I am anxious to know what will be done on the demise of Mr. Wesley. Mr. Hampson will have pretty early intelligence.* DEAR FRIEND, TO THE SAME. Birmingham, March 14, 1791. I AM very sorry that by a mistake the letter containing the paper for the Royal Society was put into the post office, and not sent in Mr. Russell's packet. I put you to expense of postage enough, without this addition. Your letter, with the inclosure from his Grace,† came safe, and yesterday I wrote him a line of thanks. But these thanks are as much due to you as to him; for, without your kind suggestion, it would not have been procured. But there would be no end of recounting my obligations to you and Mrs. Lindsey. I have received the whole of my College discourse, with your remarks, to which you may be sure I shall not fail to pay attention. I forget the day on which it is to be delivered; but I have laid my plan to leave Birmingham on the 11th, and stay three Sundays, as usual. The next week I go to Manchester, and spend one Sunday. I hope the curious proviso‡ in the bill for the Catholics will be noticed both in the House and out of it. Suppose that on this occasion what I have said of it in the preface to my last Defences,§ were put into some public paper, or shewn to Mr. Fox. Mr. Berington says he cannot yet find out how that extraordinary clause came into their bill, but he shall endeavour to do it, and inform me of it. I am glad that Mr. Paine's book is to be published as it was printed, though not by Johnson. It will be read the more on tension of religious liberty in Prussia, Holland, France, &c., and said he should move to leave the word protesting out of the Bill." N. A. Reg. XII. 162, 163. * Orig. MS. + Probably of Grafton. See supra, p. 101. To except "persons writing against the Trinity." § W. XIX. 6, 7. account of the stoppage. When does Mr. Christie's answer, or Mr. Mackintosh's,† come out?+ DEAR FRIEND, TO THE SAME. Birmingham, March 25, 1791. I SHOULD have written several days ago, but I meant to send an improved copy of my paper for the Royal Society, and having made more experiments, I have not yet completed one to my mind, but I think you may depend upon receiving it on Monday, together with the sheets of the Life of Wesley, which I like very much. It will, no doubt, be superior to any life of him, and they need not doubt of a sale. But I would advise them, by all means, not to publish any volumes separately, but the whole at once. The inconvenience and loss attending the publishing volumes separately, is greater than any person could imagine. If they take this advice, I shall have time to draw up a letter for their use, though I shall probably send it along with the sheets, as a few lines will be sufficient. I rejoice that Dr. Price has a chance of recovering, though I fear his situation will be painful, as well as hazardous, for some time to come. I have deferred going to Manchester till the middle of the next week, at the request of my friends there. I am particularly requested to preach my Buxton sermon, on account of some reports given out by the Dean of Middleham; but of what nature I do not know. I am told they are curious. One of the clergy, it seems, who was at Buxton at the time, was so provoked at my being asked to preach, that he got leave of the • “Letters on the Revolution of France, and on the New Constitution, occasioned by the Publications of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, and Alexander de Calonne, late Minister of State. By Thomas Christie.” N. A. Reg. XII. 258. Mr. Lindsey to Mr. Turner, Newcastle, " May 12, 1791," says, "Mr. Christie's Answer to Mr. Burke is one of the noblest confutations of that orator's abusive misrepresentation of the French revolution." Orig. MS. ↑ "Vindiciæ Gallicæ, Defence of the French Revolution, and its English Admirers. By James Mackintosh." N. A. Reg. XII, 258. ✰ Orig. MS. person who reads the prayers to deliver a discourse in opposition to me the Sunday following; but his conduct was so much disapproved by the company, that, after he began to deliver it, they walked out and left him alone. Mr. Worthington, who married Mr. Russell's sister, told me he had this from his brother-in-law, who was present, and heard us both. I think he says he walked out among the last. He has promised to send me the name of the clergyman. The "Dissenting Attorney" you inquire after is thought to be Mr. Nash, of Royston. It is indeed an excellent piece.* That the Chancellor should have suggested the clause concerning the Trinity in the Catholic bill, is indeed curious, and cannot escape animadversion. I am glad to hear that Lord Stanhope will notice it. I hope to hear from you before I go to Manchester, and at Manchester, where I shall be at Dr. Percival's.