The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 2: 1777 to 1780

By Jeremy Bentham

The first five volumes of the Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham contain over 1,300 letters written both to and from Bentham over a 50-year period, beginning in 1752 (aged three) with his earliest surviving letter to his grandmother, and ending in 1797 with correspondence concerning his attempts to set up a national scheme for the provision of poor relief. The early letters deal with Bentham’s education at Oxford University, where he was sent at the age of 12 and graduated at the age of 16, and his legal training before being admitted to the bar at the age of 21. He soon afterwards turned his back on the practice of the law and, allying himself with the more radical and sceptical figures of the continental Enlightenment, embarked on a career of law reform.

Against the background of the debates on the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789, to which he made significantcontributions, Bentham worked first on producing a complete penal code, and then on his panopticon prison scheme. Despite developing a host of original and ground-breaking ideas, contained in a mass of manuscripts, he published little during these years, and remained, at the close of this period, a relatively obscure individual. Nevertheless, these volumes reveal how the foundations were laid for the remarkable rise of Benthamite utilitarianism in the early nineteenth century.

Bentham’s educational ideas were the inspiration for the founding of UCL. The vast majority of Bentham’s papers, consisting of around 60,000 folios, are held in UCL Library.

Bentham’s correspondence reveals that in the late 1770s he was working intensively on the development of a code of penal law, but also expanding his acquaintance and, to a moderate degree, enhancing his reputation as a legal thinker. A significant family event took place in 1779, when his brother Samuel went to Russia in order to make his fortune.

Praise for the Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, volumes 1-5

‘These volumes provide significant additions to our understanding of Bentham’s work in the first half of his life up to 1797. The insights they offer into Bentham’s activities, ideas and method cast light on his philosophical and political positions in a seminal period in British and European history.’British Journal for the History of Philosophy

• Language: English
• Publisher: UCL Press
• Release date: Jun 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781911576303

Book preview

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF JEREMY BENTHAM

General Editor

J. H. Burns

Correspondence

Volume 2

The

CORRESPONDENCE

of

JEREMY BENTHAM

Volume 2: 1777–80

edited by

TIMOTHY L. S. SPRIGGE

This edition published in 2017 by

UCL Press

University College London

Gower Street

London WC1E 6BT

First published in 1968 by The Athlone Press,

University of London

Available to download free: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press

Text © The Bentham Committee, UCL

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library.

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Timothy L.S. Sprigge (ed.), The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Vol. 2: 1777–80. The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. Edited by J.H. Burns. London, UCL Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781911576273

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781911576273

PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION OF VOLUME 2

The second volume of Jeremy Bentham’s Correspondence was originally published, together with the first volume, in 1968, under the editorship of the late T.L.S. Sprigge and the General Editorship of the late J.H. Burns, thereby forming the first two volumes to be published in the new authoritative edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. The Correspondence volumes represent the ‘backbone’, so to speak, of the whole edition, giving scholars the orientation that enables them to begin to make sense of Bentham’s published works and the vast collection of his unpublished papers, consisting of around 60,000 folios in UCL Library and 12,500 folios in the British Library.

The present volume has been attractively re-keyed in a typeface that is sympathetic to the original design, and crucially the exact pagination of the original volume has been retained, so that referencing remains stable. The opportunity has been taken to incorporate the corrigenda printed at the conclusion of Volume III of the Correspondence and further corrections identified by the Bentham Project. Dr Benjamin Bourcier (Catholic University of Lille) has kindly checked the accuracy of the reproduction of the French material according to the conventions currently adopted in the edition as a whole.

Perhaps the most engaging part of the current volume, which is set within the period of the American War of Independence, is Bentham’s wide-ranging correspondence with his younger brother Samuel, who in 1778 came of age and completed his apprenticeship as a shipwright. Having failed to gain a suitable position at home, in August 1779 Samuel left England for Russia, visited various dockyards in Northern Europe, and in March 1780 arrived at St Petersburg, where he began to make contacts at court with the help of the British Ambassador Sir James Harris. The brothers recognized that Russia offered potential opportunities to both of them: a lucrative career and a field for practical experimentation for Samuel, and the position of legislative draughtsman for Jeremy. Bentham intended to present a code of penal law to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, in the hope that she would recognize its merit in terms of promoting the happiness of the community, and authorize its enactment.

However, despite repeated claims that his code, or parts of it, were near to completion, Bentham published nothing during the years covered by the present volume, with the exception of a short pamphlet entitled A View of the Hard Labour Bill, written in March 1778. This essay was a comment on a proposal to authorize the establishment of two penitentiaries, and enacted as the Penitentiary Act of 1779. The ending of transportation to the American colonies, following the Declaration of Independence of 1776, had forced government to consider alternative forms of punishment, and in particular imprisonment at home, at least until an alternative destination for transportation could be found. This whole subject was fertile ground for Bentham, who was working extensively on his theory of punishment and on strategies for preventing crime.

Although not published, Bentham did in 1780 print the first 16 chapters, and the first two sections of the 17th, of an introduction to his penal code, but finding himself, as he later wrote, ‘entangled in some unsuspected corner of the metaphysical maze’, he abandoned the text. In 1789 he eventually published this printed part of his introduction as An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, perhaps Bentham’s most famous work. It contains the standard account of the doctrine of classical utilitarianism, though the bulk of the text deals with the theory of punishment and the classification of offences. This work was edited for the Collected Works by J.H. Burns and H.L.A. Hart and published in 1970.

