Letters of the Right Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, bart., to various friends

Preface

The Letters collected in this volume were written by Sir George Cornewall Lewis to some of the most intimate and valued of his friends. They form no series, nor are they devoted to any particular subject or class of subjects ; they are merely unconnected private letters, written in various years without the slightest expectation of their being published.

It may then be enquired, vij ^rq they priced ? Why are they not suffered to. remain in that privacy for which no doubt they were intended ? I would answer that three reasons have mainly contributed to their publication. The first, because they forcibly illustrate the character, the intellect and learning, and the wisdom of their remarkable* writer. The second, because they contain many facts, and relate to many subjects in which the public cannot but take interest, and respecting which, I believe, they will be glad to know the opinions of the author. The third, because some of Sir George Lewis's friends — and especially two of them, to whom he was deeply attached and who were equally attached to him — were earnestly desirous that they should be printed.

Sir George Lewis's was no ordinary character : there was mixed with his clear intelligence and capacity for vi PREFACE,

profound and distinct thought a peculiar singleness and simplicity with which such qualities are rarely found in union. A part of this simplicity was his entire freedom from vanity. Aware of his own superiority he could hardly fail to be, but on no occasion was he ever tempted to make a display of it, either in order to obtain praise or gain an advantage. Neither did he on any occasion take offence : he never felt animosity towards persons who misunderstood and disparaged him, nor dislike to those who treated him slightingly because in some common-place matters they were more efficient than himself. He was gentle and unassuming, calm, dispassionate, and just, and was consequently beloved in private and respected in public life. An anonymous writer has well described him as ' peculiarly devotcf "of fuss ; ' Tie might have gone further, and said that .circumstances which almost invariably vex and excite other men disturbed him but little. A contested election, for example, neither made Mm angry nor anxious ; a parhamentary attack scarcely annoyed him. , When under disadvantageous conditions, one candidate against three, he contested the county of Hereford, I well remember his calmness, and power to cast from his thoughts all the petty vexations of his tedious work. One morning he corrected in the carriage the sheets of a book that he was carrying through the press ; he then canvassed in a town for many hours. Afterwards, on our return home, before we had left the streets in which he had been thus occupied, fresh sheets were spread on the cushions, electioneering passed out of his mind, and he was again busy preparing for the printer. On another day, when a pohtical attack had

PREFACE. vii

been made on him, no sooner had he resumed his journey homewards than he began conversing on indifferent subjects, so httle had the proceedings of the day affected him. He has Hkewise told me that his rest was but seldom broken when there had been vehement struggles and hostile debates in the House of Commons — that he could sleep as well on the nights on which they occurred as he could on arw other nights. Such was his equanimity on occasions when most other men would have been excited.

The love of letters was, in Sir George Lewis's mind, the dominant passion, and that for its own sake. It was this quality which rendered his commerce so delightful to his learned associates. Ever ready to plunge into discussions of grave questions, bringing to them stores of heaped-up knowledge, with a candid appreciation of opinions at variance with his own, no man was more sought after as a converser by the distinguished members of the literary republic. The stores of his knowledge were indeed wonderfully large. The fact that his intellect was powerful never offered to him in his early life, as it might have done to other young men, a temptation to be contented with its existing strength : his anxiety and assiduity to improve and to extend it were uninterrupted. Very few scholars have, I believe, permitted so small a portion of their time to remain unemployed — very few devoted so large a portion of it to careful study. To many among them, idleness is in itself a pleasure, whilst common conversation and amusement occupy a more or less large portion of their day. It was not so with Sir George Lewis ; he was always employed, and for the most part with viii PREFACE.

occupation of a severe kind. So earnest was his desire to elucidate, to remember, and to record, that from his youth he thought that to be doing nothing amounted to a crime. ' Read,' he has often advised me, ' when you have plenty of time at command; write in the shorter spaces when your time is broken up ; this is the way to employ yourself to the best advantage: you will forget what you read in fragments of time — what you write in them will not be lost.' And this was the practice that he followed. He also in his younger days provided against the waste of any fragments which circumstances might cause to be lost to him, by either learning by heart or repeating in these intervals. I think that I remember my father telling me that once in Italy, when travelHng after dark with George, he repeated to him a great part of the third book of the JEneid ; and I well recollect, when on one occasion I was waiting with him in the ante-room of a physician, he took a Horace or Virgil from his pocket, and gave it to me, that I might hear him say a portion of its contents by heart, and he had repeated a large number of lines before he was summoned to his interview.

