Part 14 (2/2)
LONDON, _26 March, 1817_.
MY DEAR SIR,
This morning I intended that my letter to you to-day should inform you that I would have the pleasure of pa.s.sing next Sat.u.r.day and Sunday with you at Haileybury; but a circ.u.mstance has taken place which will make it necessary for me to go to Bath on Friday next, from which place I shall again return to London early in the next week. As you say you will not be in town till after Easter, perhaps it will be convenient to you to see me at Haileybury on Sat.u.r.day se'nnight. If so, I shall be with you on that day, at your dinner hour; and, if I do not hear from you before, I shall conclude that you have no engagement which will render my visit inconvenient.
I mean this day to put the last of my papers in the printer's hands, and hope he will be able to finish the printing before my visit to you; but of this I have some doubt, as he does not proceed regularly at the same even pace.
I agree with you that, after having so often heard your opinions, in contradiction to mine, it would not be of much use just now, when my book is actually in the press, to enter again on your reasons for differing with me. I did not send you the ma.n.u.scripts with any such intention. I merely wished you to see that part which related to you before I published, that I might not inadvertently misrepresent your statement. I cannot have the least objection to insert the note you mention[161], although I cannot but regret that we should differ so much as to the just and fair import of the words _real price_. When you see my book altogether, you will not perhaps differ from me so much as you now think you do. You may, and I believe will, object to the correctness of many of my terms, as they will appear to you fanciful and not always properly applied; but, making allowance for such deviations, you will I am sure agree with much of the matter. On some points, indeed, there is no difference between us, and on others our chief disagreement would be in the mode of representing them. I have written this letter at intervals between other engagements, as I have been repeatedly interrupted. I now hear the postman's bell, and must hasten to conclude.
Very truly yours, DAVID RICARDO.
LIX.
MY DEAR SIR,
I came up to London last night by the mail from Salisbury, and have just seen your letter. Mr. Whishaw told me when we last met that he was going to your house on Sat.u.r.day, and I feared that my projected visit might, on account of numbers, be inconvenient to you.... You have, however, suggested the getting me a bed out of your house, with which I shall be well satisfied, let it be hard or soft, narrow or roomy....
Pray make no ceremony with me, and do not receive me if there be the least difficulty about the bed.
Yours very truly, DAVID RICARDO.
LONDON, _3 June, 1817_.
LX.
LONDON, _25 July, 1817_.
MY DEAR SIR,
I am just returned from my six weeks' excursion highly pleased with everything I have seen. I very much regretted that you were not with me, as I am sure you would have been gratified with the towns of Flanders and the scenery of Namur, the Rhine and the castle of Heidelberg. I met Mr. Hamilton[162] at Luneville; he was going through the country that I had just quitted, and I hope he was as much pleased with it as I was. I fear that his engagements at the college made him devote less time to it than was required to enjoy all its beauties. We found that we were obliged to hurry over it with more expedition than we wished. Mrs.
Ricardo has been at Gatcomb rather more than a week, and to-morrow I shall quit town and join her there. Since Tuesday morning when I left Paris I have been incessantly travelling in the day and have not devoted many hours to sleep. I shall not be sorry to have a few days' rest.
Your college was liberal to France, for I not only met Mr. Hamilton there but Mr. Le Bas[163] and the gentleman, whose name I forget, who teaches the French language at that inst.i.tution[164].
I hope you have been enjoying your excursion and that you found less distress in Ireland than has been represented as existing there. The prospect of a good harvest is some consolation for the sufferings which the poor have been forced to endure; in every country of Europe they have endured much, and in every one they are antic.i.p.ating a return of plenty.
M. Say was very much gratified with your present, and requested me to forward a letter and a small duodecimo volume which he has just published[165]. The letter I send you, but the book as well as his work on Political Economy, the 3rd edition of which he gave to me, has been detained at the Custom house at Dover, that they may have sufficient time to calculate the duty on them. As I did not wish to stay at Dover till the next day, I requested the master of the Inn to pay the duty and to forward them by Osman, who will be on his return from France in a few days. The book is an interesting little work in the manner of Rochefoucauld, and appears to me to be ably done. M. Say was very agreeable and friendly; he dined with me one day and I with him another.
He is engaged in a commercial concern to which I believe he gives great attention.
I fear that it will be a long time before you and I meet, though I shall probably be in London once or twice in the next three months. I hope you will be disposed to bend your stops westerly in your winter vacation, and that you will not fail to pay us a visit at Gatcomb; but not such a visit as the last,--I shall not be satisfied with a flying excursion.
Perhaps Mr. Whishaw will favour me with his company at the same time; if so, with the a.s.sistance of my friend Smith, we should, I hope, contrive to make the time pa.s.s agreeably to both of you. Being very tired and very sleepy I hasten to conclude.
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