MR. LANDSEER'S PAMPHLET.
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
WE confess that we have been unable , to extract the materials of amusement out of the singularly revolting correspondence, which has been given in one of the Morning Papers, and privately circulated by the friends, or rather we should say the kinsfolk, of Mr. THOMAS LANDSEER. Fools, GOLDSMITH observes, begin by making us laugh, and end by making us melancholy. In the folly of the heart the same effects are perceptible. Its lighter and less questionable aberrations may excite a smile, but there is a wandering so determinate, and ap- parently so resistless, that it assumes the character of madness rather than of vice ; and our indignation at the turpitude is almost lost in pity of the infatuation of an offender who to all mortal seeming is a fitter subject of medical than of moral discipline. It is not, however, either because of its melancholy interest, in which such narratives mostly abound, or of its moral interest, which is always strong to the reflec- tive, but there is a novelty of situation and also of sentiment in the whole affair, that takes it out of the common run of such narra- tives. The parties in the singular tale unfolded in the pamphlet alluded to, are Mr. THOMAS LANDSEER the artist, his wife, and a Mr. L. H. RoinNsox. Mr. LANDSEER is a man of great talent, well known to the public through his numerous works, and much esteemed by his friends and acquaintances for his amiable deportment in private life. Mrs. LANDSEER is a young, beautiful, and fascinating woman, the daughter of Captain Pococx of Ashmore-house, Kent. Of Mr. L. H. ROBINSON we know nothing farther than his correspondence puts us in possession of; and assuredly what we learn from it has left no desire of more intimate acquaintance. The intimacy of Mr. ROBINSON and Mrs. LANDSEER has been of the closest kind, according to the gentleman's showing; and the child of which Mr. LANDSEER has hitherto passed as the father, is alleged by ROBINSON to be the adulterous issue of their criminal connexion. That connexion had net passed unmarked by the acquaintances of the parties, although it escaped, as might be expected, the notice of the husband and relatives. On the 1 lth July, an anonymous letter conveyed the intelligence to one of Mr. LANDSEER'S brothers • on the I3th, for the first time, its contents were communicated to Mr. LANDSEER, senior; and on the same day they were shown to Mr. T. LANDSEER, together with an epistle from ROBINSON that had been left the day before at Mr. EDWIN LANDSEER'S house, St. John's Wood, directed to the object of his guilty attachment. Both letters were subsequently read to the lady; and by the common advice of all parties she went with her child to the residence of her father, at Ashmore-house, from which she had just returned. It would appear that Mrs. LANDSEER, pre- vious to the 12th, had written to ROBINSON, accusing him of threatening her with exposure ; and subsequent to that date she most solemnly denied the whole of the allegations in his letter. Guilty or not guilty, it might have been supposed that common feeling, laying aside all other considerations, would have induced ROBINSON to lend him- self to any plan which offered but a chance of saving the reputation of a person whom he affected to love. Mr. ROBINSON, however—we must give his own language, for no other can do justice to the case —in answer to the writhings of his victim, says- " Good God! how can you keep daring my threats? * * * For
Heaven's sake reflect. You attack me indeed ! I defy you. In doing so you
would destroy yourself for ever—nothing could recover you—no time—no- thing could restore the injury it would inflict upon yourself. Fortunate in- deed is it that I did not destroy your letters, as in them you admit our crime and pray for forgiveness."
The prudence and piety of the following are in fine keeping:— "All, all have I done to gratify you in every way, and now you reward my affection by assuming innocence, or rather a threat to denounce me as having tried to seduce you, and that you would not yield. Really I cannot help bursting with laughter when i think of such a scheme. What a pretty figure you would cut in a witness-box against me. The first cross-question of counsel would expose you past all redemption. Against such villany, such unheard-of designing villany, I will stand firm and admit the naked truth. It will subject me to an action for damages it is true, but I will not screen a wretch capable of such blasphemous perjury."
The religious horror of perjury, which the seducer of his neighbour's wife and deserter of his own displays in the above, is equalled by the strain of moralizing that shines out in another paragraph :- " A mother's fondness for her offspring is proverbial, and, where it does not occupy the mother's sole and only thought, the heart is indeed proved to be bad. Pray do not be an example of such a character yourself, nor com- pel me to write in this language by your diabolical and monstrous threats to me. I wish to see you as soon as possible, so write and say where I shall meet you, and we will talk matters over out walking. Let our solid and sin- cere attachment and friendship instantly take place; receive me with affec- tion, with tenderness, and kindness; let me see and enjoy the society of our dear child as often as possible, and I will be content to give up my rights and privileges."
