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[405] me a long and beautiful walk, to show me the grounds and meadows attached to his magnificent College. On our return he proposed to me to pass the evening with a party, at the other corner of his quadrangle, collected to meet Dr. Chalmers, who is just now the great lion at Oxford, having come here to be created D. D. . . . .

I went with Dr. Buckland, about half past 9 o'clock, to Dr. Burton's, the Professor of Divinity, who lives in quite a magnificent style, his rooms hung with velvet. There I found Dr. Chalmers, a very plain, earnest, simple man, of nearly seventy; Davies Gilbert, the late President of the Royal Society, fully seventy years old, but extremely pleasant and animated; and a large number of the canons of Christ Church, besides our host and his handsome, agreeable wife, Dr.Buckland and Mrs. Buckland, the younger Copleston, etc, etc. It was an extremely agreeable conversazione. Tea was over when we entered, and no refreshment was offered afterwards, but the talk was excellent, and spirited.

Dr. Chalmers was curious and acute about our poor-laws, and knew a good deal about the United States; praised Dr. Channing for his intellectual power and eloquence, and considered his mind of the first order; thought Stuart the ablest man in America on the other side of the theological discussions going on there; and placed a great value on Abbott's ‘Young Christian,’ and his other practical works. He is, I think, much gratified with the attentions shown him at Oxford, which seem to have been abundant for a week, and which might indeed flatter any man; but he also seems plain, straightforward, and sincere, speaking his broad Scotch as honestly as possible, and expressing his own opinions faithfully, but entirely considerate of the opinions and feelings of others.

Mr. Gilbert's enthusiasm is more prompt and obvious than that of Dr. Chalmers, and it gratified me a good deal to hear him say, in the midst of the savants of Oxford, that Dr. Bowditch's ‘La Place’ is the first work extant on Astronomy. But I think Dr. Buckland was accounted the pleasant talker of the party. . . . . We separated a little before eleven, having made an arrangement to breakfast with Dr. Buckland, who asked a small party to meet us.

July 3.—We went to Dr. Buckland's at nine, and found there Dr. Chalmers, his wife and daughter, Dr.Burton and Mrs. Burton, Mr. Lloyd, Professor of Political Economy, Dr. Barnes, Vice Dean of Christ Church, and one or two others.

We breakfasted in Dr. Buckland's study, surrounded with the manuscripts of his ‘Bridgewater Treatise,’ now in the press, organic


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