1802.] 
vances to improve thefe favourable fymp- 
toms. I came forth, therefore, from my 
retreat—but not as a politician :—of popu- 
Jar turmoil, and of popular remuneration, 
I have had enough. [My integrity in- 
deed I will preferve. 1 have clung to it 
in adverfity ; profperity fhall not woo it 
from me: -but, henceforward, I preferve 
it in filence. Whether the prefent calm 
continue, or the ftorm fhoald up again, 
*t T have hung my picture in the Temple ;”” 
and though, at the domeltic firefide, I 
may recount, without felf reproach, the 
fhipwrecks I have already encountered, 
my refolution is taken—I truft the feas no 
more,] I came from my retreat, there- 
fore, with an enthufiafm of a very dif- 
ferent defcription—with that [iterary en- 
thufiafm which had been my earlief? paf- 
fion, and the cultivation of which. had 
been the belt relief of my long and irk- 
fome'folitude ; and I determined, at leaft, to 
make {ome effort torender that enthufiafm 
advantageous tc the little group for whofe 
deftiny in fociety nature and affection have 
vendered me refponfible. Encouraged by 
the circulation of nearly 1500 copies of a 
volume of Poems (prefaced with Memoirs 
of my Life) through the channels of pri- 
vate fub(cription; and animated by the 
return of peace (from which I anticipated 
an oblivion ef paft diffentions) I began to 
meditate the more public undertaking of 
A Courfe of Lectures on the Science and 
Praétice of Elocution: an undertaking 
firft fuggefted by one of thofe few literary 
and {cientific friends whom the contagions 
of the times have not alienated; and the 
fuccefs of 'which, in defiance of all difad- 
vantages, has already enabled me to Jook 
forward with fome degree of confidence 
to the future profpeéts of my family. 
At the precife period when this project 
was ripe for experiment, the publication 
of Mr. Belfham’s unqualified calumny 
was, indeed, moft critically hoftile; and 
it was ealy to forefee the handle that 
might be made of itéby inveterate enemies 
_-—or by the ftill more inveterate timidity 
_of others who feize with avidity upon 
any excufe for evading the claims of friend- 
fhip: ‘Yet, fituated as I have been, it is 
fomewhat difficult to afcertain the precile 
extent to which general calumny can be 
repelled, without reviving thote political 
difcuffions in which I have already ex- 
prefled my determination to be no move 
involved. I determined, however, (fo in- 
_ Higated) to beftow an hour or two upon 
the publication in queftion; and, taking 
the index for my guide, I perufed all the 
-paffages in which I was likely to feel any 
‘ 
Mr. Thelwall’s Fuftification.. 
345 
perfonal interet. But I found the author 
fo inaccurate in his ftatements, even of 
the moft notorious faéts, that my pen, in- 
dignantly, declined the controverfy ; and, 
confident as I have always felt myfcif, 
that pofferity would fairly appreciate my 
charaéter, I determined to leave my ca- 
Jumniator to that oblivion to which he ts 
inevitably predeftined, as foon as the gas 
of party-effervefcence fhall be exhautted, 
to which alone fuch writers can owe their 
temporary buoyancy. 
To this refolution it is probable I might 
have adhered (at Jeaft till I could have 
found Jeifure for the publication of a more 
enlarged edition of my Memoirs) had not 
the obnoxious paflage found its way into 
a more popular vehicle of trantmiffion 5 
and had not a@ pofitive and afcertainable 
injury accrued to myfelf and family, in 
confequence of its circulation. 
But the cafe is now effentially altered. 
It is no Jonger a queftion to be left to the 
remote decifion of pofterity. That tardy 
judicature may juftify, indeed, my injured 
fame, but it cannot reftore that time, and 
thofe opportunities of exertion, which 
(during what may yet remain of the fhort 
{pan of life) I am anxious to improve for 
the fuftenance and future eltabhi{hment of 
my injured little-ones. The quefticon,. 
therefore, fome way or other, mult be de- 
cided now; and it is, therefore, in this 
public manner, that I give Mr. Belfham 
his choice, in the firft inftance, of the 
mode in which it fhall be decided. Mr, 
Belfham muft know that there is neither 
room nor occafion for vague and loofe 
affertion in this refpeét. My origin 
(though unadorned with the f{plendours of 
rank) is not quite fo obfcure, nor has my °° 
conduct been fo myfterious, as to defy re- 
fearch. Where and bow my life bas been 
{pent, from. my birth to the prefent day, 
is fufficiently afcertainable from a variety 
of public. documents. Indeed, confcicus 
that I had nothing to hide, I have myteif, 
at all times, been tolerably free in throw- 
ing thofe documents down, as defiances to 
calumny and milreprefentation. Let Mr, 
Belfham, then, avail himfelf of thefe, or 
of any other fources of information his 
enguiries or his diligence can difcover : 
and if he can bring forward one indiwiduat 
circumflance of my lite that can impeach 
my general character, be his the triumph, 
the difgrace be mine. If he can drag 
forth to notice one fingle act (thofe ex- 
cepted which, refulting from differences 
of political opinion, will be differently re- 
‘parded by different parties) that can de- 
preciate me in the eitimation of any good 
ie: nian— 
