, and they through Bedfordshire, to Cromwell.
My life of solitary study ended at this period. On the 12th of August I set out upon a journey which terminated at Bangor in an important change in my life and condition. I reached the hospitable roof of Mr. Welby (the late Sir Wm. Earle Welby, Bart.) at Clifton, in twenty-one hours of incessant travelling, through Aylesbury, Oxford, Malmesbury, to Bristol. I was most kindly received by my host and his family, with whom I passed nineteen days very pleasantly, in visiting the most picturesque points of a country which was new to me. I found here an agreeable relaxa- tion after the labour of study and composition. We formed a party to Chepstow, across the Bristol Chan- nel. We walked through Piercefield to Tintern Abbey, and in the evening rowed down the Wye back again to Chepstow, and returned to Clifton after an absence of three days. We had many other pleasant excur- sions in the surrounding country, where there is more than sufficient to interest the attention of a stranger for a longer time than nineteen days. At Bristol I purchased Diogenes Laertius, which I accidentally saw; and in some vacant hours, in my own apart -
D2
52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
ment, found time to read the first book. Except in this instance, I passed the time without study.
I took leave of my hospitable friends on the 31st of August. I crossed the Bristol Channel to Usk ; thence I proceeded through Abergavenny and Bre- con to Builth, a distance of seventy-five miles, which occupied me seventeen hours. September 1st, I passed through Rhyader, Machynlleth, to Dolgelly, sixty-seven miles, proceeding northwards up the course of the Wye, through a singular and picturesque, but rugged and barren country. I was eighteen hours in performing this distance. September 2nd, I set out from Dolgelly at six, and proceeded on the way to Tan-y-Bwlch. Six miles before I reached that place, the chaise broke down, and I proceeded on foot to the inn ; enjoying by that means the opportunity of a fine view of the mountain scenery. From Tan-y- Bwlch I proceeded to Beddgelert, and there I was threatened with detention for want of horses; I there- fore once more set out on foot, and walked the whole distance to Caernarvon. There my servant and bag- gage rejoined me, and I reached Bang or Palace at eight in the evening, a distance of fifty miles from Dol- gelly, of which I had performed twenty-two on foot.
From this date of my arrival at Bangor, my syste- matic course of study was laid aside for full eight months ; nor was it till after the fifth month after my
WELWYN. RESIDENCE OF YOUNG. 53
marriage that I resumed my application to Greek learning. I may therefore here state the sum of my literary labours in the year 1811.
The months of May and June were barren of lite- rary improvements. But this was compensated by the diligence of the other months ; and from the be- ginning of the year to the 12th of August, the first seven months of 1811, my literary acquisitions were as follows : — Theocritus
Hesiodi Opera et Dies . . Euripidis fabulse quatuor .
In Dean's Yard.
Polybius totus, in editione Ernesti .
Diodori libb. xi.-xix. ed. Bipont. . At Wing.
1812.
[On January 6th my brother was united in marriage to Katherine, the third daughter of Dr. Majendie, Bishop of Bangor, who survives him. Shortly after his marriage he purchased the house and estate at "Welwyn, where he chiefly resided during the remainder of his life. This house had literary associations. It had been the private residence of Dr. Young, when Eector of "Welwyn. A fine avenue of chestnut-trees, the chief ornament of the grounds, is said to have been planted by the hand of the poet. In this house Dr. Young received visits from Dr. Johnson, aud other literary friends.
54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
About four months after his marriage my brother and his wife returned to Bangor, when the Autobiography thus proceeds.]
We resided at Bangor during the remainder of the year ; and in this retreat I resumed my literary oc- cupations, which had been discontinued for so many months. I had employed myself in collecting books, during the last spring in London, with the view of completing a classical library. I had become more prudent than I was at Oxford, in my choice of edi- tions, and no longer sought "editiones principes," or scarce copies. But my object was to procure a sin- gle copy of each author, and that the best and most complete for use, containing the necessary helps of indexes, and notes of the most learned editors.
I compute that, in this manner, every author that can be necessary, with every requisite help for the critical use of a scholar, in either language, may be contained in a library of from six to seven hundred volumes. Whatever is beyond this may be very suit- able for the collections of the curious and the weal- thy, or for the libraries of public bodies, but is not requisite for the real use of the student.
I made, in the spring of this year, considerable pro- gress towards the completion of a collection of books upon this plan.
When I resumed my Greek studies at Bangor, I
OBSERVATIONS ON AUTHORS. 55
proposed to myself nothing beyond the perusal of the twelve authors of the first class,* in addition to what I already possessed. It seemed to me that the study of these would demand as much time and attention as I could reasonably hope for. It appeared also to me that these, with the other writers of the first class, and the nine poets, would be sufficient for the pur- poses of occupation, instruction, and intellectual dis- cipline. These may be regarded as models of style, taste, and reasoning, and as depositories of what is most valuable in ancient learning in the grand de- partments of History, Philosophy, Poetry, and Elo- quence.
With these views I began the study of the ' Anti- quities' of Josephus, about May 18 ; and on June 23 I had finished the fourteenth book. Josephus was laid aside for awhile, and I began the Expedition of Arrian : I finished the seven books of the Expedition on the 3rd of August. These 377 pages employed me about five weeks. I then proceeded to the other pieces of Arrian: the 'Indica/ 'Tactica/ 'Periplus maris Euxini/ and completed these on Tuesday, Au- gust 18. On the 24th I began Herodotus, and finished the nine books (980 pages) in sixteen days. Herodo- tus was not entirely new to me, as I had read him twelve years before at Oxford, though not so accu- * See the List of Books at the end of PAET I.
56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
rately as to possess the facts and dates entirely. After Herodotus, Diogenes Laertius occupied about a month. I began him on the 7th of September, and had nearly finished the last book on October 3, when I was sum- moned to Nottinghamshire by election business.
I set out by the mail for Chester, which I reached at midnight. At five in the morning I procured a chaise, and in twenty-one hours reached Newark. October 6 was pleasantly passed in tranquillity at Cromwell. On the following day I appeared at Newark as the representative of Sir Stapleton Cotton, once more; and, after the election dinner was over, set off at half- past seven, and reached Holywell, in Wales, in twenty- six hours. The contested elections at Chester and Denbigh made travelling so difficult, that I was here impeded by want of horses. I determined however to proceed on foot, and walked to St. Asaph, which I reached at one in the morning. Here I rested till five, when I again set out on foot, and walked through Abergele to Conway, nineteen miles in six hours. At Conway, by the kindness of Mr. Champness, a gen- tleman to whom I was not known, but who was tra- velling the same way, I was conveyed to Penrhyn, from whence I reached the Palace of Bangor at four in the afternoon, on Friday, October 9.
After this excursion I remained quietly at Bangor, and returned to my Greek studies. More than half
STUDIES AT BANGOE. 57
the tragedies of Euripides were unknown to me ; and as I found at the Palace the excellent edition of Beck, I began Euripides on October 12, and in thirty-three days finished ten tragedies (about 18,386 verses).
On the 24th of November I returned to Josephus, whom I had laid aside since June 24, and on Decem- ber 2 I finished the twentieth book. I proceeded to the Jewish War, of which I completed the first book and part of the second. Josephus was then again laid aside ; and on December 7 I began Tacitus, and finished the first five books of the Annals, the Agri- cola, and Germany, in twenty-four days, on the last day of the year. This completed the studies of the year. In the last seven months and a half, between May 18 and December 31, I completed the following course of reading : —
Josephi Ant pp. 1600
-Belli 253
Arriani 514
Herodoti 980
Diogenis Laertii 430
Cebetis tabulam 20
Euripidis ver. 12,886 .... 430
4227 Taciti 300
Summa .... 4527 D 3
58
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
I read always with my pen in my hand, making abstracts and remarks as I proceeded.
At this period I had the following views of Greek literature. The writers of the first class, in prose, under the several heads of Historici, Oratores, Philo- sophi, Scriptores XIL, amount in quantity to about 37,462 pages. The poets of the first class, including Homer, Pindar, the three Tragedians, Aristophanes, and some others, amount to about 100,000 verses. These I consider worthy of attentive, careful, and repeated perusal. I proposed to myself to acquire a complete and critical knowledge of these. The re- mainder of Greek literature (which exceeded four or five times this amount in quantity) I regarded as matter of reference, and not matter of diligent study.
1813.
On the 6th of January, the anniversary of our marriage, we set out from Bangor, after a residence there of thirty-four weeks. On the fourth day we reached the Priory at Warwick, on a visit to Mr. Welby, who had removed here from Clifton. Here we rested three days, with our little daughter, whom the roughness of the journey had terribly fatigued. On the 14th we arrived safely, with our little compa- nion, in Dean's Yard. On February 2 I was sworn in at the House of Commons ; my third election. We
CATHOLIC CLAIMS. 59
remained constantly resident in Dean's Yard (with the exception of ten days passed at Welwyn) till the 29th of June. I look back upon these five months as a pleasant and satisfactory portion of my life, passed in great tranquillity and harmony,, and dis- turbed by no untoward circumstances.
At this period I sketched out, or completed, many written collections, which formed a part" of my scheme of Grecian literary chronology. The principal were the following : —
1. Historia Critica Historicorum.
2. Hist. Crit. Scriptorum Ptolemseis sequalium. 3. Epicorum et Elegiacorum.
4. Comicorum.
5. Philosophos descripsi e Laertio.
The business of the House of Commons occupied much of my time, during a part of this period. The Denbigh Election Committee, from the 12th to the 19th of March. Catholic claims, — which were sharply contested in many debates this session, — are finally rejected upon a division, May 24, by 251 to 247. The questions on the Princess of Wales, and the Vice- chancellor's bill, were subjects which also occupied the House during this session.
A part of this period was engaged in preparations and arrangements for our future residence at Wel- wyn, where we finally settled on June 29.
60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Here I resumed my plan of Greek study. In the five months in London, though diligently employed in literary occupations, I had perused no one author throughout : my employments there had been writing rather than study, compilation rather than reading. I now proposed to proceed with those authors of whom I was yet ignorant. I did not promise myself to ac- complish much. In the new occupations of country business I anticipated a great demand upon my time ; and expected to be able to secure not more than one hour in each day for Greek study, and one hour to modern literature. With these humble expectations I began Pausanias July 5, and finished this author on Saturday, August 21. I proceeded with Strabo, and completed his last book on September the 27th. On the 28th I began the Private Causes of Demo- sthenes, making abstracts of each, and finished about eight of them on the 8th of October. My studies were then interrupted by a journey to London, where we remained a week. I then returned to Demosthe- nes, with which author I read the critical pieces of Dionysius Halicarnass., and afterwards about twenty of the Orations of Lysias; thus completing my ac- quaintance with this orator. I had read the rest of him at Oxford. These studies occupied me till the 1st of November. On November 2 I began to read Athenseus, in the edition and with the commentary
STUDIES. 61
of Schweighiiuser. On the 18th of December I finished the eighth book, and the first four volumes of the prolix notes of the editor. December 19, I laid aside Athenseus, and began the fourth book of Diodorus. Pausanias and Strabo had supplied ample materials for the earlier periods of Grecian Chrono- logy, which I drew out more fully than before ; and I now studied the fourth and fifth books of Diodorus for more information on the same subject. Having finished these, I completed, nearly, before the 5th of January, what remained of the Private Causes of Demosthenes, and of the critical works of Dionysius Halicarnassensis. These concluded the studies of this year, which were as follows, in the six months beginning July 5 : —
Pausanias pp. 1065
Strabo . . , 1460
Lysise 161
Athensei octo priores .... 792
Dionysii Halic 614
Diodori libb. iv., v 266
Demosthenis 'IStam/tot 28 431
4789
1814.
The first ten weeks of this year were passed at Welwyn. My first studies in it were the few remain-
62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
ing orations of Demosthenes. The ' Condones' and the Srjfjioo-ioi, \6yoi, were among the most favourite and useful of my Oxford studies. I now therefore com- pleted the entire remains of the orator, in the whole of his ' Private Causes/ After this, the Grecian Chronology, pars prima, and the revision of Strabo, with an abstract, was the business of some days. I then returned to Athenseus, and began the ninth book, and the fifteenth book was finished on the 16th of February. These last seven books, containing 774 pages, took me twenty -two days. But I did not read the commentary of Schweighauser to the last six books : that immense body of notes, equal to nearly 8500 pages, exceeds the text of Athenseus himself, in the proportion of five to one. After Athenseus, I laid aside Greek for awhile, and began to read Ciceronis Epistolas ad Familiares. I finished the sixteen books in about seven days, on Thursday, February 24.
On the 14th March we removed to London for a month. This period was pleasantly passed, but Greek was almost wholly laid aside. On the 21st March I began the Lives of Plutarch, purposing to devote myself to the diligent study of all the remains of this author. But at first I was too much occupied in other affairs to read much.
On Saturday, April 9, we heard the news of the
STUDIES. 63
abdication of Bonaparte. The intelligence was pub- lished in London at eleven o'clock at night.
We remained the next four weeks at Welwyn, and returned to Dean's Yard on May 10th. I proceeded during this time with the Lives of Plutarch, which I read in the intervals of leisure, but did not apply diligently to study at this time. On April 22 I went up to London to attend a debate. The next day I walked home, performing the twenty-six miles in seven hours and a half.
During twenty days which we spent in London, from May 10 to May 30, I read some short pieces of Xenophon, and some of the pieces in the f Opera Moralia' of Plutarch.
On June 17 we set out northward, and arrived at my father's house at Cromwell the next day. We passed eighty-six days in Nottinghamshire. During a part of this time I found leisure for study. Before the 18th of July I had finished a great number of the Lives of Plutarch in Hutton's edition. I was then occupied with various visits until the 29th, when, returning to Cromwell, I resumed Plutarch, and dili- gently prosecuted this study till I had completed the Ijfe, of Csesar, and the fourth volume of Hutton. Here I was obliged to pause for want of books ; for I had no more volumes with me. I had completed in this period, since the 20th of June, a quantity equal
64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
to 1200 pages. During the remainder (thirty days) of our stay at Cromwell I had no opportunity of seeing any Greek books, except Sophocles and Pindar.
