Henry Crabb Robinson, Rydal Mount, to Thomas Robinson, Bury St. Edmunds, 23 January 1847.

23d Jan: A.M.  [1847]

My dear Thomas

       The contents of your letter were but melancholy  The illnesses you wrote of are in their nature transient  And at least as far as my niece is concerned we may hope will pass away with the severe weather we have lately had – I shall not delay answering your letter beyond two days  nor can you with safety, lest I should have left this place before your next letter arrive – Bear in mind therefore to put it in the post on Thursday  As I may leave on Sunday, but of this more hereafter      You say you anticipated much pleasure from this letter, but this is against my own intimation; by that as you know now by description all my acquaintance here  And visiting is but a monotonous habit, you ought not to expect any novelty, which is the prime ingredient in what amuses –

       Before I proceed to my history I must mention that Mrs Fletcher tells me that Mrs Smith of Easton Grey died lately – And that she was more than eighty years of age – Lady Hobhouse’s death I read of myself And you have referred to These belong to your very earliest acquaintce – You are happy in hearing of these departures without being disturbed by the news. I speak of this rather as a felicity than a merit  These are matters of constitution which is given us; not of the will which is our own –

       You make a little mistake in quoting what I had said as if my words were that I preferred the Church to Dissenters – The point is lost by this – What I have often said  And once to Milman especially was – I prefer Dissent to the Church, but I like Churchmen better than Dissenters  He laughed and said “I believe that is the case with many”  I make a similar distinction between the parties in the Church – I am opposed to the pretensions of the High Church but I like the Puseyites better than the Evangelicals –

      In this respect also I have no doubt you feel as I do.  And this distinction between persons & principles is of great moment And very sad mistakes are made when it is disregarded.  We are perpetually misled when we suffer our dislike of persons to influence our conduct with respect to the principles which such persons profess – When I say we, I mean all men – I suspect that your dislike of the low bred rads of Bury And mine, for the intolerant intolerance of the as well as odious character of the faith of the Calvinistic dissenters has had somewhat more effect than it ought on both of us.  In like manner Sarah’s contempt for the people who weekly meet in Church gate Street has so spread itself over the whole body of U––s that if it were not for giving you pain, she would go next Sunday to Church & never again enter a meeting house – Our nephew the Fellow of St John’s Oxford has from his childhood had an opportunity of remarking how infinitely superior in education manners & general in character Churchmen are to Dissenters that he is heartily ashamed of all his relations And would blush to have it known by his learned associates at Oxford what sort of people his grandfather & maternal grandfather & great Uncles are.  This we cannot wonder at but I regret it because as far as I am concerned it will be in all probability the case why all acquaintance between us will hereafter cease – And tho quite as much as the relation in which we all stand to his father.  A pretty long digression this but it is good that I have had some such matter to write on having so very little in the way of history to relate That little however I must make the most of, in order that I may not find you an < > quantity of blank paper –

23rd pm.   On Sunday I had some relief from the worrisome attendance on the worst administered Service I ever attended, by taking a walk to Grasmere – but gained little beyond the pleasure of a walk And every day since I have seen none but those whom I wrote about in my last letter  I believe the only new name I have to speak of is an ultra liberal, a rich Yorkshire or Lancashire manufacturer Will Greg, a friend of Harriet Martineau & Miss Bayley – an out & out partizan of the manufacturing interest, with whom I have therefore no sympathies.  But he is a clever man & writes smart articles in the Westminster Rev: – he & the Ws are not all congenial – They know it And with all the exterior of politeness shunt each other  he has made an excuse for not calling on me And invited me to dine with him on Monday – We met at Mrs Arnolds a few days since, where I was alone, having invited myself – I have I believe told you, if not it will give Sar[ah]: pleasure to know that Mr Cookson the husband of her old acquaintce has derived great benefit from the watercure, under the care of a German doctor who has an established [practice] here – he has certainly great strength by submitting to severe treatment – Combining water & sparse diet with hard exercise – And he reasons well therefore that if such a system has suffered him the warm climate of Madeira could only have released him & not well have profited him.  On Thursday we both dined with Mrs Fletcher who lives under Helm Crag – At the Lion & Lamb – And the scene of Wordsworths Thorn  I know not who bore the < > best It was really an undertaking for a man of 72 And a late Invalid who was a few months doomed as one who had diseased lungs – I never enjoyed exercise more.  Cookson, Greg, the Fletchers constitute the liberal party here – And they have had a casual reinforcement in two young clergymen of the Whately & Arnold school One of whom has made this very remarkable declaration that when he was about to receive ordination he told the bishop that he had difficulties – To me he made the declared [sic] that he did not believe in the Athanasian creed – His bishop said, he had only two questions to ask him – Did he approve of an established Church as the means of training up men to be Christians? – He did – Did he prefer any other Church to the Anglican? He did not – That was enough” – To this I said that I could on those terms be myself a clergyman – We dissenters are in the habit of abusing the laxity of principle that allows of this – now tho I could not on such terms take orders yet I rejoice that others can Were all men rigidly scrupulous on such points, I mean the points of heretical notions the Church would be filled by corrupt or infatuated men – Who would alike profess orthodoxy And the best men would be the most mischievous – The Bp who is so lax in his conditions imposed on his Presbyters has not the imputation to encounter under which the bishops of Durham & Norwich lie And has a high character for intelligence  But he did not vote for our Dissenters Chapels Bill  So I have but an imperfect respect for him –

