the luminous and philosophical strictures of Richard Watson, or by the elaborate essay of Alexander Knox. This is evident, from the editor's preface. At first, we hardly knew what meaning to attach to the expression of "regret that the work has not had the benefit of the author's corrections;" whether the editor meant "corrections" of style-literary corrections; or whether, conscious of an alteration in the author's views, he meant "corrections" of judgment—moral corrections. But we were soon relieved from all doubt on this subject. The following paragraph, which we give entire, fully convinced us that the latter supposition was completely out of the question :—

"These two additions," the Notes of Mr. Coleridge, and Remarks of Mr. Knox,-"I am confident, will be well received by the public, as affording them, with the work itself, at one view, the opinions of three men of no ordinary minds, upon the life and character of a fourth. Somewhat widely indeed do they, on many points, differ in their estimate; and possibly the reader may be inclined to think the Author's judgment of Mr. Wesley, on the whole, the most just and the most impartial one.”

The correctness of this inference further appears from the fact, that the charges which were advanced against Mr. Wesley's character in the former editions of the work, remain, in this new edition, unretracted and unalleviated. Dr. Southey's opinion that, "however Wesley may have deceived himself, the love of power was a ruling passion in his mind," is here perpetuated ; (vol. ii., p. 98 ;) and the following obnoxious paragraph, no less dishonourable to the judgment and charity of Robert Southey, than unjust to the moral character of John Wesley, appears without a single explanatory or qualifying expression :

"Of Charles Wesley it has been said, by those who knew him best, that if ever there was a human being who disliked power, avoided pre-eminence, or shrunk from praise, it was he: whereas no conqueror or poet was ever more ambitious than John Wesley. Charles could forgive an injury; but never again trusted one whom he had found treacherous. John could take men a second time to his confidence, after the greatest wrongs and the basest usage perhaps, because he had not so keen an insight into the characters of men as his brother; perhaps, because he regarded them as his instruments, and thought that all other considerations must give way to the interests of the spiritual dominion which he had acquired." (Vol. ii., p. 186.) We have it, therefore, on the authority of the author's son, the reverend Curate of Cockermouth, that his father's views of Mr. Wesley's character remained substantially the same to the last. No other meaning, we conceive, can be attached to the words, "Possibly the reader may be inclined to think the author's judgment of Mr. Wesley, on the whole, the most just and the most impartial one;" nor can the re-appearance of the above charges, in the body of the work, without a qualifying note, be accounted for on any other supposition.

If this be so, alas for the fair fame of Dr. Southey! After all that has been reported, and all that we have hoped, the present edition of his work exposes him to the charge of uncandid and persevering obstinacy in prejudice and detraction. It is not in our heart to dishonour or molest the dead; we would ever respect the prayer of Polydorus,

Quid laceras ? Jam parce sepulto.-*

"Why do you tear me? Spare one who is buried."

And in reference to the Laureate himself, whom for many years, notwithstanding some failings, we have been accustomed to honour, we would much rather place an additional laurel on his sepulchre, to the memory of his genius, than violate his honourable rest: but if indeed things are as they would appear, then fiat justitia, ruat cœlum.*

We think, however, that we are able to exonerate Dr. Southey, in a great measure, from this charge, and to make it appear that this is not the work which should have been issued in the poet's name. Our evidence for this is minute, authentic, and interesting.

About two years ago, a respected and valued friend, (Joseph Carne, Esq., F.R.S., of Penzance,) who met Dr. Southey when he was in Cornwall, and who subsequently visited him at Keswick, related to us a conversation which he had with the Doctor, on the subject of his "Life of Wesley;" in the course of which he declared his intention of making the amende honorable, in the third edition of his work, for his misconception of Mr. Wesley's character. This gentleman, who entertains a high respect for Dr. Southey's literary character, and no less for his candour, has kindly furnished us with the following particulars of the conversation, which with equal kindness he has permitted us to publish :—

"Dr. Southey visited Cornwall in December, 1836, when I first had the gratification of being introduced to him, and of accompanying him to some of the interesting objects in this place and neighbourhood. In walking through the Chapel-street, in this town, we passed a large place of worship, and on my informing him, in answer to his inquiry, that it was the Wesleyan chapel,—(I believe he knew I was a Wesleyan,) he observed, 'The Wesleyans, I believe, are very numerous in Cornwall.' I merely answered in the affirmative, and he continued: "I am about to publish a new edition of my Life of Wesley. Some time after the first edition was published, I met with two copies, in which the persons to whom they belonged had written their remarks. One of these persons was Coleridge, the other was Henry Moore,-two very dissimilar characters,' said he, smiling; ‘and I have made some use of the remarks of both. I had also,' he added, a long correspondence with Alexander Knox, of Dublin, who laboured strongly to convince me that I had formed a wrong estimate of Mr. Wesley's character in supposing him to have been actuated by ambitious motives; and I now believe,' said he, that he was right, and in my new edition I shall acknowledge it.'