With his mind and his memory thus carefully cultivated, his learning soon became varied and extensive. Before he was five- and-twenty years of age, being, as I have stated, an advanced classical scholar, Lewis frequently employed himself in writing critical papers relating to the history, the literature, and the philosophy of the ancients. He had read with a conveyancer and special pleader, and had been called to the bar.* At that age he also read and spoke French,

* He was called to the bar in 1831.

PREFACE. ix

German, and Italian, and had gained a considerable acquaintance with the principal authors in each language. He had likewise made some progress in the study of Spanish and Anglo-Saxon. Nor was his attention engrossed by these studies to the exclusion of English literature, or of his interest in the current topics of the day. His practice, steadily adhered to, of losing no time, always enabled him to find hours which he could devote to them. Thus he became, as his valued friend Dean Milman has written, ' a man who not only might have aspired to the highest dignity in the State,' but a man ' who might also have done honour, as professor of Greek, to the most learned University in Europe.' This is an estimate of Sir George Lewis's learning and character set forth by a friend than whom no one was better capable of forming one. And if the worthy and learned Dean had added, that there were several other subjects, besides the Greek language and literature, in respect to which Sir George Lewis was well fitted to become a professor in an University, I believe that he need not have feared contradiction.

Sir George Lewis had indeed a pecuhar fitness for such a sphere, and would, I feel sure, have held a high rank among professors, had he formed one of their body ; for if his knowledge was varied, so was it accurate and clear, and he had besides a patience in and love of teaching which made it a sort of recreation to him. I remember his taking pleasure for many months in giving instruction regularly to a young scholar of promising abilities.

It is sufficient to refer to Sir George Lewis's pubhshed

X PREFACE.

works to prove the wide scope of his learning, together with his remarkable assiduity. They exhibit accuracy, research, and a terseness of reasoning which few writers have attained and employed. After a clear statement of his subject, an exhaustive treatment of it follows, in which all that is extraneous and superfluous is set aside, and whatever can be adduced is brouojht tosrether for the development and establishment of his views.

It must not be supposed that even an approach to a complete portraiture of a writer can be gained from reading a single volume of his miscellaneous letters. The materials are in this and every similar instance too scant for the forming a detailed judgment of the author ; but scant though they be, I think that the contents of this volume serve in some degree to illustrate Sir George Lewis's character, intellect, learning, and cast of mind, and it is in this view that I publish them, believing that they will be acceptable to many readers.

To turn to the second reason which induces me to publish these Letters. The respect was so high in which Sir George Lewis's opinions were held whilst he was living, that he was continually consulted by speakers, writers, and reasoners of all classes and of all parties. Scholars and politicians were alike glad to seek the benefit of his wisdom and to listen to his mature, dispassioned, and well-disciplined judgment. In the House of Commons he was no orator, and seldom took a share in party debates ; but on other occasions he often spoke, labouring, with few references to persons, to give information on the subject which was before the House, striving to sweep away whatever was irrelevant to it, and to cause it to be better understood. And the

PREFACE. xi

members of the House had a peculiar confidence in his word and in his statements ; partly through his quiet, veracious, honest manner of speaking ; partlythrough his occasionally avowing his ignorance of a subject, as he now and then did, and could indeed well afford to do ; and partly from the knowledge that he never spoke with any secondary object, for the sake of his own aggrandisement or promotion, or any other personal or selfish motive. It was known to all his friends, and to many members of the House of Commons likewise, that he preferred literary to political occupation, and cared nothing for office and not much for a seat in the House of Commons. He has several times told me, during the time that he was a Cabinet minister, that he should before long give up official and parhamentary life. He had, however, so unusual a fitness for it that it may well be doubted whether he would have been permitted to do so ; and could he have been persuaded that the public required his services, I feel sure that he would have continued them, setting all personal considerations aside.

If the estimate of the weight and value of Sir George Lewis's opinions was high during life, it has certainly not diminished since his lamented death. The void which that death left is still recognised as wide. Many a time since it took place has it been said that confusions would have been avoided, difficulties been simphfied, and events and decisions guided into better channels, had his calm and wise counsel been still permitted to prevail among us. Again and again, since his death, with an unusual frequency which does honour to his memory, has his autliority been invoked — in xii PREFACE.

Parliament and out of Parliament, by politicians on both sides of the House, by scholars, philosophers, and critics. Such, then, being the respect in which his opinions have been and still are held, I venture to think that the Letters which I now publish, containing as they do a great variety of statements, commentary, views, and thought, will be cordially welcomed by the reading public.