       The new acquaintance made here this year in whom I most rejoice is Mr Chas Arnold, an Under Master of Rugby School  He has married a charming German lady – I have enquired And find that he had not heard of Thomas Clarkson. I have I believe excited an interest in his favor – This Mr A. is a distant relation of the Doctor by blood and nearly related by opinions & attainments –

      You know already that it was agreed that on my leaving this place I should meet Edwin Field and join him on a missionary journey in favour of our new college – A few days since I received a letter from a James Robinson of Liverpool inviting me on this occasion to take up my residence at his house which he says, his friend Edwin Field calls his Liverpool Home – And this on Monday the 1st of February – I have written in answer that I accept the invitation But to E. Field I have written that I wish the day could be set a little backward – I mean further off – But I consider myself as the mere Satellite of Field  And I shall attend him whatever day he fixes on – If therefore he persists on fixing Monday for our meeting at Liverpool  I shall leave this place by the Sunday Mail & sleep at Kendal that night – And in that case I shall leave Rydal before the Sunday letters are delivered – Therefore it is meet I hope you will put your letter in the post on Thursday, that I may receive it on Saturday – When I shall write to you in answer I cannot say – Perhaps not till I return to London and that may not be before the latter end of the week – I should like to call on James tho’ he is opposed to our new college – And he is a man whom I more admir’d than like – He has first rate talent as an orator & stylist if not as a thinker  But his behaviour to his Sister has made me feel less cordial than I otherwise should towards him  And I should shrink from any controversy with him – I have a sort of apprehension that he would prove a scornful when a victorious adversary – I might be disposed to go to Manchester if our college were not in some measure an institution really or in supposition a rival or opposition to the Manchester college – We cannot therefore be looked on with friendly eyes by Manchester people, except by those who like Mark Phillips are convinced that the Manch: College ought to be given up as a mischievous institution – that is as standing in the way of & consuming the resources of one that would be better.  I am glad to hear that Hab means to stay at Russell Square on his return – Kind love to him niece Henry &c &c  

                                                             Affectionately yours

                                                                        H. C. Robinson

Thos Robinson  Bury St Edmunds

Text: Crabb Robinson Correspondence, 1847, Dr Williams's Library, London. ‘1847’ was added at a later date to the above letter. Given the references to Manchester College, the date of 1847 is correct.  

V. D. Davis, in A History of Manchester College (London: Allen & Unwin, 1932), writes that a motion had been raised at a Trustee’s meeting in June 1846 concerning moving the school to University Hall at Gordon Square, London. In December 1847 “the Committee declined to discuss a resolutionof the Council of University Hall, suggesting removal to London and cooperation with the Hall, which had yet to be built.  but in March, 1848, at a largely attended Trustees’ meeting, an amendment to the Report was carried, though only just carried by 31 votes to 30, to leave out all the words with reference to the continuance of the College in Manchester.  This was followed by the appointment of a special Committee to consider the plans of University Hall, University Collge and Owens College, with reference to the interests of Manchester New College” (125).  The main issue, he argues, was whether Manchester New College would connect its Arts and Sciences education wing with University College in London or the new Owens College just preparing to open in Manchester.

The church in Church-gate Street was the Presbyterian [Unitarian] meeting in Bury, St Edmunds, where Thomas Robinson and his family attended.