252 HENRY KlllKE WHITE's REMAINS. 



this position in you. Do not quite exclude me from a 

 kind of fellow-feeling with you in your oratorical pur- 

 suits, for you know I must make myself a fit herald for 

 the important message I am ordained to deliver, and I 

 shall bestow some pains to this end. No inducement 

 whatever should prevail on me to enter into orders, if I 

 were not thoroughly convinced of the truth of the reli- 

 gion I profess, as contained in the New Testament ; and 

 I hope that whatever I know to be the truth, I shall not 

 hesitate to proclaim, however much it may be disliked or 

 despised. The discovery of Truth, it is notorious, ought 

 to be the object of all true philosophy ; and the attain- 

 ment of this end must, to a philosopher, be the greatest of 

 all possible blessings. If then a man be satisfied that he 

 has arrived at the fountainhead of pure Truth, and yet, 

 because the generality of men hold diflferent sentiments, 

 dares not avow it, but tacitly gives assent to falsehood^ 

 he withholds from men what, according to his principles, 

 it is for their good to know — he prefers his personal 

 good to Truth — and he proves that, whatever he may 

 profess, he is not imbued with the spirit of true philo 

 sophy. 



I have some intention of becoming a candidate for Sir 

 William Brown's medals this year ; and if I should, it 

 would be a great satisfaction to me to subject my attempts 

 to so good a classic as 1 understand you to be. In the 

 mean time, you will confer a real favour on me, if you 

 will transcribe some of your Latin verses for me, as I 

 am anxious to see the general character of modern Latin 

 as it is received at Cambridge ; and elegant verses always 

 give me great pleasure, in whatever language I read 

 them. Such I know yours will be. 



In this remote corner of the world, where we have 

 neither books nor booksellers, I am as ignorant of the 

 affairs of the literary world as an inhabitant of Siberia. 

 Sometimes the newspaper gives me some scanty hints ; 

 but, as I do not see a review, I cannot be said to hold 

 converse with the Republic. Pray is the voice of the 