September 12. We left Cromwell and reached home the next day. On the 19th I went to my father's house in Dean's Yard, and removed my library of books to Welwyn. I was not yet able, through va- rious occupations, to resume my plan of study, which I had discontinued since August 9. At last, Septem- ber 23, I took up Plutarch again, and finished the whole of his Lives on October 7. The whole work, amounting in quantity to 2550 pages, took me 201 days, or twenty-nine weeks, including the intervals of time applied to other pursuits, and in which this study was omitted.
October 11. I began the 'MoratiV of Plutarch, and continued diligently in this course of reading till the 8th of November, with but few interruptions, finishing, in these twenty-nine days, thirty of the shorter treatises, making 1003 pages. My applica- tion was suspended for four or five days, during a visit of my father and mother and sisters, who ar- rived on the 27th of October, and proceeded to Lon- don on November 1.
November 12. We went to London, and remained in Dean's Yard during the rest of the year. During the first four weeks of this period I was diligently
COURSE OF READING. 65
employed in study, and completed the following course of reading and compilation : —
Ion. de Scriptoribus Hist. Philosoph. Vossius de Historicis Grsecis. Eusebiana Chronologia in edit. Scalig. Scymni Chii reliquias manu descripsi. Georg. Syncelli Chronographia.
On Saturday, December 10, a fatal interruption to my occupations, and to our domestic tranquillity, be- gan to threaten us, in the illness of our little boy. The child began to be indisposed about December 3 ; but on the 10th his danger became too apparent. From that time he gradually grew worse. On the 30th he expired.
This event was a calamitous termination of the third year of our marriage : an event for which we were neither of us prepared, and which filled me with anxious alarms and dread of the calamities which might be the consequence of this one. By the blessing of God, however, further calamities were arrested.
My studies, therefore, and literary occupations in this year, terminated with the 8th of December. In that period of about eleven months my progress was as follows : —
66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Demosthenis \b<yoi tres . . pp. 57
Athensei libb. ix.-xv 774
Xenophontis opuscula . . . . 150
Plutarchi Vitse 2550
Plutarchi Moralia 1003
Plutarchi opuscula sex ... 198 Ciceronis Epistolse 672
Summa .... 5404
1815.
On the eighth day after the loss of our son we re- turned to Welwyn, and remained there during seven- teen weeks. In this period I made diligent applica- tion to study. I returned to Plutarch ; and when I had completed the perusal of twenty-two treatises (534 pages), twenty days were given to Grecian chro- nology. I then began Lucian. This author engaged me for twenty-five days j in which period I completed sixty-nine pieces, 1241 pages. The other remains of the author I had read formerly at Oxford. I then proceeded to Appian, and before we removed to Dean's Yard, on the 9th of May, had completed Ibe- rica, Hannibalia, Punica, Syriaca, about 331 pages.
We remained in Dean's Yard till June 10 ; then, after a return to Welwyn until the 13th of July, we set out on a journey to Bangor. My studies in these
DILIGENT STUDY. 67
thirty-two days were Appiani Mithridatica ; Civilium lib. 1 ; Dionis lib. 35, 36 ; Polyaenum ; Diodori librum vicesimum (pp. 767).
We travelled on the first day to Stony Stratford ; on the 14th we arrived at Coleshill ; on the 15th at Woore, in Staffordshire; on the 16th at Chester; on the 17th we reached St. Asaph; on the 18th we ar- rived at Bangor, a distance from Welwyn by this route of 236 miles.
Here we remained quietly established during the rest of this year, and the beginning of the next. In this long and tranquil interval I pursued Greek studies, and other literary occupations, with great ad- vantages. Between the 27th of July and the 10th of October I finished the two first books of Apollonius Rhodius, with the Scholia ; Aristotelis Politica : and I read and made an abstract from Colquhoun on the Resources of the British Empire, a large statistical treatise in quarto. I then began to study Homer, in Heyne's edition; and in seven weeks completed the perusal of that work. In this period I read over the text of the Iliad (15,680 verses), and the whole commentary of Heyne, equal to 5550 pages, from which I made some extracts. Returning to Apollo- nius on the 9th of December, I finished the last two books, with the Scholia. Ten days were then em- ployed in making extracts from Jackson's Chrono-
68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
logy, three volumes quarto. December 21-23, I read Longinus, with the notes of Toup. My Greek ac- quisitions in this year were these : —
Plutarchi Moralium . . .pp. 567
Palsephatus 32
Josephi c. Apion 115
Lucianus 1241
Appiani 572
Dionis Cassii 63
Polyseni 313
Diodori . . . . . . . . 150
Aristotelis Polit 352
Apollonius, cum Sch 494
Longinus 60
3959 Homerus Heynianus . . . .6070
10,029
In the last days of this year I read two books of the Annals of Tacitus. Beginning where I left off three years before, in December 1812, I went through the eleventh and twelfth books, December 26-29.
1816.
In the beginning of this year I began to take a more accurate survey of extant Greek authors, with
EXTANT GREEK LITERATURE. 69
a view of estimating the extent and nature of what was to be cultivated in this department of literature.
Extant Greek literature may be considered in three ways: either chronologically; or, with reference to the subjects treated of by authors ; or, with reference to the merit and value of their compositions. In Greek literature the order of time is for the most part the order of merit. But as extant Greek authors be- longing to the first period, including the poets, do not greatly exceed thirty , and those of the second period, or the age of the Ptolemies, are not more than twenty, while the writers of the third period, or those who flourished after the Christian era, are up- wards of two hundred, it is necessary that this pro- miscuous multitude of writers, for the convenience of the student, should be distributed under proper heads : and this distribution will partake of all these considerations, — the order of time, the degree of value, and the subjects treated of.
There remain to us twenty-seven poets, exclusive of those of whom fragments are preserved in the Anthologia, or elsewhere. These may be distributed into three classes: the first, nine, — Homer, Hesiod, Theognis, Pindar, Anacreon, ^Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, all belonging to the first and brightest period, and containing about 103,963 verses. The second, nine, — Aratus, Callimachus, Theo-
70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
critus, Lycophron, Apollonius, Bion, Moschus, Nican- der, Oppian; all, except the last, belonging to the second period, and containing about 20,700 verses. These eighteen poets it will be the business of a stu- dent to cultivate, and to know perfectly. There re- main nine others, — Manetho, Scymnus Chius, Dio- nysius Periegetes, Musseus, Q. Calaber, Orpheus, Co- luthus, Nonnus, Tryphiodorus ; all, except the two first, belonging to the third or Roman period. Their remains are equal to more than 40,000 verses ; these the student will not think worthy of the same atten- tion as the former.
The prose writers may be estimated at two hundred and thirty authors ; of whom at least two hundred belong to the third period, including forty ecclesias- tical writers, and thirty-three Byzantine historians. These two hundred and thirty prose authors I dis- tribute into fourteen heads, of which four belong to the first class, five to the second, and five to the third.
The first class contains a selection of whatever is most excellent in all kinds of composition. It com- prises about thirty-three writers, and about 37,000 pages. The four heads are —
1st, Historici. Comprehending Herodotus, Thucy- dides, and Xenophon.
2nd, Oratores. Comprehending about one hundred
EXTANT GREEK AUTHORS. 71
and fifty orations, and about 2700 pages. Of this quantity about one-half is formed by Demosthenes ; about one-fourth by Isocrates ; the remaining fourth part, or a little more, consists of Antipho, Isseus, Lysias, Andocides, ^Eschines, Dinarchus, Lycurgus.
3rd, Philosophi. Of this head, comprising 8675 pages, nearly one half is composed of the works of Aristotle, and a very large proportion of the other half consists of the works of Plato. The remaining 1800 pages contain fheophrastus, Epictetus, Antoni- nus, Laertius, Cebes, and ^Eschines Socraticus. The last two hardly deserve the name of more than frag- ments of authors.
4th, Scriptores XII. These twelve have been se- lected out of the crowd of authors of the third period, as containing whatever is most excellent for copiousness, elegance, and authenticity, in ancient his- tory, antiquity, philology, and criticism; and most valuable for the relics preserved of elder authors. Their names are — Polybius, Diodorus, Dionysius Ha- licarnassensis, Strabo, Josephus, Plutarch, Appian, Arrian, Lucian, Pausanias, Athenseus, Dion Cassius ; all belonging to the third period. If the number included in this head be limited to twelve, it would be impossible to find, in the multitude of writers that remain behind, any one whom we should se- lect in preference to these, or for the sake of whom
72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
any one of these could be displaced. The works of these twelve authors, equal to more than 22,000 pages, make up the sum of the writers of the first class, which demand the especial attention of the student in Greek literature.
In distributing the five heads of the second class of extant prose authors, regard is principally had to the subjects treated of; except that ten authors are placed first, in a great degree, with reference to their value.
The second class therefore contains : —
1st, Scriptores X. These are Apollodorus, Dion Chrysostom, Polysenus, Maximus Tyrius, Aristides, ^Elian, Herodian, Themistius, Libanius, Zosimus.
2nd, Scriptores quadraginta. These are miscella- neous writers who flourished under the Roman or Byzantine empires, of different degrees of value and importance ; some of them of little consideration, as the remains of the Neo-Platonists, Plotinus, Jam- blichus, and others ; some of considerable merit, as Julian, Philo Judseus, Stobseus, Photius.
After these are placed in succession, 3rd, Scholi- asts ; 4th, Lexicographi ; 5th, Rhetores and Gram- matici. Among the last are numbered the valuable treatises of Apollonius, Hermogenes, and Longinus.
The third and last division contains all that is not included in the former heads ; and is entirely arranged with a reference to the subjects treated of, without
PROPOSED COURSE OF STUDY. 73
any consideration of any other circumstances. It com- prehends— 1st, Script ores Ecclesiasticos ; 2nd, Histo- ries Byzantina Scriptores ; 3rd, Mathematicos ; 4th, Medicos ; 5th, Geographos minores.
These fourteen heads, thus distributed into these classes, present a summary view of the whole of Greek prose literature now remaining. The first four, com- posing the first class, every literary man, who ear- nestly undertakes to apply to these studies, will be thoroughly master of. He will also select out of the remaining divisions the following authors, as worthy of especial attention. From the ten writers — Apol- lodorus, Dio, Polysenus, ^Elian, Herodian. From the forty — Philo, Sextus Empiricus, Julian, Stobseus, Photius. From the Rhetores — Hermogenes, Longi- nus, Demetrius. From the Ecclesiastical writers — Clemens Alexandrinus, and Eusebius. From the Medici — Hippocrates, Galen. And he will not neg- lect the Geographi minores, whose scanty remains in all amount to little more than three hundred pages. *
I proposed to myself to accomplish this course of study ; of which the greater and most difficult part was now completed at the beginning of the present year. I persuaded myself that another three years, applied with the same diligence as the last three had been, provided no other objects of study should de- * See the Lists of Authors at the end of PART I.
E
74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
mand my attention, would enable me to be master of the stores of knowledge contained in such a list of authors. I determined, after having finished this, if health and leisure should still remain to me, no longer to study authors, but to study subjects.
There are two methods of study : the one is, the studying an author; the other may be called, studying a subject. In the former case the student proposes to make himself master of the whole contents of a book : he diligently peruses it, and becomes familiar with the style and language and the sentiments of the writer. By the other method, he follows up any par- ticular branch of knowledge through all the books in which it may be found ; searches in. them for every passage that is to his purpose; and collects every- where the scattered particles of information.
Of these two methods of seeking knowledge, the first is much to be preferred. By diligently fixing the mind upon one book at a time, the intellectual faculties in the three branches of Apprehension, At- tention, and Memory, are exercised, disciplined, and improved. Whereas, by the other practice, when a subject is pursued by the help of indexes through a multitude of authors, and writers are consulted only as books of reference, a superficial, discursive habit of study grows upon the mind ; and the student will be so far from improving the three faculties above
TWO METHODS OF STUDY. 75
mentioned, that lie is in danger of impairing them. And no man of letters can safely trust himself with this plan of study, till he shall have first diligently wrought into his mind firm habits of accurate at- tention by long practice of the other. For this pur- pose, I think, a course of reading upon the plan al- ready described, will be sufficient ; since it compre- hends (for the Greek language) all those writers who deserve to be taken as models of style and reasoning, or who merit attention from being authentic witnesses in matters of chief importance.
I computed that this selection of authors, accord- ing to distribution into fourteen heads (the first six being arranged with a view to the order of time and degree of merit, the last eight with a reference solely to the subjects treated of), would be equal in quantity to about 50,000 pages ; being perhaps a fourth part of all that is extant in the Greek language.
I made another computation, which gave the same results : throwing aside the division into classes, I calculated the authors necessary to be diligently studied, according to the objects of study and in- quiry, under the heads of Poetry, History, Oratory, Philosophy, and Miscellaneous (that is, philology, criticism, etc.).
E 2
76
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
|
The Poets, with their scholiasts . |
pp. 8310 |
|
|
•Herodotus . |
. 980 |
|
|
Thucydides . |
. 786 |
|
|
Grecian |
Xenophon . |
. 1532 |
|
Arrian . . |
. 500 |
|
|
Diodorus . . |
. 2306 |
|
|
filOJ |
||
|
'Polybius . . |
vJlU'rfc . 1493 |
|
|
Dionysius |
. 1270 |
|
|
History J Roman < |
Appian . . Dio Cassius . |
. 1139 . 1774 |
|
Zosimus . . |
. 300 |
|
|
Herodian |
. 240 |
|
|
'Polysenus |
, 313 |
|
|
Plutarch . . |
. 2550 |
|
|
Gr.Rom. andAnti-( |
Strabo . . |
. 1460 |
|
quities |
Josephus . . |
. 2292 |
|
Pausanias |
. 1065 |
|
|
^Apollodorus . |
. 158 |
|
|
7838 |
||
|
•Cebes . . . |
. 21 |
|
|
Plato . . . |
. 2511 |
|
|
Aristotle . . |
. 4263 |
|
|
Philosophy . . |
jfEschines |
. 38 |
|
• |
Theophrastus |
. 812 |
|
Epictetus |
. 413 |
|
|
^Laertius . . |
480 |
AUTHORS TO BE STUDIED.
