ordered liberty. I am sure that I have no jealousy of this liberty in France, nor any undue prejudice against that people. On the contrary, from the circumstance of my reading having lain a good deal in French history and literature, I have acquired a sort of partiality to them, which makes me ready to forgive their great national faults. But I certainly have formed an opinion, that France has a better chance for tranquillity and permanence of government, and consequently for liberty, which never survives a series of incessant revolutions, under the Bourbon dynasty, than under any other dominion, which, in her present circumstances, was likely to arise. The strong and general desire for a liberal government, and aversion to the ancient absolute monarchy, made it, in my judgment, very unlikely that the court of Louis XVIII. or his successors could, for many years to come, materially infringe upon those privileges, which, as conceded in the charter of 1814, appeared to be sufficiently ample for the public welfare; and I saw a great advantage in adhering to the ancient family, and, as far as possible, to the ancient denominations and forms. As, in England, at the Revolution, it was absolutely necessary for our liberties to change the reigning family, because the national prejudices ran very strongly towards passive obedience and hereditary right; so I think it equally necessary, for the sake of permanent established government, and, consequently, of liberty in France, to preserve the hereditary title of her sovereign, because all those principles and sentiments which tend to the maintenance of actual establishments require to be strengthened. The moral securities of government are strict religious principles of obligation, sober and steady habits in domestic life, and the point of honour in keeping promises. All these are miserably weak in France;

and I see no means so likely to restore them, as the habit of paying obedience to government as legitimate, and even as prescriptive. Though the prejudices of one party, and the adulatory spirit of the people, may sometimes occasion a language to be spoken, repugnant to our Whig principles, yet, as France is, and must be, there would be, I think, little or no probability of an absolute power being established in the person of a Bourbon. These were my reasonings in last spring. What France may think, is quite another question. I have not space to enter on the vast topic before us. But I concur with you (though we stand nearly alone) in deprecating the dismemberment of that country; not only from its ultimate effects on Europe, but as the certain spring of new and more dreadful struggles. I do not much expect that any such event will happen. Russia, I now hear, and always expected, is taking a mediatorial line. She could gain nothing, except by arrangements on the side of Poland, to which the other two powers would hardly consent, for the sake of precarious acquisitions in Alsace. We go to-morrow to East Bourne. Let me hear from you there.

Faithfully yours,

HENRY HALLAM.

LETTER CCXLI.* FROM HIS MOTHER.

My dearest Frank, White House, Edinburgh, 28th July, 1815.

I have this moment had the very great comfort of receiving a letter from you. As your father and I have been rather uneasy from a letter Anne received from Leonard, wherein he mentioned your having been unwell, but at the same time said that you were better, your father wrote to you yesterday, and although not a

post day, the good man at the post-office said that they would forward it. Mr. Ker is up to every thing good and benevolent. Now, my beloved son, let me return you my most hearty thanks for your own well-timed friendship, and may I be thankful to Heaven for allow ing me to be your mother. I am infinitely more gratified than if you were raised to the highest office in the state, there you are liable to trouble and change, in your kindness to the widow and the orphan you have, and must have, an inward satisfaction far beyond any the other can bestow, and here your pleasure must be permanent. May God Almighty bless you, and preserve you as a blessing to all your family; you are considered as such by every member, and beloved with the most ardent affection.

The £20, which came quite safe, I shall not fail to give it in a way that I am bound to observe; at the same time, the person it is designed for is so deserving, that I think it a pity she should not know from whence it comes. But as to your fixing any annuity, I am against it, - every day convinces me how many changes take place, and how different people conduct themselves in these changes. Pray write and say how you are. By a kind note I had from Lord Webb Seymour with some fruit, he told me he had a letter from you of the 17th; but ease my mind. We all look forward to your visit to Scotland with delight. How I long to see my darling God bless you. Your father

- every one does so. and Anne unite, in every wish,

To your truly affectionate mother,

JOANNA HORNER.

24**

LETTER CCXLII. TO HIS MOTHER.

My dear Mother,

Bridgewater, 29th July, 1815.

I have received all your kind letters of anxiety and reproach about my not writing, but before I got the first of them, two were already dispatched from me, one of which was written the very hour I heard from you, after your long silence.

I was within a very few miles, at Exeter, of Bonaparte in Torbay; a number of people went down to get a glimpse of him, and all the worthies of Torquay, and the other watering-places, went out in shoals. Nobody was allowed to go on board; but they were happy to row round the ship at a little distance, and catch a sight of him as he walked the quarter-deck. How little did we dream of the possibility of such a change, when we were at Torquay; he was then in the midst of his plans and preparations for the invasion of Russia, the most wonderful of all his exploits after all, though it led directly to his fall. The only thing worth noticing of what I have heard respecting his behaviour on board the Bellerophon is, that he never made any allusion to political events.

You will believe I am much pleased with your accounts of Whitehouse*, and Anne and the children, and the happy time you and my father have been spending with them. You cannot be too minute or too frequent in such accounts, when you have leisure to report them to me at full length.

I was in hopes when I began this letter that I should have time to write to Fanny at least, if not to others of

My own residence near Edinburgh, to which I had recently removed from London. - ED.

the family, to all of whom I am in debt. But I must still put off payment, for I have some work to do. By way of compensation and a great deal more, I will enclose for you and them a letter to peruse, which you will particularly like, as it is full of horrors; it is from Charles Bell, giving me some account of his visit to Brussels, where he had the spirit to go for professional instruction, among the wounded, after the battle of Waterloo. It is written with great feeling, and with much genius, too, for observation, under the most overwhelming circumstances. Send it to me again with great care, for I should be sorry to lose it. My kind remembrances to my father and the whole tot.

Ever most affectionately yours,

FRA. HORNER.

LETTER CCXLIII. FROM CHARLES BELL, ESQ.*

My dear Horner,

July, 1815.

I write this to you, after being some days at home, engaged in my usual occupations, and consequently disenchanted of the horrors of the battle of Waterloo. I feel relief in this, for certainly if I had written to you from Brussels, I should have appeared very extravagant. An absolute revolution took place in my economy, body and soul; so that I who am known to require eight hours sleep, found first three hours, and then one hour and a half sufficient, after days of the most painful excitement and bodily exertion.

After I had been five days engaged with the prosecution of my object, I found that the best cases, that is, the most horrid wounds left totally without assistance,

* The late eminent anatomist, Sir Charles Bell.