A third reason why I have felt desirous to print these Letters is, because many friends of my brother who valued him, and whom he likewise valued, have strongly urged their publication. For the judgment of two of these friends especially (I say this, of course, without a thought of disparaging the judgment of the others), namely, that of the Eight Hon. Sir Edmund Head (Sir George Lewis's companion at college, and throughout life his most intimate friend), and that of Mrs. Austin, with whose powerful, refined, and highly cultivated intellect the public has long been well acquainted, I have always felt deference. Qualified in every respect to decide what is suitable for publication, they urged that these letters deserved to be given to the world. Both these friends have, alas ! within the short space of a few months from each other, been taken from the society which they enlivened and adorned, and in whose memory they will long and deservedly live. Their opinions, however, with respect to this publication, still weigh with me, as do also the opinions of others whom I likewise respect ; and hence the third reason for which I consign this volume to the printer's hands.

I add a short introduction, which is necessary, with a few occasional explanations, to enable the reader to

PREFACE. xiii

understand the circumstances in which Sir George Lewis was placed, as well as various allusions in his letters.

It remains for me to express to my brother's friends, and to my own Avhom I have consulted in this matter, my gratitude for the large share of kindness which they have shown me; and especially to Earl Stanhope, Mrs. Edward ViUiers, Mr. Twisleton, Mr. and Mrs. Grote, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Hayward, Mr. Eeeve, and other contributors, who have been so obliging as to allow letters addressed to them to be included in this collection, I beg to offer my sincere thanks.

GiLBEET FeANKLAND LeWIS.

LETTERS.

George Cornewall, the eldest son of Thomas Frankland Lewis, of Harpton Court, in Eadnorshire, and Harriet, daughter of Sir George Cornewall, Bart., of Moccas Court, Herefordshire, the writer of the following letters, was born in London on April 21, 1806. His boyhood was spent chiefly in London and Eadnorshire ; his frame was strong, and, at this period of his life, his health was good, with this single exception, that he frequently suffered from severe headache. I can recollect only* one point which marked a distinction between him and other boys — the eager pleasure which he had in reading. The ' Arabian Nights,' two translations of Portuguese romances, ' Amadis de Gaul,' and ' Palmerin of England,' were among the books that gave him especial entertainment, and were in continual requisition. The usual boyish lessons were done with facility ; and, when he left home and took his place among the forty boys at the school of Monsieur Clement, at Chelsea (who contrived by some means to make his pupils talk French and to work at their school-business whether they liked it or not), he was found to be forward of his age, as weU as inclined to

B be studious. In January 1819, at about twelve years of age, he was moved from this private school in Chelsea to Eton College, where, after being examined by his tutor, Mr. Hawtrey, he was at once placed in the Eemove. The first letter that I print, written in the following year, is chiefly descriptive of a sad calamity which occurred in the school, but is likewise indicative of the writer's feelings, and the subjects in which he took an interest : —

Eton : Sunday (1820).

Dear Mamma, — Since I wrote to you last a poor fellow of the name of Angerstein has been drowned here. He took a skiff after twelve and sculled himself up as far as Bovney, where there is a most furious stream, but not deep ; unluckily, he dropped one of the sculls, and, in reaching over to get it, the boat, which was a very light one, toppled over, and he fell in. He rose three times and cried out, ' Help ! help ! Make haste ! ' When he sank for the third and last time, there were some fellows in a boat not more than twenty yards off, but they could not save him. His boat drifted to the land directly, but, unluckily, the other scull fell out, so that it prevented a fellow who was standing on the bank from going to his help ; otherwise he might perhaps have been saved. The moment he was drowned some fellows ran down with all their might, and gave the alarm, and in a very short time the whole river near the place where he fell in was filled with punts and people dragging all around. Keate and all the masters, and I should think very near the whole school, were there. He fell in about one o'clock. However, although they went on dragging the whole of that and the next day, they were unsuccessful ; but, about eight o'clock in the morning of

G. C. LEWIS TO ins MOTHER. 3

Wednesday, they dragged out his body about a quarter of a mile down the river, in a deep hole of dead water close to the bank. The hooks caught round his leg below the knee. When he was first brought out, his face was quite red, so that it is supposed that from having pulled up against a strong stream and being very hot, being suddenly plunged in very cold water drove all the blood into his head and caused an apoplexy ; so that if they could have dragged his body out sooner it would have been of no avail. He was then immediately brought on a hurdle to his tutor's house, where, I believe, his body now is, but he is not to be buried here. It is a horrid thing, and has completely stopped the boats for this half, which Keate could not have done with all his slang. I do not believe that a single Eton fellow has been out on the water since.

