183],] Affairs in General 83 



to Lord ]Melville, to Wm. Dundas, the late member for Edinburgh, and 

 to Lady Abercromby. These glories should be enough for him; and 

 as the service will lose nothing by the abstraction of his military fame, 

 and society be much the better for his retreat, we recommend the atten- 

 tion of the government to the affair altogether. The late Duke of York 

 changed the whole character of the army, by discountenancing the pro- 

 fligacy of individuals. Let Lord Hill, or whoever else is actual comman- 

 der of the forces, do his duty, and he may rely on it that he will do more 

 honour to himself, and good to the service, than ever will be done by 

 suffering a man, characterized, convicted, and sentenced in a court of 

 justice, as this dashing major has been, to remain among the ranks of the 

 British army. 



The speech of counsel on the trial denounced the act as one of the 

 most barefaced profligacy. We altogether agree with the counsel. The 

 silliness of the victim is nothing to the purpose. The tempter is not to 

 be rendered guiltless in proportion to the helpless simplicity of the being 

 whom he destroys. If this criminal be let loose without any mark upon 

 him, the government, both civil and military, wiU have much to answer 

 to the great cause of British morality. 



The withdrawing of the Royal allowance from the Royal Society of 

 Literature, is one of the unlucky demonstrations of the spirit of eco- 

 nomy. For our part, we had rather, for the honour of the throne, that 

 a ball the less were given in the season ; for the expense of a single 

 night's waltzing, wine, and Weippert's band, would have nearly paid 

 the whole grant. The sum of a thousand pounds is withdrawn from 

 ten men of high literary name and industry, who certainly have done 

 more in their generation for the honour of the country than any five 

 hundred who shall dance the mazurka, or play the foreign mummer in 

 the royal presence for the next fifty years. 



A little statement from one of the "^ Royal Associates," Coleridge, 

 through a friend, has appeared on the subject. 



" Mr. Coleridge. — On the sudden suppression of the Royal Society of Lite- 

 rature, with the extinction of the honours and annual honoraria of the Royal 

 Associateships, a representation in Mr. Coleridge's behalf was made to Lord 

 Brougham, who promptly and kindly commended the case to Lord Grey's 

 consideration. The result of the application was, that a sum of X'200. — the 

 one moiety to be received forthwith, and the other the year following — by a 

 private grant from the Treasury, was placed at Mr. Coleridge's acceptance ; 

 but he felt it his duty most respectfully to decline it, though with every grate- 

 ful acknowledgment." 



But there are others, not less meritorious than Coleridge, and to 

 whom the hundred a-year, trivial as the sum is, may be of still higher 

 consideration. Matthias is one of them, a man who is"' compelled to 

 reside in Italy, for the double reasons of ill health and narrow circum- 

 stances. Yet Matthias has deserved well of the country ; and thdse^ 

 who remember his " Pursuits of Literature," the learning, vigorous 

 poetry, and high British principle of that work, published as it was in 

 a perilous time, and powerfully tending to uphold the cause of the 

 monarchy and the constitution, will know how to appreciate the economy 

 which dejirives an eminent scholar, an accomplished gentleman, and a 

 subject distinguished for active and manly loyalty, of the chief part, if 

 not the whole of his income, at the age of eighty years. Sliaron Turner, 



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