Bland I have not seen since my
last letter; but on Tuesday he dines with me, and will meet Moore, the
epitome of all that is exquisite in poetical or personal
accomplishments. How Bland has settled with Miller, I know not. I have
very little interest with either, and they must arrange their concerns
according to their own gusto. I have done my endeavours, _at your
request_, to bring them together, and hope they may agree to their
mutual advantage.
Coleridge has been lecturing against Campbell. [1]
Rogers was present, and from him I derive the information. We are going
to make a party to hear this Manichean of poesy. Pole [2] is to marry
Miss Long, and will be a very miserable dog for all that. The present
ministers are to continue, and his Majesty _does_ continue in the same
state; so there's folly and madness for you, both in a breath.
I never heard but of one man truly fortunate, and he was Beaumarchais,
[3] the author of _Figaro_, who buried two wives and gained three
lawsuits before he was thirty.
And now, child, what art thou doing? _Reading, I trust_. I want to see
you take a degree. Remember, this is the most important period of your
life; and don't disappoint your papa and your aunt, and all your
kin--besides myself. Don't you know that all male children are begotten
for the express purpose of being graduates? and that even I am an A.M.,
[4] though how I became so the Public Orator only can resolve. Besides,
you are to be a priest; and to confute Sir William Drummond's late book
about the Bible [5] (printed, but not published), and all other infidels
whatever.
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