77
Philosophy .
Oratores
Miscellaneous
M. Antoninus . 137 Plutarchi Mor. . 2826 Sextus Empiricus 896
Themistius
485
12,882
|
Antipho . . Lysias . . Isaeus . . . |
. 81 . 268 . 127 |
|
|
Andocides . |
. 81 |
|
|
Isocrates . . |
. 519 |
|
|
Demosthenes |
. 1327 |
|
|
^Eschines . . |
. 220 |
|
|
Dinarchus . |
. 48 |
|
|
Lycurgus Dio Chrys. . Aristidis . .. |
. 51 . 813 . 600 |
|
|
Libanii . . |
. 1000 |
|
|
Julianus . |
. 513 |
|
|
|
5648 |
|
|
Lucian . . |
. 1603 |
|
|
Athenseus |
. 1566 |
|
|
JElian . . |
. 685 |
|
|
Stobseus . . |
. 1520 |
|
|
Dionys. Rhet. Hermogenes Longinus |
. 610 . 390 . 60 |
6434 |
|
53,432 |
78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
As in the former selection I did not compute the Scholiasts, the sum of the two is nearly the same. Such a course of reading and study might be com- pleted in about ten years by the diligent application of about four or five hours a day. And as a boy of ordinary talents, who leaves school at eighteen, may be expected to bring with him to the University, if the master has in any degree done his duty, the whole of Homer, and one-half at least of the thirty-three extant tragedies, together with nearly the whole of Xenophon, and some part perhaps of Herodotus, he will have already made a considerable advance be- fore he enters upon the University. And the ten years of study, computed from the time of his leav- ing school, will put him in possession, by the time he is eight-and-twenty, of this body of Greek literature. I am supposing no professional engagements in the law, army, or other secular departments. If he is destined for the Church, that professional call will be not incompatible with such a course; since the studies here proposed will form the best and truest foundation for the study of theology.
I proposed to myself, having much leisure, and no professional demands upen my time, to complete this course of reading. I had already advanced in the most necessary and useful parts of it, during the six years which had passed from the beginning of 1810 to the beginning of this year.
COURSE OF READING. 79
In the first days of this year, I proceeded with the Annals of Tacitus, and finished the sixteenth book on the ISth of January, which completed the whole of the remains of the Annals ; one half I had read in the end of 1812, and the other half in the present winter. After this I was engaged for some days in Stillingfleet's ( Origines Sacrse/ and in Lardner ; from whom I collected a critical history or short account of the ecclesiastical writers. I finished these studies on the 23rd. I then read, and made extracts from, Phile- monis Lexicon; a short fragment, of one hundred and fifty pages, published by Dr. Burney. These were the whole of my studies during the remainder of our stay at Bangor.
On Monday, the 5th of February, we took leave of Bangor, after a long and pleasant visit at the palace for twenty-nine weeks. On the third day after we left Bangor we reached the Priory at Warwick, on a visit to my old friend (now) Sir "William Welby. While we were here, we visited the ruins of Kenil- worth, founded by our ancestor Geoffrey de Clinton, and walked over Warwick Castle. We rested at the Priory four days ; and on the 13th reached my father's house in Dean's Yard. We remained in Dean's Yard nearly sixteen weeks.
The Bishop of Bangor resided this year in Mr. Douglas's house in Dean's Yard, and followed us to
80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
town on the 27th, when the two families had a very pleasant interchange of visitings. My studies during this period were the following : — E Fabricio, noti- tiam literariam Scriptorum circiter sexaginta; Par- thenium ; Heraclitum irepl 'ATTLO-TCOV ; Heraclidis Al- legorias Homericas ; I read again, ^Eschylum cum Scholiis ; Casaubon's notes in Strabonis octo priores ; Dionys. Thrac.j Ciceronis de Oratore librum primum. In English I read, with extracts, Holland's Travels in Greece; Malcolm's History of Persia, two volumes .quarto ; Bryant's Mythology, six volumes octavo, with extracts.
On the 4th of June we quitted London, and arrived at Welwyn, after an absence from our home of nearly eleven months.
Being now quietly settled again at Welwyn, I re- turned to my usual studies. My first occupations were transcribing and compiling, rather than any new studies. June 18, I began to collect a history Scrip- torum Ptolem&is JEqualium, cap. 9, as an appendix to the authors of the two first periods : this was com- pleted in five days. I then returned to my Greek Chronology, part the second. This, the first sketch of which was my first literary labour after the re- sumption of these studies in April 1810, is still the least complete of any; being a growing work, the materials for which are multiplied, as I extend my
LITERARY PURSUITS AT WELWYN. 81
researches further. I completed the list, or column, of the Archons, in six days. I was still employed in transcribing and extracting for the next fortnight. On July 16, I began to read Harpocratio, which I laid aside in a few days for Appian. On the 19th of August I completed that historian, having read the other parts of his works in 1815. I then began Dion Cassius; and having completed his thirty -ninth book on the fourth day, I returned to my Greek Chrono- logy, to which I applied diligently for thirty days. In this space I reviewed the whole of Pausanias, and had occasion to apply to the arrangement of the Sacred Chronology, comparing with the Bible, Jo- sephus and Hales. Plutarch then engaged me for thirty days, from October 4 till November 11, when I had completed almost the whole of his genuine re- mains. I read his Apophthegms, with the commen- tary of Wyttenbach ; and then proceeded to his Sym- posiacs. I began the study of tliis voluminous author March 21, 1814. In that year, among my other studies, I finished all the Lives, and 1200 pages of his other works, or his Moralia. In 1815, I read about 567 of his Moralia ; and now, in this present year, completed 600 pages, making in the whole 2427 pages of the miscellaneous treatises. These treatises amount in all to about 81 in number, including those that are spurious. There remained about 400 pages,
E 3
82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
one-half of which was genuine. After this I was em- ployed upon the lexicons of Harpocratio and Photius. Harpocratio occupied the more time, because I tran- scribed the references to Antipho, Isseus, the Private Caus;s of Demosthenes, and the historians and comic poets. The Chronology of the Seleucidse occupied me five days. I then proceeded more diligently with the Lexicon of Photius, which I finished on the last day of the year. A part however of December was occupied in compiling and arranging the fragments of the comic poets.
Towards the end of this year, I began to have seri- ous thoughts of publishing my Greek Chronology. These labours and compilations had been originally prosecuted with a view to my own private use or that of my children, if I should ever have sons who should be candidates in academical learning. By degrees I began to contemplate, though at a distance, the pro^ ject of completing a Chronology for public use. I was encouraged by the prospect of my procuring, through Gaisford's assistance, an edition of the work, by means of the University Press. I wrote therefore to my friend, about the middle of December, on the subject, and received a most friendly answer, with offer of his services, in forwarding my wish. This drew from me a fuller explanation of my chronological plan, which I detailed to him at considerable length in a letter
THOUGHTS OF PUBLISHING. 83
written December 30. His opinion of my scheme and labours was still more favourable ; and he encouraged me, with his natural frankness and honesty, and with* out vain compliments, to persevere. This therefore was the period at which my .idea of becoming a writer on subjects of ancient chronology and history was first matured.
In this year my Greek studies were these : —
Philemon pp. 150
Parthenius 33
Heraclitus 9
Schol. ^Eschyli 438
Appiani 467
Dionis Cass 180
Plutarchi ....... 660
Harpocratio 200
Photii Lex 517
Demetrii ....... 72
2726
—a less compass of reading than I had accomplished in almost any year since my return to these studies. But this was compensated by the other parts of my general plan, in which I had diligently laboured, — the Grecian and the Sacred Chronology ; the fragments of the comic poets ; the fragments of the Greek his-
84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
torians; and by the knowledge I had acquired in London by the study of Malcolm's ' Persia/ Bryant' s Mythology, and Holland's Travels.
1817.
This year is divided into four portions. The first period, a space of nine weeks, ending the 5th of March, was passed at Welwyn : in this tranquil interval, full of domestic satisfactions and benefits, my literary la- bours proceeded profitably.
After finishing Cicero ' De Oratore/ I began the second part of the Greek Chronology, in the column of Events, at B.C. 431; and laboured diligently till 1 brought it down to B.C. 360. I continued through a part of the reign of Philip, and the whole of the reign of Alexander, and finished about one hundred years. This occupied about twenty-six days of dili- gent application, to the 3rd of February. I then pro- ceeded to the chronology and literary history of the Historians, and carried it down to the writers of the time of Alexander. There were forty-two writers in one list, and ten in the other. Eighteen days, ending February 23rd, were consumed in this undertaking. So that, since I returned to this subject in June 1816, the three first columns, — the Archons ; the res gestce, or civil and military affairs; and the His- torians,— were in a good measure completed. There
85
remained the Philosophers, the Orators, the Dramatic Poets.
Some days were devoted, to the end of the month of February, to the re-perusal of Polybius. I com- pleted a survey of the first seven books. Whenever it shall be permitted me to find leisure for the third part of the Chronology, I perceive that for all those years of which only fragments remain in Polybius, namely, the whole period from B.C. 218-167, Livy must be diligently examined, and the relics of Poly- bius. From these two historians the annals of that portion of history may be collected.
On the 1st of March, my father, mother, and the whole Cronv,vell family arrived from Notts. They performed the journey, one hundred and five miles, in one day, and reached Welwyn at seven in the even- ing. On Tuesday, the 4th, they left us for Dean's Yard, and on the next day we followed them.
Here began the second of the four periods of this year : — a residence with our three children at my father's in Dean's Yard, of sixteen weeks and up- wards. We saw the Bishop's family again very plea- santly during their stay in Dean's Yard ; our social meetings, composed of all the members of both fami- lies, were often very large, and always pleasant and cheerful. On the last day of May, the Bishop and his family left London, having first obtained our pro-
86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
mise to make another journey to Bangor. We re- turned to Welwyn on the 28th of June.
I look back with an agreeable recollection, and with grateful acknowledgments of the past bounties of Providence, upon this period passed in Dean's Yard. I returned unwillingly to the cares of do- mestic superintendence and rural occupations, from which I anticipated much interruption of my favourite studies and pursuits.
Few Parliamentary debates occurred of any mo- ment. I was present at a long debate on the Catholic Claims, May 9, which were rejected by 245 to 221 : so that the Popish party was at this time losing ground. The House divided, June 2, on the election of a new speaker; when Mr. Manners Sutton had 312 votes, his opponent Mr. Wynne had 152. The last debate was on the 27th of June, on the third reading of the Bill for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act.
I had therefore much leisure for study, and com- pleted some useful branches of Greek and Latin read- ing. Plato's books of Laws, pp. 500, in ed. Bipont.; and at the same time Ciceronis Oratorem, Topica, De Inventione, De Natura Deorum, Tusc. Disp., pp. 923; Stobseus, pp. 1100; Hermogenes, pp. 390.
The third part of the four portions of this year commenced June 28 : — a residence of nearly seven weeks at Welwyn. In these seven weeks, as I was
STUDIES AT WELWYN. 87
about to take my leave of my books for many months, I proposed to complete such parts of my general plan as would enable me to pass those months at Bangor not unprofitably. I proposed to transcribe what had been completed of Chron. Grsec. Part II., that two copies of it might exist, one of which I might carry with me ; to complete Chron. Grsec. Part I. c. 1, on the times before the Trojan era; and to read the Scholia of Aristophanes. I completed the ancient Scholia of all the comedies except the Plutus, pp. 361, with the text of the ten comedies (July 3-31). The Chronology, Part I. c. 1 (August 1-8). Transcript of the second part (August 10-14). Besides these occupations, I found time for reading four Greek tra- gedies ; and in the evenings, Robertson's History of Scotland, and Voltaire's ' Siecle de Louis Quatorze/ in French.
On Tuesday, August 19, we set out at seven o'clock, went through Luton to Dunstable, and thence to Dunchurch, sixty-seven miles. On Wednesday, the 20th, we reached Shiffnall, fifty-six miles ; the next day Llangollen, forty-eight miles ; and on the 22nd we arrived at Bangor at about- half-past nine. Here we remained till the end of the year \ and this resi- dence at Bangor of almost nineteen weeks, formed the last and largest portion of the four parts into which our year was divided.
88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
In the long and tranquil interval of retreat at Bangor, in 1815,, I had found ample leisure for pro- secuting useful studies; and I proposed to employ the leisure of the present time in a similar manner. The first studies were the Plutus of Aristophanes, with the Scholiast, together with the ( Cyropsedia' of Xe- nophon (August 25 to September 25) ; then Lyco- phron, with Tzetzes (September 26 to October 23); then Cicero fDe Finibus/ and fDe Legibus;' the e Of- fices/ fDe Divinatione.' The 'Philosophica/ which I read at this time (pp. 1039), were commenced on Oc- tober 4, and completed, with abstracts, December 10. These, with the Philosophica, which I had studied in the spring, in London, made the whole of the philoso- phical remains of this great author ; a noble portion of ancient literature, the study of which I had de- layed too long. During a part of this time (Novem- ber 10-21) I read the first six books of Heyne's edi- tion of Virgil. In the course of this perusal, I found that the reading of the second book, with Heyne's commentaries, occupied fifty minutes ; the fourth book fifty minutes ; and the sixth book fifty-five minutes. Heyne's notes and commentaries contain many use- ful things ; especially on the Cyclic Poets and the writers of the " tale of Troy divine," appended to the second book.
On December 15, I began to investigate the Chro-
RELIGIOUS STUDIES. 89
nology of the kings of Judah and Israel, and pursued this subject unremittingly for many days, to the 24th of December. I began at the accession of Rehoboam, and finished the Chronology to the 9th of Hosea.
