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the pianoforte from Miss Christina, under a very agreeable illusion that he is thereby contributing to his philosophical stores. I like them all extremely, and the more for the many recollections that they have of you. My affectionate regards to Mrs. Murray; I am very happy to think that I shall see her so soon.

Ever yours truly,

FRA. HORNER.

LETTER CCIV. TO HIS SISTER, MISS HORNER.

My dear Fanny,

Bulstrode, 9th Sept. 1813.

I did not leave Cheltenham with Lord Webb till yesterday, and we came no farther than Oxford, where we slept. The morning unluckily was not favourable for going about, but we lounged a little among the venerable buildings. I shall stay here to-morrow; Rogers, and Mr. Stewart of Glasserton,* are of the party.

I spent a most agreeable ten days at Cheltenham ; from the first day I felt myself in a family party. We spent the whole day at Lady Carnegie's house at Bay's Hill, about a quarter of a mile from the town; by the whole day, I mean beginning with breakfast, and keeping it up till past midnight. In the morning as many as were disposed made out a ride or a long walk, before and after which there was some loitering under those old trees, and in the evening, after a genuine "four-hours," all round a table, we had music and waltzing; we, I say, for after some morning lessons from Miss Elliot, I was hardy enough to attempt to swing," and mock'd all tune, and marr’d the dancer's skill." In the course of our rides or walks, we saw the old abbey church at Tewksbury, the ruins

Now, The Right Hon. James A. Stewart Mackenzie: the present Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

of Sudely Castle, where Queen Catherine Parr lived, after her second marriage, and the ancient house of Squire Delabere, who, at eighty-three years of age, lives with a brother and two sisters, all very old, and all unmarried, being the last of a family which dates from the Conquest, and had a knighthood in it, for saving the Black Prince at Poictiers.

London, September 13th. So much of a letter was written to you last Thursday evening; the two days after that, which I stayed at Bulstrode, were consumed upon some unavoidable letters of business. I came yesterday to town with Rogers, a very entertaining companion at all times, by the original remarks he has been storing up all his life about the ways and modes of London, and the characters he has seen in it; and, when he is in the humour for showing his own real sentiments, an amiable and enlightened companion, as I found him yesterday.

I meant in that letter to have given you some account of the very agreeable ladies I passed my time with at Cheltenham; I might refer you to Murray for his opinion of Lady Carnegie, for through him I have known something of her for several years; but you may tell him that he had not exaggerated any thing in the praises he often bestowed upon her. She is an instance of the best Scotch female manners, affability, sincerity, a turn for speculation and inquiry, sprightliness of understanding as well as manner, united with a great relish for humour, and considerable execution in that way, and all refined and regulated by natural good sense, and the experience of good company. There is not a word of panegyric in what I am saying; it is but a very imperfect likeness of her. Nothing can be more delightful than to find such a character at the head of a very

large family, and to see all the cares and anxieties it must occasion borne so gracefully. I must not allow myself to write with the same truth of the young ladies, lest you become censorious; you have some notion of my taste, and what I require to be pleased, and will therefore guess that I should not have been so much gratified as I was, if I had not, besides an unusual degree of information, and that use of accomplishments which gives an air of elegance to common sense, and to good feelings, found in them a cheerful activity, and polished unaffected manners. This is what they have in common: they all differ however in character.

I am glad to hear you are reading regularly, — I should like much to know more particularly what your schemes are in that way. Besides the usual chances of new books and periodical publications that must be read as they are passing, in order that you may be up with other people in conversation, and indeed to profit most by conversation which derives excellent topics from these materials, I strongly advise you to have some settled plan of your own for the winter, in which a little may be done every day, by which a great deal will be found done at the end of the campaign, some one subject to be mastered thoroughly, by reading the best of all that relates to it, and keep it a secret to yourself, and Nancy, and me; for talking spoils all such undertakings, and cuts them short. If you take one, and Nancy another, there will be information upon both, for both of you, when you want it; and for me, too, when we all live together again; and one little scheme of that sort, fairly and well executed in the course of the year, will, at the end of two or three years, leave you in possession of more than you can dream of at present. While it is going on, nothing is

so satisfactory as to have that regular occupation to lean upon as a resource, for a portion of every day. I seem to have written you a monstrous wise letter in the latter part of it; for fear of getting too deep into the prosing line, it is high time I should stop. Yours affectionately,

FRA. HORNER.

LETTER CCV. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ.

My dear Murray,

London, 29th Sept. 1813.

I approve highly of your scheme, and shall have greater pleasure in the visit I have promised at Minto, by meeting you there. About the 12th or 13th I expect to arrive in that part of the world; though this is a little uncertain, for I cannot say to a day when the Sessions will be over. My visit must be a very short one indeed, for I am anxious to be in Edinburgh, and to pass as much as possible of the time I shall be in Scotland with my family.

I am impatient to have a talk with you about continental politics; about which, my warlike feelings have now spread from Spain to Prussia. It seems certain, that the immense loss of veterans and officers in the Russian campaign has, for a long time to come, impaired the vigour of the French soldiery; and also, that there is at last a strong national spirit roused into action in the north of Germany. The independence of those nations may yet be restored; and the Continent saved from that military despotism which two years ago seemed irresistible. But there are a thousand things to discuss, before you will allow me to acquiesce in this conclusion, I know; I am the more anxious to be kept right, because I suspect many of our Whig friends do

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not move so fast as I have been going for the last six weeks. What a singular fate is Moreau's! The loss of his advice to the allies, an incalculable injury. His military fame will probably be heightened with posterity, by the last passage of his life, not only for the confidence which Europe felt in his name, but for the greatness of that design with which he opened the campaign. His moral reputation is, according to my sentiments of such conduct, stained with guilt, by taking arms against his country; though there are casuists, and I know some rigid ones, who deny there is any indefeasible allegiance, and hold him to have been absolved by banishment; I cannot, however, see it in that light; and his joining the allies, like a Swiss, or a Condottiere, whether excited by hatred of Bonaparte or by love of arms, strikes me as one of the many instances which the French Revolution affords, though on occasions mostly of a different sort, of that deficiency of moral principle without which no historical greatness is to be attained. Ever yours affectionately,

FRA. HORNER.

LETTER CCVI. TO JOHN ALLEN, ESQ.

Dear Allen,

Edinburgh, 25th Oct. 1813.

Your account of the view which Lord Grenville is expected to take of Continental affairs, in a speech upon the first day of the session, has relieved me from an anxiety which I felt on that subject; for I have had fears, that we were to make the same false step respecting this German war, that has been so fatal to the party, and deservedly so, with respect to the Spanish cause. That the financial difficulties of the country will be increased by our embarking so deeply with the

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