And devoted, and pure, and adorning in life,

Is for high-thoughted spirits like thine to command ? Oh no! never dream it; while good men despair

Between tyrants and traitors, and timid men bow, Never think for an instant thy country can spare

Such a light from her dark'ning horizon as thou! With a spirit as meek as the gentlest of those

Who in life's sunny valley lie sheltered and warm, Yet bold and heroic as ever yet rose

To the top cliffs of Fortune, and breasted her storm; With an ardour for liberty, fresh as in youth

It first kindles the bard, and gives light to his lyre, Yet mellowed e'en now by that mildness of truth,

Which tempers, but chills not, the patriot fire; With an eloquence, not like those rills from a height, Which sparkle, and foam, and in vapour are o'er, But a current that works out its way into light

Through the filt'ring recesses of thought and of lore: Thus gifted, thou never canst sleep in the shade;

If the stirring of genius, the music of fame,

And the charm of thy cause have not power to persuade,
Yet think how to freedom thou'rt pledged by thy name.
Like the boughs of that laurel, by Delphi's decree,

Set apart for the fane and its service divine,

All the branches that spring from the old Russell tree
Are by Liberty claim'd for the use of her shrine.1

These lines did not induce Lord John immediately to alter his decision; and for some years he seriously meditated abandoning politics for travel and letters. 'Society on the Continent,' was, in his opinion, 'one of the greatest luxuries,' 2 and it so happened that society on the Continent gained for him a new fascination by the presence of one of the members of his own family. In the summer of 1817, Lord John Russell's brother William was married to Miss Rawdon, a daughter of Colonel Rawdon, and a niece of the Lord Moira,

1 Lord J. Russell wrote to Moore on this poem, 'Mackintosh showed me your verses addressed to me; and I cannot say how sorry I was when I found that such verses and such praise were not immediately to appear. I do not know that I have felt so proud of anything as being the subject of such good poetry.'

2 Essays on Life and Character, p. 3.

once the favourite companion of the Regent, who in 1817 was establishing the supremacy of the British in India. Lady W. Russell had personal charms of a high order. Lord Byron said that she was the only lady he ever saw

Whose bloom could after dancing dare the dawn.1

But her intellectual gifts were at least as great as her personal charms. One who knew her well wrote of her that she united 'the attractions of a lively fancy, varied literary knowledge, a tone of conversation which revealed a familiarity with classic thought, together with a charm of manner quite peculiar to herself; '2 and Lord William himself wrote, twelve years after his marriage :

In England you all treat Bessy as if she was an ordinary person. But on the Continent she is treated like the most distinguished person in Europe, and, in fact, she is. Sovereigns, potentates, princes, ministers, men of letters, and simple individuals seek her acquaintance, and vie with each other to show her attention. Talents and virtue are more respected on the Continent than in England. Rank and riches command respect

in our moral country.

Soon after his marriage Lord William became aide-de-camp for a second time to the Duke of Wellington, who was commanding the army of occupation in France; and thus had constant opportunity of enjoying the society, English and French, military and diplomatic, literary and political, which gathered round the illustrious field-marshal.

Those then who appreciate Lord John's strong affection for his brother, who are acquainted with his love of travel, and with his pleasure in foreign society, will have no difficulty in determining how much of his time, which perhaps ought to have been devoted to politics, was given to the fascinations 1 Beppo, stanza lxxxiii. For the application of the line to Miss Rawdon, see Lady W. Russell: a Memoir (London, 1874).

2 Ibid. p. 11. Lady W. Russell had passed much of her time on the Continent, and especially in Italy. Lord John wrote to her from Florence in 1817: 'I was told the other day I could not have done better than have got my passport for Italy signed by you, for your name has universal currency both among those who know and those who do not.'

VOL. I.

G

with which his brother and sister-in-law were surrounded. His 'prolific' pen (to use an epithet which Dr. Cartwright had applied to it twelve years before) was, however, again becoming busy. Its activity during the decade 1819 to 1829 was extraordinary. For some reasons it would perhaps be better to deal with Lord John's various productions as they were written in chronological order. But as the ten years in which they appeared constituted a period in which their author was taking a constantly increasing interest in affairs, it will be convenient to relate his literary work before reverting to his political conduct.

