No. XXIX.

AUTOGRAPHIC LETTERS OF EMINENT MEN.

L.-You promised me some time ago to let me see your collection of autographs. The hand-writing often indicates the mind. "I want," said Shenstone, "to see Mrs. Jago's hand-writing, that I may judge of her temper.'

R.-I shall have great pleasure in showing them, but it will be impossible for you to read them all, in a single evening. *** Here is an interesting specimen of Lord Nelson's caligraphy.

MY DEAR LLOYD,

Bath, Jan. 29th, 1798.

There is nothing you can desire me to do that I shall not have the greatest pleasure in complying with, for I am sure you can never possess a thought that is not most strictly honorable. I was much flattered by the Marquis's kind notice of me, and I beg you will make my respects acceptable to him. Tell him that I possess his place in Mrs. Palmer's Box, but his Lordship did not tell me all its charms-that generally some of the handsomest ladies at Bath are partakers in the Box, and was I a batchelor, I would not answer for being tempted; but as I am possessed of every thing which is valuable in a wife, I have no occasion to think beyond a pretty face. I am sorry the King is so poor: had he been worth what those vile dogs of Opposition think, what a vast sum would have been given to the nation; but I now hope all the nation will subscribe liberally. You will believe that I do not urge others to give, and to withhold myself, but my mode of subscribing will be novel in its manner, and by doing it I mean to debar myself of many comforts to serve my country, and I expect great consolation every time I cut a slice of salt beef instead of mutton. The Vanguard will be at Sheerness next Saturday, and, if this wind holds, she will be at

Lavater's notion of hand-writing is by no means chimerical, nor was General Paoli fanciful, when he told Mr. Northcote that he had decided on the character and disposition of a man, from his letter and the handwriting. D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature.

+ Nelson was married to Mrs. Nisbit, March 11th, 1787.

Portsmouth before Thompson quits the Channel. I only pray that the French may not be ready to leave Brest. I have been in a fever ever since

the Boadicea's return, with the account of their being ready for sea. Lady Nelson and my Father thank you for your kind remembrance of them, and believe me, my dear Lloyd,

To Thomas Lloyd, Esq.

Yours most affectionately,

HORATIO NELSON.

No. 15, May's Buildings,

St. Martin's Lane, London.

L.-You might see at once, that this was written by a lefthanded man. All the letters lean the wrong way, but with considerable regularity, and they are well formed and perfectly distinct.

R.-Nelson was not only left-handed, but left-eyed. At the seige of Calvi a shot struck the ground near him, and drove the sand into his right eye. He lost his right arm in the unsuccessful attack on the town and fort of Santa Cruz, (Teneriffe) about a year before he wrote this letter, and about six months after it was written he fought the glorious battle of the Nile.

L.-He says in this letter that he was possessed of a charm against temptation-" every thing which is valuable in a wife.” What a pity that a change should ever have come over the spirit of that dream! He had not then felt the magic of the "Hamiltonian system."*

R.-I suppose we must excuse Nelson's compliment to the patriots of his day-those vile dogs of opposition. A British

"To write letters to you" (writes Nelson to his wife before he married her)" is the next greatest pleasure I feel to receiving them from you. What I experience when I read such as I am sure are the pure sentiments of your heart, my poor pen cannot express :-nor, indeed, would I give much for any pen or head which could express feelings of that kind. Absent from you I feel no pleasure; it is you who are every thing to me. Without you I care not for this world; for I have found lately, nothing in it but vexation and trouble. These are my present sentiments. God Almighty grant they may never change, nor do I think they will. Indeed there is, as far as human knowledge can judge, a moral certainty that they cannot; for it must be a real affection that brings us together, not interest or compulsion."

officer is not expected to make a distinction between his sovereign and his country. Loyalty with him is patriotism, and covers a multitude of sins. If Nelson loved his King, he gave pretty substantial proof that he loved his country alsothat he was not really indifferent to the people, for whose interests "those vile dogs of opposition" struggled so fiercely.

L.-In the energy of his heroic speeches, Nelson sometimes reminds one of Napoleon; but the cry of "Westminster Abbey or Victory," and the famous telegraphic signal of “England expects every man to do his duty," are in somewhat better taste than the Ossian-like grandiloquence of Napoleon's appeals to his troops. Both these great leaders, however, knew the sort of men whom they addressed, and were equally successful in touching the right chord.

R.-Here are two companion notes, or notelets, from Pitt and Fox. Insignificant as they may seem from their extreme brevity, they are not without some marks of the character of the writers. Pitt's is in a stiff formal hand-that of Fox is bolder and freer, and the matter is amusingly simple

Downing-street, Saturday, Nov. 18.

