December 5.
To-night my invitations were to dinner at Brougham's, Sir Robert Inglis's, Mr. Justice Littledale's, and Mr. Kenyon's; at the latter place to meet Rogers and Southey. I dined with Brougham, as his invitation came first, and hoped to be able to drop in at Inglis's and Kenyon's; but we sat so late at table that I could only reach Inglis's, and then get home at midnight, trusting to some future opportunity of meeting Southey and Rogers: the last, of course, I may see every day. To-morrow, I dine with the Political Economy Club, where I shall meet Senior, John Mill,1 McCulloch,2 Spring Rice, Lord Lansdowne, &c. On the next day I commence my pilgrimage to Oxford, where I pass four days, and those four are engaged: first, to Sir Charles Vaughan, at All Souls; second, to my friend Ingham, M. P., at Oriel; third, to Dr. Hampden, at Christ Church; fourth, to Wortley, at Merton. I then go to Cambridge, where my first day is engaged to [24] Whewell, &c. A few days ago I received a most friendly and affectionate letter from Lord Morpeth, in which he enclosed a letter of introduction to the Countess of Granville,3 now in Paris. Sir Robert Inglis expressed himself to-night in terms of the highest admiration of Dr. Channing's ‘Texas,’ which is a good deal from such a churchman. I passed a very pleasant evening last week—till long past midnight—with Mr.Montagu and Mrs. Basil Montagu.4 Mr. Montagu was full of Bacon, and told me it was said of him that in a quarrel with the keeper of a turnpike gate he would quote Bacon! He invited me to go with him to visit Bacon's mansion about twenty miles from London. Mrs. Montagu is a remarkable woman. As ever yours,C. S.
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1 John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873.
2 John Ramsay McCulloch, 1789-1864; author of the ‘Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Navigation.’
3 Lady Granville (Henrietta Elizabeth) was the wife of Lord Granville, then English Ambassador at Paris. She and her sister, Georgiana, who was Lord Morpeth's mother, were the daughters of the fifth earl of Devonshire. Lord Granville died in 1846, and Lady Granville in 1862. His son is a distinguished statesman.
4 Basil Montagu, 1770-1851. He was educated at Cambridge, and called to the bar in 1798. He made the Law of Bankruptcy, both in practice and as a writer, his specialty in the profession. He co-operated with Romilly in the movement to abolish capital executions for minor offences, and was active in the Temperance reform. He was an enthusiastic student of Bacon, editing the works, and writing the life of the philosopher. His edition was the text of Macaulay's famous article in the ‘Edinburgh Review.’ His daughter married Bryan Waller Procter, who, as an author, adopted the pseudonym of ‘Barry Cornwall,’ and died in 1874, at the age of eighty-seven. Adelaide Anne Procter, 1825-1864, was Mr. Procter's daughter. Sumner made the acquaintance of Mr.Montagu and Mrs. Montagu, through Mr. Parkes. They were charmed with him, and ever after regarded him with a tenderness like that of parents. Mrs. Montagu predicted even then his future eminence. His relations to them and to the Procters have been touched upon by James T. Fields, in a paper contributed to ‘Harper's Magazine,’ Nov., 1875, pp. 777-796; and afterwards reprinted in a volume entitled ‘Barry Cornwall and some of his Friends,’ pp. 9, 47, 65, 101. Sumner was one of the guests, in 1859, at a dinner given by Mr. Procter to Hawthorne; at which were present Mr. Fields, Kinglake, and Leigh Hunt.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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