In 1780 Bentham also began to make substantial progress on the remainder of the 17th chapter of his introduction, which grew into a book in its own right, and has appeared in the Collected Works as Of the Limits of the Penal Branch of Jurisprudence, edited by the present writer, and published in 2012. This work constitutes Bentham’s attempt to distinguish between penal law and civil law, and in so doing to ascertain what constituted a complete and single law. It was perhaps in dealing with this problem that Bentham found himself ‘entangled’ in ‘the metaphysical maze’, and the chapter, along with the introduction as a whole, appears to have eventually been abandoned in 1782.

The UCL Bentham Papers contain a wealth of manuscripts written during the years covered by the present volume. When they are edited in due course for the Collected Works, they will complement the fascinating insights into the development of the mind of arguably our greatest legal philosopher revealed here in his correspondence.

Philip Schofield

General Editor of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham

UCL, February 2017

CONTENTS

List of Letters in Volume 2

Key to Symbols and Abbreviations

THE CORRESPONDENCE 1777–80

Index

The editor’s Preface and Introductionto Volumes 1 and 2 of The Correspondence appear in Volume 1.

LIST OF LETTERS IN VOLUME 2

KEY TO SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

SYMBOLS

ABBREVIATIONS

Apart from standard abbreviations, the following should be noted:—

B.M. I, II, . . . etc.: refers to the main series of Bentham papers in the British Museum, Additional Mss. 33537–64, the volumes of which are numbered from I to XXVIII. Thus B.M. I = Add. Ms. 33537 and so on.

U.C.: refers to the Bentham papers in the Library of University College London. Roman numerals refer to the boxes in which the papers are placed, Arabic to the leaves in each box.

Bowring: refers to The Works of Jeremy Bentham, published under the superintendence of . . . John Bowring (11 vols.), Edinburgh, 1838–43. Vols. x and xi contain Bowring’s Memoirs of Bentham.

NOTE

Apart from sources cited in the notes, a number of standard works of reference have, it will be evident, been heavily drawn upon, notably the following:—

Biographie Universelle (1811–33)

Clowes, W. L., The Royal Navy: A History (1897–1903)

Court and City Calendar

Dictionary of National Biography

Foster, J. (ed.), Alumni Oxonienses (early series, 1891–2; later series 1887–91)

Musgrave’s Obituary prior to 1800 (ed. G. J. Armytage, Harleian Society, 1899–1901)

Namier, L. B. & Brooke, J., The Commons 1754–90 (History of Parliament, 1964)

Royal Kalendar

Venn, J. & J. A. (ed.), Alumni Cantabrigienses (Part 1, 1925–7; Part 2, 1940–54)

Correspondence 1777–80

195

To Samuel Bentham

¹

4 January 1777 (Aet 28)

Saturday Jan: 4th 1777. Linc. Inn

What are the blank books for? you monkey you, they are the Charta Chymica. You wanted it in some such form, did not you, for day-books? I would have sent you some, not done up in books, besides: but there was none at the place I went to, and I had no possible time to go after it to the original warehouse in Lombard Street. As to the Seal, I beg your pardon, but I could not prevail upon myself to part with it for two reasons: 1st because I want it to shew | | as a pattern, or rather the contrary to a pattern, that he may cut my lion deeper: 2dly I want it to cut a figure with on Monday at Browne’s, where there is to be the Lord knows who. Last year about this time Browne was civil enough you may remember, to | | two 12000 pounders for me to look at, but I had no mind for either of them. They were the quintessence of insipidity—I hope I shan’t have them to meet again. Buckmaster as I have said many’s the good time and oft, and now say again, is the stupidest of all two legged creatures without feathers. Upon his objecting to outside pockets I acquiesced—visibly and manifestly acquiesced; and my expectation was that he would have made the cloaths accordingly. However it is of no consequence—I see cloaths daily with outside pockets: and it is ten to one but what in a little time they come again in fashion besides the people you are likely to be most among will probably be better judges of what is becoming than what is the fashion. As to the not wearing of silk breeches it is more a whim of Wilson’s than any thing else. His Taylor whom he magnifies so much made no objection at all to mine, and he himself I mean Wilson has two or three times confessed voluntarily, or rather exclaimed with an oath into the bargain, (what is a great deal from him) that ‘my dress was a very smart one.’

Garters of the same velvet I order’d repeatedly and expressly, as plainly as words could speak.

From Garters you pass to fur: the transition is a natural one. You ask me do I think Mrs. D.’s dark enough, meaning for yourself—My dear Sir, I cry your mercy—It is your concern, I wash my hands of it—‘Such matters are too high for me.’ It is for you and her to judge what sort of a figure her fur would make upon your wastecoat. All that I have ever seen of her’s, I do assure you is as grey as a badger; which as you truly observe is ‘nothing near so dark as’ mine. But what does that signify? It is your pretty person, it seems, not mine that is to be adorned with it.

