very

part, be apprehended by those who know the reputation which he had attained both at home and abroad, as a scholar of the first rank. But it can be fully appreciated only by those who knew the man,.. knew him, as we have known him, early and late in life, in all moods, and at all hours; in the strength of his understanding and in the playfulness of his fancy,..his social and moral qualities as well as his intellectual worth, the variety not less than the extent of his attainments, the richness of his mind, and the wisdom of his heart, for in the heart it is that true wisdom has its seat. You were the oldest and the most intimate of his friends; I also held a place in his esteem; and in the last letter which I received from him, he expressed his satisfaction in the thought that his memory would be associated with mine in aftertimes. I could not but think of him when

sending forth the present Vindication, and that thought reminded me of you, who are so naturally associated with him in my recollections. Chance brought us together as schoolboys; choice, founded upon esteem and liking, had united us through life, and no difference in pursuits, opinions, or station ever in the slightest degree influenced the friendship which had thus been formed: neither time nor separation affected it; the heart remained unchanged, and the attachment of youth acquired strength and maturity from years. Now, therefore, when one of the cords has been cut, I would not let pass this occasion for expressing a wish that death may not divide our names.

Yours most affectionately,

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

PREFACE.

66

MR. SOUTHEY," says a late Journalist, "is arming, but it cannot be in his own defence, for he will scarcely find an enemy to combat. Mr. Butler's appeal to history has been accepted by Mr. Townsend; his theological information has fallen to nothing before the learning and acuteness of Dr. Phillpotts; and what answer can he give to the affecting personal experience of Mr. Blanco White?" The controversy which the Book of the Church has occasioned might indeed have been safely left in the hands of such advocates; and probably in their hands I might have left it, if some progress had not been made in the present volume before their works appeared. There were, however, in Mr. Butler's book particular criticisms and remarks affecting the fidelity of my statements, which were properly considered as my individual concern. One of these, which, if not the most important, is the most curious, I shall notice in this place.

A few days after the Book of the Church was published, I called on the friend to whom this volume is inscribed, and heard from him of a letter in the newspapers, showing that a story concerning Gardiner's death, which I had taken from Fox, could not be true. I was on the point of leaving town; and when shortly afterwards a second edition of the work was called for, and the Publisher wrote to ask whether any alterations were to be made, I gave directions for expunging the passage, without troubling myself to inquire into a question which I had no immediate means of investigating. It may be imagined then with what surprize I perused the following passage in Mr. Butler's Letters; "the falsehood of the story was noticed by Dr. Lingard; still it found its place in the first edition of your work. Articles afterwards appeared in different newspapers, showing the falsehood of Fox's narrative: you have however retained it in your second edition; and long may it there remain, as proof of the little reliance that should be placed on those writers who place their trust in Fox."

What could I suppose, upon reading this positive assertion, but that the directions which I had sent to Mr. Murray must have been mislaid, or overlooked; that the fact was as Mr.