H. Brougham.”
The charge brought by Lord Brougham in this letter against Panizzi of being an accomplice in Sir T. D. Hardy’s crime, was, in a subsequent letter from his Lordship, repudiated by him.
“Scarborough, 3 Aug., 1852.
“My dear Panizzi,
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.
