SIR, LETTER LVI. FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. St. Anne's Hill, June 9, 1799. NOTHING Could exceed the concern I felt at the extreme severity (for such it appears to me) of the sentence pronounced against you. I should be apprehensive, that the distance of Dorchester must add considerably to the difficulties of your situation; but should be very glad to learn from you that it is otherwise. If any of your friends can think of any plan for you, by which some of the consequences of your confinement may be in any degree lessened, I should be very happy to be in any way assisting in it. From some words that dropped from you, when I saw you, I rather understood that you did not feel much inclination to apply to your usual studies in your present situation; otherwise it had occurred to me, that some publication, on a less expensive plan than the Lucretius, and by subscription, might be eligible, for the purpose of diverting your mind, and for serving your family; but of this you are the best judge: and all I can say is, that I shall always be happy to show the esteem and regard with which I am, sir, your most obedient servant, Rev. GILBERT WAKEFIELD, C. J. FOX. LETTER LVII. MR. FOX TO MR. WAKEFIELD. SIR, St. Anne's Hill, June 10, 1799. WITHIN a few hours after I wrote to you yesterday, a gentleman called, who informed me that a scheme had been formed for preventing some of the ill consequence of your imprisonment, and upon a much more eligible plan than that which I suggested. Of course, you will not think any more of what I said upon that subject; only that, if you do employ yourself in writing during your confinement, my opinion is, that, in the present state of things, literature is, in every point of view, a preferable occupation to politics. I have looked at my Roman Virgil, and find that it is printed from the Medicean MS. as I supposed. The verses regarding Helen, in the second book, are printed in a different character, and stated to be wanting in the MS. Yours ever, C. J. FOX. LETTER LVIII. FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. SIR, St. Anne's Hill, June 12, 1799. I RETURN you your friend's letter, which gave me great satisfaction. The sentence upon lord Thanet and Ferguson is, all things considered, most abominable; but the speech accompanying it is, if possible, worse. I think a Lexicon in Greek and English is a work much wanted; and, if you can have patience to execute such a work, I shall consider it a great benefit to the cause of literature. I hope to hear from you that your situation at Dorchester is not worse, at least, than you expected; and, when I know you to be in a state of perfect ease of mind (which at this moment could not be expected), I will, with your leave, state to you a few observations, which I just hinted to you when I saw you, upon Porson's note to his Orestes, regarding the final. I am, with great regard, sir, yours ever, C. J. FOX. SIR, LETTER LIX. FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. St. Anne's Hill, June 27, 1799. IN consequence of a letter which lord Holland showed me, I have written to lord Shaftesbury and to lord Ilchester, who are both very humane men, and would, I should hope, be happy to do any thing that may make your situation less uneasy. I am, sir, yours ever, SIR, LETTER LX. C. J. FOX. FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. No. 11, Sackville-street, Sept. 14, 1799. I ASSURE you I take very kindly your letter and the quotation in it*. I think the question of Mr. Wakefield, in the preceding letter (not inserted here) had expressed his notion that field sports, in the exercise of 'How far field sports are innocent amusements?' is nearly connected with another, upon which, from the title of one of your intended works, I suspect you entertain opinions rather singular; for if it is lawful to kill tame animals with whom one has a sort of acquaintance, such as fowls, oxen, &c. it is still less repugnant to one's feelings to kill wild animals: but then to make a pastime of it-I am aware there is something to be said upon this point. On the other hand, if example is al- ́ lowed to be any thing, there is nothing in which all mankind, civilised or savage, have more agreed, than in making some sort of chase (for fishing is of the same nature) part of their business or amusement. However, I admit it to be a very questionable subject: at all events, it is a very pleasant and healthful exercise. My wound goes on, I believe, very well; and no material injury is apprehended to the hand; but the cure will be tedious, and I shall be confined in this town for more weeks than I had hoped ever to spend days here. I am much obliged to you for your inquiries, and am, sir, your most obedient servant, C. J. FOX. one of which Mr. F. had wounded his hand, were amusements unworthy of a man of letters; and in confirmation of it, had quoted a passage from Cicero, in which that great man says that in his secession from public life, and his disgust with men in power, he gave himself up neither to chagrin, nor to plea sures unworthy of a man of letters: indignis homine docto voluptatibus. Cicero speaks here, in general, of pleasures unworthy of a learned man; but does not hint at field sports, or specify any sort of amusement in the passage quoted. It evinced great good temper in Mr. Fox not to show any irritation at Mr. W.'s reflection upon him, which, to say the least of it was apparently ill-mannered. LETTER LXI. MR. FOX TO MR. WAKEFIELD. SIR, St. Anne's Hill, Oct. 22, 1799. I BELIEVE I had best not continue the controversy about field sports; or at least, if I do, I must have recourse, I believe, to authority and precedent, rather than to argument; and content myself with rather excusing, than justifying them. Cicero says, I believe, somewhere," Si quem nihil delectaret nisi quod cum laude et dignitate conjunctum foret, .... huic homini ego fortasse, et pauci, Deos propitios, plerique iratos putarent." But this is said, I am afraid, in defence of a liber. tine, whose public principles, when brought to the test, proved to be as unsound, as his private life was irregular. By the way, I know no speech of Cicero's more full of beautiful passages than this is (pro M. Cælio), nor where he is more in his element. Argumentative contention is what he by no means excels in; and he is never, I tink, so happy, as when he has an opportunity of exhibiting a mixture of philosophy and pleasantry; and especially when he can interpose anecdotes, and references to the authority of the eminent characters in the history of his country. No man appears, indeed, to have had such real respect for authority as he; and therefore, when he speaks on that subject, he is always natural and in earnest ; and not like those among us, who are so often declaiming about the wisdom of our ancestors, with. |