TWO BROTHERS.*
THE correspondence found by Lady Guendolen Ramsden was well worth publishing. It is various, interesting, and the work
of distinguished men and women. Though the letters of the eleventh Duke and his brother, Lord Webb Seymour, make up the greater part of the book, they are by no means the only correspondents. Of Madame de Stael there are several short and characteristic notes, while the letters of Mettemich and the Princesse de Sagan, written for the most part when the allied Monarchs were in London or during the Congress of Vienna, are of considerable value.
But the chief importance of the book is that it presents a picture of the cultured society which once gave Edinburgh a right to be called the Modern Athens. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Edinburgh was not merely the capital of Scotland ; it was the literary capital of Great Britain. Intelligent students resorted thither to finish their education under the eye of Dugald Stewart and other great Professors, and the opportunity of intellectual companionship attracted many men of science who had little to learn save by the fair interchange of wits. Among these was Lerd Webb Seymour, who, after a career at Oxford, -4tled in Edinbu gh that he might enjoy the society of Playfair and the rest. Among his friends were Francis Horner and Henry McKenzie, author of The Man of Feeling. Hallam wrote to him at great length and with full sympathy. And it may easily be under- stood that the book, edited with much knowledge and research by Lady Gnendolen Ramsden, is interesting both from an historical and a literary point of view.
As we read these cultivated letters we cannot but realise that the Edinburgh of Lord Webb Seymour's time was a very serious place. Never was knowledge worshipped more passionately for its own sake. All the sciences were pursued with a zeal and an energy which are seldom met with in the annals of learning. Geology and philology seem to have been the favourite studies : but nothing came amiss to these sturdy pursuers of knowledge. "In about ten days," says Lord Webb in 1808, "there is a party of us to set off on a mineralogical excursion to the Island of Arran, consisting of Mayfair, Mr. Allan, a banker here, who is a good mineralogist, Mr. Jardine, a young man of extensive scientific knowledge. and myself. Arran contains in a small compass a greater variety of mineral formations, and more strikingly displayed, than perhaps any other part of the kingdom, particularly some phenomena, about which there is a great contest between the disciples of Werner, and those of Dr. Hutton. I have never yet been upon the Island, and promise myself much amusement, as well as instruction, especially when I consider who my companions are to be." But the exact sciences did not wholly engross these patient seekers after truth. They were pleased to discuss the vaguer problems then popular. "When you talk of admitting the doctrine of perfectibility," writes Lord Webb, "I presume you do not mean to the extent of Godwin and Condorcet, but merely that a great progress may still be made in the improvement of human nature, and its condition. To this I entirely agree, though at the same time I do not anticipate that progress for this present period of civilisation, with any confidence." That is an excursion into the commonplace which sounds a little strange to-day, but which was perfectly consonant with the time at which it was written. A century ago there was far more simplicity and more enthusiasm abroad than there is now, and even clever men proclaimed the obvious with a kind of pride.
' Lord Webb, above all, was eager to improve the occasion. Wherever he stayed he delighted in what he called "instruc- tive conversation." Once upon a time at Hamilton he "was rather indisposed and lounging among a large party collected for the races." He did not despair. "Am endeavouring," he confided to his journal, "to extract what I can from the occurrences of the gay scenes around me for speculations on the emotions, and with some success." That sounds drolly enough, and it must be admitted that Lord Webb was deficient in the sense of humour. In his eyes "life was real, life was earnest," and he does not seem to have been of those who could unbend the bow of thought. It is, therefore, a pleasant change in this record of high thinking to come upon the chatter
• Correspondence of Two Brothers : Edward Adolphus, Eleventh Mae of Somerset, and his Brother, Lord Webb Seymour, 1800 to 1819, and After. By Lady Gueudolen Hamden. London : Longmans and Co. [15s. net.]
of worldlings and the shrewd, hard sense of politicians. We are quite grateful to Madame de &ad for a brief note addressed to the Duke. " Je vous remercie, my lord," says she, "des faisans et de la philosophie. Je.ne sais lesquels s'eleverent le plus kraut." For our part, we would wager that the pheasants lagged far behind the philosophy; but the reproach is delicate, and was no doubt well deserved.
At the downfall of Napoleon the Seymours were more sincerely delighted than we should have expected. They did not share the enthusiasm with which some of their friends regarded the Emperor. And they watched the attitude of Madame de Stria with an interested curiosity. "I dined at Mme. de Striae," wrote the Duke, "with Lord Grey, Sheridan, Mackintosh, and a large party of the opposition on the 6th April. She was graver than I had seen her before, and could not bear any jokes upon the situation of France. I called upon her however a day or two after- wards, when she said she was quite happy I should think her exultation must be greater than it appears, and that she has self-command enough to suppress a great part of her feelings." The Duchess, meanwhile, attracted to her salon all the great personages whom the downfall of Napoleon brought to London. She completely won the goodwill of Metternich, whom she presented with an edition of Shake- speare's works, and she entertained the great Czartoryski, an elegant note from whose hand is here printed. And so, though Lord Webb lived out of the great world, finding sufficient pleasure in his fossils and his deriva- tions, echoes of the news, political and social, reached him in his retreat. Moreover, he lived the life best suited to his taste and temperament, and the sketch drawn of him by Hallam after his death is no doubt essentially true. "Lord Webb Seymour," says the historian," was neither a very good scholar, in the common sense of the word, nor by any means the contrary. He knew well in every subject, what he knew at all, and his character rendered him averse to spread his reading over a large surface. He read slowly and carefully, possibly too much so ; but as on this account he forgot little, he was by no means uninformed on many subjects of general literature. But his peculiar quality was the love of truth, and, as is perhaps the case with all true lovers, he loved that mistress the more in proportion as she was slow in favouring his suit." It is not an enthusiastic appreciation, but it as true as Lord Webb would have wished it, and it reveals a temper and an outlook which are the more estimable, perhaps, because they are cultivated by few, and because to the first glance they do not wear an appearance either gay or attractive.
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