I never supposed you had interfered with the book which you told me you knew nothing about, except that you had ‘unadvisedly’ (because you knew nothing of it) urged X—— to speak favourably of it, which I take for granted you would not have done had you read it. I object entirely to my name being used, either with Lord Langdale’s family or with Mr. Hardy, because they will suppose that I am resenting the ridiculous attacks upon myself, which I presume there is no person so utterly ignorant as to consider worth a moment’s notice, such as my having only _talked_ about Law Reform before I came into office, and never afterwards doing anything of the kind—when this very book itself relates my having proceeded with the County Courts Bills the moment I came in, and many other things which the author’s gross ignorance keeps him from knowing were my Bills. Therefore, as regards myself, he is welcome to spit out all the well-known spite of the Bentham people, whose ally, probably their tool, he is as regards me. But what I do complain of, is his having been suffered to publish Burdett’s letters. Yours truly, H. BROUGHAM.” Here we pause to pursue in the following chapter our anecdotical mood, illustrating the reminiscences with letters confirmatory of our various allusions—letters which in themselves possess great value, if the celebrity of their authors be borne in mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration] CHAPTER XII _Panizzi and Austria; Policy of Palmerston; Mr Ellice; Scotch Sabbath; Mr Gladstone on Tasso; Panizzi and Thomas Carlyle._ Panizzi’s correspondence with the sketches drawn from it and from that of the society with which he was connected, will now be continued, for from these is to be derived his private opinion on various subjects, and no doubt can possibly be suggested as to this course furnishing irrefragable proofs of his real sentiments. Miscellaneous as are the matters of which these letters of Panizzi treat, it is not surprising, considering the disturbed and eventful state of this period, that a large proportion of them relate to politics, to which he was so irrepressibly addicted. The following to Mr Haywood and Lord Rutherfurd, contain the comments of an acute observer of the unsettled state of government and of affairs in general in this country and in the East immediately before and after the Crimean War. It is to be wished that, in addition to skill and vigilance, the credit of impartiality could also be ascribed to Panizzi. The fact is, however, that, so deep was his dislike to Austria (scarcely to be wondered at), that it strongly tinctured his political views of affairs both at home and abroad. It will be observed also that he was less of a true prophet than a keen observer.