"In mentioning this circumstance, I do not pretend to be certain of every word; but of the substance and sense of the whole, I am quite certain."

With the remembrance of such a statement, proceeding from an authority so unquestionable, it will not create surprise if we confess ourselves to have laboured under the conviction, that Dr. Southey's views of Mr. Wesley's character had undergone a considerable change; and it will not be denied that we had good reason for expecting some intimation of such a change in the edition before us. We were, therefore, not a little puzzled when we read the editor's preface, in which he writes as if fully persuaded that the opinions of Dr. Southey remained unaltered. Of the accuracy of Mr. Carne's statement, we never entertained a doubt, not even when we read the words, "Possibly the reader may be inclined to think the author's judgment of Mr. Wesley, on the whole, the most just and the most impartial one; but we did doubt whether, with this intimation of the author's son

*"Let justice be done, though the heavens fall."

intervening, we should be able to make the change so apparent to the minds of our readers as it was to our own. We felt, moreover, how easy it would be for the friends of Dr. Southey to suggest the possibility of unconscious mistake, especially in casual and rapid conversation.

In this difficulty, however, two autograph letters of Dr. Southey accidentally fell into our hands, confirmatory, not only of our preconceived judgment of his character, but also, and in the most undoubted manner, of Mr. Carne's statement.

One of these letters is dated "Keswick, Nov. 24th, 1835," and is addressed to "James Nichols, Esq., 46, Hoxton-square." The following paragraph, which, to say the least, is calculated to give a most favourable impression of the writer's candour, will be read with interest :—

"Mr. Moore's notes will not excite in me any angry feeling, in whatever temper they may have been written. Where they show that I have been mistaken, I will correct the error; and when I may think him so, shall readily allow that freedom of opinion, which it is equally my duty to exercise for myself, and to allow in others."

The letter from which we now quote, is dated "Keswick, Aug. 17th, 1835,” and bears more directly on the question before us. The gentleman to whom it was addressed has permitted us, not only to give the substance of it in these remarks, but also to publish an engraved fac-simile, which we have great pleasure in presenting to our readers.

We direct particular attention to the following extract:—

"The edition of his works, (1809-13,) in seventeen volumes, (that one containing only the index included,) I have. I will therefore only trouble you for those volumes of the new edition which contain Mr. Benson's Life, and the additional letters; and also for Beal's "Fathers of the Wesley Family," which I had never before heard of.

"Adam Clarke's Memoirs of the Family I have, and mean to make use of it. Indeed, if you tell me when you have inspected his additional matter, that his second volume will, in your opinion, be worth waiting for,—I shall much rather wait for it, than lose the opportunity of making my new edition as correct as I can.

"My intention is to incorporate in it whatever new information has been brought forward by subsequent biographers, and, of course, to correct every error that has been pointed out, or that I myself can discover. Mr. Alexander Knox has convinced me that I was mistaken in supposing ambition entered largely into Mr. Wesley's actuating impulses. Upon the subject, he wrote a long and most admirable paper; and gave me permission to affix it to my own work, whenever it might be reprinted. This I shall do, and make such alterations in the book as are required in consequence.

"The Wesleyan leaders never committed a greater mistake than when they treated me as an enemy.

"I shall be greatly obliged to you for any documents with which you can supply me. I have some interesting matter (direct and collateral) to add, nothing I think material to alter, except on the one point upon which I had judged injuriously of Mr. Wesley. But my work will not be the more palatable on this account to those who have declared war against it."

The fact, then, of Dr. Southey's change of opinion is undeniable. In August, 1835, we find him acknowledging his mistake in supposing that "ambition entered largely into Mr. Wesley's actuating impulses ;" in November, of the same year, he expresses his readiness "to correct the

error," wherever "Mr. Moore's notes may "show" that he was "mistaken;" and in December, 1836, more than a year afterwards, he repeats to Mr. Carne, almost in the same words, the statement which he had made in his letter to Mr. Nichols; thus proving it to have been his settled conviction that he had mistaken Mr. Wesley's character in this particular, and his deliberate purpose to acknowledge the error in this third edition.

