It is quite necessary that the Editor of the QR. should be a person in whom Government can confide; but I have no notion that any member of the Government would be consulted in the choice, or that any pledge can be required. The truth is that Government <interferes> in such things less than for its own interest, & the interests of the country it ought to do. Upon the course to be pursued by such a Journal, you & I are perfectly agreed. – The only member of Government with whom I have any direct communication (except by accident) is Charles Wynn, – & I will without delay let him know my wishes upon the subject.

I have written to Murray,

with whom the choice must rest.

What you said concerning the payment of a printers bill may perhaps rather imply need in the printer than in the bookseller. There is much competition for a great publisher’s employ; & the booksellers (who as far as I know them, have the true trading spirit, in the worst meaning of the words) – take advantage of it, so as to pay the lowest possible price, & take eighteen months credit, while they collect their own debts half-yearly. – The QR is the foundation of Murrays fortune. When he moved from Fleet Street, it was an adventure hazarded in consequence of the success of the review, & without the capital required.

And I know that a year or two afterwards he was so much in arrears with the Courier

for advertising, that they would advertise for him no longer without prompt payment. At present I rather doubt his judgement as a publisher, than his prosperity. He must have lost a great deal by large prices given for bad books: & latterly the bookselling trade has suffered more by the pressure upon the gentry,

than any other. But the Quarterly is not affected by this in any material degree; – it is likely to gain quite as many purchasers as it may lose; & it alone, is a fortune.

Had there been any Gods in Albermarle Street, an earthquake must surely have been felt <there> or some other portentous signal – at what passed with Mawman.

But tho I am arrived at that age when the necessity of laying by money is felt, & tends strongly to create the love of it, I do not think any offers however advantageous, ought to withdraw me from a course of life so congenial to me in all respects, as that which I now enjoy: nor that I ought to give up more time to temporary subjects, than is necessary for supplying my ways & means. The offer may be for your consideration, if our present object fails; – but I hope it will not fail.

You ask me respecting Lingard I had sent for it <his history> with an intention of reviewing x xxx x it & Turners xx together,

– a task which may very well be transferred to you, without any inconvenience xx on my part. The book arrived only two or three days ago. I read the reign of William Rufus, which is not nearly so good as Turners, – & the Roman period, which is very well done, infinitely better than I have ever seen it done before.

Farther I have not <yet> seen. But I have read his former publication – a history of the A-Saxon Church,

which is full of sophistry, & that worst kind of falsehood which is produced by the suppression of truths. – The question of suppression in Beckets history is the subject of an Appendix to Beringtons Hist. of Henry 2^d a book of great ability,

which you should peruse when you set about Lingard & Turner. The course of reading is one, in which increase of appetite grows by what it feeds on. As soon as I have gone thro Lingard I will return it to Murray for your use.

We have not heard of Hartleys arrival at Ambleside.

He may probably be staying at Birmingham upon his way, – or possibly he may have got out of sight in London. I think if he had xxx known that his Mother & Sister set out on Wednesday next for the south, he would have deferred his journey to the north, for the sake of seeing them. They make visits at Derby

& at Clarkson’s (near Ipswich) before they reach London, or rather Highgate. The cause of the journey is Sara’s strong desire to see her father

I re[MS missing]ice to hear that you are going on well in your nearest & dear[MS missing]ons, – & that your late alarm has past way. Remember us to John May. My old friend Lightfoot has a son at Exeter whose character is such that I should be glad to hear young John

had formed an acquaintance with him. By the fathers account he is a youth of thorough good principles & good sense.