Communicate the Battle scheme to Mrs. D.? Aye, surely—I wonder we neither of us thought of doing so before. It were much better the proposal should come from her than you: we shall be surer that way of knowing their genuine inclinations. You know I can not well separate myself from Wilson: and I could not bear the thoughts of embracing such a scheme (especially considering what I am doing for Wise) under any the least doubt of being perfectly consonant to their wishes. You will therefore shew Mrs. D. what I have said about it. Remember, as it is for so long a time, and two of us, payment is the sine qua non. 18s. each the least; and then Wilson would be grumbling every now and then—they’re ruining themselves. Mrs. D. however must not descend so far to particulars; as that would make them suspect it was with our participation. She must only say in general that she should not think of proposing it nor she is sure would we accept it but upon such terms as would be a full indemnification. When the answer comes, it will then be time enough to talk of proposing it to Wilson —I think I could manage it without troubling you. Make Mrs. D. shew you what she writes, that she may not in the fulness of her zeal throw out any hints that might have the effect of binding them to accept it.

195.

¹ B.M. II: 81–82. Autograph. Docketed (by Bentham?): ‘I.B. Jany. 4th 1777. Battle scheme—Fear of forcing it on the W’s.’ The lower part of the second sheet is torn away. So some of the letter may be missing.

196

To Samuel Bentham

¹

13–17 January 1777 (Aet 28)

Linc Inn—Monday night Jan: 13 1777

For an hour or two of this blessed day I have been Lord G—d Almighty at Q.S.P. Have you heard yet in your part of the world of a new species of wit, or if you please false wit—a particular kind of a Riddle, that has started up within these few weeks, and has been quite the ton; but probably will ‘ere long share the fate of every fashion and become a Boar? It is called a Charade. The Etymology I know not but the pronuntiation of it is French. The subject must be a word of two syllables, each of them constituting a word which is significant by itself. I won’t go on with my definition—an example will answer the purpose and save trouble. Q.S.P. had been at his favourite amusement; pulling to pieces poor Sr. J. Hawkins² without mercy: drawing his own picture, and putting Sr. John’s name to it. ‘He was the greatest egotist that ever lived’—(meaning by egotist all the while not what other people mean by it, vain, but ‘selfish’—But egotist you know has Latin in it) ‘He drew every thing to himself’—‘He never did a man a favour in his life, but self was at the bottom of it—’ etc. etc. being just what I had heard in terminis a hundred times over from the same mouth. Conversation at length flagging, I told him I would give him a Charade. We had been talking of them yesterday, but I had given no intimation of my ever having been engaged or meaning to be engaged in that species of manufacture. My part had been that of admiring Auditor to some of Nare’s³ the young prig, [or pug?] classical, lick-spittle, Christ-church, parson, who was ‘vastly clever at these things.’ You shall first have his.

The word enigmatized (if I may be allowed the expression) le mot de l’enigme as the french call it, I give you in a distant place in red Ink, not to forestall you in your conjectures.

I

My first is a toy                           1st Syllable

My second is less than a name      2d. Syllable

My third is nothing                     Whole word

This has two properties in it which have real merit. The first is its conciseness. The 2d. the connection in point of sense between the three /members/ staves of it; together with the anticlimax which they express. The defect of it is that the descriptions if such they be called are so extremely vague (at least that of the second member is) the analogy between the type and the thing typified so weak /as to give/ (that you have) scarce any ground to build your conjectures on. The second member one might be an age before one guessed.

II

My first is the name of an Italian River

My second is the name of a Dog.

My third is made to be burnt.

These were the flower of the flock. Nares you know perhaps is a Poet and has written a play. At Lord North’s installation I mean as Chancellor of Oxford or at least some little time before, he offer’d up in verse a sacrifice of incense to that Lord; which was received as the King receives petitions, and probably turned into a burnt-sacrifice. I believe the verses themselves (bating the foedum crimen servitutis as Tacitus calls it—the sordid stain of flattery which ran through them or rather composed their essence) were not bad. However no notice at all was taken of them: which raised Ld. N. several pegs higher in my estimation. Being as I said a Poet professed, and having nothing but such bawbles to turn his thoughts to, I expected to have heard of a whole heap from him in verse: of which there have been for some time past four or five in a day in the papers. principally in the Morning Post. All this by way of episode. My offer made, wide open went my Father’s eyes, and half-open his mouth with a variety of expression in it—as much to say—What can a recluse like you who know nothing of life pretend to give us that can have any thing clever in it—or what would signify your being clever where there’s no money to be got by it? etc. etc. etc. Madam simpering and affecting to strive to listen favourably. I lifted up my voice and said

My first is the Sparrow’s worst foe

My second the Placemen’s nickname

By the third you a Knight, Sir, may know

Who through Music has risen /(travelled)/ to fame.

Upon this the emotions became more and more complicated. A kind of pleasurable titillation produced by the jingle of the verse on one hand, Vexation at hearing a man spoken of in terms of approbation whom they have been tearing limb from limb, and him one who having used me as they knew unkindly, had thence (for such is man’s nature) made himself my ill-wisher,—on the other hand. The result of the whole however was a demand on me for another.

I then gave them this. I told them it was a very sentimental one, I had extracted it from Foote’s Piety in Pattens⁴ and that they might give it to a Nares as a text to preach a sermon on.

The first is put in by a man when accus’d

The second none can be at dice:

The third is most sweet when by Virtue diffus’d

But poison, when sought for in Vice.

This produced wonderful plaudits—pen and ink were called for—Madam herself turned Secretary while at her request I dictated.

