Henry Crabb Robinson, 2 Plowden Buildings, London, to Wilhelm Benecke, Heidelberg, 27 April 1835.

2 Plowden Buildings  27th April 1835

My dear Sir

       [This first section has been x’d out]  I am both shocked and ashamed at reading the date of Mrs Beneckes very kind & most acceptable letter.  Had I followed first impulses I should have answerd it on the spot; but I had resolved that my next letter should be to you (tho’ I meant & now shall answer the more significant parts of her letter) And that required leisure  Since that time I have made three little journies  And have had friends in London  And, besides, I was resolved after a time, to wait till I could write to you with some satisfaction to myself on that very interesting and inexhaustible subject, the state of political parties and our political prospects: There is indeed one other subject compared with which, even that is insignificant.  But that I feel to be above me.  I can not venture to do more than, in allusion to it, mention that I sent my translation to a very excellent friend, but being one of that class who, as Coleridge says, “have a passion for clear ideas” it was returned me half read – !!!  My brother, the only other friend I have had the courage to intrust the MS to, writes me word that he is delighted with the tone of the whole & with detached thoughts – But that he cannot follow the author & suspects his translator did not himself understand what he wrote!!!

      Of this I am convinced that whenever the attempt is made to introduce such[2] a scheme of theology as you have ausgedacht, the greatest difficulty of its being made accessible to English understandings will arise more from the neglect of the faculty of severe thought in this country, than from a want of sympathy in religious feeling – I believe that you would have found a worthy “fit audience tho’ few” among the puritans of the sixteenth [&] seventeenth century – Perhaps so among such churchmen as Barrow, Cudworth, Hooker, Jeremy Taylor – By the bye, I shall be anxious to know your opinion of the Holy Dying – Perhaps T[aylor] [the other letters of the name have been added later, possibly by Sadler] is the least profound of all the great men I have mentioned – As an orator, he stands at the head – I will seek some other specimen of his composition – Of the other or puritan party, Baxter, Howe, Law – (the translator of Jacob Böhme) are the chiefs.  But the most awefully tremendous of all metaphysical divines is the American Ultra-calvinist Jonathan Edwards whose book on Original Sin I unhappily read when a very young man.  It did me an irreparable mischief – But it is the work of transcendent intellectual power – I am sure you will find it has been translated – It’s object was to display the Calvinistic scheme in all its intensity & merciless severity.  The strict justice of punishing all men eternally for the sin of one man was insisted on as a consequence of the infinite justice of God.  The possibility of salvation was deduced from the Sovereignty of God’s grace.  And the absolute & invincible predestination to eternal suffering of all to whom that grace was not freely conferred; (For whom alone the atoning sacrifice of Christ was performed), was most barbarously maintained.

       I should like to know what is thought of Jonathan Edwards – I do not say by yourself.  For on a portion of that subject I am happy that you have explained yourself satisfactorily – but by the reputed orthodox of the modern Evangelical church.  The other books which I sent rather to Mrs B. than yourself have I dare say pleased you.  I wish Mrs B. would amuse herself or procure some friend to do so, by translating Mrs Barbauld’s “Essay on inconsistent expectation”  I hold it to be one of the most exquisite morsels of English prose ever written – And it had the most salutary effect on me.  When a young man I met with it  And so deeply was I impressed with it, that I can truly say I never repined at any one want or loss or the absence of any good that has befallen.  [This next part is lined out] By the bye, your Son Victor is not too old to be affected by it. The best thing Mrs B: could do, would be to desire him to enquire for “Aiken’s Miscellanies” among his English – or English reading friends at Berlin.  John Woolman’s life I trust you have also enjoyed – At the end of the book are some remarkable ideas connected with political economy.  As I am thro mentioning books, I add that in a day or two I shall send to your Son Wordsworth’s new volume.  It is full of admirable poems – There will be with it two copies of an etymological paper – one copy of which I wish you to send to Fritz Schlosser.  The subject will interest him – not you.  The extract from the Minnesinger I found in the Heidelberg Library.  The article belongs to the Archaeologia. 