That the Rev. Charles Cuthbert Southey should have made no reference to this fact, in the discharge of "the office which has fallen upon him," is to us a complete mystery. Dr. Southey, like most other authors, kept his own copy" of his works, in which it was "his custom" to make "alterations and insertions;" and "a few" were made in his copy of his "Life of Wesley ;" but, as it would appear, there was no record of the change which his opinions had undergone through the influence of Mr. Knox! Dr. Southey too, as every man of candour would do under the same circumstances, was in the habit of acknowledging this change, both in conversation and in correspondence with his friends; but, as it would appear, Mr. C. C. Southey never heard of the fact, either from his father, or from any other source! It is scarcely imaginable, we admit, that the reverend editor was altogether ignorant of this correction of "the author's judgment of Mr. Wesley ;" and yet, we are unwilling to press the alternative, that he has studiously concealed, and as a consequence, in this case, misrepresented, the later opinions of his father. To us, however, it is of little importance whether the fact was unknown or concealed; whether circumstances of any peculiar kind prevented its revelation to the son of our author; or whether, ashamed of the change, he was careful not to divulge it: but it is of importance to the character of Dr. Southey, and to the public, to know that he did retract his charges of ambition against Mr. Wesley, and that it was his intention to publish his retraction, and to "make such alterations in the book as should be required in consequence."

Part of this information we have only recently acquired, but rumours embodying its spirit and import we had heard long ago; and we were naturally led, particularly as the evidence became more and more confirmatory, to look with still increasing interest and hope for the appearance of this long-promised work. We need hardly say that our hopes have been sorrowfully disappointed ;-sorrowfully, we repeat, for assuredly we write not in anger. The work will not injure us. Our fears respecting it have no reference to Methodism, which has withstood attacks far more virulent than any in which Dr. Southey indulged; but we do fear that its tendency will be to mislead in the matter of spiritual religion, and to induce in many minds contempt and ridicule for this sacred subject.

As to the "Notes by Mr. Coleridge," and the "critique by the late Alexander Knox, Esq.," for these alone we should not have gone out of our way to bring the work before the attention of our readers. Mr. Watson's "Observations" have, in a great degree, anticipated every additional error and misconception which they contain. As, however, from other causes, we have been led to introduce this notice into our pages, it will probably be judged incomplete if we do not offer some observations on these "two new features." This we propose to do in our next Number, as also to give the reader some idea of the extent of the "alterations and insertions" found in the author's " own copy," which appear in this edition.

But to bring this part of our proposed task to a conclusion: If the

Founder of Methodism was not ambitious, by what "actuating impulses was he urged forward in that course of self-denial and reproach which he so long and so steadily pursued, for the acknowledged benefit of the world? It would have been more than curious and interesting,-it would have been important, to ascertain to what class of motives Dr. Southey would have attributed the almost unparalleled labours of this extraordinary man. The withdrawal of the charge of ambition would have involved the abandonment of sentiments not less injurious to the character of Wesley, than opposed to the spirit of Christianity. The author seemed aware of this; and hence, in the letter before us, stated his intention of publishing Mr. Knox's "most admirable paper,” and of “making such alterations in the book as were required in consequence." Though he had "nothing to alter except in the one point in which he had judged injuriously of Mr. Wesley," this " one point," we conceive, would have imparted quite a new feature to his work. Mr. Wesley's character would have appeared in Dr. Southey's pages clear and unsullied, without the qualifying shades of ambition, and passion for power. This "one point," moreover, would have made the author, in some important respects, consistent with himself, and there would no longer have been occasion to say, "Nothing is so impossible in nature, as the union of those qualities which he has infused into the character of Mr. Wesley; and the combination, in a literary or moral point of view, is so monstrous as to become ridiculous. If Dr. Southey's poetical characters had been as extravagant, his poems would have been below criticism."* Not for the sake of Wesley or of Methodism, but for his own sake, we regret that the author was not permitted to give to the world so honourable an exhibition of his candour as would undoubtedly have been manifested, if this third edition had issued from himself. Failing this, and in the absence, by the reverend editor, of all notice of the circumstances now laid before the reader, we rejoice to be enabled to place this distinguished poet before the view of the Christian world, in a light in which certainly he never before appeared. What a testimony to the purity of motive which "actuates" that Christian zeal and benevolence to which Wesley gave so powerful an "impulse," and which so abound in the present day, is afforded by the conversion of such a man as Southey from the erroneous opinions which he had so ardently espoused! If Wesley was not ambitious, what was it that reconciled him to the dangers and fatigues, scarcely exceeded by those of the Apostles, which he so willingly endured, but the self-same apostolic spirit,-love to Christ and to the souls of men? No one can contemplate the life and labours of John Wesley, without being convinced that he was continually imbued with the devotion which inspired the Apostle of the Gentiles, when he said, "Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." That spirit which led Paul to say, "I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also," inspired Wesley with the noble sentiment, “THE WORLD is my parish!" That all-sustaining grace which enabled Paul, in the immediate prospect of martyrdom, to say, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness," supported Wesley in his last moments, and enabled him to exclaim, "The best of all is, GOD IS WITH US!"

(To be concluded in our next.)

* Watson's Observations on Southey's Life of Wesley, sec. ix.

VOL. III.-NEW SERIES.

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