I began, towards the close of this year, to form new plans of study, and new resolutions and arrangements. I proposed, in the first place, to set apart Sunday in every week for appropriate studies ; either the Scrip- tures, or works illustrating the Scriptures and religious questions, for as many hours on the Sunday as I was accustomed to give on other days to Greek and Latin profane literature. The reading for this purpose should be confined to the Old and New Testament, to Josephus (as far as he illustrates sacred history), and to the works of the ancient Fathers and of modern divines. Four hours a day have been usually dedi- cated to ancient literature ; and four hours employed every Sunday in the reading of the Scriptures would enable the student to go through with the Old and New Testament in thirty weeks. I began the prac- tice of reading the Scriptures every Sunday when I was at Oxford. I read through in that manner, du- ring my latter years at Oxford, the whole Old Testa- ment and a part of the New. I found incalculable benefit from the practice.
Perhaps it may be doubted whether it is favourable to intellectual progress in any object of study, to have
90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
particular times set apart for particular studies. Of the two methods of study, the setting apart a daily number of hours for particular objects, or the con- tinuing any literary research upon which the mind may be employed, as long as the inclination prompts (without observing any stated distribution of time), the last is by far the most favourable to the genius. He who carries on the subject of his inquiry, while the faculties of his mind are full of zeal and energy, and are interested in the pursuit, will be likely to make a greater progress in science, than he who re- turns to his stated task at the appointed time, because the appointed time has arrived. The one exerts his powers in their full vigour, while the attention is will- ing and diligent. The other labours with languid powers, because his inclination to the task does not always return with the hour. The one compensates a long-continued period of application, till the mind is fatigued by its intensity, by a long interval of rest, which he prolongs till he finds his powers again vi- gorous, his curiosity again awakened, and his alacrity of mind again recruited. The other will sometimes be called to his task when his faculties want repose ; or will have to leave it perhaps at the moment when the ardour of study has begun to be awakened, and his understanding to be interested in the work : his four or five hours of study are to take their turn
METHODICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 91
with the rest of his employments, independently of his inclination or his will; and as he never omits the appointed hours, so he seldom or never exceeds them.
It must be confessed, then, that by a methodical arrangement, the student is not likely to be capable of great things. But yet, on the other hand, in the common affairs of life, especially in the offices and arrangements of domestic life, the advantages of a mechanical distribution of time seem to outweigh the inconvenience. He who secures to himself a regular portion of time daily for meditation and reading, is more likely on the whole to turn it to good account, than he who, following the impulse of his genius, sometimes devotes entire days to abstraction, and sometimes passes them in indolent vacuity. Such a student must either neglect his other duties, or will have his periods of abstraction interrupted by the va- rious calls and common cares of life.
The aggregate quantity of time gained for study seems much the same in either case. The powers of the mind must have rest ; and that mind, whose ef- forts are continued the longest, will need a proportion- ably long interval of refreshment. A certain number of hours, then, every day allotted to intellectual la- bour, will leave the rest of the day for business or amusement, and will upon the whole secure as much time for literary purposes, as a fortnight's overstrained
92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
exertion, followed by another fortnight of complete relaxation and indolence.
The inquiry concerning the method of study has therefore two objects : — 1. What arrangement of time is the most convenient ? in answer to which we de- termine that it is better to assign a regular portion of each day to this purpose. 2. What method should be pursued in reading books ? in answer to which it was concluded, when that inquiry was made at large, that it is better to read one author at a time steadily, than to read discursively.
Johnson (in Boswell, vol. i. p. 411) remarks that "a man should read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good. A young man should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge." In the first part of this sentence he has reference to the second ques- tion, on which he gives his opinion in favour of dis- cursive reading ; in the latter part he touches upon the first question, and seems to advise a regular dis- tribution of hours. In this all students will agree with Johnson. But as to the other point, perhaps no man ever habituated his mind to that practice of dis- cursive reading, without finding cause to repent of it. The intellect itself is greatly in the power of habit -, and as by indulgence a discursive habit is confirmed and increased, so by practice the attention will come to be at the command of the will.
PLANS OF STUDY. 93
In speculating upon the best plans of study, I pro- posed to myself to begin a practice of writing down from time to time remarks upon such subjects as caught my attention ; with a view to exercise myself in English composition, which I seemed to have too much neglected. For this purpose I contrived three blank books, as depositories for what I might col- lect under three different heads. The first, to con- tain any extracts or abstracts that might be made from other writings, in reading the various subjects of history, population, geography, etc., in modern au- thors. The second I designed as a repository for my own original remarks or essays, to be written down, without any particular order, as they happened to be composed. A third book I planned to be ready for noting down remarks or collections, in the course of theological study. These three manuscript divisions I imagined would complete all that I might find ne- cessary, in addition to the distribution already made, in classical literature. This project, like other pro- jects, was more easy to design than to execute. In the progress of three years, which I have since passed, part has been followed and part has been omitted.
To collect in one view the studies of this year, they may be thus stated : —
1. (Chron. Grsec.) Completed about a hundred years of the Second Part, Historia critica Histori-
94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
corum Grsecorum : the times preceding the Trojan War, of Part I.
2. Relegi et retractavi : —
Polybius to the end of the seventh book. Aristophanes. Eight Greek tragedies.
Six first books of the j33neid, with Heyne's Commentary.
3. New studies : —
Platonis Leges pp. 500
Stobsei Sermones 1100
Hermogenes 390
Juliani Csesares 32
Scholiastes Aristophanis .... 981
Xenophontis Cyropsedia . . . . 374
CEconomicus ... 84
Lycophron 50
Tzetzse Scholiast. 450
Ciceronis Rhetorica
3961
^eOratore, 11.3 . pp. 356
Brutus 143
Orator 106
Topica 38
Oratorise Partit. . . 55
De Inventione, 11. 2 . 191
889
JOURNEY FROM BANGOR.
|
De Natura Deorum, |
||
|
U. 3 |
210 |
|
|
Tusc. Qusest., 11. 5 . . |
280 |
|
|
Acad. Qusest., 11. 2 . |
127 |
|
|
Ciceronis |
DeFin.,11. 5 . . . |
280 |
|
Philosophica ' |
De Legibus, 11. 3 . . |
105 |
|
De Officiis, 11. 3 . . |
262 |
|
|
De Senect. et Amicitia |
85 |
|
|
De Divinat., 11. 2 . . |
152 |
|
|
l}e Fato |
28 |
|
|
1529 |
||
|
2418 |
1818.
On the 7th of January we left Bangor, after a visit of nineteen weeks and four days; and travelled by way of Llangollen, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Stone, and Uttoxeter, to Nottingham, which we reached on the 9th. We staid with Dr. and Mrs. Wylde four days ; and on Tuesday, the 13th, arrived at South- well. I always see Southwell with a degree of plea- sure, which increases as I advance in life, and as the school-boy scenes of my early years are removed to a greater distance from me by the progress of time. I seized the opportunity, while our children rested at the inn, to visit some of the haunts of my boyhood ; but the day was stormy and unfavourable, and I
96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
found it expedient to hasten forward to our journey's end. "We reached my father's house at Cromwell about half-past three. "We passed just six weeks at Cromwell. In this period of great tranquillity and leisure, uninterrupted by any untoward incident, I met with some useful works, which I had time to read and to make extracts from. These works were, — an English book, in quarto, entitled f A Literary History of the Middle Ages/ by Berington ; GelTs ' Topo- graphy of Troy/ In Greek I only read the three first books of the Grammar of Theodore Gaza. On the 16th of February the Introduction to Chron. Grsec., Part I., was begun, and occupied the remain- der of our time in Nottinghamshire. These were six weeks of great diligence and activity ; and I re- member the studies of this time with a pleasing im- pression.
On the 24<th of February we left Cromwell, and, after paying a visit of three days to Sir William Welby, at Denton, we reached Welwyn on the 28th, after an absence of more than six months. We passed the Sunday at Welwyn, and on Monday, March 2nd, we arrived in Dean's Yard. My father and mother had already settled there ; and about this time the Bishop (of Bangor) occupied again the house of Mr. Douglas, in Dean's Yard, for the sea- son. The same agreeable interchange of meetings,
97
alternately at my father's house and at the Bishop's, was agreed upon in this year as in the former. We remained in London thirteen weeks.
The first three weeks of this period I passed in the enjoyment of my usual satisfactions, and with my ordinary alacrity for intellectual employment. The next two months I do not look back upon with equal confidence and pleasure ; and I was prevented by ill- health from my former activity of exertion. The studies of this time were less than formerly, and my impression of this period is that of languor and de- pression.
I prosecuted the Introd. to Chron. Graec. I. 1 ; Introduction to Parts I. and II. before the 22nd of March. After that date I finished Scholia Theocriti, pp. 178; Clemens Alexandr. Protrepticon, pp. 117; Strom, lib. i. pp. 130 ; the Meno of Plato ; and the first five books of Quintilian, with the notes of Spal- ding (pp. 428).
The remaining seven months of this year were passed at Welwyn; where my retreat suffered no other interruption than a journey into Yorkshire at the general election. On the 17^ of June I sud- denly received intelligence from the Duke of New- castle, requiring my immediate presence at Borough- bridge, where an opposition was threatened. Parlia- ment had been dissolved on the 10th of June ; and
F
yo AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
the Boroughbridge election was fixed for the 20th. Accordingly I set out instantly, and, by travelling all night, reached Boroughbridge about two in the morn- ing of Friday, June 19. I was re-elected at Aldbo- rough, with my colleague Granville Vernon, on that day. On the next, Captain Mundy was successful at Boroughbridge; but his colleague was defeated by Mr. Lawson. Immediately after the poll I set out with Mr. Vernon to Clumber ; we reached it at twelve at night, and had an hour's conversation with His Grace, who was waiting for us in his library. I passed two days at Clumber, much gratified by the urbanity and kindness of my reception. On the 23rd I left Clumber, and reached Welwyn on the 24th. I had no further interruption to the tranquillity of this summer. My father, mother, and sisters came to us on June 25, in their way from London. After stay- ing with us four days, during which the weather was fine and our guests seemed pleased with their visit, they left us on the 29th for Cromwell. My brother Clinton came to me on the 10th of August, and brought me down a copy of Corsini's ' Fasti Attici/ a book so necessary to my chronological studies, which I had for three years sought in vain, and which I now for the first time saw and perused. The whole seven months of our abode at Welwyn, diver- sified by many visits from our relations and friends,
STUDIES AT WELWYN. 99
was a space to be remembered with pleasure and gratitude.
The London residence of this year was barren of satisfaction, and of any great literary progress. Du- ring those three months my new studies were 469 pages of Greek, and 428 of Latin. But in the lei- sure of Welwyn I was able to compensate for this deficiency ; and went through, between July 3 and the end of the year, 4144 pages of Greek studies ; besides transcribing and perfecting many extracts and abstracts of former studies, and proceeding with my Chronology. My first study in the summer was Dio Chrysostom, in Reiske's edition, and the first volume of Bekker^s ' Anecdota Graeca/ a valuable publication. I carefully entered the citations from the Comic Poets into their proper places. Then, until October 22nd, I was occupied with Stobseus's Eclogse, in Heeren's edition, with Plutarch fDe Placitis/ I then began Bekker's second volume, containing ' Scholia in Dionysii Thracis Grammaticam/ and completed it in twelve* evenings. November 14, the first book of Dionysius of Halicarnassus was begun ; and the whole remains of the ' Archseologia' finished, Decem- ber 8. I then finished Diodorus by reading the first three books ; and this study, together with the Epis- tles of Isocrates and Plato, and some few pieces of Libanius, occupied the remaining days of this year.
F 2
100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
December 7. We finished reading Clarendon's His- tory of the Rebellion. We began it in the summer, and read it together in the evenings. In this man- ner, it occupied about four months, including vari- ous suspensions and interruptions.
I completed therefore, in this year, a good deal of the first part of my Greek Chronology, at intervals between February 12 and July 2. I made good use of Berington's ' Literary Memoirs/ and GelFs Topo- graphy, at Cromwell. My new studies were far be- low what I had projected as possible, in drawing a plan for the future year, before I left Bangor. So different is project from performance! On the 3rd of January I proposed in imagination to finish Quin- tilian and Velleius ; to transcribe and complete Comi- corum Hist. Criticam ; Scriptores Ptolem. JEquales ; Chron. Grsec., Part I. cap. 2, or the time between the Trojan Era and the first Messenian War; Sacred Chronology, to the Captivity; and Hist. Crit. Epi- corum. In Greek I calculated upon reading pagi- narum /jivpidSa. These were my projects. On the 30th of December, upon reviewing the occupations of the year, I found that I had completed only a small part of the task proposed. Instead of the ten thousand pages of Greek, I had finished less than five thousand ; and the manuscript compilations were still unfinished. Part of the time however had been
THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 101
not less usefully employed in other studies ; especially I had made a better progress than heretofore in Theo- logical studies, and, I hope, had laid a foundation for future improvement in that material part of our in- tellectual employment.
During many of the Sundays in this year, com- mencing with our return to Welwyn, I endeavoured to fix in my mind the facts of the Gospel history, by using White's { Diatessaron/ and the New Testament, with Hales as a commentary.
[Here there is a hiatus in the manuscript.]
.... Observe that the Jews may not be irresis- tibly bound to apply them (the prophecies) to Jesus, but might rather be left to their own judgment, and so reject him ? Are the clear and manifest predic- tions proved genuine by being found in all the co- pies ? The grand proof of the Divine mission of Jesus lies in the Prophecies. Histories have been variously forged, and fabricated accounts of the actions of men have been written, as of Apollonius Tyaneus, and others. But prophecies must come from God alone. If the writings of the Prophets are genuine, the his- tory contained in the Gospels is true.
I proposed to myself to explore these subjects; and to fix in my mind a habit ....
[Another hiatus in the manuscript.]
102
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
My new studies therefore in profane learning, in this year, have been these : —
Theodori Gazse libb. iii. . . pp. 200
Scholiastes Theocriti .... 178
Clementis Alexandrini . . . 247
Platonis Meno 44
Dio Chrysostomus 813
Lexica Sequeriana 388
Stobaei Eclogse 420
Plutarch, de Placitis .... 100
Scholia in Dion. Thrac. . . . 470 Dionysii Archseologia . . .1270
Diodori libb. 3 406
Isocratis Epistolse 36
Libanii MeXerai qusedam . . . 162
Platonis Epistolse 79
4813
The whole narrative, down to this period, was writ- ten in the year 1818 ; being compiled from notes made at various times, and from recollection.
