win's doctrines are nearly those of the ancient Stoics, deprived, however, of the sublime theology of that wonderful sect, which gave their whole system consistency.

We are about to have from the Liverpool press a Life of Lorenzo de' Medici by Mr. Roscoe, a particular friend of mine. It will be a work of great authority as to facts, a friend of the author having spent a considerable time in collecting original documents, and copying MSS. in the Florentine and other Italian libraries for him. Yet it is far from being so good a work as the author could have produced, being composed under engagements of the most pressing and most various nature.

Altogether, however, I think it will be highly worthy of your perusal; and in reading it you will have the pleasure of reading the work of one singularly virtuous and amiable. It will be out in about six weeks.

Is there any literary production of consequence expected to issue from your quarter? Edinburgh is now reported to be an armed city, and grave professors are said to have grounded their pens and shouldered their muskets. Here we have nothing of this kind. This single county. has at least sent into the field 50,000 fighting men, but there is not one volunteer corps

through its whole extent. After withdrawing such a number of men from manufactures, there is full employment for what remain, at about two thirds of their former wages; and the manufacturers who have stood their ground, being freed from much competition, are well contented with their present profits. In the mean time, the loss of such a number of hands is sensibly felt in getting in the harvest, which this year has come on very rapidly, and from three shillings to four shillings per day are given to the reapers even in the remote parts of the county.

My friend Mr. Houlbrooke informs me that there is some hope of seeing you here. This would afford real pleasure to several persons, and to none more than myself.

With very sincere respect,

I am, dear Sir,

Your faithful servant,

Though I cannot expect that any observ

ations of mine, at this distance, can have much

weight in deciding your conduct in the delicate circumstances you describe, yet I hasten to answer your letter, lest I should seem to refuse the consolation I have so often received.

In the case of hereditary successions, nothing is more delicate than for an heir-apparent to interfere in the disposition of a property that is eventually to be his; for no man likes to see that another is speculating on the issue of his death, and recreating his imagination with projects that cannot be realised, till he is himself mouldering in his grave. The older a man grows, the more irritable he becomes on points such as these, because jealousy increases with the consciousness of increasing weakness. Your grandfather is no common man ; but he must be a very uncommon man indeed, if he is exempt from this natural and delicate infirmity.

If this be true in regard to the eldest son, the heir-apparent, it is more strikingly and universally true with regard to a person not legally entitled to an inheritance, but whose expectation of it rests on the supposed disposition of one, to whom his relationship places him only in the same degree of affinity with several others, and from whom, if he expects a legacy at all, he must expect it as a favour. In the eye of a

testator the disposition of his property on the event of his death, without his knowledge or consent, by a person so situated, will naturally appear as an unpardonable act of presumption, and he will infallibly be led to turn in his mind the best and most effectual mode of punishing him. A story in point occurs to me, which I will tell

you.

Near my father's house lived

* of an old and childless man of eighty years

of age. His heir-at-law (and his nearest relation) was - with whom he had always been on the happiest footing. This person took care to be very shy in interfering with Mr.'s affairs, and never gave advice but when it was asked. He knew that the whole estate was left to him, by information of the solicitor, and was the more on his guard. At length Mr. was taken extremely ill, and at his age, little hope was entertained of his recovery. was sent for, and rode over with one of his sons; but at the time of his arrival Mr. was supposed to be asleep, and it was doubtful if he might ever awake. His kinsman was an excellent man; but it cannot be imagined that his grief was extreme on the near prospect of an event, that

* For obvious reasons the names in this narrative are suppressed.

should remove the good old man to a place of rest, and put him in possession of 3000l. per annum. He and his son walked out together to wait the event of Mr.'s slumbers. The mansion was an old feudal fortification, and the grounds were laid out in the style of the last century. The father soon began to converse on the alterations that might be proper on an issue which seemed at hand. Nothing was more natural. They agreed not to take down, but to alter the front of the house; but they differed in opinion as to the specific alterations; and as fathers and sons will sometimes do, they fell into a dispute and talked vehemently. Oldhad got out of bed on awaking, and was seated at a window in an arm-chair, expecting his friend and cousin, who, utterly unconscious of this, was disputing with his son directly in his sight and almost in his hearing. He suspected the subject of their conversation, which was confirmed to him by his gardener. He received

however, with his usual civility; but next day he sent for his lawyer, and altered his will, leaving the whole of his property to, a nephew of his kinsman, whom he had hardly ever seen; and after reciting the circumstance already mentioned, as the cause of this alteration, he left (in an expression of some insult) a pipe of port to, and a dozen to each of his sons,