LITERARY AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 279 



included a sharp pamphlet, in which the Professor, under the nom 

 de plume of Mordecai Mullion, dealt somewhat freely with Mr. 

 M'Culloch), he lectured on political economy. Two years later, we 

 find that he was an advocate of free trade, as may be seen from his 

 letter to Dr. Moir in the next chapter. Could his new studies — 

 consequent upon complying with his friend Patrick Robertson's 

 advice to prepare a course of lectures on political economy — have 

 led to this result ? It is more than probable that De Quincey may 

 also have influenced his opinions on this head. 



The following letters, from Mr. Patrick Robertson, Mr. Huskis- 

 son, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Peel, will show the interest taken by 

 Wilson's personal and political friends as to the proposed Chair : — 



"Edixburgh, Tuesday, lithJune, 1825. 



" My dear "Wilson : — I have your last. Lockhart and Hope 

 concur with me in thinking that the idea of a petition is out of the 

 question. It would not do to enter the field in this way, unless 

 victory Avere perilled on the success ; and what will be the lethargy 

 of our leading Tories and the activity of the Whigs? I should 

 fear the result of a contest in this form. You seem to me to have 

 made every possible exertion ; and there is only one thing more I 

 must urge upon you, a positive pledge to lecture on this subject 

 next winter. You are quite adequate to the task, and this without 

 leaving Elleray. Books can easily be sent ; and if you don't know 

 about corn and raw produce, and bullion and foreign supplies, so as 

 to be ready to write in December, you are not the man who went 

 through the more formidable task of your first course. A pledge 

 of this kind would be useful, and when redeemed (if the storm 

 were now over), would be a complete bar against future invasions 

 of your rights. Think of this, or rather determine to do this with- 

 out thinking of it, and it is done. 



"I don't see why you should leave your charming cottage to 

 come down here at present, nor how you can be of any further ser- 

 vice than you have been. It is strange there is no answer from the 

 Big Wigs. Lord Melville writes nobody, and I fancy William 

 Dundas has his hands full enough of his city canvass since that in- 

 sane ass, , started. I am in hopes you will hear soon. Both 



Hope and Robert Dundas are anxious to do all in their power, and 

 expect this plot will be defeated ; but I see no way of preventing 