LISTS OF AUTHORS.
The quantity of matter in the Prose Authors, both Greek and Latin, is expressed in pages which contain each 1002 letters, by which common standard all the works are measured. (See p. 47.)
SELECTI E SCRIPTOBIBFS LATINIS.'
|
Solutte Orationis. |
Poet(B. |
||
|
* Cicero . . pp. * Cassar . |
6214 470 |
Plautus . . w. *Terentius . . . |
20,000 6000 |
|
*Corn. Nepos. . ., *Sallustius . . . |
173 197 |
* Lucretius . . . * Catullus . . . |
7410 2295 |
|
*Livius |
3050 |
*Tibullus . . . |
2037 |
|
*Vell. Paterculus |
147 |
*Horatius . . . |
8000 |
|
*L. Seneca . . . *Plinius .... * Quintilianus . . . *Curtius .... * Tacitus .... |
1550 2260 970 452 904 |
*Virgilius . . . *Propertius . . . *0vidiua . . . * Seneca .... *Lucanus . . . |
12,900 3998 34,000 11,658 8000 |
|
*Plinius .... * Suetonius .... |
406 |
*Statius .... *Martialia . . . |
14,000 9000 |
|
*Gellius . . . . |
750 |
Juvenalis . . . |
3836 |
|
*Justinus .... |
368 |
Claudianus . . |
|
|
*Hist. Aug. Scriptores *Ammian. Marcel. . |
5 608 726 |
||
|
Vegetius .... *Macrobius . . . |
104
LISTS OF AUTHORS.
SELECTI E SCEIPTOEIBTTS GE^CIS.
|
Historici. |
||
|
* Herodotus . |
IX |
pp. 980 |
|
*Thucydides . |
VIII |
786 |
|
rCyrop. . . 374' |
||
|
Anab. . . 282 |
||
|
*Xenoplion |
Hellenic. . . 372 |
.... 1532 |
|
Memor. . . 166 |
||
|
.Opuscul. . . 338' |
||
|
Oratores. |
||
|
* Antiplio |
XV. . . |
. . . . 81 |
|
* HJY sias |
XXXIV |
268 |
|
X |
127 |
|
|
^Andocides |
IV. ...... |
81 |
|
ForensesVII. 123^ |
||
|
*Isocratis . < |
Deliber. VI. . 207 Demonst. V. . 141 |
> XXI. . . 519 |
|
Didact. III. . 48 ; |
||
|
toiwyop- XVI- 214 |
||
|
A77/iO(rtot IX. . 545 |
||
|
*Demostheiiis |
'IStojTiicoi XXXI. 474 |
LX. . . 1327 |
|
'EmSciKTiKol II. 29 |
||
|
N A^OtriOt ft . . 65 |
||
|
*JEscliines |
III |
. . . . 220 |
|
* Dinarchus . |
Ill |
48 |
|
* Ijycurgus |
I |
51 |
|
PMlosopki. |
||
|
*Plato. . . • |
[De Eepub. . 496" DeLeg. . . 500 |
.... 2511 |
|
LCsetera . . 151sJ |
LISTS OF AUTHORS.
105
Aristoteles
*Eth.Nicom.etc. 919 *Ehet. et Poet. 306 *Hist. Anim. . 751 Categ. Anal., etc. 589 Caetera onmia 1698
* Theophrastus
Epictetua *Laertius . .
M. Antoninus
4263
812 413 480 137
Scriptores XII. (1st Class).
*Polybius . *Diodorus . . *Dionys. Hali- carnassensis *Strabo .
rAnt. libb. XI. (.Rhet. .
1270^ 610J
*Josephus .
* Plutarchus *Appianus .
*Arrianus .
* Lucianus *Pausanias
/Ant. libb. XX. I BeU. Jud. . \Vita . . . \Apion . . . yYitge L. . . ILibeUi 81 . I Civil, libb. V. ICsetera . .
Expedit. . .
Indica . . .
Tactica . .
Peripl. Eux. .
Peripl. Eryth. CVTenat.
1493 2306
1880 1460
2488
5376 1139
578
1603 1065
F 3
106 LISTS Or AUTHORS.
*Athenaeus .............. 1566
*Dio Cassius . . . .......... . 1257
Scriptores X. (2nd Class).
*Apollodorus, libb. Ill .......... 158
*Dio Chrysost. Or. 80 .......... 813
Maximus Tyrius, Diss. 41 ........ 254
*Poly£enus, libb. VIII. . . ....... 313
*Aristides .............. 1264
685
. An. .
*Herodianus, libb. VII .......... 240
*Themistius, Or. 33 .......... 485
rOrat. 65 . . 2209^1
Libanius . JMeXerai . . 14221 .... 4601
lEpistola? . . 970J
*Zosimus .............. 300
Summa .... 45,960
IE Scriptoriliis tertia classis.
Philo . . ............. 1784
Artemidorus ............. 335
Sextus Empiricus ... ........ 896
Philostrati ............. 1800
*Julianus .............. 513
*Heliodorus ............. 350
*Stob«us .............. 1360
*Photius ..... . . . . ..... 1750
*Demetrius ............. 72
*Hermogenes ............. 409
*Theo . . , ............ 185
*Longinus ........... ... 60
5631
LISTS OF AUTHORS. 107
*Scholia Sophoclis .... 350N
* ^schinis .... 438
* Euripidis .... 640
* Aristophanis ... 998
* Apollonii .... 3001
* Pindari 1138
*Villois. Homer 1767 )
* Scholia Thueydidis . . . 436->
Demosthenis . . . 636)
* Clemens Alexandrinus 1110
'Pr. E. . 1100^
•Eusebii . LJ£ E
Summa .... 19,007 45,960
Paging .... 64,967
Poeta.
*Homerus w. 29,545
*Hesiodus 2357
*Theognis 1220
*Pindarus 6000
*Anacreon 960
*^Eschylus 8139
*Sophocles 11,208
* Euripides 28,782
* Aristophanes 15,752
. Aratus 1154
*Callimachus 1400
* Theocritus 2871
*Lycophron 1474
*Apollonius 5835
108 LISTS OF AUTHORS.
*Bion 244
*Moschus . 482
Nicander 1594
Oppianus 5649
*Scymnus Chius 975
*jDionysius Periegetes 1185
Musaeus 341
Q. Calaber 8770
Orpheus . . . 3614
Coluthus &85
Nonnus 21,300
Tryphiodorus 677
Manetho cir. 4000
Anthologia cir. 21,000
Summa ver. . . . 186,913
* Hos Scriptores legimus (Jan. 1, 1819).
PART II.
LITERARY JOURNAL.
Tavr' e^co ocro-' tpadov <al €<pp6vricra, Kal /j,era Movaaij/ ae/iv
1819.
January 1. Occupied with drawing out a plan of future studies, and in writing my Journal of former years.
It is now the ninth year since I returned to Greek literature. Within this period I have accomplished the following : —
ANNO. GRjECA. LATINA.
1810 1340
1811 3047
1812 4234 300
1813 4789
1814 4831 672
ANNO. 1815
1816 1817 1818
GRJECA. LATINA.
3959 250 2726
3961 2418
4813 496
33,700 4136 33,700 pages will give about 3750 for the average number read in each year.
I possess therefore nine Poets of the first rank;
110 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
and among nine of the second rank, three principal ones, Theocritus, Lycophron, Apollonius : the three Historians, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon : all the Orators : the twelve Scriptores, except Dion Cas- sius_: of the ten Script ores, Poly semis and Dio Chry- sostom : of the forty, Stobseus : among the Philoso- phers, Diogenes Laertius, about half of Plato, the best of Aristotle. I have consumed too much time and labour, perhaps, in the Scholiasts. Eestat ut novam studiorum rationem mihi proponam in posterum. Hsec quse teneo relegenda sunt, meditanda, ediscenda. Hsec sufficiunt ad exemplum vivendi, sentiendi, scri- bendi, loquendi, caste, sobrie, fortiter, sapienter, ele- ganter. Jam nunc legam oportet, non ad scriptores eseteros cognoscendos, verum potius ad res scrutandas : non quid quisque cseterorum auctorum scripserit, sed ubi inter hos omnes quseque res, quam mihi inda- gandam proposuero, reperiatur, quserendum est. Im- primis vero efficiendum est, ut ea qua? habeam ne amittam : et scripta manu collectaque ilia monumenta Chronologica literarumque Grsecarum deperditarum elimanda sunt. Si igitur quicquid otii mihi Deus con- cesserit, anno veniente, nullis omnino novis lectionibus perfectis prseterierit : non erit quod doleam, dum per- fuero Chron. Gr. p. II., Hist. Comic. Tragic. Epic, vel Philosophorum. Ad hoc igitur opus, ad hos la- bores me properans, Deum oro ut eadem quies et se-
AUTHORS TO BE READ. Ill
curitas salusque mei meorumque, eadem infinites ejus bonitatis copia, mihi contingat et permaneat, quan- tam in prseteritis annis cumulate expertus sum.
Restant inter Scriptores X., et Scriptores XL., et Scriptores tertiae classis, interioris cognitionis digni fere hi : — A.C. A.C.
Apollodorus pp. 158 180 Aristides . . 1264 238 ^Elianus . . 685 230 Herodianus . 240 370 Libanius . . 4631
137 Artemidorus. 335 210 Empiricus . 896 361 Julianus . . 513 395 Heliodorus . 350 858 Photius . 1750
40 Philo . . .1784
Clemens Alexandrinus . . . .1110
Eusebius . 2000
Hippocrates 1650
Scholiasts 2000
Latini Scriptores adhuc necessarii hi sunt : — Ciceronis Epistobe et Orationes . 2500
Plinius uterque 2500
Suetonius 406
Quintilianus 970
E poetis Grsecis Latinisque, quos nondum legimus, quicquid otii mihi erit, eV Trapepya) et per intervalla cseterorum negotiorum, his legendis dabitur.
2nd-I3th. During these days occupied in writing my
112 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
Journal, and in reading Polybius, Euripidis Medea, Malthas on Population, the ' Fasti Attici' of Corsini.
14<th. Left Welwyn, and arrived in Dean's Yard at twelve. House of Commons in the afternoon. Sworn in ; my fourth election as a Member of Parliament.
15th. House of Commons, two to four. After the House met, the Speaker is approved by the Lords. Oaths and subscriptions taken.
16/A. Returned to Welwyn. On the following days I resumed my Journal, and proceeded with Corsini diligently, and finished his first volume on the 23rd. I then proceeded with my Chron. Grsec., and on Fe- bruary 2nd completed it to the end of Theopompus and Alcsemenes. This compilation, equal to about thirty quarto pages, has occupied eight entire days. I now lay it aside till a future opportunity of consulting the original works, on our return to Welwyn. For completion of the first part, perlegendi sunt Eurip. et Pind. Scholiasts, Apollodorus with Heyne's notes.
We remained at Welwyn till the 4th of February, thus completing eight entire months of residence there since our return. This was the third period of our stay at Welwyn since our establishment there. Of all these periods the impression is pleasing : but I think the last afforded the most satisfactory recollec- tions of them all. And the idea of Welwyn is at this time more grateful to me than it has been before. In
REFLECTIONS AT WELWYN. 113
the month of January I proceeded diligently with the first part of the Greek Chronology and with the study of Corsinr's ( Fasti Attici.'
Hoc spatio quantse felicitates mihi sunt concessse ! Otium habui dulcissimum, et libris literisque vacans tempus. Hsec igitur tanta Dei summi omnium Pa- rentis et Conditoris beneficia gratus agnosco.
February 4. Arrived in London at two. Evening, House of Commons : and on the following days.
llth. In the last three days, Eusebius' Prsep. Evang. No Parliamentary business; the House being ad- journed each day at six o'clock.
13th. MeXo7^oXo? elpi Seww ev rcuaSe rat? rjfjiepcur evOvfAov/jievos rrjv efjuavrov TV^TJV, KCLI rbv ftiov ov e\a%pv. JToXtreuoyw/at [j,ev ij&r) rocravra eTrj, ovbev \6<y(p ovre epyw, Svvd/j,6vos, eTrur^eva) Se rrjv <f>t\oo-o(j)Lav /cal ra /MLOrj/jLara, dfi &v ovSev TrXeov eariv rouyapovv ev rot? fj,ev rwv a\\a)v eTriTrjSevfjUKTW OVK 6700 Setvor ev ol? Be eyo) Seti/09, ovbev ecntv 0^)6X09. EVTV^OJ jjievroi ra fjuejiara' T) yvvr) dyaOr), ra re/cva vyialvet,' CLTTO roov ^aOrj^drcov o-a)(f>pove(7Tepo<; t«7Q)9 teal oaiwrepos yeyova TTJV ^frv^tjv.
During the following days, vix ulla studia. On the 19th an election committee, Inverkeithing.
During this month of February I have been indo- lent. Being now sworn in as a member of the House of Commons for the fourth time, 1 was mortified at
114 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
perceiving that I never could be capable of acting a part in public life. I felt that I was out of my place,, and engaged in a department for which I was not fitted. But I consoled myself with the consideration that I might become a writer.
March 1. Finished the seventh book of Eusebius' Praep. Evangel., being almost half the whole work. But now I am so occupied with business, that I lay aside these studies till a season of more leisure.
March 3. My love of letters begins to revive, which has been dormant or extinct for some time past ; and an inward alacrity and cheerfulness consequently suc- ceeds to that spirit of despondency and dissatisfaction which I have lately felt. I perceive that I can never be a public speaker ; but I observe that those whose lives have been passed as eminent public speakers, have not, in general, the faculty of being good writers : they generally fail in purity of style and language, points in which they might especially be expected to excel. Mr. Pitt weakened the effect of his speeches by attempting to retouch those of them which ap- peared in print ; and the published specimens of his eloquence do not justify to us who have not heard him the splendid testimony of his auditors. Mr. Fox, when he applied himself to written composition, produced the feeble and languid history of James the Second. The style of Mr. Wilberforce, in his treatise
ORATORS AND WRITERS. 115
on Christianity, is verbose and heavy, and never rises above mediocrity. Although therefore I have not faculties for public speaking, which requires extem- pore powers, yet I may be capable of written com- position, which is the fruit of meditation, diligence, care, and labour.