I am very glad the holidays are so near, for this has been the most stupid time I ever passed : the only thing that it is possible to do is to play at fives, but that is entirely prevented by the rain — there are hardly ever two hours together but what some falls. The fellow's name, who was nearly drowned by the boat being upset when he was sailing, is Hylton. I know nothing more about him as he boards at the other end of college. My cousin Fitzharris had a most dreadful battle the other day wnth Buccleugh ; I do not believe that either of them were the worse for it, as the only claret that was spilled w^as by one of them shpping and falling on his nose, wliich made it bleed. Our subject last week for verses was Avarice^ which, of all subjects, is the worst. Yonge does not think proper to ascend from tolerable to good, but makes a grand bathos, and goes from middling to horribly bad. It is a miserable,

B 2 narrow, cramped, and confined subject; it admits of no poetical idea, and the verses are consequently as niggardly as the subject. I have not been looked over a single exercise in school for more than a fortnight, and since I have been read over by Knapp, he has only looked [over] one copy of lyrics and a theme of mine, so that I have no chance of being sent up this time. Pray read tliis letter to Gilbert, for I have nothing to tell him which I have not said in this letter, and it is not the slightest use to copy this out for his inspection, I have read ' King Lear ' and ' Hamlet,' and have begun ' As you Like it.' ' King Lear ' is a most wonderful thing, it leaves such a striking remembrance on one's mind. The fool and the king are such a good contrast ; the scene on the heath is a most surprising effort of genius. ' Hamlet ' is not so striking ; I must own that altogether I was rather disappointed with it, the plot flags so much after the two first acts ; but there are some beautiful passages in it. However, one does not look back to it with so much wonder and admiration as the other. I shall most likely go to town in a post-chaise, and, if the roads are tolerable, shall very likely be in time for breakfast.

I remain, dear mamma, your afiectionate son,

G. C. Lewis.

Sir George Lewis wrote Latin verses when he was at Eton not only with great facility, but with elegance and correctness. Many copies that he showed up in school are collected in a MSS. book, which is in the Library at Harpton ; and should any lover of Latin verse desire to continue the volumes of the ' Mus£e Etonenses,' he will find a number among them that are well worthy of being included in his collection. He

REV. E. C. HA WTREY TO T. F. LEWIS, ESQ. 5

was sent up for good, as the Eton phrase is, manytimes for verses, and for play. A letter written by his tutor, Mr. Hawtrey, to George Lewis's father at the time of his leaving Eton, shows that his love for classical literature was already felt, and the foundation of the scholarship laid which was afterwards so laboriously and successfully built upon : —

The Rev. Edward Graven Hawtrey to T. F. Leivis, Esq.

Eton College: Dec. 10, 1823.

My dear Sir, — I have great pleasure in assuring you that your son has left Eton with great credit to himself as a scholar, and that in all other respects he stands deservedly high in the good opinion of all who know him.

The distinction of being twice sent up for play in three weeks is not only unusual under any circumstances, but has been obtained by him at a time when there was no want of boys of talent in the sixth form, and the difficulty has been rather which to reject than which to choose.

In Latin he has certainly read much more than most boys of talent have done at his age ; in Greek, I think, as much. And his taste and habit of observation in both are such as give every reason to expect that his success at Oxford will be as gratifying as it has been at Eton.

His good sense and right feeling appear to others, as well as myself, to have corrected those defects in manner which were the only impediments to his progress. His success during the last six months is a convincing proof that this has been the case.^

I have only to add, that I have parted with him with veiy sincere regret, and shall ever feel the warmest interest in his welfare.

I am, my dear sir, your most obedient and faithful

The friendship between Dr. Ilawtrey and the pupil in whom he took ' the warmest interest ' continued during the remainder of their lives.

Soon after his leaving Eton, Sir George Lewis travelled for a few months in Switzerland and the north of Italy ; he writes thus to his father from Lausanne : —

Lausanne : Sept. 13 (1824).