       You will have sympathized with us during the recent conflict between the reformers & anti-reformers  The reformers have gained a temporary victory, but the battle is not yet over.  There has been certainly a reaction towards Toryism.  But to that degree is Toryism vanguished that Sir Rob: Peel could only gain a hearing by professing to be himself a reformer – So that now it is a question not of reform and no reform but of how much reform.   [This next part is lined out] Four circumstances favourd the conservatives  1. The violence of the dissenters against the Church.  2. The slanderous attacks on the Whigs by the Radical press.  3.  The fear & disgust excited by Oconnel, and 4. The excessive follies committed by Lord Brougham.  Notwithstanding, all these, by a small majority (– the radicals & Whigs uniting) the ministry have been forced to resign) – [This next part not lined out] My opinion is that great caution is requisite, in order to enable the Whigs to return their very small majority.  I believe that both Whigs & radicals have seen their former error – Tho’ that enormous abuse, the Episcopal church in Ireland, must ultimately be sacrificed, yet the Whigs have for the present contented themselves with asserting the right to apply the surplus of the Church revenue to the education of the catholic poor of Ireland – And so much the Lords must yield – The radicals will be wise enough to press for no more at present.  [The remainder of this paragraph is lined out]  In the meantime the reform of the Corporations will go on – And this will both add to the power of the ministry and advance their popularity – Benyham is wisely left out of the cabinet  And Oconnel also is content to be in the back ground.  The dissenters will be partially conciliated tho’ in fact all the questions in which they are involved are in themselves as insignificant as those concerning the catholics are of extreme importance.  You know me to be a conservative in a certain qualified Sense – That is, I can not contemplate the transfer of political power from one class in society to another without alarm.  I would not therefore strengthen any further the popular party.  I would break the fall of the aristocracy lest if the fall be too sudden it crush themselves & those under them.  The moderate Tory party (Peel being at the head) acknowledge the necessity of commuting tythes  And of a less unequal distribution of the revenues of the Church  With this for the present, the Reformers I hope will be content  And if a like forbearance prevail in other matters (of which there is a reasonable ground of hope) then the storm may blow over – The municipal reform will be conceded without much difficulty – Since our Lords care little for Aldermen, and Corporations, now that they have no longer the command of seats in the house of commons – And all parties high & low are interested in the progress of law reform

28th I called yesterday after writing the above, on your Son.  He gives me an account not altogether favorable of his family – They are in the isle of White – I hear too that Miss Emily Sonchay, your favorite, will soon be here under a new name.  I shall have great pleasure in wishing her joy – I have heard you say of her that she is the most unselfish person you ever knew.  The married state is the field for that virtue 

       I have forgotten none of the good qualities you & Mrs Benecke have praised in your Heidelberg friends  Her account of the Schwarz family is interesting – My sympathizing respects to the old Gentleman – What is said of our great lawyer confirms my former impression, that he may be very great on his faculty, but that his faculties are not of the highest order  He is neither a statesman nor philosopher; he may be a great lawyer.  You will remember me to all enquiring friends  (that is the phrase you know) but especially to the Geheimrath Schlosser – You may tell him from me that the tergiversation of the Tories – his English oracle, has become more offensive, disgustingly so, than that of any paper I ever heard of – It has lost all weight with the public.  To all the ladies the Bechers, Thibaut, Pickfords Mrs B:  will forward my friendly acknowledgement, for their kindness in not having forgotten me yet.  I must not forget, the friendly Dr–– the librarian tho’ I cannot now recall his name – Such beginnings in the decline of our faculties are humiliating  You will have Mad. Nies with you this summer  Assure her I entertain a very lively sense of her attentions to me – The parties at her casino belong to the most delightful recollection of Heidelberg.   To her sister Mad: Schlosser also I also wish to be rememberd – To the rath himself I had addressed a note in part of my Etymological paper.  I am glad to hear so favorable an account of your Son’s success at Berlin – his present pursuit is not the highest he might have undertaken – But he is still young – And we are more likely to grow tired of what we prosper in at once, And to aim higher, than if there are difficulties in the way – To him & Mrs Koopmann also you will give my kind remembrances.  Nor is your grandaughter Agnes to be forgotten.

      I thank Mrs B: for her obliging invitation to return to Heidelberg even this summer.  Be assured that I look forward not with certainty, (that, at our age would be presumptuous) but with intention & hope confined to a repetition of my visit – It cannot be this year – I have been fluctuating between hopes & fears as to a journey in Spain.  That is put off for the present – My old friend Sam: Robinson still survives – And there is still no prospect of an immediate change.  But to recur again to Heidelberg – If you are blessed with a perfect restoration to health, which I earnestly hope for; And my health continues, I consider another summer’s residence there as among highly probable incidents.  Of Meyer I have some reason to complain – he did not write to me till after he had left me six months – but he is doing well – he was at first refused a passport for Rome, but at last got it for a limited time only – He has now undertaken the superintendence of the education of the children of the Ex King of Westphalia – And lives with his pupils apart from the parents at Florence      Forget me not when your write to the Schuncks –

                        With the sincerest regards to both   

                                     your friend

                                                 H. C. Robinson

Text: Crabb Robinson Correspondence, 1834-35, letter 101, Dr. Williams's Library, London.

This letter appears in Sadler, where he includes HCR’s mention of the “ultra-Calvinist” Jonathan Edwards, the “most awfully tremendous of all metaphysical divines” (2.158). He says, “I unhappily read” his book on “Original Sin” “when a very young man.  It did me an irreparable mischief.  But it is a work of transcendent intellectual power . . . Its object was to display the Calvinistic scheme in all its intensity and merciless severity. The strict justice of punishing all men eternally for the sin of one man was insisted on as a consequence of the infinite justice of God; the possibility of salvation was deduced from the sovereignty of God’s grace; and the absolute and invincible predestination to eternal suffering of all on whom that grace was not freely conferred (for whom alone the atoning sacrifice of Christ was performed) was most barbarously maintained” (2.158-59).