“I am determined to lose no time in acknowledging my good
fortune upon the acquisition of a correspondent whose candour is worthy of his
talents, and whose letters are fraught with all the elegance and all the vigour
which decorate his publication. . . . I rejoice, Sir, not so much upon your
account, as upon that of your readers, to whom you have opened so large and so
delightful a field of entertainment and instruction, when you tell me that the
‘Life of
Lorenzo’ has already gone through three editions, and that it will
soon appear in an octavo form. The edition open before me is that of 1796. I
borrowed it from the learned librarian of New College, Oxford; and I shall
return it next week, because it belongs to a society, where you will have many
readers very capable of appreciating your merit, and well disposed to
acknowledge and to proclaim it. . . . By what the ancients would have called
the afflatus divinus, I anticipated
your willingness to let me speak with freedom; and your letter justifies me in
ascribing to you that candour which is the sure criterion and happy effect of
conscious and eminent worth.
| 182 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“Nocturnâ versare manu, versare diurnâ.” |
“I am no stranger to the sweets of literary and social intercourse between kindred spirits; and therefore I wonder not that you call Dr. Currie your friend. Present my best compliments to him, and believe me,” &c.
