Henry Crabb Robinson, 30 Russell Square, London, to Lady Anne Isabella Noel Byron, [no address], 29 September 1854.

[f. 54r]

London

30 Russell Square

29th Sept 1854

My dear Madam,

       I fear you may have drawn an unwarrantable inference from my not having noticed your very interesting hypothetical questions immediately, as if I should take time to consider them. Alas! This is not in my character, except as that may be negatively expressed, as incapacity – I was never able to deliberate in solitude – I require impulse to think, And I can seldom think but when I read or listen – I have had leisure to read your postulated queries again And I feel as unable as at first to write any thing worth your perusal – But it not unfrequently happens that what has no value in itself suggests what is very useful Indeed this is more frequently the case than otherwise And must be so when as at present the Enquirer is better qualified than the Enquirer to sit in judgement –

       [f. 54v] Indeed my strong impression is, that in the case alluded to & the subject of Surmise only, he who has to act can alone knows how he ought to act – Let me relate an anecdote valuable in itself – And tho’ from a distance it points to the spot to be hit.

       In 1803 I had several interviews with a very remarkable man, one of those who have caused the world to be sensibly other than it would have been without him – really, what John Wilkes vainly called him^self^ an extinguished Volcano – But the Volcano is unextinguishable only a crater stopped up – This was Baron Weishaupt, the founder of the former Secret Society of the Illuminati – Consult Abbe Baruel and Professor Robison – They paint him as an Evil spirit – Maximus pessimus – Educated a Jesuit, he strove & partly succeeded in turning Jesuitism against itself – Under the protection of the Duke of Saxe Gotha when his pupil the K: of Bavaria was compelled to disown him, he ended his days in the retiremt in which I had repeated interviews with him His character was intimated in a Sentiment vigorously expressed which I never forgot & which occasions my mentioning him now.

       This was at Gotha

       [f. 55r] “It is a test of character with me, when a man professes to act from principles – general rules – none but a weak man does this The wise man knows what is right And he does it in all the great concerns of life – there is the fit & the unfit thing to do – And he the wise man will never miss it – He leaves the rest to drivellers & talkers”  This is as faithful a statement as after 50 years I can give without my papers – It is needless to advert to the peril of such a scheme under the application of practical ability for the attainment of ends – Sometimes noble & heroic – but possibly the reverse –

       What is dangerous as a maxim for everybodys life, may yet be salutary and essentially wise, I believe, in this case – The case of your letter I could trust your Enquirer and Replicant but not your respondent – If you have done justice to that respondent, I should attach no importance to his opinion – The three replies to his three reasons are to me satisfactory generally stated, not that I can for a moment pretend to apply it ^them^ to the particular facts – The 1st is one of those idle generalities for which I have not & ^never^ had any respect  [f. 55v]  There is a wrong in falsehood as such – And truth whether objective as such, or subjective as sincerity, is in itself right – But no one action on any one principle can be judged of as insulated we live in a community – And Coleridge felicitously exposed the selfishness of the Saint’s thinking only of saving his own soul –

       The 2d is drily admitted “The disclosure would add to our knowle of human nature” – And what then? Have I – or You – or has the whole world “a vested interest” thats parliamentary language you know – in the infirmities or even the vices or crimes, if such were in question here, of other men whether of the common dough (pasto) or among the distinguished –

       3d The wronged might be righted – To this the just answer is given – They might and they might not – I can not add a word with effect to what is already said – Several possibilities are suggested – Whether facts or not – on which every thing turns I have not the least knowledge – an allusion is made to varieties of [f. 56r] opinion on points which very often are points of controversy: Each is a fresh question – Each may be renderd introductory to others – But when it is added that he who has to act would not submit his private judgmt to any tribunal; I think he ought not to place himself for a moment in the position of a plaidoyant before such a Court – The act of pleading acknowledges a jurisdiction –

       I have broken ground a second time, in opening a second sheet, which I did not intend – And therefore I will add to my One anecdote, another, reporting the words of a remarkable man, who when I was about 15 or 16 set me forward – He was a character – Talking as boys do without thinking I spoke of Locke’s principles as having produced the Revolution of 1688 –

       [f. 56v] “Are you so young as to suppose that any principles, as you call them, caused any revolution? A nation do not go to war & set aside a bad government because they think they have a right and have principles – They do so, because they are ill off and cannot help it – They cannot bring up their families, pay their taxes & go to Church or Chapel as they like – They get rid of a bad government and they who succeed, employ writers to justify what they did – King Williams government employed Locke to write his book And a good book it is” ....

       I do not mean to say, That there is any thing remarkable in this – But it served to make me see the unmeaningness of many commonplaces – And Ben: Strutt is therefore a name I hold in honour –

       Basta! or rather Troppo –

            I have the honor to be

                         &c &c  Madam

                                    H. C. Robinson

The Lady Noel Byron 

&c &c

Text:  MS-DEP Lovelace-Byron 109, fols. 54-56, Bodleian Library, Oxford.