• I had an interview with Lord Melville a day or two after he received the above,' says the writer in a note following the letter, and was happy to find that my determination met his entire concurrence and unqualified approbation.

'P. H.'

This excellent man continued long to enjoy the fruits of this resolution. His house was the resort of friends, who looked up to him with respect, and of young aspirants in the profession, who came to profit by his experience and advice. Observation, reading, and reflection, contributed to enrich the mind, which early adversity had strengthened. Captain Heywood was active also with his pen : he kept up an extensive correspondence, and published, in the periodicals and journals of the day, various papers chiefly on subjects relating to his profession, and the sciences connected with it. He seldom read without recording the observations which occurred to him as of most importance in the course of his inquiries, and failed not to comment on the errors into which the author before him had fallen. It is a subject of deep regret, that no considerable results of this activity, at a season when his mind and opinions were matured, can be laid before the reader. Captain Heywood shrunk, with virgin delicacy, from observation and notoriety, and never obtruded his own proceedings or pursuits on public attention. His authorship of the papers

which he published, was probably known only to those habitual companions who were admitted most closely to his confidence, and not always even to them.

The sentiments of the following letter, particularly in relation to the priesthood, were such as the author of this sketch often heard him express, and it is the only letter, written at this period, which has fallen into his hands:

'It is near a month, my dear * *, since I last wrote to you, on the receipt of your letter, dated 6th of May, at Corfu, and I was just thinking of writing to you now when that of July 1st, off Egina, came to hand. It has come quickly, but as it has been subjected to the prying system of espionage, so generally established by the continental governments, opened and resealed, I deem it necessary to let you know it, that you may be on your guard as to what you write. Your excursion to the summit of Mount Etna must have been highly interesting to you, and would, of course, have been still more agreeable could your ladies have accompanied you. I take it for granted that. neither you nor they could have been much gratified by your visit to Corfú, except as regards the novelty and beauty of the surrounding country. I confess, that pleased me much, when I was there in the year 1815; but I was too much occupied to any use of my pencil, as I am happy to find your dear girl has done. I have, however, been so

make

fortunate as to obtain a few of the sketches made by poor Cartwright during his long residence there, as well as a few of his pictures, when they were sold by auction at Philips's.

'As to the people there, I formed, from the little I saw of them, a most unfavourable opinion, which poor Cartwright corroborated, and Mr. D.. from whom I heard the other day, has fully confirmed. And I take it for granted, that the rest of the Greeks are all of much the same stamp as to their general character. Indeed, from all I have seen and heard, and been able to judge from their acts, during their struggle for that independence and freedom which they are as yet unqualified, by sloth and ignorance, either to understand or to enjoy, they truly are what D... describes them to be, "a treacherous, dastardly race to friend and foe, scarcely possessing one of the virtues for which credit has been mistakenly given them by self-interested writers of travels, and some superficial observers." They seem to be deplorably deficient in candour, truth, and that feeling of moral obligation so necessary to bind man to man, and it would appear that momentary gratifications, and temporary advantages over each other in their dealings, constitute the essence of their ambition. A government in the hands of such men can be little relied on, nor can it be expected to be durable and efficient. A sudden but evanescent lustre has now and then been thrown on the character of this people by excitement of the moment, and

the example of a few superior spirits; but I fear it will not be very durable. For there can scarcely be a true patriotic feeling in the breasts of any of their leaders; and as to the Count* at their head, your opinion of him is no doubt quite correct. I have always thought him, and events but tend to shew him, to be a self-interested agent in the hands of the Russian autocrat. His object is evidently Russian aggrandizement, more than Greek freedom; and in all probability, whatever obstacles may be thrown by the Allied Powers, through their ministers at Constantinople, in the way of pacific negociation between the Turks and Russians, or even the former and the Greeks, they will chiefly originate in him, although the freedom and welfare of Greece will be always in his mouth, and be prominently set forth in all his public documents. The Count well knows, as every man of common sense must know, that the Greeks, as a people, are quite as unfit for a free constitution and the enjoyment of freedom, as the Turks themselves, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, or any other people, whose minds are enslaved and debased by bigotry and superstition. The greatest bar to their progress in knowledge is the want of that moral light which can alone be afforded by Christianity practically and rightly understood, and the existence of an avaricious, selfish, lazy, and over-numerous priesthood,

* Capo d'Istrias ?

whose exactions keep the people in the most deplorable poverty and ignorance, whence alone they derive their power and influence, and on which the existence of such a body alone depends. Not even Popery can be worse than the Greek Church for the mind's enslavement, and yet have our sage rulers, in the abundance of their wisdom and philanthropy, in this 19th century, encouraged it as good, and lent a helping hand to the durability of its abominations. No country can keep so large a portion of its population in idleness, as these baneful systems of superstition and fanaticism render necessary, and prosper. One's blood boils at the hypocrisy of the priesthood of both these churches, as they are called, whose language is that of charity and good-will to all men, whilst, at the same time, their whole conduct tends to oppress and debase the minds of their deluded victims. I am still, my dear * *, have been, and ever shall be, averse to the granting of temporal power to any clergy whatsoever, and would resist all spiritual power, if evidently applied to base and pernicious purposes. The sacred duties of a truly Christian priest, if conscientiously performed, are more than sufficient to occupy his time; and in those countries where they are least permitted to interfere in secular matters, we find the most faithful and conscientious clergy, and in general the most moral and properly religious people. We have too many instances in our own country of that inordinate