I cannot be glad at any event which may in any degree inconvenience you; – & yet as the disappointment of our plan

was so much like the breach of an engagement on my part, & sate therefore somewhat uneasily on my conscience, there is some satisfaction in knowing that it is better for you at this time to be at home than abroad. – We may look forward to Holland at a more convenient season, & while we are mountaineering in finer scenery than any which is to be found between the Land of Lakes & the Jura, tho we shall not fare so well upon the way as if the waters of the Rhine placed its wine within x our reach, we shall have the comfort of being near home.

I expect my old friend John May (whom I think you have seen at my brother Henry’s) on the 8^th of next month.

His stay is limited to a fortnight, & after that time I shall be ready to take the field with you, whenever you may find it most convenient. I thank you for your friendly invitation to a house where I feel myself at home, & where amusement is never wanting. But I think Mrs S. will not be induced to leave home this year. Edith is at Harrogate with Miss Hutchinson, & I think of going thither next week, to escort them home.

My view of the Catholic question

agrees entirely with yours. It is not for Peter only that we are opening the door, but for all Jacks bastard children.

Away goes the Test Act;

the Dissenters make their way into all the xxxx Corporations; their members will attack the Tythes, – & when we know, (as I certainly do) that an intention of selling them was entertained by M^r Pitt,

how can we expect that so supple an Administration as the present will risque any thing by defending them against the combined forces of the Dissenters, the Agricultural Interest, & the Liberales of all descriptions? That the Catholic question will be carried ere long, I do not doubt. The King is not a man to make a stand against it on the ground of principle, like his father.

The nation will be scribbled into it, as <they> may be scribbled into any thing: – & popular opinion is already the supreme power in England. It is idle to talk of a balance of powers, – the Democracy is every thing, & the inevitable tendency of our institutions has long been to make it so. Every thing will be popularized, – that is to say, vulgarized & debased.

But I must conclude, – for your servant is come for the letter: The Peninsular War

is far advanced; – the proof on the table carries me to p. 616. Westall is engraving a series of views to accompany it,

– he has sent me two proofs, which are some of the finest things of their kind. – The Book of the Church

is an odd looking title, of an old fashion but it served my purpose better than any other which I could devise, – especially as I thought of accompanying it with a sketch of our political history upon a like plan, to be called the Book of the Constitution.

I once hoped that these things would do some good; – but the evil I fear is too far gone. However order will one day succeed to anarchy, – our grandchildren will have to build up what their fathers have pulled down, & there will come a generation when these warnings may not be useless.