I then told her I would give her one to propose to Nares.

My first is of streight the reverse:

My second’s the sound of a Bell:

Add the two you’ll a talent rehearse,

At /In/ which you, Sir, are known to excell.

Finding it was a compliment to the Parson before she understood precisely what, she was delighted beyond measure.

Addressing myself to Q.S.P. I afterwards gave them this, which they confessed was true and which raised a hearty laugh.

The first is a bauble by mourner supported

The second is French for the Sea.

The third’s a companion by you, Sir, much courted

Nor ever unwelcome to me.

Which last by the bye, as you well know, was a most consumed lye.

Either the following or what here stands second was the last I gave them. Addressing myself to Madam—

The first is the object of national Spleen

The second’s the Counsellor’s sign:

The third, Ma’am’s of your sex the treasure, I ween,

And too oft the torment of mine.

The above and two or three others I had been making the last night as I lay in bed.

My Father I would have you to know made one some time ago in Company which he treasures up with great care. Being for the entertainment of the Ladies it was half of it in Latin: and the subject immensely delicate.

My first is Happiness

My next is three times as much.

The third gives pain.

There’s Metaphysics for you.

Mine, I have a notion, must be wondrous fine; for when I repeated them to Wilson, he gave an inclination with his head, and said ‘Just so.’

I can tell you nothing more to signify about the Incas. Elmsly called upon me about it a week ago. He told me if I would undertake it he would leave the terms entirely to me. He told me a little of the secrets of the Trade. The highest price commonly given to Translators he says is 2 guineas a sheet. The only person in whose favour he ever knew it exceeded was Smollet and he had 3 Guineas.⁵ There is a Mrs. Griffiths⁶ who writes plays and novels; some of the latter I believe not bad. They make her, poor woman, translate for 25s. Some of the poor creatures they keep up in Garrots they pay so low as 18s. or even 15s. Elmsly says he has been plagued out of his life by their calling to /ask him/ know the meaning of words. I don’t believe I shall undertake it; if I do it certainly would not be under Smollet’s price. If I do not it is to go to a Dr. Berckenhout, a Physician, who has written Outlines of Natural History, a book in 5 or 6 Vols 12mo⁷ I believe it is, and other works. His price I believe is a guinea and a half. The book is not yet above a third of it printed at Paris. Elmsly has the sheets sent over to him as they are printed off. He told me he would the next day send me as much as was come over that I might see how I liked it: but I have not had them yet. Yesterday he called to me as I was passing by his shop, and told me he had been disappointed in not receiving them from Mr. Gibbon (The Historian) to whom he had lent them, and who had taken them out of town with him.

What should you think of my defending Sr. J. Hawkins in the Newspapers? I don’t know whether I may n’t or no. They are attacking him most unmercifully—He has made himself more enemies than fall to the lot of most men who are not in very high station. As I thought him not fairly dealt with, I had some thoughts out of a piece of Quixotism, to give him something of a lift. The doctrine of rewarding evil with good, I have always looked upon as one of the few good things in a certain system.⁸ I called yesterday at Payne’s: amongst other things, we got talking of Sr. John’s book. Payne was full of his conge’s and cringes, made me a parcel of fine speeches, told me that my name was up, and so forth, observed that I had a pen—and at last out it came that he wanted me to write an answer to these attacks. Poor Payne is in for it very deep. He told me it has cost him between £2, and £3000. I think he must have extraordinary luck if he sees half of it back again. Charity apart, it will be no bad policy to make friends of those mammons of unrighteousness one’s booksellers.

Wednesday.

You may send me a pair of Shoes when you send the tooth powder.

What you say about the Chymical apparatus I will think of—Oh—let me see—Ay, that must be the case. It must wait till you come to Town, and then we can pack it up together. Without assistance I should never have the courage to undertake it.

I rejoice to hear so good an account of Ship-building. About communicating the plan to the P’s I don’t know very well what advice to give you. I can’t very well form a judgement about the matter without seeing them. But I do not at present see any inconvenience that seems likely to ensue from it, taking care before hand to put your title to it out of doubt. And I think you are likely to reap many advantages from their concurrence in the execution.

Friday 17th.

Alas! my poor dear Sam—how I do grieve for thee.⁹ I can share—I cannot but share in every body’s afflictions; but what is it that I can do to remove them? After what you have written I will not delay an instant in writing to you; nor will I fail to come to you if by return of post you tell me of your continuing to wish it. I send you now forthwith (to help drive away the evil spirit) the quantity of stuff I have been scribbling at different times and which I had intended to have reserved for the packet. It may serve for amusement for Mrs. D. and help divert her thoughts from the sources of disquiet she is surrounded with, and which no thinking of hers can as I see do any thing towards removing. It is on you the thinking part must devolve.

Could not you prevail upon Guy¹⁰ to let you take a copy of Ackworth’s Will for me to see that I might judge of the foundation there may be of the apprehensions he professes to entertain. He would probably trust you with it for that purpose: and Mrs. D, who has the readiest pen would take the trouble of copying off your hands.

