William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. X. 1819-1824
Henry Blanch Rosser to William Godwin, 9 January 1821
“Cambridge, Jan. 9, 1821.
“Dear Godwin,—The morning I received your
letter I called on Barron, the man in
whose rooms in College I have been, till within this week, since last May. He
is quite satisfied that you have overthrown Malthus, and I am satisfied, from some conversation I had with
him, that he fully comprehends the pith of the argument. This is a valuable
opinion. He is a first-rate classic, and no ordinary mathematician. He is yet
only twenty-one, and has begun to think about a year.
“The present Vice-Chancellor, who is also Master of
Trinity, is so determined to be made a Bishop, and has descended
to so scoundrelly inquisitorial practices, that I have judged it best to have
no personal communication with Hatfield. . . .
“I went to see and talk with Place and Mill, from both of whom it shall be their fault, not mine, if I
do not get a distinct statement of their—if Place has
any—objections to your book.
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“Has there been any article on it in the
‘Examiner?’ I shall
see Henry Hunt upon this point. . . .
“In the ‘Black Dwarf?’ I shall endeavour to see Wooler upon this.
“In the ‘Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica,’ now publishing,
Mr Mill is a frequent contributor.
The letter ‘P’ is yet distant, and an article,
‘Population,’ must go in. If he is converted: why should not he?
and, if not, why should not some other person make your book a mine for an
article?
“These are all words. . . . I can only send you my
best wishes.—Very sincerely yours
Arthur Barron (1798 c.-1856)
Educated at Norwich under Valpy, Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Inner Temple; he was
a legal conveyancer.
Henry Leigh Hunt (1829 fl.)
The son of John Hunt and nephew of Leigh Hunt; after working at the
Examiner he was a London publisher in partnership with Charles Cowden Clarke from
1825 to 1829 when the firm went bankrupt.
Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
English political economist educated at Jesus College, Cambridge; he was author of
An Essay on the Principles of Population (1798; 1803).
James Mill (1773-1836)
English political philosopher allied with the radical Joseph Hume; he was the father of
John Stuart Mill.
Francis Place (1771-1854)
A prosperous London tailor and political radical associated with Burdett and Hobhouse; he
wrote for the
Westminster Review.
Thomas Jonathan Wooler (1786 c.-1853)
Printer, lawyer, and political radical; he was the editor of the
Black
Dwarf (1817–24), for which he was prosecuted for sedition.
Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846)
The younger brother of William Wordsworth; he was master of Trinity College, Cambridge
(1820-41) and chancellor of Cambridge (1820-21). He married the sister of the poet Charles
Lloyd. Robert Southey reports that he wrote for the
Critical
Review.
The Black Dwarf. (1817-1824). A radical journal edited by Thomas Jonathan Wooler.
The Examiner. (1808-1881). Founded by John and Leigh Hunt, this weekly paper divided its attention between literary
matters and radical politics; William Hazlitt was among its regular contributors.
Encyclopædia Britannica; or, a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, compiled upon
a new plan. 3 vols (Edinburgh: Colin Macfarquhar, 1771). 3 vols, 1768-1771, ed. William Smellie; 10 vols, 1777–1784, ed. James Tytler; 18 vols,
1788–1797, ed. Colin Macfarquhar and George Gleig; supplement to 3rd, 2 vols, 1801; 20
vols, 1801–1809, ed. James Millar; 20 vols, 1817, ed. James Millar; supplement to 5th, 6
vols, 1816–1824, ed. Macvey Napier; 20 vols, 1820–1823, ed. Charles Maclaren; 21 vols,
1830–1842, ed. Macvey Napier and James Browne.
