I am glad to hear of the proposed edition of the Plain Englishman.

My daughter is now transcribing for it the pieces which will accompany this letter.

Should they require more room than it is convenient to afford them, lay them aside without scruple, & I will send you something shorter. They are two of my annual Odes, written at the close of the years in which they are respectively dated. My successor may perhaps find the benefit of my withholding these pieces from the newspapers at thex time they are written. On my part they have been regularly prepared, & my musical colleague has as regularly composed them (that is such portions of them as have been thought suitable) – but since I held the office the performance has never been called for, & there is good hope therefore that it may fall into disuse, – being a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance.

Thank you for the American Sermons.

That I have read them you will perceive by an incidental reference in the next number of the Q.R. if it contains my paper upon the rise & progress of Infidelity:

– & that they will be of great advantage to me will be seen as soon as I can prepare a paper upon the condition & prospects of the United States, for which Dwights Travels

afford good materials & opportunity. The discourses are as able as I have expected to find them; they confirm the opinions which I had formed upon the subject, & have added largely to the information upon which those opinions were founded.

Gifford has not written to me since his recovery, – but I learn from Murray that he means to die in harness. The last number

was a great deal better than its predecessor, which was disgraced by that wretched half-apology for Lord Byron, – & a defence of Shakespeare & Revealed Religion against him!!

Neither Gifford nor Murray are aware how strong a feeling of disapprobation toward their journal has been excited by this, & other sins, both of omission & commission with which it is justly to be charged. There is a strong disposition to start a rival journal,

– & offers <overtures> which few men in my circumstances would have rejected were held out to me to take the management, upon terms much more liberal than it had ever been my fortune to meet with, in all my numerous transactions with the booksellers. But tho the love of money is the last sin which besets us, it will never be my besetting sin. The great historical works which I have in hand, or in preparation, & for which I have been preparing since the year 1800,

will be sufficient to occupy the remainder of my life, even should it be extended to old age; & I will not sacrifice allot more time, than is absolutely necessary, for employments of temporary interest, & for the sake of immediate emolument. – I had rather see the QR. reformed, than rivalled; it possesses greater influence than a competitor could obtain till after many years. What is published there is sure to be read by the very persons whom it is most desirable to influence upon great public questions. Of all men whom I know John Coleridge would make the best editor, for principles, talents & strength of character. Into his hands I think it must devolve.

I shall take the affairs of Spain for my next paper, if the subject is not pre occupied, & Leucadio Doblado (Blanco White) for my text.

Are you acquainted with him, & his history? He is a man for whom I have the highest respect, – for tho suffering under a bad constitution & valetudinarian habits, he has done his part well; & had his countrymen listed to his warning voice, Spain might at this day have been a free & prosperous country. The only circumstance which makes me apprehend even a possibility of our being drawn into the war, is the appearance & speech of M^r Littleton at the dinner to the Ambassadors.

He, as M. Wellesleys son in law, must know what the feelings of that family are, & is likely to act in conformity to them. I was therefore surprized & grieved at what he said. The interference of France would be right, if it could be efficacious. But how is the Government which it may establish, to be supported? Where are its revenues to be found? And what is to prevent the Radicals from filling the whole country with banditti, – a course of life to which the destruction of all trade, & the total want of protection, must drive all <able-bodied men,> who chuse neither to beg nor starve. – It is a deplorable state of things. The minds of men are in such a state there, that they are equally impatient of a bad government, & incapable of a good one. As for Ferdinand & the Cortes,

I think xxxible of both know tho what may happen to them may excite horror, <but> it will hardly raise compassion; – but that the Spaniards should be re-barbarized, & degraded, would indeed be an evil for Europe & for the World. And yet the tendency of events is to render the country one wide scene of anarchy, overrun by troops as barbarous as any of the wild Arabs, or mountaineers of Asia.

What you say of Negro emancipation coincides entirely with my feelings upon that subject. The present D of Northumberland made a motion to that effect, some sixteen or seventeen years ago;

it was not supported, & scarcely noticed; – I however sent the following lines to one of the newspapers at the time, – & if you think them worth reprinting, they are at the Plain Englishmans service.

the allusion to his father was made, because I happened to know that the late D of Northumberland

was munificent in his secret charities.

I am sorry to hear that M^rs Locker is indisposed, & hope that I may find her well recovered in the month of May. – Thank you for your Views,

– which I shall have great interest in seeing, – they had better be sent to my brothers 15 Q Anne Street. – When these Odes, & the Algiers

are xx set up, I should like to see the proof, – in the hope of improving them. Trifles catch the eye in types which sometimes escape observation in the manuscript.