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England, Italy, and Return to Politics, 14 June 1838 – August 1841

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2010

Thomas MacAulay  and
Thomas Pinney
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Summary

TO MACVEY NAPIER, 14 JUNE 1838

MS: British Museum. Mostly published: Napier, Correspondence, pp. 255–6.

3 Clarges Street London June 14. 1838

Dear Napier,

I must be concise: for I am, as you will easily suppose, plentifully supplied with employment of various kinds. A few days will, I hope, give me the command of my time.

I did not need your letter to satisfy me of your kindness and of the pleasure which my arrival would give you. I have returned with a small independence, but still an independence. All my tastes and wishes lead me to prefer literature to politics. When I say this to my friends here, some of them seem to think that I am out of my wits, and others that I am coquetting to raise my price. I, on the other hand, believe that I am wise, and know that I am sincere.

I am so much distracted by various matters, so unsettled, and so unprovided with books that I fear that I may be unable to do any thing for your next number. I will however set to work on Sir William Temple as soon as I can get my library through the Custom House. I have a good many thoughts in my head of which something may be made.

I received your letter about Bacon three weeks before I left India. I could, I think, defend my doctrines as to what Bacon did for inductive philosophy. But I will not enter on the subject now.

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The Letters of Thomas Babington MacAulay , pp. 241 - 388
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1976

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