I could wish you would, if you can, get from Guy the particulars of the actions, W. is threatened with. Who the persons are, and what the sums that are owing to each. Who the Attorney’s are if any that are employ’d, and whether the actions (each of them) are begun or only threatn’d. I should then be prepared to talk with W. as I certainly would when he comes to Town which according to what he told me of his intentions, must now be soon. I should then be furnished with data from whence I might judge of his sincerity and of the truth of the account he might give me of his affairs. The great object would be to get the writings. In that not only the W. but the old lady and through her Mrs. D. are concerned. I have still £20 in L.’s hands which upon such a pinch I could command. This I look upon as being at my own disposal because my Father does not know of it. Mrs. D. might take up as much upon the strength of Mr. D.’s permission instead of laying it out in dress and the etc.’s he so kindly recommends. This one should hope might serve at any rate to set at least that matter clear. If upon interrogating W. I found that a fixed sum within compass would be the means of saving him, I don’t know but I might be tempted to embrace Elmsly’s proposal. I might even call upon Hemet,¹¹ and as he professes to be a friend of W’s see whether I could bring him to contribute any thing with me for such a purpose.

When your letter came I was just pleasing myself with the thoughts of the success of the Battle scheme. It was only last night that I broke the matter to Wilson; and after many objections and a violent repugnance on his part at first had brought him to compliance. He grows gradually better and better reconciled to it, and begins even to talk of it with pleasure. I durst not communicate to him your letter: that would have set him against it irrecoverably. If W. could hold together till then 36s. a week for 5 months would be £36 of which we might advance him a considerable part at first coming, and upon the whole he might probably (according to the difference you mention between Chatham and Battle prices of things) put half of it in his pocket. All this while I am myself living upon Wilson’s charity, for I have not yet had courage to speak to my Father, and if I were to wait till Doomsday he would not give me a farthing till I did. If W’s affairs are absolutely irrecoverable, matters must be arranged as follows. P.D.¹² must turn out. Mrs. W. must come and live with her sister, two of the children must be sent to the Grandfather (who can’t refuse to take them in) one to the Uncle at Reading, and the youngest and least expensive must come with it’s mother for the present. It won’t eat much for some time and cloaths we must make up for it some how or other amongst us. W. if he can keep out of gaol, must let himself out to somebody or other and relapse into the state of Clerkship. If P.D. is troublesome and will persist in giving disquiet to the family she must pack off at any rate: and it must be your business as gently as you can to intimate as much to her. It could never be Mr. D’s wish if he knew of it to have a sister who is entirely a stranger to him and who has no claim upon him stay in his home to make his wife unhappy.

charades unriddled.

Charades Nares 1st. A Fan-tom. No. 2d. a Po-ker. My 1st. Hawkins. 2d. Plea-sure. 3d. Wri-ting. 4. Pal-mer 4th. Bute-tye alias Beau-ty. | I received Mrs. D.s letter inclosing Mrs. W.’s after I had sent my own.

196.

¹ B.M. II: 83–86. Autograph. Docketed (by Bentham?): ‘I.B. Jany 13th and 16th 1777. Charades—Incas. / R.W.’s affairs bad / G.W. comes into the Battle Scheme / Plan for disposal of R.W.’s family.’

Addressed: ‘To Mr. Bentham / at his Majesty’s Dock Yard / near Rochester / Two Sheets.’ Postmark: ‘17 IA’.

² For Sir John Hawkins see letter 62, n. 3. His General History of the Science and Practice of Music had appeared at the end of 1776 and had been unfavourably received in many quarters. Early in the 1770’s Hawkins had become a neighbour of Jeremiah Bentham’s in Queen Square. Evidently they were not on good terms. A dispute arose somewhat later as to whether a gate should be made in the wall which separated Queen Square from Park Street. Sir John deplored this as making Queen Square less exclusive. The arguments which he advanced were satirized in a comic poem called ‘Rhyme and Reason’ (printed 1780) which is included in a book of pamphlets presented by Jeremy Bentham to Bowring in 1824 (B.M. 8008 g. 30). The poem is probably by Jeremiah Bentham, or perhaps even by Bentham himself.

³ Robert Nares (1753–1829), philologist, etc. (D.N.B.).

⁴ The Handsome Housemaid, or Piety in Pattens, an entertainment produced by Samuel Foote at the Haymarket in 1776.

⁵ Tobias Smollett (1721–71) had translated Gil Blas (1749) and Don Quixote (1755).

⁶ Elizabeth Griffith (1720?–90), playwright and novelist.

⁷ John Berkenhout (1730?–91), physician, naturalist, and miscellaneous writer educated at Edinburgh and Leyden, had published Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain in three volumes between 1769 and 1771.

⁸ Cf. n. 2 above. We do not know in what way Hawkins had treated Bentham unkindly.

⁹ The affairs of the Wise family were to preoccupy the Bentham brothers greatly for a considerable period in 1777 and 1778. The finances of Robert Wise were in a condition which placed his wife (Mrs Davies’s sister, Sarah) and her family (she was now expecting her fifth child) in danger of destitution. Despite the efforts of Bentham, his brother, and George Wilson, it appears that Mrs Wise was finally driven to suicide (cf. letter 313, n. 2).