In these ten years, without reckoning speeches which were separately published, contributions to social perodicals, and political pamphlets, Lord John Russell published (1) 'The Life of William, Lord Russell;' (2) 'Essays and Sketches of Life and Character;' (3) 'An Essay on the History of the English Constitution;' (4) 'The Nun of Arrouca, a Tale;' (5) 'Don Carlos, a Tragedy;' (6) 'Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht;' (7) 'A Translation of the Fifth Book of the Odyssey;' (8) 'The Establishment of the Turks in Europe, an Historical Discourse;' (9) 'An Imitation of the 13th Satire of Juvenal, being an Epistle to Mr. Moore.' He composed a farce in five acts, 'The Way to Win Her,' which was never published; he wrote some minor poems; he prepared some long and valuable monographs on Pope and Swift, which were apparently intended to be worked into the third volume of his History; and he composed the essay 'On the Causes of the French Revolution,' which was afterwards separately published in 1832, but which was also originally intended to form part of that volume.1

No one who is not acquainted with these various works

1 Allibone, who seems to have followed Lowndes, also includes among Lord J. Russell's works a translation of Monti's tragedy Caius Gracchus, which was the work of Lord W. Russell, as well as a little volume entitled 'Letters written for the Post and not for the Press.' I have obtained access to this volume, . since the publication of the original edition of this work. It is clearly not the

work of Lord John.

can realise the labour which they represent, or the time which their preparation must have absorbed. Some of them are now very rare.

'The Nun of Arrouca,' written 'during a visit to Paris in 1820,'1 is a very slender tale; it does not comprise a hundred short pages, and it is more remarkable for its biographical interest than for its literary character. The Essays and Sketches' deserve a little longer notice. They were published originally in 1820, at Mr. Moore's suggestion; the authorship being attributed to 'a gentleman who has left his lodgings,' his landlord, 'Joseph Skillett,' in editing the Essays, professing a hope that he might recover some part of his rent by this means. Mr. Skillett also lets us into the author's habits :

I observed he went to Almack's and the French play was admitted into the Travellers' Club, wore stays, and used much starch in his neckcloth. Notwithstanding this his life was not so regular as that of most young men of fashion. He did not always go out to dinner at a quarter before eight, nor always come home at five in the morning nor always get up at half-past two in the afternoon, &c.

There is reason for hoping that Mr. Skillett may have recovered some portion of his arrears of rent from the publication of the Essays. The secret of the authorship leaked out; a second edition was called for; Mr. Skillett's preface was omitted; and a formal dedication to Thomas Moore, Esq., who advised the publication of the fragments, was added by his attached friend,' the author.

The Essays are seventeen in number. They are on many subjects, from political economy, which the author pronounces 'an awful thing,' to orders of knighthood, which you now see . . . are not always the reward of merit, and even are sometimes given to cover the want of it.' No especial interest attaches to the majority of them. But they incidentally throw considerable light on their author's biography. For of the seventeen essays only six are undated, while of the remaining eleven, six are dated from Paris, two of the six in 1815, one

1 Moore's Memoirs, iii. 183.

from Brussels in 1816, and one from Milan in 1818. It is plain, therefore, that, in addition to the numerous journeys already recorded, Lord John was in Paris in 1815, in Belgium in 1816, and in Italy in 1818.1 These dates probably explain Lord John's frequent absences from his Parliamentary duties.

The following passage from one of these Essays will give a fair example of Lord John's style. The thoughts are the thoughts of a young man of twenty-three.

The English and the French, after an absence of twenty years, have again met in the common intercourse of life, and are exchanging bows, ideas, and sentiments.

I overheard, one day, a young Englishman entertaining a French lady with profligate principles and profane jests. Although she had often heard morality and religion attacked before, she was SO scandalised by the coarseness of his conversation that she at last told him his language might suit the vicious society of London, but was too wicked for Paris. His companion was at the same time telling an obscene story to a young lady who fell asleep in the middle of it. These young men are not improved by travel.

An English lady, whom I knew, was remarkable for the plainness of her dress, the modesty of her manners, and the piety of her conduct. She went from Paris this year with her head inade into a stand for flowers, her ears never open but to flattery, and her mouth full of the pretty phrases, 'a little flirtation,' &c. . . . She is not improved by travel.

I know a sensible English tradesman, who used to shut a Frenchman out of doors, and laughed at everybody who did not speak English as correctly and even as vulgarly as himself; he was so pleased with the kind reception that he got in France, and the patient attention with which all his blunders were listened to, that he promises he will go and do likewise. He is improved by his travels.

A farmer of good sense and good heart travelled through France soon after the peace. He found that the people were

1 Lord John Russell reached Florence early in November 1817. He left on the 8th for Leghorn, to embark for Malta; and from thence to seek an opportunity of going to Greece. But he returned to Florence early in December, and stayed there till the end of January. I infer, therefore, that for some reason he gave up his projected journey to Malta and the East. (Miss Berry's Journal, iii. 146, 149.)