To MRS. EDGEWORTH.
MARDOAKS, Jan. 19, 1822.
We called at Hatfield on our way here: a fine pile of old house with
many pictures—Burleigh, Cecil, Leicester, and Elizabeth. Do you
remember meeting Lady Salisbury [Footnote 1: Amelia, daughter of the
first Marquis of Downshire, and wife of the first Marquis of Salisbury. She was burnt to death in Hatfield House, 27th November 1835.</ref> at Lady Darnley's? little, lively, good-humoured, very alert and active. What do you think of her fox-hunting, though past seventy? Mr. Franks and Mr. Giles, whom we met at Beechwood, and all the young men, declare that she is more lively and good-humoured out hunting than any of them. An old groom goes out with her on a hunter a little better than her own, always a little before her, to show her where she may go, and turns to her every now and then, "Come on! why the d—-l don't you leap?" or "You must not go there! why the d—-l do you go there?"
We arrived here in our usual happy time—firelight, an hour before
dinner: most cordially received both by Sir James and Lady Macintosh: house pretty, library comfortable, hall and staircase beautiful: house filled with books.
I must tell you an anecdote of Wilberforce and a dream of Dr. Wollaston's. Mr. Wilberforce, you know, sold his house at Kensington Gore: the purchaser was a Chinaman, or, I should say, the keeper of a china-shop in Oxford Street—Mr. Mortlock. When the purchase-money was paid, £10,000, and the deeds executed, Mr. Mortlock waited upon Mr. Wilberforce, and said, "This house suits you, Mr. Wilberforce, so well in every respect, that I am sure your only motive in parting with it is to raise the money: therefore permit me to return these title-deeds. Accept this testimony of esteem, due to your public character and talents."
Wilberforce did not accept this handsome offer.
Dr. Wollaston told us that he was much pleased with his own ingenuity in
a dream. He wished to weigh himself, but suddenly fell, and was hurried
forward on the ground till he came to a spot where the power of gravity
ceased to act. He bethought himself of a spring steelyard, and with the
joy of successful invention, wakened. Sir John Sebright, however, would
not allow Wollaston to be proud of this, as it would have occurred to
him, or any one acquainted with the principle of a steelyard. We argued
this point for a quarter of an hour, and each went away, as usual, of
his or her original opinion.
HERTFORD COLLEGE, Jan. 23.
Do you recollect a Cornish friend of Davy's who supped with him the
night when Lady Darnley and the Russian Prince and the Sneyds were
there? and Davy saying that this Cornish friend was a very clever man, and that he was anxious to do him honour, and be kind? This Cornish friend was Mr., now Dr. Batten, at the head of Hertford College. He had with him a rosy-cheeked, happy-looking, open-faced son, of nine years old, whom we liked much, and whose countenance and manner gave the best evidence possible in favour of father and mother.
Le Bas is as deaf as a post; but that is no matter, as he is professor
of mathematics, and deals only in demonstration. He has a very
good-natured, intelligent countenance. He laughed heartily at some
nonsense of mine which caught his ear, and that broke the mournful
gravity of his countenance.
Fanny had some rides with little Macintosh while at Mardoaks—Robert, a
very intelligent boy of fifteen, little for his age; like his father, but handsomer, and he listens to his conversation with a delight which proves him worthy to be the son of such a father, and promises future excellence better than anything he could say at his age. Sir James is improved in the art of conversation since we knew him; being engaged in great affairs with great men and great women has perfected him in the use and management of his wonderful natural powers and vast accumulated treasures of knowledge. His memory now appears to work less; his eloquence is more easy, his wit more brilliant, his anecdotes more happily introduced. Altogether his conversation is even more delightful than formerly; superior to Dumont's in imagination, and almost equal in wit. In Dumont's mind and conversation, wit and reason are kept separate; but in Macintosh they are mixed, and he uses both in argument, knowing the full value and force of each: never attempting to pass wit for logic, he forges each link of the chain of demonstration, and then sends the electric spark of wit through it. The French may well exclaim, in speaking of him, "Quelle abondance!"