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7
gizzards when you have got nothing to put into your own?
"More Q.S.P.ism you will say here is this brother
"of mine going out of his way and exaggerating
"my errors merely for the satisfaction of exhibiting
" this witticism." Be it so, but when you
have laid aside exaggeration, be so good as
to give me credit for the dry and simple truth.
There is one thing I must tell you of, though
without being able positively either to blame or to
approve. This is the air of mystery which reigns
in all your letters. Q.S.P. is continually complaining
of it: so is Wilson though with less
vehemence. other people too have taken notice
of it. To me it is rather unpleasant, on account
of the disappointment it occasions me. Yet possibly
it may have contributed to work upon the imaginations
of the parties you depend on, and to
give them a bias in your favour. It is possible
that this vaunting and puffing may have had its
share in procuring you this offer of an additional
£30 a year accompanied with the fortunate
wish for your staying abroad. The higher
the expectation Q.S.P. had been taught to form
the less he could bear to see you return here
penniless and disappointed. He had been holding
up a magnificent picture of you to Madam:
and therefore dreaded the thoughts of her turning
the table upon you him at your return. And as
to myself, I think upon the whole that where deception is necessary I had much
rather be of the party of those who are to be
deceived than be let into the secret. Yes I
am clear in this opinion: and therefore I command
you to deal with me accordingly. What I
do not know I can not betray, and what is the
use of my knowing any untoward circumstance
which I cannot remedy? To let me into the secret
would only be giving me a part to act which
I
I might not choose or might not be able to go
through with . I more than suspect that all was not
fair and smooth in the overturning business: but
whether I am right or wrong I beg you would not
say any thing more to me on the subject. As it
is, if there were any occasion on account of
any sneers of Mrs Q.S.P. I could stand
up boldly in your defence: which perhaps I
could not do if I knew all. But my dear
Sam, treasure up in your mind (let me
beg of you) the key to all these mysteries
that we may discuss them all to the bottom
if ever we should meet? what a heap of things
then would you have to tell me of! I will put
you to death if you do not give me the
most circumstantial account of every hour
and every minute. But in all your puffs,
let me caution you once more against ever
holding out up any hopes prospects so palpably vain as
that of getting any thing in this country under
your present circumstances. I hold this
up to you as a rock that you may never
split upon it again. To make the best of it
I could for you, the construction I put upon
it to Q.S.P. was that which you had in
view was, not any thing from Government,
but the private scheme with L. at Portsmouth.
Wilson (who is now upon the Circuit) when
I told him of the scolding letter I intended to
write to you, regretted that he should not be in
the way to see it, apprehending (this was his
word) that I should be too severe. As I could not
give you the benefit of the corrections he thought
it might be proper he should give me, all
I could do for you was to appraise you of the
circumstance of his thinking in general that
I should be likely to stand in need of them. For
this occasion he brought the ghost of poor Blackstone
to my view. Blackstone; you perhaps know, is in
the chadis below.
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Identifier: | JB/539/070/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 539.
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1780-08-06 |
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539 |
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070 |
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002 |
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Correspondence |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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