26 EARLY LIFE. 



the cogency and elegance of his practical application 

 to our duties in life, the end and aim of all his teach- 

 ing. Such was he as a preacher. 



But one sermon I can never forget.* The occasion 

 was the celebration (5th November 1788) of the cen- 

 tenary of the Ke volution ; and his sister, considering 

 that to have heard such a man discourse on such a 

 subject was a thing to be remembered by any one 

 through life ever after, took me (although only ten 

 years old) to hear him. It was of singular and strik- 

 ing interest, from the extreme earnestness, the youth- 

 ful fervour, with which it was delivered. But it 

 touched in some passages upon a revolution which he 

 expected and saw approaching, if not begun, as well 

 as upon the one which was long past, and almost 

 faded from the memory in the more absorbing interest 

 of present affairs. I well remember his referring to 



* " CANNES, November 1866. 



. . . " After what Elwin said about the notices of Robertson, Black, 

 and others, having been already printed in the ' Lives of Men of Letters, 

 Philosophers,' &c., I have been doing my utmost to answer his objection, 

 by an attempt to rewrite them, but I have entirely failed. I find I 

 cannot do this without utterly destroying any merit the original com- 

 position may possess. Hence, these notices must remain as I have 

 placed them in the ' Autobiography.' But you may, if you think it 

 necessary, state where I have taken them from : it is no plagiary to 

 steal from one's self, and I would rather state the fact, than print the 

 notices with inverted commas. They are much too long for notes at 

 the foot of pages ; besides, all footnotes must, if possible, be avoided. 

 In the MS. of the other volumes, there are notices, and characters, of 

 men at the bar and public men : I daresay some of these will be found 

 to have been already printed. Hence, let the best mode of dealing with 

 all these be well considered. You cannot do better than consult Forster ; 

 but bear in mind that they must not be omitted, and that I cannot 

 undertake to rewrite them. Yours, H. B. 



"To WILLIAM BROUGHAM, Esq., 



Brougham, Penrith, Angleterre." 