The immediate problem was that Wise had borrowed money from his mother-in-law, Mrs Acworth. It had been intended that his house at Battle and a piece of land should be mortgaged to her, but the mortgage seems never to have been properly drawn up, though Wise signed an agreement to have this done (cf. the beginning of letter 203). Bentham vainly attempted to get Wise to draw up a proper mortgage deed. He was afraid that Wise had in fact mortgaged the house to another creditor; and while this seems not to have been the case, Wise had given the title deeds as security to two creditors, Gilbert and Martin (cf. letter 208). When Wise did at last complete a mortgage deed, it was defective (cf. letter 208). Bentham’s chief concern was to secure priority for Mrs Acworth over Wise’s other creditors, as her money would be available to Mrs Wise and the children. Eventually he persuaded Wise to convey his house to Mrs Acworth and to pay a rather high rent in lieu of interest on the money he owed (cf. letter 212). This was to give Mrs Acworth her interest without inviting competing claims from other creditors, and to keep a roof above the heads of the Wise family, as the house could not now be taken in execution on behalf of the creditors, nor could Wise himself make some rash disposal of it. In October Bentham got Wise to make over his effects to Mrs Acworth by a bill of sale. In November Wise deserted his wife (cf. letter 228).

¹⁰ G. Guy (cf. letter 165, at n. 3), was evidently an old friend of Mrs Acworth and her family, and executor of the late Mr Acworth’s will. He seems also to have been himself one of Robert Wise’s creditors.

¹¹ Not positively identified; but in view of the reference in letter 217 to ‘le dentiste’ as a friend of the Wises, it seems possible that this was Jacob Hemet, dentist, New Bond Street, who died in 1790 ( Gentleman’s Magazine, lx, 770).

¹² Joseph Davies’s sister Patty, who was living with Mrs Davies.

197

To Samuel Bentham

¹

18 January 1777 (Aet 28)

Voilà Wilson qui m’interrompe et je ne puis pas le renvoyer. Je voudrai écrire à W.—Wilson s’en va. Je vois par votre lettre d’hier que la lettre du Comte de Warwick² est déjà expédié à bataille. Je voudrois s’il étoit possible l’avoir empêché, et pour cela j’avois dessein de me rendre chez vous demain. Mais comme je serois trop tard pour cela, et que j’ai des affaires qui me retiennent en ville, outre que les chemins sont mauvais et bourbeux à outrance, j’ai différé ce dessein. J’écris le coeur serré et je ne sçais guères m’exprimer.

Cependant si dans la vôtre réponse qui viendra Lundi à ma dernière vous continuez de me marquer que vous souhaitez que je me rende chez vous, soyez sûr que je ne manquerai point; je me trouverai chez vous si je suis en vie, le 〈. . .〉 day.

Alas, my dear Sam, you must write to Q.S.P. I dined there today and my Father told me he had written to you 10 days ago enclosing a draught for Mrs. D. and desiring you to give him information of the receipt of it, and he has not had a syllable of answer. He introduced it by asking whether you were gone to Battle; pretending to conclude that that was the case rather than suppose you had received his letter.

J’ai écrit cette nuit à Wise pour le presser de m’exposer franchement l’état de ses affaires: lui offrant en général tout ce qui dépendent de moi, mais n’osant pas m’engager a rien de spécifique.

Sat Jan 17 or 18, 1777.³

You shall have your parcel tomorrow—Mr. Davies letters etc.

197.

¹ B.M. II: 87. Autograph. Docketed: ‘I.B. Jany. 18 1777. / R.W.’s affairs / S.B.’s negligence in not writing to Q.S.P.’

Addressed: ‘To / Mr. Bentham / at his Majesty’s Dock Yard / near Rochester.’

² I.e. G. Guy (cf. letter 196, n. 10), the allusion being to the hero of medieval legend, Guy, Earl of Warwick.

³ 18 January was the Saturday.

198

To Samuel Bentham

¹

19 January 1777 (Aet 28)

Je penserai mon cher Sam à ton projet pour Chatham. Mais je ne puis pas vous conseiller à compter beaucoup là-dessus. D’ailleurs je ne voudrai pas encore abandonner toute espérance de celui de Battle. Cependant trouvons si nous pouvons quelques sujets de consolation.

Lind t’other day received a letter from the Prince.² The Prince amongst other things gives him some account of Malejewski³ I think the man’s name is to whom the Diet has given a commission to draw up a Code of Laws. He says he is one whose exterior appearance is not in his favour: but whom he (the Prince) has always considered to be one who had many large and liberal views. He has provided himself with the French translation of Blackstone’s Commentaries. The Prince proposed to him before the work should be presented to the Diet, to send it over and get it perused by somebody in England. He agreed to this. The Prince then proposed Lind: and he assented. Long before that my Punishments may be out: there may be a French Translation made of them. And if they should take, it is possible it might lead to something from that quarter. If they could make it worth my while, I might go over to Poland for a time and give them my assistance.

Lind has a project for himself which seems feasible enough not thought of originally by himself but proposed to him by a person whose concurrence is necessary to the execution of it. Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in the H. of Commons; which carries with it a seat in the House and £800 a year hardmoney. Sr. Ch. Whitworth⁴ the present Chairman has offer’d to resign in his favour, if Ld. N. will promise him the first vacant seat in the Customs or Excise which is no more than the usual retreat for a superannuated Chairman. But Sr. Ch. to be indemnified in the mean time either by L. or the Ministry till a seat falls vacant. This might be done out of the £2000 Ld. N. has already consented to give L.

I reced the same from my own. I doubt the man (Greensil)⁵ cheated me.