Mr. Pitt presents his compliments to the Earl of Moira, and will be happy to have the honor of seeing his Lordship, any time before twelve, or after two, to-day, that may be most convenient to him.

Chertsey, April 29,

1802.

DEAR SIR,

Pray let me have a line to know this comes safe. I expect the Cow to-night. Yours ever,

C. J. Fox.

Thursday,

Frederick Walsh, Esq.

Fludyer-street, Westminster.

Now comes a letter from Mr. Perceval, (Chancellor of the Exchequer) who, less than a year after the date of it, was shot by Bellingham, in the lobby of the House of Commons. Bellingham was a Liverpool ship-broker, who had sustained some heavy

losses, and suffered ill-treatment, in his commercial intercourse with Russia. He considered that the British Government was bound to procure him some redress. His memorials being disregarded, it came into his head that he was justified in taking the life of some member of the administration. There was a report that he mistook Perceval for Lord Levison Gower, who had been Ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburgh

MY LORD,

Downing-street, June 2, 1811.

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's letter on the subject of what passed between his Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, and myself, upon the occasion of my mentioning to him the death of Lord Melville, and the consequent vacancy in the office of Lord Privy Seal of Scotland.

I am truly sensible of the condescension and kindness which induced His Royal Highness to mention my suggestion upon the subject of your Lordship; although if His Royal Highness could, consistently with his generous and affectionate feelings towards His Royal Father, have acted upon it, I should have endeavoured to avoid appearing as the author of it; I should have been desirous that His Royal Highness should have laid his command upon me, directing the appointment, as the more it appeared to be His Royal Highness's act, the more chance I should have conceived there would have been of your Lordship's accepting it. When I state that I should have endeavoured to avoid appearing as the author of the suggestion, I beg to assure your Lordship that such endeavour would not have proceeded from any personal disrespect to your Lordsbip, or any backwardness to have executed such a command, but sincerely desirous that the appointment should have taken place, because I believed it would have been more gratifying to His Royal Highness to have availed himself of an opportunity to mark his kindness and regard for your Lordship, I should have feared, from the difference which unfortunately subsists between your Lordship and His Royal Highness's confidential servants, your Lordship might have been disinclined to accept it if the suggestion had appeared to have originated with any one of them-or if the grant of the office had been presented to your Lordship as an act which could have put you under the slightest obligation to them.

Upon the truly noble and filial motives which induce His Royal Highness to forbear from filling up any appointment of the nature of that in question, there cannot be two opinions; these motives cannot but command respect, wherever they are known, although I lament that His Royal

Highness should have felt it necessary to apply them in this instance, which I should have hoped might have fairly formed an exception to them. I have the honor to be,

To the Earl of Moira.

Your Lordship's most obdt. & faithful servt,
SP. PERCEVAL.

L. This is a capital specimen of a thoroughly ministerial epistle ;-cautious, circuitous, and complimentary.

R.-Mr. Jerdan, the editor of the London Literary Gazette, was standing close to the minister, when he received the bullet in his heart. Poor Perceval exclaimed " Oh God!" and dropped down dead upon the spot. Mr. Jerdan seized the assassin, and soon afterwards published a very interesting account of him.* L.-The hand-writing of this letter is clear, neat, and easy. R.-Here is a very little note from a very great man. The hand-writing is still more clear, neat, and easy than that of Perceval, but with a look of more strength. Did you ever see a letter of introduction more laconically authoritative and decisive than this republican's to a "friend ?"

MR. WHITING,

Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1792.

the bearer of this letter,) one United States, should call at

If the Hon'ble Mr. Cushing, (who is of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Mount Vernon, you will treat him with all the civility in your power.

66

I am, your friend, &c.
G. WASHINGTON.

Bellingham," writes Mr. Jerdan, "with his breast exposed, and now extremely perturbed, was in a state of great excitation, when General Gascoyne appeared, and recognized him as a man whom he knew, from having seen him at Liverpool. No words, indeed, can picture his frightful agitation; large drops of agonizing sweat ran down his pallid face, and from the bottom of his chest to his gorge, rose and fell a spasmodic action as if a body as large as a hand were choking him with every breath. Never on earth, I believe, was seen a more terrible example of overwrought suffering; yet in language, he was perfectly cool and collected." On his trial, his counsel suggested the plea of insanity, but it was overruled. At his execution, his manner was firm and composed, and he refused to express any contrition for his crime.