Nor is it perhaps to be granted that oratory is ne- cessarily the highest effort of the faculties of man : it is only an exhibition of them in a particular form. The orator possesses from nature or practice the ta- lent of putting forth all his powers at once ; the writer produces his best efforts by meditation, time, and revision of his subject. But in a comparative estimate of genius, it will be inquired, not by what steps excellence is reached, but at what point of excellence men arrive at last. The orator indeed is always regarded with more indulgence than the wri- ter can hope to receive. He possesses the advantage of being only measured against his contemporaries. He who is the best orator of his own age acquires all the present benefits that eloquence can confer. Demosthenes and Cicero were no more than this; although the standard of excellence in different times and countries may have been very different. But the writer, on the contrary, is compared with the compositions of other times and countries. He is measured with those who have cultivated the same
116 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
kind of writing in all past times ; and the wit and genius of ages are set in the balance against him. The standard, then, of excellence is more denned and ascertained, and more difficult to be reached, in writ- ten compositions, than in eloquence. The one is ab- solute, the other relative. He who is eminent as a public speaker, owes much of his fame to particu- lar circumstances : but the reputation of a writer is founded upon a higher kind of merit.
I will not, then, because Nature has denied me the gifts of an orator, unwisely overlook or neglect the advantages and the usefulness of that literature of which I may yet be capable. There is a field in which I may still successfully labour. One advan- tage, and that the highest of all, I have already gained by literary occupations. Nine years are this day completed since I returned to these occupations upon my arrival in Dean's Yard, after the events in 1810. In surveying my own mind during that pe- riod, I perceive that whenever I have been occupied and interested in literary labours, I have been safe, and innocent, and satisfied, and happy. But those periods in which I have deserted my habitual stu- dies, have been intervals of danger, of temptation, of discontent, of evil thoughts. Can I have a stronger motive for continuing that course of stu- dies ? or shall I say that my labours have failed in
VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS. 117
being profitable, even though they produce no re- turns of fame or interest ?
March 4. Libris coemendis occupor. House of Commons.
6th. I dined with the Speaker. During the last three days began and finished Cicero ' Pro Cluentio.'
7thj Sunday. Dies sobrie et OCTMW? actus : employed many hours in studying the Greek Testament.
&thr-I3th. In these days fere nulla studia : collect- ing, however, and meditating upon, the materials for future studies. Went in the evening (13th) to the Speaker's levee.
\4tthj Sunday. At the Abbey. Vix ullse hodie lec- tiones : quanquam S. Scrip, inspicio. Evening seg- niter actus.
15th-2Qth. Plutarch. House of Commons.
21 st, Sunday. Studied Sir Isaac Newton on Da- niel, and finished it in six hours.
22nd. Libris coemendis occupor : finished Plutarch's Demetrius. House of Commons : moved for a new writ for Boroughbridge, in the room of Mr. Lawson.
23rd-3lst. In these days occupied, ev Trapepyw, with Plutarch, and Mitford's History of Alexander.
April 1. Walked in the College garden, the first time this year; solus mecum meditans: rd re ira- povra, Kal ra Trpoyeyovora, ical ra eaopeva Seov re a
118 LITERARY JOURNAL. - 1819.
4th, Sunday. At St. Margaret's in the morning : T& @eo> pera TroXX?)? cvycovlas Trpocrev^dpevos, /SeXrtw TWO, vovv Kal <f)peva$ /ce/cTypcu, teal dyaOrjv e\7rlSa KOI
6th. Diligently engaged with Mitford's History, with Arrian's ' Indica ' compared.
6th. Finished Mitford's History of Alexander, be- ing his fifth volume 4to. House of Commons. At home in the evening : employed upon the Grecian History. The fifth volume of Mitford contains about 560 quarto pages (= pp. 1100) ; I have only had to compare with it Arrian's ' Indica' and Plutarch's 'Alexander.' This fifth volume of Mitford's work has the faults and merits of his former volumes. For the tale of Alexander's conquests he has made Arrian the basis, with his accustomed judgment in selecting authorities. By that test he has tried the other nar- ratives of Plutarch, Diodorus, and Curtius. In dates he is careless and negligent. On the whole, this vo- lume is a valuable addition to the preceding ones, and is far the best history of that wonderful period, the reign of Alexander, that has as yet been produced by any modern author.
12th. "Ev&ov d)v per diem pluviosum, redeo ad lec- tionem Eusebii : item Curtium lego. Evening, Fearon on America.
17th. Occupied during these days with Q. Curtius
REMARKS ON CURTIUS. 119
and Fearon on America. The two first books of Q. Curtius are lost, and a part of the tenth. What is extant, equal to about seven books and a half of the history, is contained in 452 pages, = 60 pp. to each book. I found Curtius a better author than I ex- pected ; his powers of description are admirable. In the main facts he agrees sufficiently with Arrian. His speeches are highly wrought; and in some of them he approaches to the excellence of Livy.
28/7*. During these past days diligently employed with Eusebius : also transcribed some extracts from Fearon' s ' America/ and read Cicero ' Pro Gaelic' and ' In Pisonem/
Ciceronis Orationes perlectse, horis subsecivis et eV Trapepyqy, inter Martii 2 et hunc diem.
Pro Lege Manilia .... pp. 38
Pro Cluentio 120
Pro Mursena 60
Pro Archia 18
Pro P. Sextio 97
Pro Cselio 50
De Prov. Consular 28
In Pisonem 60
Pro Milone 59
Pro Rabirio Postumo .... 23
Pro Marcello . 15
120 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
Pro Ligario 18
Pro Deiotaro 22
pp. 608
May 1-5. In these days, fere milla stadia; nisi quod Ciceronis ' Pisonianum 9 finivi; and read Rus- sell's ' History of Aleppo/ and Eusebius.
IQth. Finished Eusebius' Prsep. Evangel., with the abstract. Eusebii Prseparatio contains pp. 1100. This work employed me, amidst other occupations, from Feb. 9 to May 10.
Nine-tenths of this work of Eusebius consists of extracts from various authors ; and that portion which is the composition of Eusebius himself is of very little value. His style is feeble, diffuse, and obscure. He is a very bad reasoner. He is not always constant to his own purpose : having stated a proposition, he some- times forgets to prove it, and deviates into another track of argument. He devotes three books to prove that the Old Testament History was attested by pro- fane writers. To make out this proposition, he take's for granted that those profane Greek writers, who mentioned facts of Jewish history, derived them from independent sources, and not from the Scriptures themselves. In three other books, he undertakes to demonstrate that the Greek philosophy was derived
REMARKS ON EUSEBIUS. 121
from the Scriptures : and this he accomplishes by taking for granted a contrary assumption; — that, in any fact, any doctrine, even any form of expression, in which there is an affinity between the two, the philosopher transcribed from the Jewish sacred books. But these two assumptions destroy each other. If, where similar facts are mentioned in profane au- thors and in Holy Writ, the profane writer borrowed from the sacred, then the facts of Jewish history, mentioned by profane historians, were transcribed by them from the Jewish scriptures, and these profane historians cannot be appealed to as corroborating wit- nesses. If, on the contrary, the profane writers did riot draw from Scripture sources, in matters in which they agree, then the Greek philosophy, whatever its similarity, was not derived from the Jews.
This work however is highly valuable, not for any merit in the author, or rather compiler, but for the accidental circumstance of preserving to us so many curious fragments, not elsewhere extant. It has a value similar in kind, though inferior in degree, to that of the collections of Stobseus or Athenaeus.
I2th. Began Menagius ad Laertium, and the ' Hi- storia Critica Philosophorum/ Evening, ' History of Queen Elizabeth/
7/^. Proceeded with Laertius and Menagius.
122 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
To-day (17th), House of Commons, one to four: evening, House of Lords, eight to ten.
18^. Nulla studia. House of Commons, 5-2 A.M. Numbers, for Mr. Tierney 178, for Ministers 357. Able and brilliant speech of Canning ; Tierney's ex- cellent. Four members withdrew without voting, on the pretence of not understanding the import of the motion; 535 voted, and these, added to the tellers and the Speaker, made 544; a larger number per- haps than had ever been assembled before upon any question.*
21 st. Laertium diligenter, six hours ; and finished lib. viii. with Menagii Comment. Clergy Committee, 1-4.
22nd. Nulla studia : occupied with business : dined at the Archbishop of Canterbury's.
23rd. Saw the Duke of Newcastle, who called in Dean's Yard: conversation with him on political matters.
24^. Menagius ad Laertium, two hours. House of Commons, 4J-2 A.M. In the last thirteen days I finished the first and eighth books of Laertius with the Commentary of Menagius, and the second to
* The motion was, " That the House resolve itself into a Com- mittee of the whole House, to take into consideration the affairs of the nation." — Editor.
PARLIAMENTARY MATTERS. 123
the end of Archelaus ; cum notitia literaria philoso- phorum. Jam vero, negotia publica, curseque et vexationes urbis quotidianse me poscunt, et hsec stu- dia omitto ad alia tempera : invite a meis laboribus, quibus delector, quibus non impar sum, ad molestas et ingratas res, avocatus.
26th. Platonis Respub. : per-horas fere septem huic lectioni diligenter incumbens; et animum reficiens occupansque, et abstrahens a contemplatione rerum istarum quibus impar sum : ad hanc lectionem con- fugi, si forte animum confirmare et revocare possim.
29th. Platonis Rep. 11. viii. ix. x. Finished Plato's Republic in five days, pp. 403. By this diligent study I employed and refreshed my mind, averting it from the contemplation incommodorum qua me vexant.
31s/. Finished an abstract of Plato's Republic, and reviewed the whole work in the evening.
June 2. Called on the Duke of Newcastle, and had a conversation with him on Parliamentary matters. His Grace invited me to this interview ; the object of which was to recommend it to me to make a financial speech, on the question now pending in Parliament. He urged to me, with great kindness of manner, that if I was successful on the occasion, it might be of es- sential use to me, and, at all events, that it might be creditable. I replied with suitable expressions of ac- knowledgment for the interest he took in my con-
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124 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
cerns; that His Grace had been led to think too fa- vourably of my sufficiency in this respect ; that I was, in truth, not versed in financial subjects ; that I felt myself to be destitute of the gift of public speaking, and of the requisites for succeeding in debate ; that I should never do justice to the subject. I added, that if I had any faculties, it was with my pen, rather than with my tongue, that I could be efficient* The Duke kindly accepted these excuses ; our conversation, freely and without formality, turned upon other topics ; and when I took my leave, we separated with mutual ex- pressions of cordiality. The Duke informed me that he had been led to take this view, and to mention the matter to me, by the representations of my father last year, who gave him to understand that I was com- petent upon financial subjects, and that I was ambi- tious of an official post in the Treasury ; " and this is to be obtained," he added, "by making yourself known to the Ministers and useful to them."
3rd-5th. In these three days began and finished Theonis Progymnasmata, pp. 88 ; reviewed Demosth. Midian. English reading.
7th. Demosthenes : House of Commons, five to half- past one A.M., division on the new taxes ; numbers, for Ministers 329, against 142.
8th-I2th. Demosthenes ' De Corona;' ^Eschines, 1 Fals. Legat/; Aristotle, ' Historia Animalium/
125
These studies were continued until the 17th. On this day we completed nineteen weeks in Dean's Yard, quo spatio hsec studia.
GILECA. Euseb. Prsep. Evang. . . .pp. 1100
Platonis in Repub 403
Theonis Progym 88
Aristot. Hist. Anim 319
1910
LATINA.
Curtius pp. 452
Ciceronis Or. xiii 608
1060
Perlegi about ten Lives of Plutarch ; the first, second, and eighth books of Laertius, with Menagius. Inspexi the \6joi avrl7ra\oi of Demosthenes and j3Eschines, and the Midian.
English works : Russell's ' Aleppo;' Mitford's fifth volume ; part of Bruce' s Travels ; Fearon's ' America.'
ISth. Occupied in packing ; House of Commons^ on the taxes^ seven to half-past two A.M.
I9th. We left Dean's Yard, and reached Welwyn at half-past two, after an absence of nineteen weeks and two days. Hoc spatium urbe actum gratus remi- niscor, in quo multa et magna beneficia in me cumu-
126 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
lavit iterum Deus. Id solum ingratum in hac airo- &r)lj,ia, quod valet udine parum robusta usus sum : item patris valetudinem labefactatam video : hsec duo aTjSrj sunt ; csetera omiiia evScufjiovw.
22nd. Per hoc spatium nulla studia ; igitur animus vacans malis cogitationibus.
2Sth. Completed Preface to Part I. of Chron. Gr., after many revisions. During the last few days, Aris- totle, Hist. Animal.
30th. Began the Table of Events, etc., Chron. Gr. I. s. 3.
July 1-10. During these days, with many inter- ruptions, proceeded with Chron. Gr., and Assyrian and Babylonian Chronology : Kings of Sparta.
The composition of the First Part of my Chrono- logy has been the principal object of my studies for the last eighteen months, when I began the subject at Cromwell, in January 1818. I now lay it aside till my return to our own home, since this compilation can only be advantageously pursued when all the ne- cessary books are at hand. I think that this first part may be brought within the compass of about 200 quarto pages : I have completed a quantity equal to about 150 pages ; a fourth part of the work there- fore remains to be performed. For the completion of the First Part the following works must be read and carefully studied, and extracts made from them : —
PLANS OF FUTURE STUDY. 127
Pindarus, cum Scholiast. Apollodorus, cum Heynii notis. Hesiodus, cum Scholiis. Corsmi, Natse Grsecorum. Dissertationes Agonisticse.
For the completion of the Second Part, whenever I shall be able to resume it, the following studies are yet wanted : —
Corsini, Olymp. 100-125.