I hope Mrs. D. will not fail to send me the next letter she receives. The dog-skin I sent cost 7s. 6d. It was the largest they had. They said 4 pairs of upper-leathers might be cut out of it. I will have no more Seal Skin shoes—They crack, and don’t wear well. The pairs I bespoke I suppose are done—otherwise countermand them. That indolent beast Elmsly has not got the sheets for me to see yet.

I told Mrs. W. in the letter I am just going to dispatch to her along with the Book, case, Shoes etc. that from her not writing I had begun to fear she might have been tired of her correspondent etc.—by way of my not writing: that I had communicated my suspicions to Mrs. D. who could assure me from the best authority it was no such thing, but that Mrs. W. expected me to write—This Mrs. D. must be aware of, that we may be all in a story. The packet I shall send by the Battle Diligence, that goes from the Bolt and Tun tomorrow at 6.

Sunday eveng. 19 Jan 1777.

I send you the Seal last made as a novelty. It was sent hence in a hurry, and is not cleaned yet from the dirt, graving-wax or whatever it may be—Sope and water or at worst Vitriolic Acid will do the business. When we meet we will toss up which shall have which.

I have had so much plague with writing to the W’s and about the W’s I must beg Mrs. D. to excuse me for the present. You will shew her all that is shewable—Every thing if you will about myself. Not that about Lind’s embryo project for himself. He will propose it as soon as he has got the Translation of his Answer etc.⁶ printed which he expects in a few days.

198.

¹ B.M. II: 88. Autograph. Docketed by Jeremy Bentham(?): ‘I.B. Jany. 19th 1777. Maljewski’s Code / Lind’s Chairman Scheme / Money accounted.’

² Stanislas Poniatowski (1754–1833) nephew of King Stanislas II, King of Poland. His father was Casimir Poniatowski (1721–80) eldest brother of the King, who was the eighth child of their father, Stanislas Poniatowski (1677–1762). John Lind had been his tutor for a time in the 1760’s.

³ Probably Stanislas-Nalencz Malachowski (1735–1809), Polish statesman, known as the ‘Polish Aristides’. He was distinguished later by his opposition to the encroachments of Russia.

⁴ Sir Charles Whitworth (1714?–78),

m.p.

for various constituencies from 1747, had been Chairman of Ways and Means since 1768. He died on 22 August 1778.

⁵ Joseph Greensil, jeweller, in the Strand.

⁶ Lind’s An Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress, was being translated into French by Jean Louis Delolme (1740–1806) the Swiss jurist, (cf. letter 199). Evidently Delolme did not complete the translation. It was in fact translated into French by A. J. P. Fréville, and published in London and at the Hague in the course of 1777, the Dutch edition bearing both Lind’s name and Fréville’s (cf. Bibliothèque Nationale Catalogue ).

Delolme had lived several years in England after he had been obliged to emigrate from his native Geneva after publication of a pamphlet, Examen de trois parts de droit, which gave offence to the city authorities. He supported himself here with difficulty by contributions to various journals. He returned to Switzerland in 1775 with financial aid from a charitable society. While in England he wrote Constitution de l’Angleterre (Amsterdam 1771, English translation 1772) which helped to give the French philosophes their high opinion of the English constitution.

A letter from Charles Abbot to Bentham of 1779 implies that Bentham saw something of Delolme and that he was in England in that year (see letter 308, n. 3.).

199

To Samuel Bentham

¹

22–23 January 1777 (Aet 28)

Yes to be sure—the old Lady² could have a Bond-and-Judgement which would secure her against every other claim except there be any other Bond-and-Judgement enter’d up as the phrase is, that is register’d in a certain manner, previously to her’s. But this will cost some money. I will endeavour to learn what. She could have a Judgement I have a notion on the note without the expence of a bond which costs 5s. or 6s. But a Bond may on some accounts be more desirable. This I will enquire into. But in this case there would be no getting possession of the goods without what is called an Execution: which would make an eclat and could not be managed without the intervention of Sherriff’s[?]‌ Officers etc. I have a notion they could be secur’d better by a thing called a Bill of Sale, which would give her possession of them immediately —All this I will enquire about.

I wish I could see the Marriage Settlement and the Will—I might then be able perhaps to form some judgement as to the validity of that part of the letter that is to her prejudice.

Yes—Lind is ‘inspecting a translation of his answer into French’ —I thought I had told you of it before—De L’Olme is doing it. The man who wrote a book Sur La Constitution de L’Angleterre which has great merit and is well esteemed.

Certainly the Empress presents the fairest prospect—Only in Poland there is the certainty of an introduction, and that an advantageous one.³

Wednesday Jan. 22 1777. Linc. Inn.

How do you like your Seal? It seems, I think, to do mighty well. But it takes an extravagant deal of Wax.

½ after 10.

An Extraordinary Gazette is this instant crying about, I have been and got it. It contains nothing but an account of our taking peaceable possession of Rhode Island where we took a few Cannon and Prisoners. The Continental Fleet as it was called which lay there is not taken but seems to be impounded.

Thursday 23d.

Thus far I wrote yesterday, not doubting but you would have it before now; I ran over to Wilson with the Gazette, and after having written the above left it with him to get put into the post. He gave the commission to Molly. ‘Between two stools,’ says the proverb, ‘the breech falleth to the ground’. So fared it with me between Wilson and his Molly—She never heard the Bellman.