† DEAR FRIEND, TO THE SAME. Manchester, April, 1791. You will have received a letter which I wrote before I left Birmingham, presently after the date of yours. I think I then told you that I had sent the paper for the Royal Society to Mr. Watt,§ and that I should bring the sheets of the Life of Wesley with me. I shall not forget the engagements you mention, and I wish you would make any others that you particularly wish, especially with Dr. Heberden, if you should see him before I come. "A Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, from a Dissenting Country Attorney, in defence of his Civil Profession and Religious Dissent," was justly attributed to Mr. Nash, whose friendship and society I enjoyed for many years. He closed an exemplary life, deservedly esteemed in his professional character, in 1829, aged 85. See M. R. (N. S.) IV. 132; Christian Reformer, XVI. 43. ↑ Orig. MS. "Experiments on Phlogistication of Spirit of Nitre. Read March 26, 1789." Phil. Trans. LXXIX. 139. § See I. 339. Your account of Dr. Price gives me much concern. He was so much affected at the condition of Mr. Burgh, who was three years tortured by the stone, and died of it,* that he will be much distressed at the thought of having it himself. I doubt with you whether, if his frame would bear it, he would have the courage to submit to the operation.† We must all, however, submit to the will of God, who removes us when and how he pleases. All we have to do is to do all the good we can, while our powers are continued to us. I can hardly think that the ministry will be so weak as to let the Catholic Bill‡ drop, after patronizing it so much as they have done. They will deserve every insult. I came hither on Thursday last. After Wednesday next I return to Birmingham, and on the Monday following, if all be well, set out for London. As I shall be busy the few days I shall be at home, you must excuse me if you should not hear from me again till you see me, which will be, as usual, as soon as I arrive, so as to get to Mr. Vaughan's before evening. Yesterday I preached for Mr. Hawkes, to a more crowded audience than I have ever preached to before, and as miscellaneous a one, by all accounts, as that at Buxton, and the same * In 1782, aged 68. Dr. Franklin, writing to Dr. Price, from "Passy, June, 13, 1782," says of England, "The change in the sentiments of the nation, in which I see evident effects of your writings, with those of our deceased friend Mr. Burgh, and others of our valuable club, should encourage you to proceed." Mr. Morgan adds, "The death of this amiable and excellent person had happened a few weeks before. He was the author of several valuable works on moral and political subjects, and in all of them proved himself the stedfast friend of virtue and liberty. His last publication, under the title of Political Disquisitions, though written under the excruciating agonies of the stone, abounds with the most important information on the extreme defectiveness of the national representation." Mem. of Price, pp. 95, 96. Mr. Burgh, like Jebb, Cartwright, Granville Sharp, Sir W. Jones, and the Duke of Richmond, had ably advocated universal suffrage, against which there has been so much railing, and so little reasoning. Of any less extended plan Mr. Burgh justly complains that, thus, that "immense multitude of the people, the poor, though they have no share in determining who shall be the lawgivers of their country, have a very heavy share in raising the taxes which support government." Pol. Dis. (1774), I. 37. ↑ Dr. Price died April 19. See supra, pp. 105-108. sermon, which I shall also give you. It is evident that by disregarding and boldly facing prejudice, it gives way in time, and finally has no unfavourable operation. My son, Mr. Hawkes, and all your friends here, among them Mr. Toulmin and Mr. Lloyd, desire to be remembered to you. * DEAR FRIEND, TO THE SAME. Birmingham, June 2, 1791. I AM glad that you approve of my Address to the Methodists,† &c., and the additions to the discourse on the resurrection. I hope also you approved of the preface and Address to the Jews, though you do not mention them. I am never quite satisfied, however I may like any thing myself, till I have your imprimatur. The letters relating to Mr. Wesley will all be printed this week, and published some time in the next. I demur about offering the publication to the Methodists, as they may consider it as an insult, which I am far from intending. I am much inclined, from Mr. Russell's account of Mr. Wakefield, to send Harry to him for about a year, after he has done with Mr. Estlin. I wish to make him a scholar, and though I shall take the care of him myself, before he goes to any academy, to give him a knowledge of philosophy and chemistry, it is so long since I taught the languages, that I should not do it to proper advantage; and, till he be a little older, he will be better from home. The expense is my only objection; but the time will not be long, as he will be well grounded by Mr. Estlin. I am concerned at the difficulties of the French, as I hoped those of that kind, especially, had been over. P. S. Mr. Russell told me, that when a person wrote for my Familiar Letters, the London bookseller said they were out of print. The same was formerly done by the Theological Repository.§ Orig. MS. ↑ W. XXV. 331. |