This up-giving of his "rights and privileges" is sweetly relieved by a bit of sentimentality :— " I have a very pretty cut coral necklace or negligee for you, and a little gold locket in which I wish your hair and mine to encircle dear George's, that being the centre. You promised me to sit for your miniature, that I might wear it in a concealed locket. I will get mine for you, and my prayers, day and night, will be that time will again cause the return of your affection, thus unaccountably and unnaturally estranged from me." Of such compositions we are aware that a very small specimen is sufficient for a surfeit to our readers. We must, however, give one or two extracts from the second letter.
" I cannot even now believe that you would risk the power of God's strik- ing you dead upon the earth, at the instant you should dare to commit such a violent outrage as swearing a false oath. No one ever did as yet commit such a crime but that circumstances have always sprung up and denounced by awful truth the wicked culprit, Not all the powers on earth could per- suade me to forsake you ; and I cannot bring myself to believe that you are so devoid of honour, so lost to every sentiment of affection, as to desire on your own part a separation between us. Good heavens! what would be my feelings on meeting you in the street under such circumstances We were the two happiest people living this time last year, up to the hour of your going abroad. I promised to join you if possible, and had I done so none of my late wretchedness would have awaited me, and God knows it was not want of inclination which prevented me, last business in Suffolk, and which I heartily wish I had never undertook. Alas, alas ! my beloved Belinda, you have already injured me but too severely. You hare caused me to injure my- self. The loss of that two hundred pounds I gave you to take care of, but which you returned me, was entirely the consequence of the excitement and irrita- tion your conduct caused. There is still another consequence, which I will not, cannot, tell you. Oh, my God, my God! Is it possible that you can day by day entail ruin and destruction upon me, whose only fault (if it is one) is an unbounded, honourable, and faithful affection and attachment to you."
The excellent opinion which the writer entertains of others is not more remarkable than his anxiety for himself: " I do not believe you have confessed to your sisters ; if you have, I must in confidence reveal the naked truth to them, as your motives to vindicate your- self at my expense cannot be permitted. The truth must out, and I am sure they would keep it sacred, and applaud my honour and constancy. Good God ! my angel Belinda, it is not for us to commit ourselves—to tell of our- selves—we must support each other, as the interest of one is that of both."
A little more and we have done. The following is from a letter dated one day later than that from which the above is taken: "The most cursed fiend that ever disgraced human nature could not have penned a more disgraceful, dishonourable, wicked note, than the one received from you yesterday. How ought Ito act ? what ought I to do ?—why, never see you more, but expose and insult you every day you stir outsi do your door. But, alas, what will be my conduct? Oh ! infatuated affection ! !! In a word, then, I will forgive you—generously, fully, forgive you, if you but write and express your unfeigned and hearty sorrow for having so unjustly rendered me the most unhappy, most wretched, and most wise, able man on earth. All we have to do on any emergency is to stand by each other, to deny (mutually) every thing, through thick and thin, and this will I do to preserve you. Oh, Belinda, and is it to ruin such a man that you would commit per. jury and blasphemy ?"
Another most affecting burst of religious fervour opens a letter of the 29th ultimo, after the affair had become known to old Mr. LAND- SEER, and he had addressed Mr. ROBINSON in consequence:
" BELINDA—May the Almighty forgive you, as I most fully do ; but when I think of your horrible and profane oaths my blood refuses circulation. It is as much or more to my interest to prove our innocence, but with the proofs against us it is impossible. You were right to deny, and firmly; but to kiss the Bible and call God to witness, is a crime your future life cannot atone for."
On the 13th, as we stated, Mr. LANDSEER, senior, became acquainted with the story of his son's misfortunes ; on the 15th, the day that Mrs. LiotnsEga returned, he wrote to Captain POCOCK to inform him of the discovery ; Mrs. LANDSEER went back to her father ; and a long correspondence between Mr. Boamsort, Captain POCOCK, and Mr. LANDSEER, senior, ensued ; for which we have no room, and which is unworthy of perusal. Nothing, indeed, is so loathsomely tedious as the commonplaces of vice. Mr. ROBINSON, who laments so deeply over the loss of his lady love and his two hundred pounds, declares that he will act as his own attorney, to save expenses ; and adds,— " To avoid further injury to your son,"—he is prepared to give up his rights and privileges, rather than pay for them,—" I will gladly enter into an arrangement. But"—Mr. R. can enact the attorney right well- " as to my making myself legally responsible to support the amiable lady in question, and her little boy, it is quite out of 11w question ; for I will not bind myself to pay one shilling. Your son is bound by law.to do it he is compellable to allow her alimony, and to provide for the child."
The most curious part of this singular story—singular at least in the exhibition of the coldest and most calculated wickedness that we recollect to have witnessed—remains. Mr. THOMAS LANDSEER, moved by her tears and oaths, weighed against such testimony as that of her accuser, who would not be moved by them—has taken back his wife once more, with all the confiding affection of one who can hope against hope ; and Mr. LANDSEER, the sire, with virtue more than Roman- miranda potius pain imitanda—publishes this revolting pamphlet.
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