This post brought me a letter from Mrs. W. none from Mr. W. I know not how the course of the post is, perhaps the letter I sent him on Saturday night did not reach him time enough for me to have an answer from him so soon. I wrote to him by the post on purpose, and got the letter directed by Wilson,—not choosing to put it into the packet for fear Mrs. W. should expect to see it, and he uneasy at his not shewing it her.

Mrs. W.’s letter contains the following passage: which is all that is very material in it.

‘Mr. Guy has made us a visit of 2 days. His pride would n’t submitt to come to the house till he had seen Mr. W. at a tavern: whom he requested to see in a note to him. Mr. W. went immediately and as soon asked him the meaning of his behaviour; which G. evaded, saying ’twas a parcel of nonsense. I can not attribute his visit to any thing but the pricking of his conscience for so heavy a charge against Mr. W. I still think there is a secret grudge as he was very awkwardly familiar the whole time he was with us.’

She ends thus.

‘I have no message from Mr. W. who went from home early this morning, and knew nothing of my intention’ (meaning of writing)—‘I have some suspicion that I dare not yet wish to disclose to you.’ This is rather aenigmatical—Does it refer, I wonder, to the boarding scheme?

199.

¹ B.M. II: 89. Autograph.

² Mrs Acworth, mother of Mrs Wise and Mrs Davies (cf. letter 196, n. 9).

³ Bentham was anxious to find a sovereign who would pay heed to his plans for legal reform: his hopes long centred on Catherine II of Russia.

200

To Elizabeth Davies and Samuel Bentham

¹

28 January 1777 (Aet 28)

In the midst of our chagrins, my good folks, it would be cruel in me to keep from you a report which if it be true, can hardly fail of giving you pleasure. Sr. Gilbert Elliot is dead: so much is certain. He was Treasurer of the Navy.² The place is in time of peace £3000 a year: and now is said to be about £5, or 6,000. I imagine too he has places in his gift. What does this lead to? I will tell you. I was told just now, by a person who is pretty well inform’d, (not Lind) that it was settled Lord Howe was to have it. Ld. Howe it seems had had it once before: in the Duke of Grafton’s Ministry. When the D. went out, Ld. Howe made it a point of honour to go out too.³ It will be by no means a bar to his advancement to the head of the Admiralty-board: and probably as it is a place of such consequence, there are places under it which he will have in his gift. This I find I said before—no matter. So it will happen when one lets the pen go as it has a mind to go.

As to R.W.⁴ not the least notice has he taken of my letter.

I have got the Incas: and to night shall finish the Preface which I intend to give to Elmsly as a specimen that he may judge whether it is worth his while to give me what I expect. The Preface has in it about enough to fill a printed sheet that is 24 12mo pages in the form in which Elmsly intends to print it. Wilson makes no objections to it: but he little knows the consideration that first determined me to listen to the proposal.⁵ As to R.W. him I have well nigh given up: my concern begins to narrow itself to those who really, as Mrs. D. says, deserve a better fate.

You Mr. Two-Shoes what do you make me pay as for a double letter for a short single one torn in two?

Don’t let my parcel be sent yet till I desire you.

½ after 10.

I have done my Incas’s.

If I remember right, a practising Attorney can not be arrested as another man may be in the first instance, at the beginning of a suit: only in execution, at the conclusion of it.

Good night God bless you both.

Tuesday I think it is—Jany. the somethingth.—twenty odd twenty seventh or some such matter 1777.

Linc. Inn.

200.

¹ B.M. II: 90–91. Autograph. Docketed: ‘I.B. Jany. 28th 1777. Incas. I.B. gives up R.W.’

Addressed: ‘To / Mr. Davies / Commissioner’s Office / near Rochester / Single Sheet.’ Postmark: ‘28 IA’.

28 January was a Tuesday, and doubtless that was the date of writing.

Although addressed to Mr Davies this letter was intended for Mrs Davies and Samuel, for Joseph Davies was still serving under Lord Howe in America (see letters 202, 215, etc.).

² Sir Gilbert Elliot, Treasurer of the Navy, died on 11 January 1777. On 12 June Welbore Ellis, later 1st Baron Mendip, was appointed to the post, which he held until February 1782.

³ Howe in fact became Treasurer of the Navy in August 1765 under Rockingham; and he did not resign with Grafton on 28 January 1770, but on 18 October in that year, when he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral. He did not after all hold the office again (cf. letter 153, n. 2).

⁴ Robert Wise.

⁵ See letter 194 and n. 3. Bentham was now inclined to take up the idea of translating Marmontel’s Les Incas for Elmsley, because the money would enable him to help the Wise family (see letter 196 towards the end). The translation, in two volumes, of which Bentham was responsible for the first (see letter 205), was apparently printed during 1777 (see letter 222), though no copy of it has been traced, and it may not in fact have been published. The Critical Review for September 1777 (xliv, 208–11) contains a notice of The Incas, or, the Destruction of the Empire of Peru ; but this translation, in two volumes, was published by John Nourse, not Peter Elmsley, and is presumably not the one in which Bentham had a hand.

201

To Samuel Bentham

¹

31 January–5 February 1777 (Aet 28)

Lieutt. O’brien’s books you have nothing to do with—They are only about Naval evolutions etc.² The use to be made of ships when