Diodori libri de Philippo et Alex, successoribus.
Vitse X Oratorum.
Laertii, cum Menagio, libri ii.— vii.
These 200 pages will not include the Critical His- tories of the Poets and Philosophers. The Second Part I should calculate at the same quantity of pages, excluding likewise from the estimate the Critical His- tories of Authors. The Second Part alone was my original object; I began to compile it in April 1810. The First Part (comprising the times which precede Pisistratus) was not in my first design : it was intro- duced as an appendage to the Second Part, and has gradually grown into its present form, and into the bulk of a volume. These two Parts, included per- haps in 400 quarto pages, are in great forwardness, and I can anticipate their completion as probable, and within my reach. Twenty months of health, leisure,
128 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
and of application, with access to the proper books, would enable me to finish them for the press. But a great portion of my nine years' labour has been given to the collections for the Critical Histories of Ancient Greek Authors ; and this part of my scheme is far from being in an equal state of forwardness. It would demand much more time, leisure, and fa- culties, than I can reasonably expect : and I cannot imagine that it will remain for me to bring this to perfection. Most probably, what I have collected for the literary history of authors will be reserved for the use of others, who may profit by my labours.
12th. In the evening, solus meditor per horam ves- pertinam in meis arvis : Deum laudans ob prseterita, opemque orans in posterum.
\4ith. We left Welwyn soon after six o' clock, with our four children, and travelled through Coventry, Shrewsbury, and Capel Cerig, to Bangor, which we reached on the 17th to breakfast.
I9th. Nondum ad studia revertor ; et animus in- quies, //,e\a7^oAo9, aversatur et odit literas solitosque labores : Seivws <f>o^7]0el<; Trepl TO ^i\\ov.
2Qth. Began Callimachus, in ed. Ernestina ; quan- quam animus impar videtur oneri et lectionibus soli- tis, nondum vim et vigorem suum recuperans.
24th. Pursued the study of this author at every lei- sure interval during these five days; animus paul-
FILIAL PIETY. 129
latim reficitur viresque recuperat; quanquam adhuc
25th. Began the ' Ecclesiastical History ' of Euse- bius, in the edition of Stroth, octavo.
28th. In these days, Callimachus, and finished the Hymns. Sex hymni continent versus 1083. Began the Epigrams of Callimachus.
August I, Sunday. Received the Sacrament :
GTI Be teal irepl TJ?9 C/JLCIVTOV vyielas
2nd-6th. In these days, Callimachi fragmenta; item Eusebii Eccles. Hist., with Lardner.
7th. Eusebius, lib. iii. Animus ad studia alacrior ; unde l/coifjLrjdr] ra ^dkeTra /cal $ixrKo\a evdv/jL^ara.
IQth. I passed the day with Mr. Assheton Smith at the Lake Llanberis. The party were Lord Manners, Mr. Bertie, and Mr. P., Mr. S., and myself. I went on horseback through Pentis to Penrhyn, and re- turned in the evening. The day and scenery were delightful, and the expedition was very gratifying.
1 7/^-2 ls£. Eusebius : finished his eighth book.
22nd. This has been a day of great uneasiness and sorrow, in consequence of accounts which my sister has sent me from Cromwell of the declining health of my father. Reviewing the last twenty years of my life, at Oxford, at Cromwell, or in Dean's Yard, I remember, with regret and gratitude, the happy
G 3
130 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
security, the tranquillity, the abundance, which has been diffused over the whole of this period of my life, by the gentleness, the suavity, the benignity, the liberality of this indulgent parent. My soul is full of heaviness at the thought that possibly we may be destined soon to lose him. I have this evening ad- dressed an earnest prayer to God that he would par- don any omissions of filial duty or attention towards my father, of which I may have at any time been guilty; and that His providence would yet awhile preserve to us so valuable a life.
23rd-25th. Proceeded with Eusebii Eccles. Hist. The Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Fisher) and his family arrived on a visit at the Palace.
The ten books of the History of Eusebius contain pp. 537; the piece fDe Marturibus Palestine/ pp. 43, = pp. 580. Began this work July 25th : it oc- cupied me twenty-four days, with an abstract, and Lardner.
26th. Began Josephus on the Jewish War. Heard that my father had gone to Harrogate.
September 8. Employed since August 26th on Jo- sephus ( De Bello Judseorum/ which I finished this day. This book is most valuable, eloquent, and in- teresting. The first Book, which is almost twice as long as any of the others, gives a summary view of Jewish affairs from Antiochus Epiphanes to the death
VISIT TO SNOWDON. 131
of Herod. In the second Book the Jewish History is pursued to the end of the first campaign of the War, A.D. 66. The two next Books continue the History from Vespasian's appointment to his assump- tion of the Empire, A.D. 69. The two next contain an ample and accurate account of the siege, which lasted 144 days. The seventh and last Book con- tinues the narrative to the final reduction of the re- maining forts and strongholds, which was accom- plished about Easter, A.D. 73.
9th-llth. In these three days I read (once over) the five books of Tacitus Hist.
13th. I went with the Bishop of Salisbury's family, and a party, up Snowdon. The ascent to the top of Snowdon is a distance of something less than five miles from the Lake of Llanberis, to the summit of the mountain. The first three miles, though rough and stony, are not steep ; the last mile and a half, partly over the turf which covers the side of the mountain, is more steep. The top of Snowdon is a pointed crag, having a level space of not more than ten or twelve yards in circuit, with a steep and al- most precipitous descent on all sides. We were three hours in ascending the mountain, and reached the top about three o'clock. Unfortunately, the pro- spect was obscured by clouds, and we saw nothing of the objects to be discerned from that elevation. A
132 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
few yards below the summit, on the eastern side of the mountain, a small hut has been constructed of rude stone, for the convenience of viewing the rising sun. The descent from the top to the Lake of Llan- beris may be performed in an hour and a half. We arrived at the Palace at ten o'clock at night.
I4ith. Hodie nulla studia.
15th. Retractavi Taciti Hist.
I6th-I7th. Proceeded with Tacit., quanquam lente.
23rd. Finished the re-perusal of Taciti Hist., with an abstract, and the notes of Ernest, pp. 307. Opus gravissimum et prsestantissimum.
24<th-3Qth. Read Hippocrates.
27th. NvKTcop KCLI irpan yLteXo^oXt/co? o-cfroSpa,' Set,- vco? rapaTTO/Jievos /cal <j)o/3ovfjbevo$ Trepl r&v yevrjaoiJLe- vcov ev TV flip. Sed, lectionibus et studiis acriter incumbens, et Hippocratem per horas sex diligenter tractans, reficior.
October 3. Received the Sacrament. Dies tran- quilla acta.
4th-llth. Hippocrates. Began this day to remodel the Grecian Chronology, Introduction, lib. i., the ar- rangement of which is defective. I propose, among the first literary occupations, after we shall return to Welwyn, to re- write the whole of this Introduction. The entire Essay should be arranged in a different order : the notes, for the most part, incorporated in
LITERARY PROJECTS. 133
the text; and the authorities, especially Strabo, be compared anew. But, as a due preparation, let Apollodorus, with the Commentary of Heyne, be care- fully read over ; and Hesiod, with the Scholia. The Introduction, lib. i., may be well comprised in twenty quarto QIC forty octavo pages.
November 10. Quanquam his diebus Tapa^al -n}? tyvxris; attamen literis me consoler, lectionibusque Grsecis animum occupo et confirmo.
I6th. Four months are now completed since we arrived here. During this period, my studies have been as follows (July 13th-November 16th) :—
GR^ECA. Callimachus, w. 1400 . . .pp. 47
Eusebii Hist. Eccles 580
Josephi Bellum . pp. 439
...... 81 '
Hippocratis 1482
Dionysii Periegetis vv. 1186 . . 40
Eustathii Comm. in Dionys. . 326
Libanii Orationes viii . . . . 217
3212
LATINA.
Taciti Hist. Reliquia .... 307
Therefore, in four months, 3519 pp. have been com- pleted, or 879 per month.
134 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
On the Sundays of the past month, and of this month to 14th inclusive, I was employed, in the in- tervals of divine service and in the evenings, on the Minor Prophets, Newcomers translation.
18th. The Bishop, Henry Majendie, and myself, left Bangor at five in the morning, and arrived in Dean's Yard on the 20th.
23rd. The meeting of Parliament. Attended at the House of Lords at 2 o'clock : heard the Regent deliver his speech. Present at a debate in the House of Commons from 4 till half-past 3 A.M.
24ith. Called at the Bishop of Salisbury's. House of Commons till 5 the next morning.
25th. Called on the Duke of Newcastle, with whom I conversed half an hour.
26th. Called on General Craufurd. Dined at the Bishop of Salisbury's.
27th-29th. Passed these days at Welwyn. Re- turned to Dean's Yard.
SQth. My father and mother arrived in London. Called on the Duchess Dowager of Newcastle : sat half an hour. Evening, House of Commons till one.
December 2. House of Commons till three in the morning.
4<th. The Bishop, Henry, and myself, dined with the Bishop of Salisbury.
5th. Called upon the Dean of Westminster, Sir
REMARKS ON ISOCRATES. 135
William Welby, Bishop of Salisbury, and Sir George Hewitt.
7th. Finished the supplement to Isocrates (having read it at intervals during these days). This book occupies pp. 53, edit. Orellii : making the whole ora- tion pp. 131. This supplement is equal to the best passages in all Isocrates, both for style and matter. Isocrates (pp. 62-64) mentions his pupils by name; and mentions also (pp. 66-70) Timotheus, who was now dead, enumerating his great actions. Compare these particulars with the memorials of those times.
IQth. Occupied in packing. Dies conficiuntur xxi hodie ex quo hue devenimus : tempus negotii oc- cupatissimum, vanis laborious corporis exercitatum. Hoc autem spatio quanta mihi beneficia a Deo cu- mulata ! Uxorem, quanquam absentem, amantem, crebris literis suam in me benevolentiam significan- tem, habeo. Liberi salvi sunt; quos Deus prsesens ubique tuetur ! Valetudo supra solitum firma ; et non modo laboribus par, sed etiam labore corrobo- rata. Quinetiam ea est Dei benignitas, ut, ne in ten- tationem inducar, effecerit. Te, Deus, oro, laudans et gratus agnoscens tua maxima in me beneficia per annos ferme quadraginta in me collata, in posterum ut me meosque tueare, salvosque et innocentes, vita, moribus, ammo, corpore, conserves. Da, omnipotens revera Parens et Conditor, liberis nostris vitam, sa-
136 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
lutem, suisque annis animi corporisque integras fa- cilitates; uxori mese valetudinem firmam; fortunis nostris stabilitatem ; mihi ipsi ut cum corpore sano animum sanum habeam, ut in illis laboribus studi- isque quibus par sum, ita elaborem, ut nomen Tuum, si fas est, scriptis verbisque illustrem, meum animum bonis disciplinis confirmem, ad humaniores literas aliquid quod publice prosit addam, meorumque libe- rorum usibus, quantum liceat, consulam.
11^. The Bishop and myself set out at half-past ten from Dean's Yard, and reached Dunchurch at half-past five.
I2th. We reached Wolverhampton to dinner.
I3th. We left Wolverhampton at six o'clock, and reached Llangollen at five. Evening : tristibus cogi- tationibus anxius sum, quse per multum quoque iti- neris me exercuerunt, et vexaverunt.
\4ith. We left Llangollen at seven, and arrived at Bangor at five : found all quite well. Modo det Deus ut hsec bona et fausta indicia permaneant !
31s£. My literary occupations have been grievously interrupted this year by our long absences from home, and by Parliamentary attendance. We have only passed sixty days at Welwyn in the whole of this year. In these nine weeks, I pursued, as diligently as I could, the Greek Chronology, Part I. During the rest of the year I have had no access to my books,
SUMMARY OF STUDIES IN 1819. 137
and have been obliged to lay aside collation or com- position. In the meantime,, I have used these inter- vals of absence in reading, as follows : —
Plato, Repub pp. 403
Aristot., Hist. Anim 319
Isocratis 78
Josephi Bell. Jud. . . 439 )
-Vita. ... 81 j
Hippocratis 1482
Eusebii Prsep. Ev. . . 1100|
- Hist.E. . . 580)
Theonis Progymn 88
Callimachus 47
Dionysius Perieget 40
Eustathii Schol 326
Libanii 217
Summa . 5200
LATINA.
Ciceronis Orat 913
Curtius 452
Taciti Hist. 307
Summa . 1672 Graeca. . 5200
6872
138 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
OTHER STUDIES.
Corsiui, Fast. Att., Dissert. 1-9. Olympiad 1-100.
R/elegi Plutarchi Vitas fere decem.
Laertii lib. i. ii. viii., cum Menagii commentario.
Demosthenes et .ZEschines, \6yovs avrnraXovs, et Midianam inspexi in ed. Wolfii.
Russell's Aleppo, 4to ; Mitford's fifth volume, 4to; part of Brace's Travels ; Fearon's America.
De situ et origine Syracusarum, cum Philisti et Timsei fragmentis.
In theological studies I yet find in myself great deficiencies. I am satisfied upon many important points ; in many others I seek for further informa- tion. I entirely believe the divinity of Christ, and am satisfied as to the nature of the redemption which he accomplished for us. I am persuaded that I have a just apprehension of these two grand points of doctrine, and that they are perfectly consistent with reason and with natural religion.
In the Old Testament history I have satisfied my- self as to the chronology. The result of my collec- tions should be set forth in a fair transcript, in pro- per columns. I am not yet sufficiently familiar with the Prophets and the Psalms. These must be stu- died with such helps as are available to me (Lowth's Isaiah, Horsley's Psalms, etc.). If I ever learn ano-
THEOLOGICAL REMARKS. 139
ther language, it shall be the Hebrew : a language so necessary to the full and clear apprehension of the Old Testament. It would be desirable to follow, through the Pro-Nicene Fathers, the doctrine of the Divinity of the Son, and the Personality of the Holy Spirit. Lardner deals with only one argument, the genuineness of the sacred text, in his copious and valuable extracts. But Routes edition of the Frag- ments may be useful.
