“Your parcel reached me on Sunday evening, and I have
perused every line of its contents with deep and painful interest. The letters,
and your account (of which I should say much were I writing to any other
person), have made me thoroughly acquainted with one of the most amiable and
most admirable human beings that ever was ripened upon earth for heaven. Be
assured that I will not insert a sentence which can give pain or offence to any
one. There will come a time (and God only knows how soon it may come) when some
one will perform that office for me, which I am now performing for your
incomparable brother; and I shall endeavour to show how that office ought to be
performed. I will be scrupulously careful; and if, when the papers pass through
| Ætat. 33. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 67 |
“When I obeyed the impulse which led me to undertake this task, it was from a knowledge that Henry White had left behind him an example, which ought not to be lost, of well-directed talents, and that, in performing an act of respect to his memory, I should at the same time hold up the example to others who have the up-hill paths of life to tread. No person can be more thoroughly convinced that goodness is a better thing than genius, and that genius is no excuse for those follies and offences which are called its eccentricities.
“The mention made in my last of any difference in religious opinions from your brother was merely incidental; nor is it by any means my intention to say any more upon the subject than simply to state that those opinions are not mine, lest it should be supposed they were, from the manner in which I speak of him.
“I shall now proceed as speedily as I can with the work.
