“. . . . . Canning came here from Lowther, and sat about half an hour with me. My acquaintance with him is of some five years’ standing, and of course slight, as it is very rarely that circumstances bring me in his way. Had we been thrown together in early life,—that is, if I had been three years older, and had been sent to Eton instead of Westminster,—we might probably have become friends. ‘Very ordinary intelligence’ has never sufficed for me in the choice of my associates, unless there was extraordinary kindness of disposition, or strength of moral character to compensate for what was wanting. When these are found, I can do very well without great talents; but without them the greatest talents have no attractions for me. If Canning were my neighbour, we might easily become familiar, for we should find topics enough of common interest, and familiarity grows naturally out of an easy intercourse where that is the case. But I am very sure that his good opinion of me would not be increased by anything that he would see of me in general society.
“With regard to my writings, I am well aware that some
of them are addressed to a comparatively small part of the public, out of which
they will not be read. Probably not half-a-dozen even of those persons who are
most attached to me, ever read all that I have published. But if immediate
reputation were
| 236 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 51. |
“The Bishop of Chester has been here, and Mackintosh breakfasted with me and spent an evening also. He has been in Holland, but knows Bilderdijk only by name and by reputation.
“My books arrived about a month ago, and I have been in a high state of enjoyment ever since. But I have had another pleasure since their arrival, which is to learn that the second edition of Wadding’s Annales Minorum, for want of which I was fain to purchase the first of Verbeyst, has been bought for me at Rome by Senhouse, this being seventeen volumes, the first only eight. To me who desire always the fullest materials for whatever I undertake, this is a great acquisition. My after-supper book at present is Erasmus’s Letters, from which I know not whether I derive most pleasure or profit.
“The tendency of my ecclesiastical writings, whether
controversial or historical, is not to disturb established delusions, but to
defend established truths. It is not to any difference of religion that the
better character of the lower orders in France must be
| Ætat. 51. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 237 |
“God bless you!
