“Dear Sir.—Though I am
flattered by your attention, and must acknowledge that you have touched upon my
hobbyhorse, yet I am sorry that your politeness led you to give yourself a
moment’s trouble for the sake of gratifying the silly impatience of your
humble servant. I owe you a thousand apologies for not having answered your
letter of a fortnight since; but the fact is I wrote to you and another
gentleman, immediately after my arrival, by the same post, and was answered by
said gentleman that I was a man of leisure and could write letters; he was
engaged in active life, and could not. No man is less willing to
| 54 | WILLIAM GODWIN |
“If you did but properly reflect upon my desolate situation, banished from human society, and condemned to eat grass with the beasts, you surely would not tantalize me with the visit of a day. But be it as it will, for I can adapt to myself the words of Addison with true Addisonian fire, and say—
“‘A day, an hour, of intellectual talk Is worth a whole eternity of solitude.’ |
“Sir, had you remembered the letter of the Chinese Mandarin, which had no other address than ‘Dr Boerhaave, Europe,’ you surely would not have insulted me with the supposition that I must borrow lustre from a petty upholsterer in such a town as Guildford, and not be seen by own radiance. I would have you to know that I am as much of a poet as either Dr Boerhaave, or even Van Swieten, his commentator. Nay, if you provoke me, I do not know but I shall enter the lists with Mynheer Van Haaren, the Homer of the whole Dutch nation.
“Lord John Townshend for ever! Huzza!
“Present my compliments to Robinson and Hamilton. Tell the latter (if you see him, and if you like it) that he has forgotten me.”
