172 A Journey to London in 1840. 



invaluable. T think he gets £2000 as editor and as author of a 

 certain proportion of the contents, the publishers, Messrs Long- 

 man & To., paving the contributors of the remaining portions of 

 the work. 



Mr M'Culloch says he feels himself getting old, though I 

 see no change in him, either as to appearance, health, or animal 

 spirits, except for the better. He thinks if he is spared to finish 

 his Political Dictionary, a work he has long contemplated, he 

 will not have done amiss, but that the words clarum et venerabile 

 may, perhaps, be applied to his name. This was said in jest, 

 but there is no doubt that he hoped and believed such would be 

 the case. 



He mav be said to have lived and to have supported a large 

 familv solelv bv his pen al<mg with the produce of his patrimonial 

 propertv. The latter, however, had since the peace of 1815 

 greatlv decreased in value. Including lx)th Auchengool, whi("h 

 once brought £400, but ultimately only £180 (I question if it 

 vields as much as the latter sum at the present moment), and his 

 house propertv in Isle of Whithorn, I should think his annual 

 revenue from these sources is rather under than above £200. 

 I belie\e to<:) that when he bought the fiat at Xo. 10 Buccleuch 

 Place, in which he himself resided, and the house Xo. 4 

 Southampton Street, Fitzroy Square, London, he burdened his 

 patrimonial property to that extent. But if he did not save 

 monev, I believe he never exceeded his income, however generous 

 his hospitalitv and apparently boundless his resources, judging 

 from the magnificence of his table and his general liberality of 

 expenditure. He must, I think, be ])Osse.ssed of that organ 

 called by phrenohigists Alimciitivciicss, for his taste as t<;) 

 meats and drinks is (]uite ex(|uisite and is allqi>"ed by all to be 

 .supreme and unerring. He can make himself happy with a 

 friend whatever i)e the character of the fare. He is intensely 

 .social and tond of merriment and liizarerrie under an\ circum- 

 stances, and I ha^•e seen him as happy under whisky punch as 

 with the best claret. But he does appreciate recherche dishes 

 and wines highly, more highly than any pers<-)n whom it was e\er 

 my fortune to know. And this high and exquisite standard of 

 living he has maintained from his earliest vears upwards, ^^"hen 

 his means were slender he accommodated his wants and tastes 

 accordinglv, \et even then he 'yi^we entertainments <_)f a more 



