“At length I take the liberty of returning the pamphlet which you were so good as to submit to my perusal, with such remarks as have suggested themselves to me in the course of it. I have been prevented, by the constant, pressure of material business, from giving earlier attention to it, in the way in which I wished to do it; and, indeed, I was anxious you should see the report of my speech, before you finally decided upon the difference between us, in some of our respective conclusions drawn from the papers. I directed Ridgway to send you three copies of my speech, begging you to accept one for yourself, and requesting the favour of you to give one copy to Mr. Martin and one to Mr. Rathbone, who will, I believe, have quitted London before this time.
“The spirit of equity, toleration, philanthropy, and patriotism, which pervades your pamphlet, is your own, and I have not the
* The copy sent to Mr. Whitbread, and returned by him, was carefully preserved by Mr. Roscoe, who has written on the fly-leaf the following memorandum:—“The late Mr. Whitbread did me the favour of perusing this pamphlet before it was published, and the observations upon it are in his handwriting.” |
| 438 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“If I might suggest any improvement, it would be the compression of the preface, as being rather too long for a work of such a size. The sentiments are admirable throughout, and the language is such as was to be expected from its author.”
