“I am sorry that you should have had the trouble of calling here to no purpose. But you will not be surprised that, on my return with my family, after a pretty long absence, I should have a good, deal upon my hands of private affairs, to fill the interval which public matters leave me.
“As soon as I am a little more settled I shall be most happy to have the pleasure of seeing you. Meantime I have read the paper which you have been so good as to send for my perusal.
“I had already become acquainted with the plan through
the medium of your “Gazette;” and I am afraid I shall
| 150 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
“My reasons are partly general, partly personal.
“1st, I am really of opinion, with Dr. Johnson, that the multitudinous personage, called the Public, is, after all, the best patron of literature and learned men.
“2nd, A much older authority, Horace, has described the general character of poets (in which other authors may perhaps be comprehended) in a way which would make it unadvisable for any individual, who is already in hot water enough, as a politician, to prepare another warm bath for himself, as arbiter of literary pretensions and literary rivalries.
“It is obviously much easier to avoid belonging to the institution, than, belonging to it, to decline executing its functions; and therefore I should wish very much to avoid it.
“Do not betray either my apprehensions or my heresy (if you think it such); and believe me, dear sir, very truly,
