against the sea-voyage ; I wish we could have contrived to make the journey into Scotland together. We shall meet at Edinburgh, I suppose, towards the end of August. I thank Anne for her very kind letter; remember me to her very affectionately, and to my dear Mary. I am sorry to think that my father is not going to the sea-side; it always does my mother so much good. There is nothing for me to report about the circuit; my quarter is at the fag end of it, the week after next. I have had as usual some driblets of business in coming along. Ever, my dear Leonard, affectionately, I finish my letter at this castle, having come down yesterday with Courtenay. We go on to Ivy Bridge to-day. LETTER CLXXXIV. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. My dear Murray, Wells, 2d August, 1812. You are quite right not to move from Edinburgh, until you have full authority to do so from your physician. You must wait there till my arrival, and after that, I should like to have several days of rest, which it will be better for both of us to pass very quietly. I trust to your telling me faithfully, that the cause of your illness is removed; otherwise I should be uncomfortable. I have had the gratification of a very friendly letter from Brougham, in consequence of which I shall stay a couple of days at his house; after that, I leave the * The present Earl of Devon. whole distribution of the time I shall pass in Scotland to your direction. The only engagement I have made is a visit to Raith,* which I wish to pay when the General† is there. Dunkeld I should like much to see again, though I like the remembrance of it too well not to apprehend some disappointment. I fancy Leonard will take Mrs. Horner some way into the Highlands; and I think it would not be disagreeable to you, if we could contrive to meet them somewhere, and pass one or two days in that sort of scenery with them. They will be at Edinburgh in the course of this week, as they set out to-day; that is, set sail, for they have resolution enough to encounter the horrors of so long a voyage. Direct your next letter to me at Brougham's. I am not so well acquainted with Sir William Temple's writings, as I ought to be; what I know of them has given me a most favourable impression of his character. I have been reading, on the circuit, Rulhière's history of the troubles in Poland, which is a most interesting work; full of information with respect to many of the persons who disturbed Europe on the eve of the French revolution, and compiled with a great deal of skill in the narration, and much observation of the arti ficial characters that are to be seen in courts and in diplomacy. I am surprised that such a work has attracted so little notice in this country. It was published about five years ago, under the auspices of the French government, the author having died many years before; Bonaparte's schemes for Poland are plainly disclosed in the editor's preface, and very possibly some parts of the book may have been touched and coloured to serve The seat of Robert Ferguson, Esq., in Fifeshire. their purpose the events of the present campaign make the subject doubly interesting. Yours affectionately, FRA. HORNER. LETTER CLXXXV. FROM LORD WEBB SEYMOUR. My dear Horner, Bulstrode, 2d August, 1812. Whishaw has just left us. Having had a good deal of conversation with him upon the subject of your health, I am become very impatient to see you; for your case seems to bear a great resemblance to my own, and I think I might give you some useful hints, founded upon my own long experience. A letter, which Whishaw received from Brougham this morning, mentions your intention of reaching Westmoreland about the 12th. I understood from Murray that your circuit would finish on the 8th. Now, this allows you only three or four days for your journey down, and my first earnest advice is to avoid any such hurry in travelling. Before this letter arrived, I had schemed a plan for you far more prudent. I must set off for the North about the 20th. The Lansdownes are to go this week to Malvern, and to remain there till September. I would invite you to come to Bulstrode,* and to stay here, in perfect quiet, till I set off, were there not objections in the length of the journey eastward, and to your being thus brought within the temptations of the busy town. Let me only say, that if you will come to us, with a firm resolution to stay, we shall be most happy to see you. I will however propose another plan; that you should go from Bristol to Malvern, and remain with the Lansdownes till I * Then in the possession of the Duke of Somerset. come there, and take you up to proceed to the North. I will set you down at Brougham's, or carry you forward, as you may like best. With me you will be secure from all hurry; and ten days spent in the delightful society of the Lansdownes will do much to recruit you, after the fatigues of the circuit, which, I am confident, have been more than you had strength to encounter. Indeed, my dear friend, you must not trifle with your complaints. As I observed formerly, I am not alarmed by them, except in reference to your situation in life, and your habits. I well know the pain of submitting to inactivity, and am equally aware of the necessity of it, in such a case as yours. If you spend your autumn in rapid journeys, and a variety of animated conversation with minds in their full vigour, you will not regain health for the still more active exertions of the winter. Let me entreat, and insist, that you adopt my advice upon the present occasion. You cannot conceive the importance I attach to it. Yours ever affectionately, WEBB SEYMOUR. LETTER CLXXXVI. TO MRS. L. HORNER. My dear Anne, Newport in Gloucestershire, 8th Aug. 1812. I begin to wish very much to hear of an event which I trust has taken place by this time, your arrival at Edinburgh. I shall not receive the intelligence, which you will send for me to Brougham Hall, so early as I intended I should, when I gave you that direction; for I have made a small alteration in my plans, which will keep me a week later in the South. In order to have the chance of travelling most part of the way North with Serjeant Lens, I mean to loiter away about a week, and this sort of rest will be very grateful to me after the circuit. Where do you think I am going for this repose? to your own favourite Malvern; where I shall enjoy some of the very walks you used to take, and examine the hill with Leonard's description of it in my hand. The Sergeant is to be at Ross for some days, with his sister who lives there, and we are to meet at Leominster this will give me till next Saturday to stay at Malvern. I mean to stop at the Wells, and try to get rooms of some kind or other, where I can be alone, for the ordinary of a watering-place is not in the least to my taste; not that I mean to be absolutely alone either, for the Lansdownes went there yesterday, and have got a house, which you probably know by its absurd name, Pomona Cottage; and Lady Lansdowne's sister, Lady Elizabeth Fielding, has got our friend Mrs. Beddoes's house. I wish I had fixed upon this scheme in time to have received your particular instructions for walks and rides; for I do not send my horse back to London till I quit Malvern. When I come to Edinburgh, however, I shall compare notes with you. I have written to Fanny, to bid her send me, if she can find one, the separate copy of my dear Leo's memoir, that I may have it to walk out with. I expect to reach Brougham about the 20th, or soon after; your letter from thence, if you have written to me, will be forwarded to me. Yours, my dear Anne, very affectionately, FRA. HORNER. LETTER CLXXXVII. TO HIS SISTER, MISS HORNER. My dear Fanny, Edinburgh, 9th September, 1812. Leonard's letter to you more than a week ago explained to you why I have been so long of writing to |