1819 Apr. 13 +

To Erskine

Lett. II Whig Merits

2

17

And was this mere froth? was it an attempt at an anticipation of Your Lordship’s eloquence? was it a substitute to reasoning? No, my Lord: it was the result of determinate facts brought together by reasoning: it was produced by a picture of the conduct of the person in question, detailed and correct to dulness, ranged under 12 heads. There it has been to be seen these two years: – there it has been actually seen by purchasers in thousands: – by vendors in thousands more: – by every body I had almost said but your Lordship and M r Parry: – seen even by M r Cobbet, who, with gnashing of teeth and unlocked jaws, unable to lock his eyes as Your Lordship’s and M r Parrys are locked, confesses in his agony his knowledge of the existence of the work, of which the merits of this real band of patriots from the most striking object.

But Your Lordship is a very slave to duty: and above all to professional duty: – duty as towards clients – the first trouble of the whole duty of man in learned eyes: and with an energy rising in proportion as he is convinced of its being unanswerable, whatsoever is advanced on the other side, it is the duty of the advocate to keep his eyes fast closed against: Yes: fast closed against it: or if haply for any one purpose the object has been seen, yet if, for any other purpose, it requires to be forgotten, the last thing he forgets is to forget it.