APPENDIX. 17 



satisfied me as to the correctness of my original opinion ; for 

 had every thing been * right ' in the British-Museum transac- 

 tion, there would have been no occasion for all this display of 

 thundering scurrility. Mr. Hawkins would have applied for 

 a retraction, and upon its being refused, have quietly given 

 his solicitor instructions to take such measures as, under the 

 circumstances, he might deem expedient. In this position of 

 affairs, conceiving that it might save the parties indirectly 

 concerned in the matter, a great deal of unnecessary trouble 

 and suspense, I determined to let Mr. Hawkins know the 

 ground I was prepared to occupy, and accordingly I drew up 

 and enclosed a letter to my solicitors, (Messrs. Richardson & 

 Talbot, of Bedford Row), with a request that they, as my le- 

 gal advisers, would forward a copy of it to Sharpham Park, in 

 time for the Thursday's post. Its purport merely was to inform 

 Mr. Hawkins, that his threats had been communicated to me ; 

 that 1 would neither apologise to him for, nor retract the 

 opinion I had expressed ; and that I had given my solicitors 

 instructions to take all necessary steps for meeting whatever 

 legal proceedings he thought proper to adopt. 



The call of the postman at Sharpham Park on the morning 

 fixed for the arrival of the " self-damning confession," I ra- 

 ther take it, placed Mr. Hawkins in a predicament that he 

 was anything but prepared for. Never dreaming after he had 

 passed safely through the ordeal of an investigation, by a select 

 committee of the House of Commons, that I should venture 

 to stand by my opinion, and test it before a judicial tribunal, 

 he had pledged himself to Mr. Young, either to obtain a re- 

 traction of the imputation which had escaped my lips, or to 

 institute a prosecution against me in a criminal court of jus- 

 tice. His letter, containing an oath to that effect, w^as not 

 ten days old ; and now there was staring him in the face, a 

 rejoinder from my solicitors, accepting the challenge, in a 

 tone that held out no chance of a loop-hole for evasion. 



Some time elapsed before Mr. Hawkins mustered even cou- 

 rage to state his ground of action, but at length he lodged his 

 declaration with my solicitors, laying the damages at ^1000. 

 founding the proceedings upon tlie letter which I wrote to the 

 party who questioned me at my friend's table. The decla- 

 ration sets forth that Mr. Hawkins ''had deservedly oh- 

 " tained the good opinion and credit of all his neighbours ; 

 ^^ yet the defendant [Charlesworth] well knowing the pre- 

 •* mises but greatly envying the happy state and condition of 

 " the plaintiff [Hawkins], and contriving and wickedly in- 

 " tending to^ injure him in his said good name, fame, and 

 ''credit, and to bring him into public scandal, infamy, and 