My dear Father, — We have now been staying some time at a country house half-way between Lausanne and the lake, with a very steep hill to climb every day to go up to the town, which of course is the regular walk. Friday last was the great fast and holiday of the Swiss, both Catholic and Protestant, and everything was shut up as close as Edinburgh on a Sunday : the three following days are celebrated by a fair, in which there is nothing pretty to buy — nothing but large tubs, gingerbread, and thin, bad silk handkerchiefs. Lausanne is a dirty, steep, irregular town, famous for nothirg — one can hardly spin out a day of real sightseeing; for now that we have been in the German part of Switzerland, we despise any common lions : ' La gloire m'est fade,' as Buonaparte said ; we must have something super-excellent in that line. I went the other day with Mr. Fazakerley to see the pubhc library here ; there is nothing worth seeing in it, except the Duchess of Devonshire's ' Virgil,' Annibal Caro's translation of the ' ^Eneid ' only, illustrated with copperplate engravings from drawings by modern artists of the places mentioned in the poem ; it begins with a view of Carthage from the sea.

There is an Enghsh church both at Geneva and Lausanne, and a regular clergyman who is paid by subscription. The service here is read in a Eoman Catholic church, and the altar, and candlesticks, and images, and pictures, are separated by a low curtain. What a good example for the Irish — I think that you had better mention it to Sir Abraham Bradley King. The Catholics are earlier risers than we are, and they have their prayers in the morning, and leave clear room for us at half-past eleven. ' Galignani ' gave the other day an article out of the ' Courier ' about your last report on the leather and paper [duties] and quit rents.*

The censure has been re-established in France, and the newspapers all bear evident marks of it : sometimes whole columns and pages are left blank. I have been reading lately a very well written book by a Mr. Cramer, who was a tutor at Christ Church, on ' Hannibal's Passage over the Alps ; ' it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt a long-contested point — it is a book well worth having. ' Galignani ' informs us that there is a new Quarterly Eeview, and somebody said there was a new Edinburgh, but I know nothing about them whether they are amusing or not. This is not at all a bad place for books, particularly old ones. There are a number of old classics printed at Basle ; there is a very good library at Berne, with a number of manuscripts and old books, and a museum of stuffed birds and animals. Mr. Vaughan came here the other

* Mr. Frankland Lewis was on a Commission of Inquiry into the collection and management of the revenue in Ireland.

day and went on to Geneva, where he spent Saturday, and went back to Berne this morning. Mr. and Mrs. Henley Eden came back from Geneva on Saturday, having staid a day at Cliamounix — raining the whole time. Like us, they never saw Mont Blanc. There is a steamboat of ten-horse power that performs its journey from here to Geneva, thirty-six miles in six hours, set up by a Mr. Church, an American ; the engineer used to work in the Liverpool packets. The Geneva people have just launched an opposition boat of greater power ; the same Mr. Church has just set up one in the lake of Constance. We go to-morrow to Vevey and see the Castle of Chillon, and if it is fine I shall go on with Mr. Fox to the Great St. Bernard, and make a second attempt at seeing Mont Blanc. * * Your affectionate son,

G. C. Lewis.

Soon after the last letter was written, in the Michaelmas term in 1824, Sir George Lewis commenced his residence at Christ Church, and his wish was first to obtain the highest university honours within his reach, and afterwards to follow the law as a profession. With these views he read with his usual assiduity, liking thoroughly the work in which he was engaged. A first class in classics, taken in 1828, was the earliest reward of his labours ; he was confident of gaining also a first class in mathematics ; but in this hope was disappointed— his name appeared only in the second class. No lack of will, no lack of intellect interfered ; but an unhappy failure of health. One morning when he awoke his pillow was stained with blood ; a vessel in his lungs was ruptured ; care and rest were prescribed as necessary. But as the bleeding from the lungs

THE DEAN OF CHRIST CHURCH TO G. C. LEWIS. 9

continued, by the advice of his physician he hved for a year on a vegetable diet ; and spent winters in the south of France and in Italy. We find from the following letter of Dr. Smith, then Dean, that he was elected a student of Christ Church in 1828 : — .

Christ Churcli : June 18, 1828.

Dear Sir, — I am happy to have it in my power to express my approbation of your diligence and good conduct during your residence at Christ Church, and the sense I entertain of the distinction you have obtained in the university, by nominating you to a studentship.

It will be necessary that you should come to Oxford on Tuesday or Wednesday next, as I shall propose you for election to the chapter on the 25th or 26th, and you will be admitted on the day following. I am, dear sir, very faithfully yours,

S. Smith.

As soon as Sir George Lewis had honourably finished his university career, he commenced the study of law, with a view, if his health should permit, to practise at the Common Law bar. He entered at the Middle Temple in June 1828, and was called to the bar in November 1831.