a few unaccountable texts of St Paul, repugnant wholly to the tenets of his Master, and which, so wrested, disgrace Christianity. I confess I think, and shall always think, there must be something wrong in the head or heart of those who build the edifice of their faith on such a dismal foundation, pervious to the floods of despondence, while the Rock of Christ is at hand, on which the beams of hope and mercy shine.

Sincerely and warmly do I join your expressed delight, that the morning-star of peace at length arises on our long, our stormy, sanguinary night. Yet does it seem to me most strange, that you, my friend, together with almost all the rest of Mr Pitt's disciples, should exult in the peace, considering the terms on which it is obtained; while you refuse to confess the war to have been irrationally and wantonly prolonged, ill-conducted, and most disastrous in its consequences to this country, and to Europe in general.

Reasonless, surely, is it to vindicate Mr Pitt's late system, yet approve and triumph in peace, beneath the inevitable recollection, that if his desperate efforts had prevailed at Vienna, it had not now been ours. If there was any reality in those dangers to our constitution, which were, of late years, held out as the motives for continuing the baffled contest, then has Lord Grenville truly, as

forcibly stated, the certain and great augmenta-
tion of those dangers in the terms of its cessation.
However, the sad truth, that peace could not be
obtained on better terms, and that every year the
war continued, increased, and must still farther
increase, the sacrifices of this nation to procure
peace, amply justifies our present ministers in re-
nouncing the guilt of their predecessors. Yet
Lord Grenville, and his dark-spirited colleague,
the heir to a portion of Burke's eloquence, and to
all his apostasy, are, in their opposition to re-
concilement with France, consistent with their
late belligerent principles. Those principles led,
as Lord G. and Mr W.'s arguments now lead, to
eternal war with France, while she retains her
revolutionary principles, her republican form of
government, and that menacing command of coast,
the fatal present of the war. To that eternity of
contest, the system of the late ministry led, if it
led to any thing for which a reason could be given,
especially under the avowed dread of the English
populace imbibing the contagion of French prin-
ciples, from the facility of association with French-
men, which peace must bring, come when it
might.

I am glad you think with me, that the continuance
of Buonaparte's life is an highly desirable circum-
stance to us, since, if he is not genuinely good, he
D d

VOL. V.

is wise enough to see that, next to the reality, the semblance of virtue is the soundest policy in states as in individuals; that justice and friendship towards other nations, best secure the prosperity of his own.

And for England, I hope and trust, that, oppressed as she is, and must long remain, by the grievous burdens of this wasteful war, and with her populace much more alienated by misery than they ever could have been by tenets, which the populace never examine, will find this blessed, though humbling peace, balmy to her wounds, and Lethéan to her wrongs; and that many years she may remain undisturbed by farther conflicts, external or internal !

Pray present to your venerable mother, now, with unimpaired faculties, in the last year of her century, my best regards; to your beloved wife, and to the charming Magdalene, to whom my wish of being known returns with her restored power of contributing to your and Mrs Whalley's happiness. I am conscious that your future peace is in her keeping ;-may gratitude for the almost unexampled goodness she has received from you both, render the deposit sacred! Adieu!

LETTER LXXV.

CAPT. ROBERT WOLSELEY.

Lichfield, Dec. 14, 1801.

I HAVE the satisfaction to tell you that Mr Saville is, we trust, recovering from his late perilous seizure. At his time of life, relapses are much to be dreaded; but it is on all occasions. wisdom to hope the best, and not to antedate in imagination the hour of anguish. He is obliged by your kind inquiries.

Your verses to Aspasia, are an ingenious and gallant hyperbole in musical numbers. You say the ideas are not entirely original. Keep your own counsel on that head to the lady. Perhaps she is not likely to trace you to your sources; nor am I likely to penetrate the mysterious veil you have thrown upon her identity. Prying curiosity, the reputed fault of the class of beings to which I belong, is not individually mine. Yet has it frequently been, and, in one instance, comically enough, my fate to receive the unsolicited confidence of lovers. At different periods, four ladies,

and three of them very slightly known to me, have poured upon my ear avowals of passion for my friend Captain S. Arden. They erroneously believed me entrusted with the state of his affections, and wanted to calculate upon intelligence, obtained from me, the chances of success which their attentions to him possessed,

"Silence that speaks, and eloquence of eyes.”

Two of the four were widows; the first young and gay, shewy and well jointured; the second a little autumnal, soft of voice, and languid of eye; the other two were blooming spinsters.

They all declared to me that the loss of Captain A.'s right arm first created that tender interest, which, beneath only common politeness on his part, had ripened into love, impassioned and exclusive. So, if you young men wish to make conquests, you see how easily it may be done; a smart stroke with a cleaver, between your right elbow and shoulder, and the spell of irresistibility is complete.

I am glad you are preparing for us a poetical landscape of Wolseley Bridge, and its lovely environs. I should suppose the talents which produced that free and beautiful paraphrase of Crazy