“Dr. Bell’s amanuensis (Davies) has arrived at Keswick, with the poor Doctor’s papers: he is established in lodgings at the bottom of the garden, and I go to him every morning at seven, and remain with him till nine, inspecting a mass of correspondence which it will take several months to go through. Dr. Bell, from the time he went to India, in 1787, seems to have preserved every paper—first, for the interest which he took in them, and latterly, no doubt, with a persuasion that whatever related to him would be deemed of importance by posterity, and with a sure conviction that the more fully he was known the higher would be the opinion formed of his character; and this is certainly the case till the latter part of his life, when his own System obtained such complete possession of his heart and soul as to leave room for nothing else.
“My acquaintance with him began in 1809, but it was
not till two or three years afterwards that I
| Ætat. 58. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 213 |
“Having been several weeks at this task, I have now become as well acquainted with the first half of his life as the most unreserved letters could make me; and this has made me understand how little we know of men with whom we become acquainted after a certain age, and upon what different foundation the friendships of boyhood, of youth, and of maturity rest; but, withal, the older they are (like good Rhenish wine) the finer is the relish. If you and I had first met in London ten years later than we did in Lisbon, our intimacy could never have been what it is.
“This Session of Parliament is not likely to pass over
without some fearful struggle. The mob in London stand in fear of the soldiers,
and still more of the police. The want of such a police has given them the
upper hand at Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, and elsewhere; and, in the
confidence of their union and their numbers, it seems to me more than probable
that they will attempt a simultaneous march upon London, such as the
Blanketeers intended about fourteen years ago. In that case there will be an
insurrection in London, unless they are stopped on the way and defeated; and
well will it
| 214 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 58. |
“God bless you, my dear old friend!