I seem to myself to have passed this year unprofit- ably. My most valuable acquisition has been the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius. The 'Prseparatio' is a useful work, but of inferior value to the other. In the one, he is a witness or a reporter of authentic and almost contemporary testimony; in the other, he is merely a literary collector, and not always a ju- dicious one. I have described this work above (see page 120).
For the rest, what I have read ought rather to have been the occupation of leisure-time, and the appendage of greater studies, than the employment of a studious year.
I have now gone through almost ten years of lite- rary occupations, in which period, pp. Grsecse 33,700 + 5,200 = 38,900. Including the three months to Easter 1820, I may compute the whole at 40,000, or 4000 pages annually. In these studies, the prepara-
140 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1819.
tion for composition and for practical application, I shall have passed from my thirtieth to my fortieth year. Let me not however be impatient ; but rather praise God for the health and leisure and literary op- portunities which I have enjoyed. Warburton passed eighteen years — from thirty to forty-eight years of age — in studious abstraction, and in accumulating materials for the works which he afterwards pro- duced.* Let me then prepare for the future with pa- tient industry, and zeal, and diligence, qualities which are in a man's own power ; and let me never think these studies unrecompensed, if they enable me to spiritualize my mind, to detach myself from the sen- sualities of the world, to enlarge my views of God and his Providence, to confirm my belief in his re- vealed will, and to perfect my understanding in his Written Word.
I think I began this year with a sort of vague idea (derived perhaps from an interview which my father had with Lord Sidmouth) that I might possibly at- tain some official post. After the experience of ano- ther year, I have now entirely abandoned that idea : I neither expect nor desire such a thing. As to the higher official stations, I am convinced that I am not fit for them ; and as to the lower offices, they are not fit for me. A Government office, with duties to be
* See December 4, 1820.
REFLECTIONS ON OFFICIAL LIFE. 141
performed in London, would impair my health, waste my spirits, and withdraw me from that literature by which I am best able to be useful to myself or others : neither would it ultimately benefit my family, be- cause an increased income would only bring with it an increased expenditure. I have no reason there- fore for desiring such an office, were it within my reach. It would give me no pleasure, for I have ex- amined my own mind, and find myself to be destitute of political ambition. As to the temporal welfare of my children, I shall best provide for it by a frugal management of that which I possess ; — a provision beyond anything that I could expect or hope for; — a provision, for which I am bound to pour forth my daily acknowledgments of thanksgiving to Him who has bestowed it.
1820.
January 1-3. Per hos omnes dies nulla studia om- nino. Only occupied with accounts and my journal, since December 29.
4>th-6th. During these days, Suetonius. 6th. An- niversary of our marriage. Nonum annum hodie au- spicamur : summa cum concordia octavus annus fini- tus est; neque quidquam desiderari potest. Modo valetudo ejus confirmetur ! modo valeant vigeantque liberi nostri !
142 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1820.
6th-I3th. Suetonius. Suetonius is a most valuable writer ; a diligent and faithful investigator of facts. Tacitus and Suetonius confirm eacli other in most instances : nor is their disagreement even in minute particulars so great or so frequent as the commen- tators affect to discover. He is most copious in the three first Lives. The six last are more briefly told, and are divided into the seventh and eighth books of the work, making in quantity scarcely a fourth part of the whole history. Minute and dili- gent in all that relates to the personal history of the Emperors-, he touches upon public events only inci- dentally and briefly ; rather alluding to them, as al- ready known to his readers, than detailing them at large. His many allusions to the manners and cus- toms of the Romans, and to the domestic habits of the Emperors, make him an obscure and difficult author.
14/A. Dies natalis. Tristis animus nescio quae prsesagit mala, et e\nri§u TIVI TOV (j)6/3ov deprimitur : quanquam annum proxime exactum respiciens, TroXXa e^o) peydXa, vnrep a)V ol'Sa. ra> ®ea> TJ]V yapiv. Igitur te, Deus, laudemus, et grati tanta beneficia agnosca- mus; et, si quid eV T&> //.eXXoyrt %/OO^CD nobis ob- scurum sit, satis fidenter tuam expectemus providen- tiam, qui me tot per annos salvum prsestitisti. Tu me formasti atque in lucem prodire jussisti : tu mihi
REFLECTIONS AND PRAYERS.
143
sensum, vitamque et intellectum largitus es; tu me in primis pueritise annis conservasti : tu mihi per ju- ventutem meam gravibus inquinatam facinoribus pe- percisti, et leniter admonens ad te errantem revocasti : tu in his matrimonii nostri temporibus octo jam per annos servasti. Nefas omnino impiumque fuerit, du- bitare, quin tu, qui me infantem formasti, qui puerum educasti, qui juvenem sustinuisti, qui virum benefi- ciis ornasti, inque annum quadragesimuni perduxis- ti, etiam in posterum servare atque tueri, et potueris et velis. A prseteriti temporis beneficiis hoc saltern fructus capiamus, ut bene speramus de futuro. Per reliquos annos, quicquid adhuc vitse fuerit, quod mihi dare decrevisti, nihil desperandum, te duce, te provi- dente nobis, te regente et moderante res humanas. Quanquam enim multo magis quam antea obnoxius sim vulneribus, quanquam plurimis telis violabilis in tot cara capita grassantibus (quoniam me uxore libe- risque auxisti), — nam olim solus coelebsque solitudine mea tutus et tectus eram ; — at tu tamen idem seter- nus rerum omnium Conditor et Sospitator, immensa benevolentia et pot estate polles.
I7th-22nd. In these days, collections, or at least re- miniscences, de Concilia Amphictyonico : Ovid. Fasti.
23rd, Sunday. Read diligently part of a treatise of Dr. Hales, ' On Faith in the Holy Trinity* (two volumes, octavo, 1818).
144 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1820.
25th. Finished Ovid. Fast., lib. vi., vv. 4972 = pp. 165; dies occupavit tec lectio viii nonique partem; cum notis ed. Vario, 1702, a most incorrectly printed edition.
26th-27th. Read Hales on the Trinity.
28th. Researches on the " Shepherd Kings" of Egypt.
SQthj Sunday. In the evening, Hales on the Trinity, and finished it : legi Epistolam ad Hebrseos in textu Grseco.
3Ist. Hoc mense (January 1-31) haec'studia : —
Suetonius . . . pp. 406 ")
r Ovid. Fastor. ... 165 )
Hales on the Trinity, two vols. octavo.
This first month of the year has been passed in great leisure and tranquillity at Bangor. But our long abode at the Palace is now drawing to a close. On the 3rd of February we shall have been settled here two hundred and one days, from our arrival on July 17th. For myself I must deduct the month that was passed in London. We spent almost eight months here in 1812 ; almost seven months in 1815 ; almost five months in 1817. All these four periods abound with interesting, grateful, and pleasing recollections. Even my literary occupations, though not so effectu- ally prosecuted as they perhaps would have been at
RECOLLECTIONS OF BANGOR. 145
home, have not been altogether unprofitable. The first visit is marked by Josephus, Arrian, and Euripides ; the second by Apollonius Rhodius, Aristot. Politic., and Heyne's Homer ; the third, by Lycophron and the ' Philosophica' of Cicero ; and this last, by Cal- limachus and Eusebius. Our children have been well and cheerful. We have been free from domestic cares ; we have possessed the disposal of our own time and leisure. I quit Bangor with regret ; most pro- bably I shall never see again a place so interesting to me. As our children grow up, we must bid adieu to long and distant excursions, which would prejudice their due education and discipline. As our family advances in growth, I find the cares of life multiply upon me : rjS?? yeyova Sia 7ro\\wv oS&v aXtwo-tyto? T5 r^XO- Perhaps I can hardly anywhere expect in future another entire seven months of uninterrupted tranquillity and leisure. I may look to have my li- terary labours broken off or frustrated, my views of domestic ease and comfort disappointed; sed ista omnia yevvatcos vTropevew xptf-
We are about to visit the scenes of my early life, —Nottingham, Southwell, Cromwell; a visit much desired ; but, now that the time is at hand, I feel that I must not expect too much satisfaction.
February 1. Early in the morning news arrived at
H
146 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1820.
Bangor of the death of George the Third, on January 29th, at Windsor.
3rd. We left Bangor at half-past seven. I took my leave of Bangor most unwillingly, and with much regret, after a pleasant residence of almost twenty- nine weeks. We reached Llangollen in the evening.
4th. Travelled through Ellesmere, Whitchurch, and reached Stone at six.
6th. Arrived at Nottingham at five, and were most kindly received by Dr. and Mrs. Wylde.
10th. We remained at Nottingham till this day, when we took our leave, and passed through South- well to Cromwell. I look back with pleasure and re- gret upon this visit at Nottingham ; which, but for the illness of our children during our stay there, would have been truly delightful to me, from the early recollections which it awakened, and from the kindness and affection of Mrs. Wylde to me and my wife and children. She took leave of us with much emotion. We passed an hour at Southwell, and, the day being fine, walked round the church and into the parks. After this agreeable view of Southwell we reached Cromwell, and found my father and mother quite well. My anxiety about the children and about the approaching election prevented me from enjoying my return to a place so interesting to me, or feeling
GENERAL ELECTION. 1820. 147
the kind welcome with which we were received, so sensibly as I ought to have done.
12th. Adhuc nulla studia : nee otio, nee ingenio, nee animo suppetente.
\^th. Began Matthiae Gram. Grace, (two volumes octavo) .
19^. I had scarcely been ten days settled at Crom- well when a summons from Clumber withdrew me from my literary leisure. Arrived at Clumber, with my father and mother and my sister Emma. The Duke and Duchess received us, and treated us most kindly.
22nd. I set out with Captain Mundy from Clum- ber for Boroughbridge, where we arrived at half-past four.
23rd. Engaged in canvassing at Boroughbridge and Aldborough. In the evening we proceeded to Wetherby.
24th. We arrived at Cromwell.
25th-29th. The Clumber family at Kelham, where we called on the 26th. Matthias Grsec. Gram, at in- tervals ; quanquam ob negotia fere nihil lectionis per hos dies.
March 1-2. Matthias Graec. Gram, diligently.
3rd. I left Cromwell at half-past seven, reached Clumber at ten ; left Clumber, with Captain Mundy, at twelve ; arrived at Boroughbridge at eleven.
H 2
148 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1820.
4th. From two to five canvassing the two boroughs, walking the whole time in incessant snow.
5th, Sunday. We all went to morning service at Boroughbridge, and in the evening to Aldborough church.
6th. Canvassing.
7th. Election at Aldborough. For Antrobus and myself, 40 ; Pringle and Bryant, 7.
Sth. We dined with our constituents at Aldborough.
10^. Election at Boroughbridge ; deducting eleven doubtful votes, there were for Mundy and Dawkins 28, Lawson and Spooner 24.
llth. We all left Boroughbridge at half-past ten, and arrived at Clumber at seven.
12th-I3th. At Clumber; arrived at Cromwell at three.
16th. I have not looked into a book for this fort- night. This interruption of my usual studies has been prejudicial to me. While I am without a lite- rary object, my mind preys upon itself. Jam malse cogitationes, metusque ^repl TOV /xeXXoz/ro? : hsec me exercent, et vexant animum per hos duos dies maxime.
19th, Sunday. Ilpocrevxf} hmpd^rpf TOV Qeov, riva TTjv tyvyfiv IJLOV oi/CTeiprj.
20th. My love of literary occupation revives, and my mind is more composed : ravra be ovtc avev Seov, Sia 7T/oocref%%
AT CROMWELL. 149
2Ist-3Qth. In these days, amidst much visiting and interruptions, Matthiae and Libanius.
31st, Good Friday. Today VTTO Trovijp&v evnOvfjaaiv re /cal Siavoiwv €%p/jLat,' ovSe ev n ayaObv Trpdrrcov, tyvX*lv TupaTTOfJuevos /cal dbwarbs wv.
April 2. In the evening I read a short ' Vindica- tion of the Authorized Translation of the Bible/ by Mr. Todd, in answer to Sir J. Burges's ' Reasons in favour of a New Translation/
4th. Began the second volume of Matthise, Mar*ch 19th ; finished it today. Per hoc tempus inquietuni animus inhabilis ad studia; nee corpus valet, nee oculi sufficiunt, nee mens solita tranquillitate fruitur : tarde igitur procedimus.
5/^-1 5th. Per hos dies, Apollonius Trepl ^vvrdgecos. Began Apollonius on the 5th, and pursued the study of this author at intervals of leisure per dies x. A work, upon the whole, not very useful. The fourth book is not entire ; the third book, which treats of the syntax of verbs, is the most valuable.
16^, Sunday. Received the Sacrament at Crom- well church.
17 th. Occupied in preparing for our departure. My father and mother and Emma went to Clumber.
We have been sixty-eight days at Cromwell, since February 10. Of these I have been thirty-two days either absent or engaged; only therefore thirty-six
150 LITERARY JOURNAL. 1820.
days of real leisure and tranquillity. Igitur literse fere nullse ; attamen in his diebus iro\\a /cal ar/aOa- ra re/era, rqv ryvvcu/ca, ra TrpcvyfAara evScu/jLOVw.
ISth. We left Cromwell at half-past six, and reached Biggleswade at half-past six : eighty-six miles.
19th. We reached home at nine o'clock to break- fast.
2Qth-22nd. Occupied all these days at Welwyn in planning alterations.
24<th. We left Welwyn, and arrived in Dean's Yard at one.
25th. Went to the House of Commons, and took the oaths upon my fifth election. My father, etc., arrived, and the Bishop of Bangor.
27th. My wife and my mother went into the House of Lords. I went at two to the opening of Parlia- ment by the King, Address agreed to by both Houses without a division.
29th. Nulla studia saniora ; adhuc occupata mente rebus negotiisque.
May 1. Began Pindar cum Scholiis, ed. Heyne.
13th-14<th. Went to Welwyn; occupied with the buildings, etc., and returned.
ISth. Noctem insomnem. Hinc fortasse factum est ut