“I have myself so strong a sense of Mr. Perceval’s public merits, that I cannot help writing to you to say how much I wish that a statue might be erected to him. This could only be done by subscription; but surely such a subscription might soon be filled, if his friends think it advisable. Suggest this to Herries; and if the thing should be begun, when the list has the proper names to begin with, put mine down for five guineas, which could not at this time be better employed.
“The fit place for this statue would be the spot where he fell. Permission to place it there would no doubt be obtained, and the opposition made to it would only recoil upon his political enemies.
“I have often been grieved by public events, but never
so depressed by any as by this. It is not the shock which has produced this;
nor the extent of private misery which this wretched madman has occasioned,
though I can scarcely refrain from tears while I write. It is my deep and
ominous sense of danger to the country, from the Burdettites on one hand, and
from Catholic concessions on the other. You know I am no high-church bigot; it
would be impossible for me to subscribe to the Church Ar-
| Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 339 |
“As for conciliating the wild Irish by such concessions, the notion is so preposterous, that when I know a man of understanding can maintain such an opinion, it makes me sick at heart to think upon what sandy foundations every political fabric seems to rest!
“I have strayed on unintentionally. Go to Herries, and if he will enter into my feelings about the statue, let no time be lost. God bless you!
